Page 31

“I’m so sorry,” she murmurs. “Are you okay?”

“Darling, you just stole my line.” I cup her face in my hands. “I’m so sorry, Keegan. Areyouokay?”

She steps out of my arms and waves that away. “Come in. We’re eating garbage and drinking our way through Stone’s expensive liquor cabinet.”

A wry sort of smile hits my lips, and I glance over Keegan’s head to find Stone, who doesn’t seem the least bit bothered by that. He’s got a large tumbler of what I know to be bourbon in his hand, and when he catches my eyes, he holds up the bottle and uses it to wave me in.

Fuck it. If I’m staying here, I might as well indulge. I can’t remember the last time I had a proper drink.

But before I get too lost, I pull Keegan back to me, realizing I want her close. “I’m sorry you’ve gotten dragged into this. You’ve been nothing but a good friend this last week, and look what I’ve done to you. Are you okay? Please answer me on that. You’re concerned about me when it should be the other way around.”

“It’s fine. I mean, it’s not, but what can you do about it?” She shrugs. “I’m a Fritz, Loomis. We’re used to press and scandal. Hell, my father’s nickname was Doctor Scandalous before I was born, so this is nothing new. Besides, I leave for Florida tomorrow anyway.”

“Right.” I had almost forgotten about that with all the chaos. A pang of jealousy and longing hit me. What wouldn’t I give to join her? To get out of Boston and away from all of this and just be. Just for a bit. Just until things settle and poor Fen could have some normalcy in his young life. Something I doubt he’s ever had. And as much as I shouldn’t admit it, the thought of being with Keegan isn’t unappealing either.

When Fen first turned up on Mum’s door, he was so small. There were no signs of abuse, but he was thin and tiny and cautious. Distrustful. I don’t know what his world was like with his mum before she left him with us, but I don’t get the impression it was sunshine and rainbows as it ought to have been.

As it should be for every child.

Keegan gives me another smile and leaves me standing here, and why do I hate that so much? I’m falling apart, and she’s still perfect, and I want… fuck, I want to take her back in my arms and feel that feeling I always get when I’m around her. Just for another moment.

I enter the sitting room and take a moment to appreciate how Willow, Katy’s little girl, who will be two in June, interacts with my son. They’re being tended to by Rory, who is Owen’s seven-year-old daughter and acting like a perfect mother hen as Willow and Fen test each other out, touching toys and each other and smiling the way kids do. It’s absolutely adorable.

“Here, man.” Stone hands me a glass of bourbon without my having to ask. I’m typically a gin man if I drink at all, but I have no complaints at present.

“Thanks.”

“Welcome to Party Central, where we find ways to mess up the press.” Mason holds up his drink to me. “Don’t look so shell-shocked, Loomis. We do this shi—um, stuff like it’s our job, and we make it look good.”

“Thanks, mate. Cheers for that.” I nod in gratitude and take a sip. “I really appreciate you all being here and not tying me to a stake and burning me alive for my transgressions.”

“That sounds like a very Bloody Mary thing to do,” Katy quips.

“It was.” I smirk at her cheekiness. “This is a much more enticing place to be than the Tower of London.”

“Don’t sweat it, man,” Owen states. “Honestly, we’ve all been there before.”

“Though I think this is officially Keegan’s cherry popping,” Wren jumps in.

Keegan flips her off, and I can’t help but relax at the laughter that fills the room.

I take a seat on a chair near Fen but with a perfect vantage point to Keegan. Kenna is beside her, and while they are identical, they’re easy enough to tell apart, and there’s something about Keegan that draws my eyes and holds them.

Just as I’m taking another sip, savoring the warmth of the bourbon, the front door bursts open, and Vander is there. “I’m working on it” is his grand greeting. “I might have some leads—maybe—going, but once I get something firm, I’ll tell you.”

“Thanks, mate. I appreciate that more than I can express.”

When this all began, I offered Vander money for his efforts, but he refused and told me he already had more than he could ever spend in twenty lifetimes and that he would enjoy the challenge I was giving him more than any payment. Hacking is his sport, and he’s the best at it.

“How did they find you?” Kenna asks. “I mean, they didn’t just stumble upon you that night you ran into Keegan on the sidewalk. They had to have been following you and know it was you despite your disguise.”

“I agree,” Tinsley states. “I didn’t join you with Fen until after some of those pictures were taken, so it wasn’t from them following me. They were on to you.”

That was my thought too.

“Do you think it’s…” I trail off, nodding toward Fen, wondering if his mum is up to something behind the scenes.

Vander shrugs. “Could be. Or it was just a stealthy reporter who spotted you days before that with Tinsley and realized it was you. Time will tell.”