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I’d left my hometown eight years ago for a reason. For reasons that were still there, and I wasn’t thrilled at the thought of going back to them.
But what choice did I have?
This was going to be the biggest case of my career. A career I’d worked my ass off for. I wasn’t going to let it pass me by just because I was trying to avoid a five-foot-three blonde I’d spent my entire life pining after.
Yeah, fuck that.
So, b
egrudgingly, I’d agreed.
And it looked like I was headed home sooner rather than later. Thanks to a ridiculous twist of fate.
I made one more lap around the security room before throwing myself back into my desk chair and grabbing my phone from the desk.
I pulled up my contacts and located the picture of my baby sister’s smiling face then pressed the send button.
“Lawson!” she answered in greeting.
“Hey, Georgie,” I drawled, the smile her sweet voice always brought creeping over my face. It was hard to stay pissed about anything when you talked to Georgia Reed. Her enthusiasm for life was damn near contagious, even for a grumpy old bastard like myself.
“How are you?” she breathed. “Catching all the bad Internet guys out there? Gah. I would kill to have another one of Gordon Ramsey’s steaks with you. Let’s plan my next trip out! What do you think about the fall? Oh, I could come for a long weekend. We could pretend to be tourists and stay on the strip. Hey, what if I brought a friend? Maybe Case? Do you remember meeting her? You know that one time you came home? I think you liked her! I know she liked you. Oh, so listen to this shit. I was talking to Mom the other day about Ham—”
My ears perked up at the mention of my brother, but I didn’t have the time to find out what his latest antics were. I imagined they had something to do with Piper, and if that were the case, I’d be able to find out easily enough on my own. Besides, once Georgia got started telling a story, there was no stopping her. “Georgia!”
She paused long enough for me to get a word in, and I wasted no time. “We’re gonna have to postpone your trip to Vegas,” I sighed.
“Uh!” I could almost see her bottom lip poked out in a pout. “Why?” she asked again.
I hesitated. Telling the family gossip queen my plans meant everyone would know way before I was ready for them to. But it was too late to turn back now. “I’m moving home.”
Her squeal was so loud, I had to pull the phone away from my head to keep my eardrum from rupturing. Several of the other guys in the large surveillance room looked up, their eyebrows lifted, but I ignored their questioning looks and brought the phone back to my ear.
“Keep that between you and me for now.” I wasn’t in the mood for one of our dad’s interrogations or a phone call from Mom that was sure to be filled with tears of joy, followed up quickly by her insistence that I talk to Piper. I’d deal with that shit when I got there.
“Sure, of course,” she agreed eagerly. “When are you coming back? We have to have a party! Oh, I know this guy who plays in a local band. Just let me know when you’ll be here and I can have him come play at the party. You know, you could maybe—”
I cut her off again. “No party.”
“But—”
“Repeat after me, Georgie. ‘I will not throw Lawson a party,’” I demanded, my voice hard.
“Lawson! Come on. I mean, really. You’ve been gone eight fucking years.” A pang of guilt stabbed me in the stomach. It wasn’t nearly long enough if you asked me, but I knew my absence was hard on the women in my family, especially my kid sister. “People are going to want to come celebrate your return. And the ones who won’t want to celebrate will at least want to get a look at the nerdy kid who took off for Vegas nearly a decade ago.”
She was right about that. The town we’d grown up in was a small one, and everyone knew everyone else’s business. They’d all want to get a good look at the kid who took off less than a month after one of his best friends was killed in a car accident.
But, fuck them.
“Don’t care. No party.”
She sighed heavily, the disappointment lacing her voice when she finally agreed. “Compromise with me. Family dinner?”
I leaned back in my chair and ran a hand through my hair. “Fine. Family dinner.”
She let out another squeal.
“At home, Georgia. You’re not putting me on display for the whole town as soon as I get back. And just family.”
