Page 31 of Into the Tempest

Tully chuckled, his eyes warm, and his fingers slid over mine. On the table, in front of them all. “I’m not leaving you,” he said simply. “I told you that. And I’m pretty sure kidnapping is still kidnapping.”

I noticed Rowan’s eyes draw down to our joined hands, and when he glanced up, his focus was solely on Tully. A fond smile softened his features for a moment until Ellis nudged his elbow. “Told ya. He’s a goner.”

Tully shot him a glare and Mr Larson quickly grabbed the carving knife out of Tully’s reach. “So, Jeremiah,” Mr Larson said. “Hazer. What kind of name is that?”

“It’s an Arabic name, common in Malaysia and Indonesia,” I explained. “It means to be prepared, be ready.”

They were all staring at me again. “Well, if that’s not an omen,” Rowan said glumly. Then he sighed. “I should get going. I left Diah to do dinner and put the kids to bed.”

“I appreciate you being here,” Tully said. “Is your house boarded up?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“I’ll get Jeremiah to work tomorrow and come around to help whoever needs it,” he said.

I wanted to argue that I didn’t need him to escort me but thought that might be a conversation best left for when we were alone. And the truth was, I really had needed him today...

“We should all be going,” Mrs Larson said. “Ellis, help me clean this—”

“Please leave it. I’ll take care of it,” I offered. “It’s the least I can do.”

She grimaced, as if she wanted to argue but didn’t want to offend, and Tully laughed. “Mum, don’t argue with him. He’s feisty, and he knows really big words.”

I levelled a glare at him but it waned with the smile he aimed right at me.

“Gawd,” Ellis drawled as he stood up. “Someone save me. The sappiness is killing me.”

“Eat shit, nut sac,” Tully said.

“Boys,” their mother chided. She stood and we all got to our feet as well; then they made their way to the door.

When they were leaving, his mother had given Tully a kiss on the cheek and led him toward their car for a private conversation, I deduced. So, giving them some privacy, I went back inside and began cleaning up dinner.

I was washing up the few things that wouldn’t fit in the dishwasher when he came back in. “Everything okay?” I asked.

He leaned against the kitchen counter, took a tea towel, and began drying a tray. “Yeah, yeah.” He nodded. “I apologise for Ellis. He’s a pain in my arse.”

“Your brothers are great. Both of them. I wasn’t sure what to expect of Rowan—I think you made him out to be this big bad guy—but he’s very nice. He cares for you a great deal.”

Tully seemed to mull that over before he nodded. “I know.”

“I think he bears the responsibility of being the eldest child, the one on whose shoulders the company falls.”

“I know. I never meant to give you the impression he was a bad guy, sorry.” Tully put the tray down and picked up the next. “I was expecting them to rip me a new arsehole when I saw their cars here.” He let out a sigh. “Guess maybe that was me knowing I would have deserved it.”

“They didn’t come to rip you a new one,” I said gently. “They came to support you. To rally around you because you’d made a mistake. That just proves what an amazing family you have.”

His eyes met mine. “I apologised to my father, and he said... some stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?”

He looked down at the tray he was holding, and his cheeks tinted pink. “Just... stuff I didn’t think I was ready to hear from him but I dunno, maybe I am.”

“Like what?” I rinsed the bubbles off my hands and dried them on the tea towel he was holding. “About me?”

His eyes cut to mine. “What? Did my mother say something to you?”

So definitely about me then...

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