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Distracting Vivienne had worked, even though I felt bad about it. I thanked her and took the rest of my smoothie out into the front yard, saying hello to Nathan’s brother Shawn and their coworker Charlie. His younger brother, Tristan, was also on the crew today, as well as his partner, Jack. It was an endless parade of hot construction workers in my backyard, and I sure as hell wasn’t complaining. Shawn was hauling some big piece of machinery out of the back of their van. All of them looked every bit the part of contractors, complete with tool belts and work boots.
“Morning, fellas,” I said.
“Ready to get started,” Shawn said, smiling politely.
“Kace,” Charlie said, looking me up and down. “Good morning. No TV crew today?”
I put one hand on my hip, enjoying the attention as Charlie stared at me. “You sound disappointed.”
“I am,” Charlie said. “I’m so ready to be on TV.”
“They’ll be here in a couple of hours,” I told him.
“Nathan’s going to ham it up for the cameras, and I know it,” Charlie said. “I am too, of course.”
“If Nathan ever shows up,” Shawn said. “My brother is usually a lot more punctual, Kace. I’m sorry.”
“Nathan’s actually already here,” I offered. “He was in the back checking out a crack I found in one of the stone slabs.”
“He’s here?” Shawn asked. “But—”
“I was, uh, getting one of my cars detailed today, and they offered to have Nathan’s taken care of for free, too,” I said, scrambling to think of some damn reason why he wouldn’t have his vehicle here. “The perks of being famous, right?”
“So lucky,” Charlie said, a dreamy look in his eyes.
“All right,” I said, waving my hand through the air. “This gate over here leads around to the back, as I’m sure you both remember. Viv gave you your own code, so use it as you please. Just know that at any moment, I might be filming an Insta live out in the backyard, so you might get front-row seats to killer content. I sauna and cold plunge each morning, and you’ll definitely see Vivienne and Benny around the property.”
“You really do have the nicest property I’ve seen in years,” Shawn said.
I led them into the backyard, stopping to show them the outdoor fridge underneath the bar. “This fridge is always stocked with water, seltzer, energy drinks, and recovery drinks. Help yourself to anything and everything.”
Charlie hummed. “Spoiling us.”
I glimpsed Nathan as we turned onto the stone path in the back that led to the guest house. “There he is,” I said. Nathan was doing his best to look busy, inspecting another paver on the stone walkway as he held his cell phone to his ear.
Shawn gave Nathan a strange look as we approached him, probably noticing his brother wasn’t dressed in his usual clothes. Charlie didn’t seem bothered at all, still too distracted by looking around at my property and occasionally at my ass.
“You’re kidding,” Nathan was saying on the phone. His brow was furrowed as we approached him on the path. Nathan was doing areallygood acting job if he wasn’t actually on a phone call, because he seemed absorbed in the conversation.
“Oh. He’s on the phone with his ex-wife,” Shawn said quietly with a look of concern.
“How do you know?”
“I can tell when he’s talking to Ranna,” Shawn said. “He always has that look on his face when she’s telling him something serious.”
“As long as Maddy is okay,” Nathan was saying into the phone as we reached him. “How did she evenmeetthis boy? Right. Okay. Well, we can’t control everything she does—yes, Iknow—”
Charlie grimaced. “Sounds bad, doesn’t it?”
We paused, waiting for Nathan.
“Right now? But I’m at a job site, I can’t just… okay. No. I get it. I can make it work. I’ll go get her right now, and for today I’ll figure something out.”
Nathan hung up and looked at us. I’d never seen him with the type of expression he had on his face right now. Pure dread and pain, with no attempt to cover it up.
“Hey, what’s up?” I asked.
“That was Ranna. Apparently our daughter called her ten minutes ago explaining that she woke up in some boy’s house, across town, and she has no ride home. The fucking kid apparently left for work this morning, and left Maddy in a strange house with his older, skeevy roommates. She’s out on the front curb in an unfamiliar place, not knowing what to do, and freaking out. Apparently there was alcohol involved last night. And nowIam freaking out.”
