Page 102 of Wretched Heart
Her feed disappears.
“Oops,” says Mace.
Maddie relaxes into me. “Your mother? Seriously?” she asks, her voice loud enough to address all of us.
“Don’t look at me,” Reid says, joining us with Mace. “Not my mom.”
“It explains a lot,” Maddie says, slipping her hand beneath my suit jacket and placing it on my heart. “You should have told me.”
I shrug, playing it cool even though what I’m about to say is as shocking for me to think, as it will be for my brothers to hear. “Maybe I didn’t want you to worry about what personality traits our kids might inherit one day.”
Ash takes a swallow of whiskey, but it’s Maddie’s reaction I’m interested in. She doesn’t look fazed by the prospect.
“That’s something we can work towards,” she says. “Once you’ve taught me your business inside and out. I want to be part of your world, Hunter. No more hiding important nuggets of information like the fact that…” She blanches. “Barrett is your half-brother.”
“That’s not even the worst of our secrets,” Mace says with more than a hint of mischief.
“I don’t think you fully appreciate what you’re getting into with us, Maddie” Ash adds. “But I do know we’re taking on more than we bargained for with you.” He raises his glass to her. “Here’s to interesting times.”
Maddie searches my face. “After today, I’m beginning to see why you thought life in Brimstage was slow.”
“And we can take it slow for a while longer,” I promise.
Her smile is warm, but ever so slightly wicked. “I like the sound of that, Hunter. Let’s go home and break some more tables.”
“Which home?”
“I don’t care,” she says. “It’s wherever you are.”
Epilogue
Three Months Later
Maddie
As we join a line of limousines, I’m jealous of the guests that exude such confidence as they emerge from their cars and step onto the red carpet. I’ve attended glitzy events back home, but nothing on this scale. Not for the first time in the last few months, I wonder how I’m going to fit into Hunter’s world.
I’d always been molded by my family in the past. I was their problem to solve, with no agency of my own. I moved left or right at the whim of my father, and then my brother. I spoke when I was spoken to, and I was tutored on what to say.
My new life in Chicago is one I’m still trying to navigate. There are four tuxedoed men in this limousine who trust me to make whatever impression I want to make. I can’t fail in their eyes because they love me unconditionally for who I am, just as I love them in their own individual and quirky ways. One brother above all.
“Cold or nervous?” asks Hunter when he notices me shiver.
“A bit of both,” I confess as he puts an arm around my shoulder, providing warmth and reassurance in equal measure.
“If you get bored, I don’t mind dropping you back home,” Mace offers without looking up from his cell phone.
“Youneed to stay,” Reid tells his brother. “I can’t fight off all the hot girls by myself. What’s wrong with you, lately? You need to get lay–” He clams up and gives me a look of apology. “He needs to release some tension.”
“I thought you two had moved into your own apartment to avoid tension,” Ash cuts in.
Mace and Reid moved out of the Griffin family home within weeks of me moving in. I try not to take it personally. Reid insists they were already planning on getting their own place. Mace just scowls. He wants me to feel guilty. It’s his idea of fun.
“Mace? Relaxed?” Hunter asks. “He was in a bad mood when he came out of the womb.”
“Can you blame me given the owner of that particular womb?” Mace replies, pocketing his phone as the limo comes to a halt.
Hunter climbs out then turns to take my hand. I lift the hem of the gold sequined gown that hugs my every curve, and leave the limo with poise and grace. Not all my years of Corbyn training have been wasted. Maybe I can do this.
