Page 25

“Don’t worry about it, Miss Cooper, I’ll have them when you can find them, no rush.” Smiling, I walked through the door and waited in the foyer for Eli, glad to be out of such a small confined space.

“Mama!” Eli shouted as he ran through the door, his coat being dragged along the floor as well as his bag.

“Eli!” I shouted back and crouched down with my arms open wide. This felt good, this felt beyond good. Knowing I was doing this on my own again was such an incredible feeling.

“We on our own, mama?” he asked when I took his bag and coat from him and held my hand out.

“Yep” I grinned down at him. “Want to get burgers and take them back to the warehouse for everyone?”

“Yeah!” he shouted and practically dragged me to the car.

They all scoffed the burgers down as soon as we got back to the warehouse. I had to separate Ty’s from everyone else’s and managed to get them back home safely. I didn’t know when he would be back but I knew that Kitty was taking over his shift tonight.

Luke had asked me if he could come over and read Eli a bedtime story, I couldn’t say no. He was so used to seeing Eli twice a day and since I’d taken Eli on my own, he hadn’t seen him all day.

I cleaned the house, tidying any mess that we had made and making sure the kitchen counters sparkled, all before Luke left. Once he was gone, I jumped in the shower and tried to mentally prepare for my video call with Corey.

This was the first one since we had spoken about Max. He’d tried to video call a few times after but each time I refused to talk to him. It was time that I pulled up my big girl panties and asked him out right, what the hell had gone on?

Stepping into Ty’s home office, I switched the computer on and typed in the password that he’d had me memorize. Twisting my wet hair, I pulled it into a bun on the top of my head and crossed my legs on the giant comfy office chair, waiting for the call to come through.

He always gave a rough time that he would call but it could be at any time if something came up. The ringing sound came from the speakers at the exact time that he said that he’d call. Taking a deep calming breath, I put my hand on the mouse and clicked the accept button.

“Corey?” I mumbled.

“Lil’ sis?” His face came onto the screen, his smile completely taking over. “Ah, it’s good to see you.”

“Yeah,” I ground out, all of my anger coming back full force.

“Hey.” He furrowed his brows, moving closer to the camera. “What’s that tone for? Something happen?”

“Yeah,” I said, moving closer. “You came back to visit nine months ago?”

His eyes widened as he stilled. His body language and demeanour told me all I needed to know, without him having to say a word.

“Listen-”

“What the hell, Corey!” I threw my hands in the air, shaking my head. “I can’t believe you would do that!”

“Kay-”

“I mean, telling me that you had come back to the country, but couldn’t see me because you were doing specialized training, is one thing.” I uncrossed my legs and planted my feet firmly on the ground. “But being this close and not even bothering to come see us?”

My hands were waving around in the air, and if I was honest, I probably looked like a mad woman. But I had every right to be like this with him, he always droned on about the importance of telling each other the truth, when he hadn’t been telling the truth.

“Kaylee, if I’d had known what that sick fuck was doing to you-” He tried to reason, his head hanging down.

“That doesn’t matter!” I leaned forward even more, resting precariously on the edge of my seat. “It doesn’t matter what he did to me…” My voice broke as I tried to hold back a sob.

I covered my mouth with my hand and squeezed my eyes shut tight. I didn’t want to bring all of that back up again or get into that head space. It wouldn’t help anything; it would just make things worse.

“Ah, fuck!” he shouted, making me jump and open my eyes back up.

“You should have wanted to come and see us.” I managed to get past the lump in my throat.

“It wasn’t safe,” he said, bringing his face back up to the camera. “I was there for Ty’s help.”

“I don’t understand,” I sniffled.