“What did your dad say about that?” I asked.
She lifted her shoulders, and then they dropped like she had not a care in the world. “He thinks I have a holiday internship.”
“A what? They have that sort of thing?”
She tilted her head to the side as I braced my hand on the counter.
“Probably, I just don’t have one,” she admitted.
“So, where are you going?”
“It’s better if you don’t know. That way you don’t have to lie.”
I braced my elbows on the counter and palmed my chin to hold up my head.
“Do you think that’s safe? Someone should know where you are.”
She thought about it as I studied her.
“Fine, I’ll send you an email with the details, but promise you won’t open it unless it’s an emergency.”
“Okay.”
My response was half-confusion and half-promise.
“I’m telling you so you’ll be prepared.”
I thought of Ashton. He too would be alone for the holiday unless he was doing something with Sawyer. Maybe I could make plans with him. The idea of being home and getting the third degree from Dan wasn’t appealing. I was a terrible liar, and I held the knowledge that Celeste wasn’t going to an internship.
In my room, I sent Ashton a text asking him what his Christmas plans were.
46
Ashton
* * *
Christmas. The thought about the upcoming holiday hadn’t been a welcome one until now. Although I’d gotten an invite from my father, I was probably going to spend it with Sawyer’s brother Finn if Sawyer didn’t go himself.
Now, I had another option. Maybe Willow would want to go with me to England. I wouldn’t leave Finn on his own. That was a fate I wouldn’t wish for anyone. Plus, Finn’s quick wit was good company and kept me from dwelling on the sorry state of my life.
The locker room had mostly emptied. It was Friday, and practice had been light due to the game tomorrow. I took the chance to call her.
After she said hello, I asked, “How about going to England with me?”
“You can’t be serious.”
I imagined her nibbling on her lower lip. It was something she did when she was deep in thought.
“Why not?” I asked.
“One, because I can’t afford a ticket.”
“No worries there,” I tossed out. “It’s on me.”
“I couldn’t.”
“You can.”
I had more money than I could spend in one lifetime. A plane ticket or a charter jet was a blip compared to my trust fund.
Her silence meant that she was considering or trying to find another excuse.
“It’s my treat. I’m going to see a friend who needs cheering up,” I said.
That was mostly true. Finn pretended he was fine, and the nurses kept him busy in more ways than one. Behind his façade, I knew better. There were times when Finn let his guard down and let it slip how much he missed his family.
“Then I would only be a distraction,” she said.
“Trust me, Finn would love you.”
It was true. Growing up away from the rest of the Cargills hadn’t made him any less sexual than the entire family. Despite his health aliments, Finn had probably gotten laid more than Sawyer had. He was the biggest flirt even over his older brother and would find it hilarious to tease my girl and me.
“If you think it’s okay. I still don’t like the idea of you spending all that money on me.”
Money wasn’t something I liked to talk about. I’d grown up privileged, and it hadn’t made my life any better. Knowing everything had belonged to me was actually more uncomfortable than thinking it was Mother’s. Still, I didn’t want Willow to think it was a big deal for me to do this for her.
“You do know I’m rich, right?”
She sighed. “Yes, but the last thing I want you to think is I’m after your money.”
That had never crossed my mind. “I don’t and it’s not an issue. You let me know when you can go, and I’ll make the arrangements.”
I thought it was a slam dunk until she said, “Let me talk to my mom and I’ll call you back.”
Although I said okay, I was confused why she had put the idea in my head if she wasn’t sure she could do it.
“You all right?”
I glanced up to see Sawyer.
“I thought you were gone?”
He shook his head. “I had to see the trainer.”
Several games ago, he’d taken a hit that had worried everyone but his dad. The bastard was more concerned about his business partners seeing Sawyer on the field than with his health.
“Everything good?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m good.” There was an awkward pause before he added, “Going to hit the shower. Are you going to the café?”
“Naw, I’m going home.”
Sawyer nodded and looped off. I wondered briefly if we could ever be true best friends again.
When I pushed out the door, I spotted a tall, lanky, blond kid milling near the wall. The boy was big, nearly the same height as me. If not for the baby face I might have mistaken him for a student. After I shook off the notion that I recognized him from somewhere, I made my way in the direction of home.
“Hey, are you Ashton Westborough?”
I stopped and turned around. The kid jogged over to me. I narrowed my eyes, racking my brain to put a name with his face.
“That’s me. Can I help you with something?”
The kid looked around like he didn’t want to be overheard.
“You’re like a legend.” I was grateful when he didn’t offer his hand, but still uncomfortable with his starry gaze aimed at me. “Your stats are like out of this world. They call you Ghost because you come out of nowhere to catch balls.”
I’d never heard that before. Then again, I didn’t search write-ups about myself. Besides, I wasn’t that good. He was blowing my head up, or he thought he was.
“I’m not that good.”
His eyes bugged out like he’d been zapped by a blue light.
“That’s crazy. SportsCenter doesn’t lie. They talk about you going to the pros.”
I cut that idea short. “I’m not.”
He sort of resembled a cartoon, the freakish way his eyes got larger.
“Why not?”
I had no idea why I was talking to the kid. I didn’t know him, though I could swear we’d met before.
“Not my thing.”
He nodded. “I totally get it. I only play because my dad wants me to. Thinks I have a future. But I’d rather write.”
Had I stepped into the twilight zone? Or was he yanking my chain? He knew enough about me, maybe he’d read what my major was and wanted to say something that related. So I just nodded.
“Which brings me to why I’m here,” he said.
There was something about the way he said it that had me searching my surroundings. He looked harmless, but these days you just didn’t know.
My silence urged him to continue.
“I had to meet you, even though my parents told me not to.”
Talk about sounding the alarm. My gaze dropped to his empty hands. Mentally, I checked him for bulging pockets. He acted like a fan, but maybe his obsession crossed over the crazier than hell line.
I took a slow step back, adding distance between us. I’d grown accustomed to the friendliness of Southern folks, but people shooting people for no apparent reason was just as bad all over the country.
“Why wouldn’t they want you to?”
My hand remained loose at my side in case I had to act defensively. I still wasn’t getting the vibe that I should fear for my life, but caution won over foolishness.
A sadness flatted his grim smile. “Because they weren’t sure you knew.”
My heart picked up the pace like I was running for the finish line.
“Know what?” I asked.
His next w
ords were like a thief stealing all the air from my lungs.
“That you’re my brother.”
My first coherent thought was that of my son of a bitch father. He’d lied to me, pretending like I was his long-lost and only son. Yet, here stood evidence that wasn’t true. I filed through all that the kid said. His parents. I’d been to my father’s home. Outside of that museum-like room, there hadn’t been signs that any other kids had ever lived there.
“Hey.”
I looked up and saw Sawyer and instantly felt relief. I couldn’t breathe let alone speak an intelligible sentence.
I tipped my head at Sawyer. He turned his focus to the kid.
“I’m Sawyer—”
“Cargill, I know. Holy shit, you’re a legend too.”
Sawyer was more comfortable with praise. He’d gotten it all his life, from his family to girls to fans like this kid.
“And you are?” he asked.
“Oh yeah. I’m August Farrow.”
When his hand came up, Sawyer shook it and sidestepped a little in front of me. Sawyer had spent a lifetime saving me from awkward situations like this. He’d protected me from those that would have thought it weird I didn’t want to touch them.
“What brings you here?” Sawyer said, easily shifting the introduction into a conversation that wouldn’t require social gestures like handshakes.
“Football, school, well, both. I’m here on a college visit.” He’d mentioned none of that to me, which only raised my hackles. “That and meeting my brother.”
Sawyer’s head swung in my direction.
What the hell was I supposed to say? I shrugged, unable to admit that I believed him. That recognition I’d noticed had been common features between us.
“Why don’t we talk about this somewhere else?” Sawyer suggested.
The kid nodded, and we piled into Sawyer’s car. Chance wasn’t around, and I figured he’d already gone to the café. I sent him a text not to wait on us.
Though we arrived quickly, I had no recollection of the ride over. I’d been calculating why I had fallen for the bullshit that had been fed to me about my virtuous father. Had the Vanderbilt Club orchestrated the whole thing? Had they only been protecting the viability of a future president?
No one was home when we arrived, and I was grateful this secret wouldn’t yet spill to the rest of our group. We landed in the living room. I pounced on the kid with a question that had been bugging me since his revelation. It was disguised to resemble a query.
“You said you live with your parents. Do they know you’re here?” Sawyer asked.
He shocked me again with his side to side head action.
“Dude, that’s pretty fucked up,” Sawyer said, plucking out my thoughts exactly. “They’re probably worried as hell about you.”
The kid seemed unconcerned.
“My dad doesn’t want me to go here. But I want to make up my own mind.”
Sawyer held up his hand. “I get it, but you can’t disappear without telling someone. Do you have a phone?” He nodded. “Use it.”
August rolled his eyes and groaned like any teenager would when asked to do something they didn’t like. Had I been like that? I couldn’t remember. I’d been taught never to question my mother.
Though he’d balked, when Sawyer gave him that parental look, he caved and moved to the kitchen area to make the call.
“Brother?” Sawyer questioned in a whisper.
I couldn’t deny that sense of family as the resemblance was there outside of our coloring, his light to my dark. It still bothered me that I hadn’t known.
“He does look a lot like you now that I’m looking.”
August stood in profile, and I could see it in the grim set of his jaw. I’d seen that reflected in my mirror. He turned then and held out his phone… to me.
When I made no move to get it, he came to me.
“My mom wants to talk to you.”
I reluctantly took the phone and put it to my ear.
“Hello.”
In the distance I heard my phone ringing. In fact, I saw it on the table when Sawyer reached for it, but the conversation I was about to have took my entire focus.
“Hi, I’m August’s mother. I’ve been so worried. When Bea and Cooper couldn’t tell me where he’d gone, I’ve been worried out of my mind.”
“Bea and Cooper,” I repeated like the words were foreign.
“Yes, his sister and brother.”
There were more. I was sure my head would blow up with all the revelations.
“I’m so sorry he showed up,” she said, sounding genuinely concerned.
“It’s cool.”
But it wasn’t. The automatic response robotically came out of my mouth.
“We told him specifically not to reach out to you. I had no idea how much or little my sister might have told you.”
“Sister?”
I hadn’t realized I’d said it out loud until she responded.
“Yes, Victoria is my sister.”
Mother had family. She’d claimed they were all dead.
“I assume by your silence, she never told you about me.”
I shook my head and only said no a second later, remembering she couldn’t see me.
“Oh, dear lord,” she muttered in a prayer. “I figured that was the case, and I hate this is how you are finding out. As soon as my husband gets home, we’ll drive up.”
She hadn’t asked where. Then again, August had known how to find me.
I noticed my brother, which was still a foreign concept, trying to get my attention. His head swung almost violently side to side as if he’d guessed what his mother said.
“We can drive him home,” I suggested.
August nearly deflated with relief.
“We wouldn’t want to put you out.”
“It’s fine.” Though I had no idea where they lived.
I assumed if they were willing to come, it must not be too far.
47
Willow
* * *
My text had gone unanswered, so I’d called. The phone had already rung a couple of times, so when it picked up, I’d assumed I’d been thrown into voicemail.
Then I got a hello.
It wasn’t Ashton.
“Can I speak to Ashton?”
There was a long pause, and for a moment I thought maybe we’d been disconnected.
“He’s busy.”
Though he hadn’t been rude about it, he wasn’t about to stay on the line.
“Sawyer, wait,” I said, sure he would quickly hang up. “Can you tell him I called?”
“Yeah.”
Then the line went dead.
“What put that sour look on your face?”
Celeste came over and planted herself next to me on the sofa.
I pushed my hair back, trying to form words without sounding like some petty girlfriend.
“Sawyer hates me.”
Her face pinched in disbelief.
“Sawyer loves everybody. That’s why everybody loves him.”
Before Ashton and I had become a thing, I’d never seen Sawyer so much as frown. He’d always had a smile and a kind word for anyone he’d come across.
“He doesn’t love me.”
I held her gaze for a meaningful moment, letting her piece together what had changed.
“Oh,” she said, finally getting it. “You can’t blame him, though.”
My jaw dropped. “Seriously! You’re taking his side.”
She didn’t give me any ground.
“From what I’ve heard, they’ve known each other since they were in diapers and have been inseparable.” This time she held my gaze, urging me to add up everything she hadn’t said. “Like they did everything together.”
I closed my eyes, wondering if I wasn’t being fair as she continued.
“Think about when my dad and your mom got together.”
I remembered that conversation with Mom all too well. I’d alr
eady lost a father, and when Mom told me she’d met someone she had fallen in love with, it had felt like I’d lost her too.
My fingertips ran over the lines that had formed above my brow.
“So, like yeah, he’s probably pissed you’re taking his place.”
When she put it like that, I got it.
“What can I do?” I asked.
The smile she aimed at me fell flat.
“Not much really. Ash has to decide if you’re worth it.”
That was the problem, wasn’t it? What if Sawyer realized he had feelings for Ashton? Between us, whom would Ashton choose?
She patted my arm and got up, leaving me to stew.
It was late as I lay in bed dozing but unable to sleep. Ashton hadn’t called back, and I’d debated a million times if I should call him again. Then, as if I’d conjured it, my phone rang, scaring the shit out of me. It fumbled in my shaking hands before I answered it. I hadn’t noticed the caller with my juggling act, but assumed it was Ashton.
“Ash,” I said, realizing too late that I’d used his nickname.
“Willow.”
The voice was distinctively female and very motherly.
“Mom.”
My heart galloped in my chest as there had to be something wrong. Why else would she call me after midnight?
“I need you to come home.”
Panic held my lungs in a crushing embrace, but I managed three words.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, honey.”
I took in a ragged breath as some of the anxiety let me go.
“It’s your father. He’s been arrested.”
I didn’t bother correcting her. The alarm in her voice had me talking to her like she was the scared child.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. Little things at first,” she began.
She hadn’t given me a timeline, but that didn’t seem important at the moment.
“What things?”
“Like I couldn’t use our credit card, and when I tried to use an ATM to get cash instead, I couldn’t. Dan had said everything was okay, that there was a misunderstanding at the bank. But then the FBI showed up at our door and took him away...”
Her voice had turned nearly hysterical.
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