Page 202 of The Nanny and the Beefcake
“I’ll be in shortly. I have a few calls to make,” Briggs said, eyes locked on his mobile.
Damage control to tamp down the fallout from the video, no doubt.
More bloody damage control.
He could feel Libby surveying him from head to toe.
“Your eye doesn’t look too bad. How’s your side?”
“Plum, I’m fine,” he spat. He couldn’t help it. He didn’t mean to be cruel. He took a breath, forcing himself to modulate his tone. “He didn’t get me that hard, plum. He threw those punches to show me he could.”
“We were ambushed. Silas planned to catch you off guard, Raz. He said those awful things on purpose.”
What she didn’t understand was that her explanation didn’t make it any easier.
Moving like his legs were made of lead, he grabbed their bags and exited the car, barely registering the rain. He helped Libby out and observed the SUVs parked along the gravel drive. Everyone was here, and then it hit him.
There was a damn good chance they’d seen the video.
“Are you ready to go in?” Libby asked, trepidation coating her words as the scent of Mitch’s cheese toasties mingled with the clean scent of rain as music and voices floated from the barn.
“Yeah, sure,” he replied, manufacturing what he hoped was a pleasant demeanor. But it didn’t work on Libby. If anyone could sense he was out of sorts, it was her.
“I love you. We’ll be okay,” she whispered with such conviction it nearly cracked his heart in two.
He nodded, but there was nowewhen it came to his mental game.
And as of this moment, his mental and physical game was utter horse shit.
Pull yourself together.
They entered the barn. The earthy scent of hay usually lifted his spirits, but not today. He took in the space. Sebastian, Phoebe, and Oscar were preoccupied with Plum and Beefcake, feeding the animals cut-up apples while the adults huddled together, staring at their mobiles.
Another jolt of clawing doubt entered his bloodstream.
He’d called it. The video was out there for all to view.
He stiffened, shame weaving itself in with the sour doubt weighing like a stone in his belly.
His sisters caught sight of him first as he nodded to Granny Fin and the rest of the group.
Calliope and Callista plastered on smiles, pocketed their phones, and headed over.
“Raz, are you okay?” Callista whispered as she hugged him, then glanced over her shoulder at Sebastian.
“The lad doesn’t know about the video, does he?”
“Of course not. The kids have no idea,” Calliope answered through a hug. “Our mobiles send us an alert when you pop up in the news. We figured it was another Hawaii sighting.”
He sucked in a sharp breath. “So, everyone’s seen it? Augie’s seen it?”
“Yes, and—” Calliope began, but he cut her off.
“And we’re not talking about it,” he said, his voice a husky rasp.
His sisters exchanged a worried look.
Concerned marred Calliope’s face. “Are you okay, Erasmus?”
