Page 65 of Winter's End

Within half an hour, I was knocking on Drew’s door for the first time. We’d never spent any time at his place, and I had never been invited. Granted, we usually got together at Shane’s.

“Come in,” a voice called from inside.

I opened the door to see Drew seated at his small kitchen table, laptop open, with a notebook on his knee. He was scribbling something furiously on its pages.

I peeked at the computer screen. Colorful pages of houses upstate stared back at me. I shot him a curious look. Real estate?

He looked up at me and must have noticed my confused expression. “I’m looking for places to live when this all blows over.”

Ummm … what?

“You’re leaving?” I asked dumbly, surprised, and a little taken aback. Winter loved Drew, Shane loved Drew, whether he’d admitted that yet, and I liked the man—we were our own fucked up version of a chosen family. And he was planning on leaving?

“We’re leaving,” he said matter-of-factly. “I had Logan send me some listings of places that might fit our criteria. Six bedrooms, a few bathrooms, well outside of Cascade Falls area, but close enough that we could visit our families on weekends if there is anything left of them by then.”

His expression soured, but he didn’t elaborate. He didn’t need to. We had no idea what the next steps were. But by the looks of things, half of our parents were going to end up in jail. Life was fucked.

Six bedrooms. Was he proposing the six of us—Logan included—share a home together like a cuddly bunch of romantic roommates? Was that even a thing?

“We’re leaving …” I echoed, still shocked. Could I leave? Mom and Devon, despite the pain in my ass that he was, were my responsibility. I had never had the option of living my life for myself. I couldn’t even picture what that looked like.

Then I snapped to reality. I barely had two nickels to rub together outside of living and support expenses—I wouldn’t be able to afford a house, especially ones as nice as the one on the screen. Trust Logan to send Drew luxury mansions instead of bare-bones homes we could actually pay for.

“Drew …” I hesitated. I didn’t want to insult him, but I needed to splash a dose of realism onto this plan before he got ahead of himself. “There’s no way I’m able to afford any of these—even on a six-way split.”

“Winter wants to use her settlement money.” Drew set his notebook on the table and crossed his arms over his chest, stretching out his long legs beneath the table. “And I think it’s a great idea. What better way to say ‘fuck you’ to the Baker family than to buy a house to share with her boyfriends?”

His grin was uncharacteristically sadistic, and I couldn’t help but snort at the scenario. That was a big ‘fuck you’ all right.

“Let’s face it.” He eyed me carefully. “I have no job prospects here; no real ones, anyway. And I don’t want to be here anymore. Winter won’t have anything here once this all goes down and her parents are locked away. Same with Shane—he doesn’t want to work for WAQ anymore. If it’s even a viable company after Kellan takes it down. Cam is a wayward wanderer, and Logan … well, I’m not sure what his deal is, but he told me in no uncertain terms was Winter going anywhere without him. So, I guess we’re stuck with that guy.” His words were joking, but his face was serious.

“And you’ve been stuck more than the rest of us.” His tone was softer, kinder, even. “Don’t you want to escape this hell when the time comes? Build a life you’ll be proud of?”

I mulled over the idea. Our own home, a chance to go to school, waking up with my beautiful woman every day. Not to mention a band of brothers I could create a life with. It was an enticing offer.

But I’d have to abandon my mother and brother to do it.

I’d have to weigh this on my heart for a little while. But I wouldn’t dismiss it altogether.

I asked another question, instead of answering. “Does Winter even have enough to cover a house? That’s an enormous investment.”

Drew quirked a blond brow at me. “Man, her settlement was three million.”

I let out a low whistle. Three million, just sitting in a bank account for years. She worked two jobs and paid her own way, with three million available at her disposal? Fuck.

My girl had scruples. I loved and respected the woman, but that little tidbit of information was impressive. I didn’t know if I would have had the same willpower.

“She insists that if she’s going to touch the money, it has to be used forus.” He shrugged and reached for his notepad again. “If that’s what she wants, and it’s going to help her move past that douchebag, I’m happy to give it to her.”

“How does Shane feel about this?” I was confident Cam hadn’t heard of this plan yet, or he would have mentioned it to me. But there was no way our boisterous friend was out of the loop.

“He’s on board. After he found his father’s love letters, he’s been a bit of a wreck, to be honest. I’m not sure what to do about it. I’m hoping this is enough of a distraction to get him out of his funk.”

Huh. I had seen little of Shane other than bowling recently. I knew just how badly the sting of family betrayal bore into a man’s soul. I’d send him a text to check in later.

“Want to see some options?”

He turned the computer screen toward me and I leaned forward to see what our rich, pretentious pain-in-the-ass had sent over.

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