Page 65 of Jon's Helter Skelter Cold Case

“Thanks for that.”

I hurried for the hallway. Natalie didn’t have a temper normally, so when it chose to make an appearance, explosions of atomic proportions generally happened. She did look fit to be tied, and like she’d been doing errands and stuff—she was in ragged shorts and a tank top, hair up in a messy bun.

“Sis, breathe,” I encouraged her.

Her lines sparked with worry, outrage, and something else. Something lurked behind her worry that spoke of a deeper upset.

“What,” she snarled between clenched teeth, “is going on?”

“Love at first sight.”

That stopped her cold, and she came to an abrupt stop right in front of me. Her mouth worked for a second before she managed to get words out. “What?”

Skylar blew right past me, her hands latching onto her mother’s arms. She was buzzing, nearly bouncing in place, her happiness still running hot in her system.

“Mom. Don’t be upset, nothing to be upset about. Come meet my Abby.”

Natalie looked down at her daughter’s face, still worried, but confusion was overtaking her anger.

“YourAbby?”

“Well, she’s certainly not anyone else’s,” Skylar stated factually. “As soon as Uncle Jon tells us how to bond, we’ll do it.”

Slow down there, kiddo. You’re about to get me in trouble.

“We were waiting on you to arrive,” I cut in quickly. “To talk this all over. Abby’s father is here, too. Come meet him.”

Natalie followed me in, likely because she didn’t know what else to do in that precise second.

I introduced the two parents and let them commiserate with each other about how this had hit with no warning, and surely they should have had something of a warning. Then I snuck back over to the other side of the room, where Donovan sat, because he was the least complicated person to sit with right now.

Donovan pulled me in against his hip, only to whisper in my ear, “Explain this to me. I get why Abby’s all on board for instant bonding—she can see everything she needs to about Skylar. But why is Skylar on board with it?”

I just looked at him. Seriously? “Well, honey, why were you on board with bonding with me so quickly?”

He blinked. Blinked again. Then snorted a laugh. “Touché.”

“Skylar’s been around me enough to know that if a Reader reacts like this? Then they’re not wrong. That’s my guess. Plus, she’s confided in me several times she’s always wanted to be an anchor but didn’t think it was really feasible. It’s why she settled on working for the police instead.”

“Ahhhh. So this is literally a dream come true for her.”

“Basically. Although I just realized, they might still go police. With Abby bonded, they can totally go FBI now.”

“Oh. Shit. Uh…Gonzalez is going to be impossible to live with once he finds out.”

“Tell me about it.”

I glanced over to the parents’ side, but they seemed to be talking each other down. Good, good. It looked like they wereworking through the logistics of how to handle this now, so I deemed it safe to pull the girls in closer and coach them on how to bond.

I explained what all went into it. I definitely wanted them to stay close to each other over the next month—at least—so their bond could settle. It would be more comfortable all around for that to happen. Both girls had vehicles, so they might be bouncing between Natalie’s house and Craig’s, but I’d let them figure everything out. My job was to make sure bonding and training ran smoothly.

Natalie did seem more settled, but her mom instincts were frazzled. She turned to me and pleaded, “Jon. Isn’t this too soon?”

I loved how she thought I had any control over this situation. “Nat, to my eyes, they’re already in pre-bonding stage. Absolutely nothing we can say will stop this. Also, no need to. They’ll be fine. We all might need a shot or three of whiskey after this, but they’ll be just fine.”

Skylar frowned at her mother. “Why are you so worried?”

“Just wait until you’re a parent.” Natalie sighed, head in her hand. “Then you’ll get it. All right, if we’re doing this, we’re doing it right. Sky, get on the family chat and tell everyone. We’ll have a party later tonight at Rodrigo’s.”

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