Done.
We spend the rest of the night building our dream home and asking every ridiculous question we can come up with. When we wake in the early morning light, the fire has gone out, and even under all the down, we’re cold. I hold Emory for a few more seconds. Finally, I wake her, and we return to our temporary home.
Chapter 45
Preston
One month later
“Are you sure you want to set this up here?” Dexter asks. “Trevor and Julia have been spending a lot of time at his folk’s house, cleaning it out. I’m sure they would stay there if you want to do this in my guest house.”
“I want it here, and Emory understands. I don’t have my stamina back yet. I want to oversee every part of this until we find him, and I can’t do that if I have to drive back and forth.”
“Loki’s never gone missing this long before?” Emory’s little sister asks.
“He’s never gone over two weeks without checking in,” Dex tells her.
I love my new sister-in-law, really I do, but she is this weird mix of Dexter, GG, and Lanie. She’s a hopeless romantic like Dex, possibly even more gullible than Lanie, and asks the most inappropriate questions like GG. I don’t know how to handle her.
“Ah, if we’re using your extra bedrooms as war rooms, where is Sloane staying?”
Eli and Tilly went back to school before I was even released from the hospital, but Sloane? She’s like an extra appendage some days. With Emory spending more time acclimating to Charlotte Medical, entertaining her has fallen to me.
“I’m renting Loki’s apartment downstairs. I can’t believe how affordable it is. I couldn’t rent a shoebox for that amount in Seattle,” she says happily.
Dexter gives me a look that says, ‘You’re full of shit.’
“Yeah, crazy, right?” I give him a pleading glare. I need some alone time with my wife. Especially now that I’ve been cleared for more strenuous activity.Fuck, I can’t wait for her to get home.Turning away, I adjust myself.Get a grip, man. You cannot be cupping your dick while your in-laws are four feet away!
Shaking her head, she smiles, and I’m still caught off guard by the similarities between her and Emory sometimes.
The front door bursts open with Trevor and Julia rushing through shortly after. “Seth got a ping?”
Dexter and I look at each other. Seth is on the other side of the apartment. We hadn’t heard anything. A split second later, both our phones chime as Seth enters the hallway.
“There’s news?” I ask with no pretense.
“Gather everyone in the family room,” Seth instructs. “Let’s go through this once, so we don’t waste any more time.”
I haven’t figured Seth out, but I know he can be a real fucking prick sometimes.
“Stand down, Pres,” Ashton whispers beside me. “I know what you’re thinking. I think it, too. But, for all his faults, Seth is unwavering in his loyalty to Loki. I’m watching everything. I have ears everywhere, too, but we need Seth. He might be the only one that can lead us to Loki.”
“Fine.”
“Is everyone here?” Seth asks in his monotonous way.
“West,” I yell.
“Brooks,” Ashton finishes.
“Lanie is with the kids,” Dex supplies as Colton, Easton, and Halt exit another room while my mother walks out of the kitchen.
“Emory is working at the hospital but should be here soon. I’ll fill her in,” I tell him.
“And I’m here,” Sloane says. There’s a perkiness about her I know will grate on Seth, and I love every minute of it.
Seth looks to Ash and me for confirmation of the new addition.