I hated this. Hated that his life and safety were going to be in the hands of a woman I didn’t know. What if she was a psycho? Foster care had taught me that not all sociopaths were identifiable. Sometimes, they were sweet, motherly types on the outside.
We watched her drive away, and Rigby huffed. “You fuckers are useless. Could you be any more ominous?”
He climbed into the back seat of the Range Rover. Rigby mightn’t have grown up with Alana, but he’d been my best friend since we were rookies, and when we were both called up for the same team, it had felt like fate. He’d adopted her as an honorary little sister, and had been there through her pregnancy too. Had held Huey in his huge arms as a tiny newborn. Cried at her funeral only a few weeks later.
He mightn’t have the same history with her as Devan and I, but he’d loved her—of that I had no doubt.
I climbed into the driver’s seat, Devan sliding into the passenger seat beside me. Staring through the windshield, I asked, “So, what do we do?”
Rigby and I both looked at Devan. He was so fucking smart. To look at him, you’d think he was some kind of shady bastard. He’d seen things growing up—we all had—and it still affected him today. So he had that coldness that put people off, and the brains to make you run around in circles before you even knew what was happening. He’d been investing money since I first went pro. He’d taken half of my first contract’s pay, and invested it.
Our money tripled. Then he started an investment company, with me and him having a fifty-fifty split, and he’d turned it into a multi-million-dollar profit-making machine. I had no idea how he did it. I didn’t ask the hard questions; I just gave him money, and he made millions. That was the deal.
“If we can’t buy Huey, we buy the girl instead,” he said, his voice deadpan.
Everyone had a price. We both knew that all too well.
ChapterFour
NOVA
I had not been prepared.Honestly,nothingcould have prepared me.
When Janette had dropped off a sleeping Huey, I’d looked down into the face of my baby brother and fallen in love. Deeply. Wholeheartedly.
I knew as she placed him in my arms that I would do absolutely anything for him. Give him anything. Raze the world for him. He was dressed in a tiny blue onesie, with a little cap on his head, his closed eyes fanning tiny blond lashes across his cheeks. He was beautiful.
I’d put him in the crib in my room, filled out all the paperwork Janette had given me while he slept, and grilled her for forty-five minutes about little things I should know. She’d given me his medical history, and that of Alana’s. She’d also given me a box full of Huey’s baby things, including a picture of him with his mom, and I’d held it together reasonably well, I thought.
But after Janette had left, I’d stared at that photo. The girl in it was so full of life and happiness. She was blonde, which must have been where Huey got his soft blond fuzz from, and she was smiling as she held him close, looking down at him with such love.
I’d sat on the couch and cried for her. Cried for the fact she’d never see her baby grow up. Cried that my dad—the man I’d loved and respected—had done her wrong. Cried about the unfairness of it all.
If she hadn’t died, would she have ever sought me out? Would I have ever met Huey?
Then Huey had woken up and freaked out, as much as an infant could freak out. He didn’t know me, but here I was, trying to give him a bottle after testing its temperature on every sensitive part of my body. I’d even dripped a little on my eyelid.
He’d finished his bottle, then continued to cry. He cried until I called Rita next door. She’d come over, burped him, put him to bed, and then held me while I sobbed. When she finally went home, Huey had cried on and off all night.
What the fuck was I thinking?
A part of me really wanted to cancel today’s meeting with Huey’s uncles. I’d sat through the hearing, but I still didn’t really understand their dynamic with Alana. Had River Cooper dated her? Were they former lovers? Or was it the familial relationship that River’s lawyers had stated it was?
There was only one way to find out, and to discuss what was best for Huey. And that was to go down to the Cheeky Javelina.
It had taken me two hours to get Huey ready to leave the house. I’d gone through the Diaper Bag Checklist twice, as well as stumbled through theMorning Routine Checklist. I burped him the way Rita had showed me, trying to judge what he needed to wear in summer in Tucson.
I decided on a short-sleeved onesie. And then I packed a little cardigan thing in case it got cold. And a sleep sack thing in case it somehow became arctic. And his little knit cap. And sixteen diapers. And a warm bottle of water, and a container of formula. Wipes. A change mat. Infant Tylenol. The list went on and on and on.
I watched an online tutorial on how to get the baby carrier on. Then I started to worry I’d drop the baby accidentally, and decided to just put him in the car seat thing that went into the car and also into the stroller.
Long story short, I was now running ten minutes late, my hair was in a messy bun on top of my head, I was wearing jeans and an old band tee that I loved, and I probably looked so sleep-deprived that I actually appeared insane.
I hadn’t slept well since my parent’s accident, so I was used to living on minimal sleep. Janette had said that it would take time for Huey to adjust. I just had to stick it out.
The cafe was busy, but it wasn’t hard to find where Huey’s uncles were sitting, since everybody in the cafe was angled in their direction. Mostly so they could get a better look without being obvious, but some people—mostly women—were openly staring.
I mean, when I spotted them, I understood completely. They were handsome as hell in suits. But casually reclining in jeans and tight t-shirts?