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Even if she’d found a job to help us get by in this new world, why couldn’t she just tell me?
Pushing thoughts of my mom aside, I made my way to the bathroom and shucked my clothes before stepping into the shower. Thoughts spiraled through my head like the water circling the drain, but I did my best to empty my mind as the hot droplets sluiced over me.
When I was done, I threw on some comfy pants and a soft t-shirt and padded into the kitchen to make some food. I was getting better at cooking, although I was far from a master chef.
Silence filled the house as I sat down with a full bowl of warm, fresh Hamburger Helper. Silence was something I was slowly getting used to, but I couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. If it meant that I was getting used to the feeling that came when no one else was around, to the feeling of loneliness, I wasn’t sure that was preferable.
Pushing my empty bowl away, I glanced up toward the front door, which was visible from the small kitchen.
Maybe I should go see if Bishop is home.
The guys had been busy with work for Nathaniel all weekend, and I missed them with an acute pain that seemed to sit behind my heart at all times. I wasn’t sure when and how I had gotten so attached to them, but being around them made it easier to breathe somehow.
Almost as soon as the thought hit my mind, a knock sounded at the door. My heart leapt, and I pushed back from the table, nea
rly sprinting to the door before yanking it open. A wide smile bloomed across my face when I saw who was there.
Not just Bishop, but all three of my boys.
They grinned right back at me, and the sight was so damn breathtaking that I couldn’t help myself. I stepped forward into Bishop’s arms, wrapping around him in a tight hug. There was something so reassuring about seeing the three of them just show up, right when I needed someone around.
Bishop chuckled. “Hey there, Coralee. Miss us?”
“A little bit. I guess,” I said softly, poking his ribs. Then I stepped back, reluctantly leaving the perfect safety of his arms. “Come in.”
I let them in, closing the door behind them. I probably would have felt a little awkward about having them over any other time—worrying over what Mom would think, how she would treat them, how she would react to them being in her home. Those concerns were gone now, however, and I couldn’t care less about whether or not she would want three strange boys in her home.
If she couldn’t be bothered to actually be at home, then she didn’t get a say. This house had started to feel more like mine than like hers, or even ours.
And I wanted the boys here more than anything.
We settled on the slightly lumpy couch in the living room, me sandwiched between the three of them.
Bishop stayed close to me on my right, his hand settled on my thigh, with Misael and Kace staying close on my other side, like they could sense that I needed the comfort of their proximity. Or maybe they needed the comfort of mine.
“What are you guys doing here? I thought you had work?” I hedged around asking for details, knowing that it was unlikely they would give them to me. That was okay though; maybe all four of us needed a break from thinking about any of this.
“Got out early,” Kace explained. He ran a hand through his short hair, his demeanor as tense and on edge as it’d been for the past few weeks. He hadn’t gotten into any more brawls at school, but I could tell memories of Flint still haunted him. “Fucking nice too. Nathaniel runs us all over town.”
“Which is why—” Misael grinned, sitting forward on the couch a little as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out a sizable baggie filled with chunks of dried green buds and several small, white pieces of paper. “Which is why we’re gonna have some fun. Everything’s been a damn mess lately. I say, fuck that.”
I peered at the bag, my brows drawing together. I wasn’t so innocent that I couldn’t guess what it was, but I’d never seen marijuana up close before. “Is that… weed?”
Kace snorted, a small smile playing over his lips. It made my heart jump in my chest, and I wished I could make him do it over and over again.
“You never smoked a joint before, I bet. Huh, Princess?”
I shook my head. “No. Can’t say there was ever an opportunity. I mean, I know some kids at my school did, but I was usually too busy with after school stuff or my parents’ cocktail parties to do any of that. Is it—I mean, is it safe?”
I felt a bit silly asking the question, but I figured that by this point, the guys knew how un-worldly I was about some things. They wouldn’t mock me for asking.
Misael chuckled as he skillfully arranged the little buds on the paper and rolled the joint.
“Yeah. ’Course it’s safe, Coralee. We wouldn’t bring you anything that wasn’t, would we?”
I eyed the joint as he carefully licked the paper, then glanced up to meet his gaze, feeling myself fall into the warm pools of his irises. They were a deep, rich brown, like melted chocolate, and they shone with such care and protectiveness that a smile rose to my lips before I could stop it.
“No,” I murmured. “You wouldn’t.”
