Page 24 of Gather the Storm

I wished.

He held my gaze and I knew he was calculating, weighing what he wanted against what I wanted, determining how to turn the situation in his favor, looking for unseen advantages.

“I’ll tell you what,” he said, “I’ll help bankroll the renovations if you stay here and hire professionals.”

He was a good business person, a good negotiator, but I’d known that going in. I was prepared for it, had rehearsed the things I’d say, especially the thing I knew I’d have to say when he finally tried to wheel and deal me out of my plans.

“No,” I said. “But thank you.”

His gaze turned cold. This was why I hated disappointing him. Not just because I loved him and wanted him to be proud of me like he was of Ruth — like he’d been of Blake — but because his disappointment was like the creeping shade of a winter day.

You could be in the sun one minute, feel the warmth of it on your face, but once it started to drop, you were chilled to the bone.

“Have it your way,” he said, standing. Calvin dropped everything and was on his feet in under five seconds. “You’ll be home in a week.”

They left the room without another word, like a pair of toy soldiers in lockstep, leaving me sitting alone at the long dining table.

Joan appeared to take my plate. She flashed me a sympathetic smile and smoothed my hair before disappearing.

For a minute, I thought about how I’d vent to her later when we met for our next game of gin in the kitchen with the others. Then I remembered that my bags were packed and I wouldn’t be spending another night in the house, maybe ever.

The plan had taken me years to concoct — wait for the Beasts to get out of prison, tell my mom’s lawyer that I’d need access to the house fund, convince Blake’s best friends (his murderers?) to move in with me, tell Ruth and my dad that I was leaving.

Now it was all happening and I was suddenly gripped with fear. What if this was a huge mistake? What if my dad was right and I had no idea what I was doing and I had to come home in humiliation? What if the Beasts — the men about to become my three roommates — really had killed Blake?

I saw the flash of Jace’s eyes when he’d accepted my offer to work on the house, heard his voice in my head.

Be careful what you wish for…

Now I remembered the rest of the phrase —because it might just come true.

Fuck me. What had I done?

Chapter 12

Daisy

Iwas nervous as I drove down the long drive that wound through the sun-dappled woods. The trees were so overgrown it looked more like a path, but I knew from the old pictures I’d collected that it had once been wide and sweeping, the trees cut back to make room for horses and carriages before cars were invented.

It was weird sometimes, realizing the house had been around so long, that once upon a time it hadn’t even had electricity.

It wasn’t like that now, thank god — it had been renovated and upgraded more than once since 1880 when it had been built — but it had been neglected for a long time.

I added the trees to the mental list that ran like one of those news banners — the ones that scrolled at the bottom of the screen when my dad watched MSNBC to get market updates — in the background of my mind.

Then the house came into view and I had to catch my breath, not just because the house really was incredible, but because Jace’s bike was parked out front.

There were no other cars, which meant unless Wolf or Otis had ridden up with Jace, my brother’s imposing asshole of a friend was the only one here.

Great. Just perfect.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. I’d given them each a key in case they got here first, but I’d been hoping for a warm-up before I had to be alone with Jace, a little time with Wolf or Otis or better yet, both of them together.

I mean, time alone with the devil himself would have been easier than being alone with Jace Kane, but here I was.

I gave myself a mental pep talk because that was what I did when Cass and Sarai weren’t around to do it for me.

You can do this, Daisy.You’re not weak. You’re not a pampered little princess.

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