Page 55 of Finding Peace
Financially.
Strategically.
Personally.
Still, the waiting sits heavy in my chest.
I can feel it in the boys, too.
In the way Lincoln double-checks the locks at night.
In the way Lawson’s jaw tightens every time his phone buzzes.
In the way Jas doesn’t let me out of his sight if he can help it.
Or how Beau seems to be constantly scribbling thoughts down in the notebook I got him for Christmas when he thinks noone is looking.
We’re all pretending life is normal. We’re all pretending the other shoe isn’t waiting to drop. Because if Miles Keller wants this land bad enough to use my sister and kidnap me, the last thing that’s going to stop him is the death of a couple of local pieces of trash.
Men like him don’t lose.
They reposition.
“Jasper,” I groan.
He’s sprawled across my bed late the next morning, bare feet, hands folded behind his head like he owns the place.
Which, technically, he does… but… whatever. You get my point.
“Abbie Girl,” he replies lazily.
“What if they hate me?”
He blinks at the ceiling. “Who?”
I whirl around from the bathroom doorway. “You knowexactly who. Don’t play dumb. It’s unattractive.”
Jas lifts his head and grins at me. But it does nothing to calm my nerves. Lincoln and Lawson’s parents, Chris and Billie, are going to be here any minute. They insisted on stopping here once they got back from their trip instead of going straight to their house on the other side of the property.
To meet me.
Officially.
My stomach rolls.
And not just metaphorically.
My armpits are sweating. My hair won’t lie right no matter how many times I brush it. And I swear if I look at myself in this mirror one more time, I really might throw up.
“They’re not going to hate you,” Jasper says calmly.
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
“You don’t.”
He lifts his head again. “Abigail.”
