AllFreeNovel
Share Us
What I wasn’t expecting though?
For Bryant to call my dad.
It’s been years since our family has had anything to do with the Hayes family, so I was pretty fucking shocked he had his number in the first place.
Jaxon handed me a bottle of water when they first sat Bree and I here, but apart from that, they’ve been in work mode, and I don’t really understand what the hell is happening.
The door shoves open and my very angry father storms into the room, his eyes moving around the huge space until they finally settle on me.
“Isla,” he growls as his gaze flicks between me and Bree. If I hadn’t already checked her pulse, I would be demanding we takeher to a hospital, but it’s hardly the first time my best friend has gone a little too hard on a night out.
“Hi Dad,” I say quietly. I don’t want to be ashamed of this situation. I’m twenty years old. I’m almost an adult in every single sense of the word, so I shouldn’t feel shit when my dad has to come get me out of trouble. And yet I feel awful.
He would have flipped when he got that call because he was the one the cops called when Aunt Clarissa died and how much that night has fucked him up.
He gives me one more once-over before turning his attention to the brothers on the other side of the room. It’s suffocating being in an enclosed space with the four of them, even when they’ve barely acknowledged my existence since they led me in here.
I brush my fingers through Bree’s hair and allow my eyes to close for a moment. I’ve always been good at internalizing my feelings, I had to be to survive my childhood in my emotionally stunted family, but right now there’s an uneasiness that continually washes over me. The uncomfortable feeling of the unknown licks at the edge of my consciousness, and no matter how hard I try to rationalize with myself that what happened out in the alley means nothing, there’s something in the back of my mind that tells me that’s not the case at all.
I’m not sure how much time passes. It could be a minute, or an hour, but it feels like an eternity. I just want to go home. The comedown is starting to kick my ass, and I’m exhausted, but I’m also not brave enough to interrupt the important conversations happening on the other side of the room.
I thought it would have just been a case of my father picking us up and taking us home to yell at me, and possibly Bree. But instead, we’ve been sitting on this couch waiting for what feels like hours.
When Bryant and my father finally turn to me, I know there’s something wrong before they can reach me.
Maybe it’s how my father doesn’t actually seem mad at me but afraid.
Or how Bryant looks both sad and furious at the same time.
But there’s definitely something off.
“We’re going home so you can pack,” my father tells me once he’s within earshot.
“Pack?” I choke out the word. Where the hell am I going? He’s never let me leave the city without him, and I can hardly see that changing after tonight.
“You’re going to Chicago.”
“Why the hell would I go to Chicago?” I all but shout. What the fuck is going on here? All I did was save my best friend from being taken by some idiots, that hardly translates to me uprooting my whole life and moving to another city.
“Because I said so,” he snaps. “You got yourself into this mess, and I’m getting you out of it.”
“But I didn’t do anything. I don’t understand why I would have to leave Boston.”
Bryant steps forward, giving my father a quick nod as if telling him he’s got this. What he’s got, I have no idea, but I’m hoping he can at least give me some rational thought seeing as my father has clearly lost his fucking mind.
“Do you know who those guys were?” he asks.
I shake my head. “No, I didn’t recognize them. I just came out looking for Bree and found them trying to get her in the car.”
He nods, looking over his shoulder at my father. “They work for Mason Spade.”
My eyes widen, and I shoot a look at my dad as things start to fall into place. “Isn’t that?—”
“The man who killed your aunt,” he confirms.
I stare at him for long seconds, trying to process what they’re telling me.
Those guys were looking for me. They thought Bree wasme.But why would they want me? Why would Mason Spade want me? My aunt died twelve years ago, I’d be surprised if he even remembered her.
