Page 88 of Wanting a Family Man

“We never called you a prick,” Logan said solemnly. “To your face.” He shared a grimace of culpability with Trystan.

Reid ignored that and said, “It never occurred to me you weren’t okay, Trys. You’ve always been the one who had his act together.”

“With respect, Reid, go fuck yourself,” Trystan said wearily. “I am not magic. Yeah, Mom’s side of the family made a deliberate effort to build me up and set me up for success. They’re trying to repair generations of oppression and genocide. Do you know how much shit she took for letting me live with Dad instead of her, though? Because she believed I should have a relationship with my father and brothers?”

“Then you didn’t wind up with one,” Reid realized. “Not with any of us.”

“We really suck,” Logan said.

“It doesn’t matter,” Trystan muttered, capable of a touchy-feely conversation with nearly anyone except either of these two asshats.

“What are you really mad about, Trys? That we found out about you and Cloe?” Logan asked. “Or that we weren’t there for you when you needed us? We’re here now. Tell us what you need.”

“I need to get back to work,” he bit out. “Filming.”

“Okay. Let’s figure out how to make that happen,” Reid said. “But first, let’s circle back to why you’re sleeping with Cloe. If she’s not moving in on your bank account, what’s going on between you two?”

“We’re friends.” Were they, though? He used his thumbnail to scratch his eyebrow, avoiding Logan’s eyes because he could feel him questioning that statement, given the antagonism he’d witnessed. “We both have things we need to do. She knows I have to get back to my show. Filming has never been conducive to me holding down a relationship, so no, it’s not serious, and it’s actually over.” Why was that such a knife in his gut? “I’m done talking about Cloe because she deserves some privacy.”

His brothers exchanged a look that seemed to suggest they weren’t done being curious, but all Reid said was, “Okay, then. If we found a new first mate, is Johnny ready to captain theStorm Ridgetour?”

Chapter Nineteen

They knew. Everyoneseemed to know that she and Trystan had slept together and, worse, they all seemed to be treating her with kid gloves over it.

At first, Cloe enjoyed the bliss of ignorance. She was still visiting with Emma and Glenda when the men showed up and the usual chaos ensued. Reid made a point of asking her about her injury, but Cloe dismissed that as his being the top dog. He was making sure the company had covered her medical expenses and they wouldn’t be sued.

Logan drove her back to Fabiana’s a short while later and was very unconcerned about what time she should show up for work tomorrow.

“Whenever you’re ready,” he said with a shrug. “Call if you need me to come get you.” He wrote his number on a scrap of paper, since she didn’t have a phone and would have to use Fabiana’s landline.

Once he left with Fabiana, Cloe decompressed, glad to finally have some time alone. She wound up falling asleep on the couch, snapping awake when the phone rang.

“Did I wake you? I didn’t even think,” Trystan said with regret. “Glenda left a casserole at the house. Em wants to know if you want to join us? I can come get you.”

“Is it okay if I don’t? I want to have a bath and an early night.”

A pause, then, “Sure. I’ll let her know. Call if you change your mind. Or if you need anything.”

“I will,” she lied.

“And look. About earlier—”

“It’s fine. We’re fine.” More lies, but she managed to sound sincere as she said, “Safe travels tomorrow. See you Sunday.”

There was another moment of dead air that felt excruciating, then, “Thanks. See you Sunday.”

She did have a bath, then spent some time online with Fabiana’s laptop, which was a cast-off from her son who was a gamer, so it was actually pretty slick. Cloe made herself a fake Facebook account using her initials C.M.V. and entered a birthday that was a mix of Storm’s and her own. She used a random flower as a profile pic.

Then she started searching her father’s name, Jayden Henry, focusing on the ones in Florida who were potentially the right age. One had almost no privacy blocks in place and a quick glance through his photos had her deciding he wasn’t likely to be her father.

She sent a DM to a handful of others, letting them know she was trying to find the Jayden Henry who had lived in California twenty-four years ago. Given how often she deleted random messages from people she didn’t know, she wasn’t surprised when she rose the next morning to find not a single one had responded.

Being a bit of a coward, she waited until she was confident Trystan had left on the tour before she drove the golf cart down to the shipyard, where theMissionary IIwas dry-docked.

Apparently, the vessel had been built as a hospital ship, but more recently had been used for kayaking tours. It had caught fire earlier this summer, and rather than pay the cost of a new engine, the owners had sold it as salvage to Raven’s Cove. Logan was refitting it as floating accommodation.

He wasn’t there, though. She hobbled into the nearest door of the marina. Steps went upward, but beyond them, a swing door led into a room where a high-pitched industrial noise sounded. Cloe peered through the window to see Sophie was wearing a face shield and gloves while turning a rod of metal on a lathe.

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