Page 76 of Unexpected Forever
Megan wraps me in a hug. “You okay?”
Not in the least.
I nod, tears spilling down my cheeks. “Again,”—I wave at my face—“they’re happy tears.”
For the most part.
“Good. Listen, I’m going to head out. Aidan should be home soon and you’ve got to call my brother. Tell him I said hi and he did good.”
Before she walks out the door, she turns back to me. Her eyes are almost pleading. “Be patient with him, Charley.”
She gives a little finger wave and is out the door before I form a response.
I lock up behind her and sit on the floor in front of the box. I don’t know how long I sit there staring at it, but a few minutes later, the doorbell starts to ring incessantly at the same time a notification from the camera app pings on my phone.
“Charley, open the door!”
“Megan?”
When I open the door, she rushes inside and shuts the door quickly behind her. “Call Aidan. There are reporters blocking the end of your driveway, and they tried to chase me!”
“W-what?” A tremor runs through my body when my blood runs cold.
“Reporters, Charley. Somehow they figured out where you live.”
With a shaky hand, I open the app. Sure enough, at the end of the driveway, cars are lined along the street.
Some of them are careful not to walk onto the property, but others are a little more brazen. I even see one in a tree.
“Oh my God…”
My stomach churns, and it takes all my gag reflex skills to keep my lunch down.
Nate is going to lose his shit.
Aidan picks up on the first ring when I call him.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Aidan…” My voice wobbles and I hate it. I mean it isn’t like these people are coming to kill me, but the idea of them invading my privacy this way is terrifying.
I now know what Del and Nate meant when they said scary.
“What’s wrong, Charley?” Panic along with his commanding tone laces through Aidan’s voice.
“There are reporters at my—I mean, Nate’s—house. They’re blocking the driveway and Megan can’t get out.”
“I’ll be there in five.” My brother’s voice is cold and hard as the sirens go off in the background.
True to his word, five minutes later, my phone pings again when the Sheriff’s SUV stops at the end of the driveway and Aidan steps out.
My brother’s a formidable looking dude at six-foot-three and built like a linebacker. He’s also former military and sees everything.
His superpower is being able to take people down with just a stare.
The reporters and photographers start to scurry away, and while I can’t see it, I know he used “the look” on them. Including the guy in the tree, who jumps down, landing on his ass before he runs to his car.
Aidan walks in a few minutes later, his face a thunderous mask. It isn’t until he sees Megan and takes her in his arms that it softens into concern instead of anger.
