Fractured Minds (Rebels of Sandland 3)

“It was the best day of my life. Well… so far.” Brandon sat next to Harper and put her hand in his lap. “Which brings me to my next piece of news. I know we’re all living th

rough a shit time at the moment, but hopefully this’ll cheer you up a little bit. If that’s possible.” He shrugged. “I asked Harper to marry me at the hospital, right after the girls were born. I couldn’t not. I bloody love this woman and I want all of us to have the same last name… be a family.” He kissed her hand as the room erupted into coos and quiet cheers so as not to wake the babies.

Effy shot up from her seat and went to hug Harper, and Emily sat close by with Phoebe in her arms, asking to see the ring. I noticed a look cross over Ryan’s face, but he soon wiped it away and went to congratulate Brandon with a pat on the back. Seemed Brandon had beaten Ryan to that milestone too. Ryan still hadn’t asked Emily yet. Said he was waiting until after the auction at the asylum, then he was going to make it all official with a proper proposal in the chapel. Doing it the way that he wanted, with his special touch.

“When Zak gets out of hospital, we can start planning stuff. Sort out dates and everything,” Brandon said, and the rest of us stayed quiet.

He was in his little family bubble, still on a high from the birth and thoughts of marrying Harper. Who were we to burst that? But we’d all spent long enough with Zak’s family to know he wouldn’t be out any time soon. Brandon didn’t know the half of what had happened that night and how bad Zak’s injuries really were. All he knew was he couldn’t visit like the rest of us but he was on the mend. Eventually, when Brandon came back down to earth, he’d realise how bad it actually was.

“It’ll be something for us all to look forward to,” Emily replied, ever the hopeful, cheerfully optimistic one of our group.

The front doorbell sounded and Brandon went to answer it. Moments later, Liv walked in looking like she’d come dressed ready to go straight out clubbing later that night.

“Oh my God, they are gorgeous,” she said, plonking herself onto the sofa next to Emily.

Emily passed the baby back to Harper and went off to make teas and coffees for everyone. Effy came back to sit next to me and I let her take Esme from my arms. She was a natural, and when I looked at her holding the baby and stroking her, it did something to me. Made my insides flip over thinking that one day that could be us. Our baby. Mine and Effy’s.

After a while, Harper went off to the bedroom with the babies to feed them, taking the other girls with her. When she was gone, Brandon started to question us about the fire, the police investigation, and everything that had gone on over the past week. He knew, like we did, that the soldiers were more involved than anyone would let on, but we had to be clever about our next move. Exposing them wouldn’t be easy, especially without Zak and his computer expertise.

“I’ve gotta say…” Brandon sat down and pinned Ryan with a stern look. “I don’t think we should carry on with the events. Not after what happened.”

Ryan wasn’t in agreement and he folded his arms over his chest as he took a few deeps breaths before responding.

“What happened that night wasn’t our fault.” A few more steadying breaths and then he carried on. “I have a whole business plan set up. I’m not just gonna throw all that away. I’ve worked hard, we all have, and I’m not gonna stand by and watch that fall down the drain. Zak wouldn’t want that.”

He sat next to Brandon, wringing his hands, with a look of silent contemplation on his face. But his pleading wasn’t over yet. “When we buy the asylum, it’ll be different. It’ll be a legitimate business. We’ll run the parties from there and we’ll have full control. I’ve worked hard on this; I’m not backing down just ‘cos some punks from Brinton think they can fuck with us.”

“But it’s more than that though, isn’t it?” Brandon argued back. “People were hurt. What’s it gonna look like if we just carry on like that never happened?”

I could see both sides of the argument, but Ryan couldn’t. He was blinkered to any negativity coming his way.

“It’ll show everyone that we’re serious about what we do,” he said through gritted teeth. “We have a reputation, a good reputation. This is what we do. It’s what we’re good at.”

Brandon shook his head, disagreeing with Ryan, but when Ryan’s mobile rang, he didn’t get chance to say his piece. Ryan looked at the screen and shot up to answer it, walking over to the window as he did, keeping his back to us.

“Nigel. Good to hear from you. Are we all set for Tuesday?”

I knew the auction was on Tuesday, so this was an important call for Ryan, and when he stiffened as he listened to the guy on the other end, I knew it wasn’t a courtesy call.

“What do you mean a better offer? I have the cash ready to go. Do the sellers know that?”

Brandon and I exchanged silent, knowing glances.

“This is bullshit,” Ryan snapped. “What the fuck use are you as an agent if you can’t sort this out? I don’t care what papers are signed, that building is ours.”

Brandon rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair. I felt for Ryan, but in the grand scheme of things, this wasn’t affecting me like it was him. Maybe the asylum was a lifeline for him after the chaos we’d been embroiled in? We all had our ways of coping with what’d happened. But from the sounds of it, this was a non-starter.

“Can’t you try to contact the new owners, see if they’ll accept our offer?” Ryan waited a few seconds, and when Nigel didn’t give him the response he wanted, he said, “Fuck you, asshole.” And hung up the phone.

“So that’s it? Deals off?” Brandon asked.

“There was no fucking deal. The vendors sold to someone else without even giving us a shot.” Ryan banged his fist on the wall nearby, making us jump, but Brandon stayed quiet. He knew whatever he said would fall on deaf ears.

“That building is ours,” Ryan stated, lifting his chin defiantly. “Finn’s artwork is all over the damn place. I’ve spent hours renovating the chapel so I could ask Emily to marry me in there. I wanted it to be perfect. Now, I don’t know if they’re gonna knock the fucking thing down or what they’re gonna do with it. It’s fucking bullshit.”

“I don’t know what to say, man.” Brandon shrugged, feeling at a loss for words like I did.

“I need to go there and find out what the fuck is going on,” Ryan announced, just as Effy, Emily, and Liv walked back into the room.