Page 81 of If You Were Mine
Finally, I let out a breath and continued. “I don’t want the rest of the world to know. I mean, your significant others, and the other siblings. Wellesley knows.”
“Of course she does,” Aston said, his lips twitching.
I flipped him off. “The will has my name, and not anything about genetics or anything like that. So it’s not going to affect the town or anything, right?” I asked my voice soft.
“If it does, we’ll figure it out together,” Aston said. “But please refrain from keeping big secrets from us and stop working on this damn house.”
Hudson shook his head. “Fixing it up after so much neglect isn’t going to make Dad a better person. He’s still dead, gone and buried, and he will always have a legacy of being an asshole.”
“Cheers to that,” Flynn said as he held up his beer bottle to his twin. I did the same. I held up mine, and we each toasted to the fact that my father was the worst of the worst.
“I already cut Mother out, by the way.” Aston shrugged. “I won’t bring this up with her. Not unless you want us to, but I don’t know what the hell’s going on with her.”
“She’s losing it for sure,” Hudson added.
James cleared his throat. “We’ll have to deal with her at some point.”
I shrugged. “But I’m done. I’m done pretending that I can deal with being her so-called favorite.”
“Well, she’s an asshole too,” Flynn said as he held up his beer once more.
We all toasted to that. And I sat down on one of the couches in the far too big cabin that was once the Ackerson place and that I knew I would never be able to fix up and hung out with my brothers. And when each of the sisters showed, surprising me, I laid down, drank another beer, and told them all about another Cage family secret.
I had kept it to myself for so long that it felt weird to be open about it. But as I looked at the people surrounding me, Aston and the others were right. I might not carry the same blood as everyone in this room, but these were my family members.
This was my family.
Lucky perked up and moved his way to the door.
As Harper walked in, her gaze bright, I stood up and moved towards her, ignoring the cheers and cat calls as I did so. And when I pressed my lips to hers, I knew I wasn’t alone. That my family was right behind me, and in my arms. I just needed to figure out exactly what to do about that.
Chapter 16
HARPER
“The wind is sure picking up out there,” Dorian said as he looked out the darkened window. We hadn’t bothered to pull down the blinds, since the moonlight was the only thing that really showcased how glaring the snow was. He reached out at that moment and flipped on a switch, so the outdoor light illuminated everything we could have missed, and now we could see the snow coming down hard.
I wrapped my arms around him, pressing my cheek between his shoulder blades.
“I should take Lucky out before the storm gets any worse.”
Dorian patted my hands and leaned back.
“I can do it. It’s too cold out there for you.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ve lived in the mountains for longer than you. I can handle it.”
He turned then, but I still kept my arms wrapped around his waist. Then he pushed my hair back from my face and smiled. Ever since he had told his family what had been burdening him for so long, he looked lighter. As if the world wasn’t pressing down on his shoulders.
“Yes, you can do it. And I trust you to know your own lungs, but I don’t mind. I could use some fresh air.”
“Is everything okay?”
He leaned down and kissed the tip of my nose. “It is. I’m just wondering why I’m here.”
I froze, everything in me shaking. But I tried to act as if I wasn’t falling apart inside.
This was it. This is when he said he was having fun, but it was time. He was no longer needing to hide from his family anymore. He was finally figuring out what he needed in life. And living in Cage Lake with a bakery owner, and who only rented a tiny apartment with her giant dog, wouldn’t be part of that.
