Page 11 of Fractured Destiny
Liam McGloughlin, Linus’s husband and the man behind Fireball answers before I knock. He’s got a little girl on his hip with dark curls and a fierce scowl on her face.
“Lake Lyon, welcome to the family.” He steps back to let me in and smooths his daughter’s hair. “Quinn, this is Lake. He plays guitar like the devil owes him money.”
Quinn considers me and points. “Deh-vul?”
“Aye, baby, the devil has nothing on Lake.” Liam shifts her higher and waves me through the door. “Come in. Ty’s in the kitchen pretendin’ he knows how to make a fancy coffee.”
The house smells expensive, fresh and clean. Inside, it’s loud in a good way. A second little girl sits on the rug stacking blocks with a dark-haired woman I knew from her solo music before I ever met her in person.
Avonna looks up and her whole face opens. “Lake.” She says it like we’re friends, which undoes me a little, because I’ve only met her twice. “Sit anywhere. Sloane, can you say hi?”
Quinn’s twin waves a block at me. “Hi.”
“Hey.” I crouch down to her level. “Nice tower.”
She knocks it over and beams.
Zoey, who’s also the CEO of the Rainier Foundation, reclines on a long couch under the window, one hand resting on top of her belly, the other holding a mug. She’s tiny everywhere except the bump.
“There he is. The man of the hour.” She pats the cushion next to her. “Sit. You look terrible.”
I shuffle over. “Uh, thanks.”
“I’m exhausted and pregnant, it’s like truth serum.” She takes a sip of tea. “Ty. Lake’s here.”
Ty emerges from the kitchen with a dish towel over his shoulder and two mugs. He hands one to me without asking what I want. It’s coffee, really strong coffee, and I realize I’ve never needed caffeine so badly.
Even though he’s been my mentor through the foundation for years, this is only the second time I’ve been to his house. Years in the spotlight have made him protective of his personal life and recent events haven’t helped matters. He left before I could say hi the other night, but I respect the hell out of him for coming to see me, considering all he’s been through this year.
Like me, he came from nothing. Today, his long hair is tied back, his chin is scraggly with a few days of beard, and there’s a carefulness in his demeanor I haven’t seen before.
“Brother.” He leans down and pulls me into a hug. When he lets go he holds my shoulder and looks at me. “You played your ass off. Glasshouse wrecked me. I had to duck out so nobody’d see my face.”
“That means a lot. Coming from you.” I try to hold eye contact, as uncomfortable as it makes me.
“It’s not a line. You know I don’t do lines.” He kisses Zoey’s head. “Glad you could make it. Pizza’s coming. Sloane negotiated for pineapple on one of them.”
“Pineapple,” Sloane confirms from the rug.
“A travesty.” Liam lowers Quinn to the floor, where she runs straight at my knees, grabs hold and looks up at me like she’s deciding something.
“Up,” she demands.
I stare down at her, uncertain what to do.
“Wow. She doesn’t ever go to people,” Avonna’s eyebrows raise.
I pick Quinn up. She fits in the crook of my arm, shoves her thumb in her mouth and studies my face from three inches away. Something in my chest settles in a way I have no concept of. I’ve held a guitar ten thousand times.
I’ve never once held a kid. It’s kinda nice.
“Awww.” Zoey watches us over her mug. “She likes you.”
Linus is in the armchair across the way, sleeves shoved up, phone face-down on his knee, watching all of it with the smile of a man who likes seeing his closest people in one room. Liam folds down onto the rug next to Avonna and gathers Sloane into his lap, leaning back against his husband like it’s the most natural place in the world.
For a minute there’s nothing but the soothing energy of the people in this room. Rain patters against the glass and it’s the warmest and coziest home I’ve ever been in.
I can’t appreciate any of it because my heart is in my throat.
