Worth the Risk (Carolina Rebels 5)

“Okay. Thanks for letting me do this.”

“No problem.” I start to turn away from him and even open my door, but I stop. “Hey, do you know who Raelynn plans to spend Christmas with? She said she’s going to see an old friend, but if you’re seeing Jackson on Christmas...” My voice trails off. Raelynn never said she wasn’t going to see her friend, so she still isn’t supposed to be at the house over Christmas.

Henry frowns. “Raelynn doesn’t have old friends anymore. She would never go back home either. She told me she would come to my house on Christmas Day for me to see Jackson.”

What? “Maybe she changed her mind then. See you later, Henry.”

Raelynn is keeping something from me. If there’s one thing I learned from my relationship with Vicky, it’s that I didn’t really know her. Not only that, but while I was with her, I was okay with not pushing to learn more about her. If I had, I’d have known about the drugs. Had I cared enough, I would’ve paid attention, period. Going forward, I worry about not knowing as much as possible about the person I’m with. About secrets and being blindsided like I was with Vicky, both with the drugs and with Bree. I don’t want the person I’m in a relationship with keeping things from me.

And it sounds like Raelynn is.

My gut tells me she is.

Damn it!

Just when I think I’m making progress on the woman and getting her to open up to me more, something like this happens. But why would she lie about this?

“Mr. EJ?”

“Yeah, Jackson?”

“Why are we sitting in the garage?”

I realize we’ve made it home and we’re now in the garage, car off, but the door to the garage still open. “Sorry.” We get out and head inside. Raelynn has the table set and she’s feeding Bree.

“DaDa! Ja-Ja!” she shouts with a grin. A few more words tumble out, but I can’t make sense of those. My heart bursts with love every time I see her. Now that she’s talking a little, it’s just getting worse, in the best possible way.

“Hey, princess.” I walk over and kiss her forehead.

“Did you have fun, baby?” Raelynn asks Jackson.

Jackson launches into his recap while I take us over to the sink to wash our hands. My mind lingers on the fact that Raelynn has made two different plans for Christmas, but I don’t know which one is the real plan, or why she’s making secret plans to start with. I can’t ask outright because then she’ll know I mentioned it to Henry, and whatever happens, it can’t look like I’m going behind her back or taking Henry’s side in any way.

“You’re quiet.”

My eyes flit to Raelynn. We’re at the table now, eating, and I’ve been lost in my thoughts. “Thinking about Christmas.” That’s partially honest.

Raelynn stiffens slightly. “Has something happened? Everyone is still coming, aren’t they?”

“Yes. I was thinking of what presents I have left to buy.”

Her shoulders relax. “You better get on that before it’s too late.”

What I better to do is find out what she’s hi

ding. That is the one thing I can’t do. That I don’t want to do. Not again.

I crouch in front of Jackson where he sits on the couch. “J-man, I need you to listen to me for a second.” His eyes slide away from the TV to focus on me. He didn’t seem bothered that Deanna and Brayden showed up, but now, I have to tell them why they’re here. I would let Raelynn handle this, but she hasn’t come downstairs yet and after I tell him, we have to go or we’ll be late for our reservations. I don’t want her to get hung up with Jackson. “Ms. Deanna and Mr. Brayden are staying with you and Bree while your mom and I go to dinner.”

His gaze flits to my friends. “Who’s tucking me in?”

“We’ll be back in time for your mom to tuck you in,” I promise. It’s one reason why I made early reservations. Jackson didn’t like the switch to me last time and I had a feeling he wouldn’t like Deanna or Brayden being the ones to do it this time. I’d rather eat early and come home in time to tuck him in than worry the kid.

“I can’t go?” His inhale is shaky, and fuck, I don’t want him nervous. I thought he’d be fine. He went to a game with Deanna not too long ago, but maybe it’s different with his mom leaving him instead.

“Not this time,” I reluctantly tell him.

“EJ says you know how to build a fort,” Brayden says from behind me, causing Jackson’s eyes to widen in shock. “I’ve never built one before, so I was hoping you’d show me. Think you can do that while they go to dinner?”