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I watch the scene in front of me with new eyes. It’s like wiping the rain from a windshield. I see how they interact with each other. Lucas and Stone trying to help Wyatt while Wyatt puts on airs that he doesn’t need help while secretly wanting help. They’re like a family. A disjointed one, sure. Not your typical parents and siblings, but hell, my father and I were never the typical family unit either. Everything about us was abnormal.
Wyatt finishes the breakfast, and even though we should be hurrying to make it to at least some of our classes today, we settle in like it’s the weekend. We take the plates and the food out to the patio like the morning after I first arrived. The guys talk easily, telling stories about other times when Wyatt was drunk off his ass and how they had to drag him home. Then, the stories expand to Lucas, and then even Stone. Stone’s story surprises me the most. I didn’t think he ever gave up control willingly. To get drunk, you have to give up the biggest control of all, yourself.
Despite the good-natured jabs, Stone immediately changes the subject when it veers toward him. He might as well be a warden from that prison last night for all he lets get free.
When we finish, I pick up the plates, even at Stone’s disapproval, and move them to the kitchen. When I come back out, the contract is sitting in front of me. I’m not sure which one of them saved it last night, but they’re all eyeing me expectantly.
Even more so than yesterday, I feel comfortable signing this document. There’s just one thing bugging me. One thing that’s not directly stated in the contract, but I want it to be.
“What do you think?” Stone asks. “Are you all in?”
I worry over my lip. My stomach dips low, surprising me with the feelings of how momentous this is. I went from being by myself, sticking to the shadows, to being front and center of three gorgeous men. Our plan revolves around me, and it gives me both a high and an overwhelming feeling that I’ll never be able to measure up. What my family knows about the treasure didn’t come from me.
My father always said I’d put my stamp in history when it came to the treasure, all I had to do was wait.
Me? I just thought that Dad would find it. He worked so damn hard on it that if anyone deserved to put their mark in history regarding the treasure, it was him.
Maybe it is my time now though.
I gaze up at Stone. I understand what’s riding on this for him. Sometimes, I can see the panic in his eyes. The feeling that he doesn’t have a hold of the reigns like he would prefer. “Is it just the four of us?” I ask.
Stone cocks his head. “What do you mean?”
“All this talk in here about never letting slip what my family knows, I want to make sure it’s just the four of us.”
He narrows his gaze, and it’s not just him. Stone and Wyatt look confused as well. “Dakota, you’re going to have to be more specific.”
“When we’re talking about sharing information, how far does it go? Does that extend to your dad?”
I don’t care if he is Stone’s father, I don’t like Lance Jacobs. Call it that gut feeling. Intuition. My father always said I should follow it, and I will. Spending time with Lance won’t even change the way I feel, not like it has with these guys.
“My father would like the information, yes.” His jaw clenches as he swallows. “If you’re asking if the information can stay between us four... You, me, Wyatt, and Lucas, then we’ll do that. My father is the reason we’re in this shit anyway.” My fingers buzz as he takes a pen and moves the contract in front of him. On the last page, he starts writing, then makes four underlines. “I added a new clause. If we all initial the new clause, it will be binding. If you want to make sure, I’ll give you the number to a law—”
I hold my hand up to stop him. I trust him. God help me, but I fucking trust Stone Jacobs. “I believe you.”
His eyes spark with emotion. He turns the contract to me and hands over the pen. I read his new clause, which states that the parties the contract refers to are the four signing parties, and that no other party shall be privy to any information shared within the group or even contained within the contract. “You’re not going to tell your dad about this?”
“I’m saving my friends and the people who were pulled into this. That’s it. I’m not here to save my father’s ass for his poor business decisions.”
A cold sweat breaks out across my forehead. There’s still part fear, a long-held belief that there’s no way I should be signing a contract with a Jacobs, but there’s also encouragement too.
I sign my name on the first line and date it. Then, I initial in the spot Stone left for me.
Stone indicates that I give the papers to Lucas who signs it without reading it before passing it to Wyatt who does the same. When Stone gets it, he smiles. It isn’t huge. It doesn’t reflect on a happy occasion, it’s just a look of solidarity between us all. He signs the paperwork with the most pristine handwriting you’ve ever seen, each letter almost choreographed to come out perfectly. The rest of our signatures look like kindergartners got a hold of it while his is one for the record books. When he finishes, he caps the pen and sets it next to the contract. “I’ll get this filed and give everyone copies.”
“Thank you,” I say, my voice deep with meaning. It’s just a piece of paper with three lousy signatures and one masterpiece on it but it means so much to me. More than I ever could articulate right now.
Maybe it’s because those papers are a physical manifestation of what’s been going on in real life. In real life, these guys have wormed their way into my every day. I’m well aware I’m past the point that if they left tomorrow, that I’d be stranded. Not just because of the lack of money, but because in such a short amount of time, they’ve made me feel more comfortable in my own skin than I’ve ever been in my previous twenty years of life.
I’m finally accepted.
I swallow the emotion down, refusing to let them see how much I’m affected by this. I don’t think they could understand. They’ve always had each other. They can’t possibly realize what it’s like to be me. Obviously, with Wyatt’s stunt last night, I realize they might all come with their own sets of baggage, but this is mine. And I can keep it close to my heart if I want to.
“I want to head up into the mountains on Saturday,” Stone says. “I don’t care if we don’t even have a destination, I just feel useless down here. I want us going through those papers of your father’s every night. I want that shit categorized and filed into something that makes sense. School is a priority, but these assholes aren’t going to let us sit back.” He leans back in his chair with eyes like ice. “They’re dangerous, and if we don’t start moving, I have a feeling we won’t like their response.”
“But they can’t possibly think we’ll be able to find the treasure just like that when it’s been missing for over a hundred years, Stone,” I say, trying to reason with him.
“I’m guessing they think if the motivation is strong enough, we will.”