Page 6 of Flock Around and Find Out (Flocking It Up #3)

The house wasn’t crowded, but given the nice evening, I had a feeling that they’d all accumulated outside. Considering how large each of the men was, it wasn’t a shock that they wouldn’t want to be crammed inside.

I mean, that sounded like the start to a fantastic porn flick, but probably not best at a family gathering.

My mother had already taken Ruben, escorting him outside to meet the others. She’d slid her arm through the crook of his elbow with such ease, and he’d responded like any gentleman.

Funny, he sure as fuck didn’t act that way to me. It made me roll my eyes, the fact that he could put on such a show for her benefit. I wanted to give him a flat tire, to step on the back of his shoe, then tell my mom that he wasn’t nearly so nice when he was berating me at work.

Instead of that, I headed into the kitchen as they went out back, giving myself a moment to collect myself before facing off against the horde of problematic red flags outside.

There I found my dad, standing by the counter, arranging cheese on a platter. He took one look at me and laughed. “Sorry I couldn’t tell you.”

“You traitor. I told you when she bought you that stupid gift a few years back so you could school your features when she gave it to you.”

“I know, but if I’d told you, you wouldn’t have come. I don’t like to see your mom sad. I figured you could probably survive one little party.”

I grabbed a hard lemonade out of the fridge, then leaned my back against the counter beside him. “How could you let her invite my friends behind my back?”

“Well, Kelvin seemed to think it was a good idea, and to be honest, we’ve been curious. You never like to tell us anything. Can you blame your mom for going a little overboard to find out more about your life?”

I didn’t tell them about my life because I didn’t want them to get killed because of it. As much as I wanted to say that, I really doubted that he’d understand, that it would do anything to help calm their nerves.

That was the exact reason I’d been so secretive.

Besides, it wasn’t like I was doing anything impressive.

I sighed, thinking about my siblings, about what amazing people they’d become. “I just didn’t think there was much to say.”

Sure, I was a Spirit, but what did that matter? Even my council seat wasn’t actually important. At the end of the day, I was just a little mess of a girl who struggled to pay her bills and delivered things for a living. Nothing had really changed for me, no matter how much I wanted them to see me as something else. Compared to a doctor and a CEO, I was the disappointment in the family.

Not that either my mom or dad would say such a thing to me, but they had to think it, right?

“You know, I think you worry too much. You think you need to catch up to someone else, but you’re your own person.”

“That’s what we always tell stupid people so they don’t feel so bad about themselves.”

He handed me a piece of sharp cheddar as he worked at laying out the plate. “You know what I remember? When your brother got scammed out of his money when he was thirteen. He’d worked that side job over the summer, but some person offered to sell him a coupon to a spa, and he wanted to give it to your mom for her birthday. The coupon ended up a fake, of course.”

“He’s always been too nice.”

“My point is that that would have been the end of it. He’d have lost out on all that money, on his gift, and he felt horrible. None of us knew what to do, even the police just said it was a lesson learned the hard way. You went out and found the scammer though, all on your own, and you got his money back.”

I laughed softly, thinking back to when I’d been young and human. It hadn’t actually been that hard. I’d gotten the description of the idiot who had scammed my brother, then waited out to find him trying his trick again. The truth was that conmen never stopped a good con. Since he’d gotten some money from it, he’d do it again.

Sure enough, I’d found the little twerp and followed him to his car. People like that always had enemies, always had people looking for them. I knew it, because I was like that.

The only difference was that he still worried about it.

It hadn’t taken much prompting to make him realize I could be a very big problem. He’d given me the money back just so I’d leave him alone, and I’d used it to get an actual spa ticket—along with the bit of donation that he’d given me to keep my mouth shut—and handed both off to my brother to give to our mom.

“It wasn’t that hard,” I argued. “Anyone could have done that.”

“Maybe, but anyone didn’t. You did. That’s the point, Grey. You like to compare yourself to others who you think are better, but the truth is that you’re unique. You do things your own way. Maybe it isn’t the same way others do it, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. That doesn’t mean it isn’t important, that it doesn’t matter. You matter, Grey, and you’re a bigger part of this family than I think you always feel. That’s why your mom did this, because she wanted to really show you that you’re part of this family, that we love you and want you here.”

I blew out a long breath. “You’re really going to just guilt trip me like that? I can’t just run away after you said that.”

He snorted. “I know—why do you think I tried that? It might be tricky, but it’s also true. Though…”

“What?”

“Well, you have an interesting group of friends. It wasn’t what I expected.”

“What did you expect?”

“Bikers and circus performers?” He smirked and gave me another piece of cheese like a peace offering.

“Well, you pretty much got that, didn’t you?”

He picked up the tray and handed it to me. “No more avoiding it. Off with you. Take these out there for everyone.” A push to my back got me moving, my drink in one hand and the tray balanced on the other.

Each step took longer than it needed to, my nerves slowing me down. It felt like if I went slow enough, maybe I could miss the whole thing?

I laughed at the stupidity of that plan.

If I didn’t get going, I was pretty damned sure someone would come and drag me out. Who it was, that I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter, either. Someone would get me and I doubted I could argue with anyone of them.

The door to the backyard was open, with strings of lights illuminating the space. I paused at the doorway, as though surveying a battlefield instead of a party.

Sure enough, I spotted Galen and Kelvin—at opposite ends of the patio. I sure didn’t expect to spot Porter, though, seated in the corner, my mom’s cat in his lap. No doubt he’d rather be there instead of speaking to anyone else. The fact he was there at all amazed me. He wasn’t exactly a party type.

I had a few options for where to go, but I knew the first person—the one at fault for this whole mess.

I stalked over to Kelvin, who was drinking a beer as he stood there, his gaze locked on me. It was unnerving, made it difficult to walk over to him with the confidence that I would have liked, but anger had a habit of being able to really dissolve nerves.

“You’re late,” he pointed out, as though I didn’t know it.

“Yeah, well, seeing as you shouldn’t be here at all, I don’t think that’s a big deal.” I set the tray down on one of the bar-height tables set around the patio. “Why the hell would you do this? And I hear you’ve been stopping in to see my mother?”

“You know I’m not a man who fights fair. When I realized how close you were to your mother, it seemed only obvious that I should use that to my advantage. If your mother likes me, the odds of you accepting me go up as well. I will take every advantage I can because this isn’t a battle I plan to lose.”

“Only you would view romance as a battle.”

“Does that mean you see what we have as romance?” He cocked a dark eyebrow, the expression taunting and far too sexy.

I released a sound of pure aggravation and considered punching him. It wouldn’t hurt him, of course. He wouldn’t give a damn about it, in fact. It might make me feel better, though.

“I wouldn’t,” he said as he leaned in, whispering the words to me. “If you hit me here, your mother would think awfully poorly of the behavior.”

Which he was completely right about. “If I get kicked out of the party for it, it feels like a win-win for me,” I answered, keeping my voice equally low.

“Grey.” The unhappy response came from my brother, forcing me to step back and turn to face him. And, yep, there was that glare. He was not thrilled with this turn of events. “Could you excuse us?” he asked Kelvin.

“Certainly.” Kelvin nodded, the action unbearably polite, before heading off to speak to my sister.

“What the hell?” my brother asked in an exasperated tone. “Last time you show up with a mind and now this?”

“To be entirely fair, I didn’t do this. Mom did this. Go yell at her.”

“Why would I do that? She has no idea who she invited over! You do, though. She might have invited them, but you’re the one in contact with them all. You brought that vampire here to start with, and don’t think I don’t recognize a few of the others, either. You knew these Spirits well enough that they decided to attend after getting a call from your mother. That is very much a you problem.”

Everything he said was true, though it didn’t feel all that fair. It wasn’t like I’d done anything specifically.

“In case you’ve forgotten—I’m a Spirit,” I pointed out, hating that I had to say it.

“Technically.”

“No, not technically. I turn into a crow. Trust me, I’m one. I might not be one of the kinds you’re used to, but that doesn’t mean I’m not one.”

He sighed, his gaze darting away like he wanted to come up with a proper argument. No doubt his issue was that he didn’t want to insult me while he really wanted to insult what I was.

Instead of forcing him to go through those acrobatics, I tried to let him off the hook. “I get it, okay? I didn’t want them here, either. There’s a reason I’ve never invited them over. There’s a reason I’ve never brought them to a get-together. I’ve tried very hard to keep my life separate. I can’t help it that Mom did this, though. You know that you all are important to me—that’s why I’ve tried to keep you away from the Spirit world, why I talked Mom into moving here, to somewhere safer, why I never tried to let anyone find out about you all. I guess I didn’t do a great job. All I can say for sure is that I will keep doing everything I can to keep everyone safe.” I paused, then added on something I doubted he’d believe—I wasn’t sure I did—but something that felt necessary. “And I know you might not trust the people here, but I can say that each of them has helped me, has saved me before. If I really thought you all were in danger from them, I wouldn’t just let this happen, not even now.”

My brother turned his gaze from me to the guests, roaming over each of the people I spoke about. I could almost see the disbelief in his eyes, the way he doubted anything I said about them.

He didn’t know them, though. They were annoying and frustrating and no doubt dangerous, but they weren’t evil. They weren’t heartless. They’d proven again and again that at the end of the day, they had reasons for the things they did.

And I truly didn’t think they’d use my family against me, that they’d do any harm to them.

I wasn’t sure why I thought that, couldn’t defend it with evidence, but it still felt true.

“I guess we’ll see,” he said, then sighed and walked away.

And fuck did that hurt. It felt like failing again, like not living up to what they thought I should do, what they hoped from me. It wasn’t a new feeling, but I wasn’t sure my brother had ever so openly displayed it.

“Are you all right?” Porter’s voice from behind me forced me to suck it up, to not let the hurt show.

Was I all right? No, probably not, but was I ever?

Also no.

“Yeah.” I turned to find Porter still holding Molly, my mom’s cat. The cat hated me—cats usually did—but it seemed to adore Porter. Guess that was the benefit of being a Nature and all. “I’m surprised you came.”

“The call surprised me.”

“And you didn’t let me know when I just saw you.”

“Well, your mother said it was a surprise. I assumed that meant I wasn’t supposed to say anything about it.”

“Traitors everywhere, I swear. Why’d you come?”

He paused, his fingers rubbing Molly behind her ears. “I was curious.”

“About?”

“Natures are born this way, so I didn’t have a very traditional upbringing. I was curious what a normal family was like. Perhaps I was also curious to get to know another side of you.”

“Well, I don’t know about normal. What do you think so far?”

“It is interesting. Warm. Welcoming. I don’t spend much time around humans when I can avoid it—they’re always noisy and erratic.”

“If you don’t like noisy and erratic, you probably won’t like me or my family.”

He smiled, the expression strange as he always appeared so aloof. “I’m surprised to say I don’t think I mind this form of noise. It is happy in a way I am unaccustomed to. In fact, I think I rather like it.” The look on his face was so soft that it made me go still for a moment.

He always seemed so far away, so different. Yet I’d gotten to watch him in a few new circumstances recently, and it made me recognize just how little I really knew about him.

I wondered what his day to day was like?

I knew it for others, for Galen, for Kelvin, for Ruben. They spent their days working for the council, heading their own clans, taking care of all those problems.

But what about Porter? Part of me imagined he just spent it in the wilds, with the animals like some old-school hippie.

I had a feeling that probably wasn’t entirely true, however, and judging from the strange longing in his eyes, I suspected he felt lonely—at least at times.

“You know,” I said, trying to stop myself from speaking even as I said it. “My mom has an open-door policy. She’d probably love it if you showed up here anytime you wanted.”

He peered over at her, then down at the cat. “Maybe just to visit Molly.”

I laughed at the way he said that, the obvious deception. Still, I could save egos if I wanted. “Right, just for Molly.”

There was no reason a man like Porter should be adorable, but he fucking was…

* * * *

Two hours later and I was exhausted from all the visiting and playing peacemaker.

The only good thing was that the men seemed willing to put their issues aside for the sake of me and my family. They jabbed, just a bit, but nothing that couldn’t be laughed off as a joke between friends.

Even Kelvin and Galen, the worst of the offenders, seemed willing to hold off for at least tonight.

My mom had gone inside with my sister and brother to clean up, leaving Ruben, Galen, Porter, Kelvin, and myself outside.

“Well, this went better than I would have figured,” Kelvin said with a knowing chuckle.

The asshole didn’t even pretend to be sorry for being the person at fault for all of this.

“Oh, don’t think I won’t get you back for this.”

“I look forward to it. Besides, what was I to say when your mom asked? You know me—I can’t resist a pretty woman’s request.”

“First, don’t call my mom a pretty woman like that—it’s gross. Secondly, I’ll skip over the fact that you were even talking to her, and go straight to very real option you had of saying no! You could have told her that I didn’t want a party, or that you didn’t know any of my friends. Why would you possibly think this was a good idea?”

“I figured if you had the inside track, you wouldn’t give it up,” Galen said, a beer in his hand. “You’re not one to give up an advantage.”

Kelvin waved off the suspicion. “I’m playing the long game here. It’s better to know your enemies, to defeat them fully prepared. The biggest risk in any fight is to underestimate an enemy, to assume you’ve won before you have. That isn’t a mistake I like to make.”

“You didn’t invite me,” Ruben pointed out.

Kelvin grinned. “Did I hurt your feelings? Honestly, this”—he waved his hand between Ruben and me—“surprised me quite a bit. I’d seen tall and grumpy watching our little bird, but I hadn’t thought he had it in him to actually make a move.”

“You really are an asshole,” I said to quiet Kelvin down. “And you don’t know shit, by the way.”

“Perhaps I’m simply not so shameless in my affections,” Ruben said, his voice low but steady. “You show little loyalty, moving from person to person depending on what mood you find yourself in. That isn’t the way I like to behave. Perhaps you would do well to learn a bit more restraint and it would serve you better.”

Kelvin stared back, his expression the same placid one, though I knew him well enough to read the anger beneath.

He liked to make it seem as though nothing bothered him, enjoyed the anonymity and freedom it afforded him, like the way others couldn’t predict what he felt if he never showed it.

However, I’d gotten to know him better, had this bond with him, and it all allowed me to read him more deeply than others could. He was still, no matter how much he tried to hide it, the sort of man who didn’t like being challenged.

And while he treated Ruben as though he were the help, like he could dismiss him anytime he wished, he clearly didn’t care for the way Ruben challenged him now.

Perhaps he reacted worse because it was a challenge he hadn’t expected.

“I suppose I was just taken off guard, given how Justices have no feelings. I would have assumed that included romance or affections. Grey is a poor judge of character, of course, but I never figured her to be into someone without any sort of emotion.”

Ruben didn’t respond. Not a tic of his cheek, not a shift of his hand, nothing. Instead, he turned his gaze to me. “Your family is surprisingly friendly.”

The dismissal of Kelvin broke some of the tension there, especially when the vampire only laughed in reaction.

“Yeah, well, don’t get comfortable. This isn’t some flop house for you all to show up at whenever you want.” I made sure to glare at Kelvin a bit more than others, since he’d already been doing that.

“Not my fault your mom invites me over,” Kelvin muttered without shame.

“She asked me to help her with her computer,” Galen admitted.

“She needs me to trim Molly’s nails,” Porter said.

I groaned, looking toward Ruben for help, grateful that someone hadn’t gotten drawn into this nonsense.

Except one look at him said he had.

“Out with it,” I demanded.

“She needed someone to pick up a treadmill next week, and it seems she knows no one with a truck.”

“You’re a Justice,” I reminded him as though he’d forgotten that important fact. “What the fuck are you doing running errands for some random woman?”

“Well, at first I said I was busy, but after a few minutes, she wore down all my reasons and it seemed to make perfect sense to help her.”

I groaned—loudly—and took another big drink of the hard lemonade. It had to be my third of the night. Not enough to get me drunk but enough to get me comfortably buzzed. It made the conversation easier. “Yep, that’s how she gets you. I wanted a Komodo dragon when I was a kid. I was completely determined to have one. I had my presentation all ready, I knew why I wanted one, where to get one, and how to keep it. I’d priced out everything, had it all planned. Well, two days later I stared down at the bearded dragon lizard I’d gotten instead and wondered just how the fuck she’d talked me into this? She’s good at getting her way.”

I peered out at the group and, before I could stop myself, started to laugh. Here they were, some of the most powerful Spirits in the world, the ones who led all others, the ones in charge of…everything. They were feared through our world, able to send others running with just a lifted eyebrow, but my five and a half foot, sixty-five-year-old mother had them running her errands like they were bellhops at a fancy hotel.

I ran a finger under my eyes, removing the tears that accumulated from the laughter.

We were always chasing after peace, always trying to save ourselves and our way of life, fighting against another enemy, another problem, when the answer was in front of us all along.

If my mother ran the spirit world, I was pretty sure it would all go just fine.

And lord fucking help us all if she did.

* * * *

By the time everyone left, I was ready for some calm and silence. Sure, we’d packed a lot of people into this house, but I wasn’t sure if that really accounted for the amount of noise present. Not just any noise, either, but tense noise.

It felt like someone always had something to say, some snide little comment that could get taken one of six different ways—all of them bad—and it was my job to keep everyone calm and, preferably, alive.

And despite that, the night had ended pretty fucking well. No blood, no fistfights, no one discovering that all those people coming from me were definitely not human.

All in all, I really couldn’t fault anyone for how it went. My brother and sister had gone home already, and my dad had jumped into the shower before bed, leaving just my mom and me still there on the back porch.

The wind rustled through the fronds of the palm trees, and it reminded me of how it had always amazed me when those long trunks would bend at the hard gusts. Palm trees were planted everywhere in this area, and it never seemed possible for them to withstand such force, but they did, year after year, no matter how little sense it made.

“How mad are you?” my mom asked.

“Medium.”

“Well, I think I can handle medium. Still, thank you, I’m glad we did this.”

I twisted to look at her. “Why did you, really? I mean, I know what you said, but seriously, what did you think you were going to get out of this?”

She released a soft breath and played with the tie at the end of her braid. “I’m not getting any younger, Grey. Your siblings, they have families, spouses. I know they won’t be alone after I’m gone, but you? I haven’t met any significant others of yours and I just kept picturing you all alone.”

I could almost imagine what she’d thought, the pathetic sight of me all alone at a table for Thanksgiving, a microwave dinner in front of me.

Joke was on her—that sounded like a fantastic night to me!

“Well, I’m sorry to worry you so much.”

“I’m not worried anymore.”

“No?” I thought back to the night, to the clusterfuck it had been, and wasn’t sure exactly who had won her over. I didn’t think any of them were really bring home to your mother sort of men.

She shook her head. “Clearly, you have people who are willing to show up for you. I was afraid you were alone, but I saw tonight that you aren’t, not at all. It makes me feel better to know that even if you don’t like to mix your worlds together, that you might not always want to bring your friends around, I’m just happy to know you have them. You could tell they all care for you—I mean, they were willing to drop everything to come to a party thrown by your mother out of the blue. Even with your boss, it was obvious just how much he cares about you.” She smiled softly, more to herself than me, I suspected.

Had she really been that worried about me?

It was funny, since part of the reason I’d tried to be so secretive about my life was to protect her, to keep her from worrying. If she knew what I really did, what my life was really like, I doubted she’d be too happy about any of it. No one slept well at night knowing about all the bullshit I got up to.

Not even me.

But here I found out it had all been in vain, since she’d worried anyway. Maybe mothers always did, though. I wasn’t a mom, didn’t plan on becoming one—didn’t know if it was even possible anymore—so just how was I supposed to know what was normal for one?

“Yeah, I guess they’re good friends,” I said.

“Just friends?”

“Whoa, now, let’s settle down. This isn’t the sort of talk to have with my mother. I’m not fifteen anymore with my first crush.”

“Your first crush was well before fifteen, young lady. Don’t think I don’t know what.”

“Ah, Ryan.” I smirked as I thought back at the cute little boy I’d fallen for when I was seven and he’d been ten. He hadn’t liked me, of course, but I’d been smitten and followed him around all summer, determined to win him over.

“Tell me the truth about them, won’t you?” she prodded gently.

She always got me like that, with the soft questions I found it impossible to ignore or deny.

“I don’t know. They’re just friends for now, I think.”

“All of them?”

“Is that weird?” I nibbled at my bottom lip, preparing myself for the worst.

For her to call me a whore, to kick me out, to label me as a pervert who didn’t get to come to dinners anymore.

It was a stupid fear, really. When had my mom ever turned her back on me like that? Still, knowing that she was disappointed would’ve hurt, even if she wasn’t about to kick me out.

Some part of me still wanted to be her little girl, for her to see me as someone who could do no wrong. I guess we never really outgrew the feeling of wanting our mom’s approval.

“Honey, you should know me well enough not to worry about something like that. If you date no one, if you date a hundred people, so long as you’re all honest and they treat you well, I really don’t care a bit.” She paused, then chuckled. “Plus, the idea of a single partner tough enough to put up with a hundred percent of your craziness is a terrifying thought. I probably should have seen this coming.”

Her words came as a surprise even if they shouldn’t have. When had she ever not supported me?

Even when I did something insane, like the time I’d brought home a badger I had liberated from a zoo, she hadn’t turned me away. Instead, she’d gotten out an old dog crate and looked up on the internet what badgers ate.

Something about that eased me in a way I hadn’t realized I needed. I hadn’t thought I was stressed about the idea of what sort of future I had with the men around me.

It had all come about slowly, over the years, until connections had formed naturally. It hadn’t given me the time to consider what it meant beyond the day, beyond the moment.

Was I really wanting a future with all of them? Or at least without making a choice?

The answer was so obvious even if I’d avoided it before now. Yes, that was exactly what I wanted. My mom’s easy acceptance made it not feel so weird, so unattainable. If even she could see that and think it fine, it no longer seemed like some far-off pipe dream.

“However,” she said, her voice turning serious. “Let me make myself clear. If they hurt you—any of them—I’ve still got a back strong enough to dig a hole however large enough I need for as many bodies as need burying.”

And fuck knew I didn’t doubt she could manage just that.

Those Spirits better watch themselves.