Desert Angel (Family Justice Book 2) (33 page)

Lacey couldn’t hate him because she knew her mother had loved him and that they’d been a happy family before she died. But he’d changed after that and the man she remembered was nobody she’d choose to know. And certainly no one she wanted anywhere near her family.

“At first, I was so shocked that there were a few moments when I wondered if . . . well, you know—Dylan changes everything. And then I thought about his other kids and I asked Cam to find out whether or not they or his wife knew about his former life or me. I figured knowing that one thing would tell me a lot.”

“And?” Tori drawled.

She half-smiled. “There’s no evidence that his new family knows anything about his life before the time he spent in Alaska. Maybe, if he’d told them about me then I’d feel different. But he hasn’t and so they don’t know they have an older half-sister. Speaks for itself, huh? Thanks Dad, you fucking asshole.”

She laughed first. Couldn’t help it. Meghan cleared her throat and tried not to join in, but Tori’s bellowed, “Ha!” got Angie giggling and next thing she knew, they were all on the floor laughing.

Every time she said, “Fucking asshole,” it started all over again.

At one point, Lacey was pounding on the floor screaming, “Stop! Stop!” since the body-wracking laughter was killing her. “You’re making me pee my pants!” Eventually, they fell into a giggling group hug that took a long time to break apart.

“Shit,” Meghan sighed after they’d freshened up, visited the bathroom, and grabbed something to drink. “Look at us. I’m behaving like a crazy person morning, noon, and night. Today’s freak-out being only the latest. Angie threw her bad self into the deep end of the pool—on purpose! Lacey has an unwanted family reunion. What the hell is next?”

“Thank god Tori’s not swinging from the rafters, too. Somebody has to be the safe and sane designated driver.” Lacey chuckled.

Took her a good minute to realize that Tori hadn’t reacted or said anything.

Angie teased in her easygoing way, “Silence is never a good thing with her, is it?”

Lacey heard the telltale rumblings over the baby monitor of the little guys beginning to stir in the nursery. Time to shift into mommy mode.

“Well, since my tits are killing me,” Tori said as she pressed on her chest, “and I can hear my greedy little St. John sucker gearing up to demand feeding, I’ll give you the four-one-one in the shortened version.”

“Works for me,” Meghan said.

“Okay. Here it is,” she snickered sarcastically. “Hold on to your dildos, ladies, because a certain Mr. and Mrs. St John have expressed a desire to visit Arizona and meet their grandson.”

“Get the fuck out.”

Tori looked over at Meghan and grimaced.

“What did Draegyn say?”

Victoria St. John’s mocking expression said it all. “He’s building a spaceship out in that shop of his so we can leave the planet. Apparently, that’s the only recourse we have should they plan an invasion.”

A husky cry sounded from the monitor. “I’d know that hungry bear sound anywhere,” Lacey laughed.

She looked at Meghan and Angie, who were already gathering their stuff to head out. Tori, she knew, would wait to leave until after Daniel nursed.

“Irish—go easy on the Major. You know he’s a mess on his best day but that man would rip his own heart out before he’d intentionally hurt you. And Angie? To answer your karaoke wardrobe question, I bring the ass so my question to you is . . . whatcha got, sister?”

Angie laughed and said, “Desert Angel has legs that go on for miles y’all! And I know just what to wear!”

“Think they’ll be back soon?” a morose and out-of-sorts Alex asked Parker. They were in his study, sprawled out on two enormous leather chairs in front of an ancient fireplace that Alex had wisely converted to a closed gas unit. Far as ambiance went, it was just what they needed.

So far he’d managed to keep the worried man away from the bar. No way was having a drink going to be helpful in this situation. Best they meet what was coming at them head-on. But wiling away the time as their wait stretched on was fucking nerve wracking.

Angie hadn’t contacted him again, but he hadn’t expected her to. They were playing a game to see who had control. He wanted to laugh at how absurd it was because she had all the damn control but didn’t know it.

He glanced at his watch.
Let’s see.
She’d need at least an hour to get ready if she was going with him to dinner, so yeah, they’d probably be back soon. Plus, he’d heard Carmen earlier coordinating dinner with Ria so he knew Alex and Meghan were set for the evening. Maybe now was a good time to tell Alex that he was taking Angie out.

“I imagine they’ll be along soon. It’s getting late and Drae and Cam are probably heading home about now. You nervous?”

Hmmm. I would have thought he’d have a quick answer.

“Not really. More worried than nervous.”

“’Cause you think she’s mad?”

This time, Alex answered instantly with a loud snort.

“No! Because she’s hurt. You know I can’t have that shit.”

He exhaled heavily, put his head on the back of the chair, and closed his eyes. “It sucks when you hurt somebody you love.”

Parker heard Alex’s deep answering sigh. “Is that what happened with Angie?”

He might as well tell him the whole thing. Wasn’t like it was going to be a secret much longer. Once their respective families weighed in, all sorts of hell were going to break loose.

Sliding forward in the chair, he rested his forearms on his thighs, clasped his hands between his legs, and stared at the fire.

“Straight up. No bullshit. In no way a revisionist retelling okay?”

“I’m listening.”

“No matter what you think, there was nothing going for two years after she came to D.C. I treated her like my own sister. We did everything together, and I did my best to keep an eye on her and make sure she didn’t get sucked into any university stupidity.”

“I know. She told me. Constantly. Her letters were like a private investigator’s log. Parker ate a corned beef sandwich. Parker did his laundry. Parker bought tomatoes at the farmer’s market.”

He chuckled. Angie. She was so young then, and he’d been such a fool.

“And then, shit got real and well, you know that part.”

Without warning, Alex reached out and socked him forcefully.

Startled, Parker grabbed his arm and hissed. “Ow, dude. What the fuck?”

“You slept with my little sister, you shithead.”

“Yeah, and I told you—I happen to be in love with her too so cut me some slack, okay?”

“Continue; although, I reserve the right to punch your fucking lights out with no warning whenever the hell I want. No expiration date, either. You being in love with Angie is all well and good now. But you slept with her then which makes you a giant piece of shit.”

“Your sister disagrees.”

“That remains to be seen. Finish your little story before I forget how much I like you and take out my frustrations on your ugly face.”

Gritting his teeth, Parker dropped the rest of the tale and waited for Alex’s reaction.

“It was early days and we were figuring it out when some prick in my department started giving me shit about hanging out with a hot piece of coed ass. There was no fucking way I was going to let that dickhead think shit like that about Angie. Seriously, man,” he sneered, “didn’t give a rat’s ass what anyone said about me but going after her? Uh-uh. A step too far.”

“Fucking gossips,” Alex muttered.

“Exactly. So I jumped in without thinking about what I was saying and pointed out to the bastard that the girl in question was family with a Special Forces brother off killing bad guys. To drive home my point that he was a dick who should be ashamed of himself, I made light of her age, said watching out for her was a pain in the ass. You know. Dumb shit.”

“Unless it was a videotaped deposition, I don’t see where this is going.”

“No video necessary. Unfortunately, Angie overheard my part of the conversation.
Just my part.
Before I could explain, she cut me off without a word and until she showed up here, I hadn’t spoken directly to her since. I figured she was mad as hell and rightfully so. Turns out I was wrong on that, too. She wasn’t mad. She was hurt. It took me a long time,
too long,
to see that.”

He let Alex digest what he’d said then brought the story forward into the present day.

“I’ve apologized. Explained. She’s calmer and you see we’re trying, right?”

“I thought you two seemed pretty chill earlier and said so to Meghan. That’s how our conversation turned to you. She remembered you saying our Colorado trip was a summer of firsts. She asked. The rest you know.”

“Angie texted when they went to the cabin. She’s agreed to go to dinner with my folks.”

Alex looked surprised. “For real? Aunt Wendy’s on the ball, huh? Wonder if my mom has anything to do with that.”

“And, um, I sort of got her to agree to have dinner with me. Tonight. Just the two of us. So when they get here, we’ll get out of your way as soon as we can. Give you and Meghan some privacy.”

Alex looked halfway impressed. “She agreed to go out with you? Like on a date?”

Parker knew he hadn’t given her any choice whatsoever and couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Actually, the girl makes me so crazy that I asked her in a way that made it impossible for her to say no.”

Alex clapped his hands together and bawled, “Snap out of it, you fucking idiot. There’s your goddamn problem right there. You still think of her as a kid. Wake up and drink the sherry, my friend. That’s no little girl and if you think playing her like she’s a toothy, braces-wearing twelve-year-old is going to get you anywhere, you need your head examined.”

M
EGHAN STAYED SILENT ON THE
ride up to the big house. What a bizarre day it had been. The musical morning picnic she thought would be so much fun turned into a shit show. Lacey was in the middle of an emotional meltdown, and Tori suddenly had in-law problems where five minutes ago there had been none.

“When we get home, I have to go get changed. Parker is taking me to dinner. That way you and Alex can be alone without an audience.”

“Oh,” she murmured. “Dinner? That’s nice. Whose idea was that?”

“His,” Angie answered. “He thinks he didn’t give me a choice.” She had to laugh.

“Ah,” Meghan chuckled. “The alpha way of inviting a woman to dinner.” She grunted comically and said in caveman style, “Woman. Eat. Now.”

They each laughed and shook their heads.

“Sadly, it was something exactly like that. Joke’s on him, though. You’re right, Red. Time to give that man a taste of the real me. Not the little girl he remembers.”

“I like that plan. It has great merit.”

They drove on a bit and she asked, “Have you got something to wear that will melt his eyeballs?”

“I’ll figure that part out when I shower.”

“Want me to work him over for you while you get ready? Maybe scare the shit out of him a little? “

Angie laughed sarcastically and teased, “Oh, you mean like accusing him of being a pervert because he asked for your panties?”

“Sure,” she answered enthusiastically. “It always pays to keep a man thinking. I can tell him you’re designing the launch campaign for the latest must-have sex toy that’s all the rage in Europe. Custom-made floggers maybe?”

Floggers?” Angie shrieked hysterically laughing. “Red. You’re killing me!”

“Just trying to bring the giggles. Lighten things up.”

“Hey,” Angie said gently. “Don’t worry about Alex. I know my brother. He’s probably curled up in the fetal position and sucking his thumb because you’re upset.”

“I know and I feel bad. He caught me off guard. I’ll talk to him, don’t worry. Everything will be all right.”

Boy, she really hoped it was that easy. Lately, she’d begun to put some stock into all that eyeball rolling about wedding jitters and crazy bride antics. Meghan was inwardly cringing because she felt all she did was careen from one emotional freak-out to another. There was too damn much noise in her head.

She was barely sleeping—the same for eating. A bottle of Zantac had taken up residence in her purse and not even the calm serenity of her normal yoga practice brought her much peace. And poor Alex. She was really doing a number on him. The man was dancing as fast as he could trying to stay out ahead of her craziness.
Dammit,
Meghan sighed. She really needed to find her center again because this shit wasn’t working for her at all.