“I’m not a cocaine addict!”

“When did you start using?”

She faced forward again, mouth in a long, angry line.

“Here’s the thing, Ava, I’m not going away. So you talk to me now, or you talk to me later. Maybe even tomorrow or next week, but we will talk.”

She wouldn’t look at him.

“We want to help you, Ava.”

“I don’t need help. I need you both to leave Ryker and let me live my life like I always have.”

They’d been building something, the Howard siblings, and now that had been broken apart. Ava was once again distant from him. But Dylan wasn’t giving up this time. He was determined to have a relationship with his sisters, no matter what it took.

“Not going to happen. Charlie and I are coming back in the morning to take Dad home, so we’ll come and see you then.”

“Whatever.”

He leaned over her so she had to look at him, and placed a kiss on her forehead.

“As far as big brothers go I’ve been a total failure, I get that, but that’s changing now, whether you like it or not.”

Zander arrived as he and Charlie rose to leave. Dylan watched the man kiss his sister gently. Did he know about the cocaine because he was using too?

He had plenty to think about as they left the hospital. Things that he needed to work through, and first up Dylan needed to come clean with his family, because if someone was after them he needed to put measures in place to keep them safe. No easy task when it was just him in Ryker, but he’d get it done no matter what it took. His family was important to him, it had just taken him years to realize that.

Chapter 29

Piper wasn’t going to lie, it was heaven riding with Maggs over her family’s land. Her mom had Grace, and she and her friend were just going wherever their horses led.

“This is bliss, right?”

“Couldn’t be better,” Piper agreed. “I mean, I love Grace, and wouldn’t be without her now, but it’s good to get some time to just be me, if you know what I mean?”

“I understand.”

The air was cool, and it was the morning after Dylan had walked out of A.S. wearing that don’t-mess-with-me look. Whatever the hell that phone conversation had been about, it had been serious, because before that he’d been open and talking to her.

“So Dylan, what’s the deal there?”

Piper exhaled loudly. Did everyone know about this thing she had for Dylan except the man himself?

“It’s not really a thing, Maggs.”