A Forever Family (Forever #6) (9 page)

Collin

“So then it’s settled.” My mom smiled as she looked at me and Amelia. “We’ll have your wedding reception at the beach house. I’ll get the invitations ready.”

“Thanks, Mom. We just want it to be casual and fun.”

“We can discuss it more this weekend when we all go up there to celebrate Amelia’s graduation.”

I couldn’t believe she was already graduating. I was so proud of her and all the things she had to overcome.

“If we’re done here, Amelia and I have to go. We’re meeting some friends at a club tonight to celebrate the end of Amelia’s college years.”

My mom stood up and gave us each a hug and kiss. “Have fun and I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Ethan and I are having lunch.” She smiled.

“Really, Mom? You’re having lunch with my assistant?”

“Yes. Do you have a problem with that, Collin?” She raised her brow.

I sighed. “No, Mom. No problem.”

“I didn’t think so.” She winked.

Amelia and I stepped into the elevator and went home to change and get ready for the club. When we arrived, our friends were already sitting at a table. We had a couple of drinks, talked, laughed, and had a great time. That was until I went up to the bar to get another drink and saw Hailey.

“Oh my God, Collin! It’s so good to see you.” She hugged me tight. “You know, since I’ve been back, we really haven’t had a chance to talk. We should double date some time. I’d really like to get to know Amelia better.”

She was overly excited and talking really fast. She was stoned out of her mind. Not only did her bizarre actions tell me, but so did her eyes. She was wearing a tank top and I noticed a large bruise on her arm.

“That’s one nasty bruise,” I commented as I pointed to it.

“Oh that. It’s fine. I don’t even know how it happened.”

Marcus came up behind her and placed his hand on her waist. She flinched.

“Hey, Collin.”

“Hey.” I nodded.

“Come on, baby. We need to go now.”

“But—”

“I said now!” he snapped.

“Think about that double date,” she said as she walked away.

I got our drinks and went back to the table. I was bothered by that encounter with Hailey and I knew she wasn’t okay. Shit. I handed Amelia her drink and sat down, placing my hand on her shoulder and leaning into her.

“I just saw Hailey. She was stoned out of her mind.”

“Of course she was. She has a problem.”

“Something else was odd. When Marcus came up behind her and put his hand on her waist, she flinched. Almost as if she was scared.”

“I don’t know what to say, Collin. She’s obviously troubled, so I think it’s best we stay away from her.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

We continued the night with our friends, and as much as I tried to forget about my run in with Hailey, I couldn’t.

That night, after making love, I held Amelia tightly against me.

“I know you’re still thinking about Hailey.”

I was stunned that she would even say something like that. “No I’m not. Why would you say that?”

“Because you’re preoccupied and I know how much it bothered you to see her at the club.”

“Amelia—”

She lifted her head and spoke before I could finish my sentence.

“It’s okay, Collin. You can’t help it and let me tell you why. It’s in your nature. You help people. It’s what you do. You and Hailey have history and, believe me, I’m not bothered by it at all. It’s only natural that you’re concerned about her no matter how much you try to deny it.” She sat up and placed her hand on my chest. “If you want to talk to her and try to help her, then do it. But please stop trying to hide your concern. If you’re doing it because you’re worried about how I would feel, don’t be. You’re my husband and I love you no matter what you decide to do. I would feel horrible if something happened to her and you didn’t at least try to talk to her.”

I stared into her beautiful eyes and placed my hand on her cheek. “You’re an amazing woman, Amelia Black, and I’m pretty sure I just fell more in love with you at this moment, which I didn’t think was possible.”

She smiled as she leaned down and softly brushed her lips against mine. “I love you too and I know you’ll do what’s right. Now we have to get some sleep. Six o’clock will be here sooner than we think. Good night, my husband.”

“Good night, my wife. You owe me shower sex in the morning.”

She softly laughed as she snuggled back into me and laid her head down on my chest.

* * * *

I was sitting in my office when my dad walked in, threw a file on my desk, and sat down.

“Congratulations on sealing the Lupinski deal. I couldn’t have done it better myself.”

“Thanks, Dad. It was a piece of cake.” I smiled as I leaned back in my chair. “I was thinking about taking a trip out to California to see Diana and Jacob.”

“Good idea. I think you should. It’s been a while. When were you thinking about going?”

“Maybe after we get back from The Hamptons. Amelia’s clinicals are over and she doesn’t start her job as a full-time RN for two weeks.”

My intercom rang. “Yeah, Ethan?”

“There’s a call on line one for you, Collin.” He cleared his throat. “It’s Ms. Chambers.”

The corners of my mouth curved up into a smile as I looked at my dad. “Thank you, Ethan, and I’m sorry you had to take that call.”

I pressed line one and kept it on speakerphone. “Hello, Kitty, how are you?”

“Pissed as hell, Collin,” she snapped.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. “I suppose you heard about Lupinski.”

“Yes, I did, and how sneaky of you to steal him and that deal out from under me. I’ve been trying to call your father, but he won’t return my calls.”

“That’s because my father is a very busy man and has nothing to do with this. What were you planning on doing? Tattling on me? Listen, Kitty. Lupinski saw a better opportunity with Black Enterprises than he did with Chambers Enterprises. All is fair in business negotiations.”

“There is no way you could have offered him a better deal than what I did. If you did, then you better be prepared to lose your ass on that deal.”

“I’m not losing anything, Kitty. The deal was fair. Lupinski knew it and he accepted. I looked at the bigger picture.”

“You’re a snake, Black, and this isn’t over.”

“I’ve been called worse. By the way, I love my new assistant, Ethan.” I sat up and leaned closer to the speaker. “This is over, Kitty, and let me warn you. If you so much as start anything, your little kinky secrets and sexual harassment with your employees will be exposed. I don’t think Daddy would like to hear the things his princess does behind closed doors and during office hours. Good bye, Kitty.”

My dad snickered. “Ah. You truly are a chip off the old block and I couldn’t be prouder, son.”

“Thanks, Dad. Now about that vacation to California…”

“Consider it a business trip. I want you to go to the gallery and check everything out. I’ll have the plane ready for Monday. Just let me know a time.”

“Since we’re coming back from The Hamptons Sunday night, Amelia and I will probably want to leave around noon if that’s okay?”

“Noon it is.” He got up from his chair. “I’ll call the pilot now and have it put on the manifest.”

I couldn’t wait to tell Amelia we were going to California and I was beyond excited to see Jacob again.

Ellery

I opened my eyes as the sun filtered through the crack of the closed curtains. I rolled over and Connor’s side of the bed was empty. I climbed out, slipped on my robe, and followed the aroma of freshly brewed coffee to the kitchen.

“Good morning, baby.” He smiled when I walked in.

“Good morning. Why didn’t you wake me up?” I walked over and gave him a kiss.

“You were sleeping so peacefully that I didn’t want to disturb you. We had a long night last night between Amelia’s graduation and then coming straight here to the beach house.”

“You’re sweet, darling, but we have so much to do for the party tonight.”

“Don’t worry. You already have everything covered.” He placed his hands on my hips. “There’s something I want to discuss with you.”

“Can I have some coffee first?” I smiled.

“Of course you can. Go sit down and I’ll bring you a cup.”

I watched him as he reached up into the cupboard and took down a mug. He seemed to be doing better since his confrontation with his mother and he and Cassidy had worked things out. He set the coffee cup in front of me and kissed the top of my head. Taking a seat next to mine, he held his cup in his hand and looked at me.

“I’m thinking that maybe it’s time to retire and hand the company over to Collin.”

“What? You said you were going to wait a couple of years,” I spoke in surprise.

“I know, but Collin has more than proven himself and I know that between him and Julia, I don’t have to worry. We can start traveling more and seeing the places we always wanted to see.”

“I love the idea, Connor, but—”

He took hold of my hand. “I know what you’re thinking, Elle. You’re worried about Brayden. But don’t be. We won’t take long vacations and my thought is that it’s best to do this now before Julia and Jake have another baby. Plus, don’t forget, Collin and Amelia may surprise us one day.”

“True.”

“At that point, we could just take care of our grandchildren while our own children go off to work and run my company.”

I set my cup down and leaned into him. “I love the idea. When were you planning on handing the company over?”

“I was thinking within the next three months. I have Lou working on some things.”

There was a knock at the door and Connor got up to answer it. The thought of him retiring excited me. We’d been talking about this moment since the day the children were born. Being with him every day, traveling to the most exotic places, and not having to worry about Black Enterprises was a dream. I’d miss my children terribly when we were gone, but we raised them, and now that they had families of their own, it was time for me and Connor to spend some time alone without any worries.

* * * *

Collin

My parents threw a huge graduation party for Amelia, and I couldn’t have been happier. It was something I wanted to do myself for her, but my mom told me not to be silly and that she would take care of it. She loved the control and I couldn’t fault her for it, especially since I got married in Vegas without them.

“Hey, Jake, do you know where Julia is?”

“Yeah. She’s down by the water with Brayden. Speaking of the water, how about a little surfing tomorrow morning before we leave?”

“Sounds good, bro.”

I walked down to the beach and saw Julia bent over, holding Brayden so his feet were getting wet by the water.

“He seems to love that.” I smiled as I walked up next to her.

“He does. He’s going to love it here just like we do. Think about it, Collin, when I have more kids and you and Amelia start a family, we can create the same memories here that Mom and Dad did for us.”

“We sure can. I’m looking forward to it. I wanted to talk to you.”

“What’s up?”

“When me and Amelia were at the club last week, I ran into Hailey and she was stoned out of her mind. She was saying all sorts of weird shit like how she wants to get to know Amelia better and how we should double date. I may be going out on a limb here, but I think Marcus is hurting her physically.”

She turned her head and narrowed her eyes at me. “Why do you think that?”

“She had a large bruise on her arm and she said she didn’t know how it happened.”

“So? I get bruises all the time and I don’t know where they came from.” She handed me Brayden and I continued to soak his feet in the water.

“When he walked up to her and placed his hands on her hips, she flinched.”

“Maybe she was surprised and caught off guard.”

“Nah. I saw the look of fear in her eyes. When he said they were leaving, she tried to tell him no and he yelled at her.”

“Maybe he doesn’t like her talking to her ex-boyfriend,” Julia spoke.

“Whatever. She approached me. My point is, I need to put the past aside and talk to her in private about her problem. If she keeps going down this road, something’s going to happen to her.”

“I agree and I’m thrilled you want to finally talk to her about it, but people can’t be saved unless they want to be.”

“I know. But I’d feel a lot better if I at least tried. I just don’t understand what happened to her. Peyton and Henry are amazing and loving parents.”

“Sometimes people just fall off the right path.”

Brayden started to cry. “I think this little dude has had enough of the water. Come on, buddy, let’s go back to the house and dry off those feet.”

Julia hooked her arm around me and we walked back to the party. Amelia was off talking to her college friends and I saw Peyton at the bar, getting a drink.

“Hi, Peyton. Do you have a minute?”

“Sure, sweetie. What’s up?”

“How’s Hailey doing?”

She took a sip of her drink and sighed. “May I ask why you’re asking?”

“The few times I saw her, she doesn’t seem herself and I’m concerned.”

We slowly started to walk out of the tent. “Henry and I have said the same thing. We think she’s doing drugs and we don’t know what to do. We don’t like that Marcus guy she’s with at all. I’m really worried about my little girl, Collin. We’ve tried to talk to her, but she shuts down and tells us that she’s fine and that she’s really happy.”

“I was thinking about talking to her. Maybe asking her to go to lunch one day.”

“I think she would like that. I know it’s not easy for you, considering the history you two have, but I think she would listen to you.”

“Okay. Then as soon as I get back from California, I’ll have a talk with her.”

Peyton wrapped her arm around me and gave me a hug. “Thank you, Collin. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

My dad and I stood at the bar and did a few shots. Okay, we did more than a few and were pretty drunk. So drunk that after the party ended and everyone left, Amelia had to hold me up while we walked home and my mom had to help my dad into the house. We had a great time, though, and the best was yet to come for our wedding reception.

“I’ll bring you the cocktail in the morning,” I heard my mom say to Amelia.

“Thanks, Mom. He’s going to need it.”

“So is his father.”

“I’m not drinking that shit,” my father and I both said at the same time as we attempted to high five each other and missed.

* * * *

“Drink up, sleepy head,” I heard a voice say. I opened one eye and saw Amelia standing over me with a glass in her hand.

I moaned and rolled over.

“Oh no you don’t. Jake is waiting for you to go surfing, so you better drink this and not disappoint him. Between this cocktail and the ocean water, you’ll feel better.”

I turned on my back, forced myself to sit up, and took the glass from her, chugging it down as fast as I could. God, I hated this shit. I always had and every time I was hungover, my mom shoved it down my throat. Now I had my wife doing the same thing.

“Good boy. Now get up and put your wetsuit on.” She smiled as she kissed my forehead.

I unsteadily climbed out of bed, brushed my teeth, and pulled on my wetsuit. My head was thumping and the last thing I wanted to do was to go surfing. I grabbed my surfboard and we walked down the beach to my parents’ house. My dad and Jake were sitting on the patio with sour looks on their faces and a cup of coffee in their hands.

“Morning.” I set my surfboard down and took a seat next to Jake. “Sorry I’m late.”

He put up his hand. “No, please. Don’t apologize. I just got up a few minutes ago myself.”

He looked just as hungover as I did and so did my dad.

“Rough night for us,” I spoke.

Both of them slowly nodded their heads. “Yep. It sure was.”

“Did you drink it?” I asked them both.

“Had no choice,” they replied in unison.

After about an hour of sitting there, quietly talking and trying to feel better, Jake and I grabbed our boards and hit the water.

* * * *

Connor

Standing at the edge of the path between the beach house and the beach, I stared at my family as they were enjoying the water, sun, and sand. It seemed like yesterday I was showing Ellery this house after our wedding.

“What are you doing?” Ellery asked as she wrapped her arm around my waist.

“Just watching our children down there having fun. I was just thinking about how it seemed like yesterday when I brought you here for the first time.”

She laid her head on my shoulder. “It sure does. This house holds a lot of wonderful memories. Before you know it, Brayden will be running up and down that beach all by himself and Jake will be teaching him how to surf.”

Julia turned around and waved to us. “Why are you two just standing up there? Get down here and enjoy your last day with us!”

I took Ellery’s hand and we walked down to where Julia and Amelia were sitting. I bent down and picked up Julia.

“Daddy! What are you doing?”

“Do you remember when I used to do this?”

“Daddy, put me down. Don’t you dare take me into the water!”

“Come on, princess. Just like old times,” I said as I walked in the water with her screaming and threw her.

Once she surfaced, she rubbed the water from her eyes and came after me, just like she used to when she was a kid. We played around in the water, splashing and trying to pull each other under. Jake and Collin abandoned their surfboards and joined us. Amelia and Ellery stepped to the shoreline and Collin grabbed Amelia and threw her in the water. Ellery looked at me and shook her head because she knew I was coming for her.

“I have your grandson, Connor. Don’t you dare. I swear to God, Connor,” she screamed as Jake grabbed Brayden and I picked up Ellery, carrying her into the water.

“You’ll pay for that, Connor!” she yelled. “No more sex for you!”

“Mom. Gross. Stop it!” Collin yelled as I laughed.

I swam out to her and placed my hands on her face. “You couldn’t withhold sex from me no matter how hard you tried.”

“You’re right. But I knew it would make the kids cringe.” She softly kissed my lips.

And that was how our day was spent in The Hamptons, at the beach house. Playing in the water, reminiscing about old times, and just plain having fun as a family. A family with a bond so strong, nothing could ever break it.

We had one last barbeque and then cleaned up and headed back to the city.

“Julia, why don’t you let us take Brayden in our car? It’ll give you and Jake a chance to be alone and talk for a while.”

“Thanks, Daddy. I think we’ll take you up on that offer.”

Just as we loaded both cars, Collin and Amelia pulled up to the curb. “You guys ready to head back?”

“We sure are.” Julia smiled as she climbed in the car.

I pulled out first, then Julia and Jake pulled out, and Collin followed behind.