Page 13 of True Honey (The Hornets Nest #4)
SHORE
I set down the massive box on the island. “Did you order enough?” I asked Ella, who was arguing with Cael over how many chocolate chips belonged on the cupcakes as I returned from running a million errands for her.
“The guys are at practice which means they’re going to come back here hungry and it's a party,” Ella turned to me, tucking a few strands of blonde hair behind her ear. “It’s Arlo’s birthday…are you complaining right now?”
“Easy, Peachy,” Cael teased, “Silas is just grouchy ‘cause he’s broke.” He looked over his shoulder with mischief in those blue eyes.
“Wow, thank you for throwing me under the bus,” I snapped at him.
“What does that mean? What’s going on?” Ella cleaned her hands off on her cute little apron. I recognized it and my heart clenched a little at the old thing, it was Lorraine’s, the leather neckties and heavy jean fabric embroidered with wildflowers. We had bought it for her a few Christmases ago.
“I’m not broke,” I said, my eyes lifting to Cael as I helped Ella remove all the takeout containers from the boxes. She had ordered enough Italian food to feed the team twice over.
“Then what’s with the pretty redhead roommate and her son?” Cael asked.
“Roommate?” Ella looked up at me, “out with it.”
“It’s just temporary, she was looking to rent a room and I had one,” I shrugged trying to downplay it. Arlo’s warning rang like a bell in my head: Don’t give the terror twins anything to run with. “It’s just a stray cat thing, promise.”
My mind wandered to her face when she saw the room.
How fast my heart was to betray my rational thoughts as her shoulders relaxed in that moment.
Moving all my shit to the secondary guest room was worth the look of relief.
I wanted to make sure she was close to her son but I hadn’t expected to feel the wave of gratitude that poured from her at her realization.
“I don’t believe you, but I also don’t have the time to press you for more information,” Ella said, not stopping as she emptied boxes into pretty bowls and serving dishes.
“Are you going to tell him you made all this?” I questioned, catching on to her plan.
“Yeah, and if you tell him, I’ll sick Josh on you,” Ella threatened.
“I’m not scared of—”
She silenced me with one sharp look from those fierce brown eyes.
“Secret is safe with me,” I said, raising my hands in surrender. “Hey you don’t mind if Drew and her son come up for dinner later?”
“Oh, she has a name?” Ella smirked and I rolled my eyes. “Of course they can,” she said. “Even if you have them hidden away in your basement apartment.”
“They’re not hidden,” I said, handing her another container. “They’re unpacking.”
“Where did you find her anyway?” Cael asked, tossing the empty bag of chocolate chips in the garbage under the sink.
“She’s not a student,” he said, lifting his lanky body to the counter.
He was wearing a cropped t-shirt that said ‘don’t bully me I’ll cum’ and a pair of jeans that were more holes than fabric.
“Hilly’s. She’s the newest waitress, but she came in looking for a job with Susanna,” I explained, snagging a piece of pasta from the bowl as Ella slid it across the counter.
“And you just happened to know she needed a place to stay?” Cael pushed and it was becoming increasingly hard to avoid getting the two of them involved. Arlo was going to kill me.
“I saw her car packed to the roof one night after Hilly’s. It didn’t sit right, so I invited her to rent the apartment.” I backed away and crossed my arms, leaning against the door frame as the back door swung open and a few players piled in.
“Where do you want this El?” Dean asked, holding up a long piece of paper with the words You’re Old, Arlo written across it in different colored paint. A Hornet staple.
“Do you guys make those with your eyes closed?” Ella asked, her face scrunching up in a funny way.
“What?” Dean looked down on it as Josh shuffled into the Nest behind him with an amused smile on his face. “I thought it was good… you said it looked good.” He turned to Josh for help but my brother couldn’t have cared less, he gave Dean a tiny shrug.
“I said it looked good for a toddler,” Josh said, moving around the kitchen. He had gotten more comfortable at home, wearing t-shirts and sometimes even tank-tops that showed off the scarring on his arms and chest. I was proud of the progress he was making.
“Hang it up over there,” Ella said, pointing to the archway over the dining room. “You—set the table,” she told Cael. “And you—living room. Now.”
All three boys turned fifteen and a course of ooooh’s rang out in the kitchen as she shuffled me away from them. I rubbed my face in my hands and knew I was about to eat whatever Ella was going to tell me. Because that’s what we did.
“If you think Arlo didn’t tell me everything, you’re wrong ." Her tone flipped so suddenly I flinched. "What the hell is wrong with you?” She reached out and pinched my arm when I didn’t say anything.
“Hey!” I swatted her hand away, “listen,” I said, backing away. “It was the only option.”
“Making a deal with a stranger to be your wife isn’t the only option!” Ella was working hard to keep her voice down. And her hands were balled at her sides in frustration. “Are you insane?”
“Do you and Arlo know that you’re both playing bad cop?” I asked her with a tiny, exasperated laugh as I backed away and sank into the couch.
“I’m sorry,” Ella said, inhaling slowly and wandering over to take the spot beside me. “It’s just since I came to Harbor you’ve always been… you,” she said. “You’re not supposed to be the messy one. That’s for all the other boys. Not you .”
“I’m not a saint, El,” I said. “I’m just a man.”
“Exactly, you’re a man and right now, with her moving into the basement, you are acting like an impulsive child. Do you really think you’re going to fool everyone into thinking she’s your fiance?” Ella asked me, her tone gentler than before as she crossed her legs and laid her hands in her lap.
“I only have to fool my mother and grandfather,” I said.
“So you’re going to tell the boys the truth?” She questioned and I sighed in response, “ exactly , you know that Cael was already talking about setting up family movie nights for her son? He willingly went into the storage room to find a box of PG-13 DVDs.”
“It’s been like three hours…”
“He went into the storage room of his own accord.” She stressed and I heard her loud and clear.
Lorraine had died in that room and that fact Cael was willing to go into it after knowing a kid for ten minutes in an effort to make him feel comfortable.
“Cael sees himself in that kid and if you let it go too far…”
“I promise to protect him but this is bigger than just the Nest…”
Ella scooted forward, forcing me to look at her, “If you believe this is the right way to protect Harbor from your Dad, then we have your back but I want you to be sure of it before you tangle so many strings because Silas,” she swallowed tightly, pausing as the back door clicked open and more players flooded noisily into the house, “you’re tying impossible knots. ”
I waited for a moment after she climbed off the couch, kissing my cheek before she went to wrangling hands to help her finish with decorating.
I watched the chaos of the team shuffling around the kitchen, laughing and teasing, knowing deep down what I had to do to protect them, to preserve everything that we had built as a family.
“That’s cheating,” Cael said as he pushed his arm through Dean’s legs to touch the blue circle with his left hand.
“How do you cheat at twister?” Josh asked, perched on the arm of the couch at a distance from the pretzel'd mess in the center of the living room.
“I don’t know but I’m convinced Arlo has found a way,” Cael whined, nearly losing his balance as Arlo wiggled his foot near Cael’s.
I laughed as Ella spun the arrow again and out of the corner of my eye Drew’s red hair appeared in the archway of the living room. I excused myself, going the long way around the hall and waving her down into the dining room.
“There’s food here and drinks in the fridge,” I said, as she approached with August on her tail. He looked to where I pointed and wandered away as Drew stepped into the dining room. “Did you get all settled?”
“There are a few things I need help lifting?” She said, “but other than that, yeah… thank you again for setting everything up for us so nicely. You really didn’t have to do that.”
“It’s no big deal,” I said, shaking my head. “Not to be pushy,” I said, looking over her shoulder to August still exploring the fridge.
“But you need me to hold up my end of the deal?” She smiled gently, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
“Yeah,” I said, handing her a clean plate from the pile on the table. “There's dinner next Sunday, with my family… I’d like to introduce you.”
She looked over her shoulder at her son and then back at me nervously, “I don’t think I should leave him alone right now.”
“I promise he’ll be okay and if our agreement allowed for it, I would insist you bring him but I’m playing by your rules and unfortunately the timeline doesn’t really afford any time for any of us to get comfortable with this situation,” I explained as she spooned some pasta onto her plate.
“Do you think Auggie will be okay?” Drew asked with a small wince.
“He’ll be fine,” I said, “look,” I nodded toward the kitchen where Ella and Cael had taken up conversation with August. They were laughing about something Cael had said and suddenly I was very glad that I had forced him to change his shirt before the party. “He’s making friends already,” I said.
“It would be nice if he made friends his age,” Drew said, a smile creeping on her face that wasn’t there before.
“Was that a joke?” I asked, leaning on the wall as she spooned pasta onto her plate .
She tossed a scowl over her shoulder at me and I couldn’t help but enjoy the way it made all her features look less mousey. “I can ask them to be around on Saturday if it makes you more comfortable?”
“I wouldn’t want to put them out…” Drew said.
“Hardly, Cael could honestly use a babysitter,” I laughed and pushed off the wall. “Only problem we have is that you can’t go to dinner in jeans.”
Drew paused, looking down at her outfit and back up at me, “I’m a part time waitress, Silas. All I own are thrifted jeans,” she said with an exhausted tone to her voice that she was desperately trying to hide beneath politeness.
“Well, you’ve got an obnoxiously rich fake fiancé now, so we’ll need to upgrade your wardrobe for dinner,” I said, lowering my voice and just trying not to hurt her feelings by tucking in the joke. “Mom will never believe it’s real unless we prove you’re way out of my league.”
“Obnoxiously rich?” Drew almost laughed and I could taste the victory of chipping away a piece of her guarded exterior.
“Ridiculously,” I whispered.