The Will(157)

His mind on Josie, he moved to his phone to call her to tell her tomorrow night (and the night after, and the one after that), her ass was in his bed.

But when he picked up his phone, he saw he had three missed calls.

All from Josie.

His gut clenched as he moved his thumb over his screen.

He hit go on her number and put the phone to his ear.

She answered in one ring and when she did, her voice was trembling.

It was then his gut twisted.

“Jake.”

“Baby, what’s up?”

“Boston Stone is here,” she told him and a burn started in his chest.

“What the f*ck?” he clipped.

Her voice got weak when she added, “He’s with Uncle Davis.”

Uncle Davis.

Davis Malone.

Lydie’s firstborn boy and a supreme *.

At this news, Jake yanked the charger out of his phone and moved quickly toward the stairs.

Unfortunately, Josie wasn’t done.

“And Terry Baginski just arrived.”

“What the f*ck?” he bit out, hitting the stairs and taking them two at a time.

“They’re explaining Uncle Davis is contesting the will,” she whispered.

God damn it.

“Hang tight, Slick, I’ll be there soon’s I can,” he told her as he rapped sharply on Amber’s door.

“Okay, Jake,” she replied just as his daughter called, “Yeah?”

“Be there soon, baby. Yeah?” he said gently.

“Yes, Jake.”

“All right. See you in a few minutes,” he told her.

“Okay.”

“Later, honey.”

“Later, Jake,” she said.

He didn’t want to let her go but he had to let her go so he could get to her.

So he disconnected, opened his girl’s door and swung in.

She was in the same position as earlier, on the bed, her phone to her ear.

“Gotta get to Josie,” he stated. “Look after Ethan while I’m gone.”

She sat up, her eyes not leaving him and he knew she’d read him when she asked, “Is Josie okay?”

“Don’t know, honey,” he replied. “Gotta go. You’re here with Ethan, yeah?”

She nodded, her eyes still glued to him, “Yeah, Dad. Go.”

He swung out of her room, not closing the door. He jogged down the steps and when he got to the bottom, called out to his son, “Gotta go do somethin’, bud. You’re here with Amber.”

Lost in the game, Ethan called back, “Okay, Dad.”

Delaying no further, he went to his truck, backed it out of the garage and engaged his phone to call Conner.

It rang twice before Con answered with, “Ellie’s home okay, Dad.”

“You’re closer than me so I need you to get to Lavender House right now,” he ordered.

Conner’s voice was alert when he asked, “Why?”

“Josie’s there and so’s her uncle.”

Josie had been a part of their lives for a lot longer than she’d physically been part of their lives. This was because Lydie had shared liberally with not only Jake but his kids and not only about Josie but also in her frank but gentle way about herself. His kids didn’t get it all but they got the jist.

And Jake knew Conner got the jist when he said, “On my way.”

“Stick to her like glue until I get there. I’m on my way.”

“Got it.”

“Later.”

“Bye, Dad.”

He disconnected, kept his phone in his hand in case Josie called and drove fast.

There were four cars in the curve of the lane in front of Lavender House when he arrived. After Jake parked and got out he noted a wicked wind had blown up. It bit into him the instant he opened his door.

He didn’t feel it.

Instead, he saw the shadowy figures standing outside the front door to the house. Five of them. When he got closer, he saw it was Conner facing off against Stone, Lydie’s son and Terry Baginski. He was pleased to see that Con had Josie behind him.

Jake made a mental note to put in f*cking motion sensor lights the next f*cking day as he prowled to the group.

“The cavalry arrives.” He heard Terry say sarcastically as he moved to his woman and his son.

“What’s goin’ on here?” he asked, his eyes scanning Josie’s pale face as best he could in the light and not liking what he saw.

“They want in,” Conner answered him. “Josie doesn’t want them in so they aren’t goin’ in.”

Jake took his place beside his son and turned his eyes to Stone, the old man standing next to him and Terry.

To control his temper, he couldn’t look at Stone or Lydie’s son. So he focused on Terry.

“Josie doesn’t want you in, time for you to leave,” he stated.

“We have things to discuss,” Terry replied.

“If that’s the case, call Josie, make a meeting,” Jake returned.

“That’s hardly necessary when we’re all right here,” she shot back.

“It’s Sunday night, Terry,” Jake reminded her. “Whatever this is, it can happen at a decent hour on a workday.”

“What this is is that Lydia Malone made a highly unusual bequest in her will that unfortunately demonstrated she was not of her right mind when she wrote it. This would be proved true as she also didn’t include her son in any of her rather substantial behests,” Stone announced.