Page 102 of The Lies We Told Ourselves

Sometimes his strange antics drove me crazy.

Dex frowned again. “Who’s missing?”

I winced at how much it felt like that cut deep. Of course there was one of us missing. He’d been missing for far too long.

I didn’t know if he realized what he’d said, or if it was the confusion on everyone else’s face, but Dex quickly added, “Who’s that?”

“Oh god,” Blake muttered, sliding down in her seat. “Someone hide me. I can’t take it anymore.”

Delaney chuckled and patted her friend’s arm. “Is it hard being popular?”

“I’m used to being the weird girl. Don’t these people know they’re supposed to just politely humor me and keep on walking?”

“I’d be happy to fill them in,” Xander muttered.

I looked between the two of them, and Reece squeezed my knee in excitement. When I glanced in her direction, she was beaming in excitement, and my head snapped back in Xander’s direction.

Oh, little brother. This one was going to be painful.

I laughed, making Xander look at me in shock, not understanding why Reece and I were staring at him.

Then I remembered what Dex had said.

“Who’s who?”

Dex hitched his thumb over his shoulder, and then it was my time to slump down in my chair, wishing that someone could hide me because the car Dex had noticed before any of the rest of us was my father’s.

“That can’t be good,” Trace muttered.

His eyes went to Delaney and his son, and I knew he was trying to decide whether to send them inside. I doubted it was an argument he’d win with Delaney.

“Cade, you wanna come and help me raid Booker’s freezer to see if there’s any ice cream?” Blake loudly whispered in the kid’s direction.

She might act like she didn’t have all the cogs turning, but when it came to Cade, like everyone else, there was nothing she wouldn’t do for the kid.

Delaney smiled at her gratefully, and Cade jumped from his seat and charged for the house. Hopefully, she’d find some excuse to keep him inside for a while.

“We’re going to listen in from the porch, though, right?” Cade asked loudly, making Blake cackle, and Delaney just sighed in defeat.

The kid needed to learn subtlety, or he’d never make it through his teenage years.

“I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to go with them,” I told Reece as my father’s car pulled up outside of the house. “This is probably going to turn into some kind of shitshow.”

Reece bristled at the thought. “I think I’m good where I am, thank you.”

I could see her fierce determination in her eyes. Reece had my back, and she was ready to leap to my defense if needed. I’d never really had that before. Yeah, Dex and my brothers always had my back. But I was the eldest, and it had always been expected that I’d be standing in front of whatever trouble came our way. Or, maybe it was what I’d always expected of myself.

And here was this beautiful woman ready to push me to the side and take on the world by herself if that was what I needed.

Damn, I didn’t think it was possible to love her any more than I did, and then she went and did that.

I kissed her lightly on top of the head before standing and striding over to my father’s car. I had a moment of gratitude when he climbed out, and there was no sign of my mother. Then I almost laughed at the thought of her ever willingly coming to the ranch.

“Jasper,” I said, stopping a short distance away from him.

It was close enough for me to see the wince on his face.

“I have a copy of the information I could gather on Camden Carter,” he said, getting straight to the point and moving to pass the papers to me. “My associate has already delivered a copy to the governor with a message from me. He sent this for you.”

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