Page 29 of Free to Run
“The meeting we were supposed to have later in the week? I have all the signatures. Are you busy today?” My voice sounds strangled even to me.
Jared’s quiet on the other end. “How long will it take for you to get here?”
“I have no idea,” I tell him honestly.
“There’s a nasty storm coming in, Ali. I’ll see you at the office when you get here. Drive safely.” Jared hangs up the phone.
Almost immediately, my phone starts ringing. Glancing at the caller ID, I see it’s Corinna. I answer wearily. “I’m going to deal with some legal matters. I don’t know when I’ll be back.”
“If I were you, I’d go shopping, leave my car at the airport and board a flight for a beach.” Corinna’s fuming.
A broken laugh escapes. “Thanks, Cori, but that’s not going to help right now.”
“Let me know when you get there. I’m concerned about the storm, okay?”
“I will.”
“Love you, Ali.”
You might be the only one who does, Corinna. “Love you too, sis.”
13
Keene
“Keene Marshall,” I answer the phone brusquely.
“I am so pissed off at you right now, I don’t know what to do with all my feelings. I want to yell and scream, but I have two other human lifeforms currently taking up space inside of my body, Keene. Tell me what the hell I’m supposed to do, because I’m trying to stay calm,” Cassidy yells at me over the phone.
“First, stop yelling at me,” I tell her, my voice softening. Swiveling in my desk chair, the painting I had commissioned from a photo of us as children is perfectly in focus. I smile as I kick back, because even through the phone line, Cassidy is taking deep breaths to control her temper. “Why don’t I call your husband and put the call on speaker to calm you down?”
“Oh, go ahead and do that, Keene. Please.” Cassidy’s voice is vicious, the likes of which I haven’t heard since the first night we met.
What the hell did I do?
I’m mentally running through the possible scenarios when another voice comes over the line, this one definitely not as beloved as my sister.
“We’re going to play twenty questions, Keene. You will answer these.” Phil’s annoying Southern drawl gives him away immediately.
“What makes you think I’m going to answer a damn thing you ask me, Phil?” Arrogantly, I turn my chair back to overlook the Manhattan skyline.
“Because you’re the reason we caused Alison to storm out of the office. She’s no longer speaking with any of us,” Cassidy replies. Her voice is a combination of anger and resignation.
Shit.
“You couldn’t leave her alone, could you, Cass?” I mutter into the phone.
“Hmm. Apparently, I’m not the only one. It seems you were desperate to see her yesterday, Keene. Don’t talk to me about leaving her alone,” Cassidy snaps at me.
I rub my hand against the side of my head. Direct hit.
My office door opens without warning. Before I can react to the intrusion, Caleb walks in. He immediately walks over to my phone and hits the speaker before sitting down across from me. “Okay, Pixie, I’m finished with my call. You can start asking.”
“Thank you, my love,” Cassidy says.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” I mutter loud enough for apparently everyone to hear.
“Not as sick as you’ll be after some of these questions,” Phil says. I hear quiet crying in the background. Holy hell.
