Page 6 of Contentious

Julian had once commented that he suspected Spencer would take a bullet for any of them, and Carson had agreed without hesitation. Their grandfather had proven time and again that they could count on him to have their backs. They all lived in fear of the day his time ran out.

He reassured them that, despite recent physical challenges, he was fine and not going anywhere any time soon. “I’ll keep you posted on any developments that concern you. Otherwise, don’t give it another thought.”

If only that were possible.

“Thanks, Gramps,” Carson said for all of them. “We love you.”

“I love you more.”

“Well, as fun as this has been,” Jackson said, “I’m going home to get some sleep. See most of you in the morning. Ladies,” he said to his sisters, “I’ll see you soon at dinner in town.”

“See you then, Jack,” Jordan said as she hugged him and Roman, who’d been staying with Jackson while he was home for the holiday break.

“Romy, kick some ass and finish strong,” Kaidan said as she hugged him.

Roman was headed back for his final semester of law school at Stanford.

“That’s the plan,” Roman said as left with Jack.

The others soon departed, leaving only Julian, Isla and Cresley.

“Could I say something that may or may not be welcome?” Isla asked.

Julian, who now had an arm around her, said, “Of course you can, love.”

Love. It was all Carson could do not to snort or puke. For fuck’s sake.

“As someone who recently ended a marriage, I just wanted to say that no one knows what goes on between a married couple except the two people in the marriage. I understand they’ve put you guys through hell, but it might give you some closure to hear what they have to say.”

“While I appreciate the insight into marriage,” Carson said, “that chapter has been closed for us for years, and I, for one, have zero desire to reopen that book.”

“Of course,” Isla said. “I don’t mean to be presumptuous.”

“You’re not,” Julian said with an annoyed look for Carson. “It’s a valid point.”

“Is it, Jules? Do you want to know what went on inside that marriage? Because I sure as hell don’t, and up until a week or two ago, you wouldn’t have wanted to know either.”

Julian stood and reached out a hand to Isla. “Let’s get back to our night out already in progress, sweetheart.”

“It was nice to meet you both,” Isla said. To Cresley, she added, “I’ve been such a fan for years.”

“That’s so nice of you to say. Thank you.”

“I’m sorry you had to hear all the dirty laundry,” Carson said to Cresley when they were alone. He fixed himself a glass of ice water when he’d much rather have some of Spence’s whiskey, but that wasn’t an option for him. He’d be damned if he’d allow his parents’ chaos to endanger his hard-won recovery.

“It wasn’t that bad. I’ve heard worse, and what I saw were nine siblings, which is amazing in and of itself, coming together in solidarity to deal with something that affects you all. I admire the way you worked together to figure out how you wanted to proceed.”

“We have a lot of experience with that, unfortunately.” He brought her a refill of the wine he’d poured for her earlier and sat next to her on the sofa.

“I can’t believe you have eight siblings, and every one of you is more gorgeous than the next.”

“Coming from you, that’s quite the compliment.”

“The Remingtons are quite the family. I need to look up your parents to see where you all get your looks.”

“Please don’t look them up. You don’t need to read about their sordid tale.”

“You know that what they do doesn’t reflect on you or the others, right?”