Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Grace’s finger pointed her son’s way. It was a mom finger—both judgmental and fully authoritative. “You did not save Deke and Maddie. Boomer did that.”
“From a tree.” Big Tag was standing back. He nodded as one of the waitstaff offered him an hors d’oeuvre. It looked like a large shrimp. Big Tag took three. “I don’t think Kyle was even in the same room.”
Drake grinned. “You really want to keep yelling at me, but it’s good drama, right? I was there that night, by the way. Well, I was busy blowing up a satellite.”
He’d been the one who blew up Nolan Byrnes’s manufacturing plant? “I always knew that man was evil. No CEO smiles that much. So what did Kyle do?”
“You were too busy trying to blow yourself up to help your friends,” Grace accused.
Drake simply gestured Grace’s way. “I think all will be revealed.”
“I was not trying to blow myself up,” Kyle insisted.
“If he was, he was real bad at it.” Big Tag downed a shrimp. “Grace, you were going to send that kid to graduate school. I’m not sure that would have been a good use of funds.”
Kyle’s eyes rolled. “I obviously didn’t intend to blow myself up. I was merely trying to make a statement.”
“So you can make a statement but you can’t call your own mother and give her a heads-up that you’re playing spy games again and this time you’re going to fake your own death?” Grace asked. “I have to hear that from Ian? You know your uncle is not great with tact.”
“I am excellent at everything,” Ian replied quickly. “Wait. Is that the part where you make up shit so the truth doesn’t hit so hard? Yeah, I’m not good at that.”
Grace’s hazel eyes narrowed. “Obviously since you told me my son had faked his own death via the delivery of a box of cookies.”
Ian shrugged. “I thought the cookies would soften the blow.”
“You ate the cookies, Ian.” Every word was ground out of Grace’s mouth.
“I was very upset,” Ian admitted. “And they were lemon. They soothed me. Hey, I helped pay for the fake funeral.”
These people were crazy. She kind of loved them. She leaned back, whispering Drake’s way. “Did you go to the fake funeral?”
He didn’t give up an inch of space, merely let his hand find her hip so he could lean in. It brought their bodies together and sent a thrill of arousal up her spine. “They were mean. I didn’t even get an invite, but I have heard rumors that it was weird as hell and the original headstone said Here Lies a Real Dumbass.”
Grace seemed to calm down, and she patted her brother-in-law’s arm. “Yes, you did, and it was a good thing. It was nice to have Kai lead it.”
“Kai led my funeral?” That appeared to be fresh news to Kyle.
Before she could ask the question, Drake was whispering in her ear again. “He’s Sanctum’s therapist. Also a total sadist, but very chill on the therapy side.”
“What happened to getting like a pastor to preside?” Kyle asked.
“Well, son, when I’m burying something other than your Xbox, I’ll see about getting religious counseling,” Grace returned.
Drake gasped.
And then Kyle gasped, too. “My Xbox?”
“Shit. He loves his Xbox,” Drake whispered. “Like more than a human being should love an inanimate object.”
Kyle’s mother nodded. “Actions have consequences, son. And I threw the controllers in, too. And all the games. At least you know where they are, which is more than I can say about you.”
Grace turned on her heels and strode away.
Ian chuckled. “These shrimp are good, but nothing is saltier than a mad momma. And it wasn’t just the Xbox we buried. We let everyone bring their own item to dump into the…should we call it a casket? It was more like a large cardboard box the girls decorated. It was a whole craft project.”
“Ooo, what did you put in, Ian?” Kim asked.
She knew she should feel for Kyle, but she kind of wanted to know, too.
“I lined the coffin with beautiful confetti,” Ian said with a wistful expression on his face. “I brought a big bowl of it. Like sometimes they let you lay a flower on the casket. I let everyone grab a handful of confetti and spread it on the blowup doll his brother laid out. Now that I think about it, she was holding one of the controllers.”
Kyle’s lips had drawn in tight. “Were they dicks? Were they glittery mini-confetti dicks, Ian?”
“Ah, he knows me so well,” Ian said with a satisfied sigh. “If it helps, Kai led us all in a session where we talked about what a dumbass you are.”
Kyle’s frown deepened. “No, that does not help.”
“I found it very healing,” Ian admitted.
“Has anyone thought about the fact that this whole funeral wouldn’t help MaeBe deal with the fact that I’m dead?” Kyle asked. “She was supposed to think I’m gone. I know I agreed to tell my parents, but everyone else was supposed to think I’m dead.”