Page 84 of The Renegade Billionaire
“You look…” Sage steps closer and inspects my face. He took some test to find out that he’s a number one empath, and he thinks that gives him magical powers to read people, and unfortunately, he’s not usually wrong. “Happy,” he finally says after an eternity.
Greyson makes a sound of annoyance, and he spins on him next.
“What, Uncle Grey? He does. Just look at him. Maybe a little time here would do you some good too, you curmudgeon. You act as if you’re a ninety-year-old man, and you literally just turned thirty.” Sage is seventeen going on forty.
Greyson has never gotten along with many people, but he is a natural leader. It’s why his teammates hated him but he led them to the championship every year.
Maybe Sage is right and Happiness will be good for him too.
“Okay, why don’t we go into the family room and sit down so you can tell me what happened?” I suggest.
“Before or after you sang your heart out on stage?” Greyson’s facial expression doesn’t change, but I see the mischief in the twitch of his cheek. He knows he just opened a whole can of shit.
“Shut.Up.” How Sage manages to turn two syllables into four every time he says that is truly impressive. “Like, in front of people?”
“In front of a barn full of people who were bidding on him.”
Sage holds up both hands to create a T in front of his face. “Time out. We have to sit for this. Mads, is it okay if we bring this pie in there?”
MadsI mouth, and he shyly drops his chin to his chest and offers a shoulder shrug in return. For a kid who has always shied away from people, he’s instantly comfortable around Madison.
“Oh my gosh, yes. Yes, please. But only if you grab a fork for me.” She’s so warm and welcoming. I think Sage is half in love already.
Greyson’s body deflates. Not a lot, but the stick up his ass has moved an inch. Madison and Pops will have him won over before the end of the week.
Sage grabs forks and napkins, Madison picks up the pie and hands me some water bottles, then we all pile into the family room.
Madison and Sage squeeze together on the loveseat, probably to give Grey a wide berth, and I perch on the edge of Pops’ recliner while Grey paces the length of the room.
I know Madison will have a million questions from the conversations she’s about to hear, but I asked her to stay for a reason—I want her to be part of my world. I haven’t done more than kiss this woman, and I’m already envisioning myself packing up my entire life so I don’t have to leave her side.
Grey will say I’m out of my mind, but I can’t help thinking that Ace truly did send me here to find happiness. Did he know happiness would come in the form of Madison?
“Okay.” Time to stop prolonging the inevitable. Plus Sage looks as though he’s about to pass out, despite making googly eyes at Madison.
The heavy eyeliner he normally hides behind is nowhere to be found, and for the first time in years, I see the lost little boy inside him. He’s always had an old soul, but being arrested on my father’s order has obviously shaken him.
“What do we think my father was hoping to gain from this?”
“It wasn’t just Sage,” Grey says, still pacing.
“What do you mean?”
“Archie had some trouble in Maine.”
“Archie is my older brother,” I explain to Madison. This isn’t what I was expecting, but whatever Alistair did, I’m sure it was horrible. “What kind of trouble?”
“Someone announced that he had a DUI, and the farm he’s working on is owned by a woman whose husband was killed by a drunk driver.”
“When did he get a DUI?” How the hell did they manage to keep that quiet?
Greyson’s dark, thunderous expression says it all. But he answers anyway, “He didn’t. Someone spread lies yesterday on the town’s Facebook page.”
“I hate social media,” Madison mutters, and I notice she’s snapping that elastic against her skin now.
Before I can move to her, Sage reaches over and cups her fingers with his own. “Same, girl. Same.”
There’s not a soul alive that can tell me this, right here, with all of us together isn’t right. I feel it in my bones.
