Two Together (Naked Trilogy 3)

And there we are, my brother proving my point about the men in my life trying to control me. My nerves are gone. My anger is back.

Randall just threatened me, and he’s going to send help?

He’s the one about to need help.

I head for the front door with the intent of calling my brother back, trying to embrace the anger. I need it. I want it to puff up in my chest and push out the fear balling up there. Fear that Hunter’s death leads beyond my father straight to my brother. Fear that my brother covered up, or worse, participated in some way. And that he feels so little guilt that he continues to come after the castle and whatever treasure my father found here.

I stop at the front door and press my forehead to the wooden surface, my mind and body resisting this phone call I’d yearned for minutes before. But Jax’s vow to protect my bond with my brother despite the loss of his own brother, weighs heavily on me. He can’t keep that vow. I don’t expect him to keep it either. I feel as if I’m back in that tower, hanging over the ledge, about to fall to the rocks below.

I don’t know what I’ll do if I find out Chance killed Hunter.

Worse.

I don’t know what Jax will do.

I just know that if my brother killed Hunter, a part of me will die inside, but Jax is right. Hunter’s murder can’t go unanswered. And, I won’t stop Jax from being that answer.

CHAPTER NINE

Emma

Snagging a jacket from the coatrack by the door, I slip it on, only to have it swallow me whole, while my bare toes promise discomfort. Ignoring that problem for now, I manage to find my hands, and I’m just stepping onto the porch and into the cold ocean air when my cell starts ringing again. Smith, still sitting in one of the corner chairs, immediately stands up. I hold up my phone, and he motions to the stairs before heading in that direction. I don’t stop him. I appreciate the privacy, but the very fact that he’s here, that he needs to be here, garners my appreciation for his nearness. With no time to spare, I answer the call, but it’s too late. No worries there though. By the time I step to the railing, it’s started all over. “Chance.”

“Was Randall there?” he demands.

“Yes,” I say, a biting understanding coming over me. He sounds angry. It feels genuine, but he didn’t just randomly decide to ask if Randall was here. He knows he was here. And he expected my call, that didn’t come after my encounter with Randall. Maybe that’s what he’s angry about. As Savage said, there was an expected reaction. This is the reply to not getting it. “You didn’t know?” I ask.

“No, I didn’t know. Do you think I’d send Randall to deal with Jax North when Jax North is in my sister’s bed?”

“In my life, Chance. He really matters to me. Whatever is going on, I need you to know how much.”

“For now. He’s in your life for now. I don’t want you to get hurt. You know how I feel about his motives.”

“You don’t want me to get hurt?” I ask incredulously. “Well, that isn’t how Randall made it sound. He threatened me and Jax.”

“He’s abrasive. I’m sure he didn’t mean—”

“He said, and this is a quote: ‘I don’t want you to end up dead’ This, right before he threatened to ‘hurt’ Jax if I wasn’t back home in seventy-two hours. So please, Chance, tell me how to interpret that if not as a threat?”

“Holy hell. Randall.” He murmurs under his breath. “What else?”

His anger is palpable, and with it comes the relief I’ve been looking for, right along with my assumption that Randall has gone rogue. Thank God. “That and a whole lot more, Chance. He also claimed that Jax can destroy our family, that he knows things about us to make it happen. What things?”

“Did you ask Jax?”

“I’m asking you.”

“You know this is personal to Randall. You’re personal to Randall. He wants you. Jax not only has you but Randall’s certain he’s using you to hurt us over some made-up bullshit about our family and his brother.”

That’s not an answer, and I don’t let him off that easily. “What made-up bullshit?”

“You tell me. Why is our family even a problem for Jax?”

“Why do you want the castle?” I counter.

“I told you that directive was in the will. Buy the castle. Per dad. The end.”

There’s a lift to his voice that is only there when he lies. “Was dad blackmailing Hunter?”

“Is that what Jax told you?”

“That’s not an answer.”

“I covered dad’s ass plenty, Emma, but not on this.”

“Still not an answer,” I say. “I know that dad visited Hunter. And now Hunter is dead.”