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Chapter 10
Kincaid~
Going to bed early last night was the only reason that I was up early enough to have some breakfast this morning. The long week had finally caught up with me last night, and after a quick dinner, completing two assignments, and a hot as hell shower, my eyes had closed as soon as my head had hit the pillow.
Still, because I wasn’t a big breakfast person, some yogurt and fruit would do well enough. A huge breakfast would just drag me back down again, and I didn’t need that. I needed to kick today’s ass, then find a party tonight.
God, I could use a good party.
Done with my fruit, I was surprised when my phone rang. It was still fairly early, and I couldn’t imagine anyone calling me so early. Plus, my generation never called. We texted as if speaking to someone was unfathomable.
When I saw the name flashing across the screen, my heart skipped a little. However, there was a huge smile on my face as I answered. “Hey, Dad.”
“Hey, sweetie,” he greeted back. “How are you doing?”
My parents had called me after getting home from Rome, but we haven’t really had a chance to connect since then. They were both very busy people, and things were always hectic for them whenever they came back from being out of the country. That was the thing about my family, though. We were close without being suffocating. After losing their only son, I wouldn’t have faulted them if they had become helicopter parents, but they hadn’t. They hadn’t projected their grief on me, chaining down my potential.
“I’m doing good, Dad,” I lied. “Just…a lot going on.”
“Yeah, things are finally beginning to settle down over here.” He let out a light chuckle. “Well, as settled as they can be, considering.”
“Hey, you can retire at any time,” I teased.
“So that your mother can get bored with me?” he joked. “Never.”
“Mom would never leave you,” I told him. “Where would she find another man who stands back and lets her be the badass that she is?”
He laughed like I knew he would. “Well, that’s partly why I was calling,” he said.
“Because Mom’s leaving you?” I kept teasing.
“No, smartass,” he returned. “We just heard that Saxton got married. Did you know about that?”
My parents were one of the few people in the world who knew that Saxton was my best friend. “Of course, I did.”
“To Hastings Martin, no less,” he continued. “Well, from what your mother heard.”
“They’ve liked each other for a while, Dad. With him being my best friend and her being my roommate, they got kind of thrown together a lot.” I was trying to paint the prettiest picture that I could. While it was true that they’ve liked each other for a while, there’d been other reasons behind their rushed marriage.
“Well, after your mother told me about Saxton and Hastings, she said gossip had it that Stone Lexington and Ross Carmichael have also gotten married,” he said, fishing for details. My father wasn’t a gossip, so I knew this line of questioning was leading somewhere. I just wasn’t sure where.
“It’s true,” I confirmed. “Stone married a really great girl named Rylee, and Ross married a really sweet girl named Sutton.”
He laughed again, only this time, there was a tinge of nervousness to it. “What are they doing over there at Hales? They’re supposed to be educating you kids, not marrying you off.”
It was time to call my dad out on his bullshit. “Dad?”
“Yeah, honey?”
“Can we cut the shit, please?” I drawled out. “Why are you acting like you’re not aware of what’s going on over here?” My father was still a member of The Order, so I was very aware that he’d been notified of Stone and Rylee’s Hera contract. I was also very aware that he knew Ross, Stone, Fox, August, and Saxton made up this year’s initiating class. There was also the fact that he knew that I was Saxton’s supporter. Saxton and I had spoken to him about it when Saxton had first mentioned selecting me. In fact, we’d spoken to both our fathers, even though we’d been so young at the time.
“Are they love connections, Kincaid?” he asked, finally getting to the point. “Or is something going on there that I need to know about?”
If he only knew.
“Can I ask you something, Dad?”
“Sure, you can.”
