Page 119 of The Hardest Hit

“Do you think it was?” asked Aiden, cautiously. He was fascinated to get an insight into Evan and Jackson disagreeing over something. Usually, they seemed to be on the same page.

Evan sighed. “I don’t know. I think that Grandma only knows one way to fight and that’s all in and to the death. If she gets scared, there are no half-measures. What she did to me may have been an overreaction, but I’m not sure that is something we can read into.”

Aiden let out a long breath. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah. You’re right. I just…” He shook his head, unable to put the niggling suspicion out of his head.

“Jackson agrees and that’s why he’s looking into it,” said Evan.

“Well, if you don’t agree, are you OK with that?” asked Aiden, and Evan threw up his hands in frustration.

“What am I supposed to argue with? Jackson looking out for us? Your very well-honed legal instincts? It doesn’t matter if we agree or not. If I’m right then Jackson finds nothing. If I’m wrong, Jackson will keep us from being blind-sided in the future.”

Aiden sat back in his chair. “That’s very reassuring. I’m going to start complaining to you all the time. You make me feel better.”

Evan snorted. “Please don’t.”

“Nope, too late,” said Aiden, latching onto a way to annoy Evan. “I’ve already decided.” He grinned at his older cousin, waiting for Evan’s riposte.

“You’re looking far too happy with yourself,” said Evan, which didn’t even rate on the Evan scale of sarcasm. Evan was apparently in the best mood of all time.

“I am. But, Evan,” said Aiden, “if we’re all getting along and happy… who the fuck are we? I’m not sure that’s allowed for the Deveraux family.”

“My therapist assures me that itisallowed. Although, are we all happy? Seems to me that Jackson has been doing nothing for the last six years, except running around cleaning up our messes. Wasn’t he supposed to be living the cushy post-prison life?”

Aiden chuckled. “I’d say we should get him a girlfriend, but I have introduced him to lots of girls—society girls, waitresses, lawyers… I’ve thrown lots of girls at him. It never goes anywhere.”

“Well, it frequently goes somewhere,” said Evan.

“Yeah, it goes somewhere,” agreed Aiden, “but only with the ones that weren’t interested in anything beyond the next couple of hours. If our cousin could carry a flashing neon sign that saidDoes Not Want a RelationshipI’m pretty sure he would.”

“Yeah,” said Evan, “but I mean… he’s been busy with us. And I don’t know about you, but my general plan is to not have these kinds of problems in the future. If he’s not looking after us, maybe he could look after himself.”

“Hm,” said Aiden, considering that idea. “I wonder what kind of girl he would like. I mean, other than pretty.”

“A smart one,” said Evan. “Naturally.”

Aiden laughed. “Yeah, OK. We’ll find him a smart one.”

“Find who a smart one of what?” asked Olivia as she and Ella returned to the table.

“We’re trying to pick out a girl for Jackson,” said Evan, smiling up at her. Aiden couldn’t stop himself from smiling like an echo. Evan looked so happy when he looked at Olivia.

“Ooh,” said Olivia, sitting down. “Yes, she has to be smart.”

“And tough,” said Ella, returning to her chair. “She can’t be one of these society cream puffs.”

“No, a little bit of cream puff!” argued Olivia. “So he can rescue her.”

“I’m not sure Jackson likes being a knight in shining armor,” said Aiden with a laugh. “None of us do. It runs in the family.”

Olivia looked at Ella, who made an expression that Aiden didn’t quite catch.

“OK,” said Olivia, in a beaming, hundred-watt lie of an agreement.

“I think maybe she could just notwantto be rescued,” said Ella, as if she were trying the argument on for size.

“That could work!” agreed Olivia.

Evan laughed. “So, we need a smart, tough, pretty girl who needs to be rescued, but doesn’t want to be? I’m sure we’ll bump into one of those any minute.”