“Whose idea was it to leave them unsupervised?” Keene asks.

“God, did my wife actually do that?” Caleb asks. There’s wonderment in his voice.

With equal parts amusement and horror, we watch the Jumbotron monitors that keep focusing on the Freeman siblings at the hottest country music show to hit Connecticut this year. Maybe ever.

“Holy hell. Who threw the bra on stage?” Jared demands.

Ryan, Caleb’s younger brother and apparently a close friend of the family, just braces his hands on his thighs and laughs.

“I think that was Phil. None of the girls are wearing tops that require one,” Caleb mutters.

Jason spews his beer all over Keene, whose look of disgust would fell a lesser man.

It’s priceless. It’s epic. It’s a Freeman night out. It’s been about six months since I left the Army and was hired at Hudson Investigations. But it feels like decade-old friendships with the family picked up right where they left off. My ear-to-ear grin can’t be contained as I watch the shit storm near the stage keeping close to 40,000 people entertained.

Suddenly, my gut takes an elbow that’s less than friendly. “Stop checking out the mother of my child,” Keene yells. “It’s bad enough I have to watch Blake’s hired security check out her ass in those things she’s calling shorts. Jesus, Alison! Will you pull those damn things down?” Keene’s attention is diverted as Ali shakes her body to the music.

Fuck that hurt. The bastard may have been out of the Army years longer than I have, but he hasn’t lost his moves. Deciding to mess with him, I remark, “If I hadn’t met your daughter, I would never believe it. Ali’s body is just as hot as it was that night at the Plaza in that dress.”

Keene turns to me. “You do realize you’re here because they”—he points to the girls and Phil going wild in the pit—“apparently like you. I still merely tolerate you, both here and at the office.”

I can’t help but keep taunting Keene. “Would it help to know I was checking out Ali and Cassidy?” Fucking with Keene about his wife and sister is something I take immense pleasure with.

From behind, I feel a slap against the back of my head right before Caleb growls, “No,” from the other side of me. He wants to hear me mouth off about Cassidy slightly less than her brother since he’s been married to her for two years now.

“Hey, I’m just sayin’, you’d never know they had babies less than a year ago,” I exclaim. Two men are suddenly in my space. “What?”

“Three other available sisters are knockouts,” Keene growls. “Choose one of them.”

“It’s bad enough we have to watch the epic disaster occurring as other idiots… Jesus fuck, couldn’t she have worn a bra?” Caleb’s attention is diverted back to the Jumbotron where his wife is dancing in a top that Em decreed was perfect earlier.

I like country music. I mean, you couldn’t have been stationed on a military base anywhere and not have heard it. And when my current bosses asked me what I was doing tonight, I wasn’t passing up the chance to see this concert in these seats knowing we’re going backstage after. Not when it came with the added sideshow caused by the Freeman siblings and their extended family.

This is one hell of a job perk that Uncle Sam’s Army couldn’t offer.

Cassidy, Em, Ali, Corinna, Holly, and let’s not forget Phil are causing a scene in the pit, shaking it, dancing. Technically, they aren’t in the pit; they are in the secure space between the stage where Brendan Blake is crooning to the masses. While typically reserved for security and the crew’s videographer, Corinna’s connection to the megastar had secured the siblings the special lanyards around their necks that granted them access.

All the males, save Phil, are seated in the first row behind the pit.

It’s terrifying. It’s a security nightmare in the making. It’s a recipe for Freeman hysterics that will be reenacted for years to come.

Shortly after I ran into Ali at a party in Manhattan over a year ago, life as I know it fubared in a huge way. As the leader of an Army special forces team, my team and I were overseas on a security junket for a high-level government official when we took fire. A lot of it. I still wake up in the middle of the night trying to reconcile how things went so far out of control. How I didn’t see what was happening within my own team. Peering down into the cup of cool amber beer in my hand, I take a quick drink to loosen the feeling of panic as I remember the first bullet tearing through my flesh and my gun flying out of my hand, leaving me defenseless.

I was forced to take a medical discharge from the Army. There was no way I could lead my team at less than one hundred percent. And there was no way I was going to ride a desk, so I resigned my commission. It was one of the most painful decisions I’ve ever had to make in my life.

It wasn’t much later that I was approached by Hudson Investigations.

I was surprised to find out Keene and Caleb co-owned such a respected company. Primarily veteran hires, Hudson Investigations has a reputation for being able to compile intelligence data, provide protective details, and help in situations of missing persons where the government can’t intervene. They’re growing fast and need people they trust in positions of authority. I knew I had the skills and the experience, but until I sat in the chair, I didn’t realize what an honor it was to be hired.

There definitely have been some fringe benefits. The salary upgrade was nothing to sneeze at—I mentally kissed my government pay goodbye. Having relatively flexible hours is excellent too. The best part was reconnecting with the extended Freeman family again, and not just for perks like tonight.

So, less than six months since I left the Army, it was more than just the tickets and the sideshow that brought me to where I’m presently standing. If I’m being honest with myself, it’s a chance to get close enough to Corinna to find out where things went so completely off the rails that she abandoned our friendship.

My thoughts are interrupted by the country signing legend saying, “As you might have seen, I have some special guests tonight. She’s going to kill me for doing this, but I’d like to bring her up on stage.”

The Freemans are going insane in the pit as big bruisers with Security slashed across their backs escort Corinna onto the stage. God, she’s fucking beautiful. Wolf whistles and catcalls come from every direction as she saunters over to country’s hottest star.

When she’s within touching distance, he reaches out his hand and she takes it. Since his guitar is twisted behind his back, he tugs her close for an embrace. Her arms wrap around his neck, and he spins her in circles on the stage.

Her head goes back, long hair almost touching her heart-shaped ass. The Jumbotron shows the camera zoom in on her face. It’s illuminated with joy. And that’s before the star says, “Thanks, Cori, for being who you are. Thank you for doing what you did, for being who you are to me, and to everyone who knows your heart,” right before he launches into one of his biggest ballads with his arms wrapped around her.

Seriously?

Isn’t the fucker dating some famous model? Doesn’t Cori have any common sense when it comes to men anymore? My best friend tells me about Cori’s exploits all the time. Where did her caution go? Jack says he heard she went wild after I graduated from college. What happened to the girl I knew?

My arms are crossed tightly across my chest as Brendan continues to croon to the audience. At the end of the song, he smiles down at Corinna, who’s swaying back and forth within the confines of his arms.

No fucking common sense. This will be all over social media in less time than it will take the concert to end.

Fuming, I hear Caleb mutter to Keene, “Still think it’s remarkable.”

Keene says, “I know, right? All because someone got sick and she had to fill in.”

I have no idea what they’re talking about, and right now, I’m not sure I care.

We’ve been instructed to stay in our seats so we can be escorted backstage after the concert. Time and again, people come by to ask us to leave. In unison, we lift our badges.

Sheepishly, they move on.

Finally, a burly man wearing a crew member shirt and a member of security behind him walks up. It’s been forty-five minutes since the show ended.

“Thanks for your patience, guys. Everyone’s backstage. Ready?” En masse, we all stand and start walking. “Name’s Smith. We finally got the fans out. Your people have been hanging out with the band.” He pauses. “Do they always talk that much?”

Caleb looks at Keene, Keene turns to Jason, and they burst out laughing. Jason answers, “Yes.”

Smith shakes his head. “Don’t know what you do to get a word in. It was like a roomful of groupies when it comes to the sound. I offered to get you guys just to hear myself for a minute.”

I volunteer, “You should see a family dinner. Sometimes they dance on tables.”

Keene shoots me a glare.

“I can only imagine. And knowing Cori”—Smith shakes his head, and my insides freeze. He knows Corinna? How long has she known this country bootlicker? “—she’s right up in the thick of it. She’s a doll though. Always sending the kids on the cancer floor cupcakes and whatnot. Though, from what I hear from Brendan’s girl, Dani, the nurses are beginning to intercept them and keep them for themselves.”

Cori sends what kids with cancer cupcakes? And how’s Brendan Blake involved?

I keep silent as Jason asks, “Smith, how’s Brendan’s nephew doing?”

The old-timer shakes his head. “Much better. The last trial he was in did wonders, so we’re all optimistic. I’m sorry y’all won’t get to meet Joey tonight, but he’s still in Seattle getting his treatment. He’s bummed he’s still only met Cori on FaceTime. Dani flew in tonight because she wanted to meet Cori finally.”

“Alison told me Cori won’t take a dime from any order on any kid’s cake,” Keene tells the group. “Not since she met Brendan and was on that show. Now, her part of the profits are being directed to the University of Washington research programs for childhood and young adult leukemia research.”

Smith chuckles. “You know, Brendan was all excited to see Cori again even before her sister let that slip earlier.” He directs his attention to Keene. “He might’ve twirled Cori around once or twice when he heard that. I think one of the crazies—I mean, her sisters—got that on video.”

Keene barks out a laugh. “For everything Cori’s done? I’m sure she deserved it.”

“I’m sure my husband was jealous though,” Jason pipes up.

Everyone starts laughing at that. So much, they don’t realize I haven’t joined in.

Wait, what show? I want to ask, but I know I’ll feel like a schmuck with these guys. I’m missing some huge piece to why we’re here tonight.

When we turn the corner, I stop short, staring across the tent we’ve been escorted into.

Brendan Blake has his arms wrapped around Corinna like he’s never going to let her go.

And from the look of pure joy on her face, she might not want him to.