Page 57 of Riding High

Just a few months ago she’d loved and respected them; they’d been her favourite people.Now she couldn’t think beyond loathing what they did.And there was no way she could exchange small talk with them.

‘Eden?’Troyden asked.‘Are you okay?’

She pulled herself back to the present and touched her fingertips to her cheek.‘Actually, I have a cracking headache.’

‘You’re probably dehydrated,’ Jed snapped.He did that when he felt out of control.‘You need to get in the shade, and I’ll text Mick to bring you a rehydration sachet.’

He was a fine-looking man, but he could also be a bossy arse on occasion.And she didn’t have a headache because she was a redhead and too stupid to stay out of the sun.

‘I’m perfectly capable of sorting myself out, Jed.’She stepped away from the group and dredged up a smile for Troyden.She adored her uncle and loved spending time with him.He seemed to enjoy her just as much and they’d settled in to an easy friendship.

But she didn’t want to be around Troyden today.Today she needed to be alone.

‘I’m going to the ladies’ room,’ she told her uncle.‘I’ll find you when I am done.’

She didn’t like lying but this time it was necessary.She wasn’t going to the ladies’ room; she was heading straight for the parking lot and driving home.She’d text Troyden with an excuse after she left.

Troyden nodded.‘Okay.’

Jed folded his arms, his expression hard and unhappy.‘You need to rehydra?—’

‘Will you stop fussing, Harris?’Eden replied, irritated.She needed to leave, to get away from the people from her past, and she wanted to do it now.She couldn’t risk meeting the Bancrofts because she’d face a million questions from them and the extended Castle clan.They were in a legal fight for their lives, and she knew them well enough to know they wouldn’t hesitate to bad-mouth her to Troyden and his family.

And because the bond between them was strong and decades long, Troyden and Jed, and everyone connected to Elmsleigh House, would believe them.At the risk of sounding pathetic, she’d yet to experience someone taking her side, standing with her in a crisis.She’d always stood alone, and this time the situation wouldn’t prove any different.

Eden walked away from the players’ tent.There was no chance of avoiding the Bancrofts forever.At some point, sometime soon, she’d be outed, and she’d lose this family, which, despite the short time they’d spent together, she’d come to love.She’d be labelled, at best, a bitch, at worst, a thief, an embezzler and a troublemaker, disloyal and deceitful.Jed, Troyden and the rest of the family would believe them.She was the outsider, and the Bancrofts were part of the inner circle.

They had a history together; she had a few weeks.She was fighting a lifetime spent together, loyalty forged by walking through the halls of death, stumbling through the thick mists of grief.She couldn’t compete, and losing them all, Jed, Troyden and Mick, was guaranteed.