Page 81 of Eleven of a Kind

“Breathe, Piper.” Grace stood up, walked over to me, and gripped my shoulders. “Deep breaths.”

“That son of a bitch. How could he do that?”

“I don’t know. But I have his address if you want answers. Charlotte is on her way over. She was with me last night when you texted me. I told her what I found out this morning, and she said she’d be over as soon as she was done feeding the baby.”

There was a knock at the door, and Grace answered it while I paced around my apartment, trying to wrap my head around what she had just told me.

“How could he do that?” I looked at Charlotte.

“I don’t know.” She hugged me. “But I advise you to find out. You need closure, Piper, and the only way you’ll get it is by seeing and confronting him.”

CHAPTER29

Gabriel

I grabbed my surfboard and headed down to the beach. My brother texted me and said there was an emergency at the hospital, and he wouldn’t be joining us.

“What happened to you last night?” Simon asked. “I went down to your house to finish my speech, and Riley said you left but didn’t know where you went.”

“I went to Piper’s shop.”

“That’s my boy.” Simon grinned as we put our boards in the water.

“And?” Christian asked. “What happened?”

“We talked, and she said she needs time.”

“Time for what?” Stefan asked.

“Time to deal with her issues. Her father’s last words before he left and never returned were, ‘I love you.’ That’s why she freaked out when I told her. She doesn’t believe in love because of him.”

“Then you make her believe,” Simon said. “You do whatever it takes, cousin.”

“I am, and I will. I told her I wasn’t going anywhere and to take all the time she needed.”

“That’s a good start.” Jackson smiled.

“I’m proud of you, cousin,” Simon said.

After we surfed, I went back to the house and found Riley in the kitchen.

“Where’s Kourtney?”

“She’s still sleeping. We were up late.”

“I know you were.” I smirked.

“I need your credit card to order the equipment for my pottery studio,” she said.

“How much is it going to cost?”

“I think it’s best if you don’t know, Dad.”

“We’ll go over it together later. I want to talk to you about something.”

“Okay.” She sat at the island.

“I went and talked to Piper last night.”

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