I grin down at my phone. I tried to warn her before she ate it the first time that it was addictive.
Me:
I can ask.
Indi:
I am soooo there. We both know that adorable man won’t deny you a thing.
Me:
Awesome, I’ll see you in a few hours. Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor.
Indi:
I love you, ya big nerd. See you in a bit.
I laugh at her message just as Smithy appears in the kitchen and starts making milkshakes.
“So how is your sister doing, anyway? Everything okay back home?”
He stops as he pulls the ice cream from the freezer and smiles at me. “She’s doing much better, thank you, Miss Octavia. Now that she’s situated everything is much better. We managed to arrange for some home care for her until she’s fully back on her feet too.”
Guilt spikes my stomach, knowing that he came back here for me, rather than looking after her. “You could’ve stayed longer if you’d needed to. I would’ve been okay.” I chew my lip because I’m not sure how true that statement actually is, but I hate that I’m the reason he had to leave her.
“Nonsense, Miss Octavia. I was going a little stir crazy there. There is only so long a person can be around their family before they need to be with the people who are truly their family.” He winks at me before starting the blender for the milkshakes. He pours chocolate sauce on the inside of the milkshake glasses before adding more chocolate chips to the blender.
My mouth waters at the thought of how good that’s going to taste.
He brings the two glasses over and gets comfortable on the other side of the couch. “So what did I miss while I was gone?”
I take a sip of thick, chocolaty goodness to give me a second to think of how to answer that question, groaning as the sweetness hits my tastebuds. There’s no way I can tell him everything that’s going on, but a small part of me wonders if he knows more about what’s happening here than I do. He’s lived in The Cove while I’ve been gone. He obviously kept an eye on the Saints, surely he wouldn’t keep secrets from me if they put me in danger, right? So I decide to counter his question with one of my own. “Do you know why the boys want me out of Echoes Cove?”
His eyes go wide quickly, and he turns to face me, putting his milkshake down on the table. “Not exactly.”
My heart sinks. He does know something, and he kept it from me. I thought I could trust him.
“I knew they weren’t all happy about your return, but I didn’t know they wanted you out of here. I hope they haven’t been too persistent.” He frowns, guilt shining in his eyes, but I say nothing. If he isn’t aware of what I’ve been going through, I’m not about to add to his obvious guilt. “I’ve worked for your family for a long time. For your grandfather before your father. You don’t work with a Royal for as long as I have and not know that everything isn’t what it seems. I know enough to keep myself out of what they were wrapped up in, enough to know that the boys are likely trying to keep you safe. The same way I am. As for the exact details, I don’t know much. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this before, but I assumed your father would have passed the details on. You are his legacy after all.” He pauses, and I wait for him to continue as my heart pounds in my chest. “What I do know is that your family has been wrapped up in the darkness that beats under the surface of Echoes Cove since the beginning. They were a founding family here, the same as the Saints, the Knights, and the Rileys, and it wasn’t long before they became tangled up in the web of The Knights Society.”
“The Knights Society?” I blink, trying to take it all in. So much information—and so little—all at once. And it still sounds so unbelievable. I don’t think he’d lie to me, but how can any of this be real?
He nods before glancing around the room. “They are more dangerous than you can imagine, Miss Octavia. There's a darkness prowling just beneath the surface of Echoes Cove. Sometimes The Knights are there to fight it back, but more often than not, they're the ones ushering it to the surface. From what I understand, it's been that way for close to two hundred years. I’ve kept my head down and stayed off their radar. I don’t know for certain exactly what they are, but I know that nothing good can come from being tangled up with them.
“They had their claws in your father at one point, but I assumed he broke free when he left this place, though it was never confirmed, not to me at least. He took you from here for a reason, and I’d lay my life down to say it was to get you away from the Knights. And if I had to make a bet, I’d say the boys were trying to protect you from it all too. The same way they protected you when you were younger. ”
My brain about implodes with that little nugget and I lean back in my chair, taking in his words. I’d put money on this being what Lincoln thought I wouldn’t believe. What Finley wanted to tell me. My mind works overtime going over everything that’s happened since I arrived back here.
The only thing I know for sure anymore is that nothing is what I thought it was.