Page 42 of Waiting For A Girl Like You
Rowan’s face went red—deep red, with some purple mixed in. A good foot taller than his aunts, he loomed over the women but still managed to look like a teenager caught sneaking in after curfew.
“I am a grown man.”
“Then act like it. Call your mother. Poor Margie is going out of her mind,” Bianca scolded, with her hands on her hips. “No one knows what’s happening with you. Not even Killian, and we interrogated him for three hours.”
“Poor Kill,” one of the younger women said. “I think Aunt B made him cry.”
“You can understand, can’t you, ladies?” Vivian asked, addressing the mothers in the room. “If one of your children went missing and couldn’t be bothered to text, wouldn’t you send an army to track them down?”
“Yous been bad, Row-lo,” Theo whispered, positively aghast. “Yous might gets a spank.”
“No one is getting spanked, Theo.” Rowan spun around to face Simone, who was still holding the front door open like she might shove someone back through it. “I am so terribly sorry for this.”
“Call your mother next time.” Simone pushed the door shut with a little more force than necessary. “Now. Can I interest anyone in some coffee?”
Chapter 10
“I’m sorry we’re a little off today,” Simone said as she set a steaming mug of coffee in front of Vivian. “We had an unpleasant phone call earlier.”
“It was Tobias,” Ben snapped as he hovered impatiently on the other side of the kitchen. He was supposed to be in his meeting, but had canceled it. “And the word unpleasant doesn’t quite cover what we went through before you and your horde arrived.”
Rowan winced. There was no love lost between his Aunt Vivian and Ben. The sad thing was that Ben understood he was the villain in her story, and while remorseful, he knew damn well he couldn’t change the past. His aunt knew this also, but whenever the topic of Ben came up, she couldn’t help but release a venomous quip or two.
It was for the best that everyone kept their distance, and that’s exactly what he and Annabeth were doing. Izzy and Abe had retreated to the media room, along with Bernie and Will, so that they could have privacy in the kitchen. Once Holden got there, Samuel had taken his crew home, save for Josie, who had wanted to stay for whatever reason.
Liam and Jamison were out the door the second Holden brought one of the Fairweather boats alongside Haven’s dock. Rowan had been a little pissed when he saw the make and model, knowing that particular class had a small single cabin.
With a bed.
Bastards.
“I knew you were up to no good, Ben,” Vivian said, sipping her coffee. “But even I’m surprised to hear you were up at dawn conversing with serial killers.”
Bianca adjusted her oversized glasses and pinned Rowan with a glare. “Care to elaborate, Randall?”
Randall?
Ouch.
It was a little early to be throwing out government names.
“Listen, Aunt B, things around here are complicated, and I’m doing my job.”
Bianca leaned sideways, peering around him at Annabeth. “Hello,Job. Lovely to meet you.”
“He-hello.” Annabeth bravely met each set of appraising eyes. “I’m Annabeth. It’s lovely to meet you all.”
Bianca opened her mouth to reply with some off-the-wall remark but was poked in the shoulder by Vivian’s oldest daughter. Jenny excelled at keeping their aunt’s crazy in check. “Calm down,” she ordered Bianca. “We came to make sure Rowan is okay, and now that we see that he is, we can leave.”
“Yeah, fat chance of that,” Sasha mumbled from her spot on the wall. Unlike her sister, Sasha had no patience for their family’s particular flavor of crazy. She thrived in high-stress situations, but had her limits when it came to Bianca. “You’ve awakened the beasts, Row.”
Vivian placed her cup down and kept her gaze trained on Ben. “I don’t believe you’ve met my daughters,” she spoke smugly, always proud of her children. “Jenny is my eldest and has recently finished nursing school. Then we have Sasha over by Rowan. She’s in her second year of college but is still undecided on her future path in life.”
“Oh, I’ve decided, but according to my mother, seeing the world isn’t a valid life path,” Sasha whispered loudly to Annabeth. “And let’s be for real. She shouldn’t be surprised that I don’t care about college and want to wander instead. It’s in my DNA. McIntyres can’t sit still for very long, or we’ll go insane.”
Sasha was a good kid and only trying to be friendly, but the way Annabeth edged further along the wall had Rowan going on alert. He was positive that Killian had briefed every McIntyre woman in this room on what Annabeth meant to him and the challenges she faced. Knowinghis weak ass brother, Kill probably folded the second they closed ranks and spilled all the details, including what went down here.
“Children do what they want in the end,” Josie said, standing by the kitchen island where Simone had retreated. “Look at Selah. He was supposed to be head of Fairweather, and now he’s off changing the world for the better.”
