Page 33 of Corrupted Lies

“Yes,” Jake answered, suddenly not sure he liked this topic any better than the last one. How was he going to survive out on a boat alone with Alannah and resist the pull that had been drawing them together in his front hall just moments ago? A pull he still felt lingering in the air.

“And?” Cooper prompted.

“And I said I can't go away with you all,” Alannah answered.

“Then are we …?” Connor asked, not needing to finish the sentence because they all knew how it ended. Even Alannah, since he’d been honest and told her that her safety was his number one concern and he’d do whatever it took to ensure it.

“No, you're not drugging me and restraining me and then kidnapping me,” Alannah told him.

“Connor.” Becca swatted at her boyfriend’s shoulder. “You were going to do that?”

“She’s part of this family, Becca. She has to be safe,” Connor replied.

“Well, it’s not necessary,” Alannah assured him. “I'm not stupid. I don’t want to die. But I can't leave my business right now and not know that I can come back and start it up again as soon as I'm cleared to use the building. So we came up with a compromise.”

“A compromise?” Cooper asked.

“Yes. I'm going to take my boat out,” Alannah explained. “That way, I'm out of the line of fire, but I can come back if I need to. I offered to hire bodyguards when I come back but Jake …” she trailed off and looked to him like she wasn't positive he wouldn't have changed his mind.

How could she not know that the vow he’d made to her almost thirty years ago was one he took seriously and intended to keep?

“I told Alannah I'd go with her rather than with you guys,” he finished her sentence for her.

When she gasped and looked over at him, seemingly surprised he’d admitted it and still wanted to go with her, he held her gaze. Allowing how serious he was about his vow to shine through so she would know this was what he wanted.

“I'd prefer if we were all together, but I understand,” Cade said.

“Course we understand,” Cole added.

“She needs to keep her business running and can't do that from anywhere like the rest of us,” Willow added. “I can work on a story from anywhere, especially in the preliminary stages. And Susanna is joining Prey anyway, and Becca can still run her charity, and Gabriella hasn’t decided what her new job is going to be, so we can all take this time away. You can't and we get that.”

“Thank you for understanding,” Alannah told Willow, her gaze then including everyone. “I appreciate you all for treating me like family even though I'm not.”

“You are,” Susanna said before anyone else could get a word in. “Trust me.”

Susanna was quiet, shy, but she was the kind of person you did find yourself trusting when she spoke, and Alannah nodded, although there was a tiny flicker of doubt in her golden eyes.

“I'm hungry, Daddy,” Essie spoke up, finishing off her cookies.

“Right, dinner,” Cade said, heading for the grocery bags that had been stacked on the kitchen counter.

“Guys cooking tonight,” Jax announced.

From the look on his brother’s face, an expression that was echoed on the faces of all four of his stepbrothers, Jake knew he was about to be given the third degree.

The problem was, he didn't know what he was going to tell him. Alannah was his best friend, that couldn’t change. He didn't know if he wanted it to change, or if she did, but he did know that if they tried to change their relationship and it didn't work out, he’d lose his favorite person in the world.

October 17th

8:52 A.M.

Finally.

A sense of freedom, of peace, of security settled over her as they stepped onto her boat.

Alannah took the first deep breath she’d enjoyed in days. There was no smoke in the air, no fear that suddenly someone was going to jump out and start a fire. There would be no burning cars rushing toward them, no fireballs thrown at her as she walked in a grocery store.

It felt amazing.

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