The Girl's Got Secrets (Forbidden Men 7)

I blew out a breath, feeling pathetic because I needed him. Pick’s news had affected me strongly. That surprised me. So I nodded at my friend’s offer and murmured, “’K. Thanks.”

Without making a big deal of my admitting I did indeed need him, he snagged his keys, wallet, and phone off the coffee table and motioned toward the door. Since my head was still messed up, I followed his directive without question.

But as soon as I opened the door, he hissed, “Shit. Food. We need food.”

I glanced back, frowning. “Huh?”

“You know.” He snapped his fingers and waved out his hand. “When the close loved one of someone you know dies, you bring them food, like casseroles and shit.”

I arched an eyebrow. “You’re whack if you think I even remotely know how to bake a casserole.”

Remy laughed. “It doesn’t have to be a casserole per se. Just...anything. Something helpful.” Then he brightened. “When Big T’s madre died, all these people poured in with different foods, but this one single old guy, Jorge, he brought paper plates and napkins, and plasticware, crap like that. It was the most used thing anyone brought over. And I always told myself, since I can’t cook either, that’s what I’d do if I ever visited the family member of someone who died.”

I blew out a breath. “All right then. We’ll stop by the store and pick up some paper plates and such along the way.”

Half an hour later, we knocked on Reese and Mason’s door. Eva answered, and her face brightened when she saw me.

“Asher.” She pulled me in for a tight hug, murmuring into my ear how much it was going to mean to Mason and Reese that I’d come. Then she noticed the guy behind me. “Oh! Hi, there.” I introduced her to Remy, and he waved a respectful hello before following us down the hall to a kitchen where Pick and Reese were hovering over a phone book, debating which funeral home to contact.

“Look who I found at the door,” Eva announced.

Reese looked up, and though her face was red and puffy from some obvious crying, she smiled when she saw me. “Asher. Thank you so much for coming.” She swept around the table toward me and pulled me in for a hug.

Afterward, I heaved the grocery bag at her.

She peeked inside and brightened. “Oh! Thank you. That was so thoughtful. This’ll probably come in handy more than anything else.”

I glanced back at Remy, ready to give him the credit, but he nudged my elbow and whispered, “Your line is you’re welcome.” So I dutifully turned back to Reese and shrugged.

“No problem. So...?”

I wasn’t sure what to ask. But Reese leaned in and quietly murmured, “She overdosed.”

Shock spread through me. “Mason’s mom? Shit. I wasn’t aware she...”

“She wasn’t. Not really. I guess she’d had a problem with prescription pills a long time ago. She used to filch some of Sarah’s medicine to handle...well, life, I guess. But she’d stopped long before I’d come along. Mason didn’t even tell me about it until after we’d moved here from Florida. But I guess, lately, these last few months...it became a problem again.” She shook her head as tears filled her eyes. “Sarah’s the one who found her. After she called us, she hasn’t spoken a word.”

“Shit,” I murmured, feeling for Mason’s poor sister.

“And Mason...my God.” More tears filled Reese’s eyes. “He’s been busy on the phone, calling lawyers and social workers, so hell-bent on making sure we can get custody of Sarah he hasn’t stopped to think about what really just happened. I don’t think he wants to think about it.”

I didn’t blame him. Before I could say anything, offer help—just anything she needed—two small children scampered into the room. “Mama, Dada,” they called, going to their parents.

Watching what I guessed were my niece and nephew now run to Eva and Pick for attention, I shook my head. They were so damn cute, and so damn lucky they had two parents who cared, who wouldn’t overdose and abandon them, who just...loved them.

From the hallway, more people appeared: Noel and his family, and Quinn and Zoey, toting a super-small baby.

As Reese went in to snatch baby J.B. from Zoey’s arms, saying she really needed a dose of cuteness right now, Brandt glanced around the suddenly cramped kitchen and asked, “Sarah’s here, right?”

Pain clouded Reese’s face as she jiggled the baby. “Yes, but I’m sorry, Brandt.” She shook her head. “She’s not talking to anyone right now. Mason can’t even get her to respond to him. She’s pretty upset.”

Determination glittered in Brandt’s eyes. “Can I go see her anyway?” I had a feeling he would’ve found a way, even if Reese denied him access.

But she nodded. “Of course. She’s lying down in Mason’s and my room.”

He took off, and hushed, respectful voices filled the kitchen as Aspen and Quinn handed food dishes off to Eva, who packed them away in the refrigerator. When Mason entered the room, looking pale, worn-out, and a bit shell-shocked, the ladies gathered around him for a round of hugs, while us guys stood back, giving him one of those sorry-for-your-loss nods.

Julian and Skylar kept trying to scream and run around the kitchen, so Pick gathered them both up under his arms, announcing, “I can take them home. Tink...go ahead and stay here as long as you need, be with your cousins. And call when you’re ready to come home.”