Page 8 of Coming Home

“Thank you, Shelby,” she said, before practically running towards the front door.

It was great to see Maddie, Liam, Oscar, and Sara. They’d even brought two security guys with them. That always seemed a little weird, but Maddie assured me that was just par for the course of being a Westin. They had been targeted too many times to take any chances, especially with the women and children. The guys didn’t hover though, especially in Collier territory, so I didn’t even see them until when, by mid-afternoon, Peyton and Ruby still hadn’t shown and Maddie asked if she could go with me to check on them.

Liam insisted Jeremiah shadow us since we were leaving Collier territory, even just barely, to go to Peyton’s. When we arrived Lizzy, Clara, and Lily were all there, too.

“About time you two showed up,” Lily said as she rose to greet Maddie.

“I thought Peyton and Ruby were coming over to Mom’s.”

“I texted hours ago to tell you to snag Maddie and get your butts over here. It’s sister time!” Lily exclaimed, still hugging Madelyn around the neck. “I missed you MC, sooooo much!”

“Oh no, what is she drinking?” I asked.

“Wine,” Peyton and Clara said in unison before yelling “Jinx!”

I shrugged and poured two glasses of wine, handing one to Maddie. “Looks like we’ve got some catching up to do.”

Jeremiah had accompanied us but chose to stay out in the front parlor and do his best to ignore us.

As the day turned to evening, Oliver stopped by long enough to deliver pizzas and change clothes.

“Where are you off to tonight, cowboy?” Ruby asked him.

Oliver snorted and shook his head. “I already talked to the guys. Everyone’s in agreement that you lushes, I mean luscious ladies, should just stay the night here. I’m taking Brady and Kenneth with me out on the range, so the place is all yours. But who’s the creepy guy in my parlor?” Oliver asked.

We all giggled. Brady and Kenneth were Oliver’s little brothers. They lived with him and Peyton. There were actually three, but Tim was away at college at the moment.

“That’s not creepy, that’s Jeremiah,” Lizzy corrected him, making very little sense.

“Okay, so who is Jeremiah?” Oliver tried again.

“Maddie’s security detail,” she said. “I refused one, but then Maddie’s an actual Westin and Liam’s a paranoid control freak when it comes to his family.”

Maddie shrugged and nodded in agreement. “You get used to it. He’s part of the Delta team on Westin Force. Patrick’s pretty much assigned the poor guy to me.”

Patrick O’Connell was head of security for Westin Pack. Let’s just say he took security very seriously. I didn’t know much about it, but I knew enough to know that Westin Force was basically his own private military. Lizzy’s mate, Cole, worked closely with him. She and Cole alternated their time between Westin and Collier Packs. It was still strange to me how drastically my sister had changed after mating him, but there was no doubt in anyone’s minds just how happy the two of them were together.

Satisfied with Lizzy’s answer, Oliver kissed his mate goodnight, stopped by to talk to Jeremiah for a moment, then headed out leaving just us girls, and Jeremiah, there for the night. It didn’t take long at all for Peyton to rat me out.

“Okay, okay, you guys, we have an issue that needs resolving, like yesterday,” Peyton said. She had once been the quietest of us all, but mating Oliver had certainly awakened a new assertive side to her.

“What’s up?” Lily asked. “This sounds serious.”

“Shelby slept with Benjamin Shay!” she blurted out.

I froze, my jaw dropped in shock as all eyes flew to me.

“Wait? Ben’s home?” Clara asked.

“When? I just saw his mother two days ago and she didn’t mention a thing,” Ruby added.

I closed my eyes, praying this was all a nightmare. I didn’t want to talk about Ben. I certainly didn’t want to talk about sex with Ben. It was all still too painful, and I would not share any of it with them. I didn’t care that they were my sisters and overshared everything. This was private, and very personal. I had secrets I had never told anyone, and I didn’t plan to start now.

“He’s not,” I tried to assure them. “I haven’t seen or heard from Ben in nearly nine years. This is something that happened a long, long time ago,” I said, trying to brush it off and downplay it all.

“Shelbs, I love you, you know that, but you need help, and that’s what sisters are for,” Peyton said. I wanted to murder her right there. How dare she bring this up! I didn’t care how much wine she’d consumed, this was crossing a line she’d never even approached before.

“Is that why you’re still pining for him?” Ruby asked.

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