Page 13 of Echoes of You

There were so many wonderful things about being back in Cedar Ridge. But my mother was far from one of them.

My phone dinged, and I pulled it from my purse. The name on the screen had my blood going cold.

Adam

Stop throwing a hissy fit and come home. You have twelve hours.

My hands trembled. They’d begun to do that every time Adam’s name flashed on my phone, no matter the contents of the text, a slight tremor at just seeing those four letters on my screen.

It had taken him almost a week to text me after I left. He’d been so sure I’d come back on my own. That arrogance had been my only comfort as I started my drive, paying for motels in cash and never using my credit card. Every time my phone made a sound, I’d braced, waiting for what might be on the screen, wondering if he’d somehow worked out where I was.

I stared at my cell. The handful of words tightening a vise around my ribs. I wouldn’t have made it back to Atlanta in twelve hours even if I’d tried. But I knew one thing for certain. This was a threat. And Adam always made good on those.

4

NASH

Holt tooka pull on his beer and then set it down. “Okay, Kim and Chris will round us out to an even dozen of new recruits. Anyone else we should think about adding?”

“Not Dan and Kevin,” Grae grumbled around a bite of pizza.

“That’s for damn sure,” Lawson said.

Roan just grunted in agreement.

Dad sighed as he sat back in his chair. “I have a feeling they’ll moan about not being selected.”

“Better they moan about it than put our team at risk,” Holt said. “They’re both way too reckless.”

He reached for another slice of pizza. We’d made the smart choice of holing up in the back room at Wildfire to discuss the selections for the SAR team.

Grae scowled at her plate. “And they’re sexist buttholes.”

All of my brothers and I stilled. I turned slowly to Grae. “One of those jerk-offs do something today?”

Her scowl only deepened. “Dan tried to grab my ass with the excuse that he was going to help me over a boulder.”

Rumbles of pissed-off opposition rose in the small room.

She held up a hand. “I informed him that I didn’t need his help.”

A grin spread across my face. “What’d you do, G?”

She studied her nails, which were painted a deep burgundy. “I might have gotten him in an armlock and told him that the next time his handslipped, mine would, too, and he might lose a finger.”

Roan let out a low chuckle and held out a hand for a high-five. For him, that might as well have been anI love you.

Lawson’s brows furrowed. “I’m going to have a word with him and—”

“No.” Grae cut him off. “I handled it. Trust me to fight my own battles.”

“But—”

“No buts,” she argued, pinning our eldest brother with a stare.

“Fine,” he huffed out. “But promise you’ll tell me if he bothers you again.”

“Sure,” she agreed, way too quickly.

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