Page 5 of Kade

He drew in a breath. “Fuck.Fuck.”He needed a second to process that too.

I waited, hearing his ragged breathing.

“Okay.” His voice came back, clearer. “Does Sam need Quincey there?”

I frowned, thinking. “Uh… I don’t know, to be honest. She and Heather are handling Logan right now.”

“I’ll ask her. This is what we’ll do. Babe…” His voice moved away. I heard his wife in the background, saying, “What?”

“Change of plans,” he told her. “Mason and Logan’s dad died tonight.”

“What?” she gasped.

It was hard, hearing her shock at the news.

Nate’s voice stayed even. “I need you to text Samantha, ask her if she needs you to come now or if you can hold off enough to take care of shit here.”

“What are you thinking?” she asked.

“I’m going to fly down tonight. If Sam needs you, you come with me. If we do that, I was thinking your brother could bring the kids down with him.”

“Graham?”

“Yeah. Or I can call my sister. She’d fly over to do that for us and drive the kids down.”

“No,” Quincey replied. “That’s too much to ask Aspen to be away from their kids. Graham will do it. He’ll bring his kids with him.”

Nate’s voice came back to the phone, clearer. “Quincey’s calling her brother right now, but I’ll be heading down. She’ll either be with me or if he can’t help, she’ll bring the kids down in a few days. Areyouokay?”

No, I wanted to bite out, not at him but because of the question. “He shot himself in front of us. Logan and me. I’m not going to be okay for a long fucking time.”

Nate was quiet for a beat, and then his voice wavered. “I’m coming, brother.”

That meant a lot. A whole hell of a lot.

I had a hard time swallowing. “Thanks,” I rasped out before I ended the call.

There was a wall inside of me. I’d built it the second my dad pulled the trigger, and I was hiding behind it right now to deal with all of this shit. But he was coming. The wagons were circling. I needed them. Logan needed them.

That meantso much.

Despite all this, I knew how fucking blessed I was. Logan was always there. Then Nate. Then Logan. Then Logan and Sam. After that, Nate returned. Heather joined. Channing stepped a foot in, and over the years, he’d come all the way in. Matteo joined in college.

I felt the support around me. I needed more of it than usual.

Channing returned when he saw I was done on the phone. He held his own up. “Matteo will be on the first flight. He’s in Hawaii with his family right now.”

That was good. That was real good.

“What about David and Malinda?” Channing asked.

I shook my head. “Not yet. Maddy will wake up. She’ll know something’s wrong. I want to wait until the kids are awake tomorrow. We’ll have them come over. I’ll tell David and Malinda outside before we tell the kids. They can be there for Maddy and the twins.”

“Max will want to be there.” Channing’s son, who was a year younger than Maddy.

That sounded right. “Bring him.”

“Your mom?”

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