“Nate. Yes. There’s a family dinner on tonight. We can find out what’s been going on in my absence and why the hell Jasmine hired a private investigator to find me.”
“A family dinner. That’s why you bought me a dress?” I shifted uncomfortably where I sat, the idea of meeting his family setting off butterflies.
“Yes,” he said. “I saw it and thought of you. I hope that’s OK?”
“It’s perfect,” I said. “But a family dinner? I don’t know…”
“You’ll be perfect. It’s just siting down, eating food and discussing things. All things you’re amazing at. You’ll get to meet my sister-in-laws. They all have kids now, Nate says his is almost walking.”
“What?” I was getting confused. “I thought we were going there to talk about what we’re going to do about Grey. Not have a family reunion with a bunch of screaming babies.”
“You don’t like kids?”
“I think they’re fine. From far away. I’m not maternal by any stretch of the word.”
Toby smiled.
“Why is that funny?”
“It’s not funny. I just think you’re gorgeous. And you’ll be fine. Ignore everything that comes out of my mother’s mouth, but feel free to talk all you want with everyone else. They’re great, actually.”
“Even Nate?”
He sighed and placed his hands on my thighs, moving them up and down. “Nate and I have a complicated relationship. We clash, but he’s still my brother. That means more than all the other shit that’s gone down.”
“OK. I’ll reserve my judgement then.”
“Pissed on my behalf?” He grinned, amused.
“A little. I feel like they use you to run their businesses and do their dirty work while they run off having relationships and babies, reaping the rewards of the work my man put in.”
“My man? She’s protective.”
“Of course I am. Just like you said that I’m yours, I consider you mine too. I will fight for you. I will stand by you. And I don’t care who it’s against. My loyalty is to you and you only. Everyone else will need to earn it, whether they’re your family or not.” Loyalty was one quality I’d always placed a huge emphasis on. It’s why I’d worked the same job for Big Jim all those years. I did right by him. He did right by me. That was how it worked. It normally took years to build that kind of trust, my early loyalty to Toby was an exception where my heart overruled my head. No one else would slide by so easy, especially not after causing my beautiful man such pain. No. The rest of the Cartwrights needed to earn a place at my table.
“She may be small, but she is fierce.”
“Stop teasing.” I tapped him on his chest. “And I’m not even a little bit small.”
He gathered me in his arms until I was standing in front of him on my tip-toes. “To me you are.”
“Everyone is small compared to you.”
“Believe it or not, I’m the smallest in my family.”
“Bullshit.”
“I kid you not. I’m the runt. The tallest is Sam at six-four. Then Nate, Kris and Abbot are all around six-three, and I’m six-two.”
“That’s crazy to me. You’re giants. How tall is your mum?”
“Six-one, I think.”
“And your dad?”
He shrugged. “When I was a kid, I thought he was the biggest man in the world. But I haven’t seen him since he went to prison. He was taller than Jasmine though.”
“Jasmine. You don’t call her mum?”
He shook his head. “Never.”
“Because she was never like a mum or for professional reasons?”
“Professional reasons.”
“What am I walking into tonight? I mean, I get that there will be four brothers, their wives and their kids—are there four babies too?”
“There are.”
“That’s really weird. Did they all get pregnant together?”
“Practically.”
“That’s super weird. Did they plan it that way?”
“No.” He laughed. “It was a happy accident.”
“That’s so fucking weird.”
“If you think that’s weird, wait until dinner. It gets weirder.”
Placing my hands on either side of his face, I stared deeply into his eyes. “You seem way too calm. Are you quietly freaking out about going back there?” His eyes flashed, and I knew that he was. “I’ll hold your hand the whole time,” I whispered.
Resting his forehead against mine, he let out a sigh. “That makes me feel better already.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
That Biker Could Really Bake
“Toby! Oh my god!” A tall dark-haired woman came tearing out of a large white-brick house and jumped at him, causing him to drop my hand to catch her. I didn’t know who she was, but I already had a problem with her. The rest of the family came filing out behind her, brothers, wives and babies. They all stood in an overwhelmingly massive group.
I was glad that the house was on a secluded block of land. The only way to see us all would be to enter the actual property or use a drone. Even though we were in the open, I felt quite safe here.
“Hey Leesh,” Toby said, patting her a few times on the back as he set her down on the gravel driveway. “It’s nice to see you too.”
With wide saucer eyes, she turned to me. “Who is this?”
Toby reached for my hand again. “This is Blair,” he said, prompting a few raised eyebrows and weighted looks. I took it that it was unusual for Toby to bring a woman to the family home, but the fact I was here seemed to delight his mother who was grinning broadly as she made her way to the front of the group.
“I knew you’d come back eventually,” she said, tears in her eyes as she reached both hands up to cup either side of his face. She was tall as I’d expected, almost waif-like in her build and ballerina-like in her movements. She had dark blonde hair with streaks of grey, sharp blue eyes, and a complexion so clear I was sure she looked younger than me. She was stunning in a pair of dark pants and a white blouse, jewels about her wrist, but nothing anywhere else. Classy. Something I—even though I’d stepped out of a BMW sedan in a fancy new dress—was not.
“Blair,” Toby said, his voice careful. “I’d like you to meet Jasmine, my mother.”
With bright and happy eyes, she turned my way and clasped one of my hands in both of hers. “Blair,” she said, testing my name as though she’d never heard it before. “It’s wonderful to meet you.”
“Likewise?” I said, the word sounding like a question. Why was she acting like she didn’t know who I was? Didn’t she hire me?
She placed a gentle hand on my shoulder and turned so she was standing beside me, between Toby and me. “Let me introduce you to the rest of the family, Blair. This is Nathanial, his wife, Holland and their son, Daniel.” She indicated a man who was a harsh-looking version of Toby, taller with the same dark hair, darker blue eyes, and a slightly bigger build. He stood next to a short stocky woman with long bleached hair and interesting honey-coloured eyes. She held a wriggly boy who pulled fistfuls of her hair and giggled while he said, “Mum, Mum!”
“Hi,” I said, shaking their hands for a short moment before they embraced Toby and welcomed him home. Our greetings were a stark contrast to each other but expected. It seemed the prodigal son had returned to the fold. I wondered if Nate was truly happy for that.
“This is Samuel and you’ve already met Alesha. This is their baby boy, Jake.” Jasmine touched the baby’s head cradled in his father’s arm. “He is the youngest grandbaby. Only four months.” She smiled again as I shook Sam’s hand. He was by far the biggest of the bunch, his hair slightly lighter and longer than the older two. It was uncanny how similar looking they all were. Sam’s face was familiar to look at yet different at the same time, almost boyish compared to his older brother’s. Once he’d greeted me, he reached a long arm out to hug his big brother. He said a few quiet words, to which Toby nodded, then he stepped and back nuzzled
his wife in her dark hair, Alesha still had tears in her eyes. She obviously cared a great deal for my man. By the way she’d greeted him, I had to wonder how much. Jumping on him in front of me like that felt like staking a claim.
Jasmine continued along. “This is Abbott and Sloane. They have our only little girl, Willow, who’s a whole week older than Jake. We expect they’ll be great friends,” she said, introducing me to a red-headed woman who was rake thin and over six-foot tall. She was standing next to yet another Toby clone with messy surfer hair and a cheeky grin that told me he had mischief in his heart.
“Big bro,” Abbot said, clapping hands with Toby before bringing him in for a hug. “You haven’t changed.”
“Good to see you upright and breathing.”
Abbot shrugged. “Took a bit, but I’m fighting fit. Just another scar to add to the collection. I’ve missed you, man. Real bad.”
“Thanks,” Toby said, clapping him gently on the arm. “How’s my favourite smithy?” He directed that to Sloane who was cradling a dark-haired baby girl who looked like a sleeping doll.
“Busy on mum duties these days. Things are pretty different around here now. We missed you, buddy.” She leaned in and whispered something near his ear I couldn’t catch.
Toby responded with, “I know.”
“And this”—Jasmine pulled on my arm as she gestured to the final son, obviously Abbott’s twin with a cropped haircut—“is Kristian, my baby, and Veronica with their baby, Oscar. They all got the Cartwright good looks don’t you think?”
“They sure did,” I responded, feeling fairly sure she was talking about the grandbabies, but also agreeing in case she was talking about her sons. They were all so ridiculously identical that it surprised me they lived a life of crime for so long without being noticed. I mean, they were huge, they were gorgeous. How were people not staring?
“It’s great to meet you, Blair,” Kristian said, taking my hand. “You can call me Kris, and my Mrs prefers Ronnie.” His smile was easy, carefree, the kind of smile Toby had exhibited when I first met him. It only served to show me how much of the burden Toby had been taking from the family compared to his younger brothers. That needed to change. Toby needed to have an easy smile too.
“Nice to meet you both,” I said, looking to Ronnie and taking in her small frame, sun-kissed skin and naturally blonde-curly hair. I remembered her as the girl who had ties with Grey’s operation. “Congratulations to you all on your children. They’re lovely.”
“You think?” Holland grimaced as her boy squealed and leaned back, using her hair like a set of reigns. Nate laughed and rescued his wife, taking Daniel from Holland and blowing a raspberry in his neck. Daniel squealed in delight. “I suppose they’re OK,” she added, love in her eyes as she tousled the hair of her little man now that he wasn’t hanging off hers.
“Shall we go inside?” Jasmine asked. “Breaker is in there cooking up a storm. Just wait until you taste the dessert he made, Blair. Baked Alaska with homemade ice cream in the centre. If you have a sweet tooth, you will just die for it.”
“You have a cook called Breaker?” I turned to Toby, my mind reeling from the mass of introductions. He was giving Kris’s arm a squeeze and telling him they’d talk more inside.
Slipping his arm around my waist, Toby pulled me to his side then touched his nose to the top of my head, inhaling deeply. “That’s better,” he said before pulling back and walking me to the front door, following the rest of the family. “Breaker belongs to the Grim Order. Jasmine is his ole lady. I think I told you a little about him.”
“Oh yes. I think the whole baked Alaska thing really threw me.”
Toby grinned. “He’s rough as guts, but get an apron on that man and he’ll bake the best damn cake you’ve ever tasted.”
“How weird.”
“So you keep saying.”
Dinner was a mix of chaos and conversation with babies getting passed around while they bombarded Toby and me with questions. I didn’t get to say much more than who I was and where I was from because the focus was primarily on where Toby had been all this time and whether he was back for good or just a visit. Jasmine made it clear she thought he should be back for good now that he was ‘obviously settled’ and I sat there trying to take it all in without going too crazy trying to keep track of things.
“I’m back for as long as it takes,” Toby stated with a tense jaw. “I’ve had a long time to think, and I have to be honest, I’m not comfortable coming back to pick up where I left off, and there’s nothing any of you can do to change my mind about that.” His eyes landed on his mother, and I noticed the biker boyfriend straighten up a little and slide his arm around the back of her chair defensively. I had done little more than say ‘hello’ to the man when I’d first entered the house. He was a quintessential biker—tattoos, long hair, and beard. He didn’t say much. That may have been because he wasn’t sure of me, or it could have been that he was the strong silent type. I hadn’t worked that out yet.
“But you’re here with a woman,” Jasmine replied, her expression even. “You know what that means in this family. Why would you bring her if it wasn’t to stay?” Wait. What?
“Truth be told, mother,” Toby said, adjusting slightly in his seat. “She’s the one who brought me. You hired a private investigator to find me and bring me back. You owe her money.”
“I did what now?” Jasmine pulled her head back in surprise.
“Hired Blair to find me. Good choice by the way, you haven’t lost your touch.”
I’m lost.
Jasmine laughed as she leaned back in her chair and toyed with her cutlery. “You’re mistaken, son. This”—her eyes swung to me—“wasn’t my doing.”
“Stop,” I said, holding up my hand because I needed some sort of clarification here. The entire table had gone quiet to listen in as Jasmine and Toby lobbied their cryptic words back and forth. I hoped they understood all this because I had no fucking idea what it meant to bring a woman to the Cartwright table, or what kind of ‘touch’ Jasmine was supposed to have. Those questions would have to wait until later when Toby and I were alone. For now, the important question was, “Are you saying you didn’t hire me?”
Jasmine nodded once. “That’s precisely what I’m saying. As with all of my boys, I want them close, but I won’t force them to be here. Toby could choose when he came home. Are you telling me coming back wasn’t his choice?”
“I was hired by someone—I was told it was you—to find him and bring him back.”
Everyone around the table exchanged looks, including Toby and myself. Oh shit.
“Come on, Jasmine,” Toby said. “This has you written all over it. A beautiful woman, who just happens to be perfectly compatible with me, tracks me down to one of the farthest corners of the country. That’s exactly the kind of thing you would do.”
“I swear on the lives of everyone at this table, it wasn’t me,” Jasmine insisted. No, no, no.
“Must’ve been Grey,” Breaker spoke up, his voice like gravel as he pushed his fork into the last potato on his plate. “Explains why they were so quick to blow up ya boat. They were followin’ this one.” He pointed at me with his fork. I need to be sick. I’ve been played.
“Makes sense,” Nate said. “We were all in agreement to leave you be.”
Abbot nodded. “Word was, Grey wanted your head for the Nagambie killings and that couple you executed before you hit the road.”
Breaker narrowed his eyes at me as he chewed his food, speaking as soon as he swallowed. “What I don’t get is if this here’s the Black Widow, why the fuck is Grey usin’ a fake mother story to hire you? You go after crooks in hiding all the time, no questions asked—am I right?”
“Yeah, you’re right,” I confirmed, my mouth twisted downwards as I pieced my role in this together. “But Grey wouldn’t hire me directly. He and I have…history. He knows I’d never take a job from him. So, yeah. The fake mother story makes sense.” Fuck. I met eyes w
ith Nate and he nodded once before I turned my attention to Toby. “We probably should have figured that out. It was all too coincidental. I should have fucking known…” I shook my head, feeling even worse for messing up his happy life while regretting my ‘no questions asked’ policy. Had I looked close enough, I would have seen a discrepancy. Did Big Jim know about this? Or was he played too?
“Hey. It’s OK,” Toby said in a whisper, his hand squeezing my leg. “You didn’t know.”
“He played me. Us,” I gasped, my blood pounding in my ears as reality hit. Grey had orchestrated this whole thing. He’d een watching me all this time. He’d used me to get to Toby. Did he want me dead too? Kill two birds with one stone? My god. We were targets, and I’d brought him here, to his family, around babies. “Holy fuck, Toby. This could all be some massive trap.”
Murmurs went around the table.
“Hey,” Toby said, touching my face so I looked his way. “We’re gonna get the bastard.”
I nodded, my chest tight as my head swam. How could I be so fucking blind?
“This place is Fort Knox,” Breaker put in, reassuring everyone.
“What I wanna know,” Kristian said, stretching his arm around Ronnie’s shoulders while she rocked their baby to sleep in his pram. “Is are you gonna go all John Wick on Grey’s arse for killing your dog. Cause not only does he deserve it, but I kinda wanna see that.”
“That’s the plan,” Toby said with a nod. “I came back here to finish what I started before I left. I’d hoped that with the backing of Breaker’s guys you could get rid of Grey without me, but with the cops watching too, I get that you’ve needed to lie low. However, this needs to stop. You guys have kids now, we can’t risk sitting on our arses and doing nothing. Who knows when Grey will send his psycho bomber after one of you? This has to end. You know it does. Just like we all know that I have to be the man to do it.”
“The man is majestic,” Abbot said, his eyebrows raised, impressed. “After I got hit, he walked straight through the middle of a sea of men. Took them all out one by one like he was in the middle of an action movie. It was epic-level shit.”
Fool’s Paradise: Cartwright Brothers, Book 5 Page 17
