I nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Blake’s the one big on that boss shit, but I’m starting to see why.” Kissing me again, he leaned back and quickly went over the directions for how to get to the cabin. “Don’t make me regret this.”
I smiled. “It’s not like you really had a choice.”
“Go. Before I show you what choice I have.”
I hesitated and looked him over. “Just in case this doesn’t go well.”
“Goddammit, Mal. Even if Julian fucks up today, it’s not forever. I’m not giving up.” He backed away and shook his head. “Neither is Blake. You can only hide from us and ignore us for so long. Kara won’t always be there to scare Blake away.”
I bit my lip to hide a smile. I didn’t mean to encourage him in case things did go poorly with Julian. “Oh, I saw Grace today. She’s great.”
Isaac actually blushed. His lips pursed, and he crossed his arms over his chest and kicked at the dirt like a little boy. “Not our best choice. I can see and admit that now.”
“She’s a big fan of mine, though.” Smiling, I waved and started backing away. “Big, big fan.”
I passed Blake while leaving the ranch and I was afraid he was going to stop and follow me, but Isaac must’ve stopped him. It was important that I go alone. Alone with Hank. I needed Julian to listen to me without his anger at his brothers getting in the way.
The drive to the base of the mountain was nice and peaceful, but within ten minutes of driving up the mountain, the road grew treacherous and car sickness hit me hard. On one side of the road was a wall of rock, on the other a sharp drop-off that seemed to just go on forever. The farther up I went, the narrower the road got. I passed several different turn-offs and kept going until there felt like nothing left. The trees were thicker; the sun was blocked out. It was almost eerie in the wake of Isaac’s warnings.
Still, I crept along. I talked to Hank in the backseat the entire time, feeling like a horrible parent for taking him to such a dangerous road. I’d been an asshole for insisting on bringing him, I realized. I just hadn’t known how truly awful the road would be.
We climbed higher and higher, the cliffs getting deadlier as we did. The road was just dirt for the last leg of the drive. Multiple times my car wheels spun out and struggled to keep going. I was starting to panic when I saw the last turn off. I felt like we were trapped until I saw the sign at the drive that warned about trespassers.
It was so perfectly Julian. A giant warning not to come near him matched him perfectly. I pulled into his driveway and drove up another mile of awful road that threatened to rip the bottom out from under my car. By the time I saw the big log cabin, I was so relieved that I didn’t even stop to feel the butterflies that had previously been threatening to make me vomit.
I hurried out of the car and got Hank out before walking up to the front door and knocking. A growled warning came from inside, and I flinched when something smashed against the other side of the door.
“Julian? It’s me, Mallory.”
Silence rang out from inside the cabin, and I wondered if he was going to pretend not to be home after all the noise he’d already made. My heart pounded away in my throat and my stomach twisted. Had I come to him for no reason? What if he just didn’t want me? And Hank.
“Please open the door, Julian.”
A beat later, the door opened, and Julian flinched away from the light. Stepping outside, he zoned in on Hank in my arms and scowled. “What the fuck is this?”
I licked my lips and took a deep breath. I just had to stay calm and talk sense into him. “I just wanted to come talk. You left so fast the other day.”
“You really dragged the kid all the way up here? Are you deranged?”
“I’m starting to wonder.” I exhaled and inhaled again, breathing in some kind of liquor and cigar smoke. Wrinkling my nose, I looked behind him and noticed all the bottles set up everywhere. “Did you drink all of those?”
Looking behind him, Julian swore and shifted so his body filled my vision. “That’s not your concern.”
“Can I come in and talk to you?”
“No.”
“Julian, please.” I swallowed and started over. “I’m sorry to just show up unannounced, but I needed to speak to you. I know you’re mad, but I have things I need to say and that you need to hear. So, please let me come in and talk.”
He shoved his hair off of his forehead and swore. “Fine. Come in. Just don’t touch anything.”
I followed him into the house and looked around. The bottles were all clean and looked new. In the kitchen was a table with a single chair at it and what looked like some kind of bottling system. “What’s this?”
“You’re nosy, too. Great.”
I got closer to one of the bottles that had a clear liquid in it and breathed in what smelled like death and destruction. “What is that?”