Page 29 of Chasing Shelter (Sparrow Falls #5)

I quickly silenced it, taking in the unfamiliar number on the screen. Unease slid through me like the oily tentacles of an unknown sea monster. I pushed to my feet, mumbling that I’d be back. As I headed for the back door, the phone started ringing again.

The same unfamiliar number.

My fingers tightened around the device. It could be Trace. Maybe he was calling from a landline at the station.

I hit Accept , pressing the cell to my ear as I closed the door behind me and stepped out onto the back deck. “Hello?”

“Eleanor.”

Everything in me tightened at the sound of Bradley’s voice. “You need to stop calling me.”

Maybe he simply needed to hear it. To know that we were truly done.

“You need to stop playing games,” he spat.

My fingers gripped the phone harder. “I’m not. I’m saying we’re done. I hope you can deal with the things you need to and find someone who makes you happy. But that person isn’t me.”

I moved the phone away from my ear to end the call but heard him yelling on the other end of the line. “You think you can throw me away, you little cunt?—”

I disconnected, but I couldn’t stop staring at the screen. I could count the number of times I’d heard Bradley curse on one hand. He’d always thought my letting those spicy words fly was an unattractive habit. Maybe keeping them in my vocabulary was my little rebellion.

A new call flashed on the screen. Same number. I ignored it and moved to block it, too. I’d change my number tomorrow. Cut off access. It would be better for us both.

I heard the door behind me but didn’t move. I didn’t have the layers of mask I needed for whoever it was. I painted on one after another as the footsteps got closer.

“Everything okay?”

I should’ve known it would be Linc. He was always checking in. Such a good big brother.

I turned, giving him an easy smile. “Yup. You finish dessert?”

Linc’s eyes narrowed on me, clearly not dissuaded from his mission. “Who was on the phone? ”

“No one,” I said quickly.

“El Bell…”

“ConCon.” We could both play the childhood nickname game. I hadn’t been able to say Lincoln when I was little, so he’d become ConCon to me, much to our father’s chagrin. Philip Pierce hated nicknames. “We gave you a specific name for a reason. Don’t sully it, Eleanor.”

Linc didn’t smile at my use of his nickname now. “Don’t shut me out.”

I straightened. “I’m not.”

“Ellie, you’ve barely talked to me since you moved into your new place.”

My shoulders slumped slightly, the fight leaving me. “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry. Just tell me what’s going on.”

The pleading in Linc’s voice nearly broke me. I moved in and wrapped my arms around my brother’s waist, giving him the hardest hug I could. “You’re too oversized,” I grumbled.

Linc laughed as he released me. “Maybe you’re just too small.”

I shot him a dirty look as I leaned back against the porch railing, letting the night wrap around me like a comforting blanket.

“You ready to talk?” Linc pressed.

I wasn’t. Not about everything. Linc was too entwined in it all. Everything felt like a giant knot I was still trying to untangle. But I didn’t want to lock him out either.

“I’m trying to figure out how to stand on my own two feet.” Truth. It might not give him every detail, but it gave him the core.

Linc’s brows pulled together as he studied me. “It looks to me like you’re doing that.”

“I almost set my house on fire the first night I was in it.”

Linc’s eyes went wide. “You what?”

I held up both hands, trying to placate him, even while being grateful that I didn’t have a soon-to-be sister-in-law who shared all the sibling gossip with her fiancé. “I’m fine. The house is fine. I got a new range, and we’re all good.”

“Ellie—”

“What?” I asked, cutting him off. “You want me to move out? Come live with you and Arden at your new place when it’s done so you can keep an eye on me? Never learn to cook because I might blow something up? You already moved me in next door to the sheriff without my knowledge.”

Linc was quiet for a long moment before he spoke. “You need room to stumble.”

The air left my lungs on a giant whoosh because I knew he understood. “Yes.”

“And I might’ve been a little stifling.”

My mouth curved as I held up my finger and thumb to show a sliver of space. “Just a tiny bit.”

He barked out a laugh. “Arden told me I was being overbearing.”

“Have I told you lately that I love your fiancée?” I asked.

Linc grinned. “She’s pregnant.”

I stilled, my hands wrapping around the porch railing and holding on tight. “What?” I whispered.

“Twins. We wanted to tell everyone tonight.”

My hands released the beam, and I flew at my brother.

He laughed as he caught me and swung me around. “Happy news?”

“The happiest,” I croaked, tears filling my eyes.

“Hey,” Linc said as he set me down. “No tears.”

“They’re happy tears.” I sniffed. “I just—you guys deserve this. Every ounce of this happiness.”

“They’re gonna be so damn lucky to have you as an aunt,” Linc whispered.

“Gonna be even luckier to have you as a dad.”

Linc gripped my shoulders and held on. “Gonna give them everything we never had. Love they never question. Fun and chaos. Color. The knowledge that they’re accepted for whoever they are.”

Each statement was a beautiful blow—a knife slicing to the core with joy as its blade. I didn’t know how I could hold the two extremes, but somehow, I did. “I know you will.”

And I did. I just hoped I could find the same for myself.