Page 60 of Be With Me (Adair Family 4)

Thane clamped a hand on my shoulder. “Something has been eating Brodan for a while now. Something he won’t talk about. And that’s not on you. Or me or Eredine or Monroe. You can’t live your life tiptoeing around him. He hasn’t exactly been there for us this past year, so we’re living our lives the way we want until he’s ready to come back to us.”

Except that wasn’t true.

Brodan had been there for me when no one else had.

But Thane didn’t know that because I was still too ashamed to tell him and Lachlan about Thailand.

Brodan hadn’t condemned me. Neither had Ery. I should tell Thane now, for Brodan’s sake, but the night had already been so heavy with confessions. And I still wasn’t sure I was ready to disappoint my elder brothers when we’d made such strides toward them seeing me as a responsible man.

Nodding, I allowed Thane to lead me back into the house to finish my beer. An hour later, Regan and Robyn returned and enjoyed teasing me about Ery. But they also seemed happy, so that was a relief. Moreover, they said Arro, of all people, had defended me to a concerned Mac. Arro. Ironic, since last year she’d vehemently told me to back off Ery. I smiled at the thought, glad my sister saw me for who I was now.

I bid them all good night and returned to my annex, hoping to catch Ery on the phone before bed to see how she was feeling about everything.

Remembering I’d thrown my phone in the back garden, I walked around the side of the house to retrieve it.

As I strolled to the annex again, I tapped the screen and then halted at the notification banner.

I had a new email.

Tapping it open, trepidation filled me.

Don’t worry. I’m still here. I haven’t forgotten about you.

Pulse racing, I let myself into the guest house and locked the door behind me.

Why did emails that had once seemed like a silly prank now feel fucking sinister?

I hadn’t stopped long enough to wonder about how they kept ending up in my main inbox. I’d relegated each one to spam, but they came from a different email address every time.

That didn’t feel like the kind of time someone would spend on a prank.

Had I been burying my head in the sand?

Did this feel more like an obsession than a prank?

But who the hell would have it out for me?

Sinking onto the bed, I stared at the wall, pissed off as I considered the best approach to this. After everything our family had been through, the right thing to do would be to alert them and have Lachlan’s security team look into it.

I just didn’t want to bring this up a few weeks from the weddings.

Or freak Eredine out.

Shit.

I laid back on the bed and scrubbed my hands down my face.

I had no clue what to do, especially if I was just overreacting now that I had Ery’s safety playing on my mind.

23

ARRAN

I hopped over the fence between Thane’s and Lachlan’s back gardens, the rain pelting my skin like it was comprised of stones instead of water. The roar of the crashing North Sea bellowed from below as the waves pounded the cliff’s edge. Heavy clouds hung above, so dark you might mistake it for late evening rather than midday.

Hurrying up the back deck of Lachlan’s house, I was already soaked by the time the overhang offered protection.

Fucking great.

I peered into the house and saw Lachlan sitting at his dining table, frowning at the laptop in front of him. “Lachlan!” I hammered on the bifold door.

His head jerked up, surprise lighting his face before he hurried from the table to cross the room. A few seconds later, I was inside, dripping all over his wood floors.

“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded. “Wait there and I’ll get a towel.”

My clothes were stuck to me, and I shivered as I waited for him to return from the bathroom. Chucking the towel at me as he approached, I scrubbed it over my head and face. “Where’s Robyn?”

“In her darkroom. Probably waiting out the rain like a sane person. You want to tell me what was so important that you couldn’t wait a couple hours until dinner?”

My first week with Ery as an official couple had been rocky. She’d been distant, and I was less than loquacious because I was worried about the bloody emails. That she was on her period meant we couldn’t even connect physically, and I was more than a wee bit panicked that we were circling the drain before we’d really even started.

One thing I had made my mind up about, though, was the emails.

I couldn’t have them hanging over my head.

It wasn’t just about my safety anymore. Involving myself in Ery’s life meant I was responsible for her well-being too.

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