Page 77 of The Best of Us

“My youngest brother is in Charlotte. His wife just had twins last year. And I have a brother in Nashville. His wife is pregnant. Isabella, whom Colin already met, lives a few blocks from me. She married my best friend, Hudson, last month.”

“I remember Colin asking about him this morning.”

I nodded. “And my parents live nearby, too.”

“Colin would love to meet them all when you’re ready to make that happen. He told me that upstairs. One of the few things he mentioned that didn’t require teeth pulling.”

I dropped back down on the couch next to her. “It’s not too fast? They can be a bit much. Are you sure?”

She abandoned her latte to hold my hand.

I fixed my eyes on our fingers locking together on her thigh. My hand could easily swallow hers whole.

“He’s dreamed of this his whole life, but I think he won’t fully accept this is real until . . .”

She didn’t need to finish that thought. I was right there with her. “Consider it done. Maybe just us tomorrow?” I wasn’t ready to share them with anyone. “I’ll have everyone come over on Monday.” No idea if I’d give them a heads-up first or just drop the bomb on them the way it’d been dropped on me. “I’d like to meet your family one day, too, if that’s okay.”

“I’d love that.”

“Where do they live?”

“My father’s still in Kentucky where his business is, but my mother moved to Kansas City with Easton’s dad once I went to college. And Easton’s all over the world but currently based in Switzerland.”

“He’s not still military?” When I’d looked Juliette up in my drunken state Thursday night, I hadn’t bothered to check into her brother’s background. I only saw him listed as a sibling but with a different last name. “Wait, you said he takes justice into his own hands now, right? Guess he’s not still in the Air Force, then.”

“Yeah, he’s in the private security business.”

“I am, too.” I hadn’t planned to tell her about my extracurricular activities today, and it didn’t exactly feel like the time to do it, but I didn’t have much of a choice but to continue now.

“What do you mean?”

“I help people.” Well, that was obnoxiously vague. “It’s a side-job thing. Although, I don’t take money for it. Consider it volunteer work.”

I pulled my hand free to stand again, opting to keep my back to her to get through this.

“Izzy and Hudson work with me. So do my brothers from time to time. A couple of other special operators, too. That work is actually why I was at the rave. We were following a lead of sorts.” I’d already told Colin some of this, and I feared I would lose track of who knew what and how much.

“This is, well, a relief.”

Shock sent me back around to face her. “What do you mean?”

She pushed up off the couch and stood. “Because it explains a lot. Answers questions I had.” When she smiled, reached for my arm, and squeezed, I lowered my gaze to where she held me, confused as hell. “To be clear, I like this answer. I like that you still help people even though you’re out of the Navy.”

How was she taking this so well? How was she smiling? Rubbing my arm? No, I couldn’t get my hopes up. I didn’t even know how todohope.

“You know, the man who Easton works with does similar work to you and is also wealthy. Maybe that’s why I’m not so shocked a billionaire would be in this line of work, risking his neck for the greater good.” I forced my gaze back to her face, finding her still smiling. “And as a side note, I used the B word because our son did. I didn’t take your advice to google you.”

I couldn’t wrap my head around this. I wasn’t ready to accept being hopeful. “Who does your brother work with?”

“Carter Dominick. Have you heard of him?”

And just like that, my world flipped upside-fucking-down all over again. As quickly as hope had come, all it took was one name to send it away again.

Chapter22

Constantine

I swipedmy palm down my face before it fell dead at my side, forcing her to let go of my arm.This can’t be happening.

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