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“Last night,” I tell her as we get off and head to where we parked, having already done mobile check-out, “when Cage touched her for the first time.”
“Oh my god!” I think she’s more amazed than I was. “Do you think it’s a girl?”
“As long as he or she is healthy, I don’t care. But I wouldn’t be upset about a girl.” One with my wild red hair and Cage’s wild spirit. She’d be a natural beauty.
“Can you imagine Cage carrying around a little baby girl? Tutus and tea parties?” The image is one I can definitely picture.
As soon as we’re done loading all our stuff, Joss takes my hand and addresses me seriously. “If I’m what’s holding you back from going to South Africa with Cage, from getting the family and love you truly deserve, don’t let it. Go with him if you want. Be wild, be free, behappy,Mags. You deserve that so much.”
* * *
We arrive home in the middle of the afternoon. I still haven’t heard from Cage yet, and I don’t like the sound of the cryptic message he’d sent to Joss just after sending mine. The boys that were watching me all last week are still across the street, so I give them a little wave. They nod their heads in return.
“You know them?” Joss asks as she pops the trunk of her hatchback. As soon as the boys see what we have, they come running over to help.
“Sorry, Miss M. Big man said not to let either of you lift a finger. Just tell us where you want it all to go,” the larger of the boys says, grabbing both suitcases as his friends take the few boxes we brought back home, too.
“I guess you do.” Joss laughs as she walks up to unlock the door and open it, only to slam it shut again. “Uhh…we’re going to wait a minute.”
“Oh god.” I feel myself grow pale, imagining what she just saw.
“It’s just Miss M.’s mom and some guy in there,” the boy says like we know about this guy.
“What’s your name?” I finally ask him. I can’t keep thinking about him as some boy.
“I’m Rio, that’s Javier, Cake, and Clay.” He points to each boy.
“Cake?” Joss and I ask together.
The boy in question blushes. “I eat a lot of cake. My mom’s a baker.”
“A baker, you say?” I have a sweet tooth a mile wide lately. “Does she make cinnamon rolls?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He gives a prideful grin. “It’s the place around the corner. Lotti’s Baked Goods. Big pink sign; can’t miss it.”
“You let her know I’m coming in tomorrow after school.” He nods his head vigorously just as our front door opens.
I groan when I catch a glimpse of my mom in a thin, barely body-covering robe. “Mom. Go put some clothes on.” She does not need to be around these boys like that.
Joss leans over to whisper, “I thought she was a Peach? Shouldn’t she be, I dunno, demure?”
A bark of laughter escapes me before I can curtail it. “I don’t think she has a demure bone left in her body.” She snickers as Mom turns back around, a snarl on her face.
If not for the constant berating that she’s imparted on me over the years, I might not be so harsh and show a little more concern for what she’s going through. Mom has always been a handful, though. I can’t imagine what my father went through behind closed doors. The fact she hasn’t shown any genuine upset over him leaving her, and now inviting another man into…Oh god…my bed! “Oh god. They were in my bed. I need a new bed.”
“You wouldn’t if you went home with Cage,” Joss jests, wiggling her eyebrows.
Nugget takes this opportunity to do what feels like a ten-point cartwheel and press on my bladder, so I’m forced inside. Rio and his friends haul our stuff in as well, with the promise to come by for a BBQ dinner that Joss plans on attempting. She’s an excellent cook, but I don’t think she realizes just how much teenage boys eat.
“Go.” She nudges me in the back, steering me towards her room. “Go lay down. I recognize the exhaustion on your face.”
“What? No. I’ll live. Besides, I’m not leaving you alone to deal with my family. That could ruin a friendship, you know.” Joss snorts and forces me into her room just as Mom andher friendexit mine. She shuts the door before I can protest, and I stand there staring at it for a moment, seriously debating going back out there. However, the exhaustion eking from every pore of my body has me trudging over to Joss’ enormous, comfy bed, though. The soft pillows and cool room beckoning me like a siren.
Sleep it is.
CHAPTER10
Cage
