Page 35 of Kade

Samantha’s half sister had been six the last time she saw her. There’d been another kid, but I couldn’t remember his name. I’d questioned Sam one time about it, asking if it bothered her that Garrett was absent from our life. She’d shrugged. “He doesn’t have the excuse this time of not knowing about me.” She hadn’t wanted to talk about it anymore and rolled over, taking the blanket with her. I’d considered asking my private investigator to look into him, but when I brought it up a few days later, Sam shook her head. Her shoulders tensed and her jaw got tight. “You will not. It’s his decision not to be in my life. I chase no one. If this is how he’s chosen to be as my father, I don’t want him in our kids’s life as a grandparent. They’ve got two sets who love them tenfold what he might’ve. Let’s focus on the ones who are here.”

We’d dropped it after that, but I knew Sam kept tabs on her little sister somehow.

“That’s sad,” Nate remarked.

I tilted my head to the side. “It’s life. We have blessings in other ways.”

“Yeah. Focus on the silver-lining shit.” Logan took another swig, thrusting his free hand in the air. He coughed a few times before rasping out, “Let’s go fuck ’em up. What’s his number? I want to find out where he is. We got a whole list by now, Mase. It’s like we never left.”

I raised my eyebrows at him. “We never left? You move here in the last day and I didn’t catch when that happened?”

He glowered. “You know what I mean.”

I did. I was a little salty about it. Now that I was here, now that we were going to war, I wanted my brother by my side. I took the bottle away from him, capping it and putting it on the floor on my other side. “He’s in Europe, and no, we’re not.”

“Hey,” Logan protested

I glared at him. “You’ve had enough. You can’t keep getting drunk and leaving your wife to deal with Sammy. That kid is a handful, and she’s pregnant.”

He rolled his eyes. “I got drunk one night. Tonight’s the second. Don’t insinuate I’m a selfish husband.” He scowled at me.

We were glaring at each other as Nate laughed, missing the actual anger bristling between us. “I still think it’s fucking hilarious that you named your son Sammy,” he said. “And even more hilarious that Taylor was okay with it. You basically named your kid after your sister-in-law.”

I grinned, remembering when he delivered the news. Sam had been horrified.

Logan laughed too, the tension easing. “It started as a joke, but we were so sad after losing our girl that we wanted to take our time naming him. Then Taylor’s dad had a heart attack and well, time took off. The little guy just became Sammy.”

Nate was still laughing, shaking his head. “And his nickname is Sam. That’s the funniest part of it.”

Logan snickered, and then closed his eyes, going still.

Nate lost his grin, casting me an inquisitive look.

This was dark Logan.

We were in Fallen Crest. We’d lost our dad. He remembered how shitty some of the other grandparents were, and he’d been reminded about his daughter.

Logan and Taylor were shattered when they lost her.

Two years later, Sammy came along, and it was as if he’d gotten his soul, plus his older sister’s soul as well. Hispersonality burst out of him, and sometimes, they could only contain him enough to keep him safe. He wasa lot.

He’d been staying with Malinda and David this last week. Taylor had been able to sleep, which she said every day she was thankful about. That usually came up around the time she was readying herself for when they’d come to the house.

The front door would burst open and Sammy would tear into the house.“Mommy!”

It was the same entrance every morning. No walking. No skipping. No jogging. A full-on sprint. He’d barrel right at her.

He’d grasp her hips for a quick hug, and then he was off, looking for his next victim. Thank God his cousins all doted on him, as that kid was nuts. I was his godparent. I should’ve been nicer about him, but nope. The kid was nuts. Funny, but nuts.

I loved catching his arrivals whenever I could. Malinda didn’t understand why I asked her to alert me when they were on the way over, but I never wanted to miss the moment Sammy entered the household.

I couldn’t wait to see what he was like as he got older. Logan was fucked.

The door burst open again. It was Channing this time. He gave us all a look, jerking his chin. “Stop hiding. Kids are crying, and your wives need time off. Let’s go.” He didn’t wait around, striding off.

There was a momentary pause before Nate began laughing.

Logan exhaled, grinning slightly. “What the fuck was that?”

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