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Ayesha’s eyes fluttered open.
Josiah stared down into her face. “Ma, Joel’s not here. Where’d he go? Did he leave already? He wouldn’t leave without telling us, right?”
She reached for her phone on the nightstand and squinted at the screen.
Fuck.
“Are we too late?” Josiah asked.
They were.
The guys were scheduled to take off in fifteen minutes, and the airstrip was a little over twenty minutes away, but there was no way she could look her son in the eyes and tell him that.
“Get your shoes. I’ll grab your brother. We can make it.”
Josiah dashed off.
She scooped Theo up out of the bed beside her, slapped on her glasses, and stuck her feet into a pair of Nike slides. Theo groaned and whined, but she grabbed her phone and purse and hurried to the front door where Josiah waited, his shoes on his feet, a folder in one hand, and the car keys in the other.
My boy.
She took the keys.
They dashed out of the condo.
Josiah raced ahead and pushed the button for the elevator. Ayesha said a silent prayer when it immediately opened, and she said another one when they made it to the garage floor, uninterrupted.
She set Theo in his car seat, slipped his limbs through the straps, and Josiah helped her secure the buckles before fastening his own seatbelt.
As they peeled out of the garage, she tried to call Gage, but it went to voicemail. Then Dez, Mike, Julien, Giorgio—they all went to voicemail.
That meant they were in the air.
“Ma, Joel wouldn’t leave without telling us, right?” Josiah asked, his fingers drumming wildly against the window. “Right, Ma?”
CHAPTER28
Joel watched Gage check his watch, glance at the private jet, and then look toward the road that led to the tarmac for what felt like the millionth time.
“Lattimore, they were right behind you, right?”
He didn’t answer.
“Joel, were Ayesha and the boys right behind you? Better yet, why didn’t they just come with you?”
He still didn’t answer.
“Joel, I will fucking kill you.” Gage grabbed him by the front of his shirt. “Where are Ayesha, Josiah, and Theo?”
“They were still sleeping when I left. I, uh, didn’t wake them up.” They were supposed to come with him, but he didn’t wake them up. Rather than drive and have Ayesha drive his car back, he’d used a car service. After what happened between them the day before, it had seemed like the most appropriate thing to do.
Gage released him. “What?”
“Me and Eesh kind of had a fight, so I didn’t think she’d want to see me.”
Dez made his way over. “Are they okay? I can’t get a signal for shit out here, and I don’t give a damn who’s waiting for us. I won’t get on that plane before I see them.”
“Fuckwit here left without telling them,” Gage spat. “Apparently, he and Ayesha had a fight, so he left them at his place, asleep. I’ll keep trying her phone, but I’m not leaving without seeing them either.”
