Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 133213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
And his father owned a tranquilizer rifle, which was totally in his hands.
“The hard way it is, son,” Jacob Dean announced.
“Dad…” Tris began. He could reason with his dad. This was ridiculous.
Then his dad shot him. Right in the chest. The dart stuck out of his right pec, and he hadn’t held back on the dosage. The world immediately started to go fuzzy.
“Should have come home,” his dad said as he caught him right before the world went dark.
Chapter Seven
Aidan yawned as the door came open and Carys looked down at him, a frown on her gorgeous face. Damn, but she was pretty. Even when she was mad at him. “Morning. How did you sleep?”
She ignored his question. “You actually slept on the floor?”
He sat up, stretching. “It’s tradition.”
Sean Taggart had been explicit the night before. When he’d heard Carys wanted to stay at the twins’ place without them, he’d explained in no uncertain terms how this was a bad idea.
“So I’ve been told. Somehow I think whatever my dad did it was like a minor thing,” she said with a shake of her head. “Like he annoyed her. He certainly didn’t lie to her. My dad would never lie to my mother.”
A deep chuckle came from the end of the hall. “Oh, you infants think you cornered the market on angst and drama, do you?”
Adam Miles. Tristan’s obvious bio dad stood at the end of the hallway dressed as casually as the man ever did in slacks and a button-down. He would occasionally wear sweats and a T if he was playing basketball or working out, but Adam was always stylish. Rather like his son. Adam was an older version of Tristan, though he doubted the father had ever been as relentlessly stubborn as the son.
Carys’s brows rose. “Hey, Adam. Are you here to talk to Tris? He’s in the office.”
“I’m aware,” Adam replied. “I’m afraid I’m not the only one who wanted to talk to my son. As my conversation with him is going to take a while, I allowed the other interested party to have her say.”
He was about to ask who he meant when he heard something going on down the opposite end of the hall.
“Dude, how the hell did you get in?” Lou’s door had opened, but it was Kala who popped her head out. Then her whole body. “My security system didn’t go off. Did Bri give you the code? My alarm still should have gone off. I get notifications whenever someone enters or leaves the house. I also have perimeter alarms.”
Adam’s handsome face lit with the most arrogant smirk—one he’d often seen on Tris’s face. “I overrode your system. As to why I’m here, I’m picking up Tristan and Brianna for brunch. Now let’s talk about why Carys’s dad slept outside her mom’s room. I was there, you know. I should also probably protect their privacy, but that’s not a big thing with us.”
“Uh, no,” Kala said, staring at Adam. “I want to know what you did to my system. Lou? What’s happened to the security system? TJ, put that thing away. Eww.”
“I can’t help it. It’s morning. Damn, Kala, go back to your own room,” a deep voice said.
Lou made an appearance. She was in an oversized T-shirt and fluffy socks. She pushed her glasses up her nose and looked down the hall. “Hey, Uncle Adam.”
Adam was frowning. “Is there something I should know? Like I’m all for a threesome, obviously but, uhm, TJ’s your cousin, Kala.”
Carys snorted, and her lips had curled up. Aidan decided he should probably not be the only one lying on the floor for this discussion. He forced himself up, folding the sleeping bag. Also, he would like the story about why Carys’s sainted father had to sleep on the floor. It might help him out. Carys fully believed her parents were perfect.
Aidan’s father was Liam O’Donnell. A great man, but not one to pretend to be perfect. He would call it his Irishness. His father had been open about the trouble he’d had at the beginning of his relationship with Aidan’s mom. And how his mom was a wonderful woman who put up with all his crap.
He’d always known his parents weren’t perfect.
Kala’s nose wrinkled. “Ewww. I’m not like their third. Eww. I had to give up my room for Carys because your son is an idiot, and she’s rightly decided to not sleep with any men ever again. And I built the system myself. It is unhackable. Aidan, where is your shirt?”
“Uh, totally didn’t say I wasn’t sleeping with men again,” Carys said, obviously a little confused.
“And yet I hacked it with my phone. Your security system, that is,” Adam said and looked Aidan’s way. “How can he show off his cut chest if he’s wearing a shirt? Good move, son. If Carys is still interested in men, you gotta use all your assets.”