Page 54 of True Honey (The Hornets Nest #4)

COURTNEY

“ A uggie, can I talk to you?” I sat across from him at the island as he picked at his cereal before school.

He had three days left before summer vacation and he had sweetly made a bunch of plans for him and Daisy to hang out.

The color had permanently returned to his cheeks and I got to see his smile more often than not.

He looked up at me and flinched.

“Sorry, not like that,” I corrected myself, those words typically and repeatedly in the past had been used to start the conversation about moving. But that wasn’t this. His shoulders relaxed a fraction but he stopped eating his food to listen to me. “It’s about Silas.”

“I know Mom,” he practically cut me off, looking back at the manga he was reading.

“You know what?” I asked him.

“That you like him…” he said, flipping the page.

His honesty caught me off guard and I couldn’t tell if I was confused or relieved that he wasn’t more upset about it. I wet my bottom lip and inhaled slowly to give myself time to come up with a response that didn’t give away my emotions.

“How do you know that?” I asked, I was going to be pissed with Silas if he had spoken to August behind my back about everything.

“You’re happy,” he said, looking up from his book with a soft expression.

“Oh.” Something about the way he said it broke my heart. I was happy. Happier than I had been in a really long time but I didn’t think it was so obvious that my thirteen-year-old would pick up on it.

“You’re not as good at hiding things as you think,” he added and it made me laugh.

“How do you feel about it?” I asked him, leaning over the counter to steal some of his breakfast.

“He’s nice to you,” August said.

“Yeah he is,” I agreed and gave his spoon back.

“He tries too hard sometimes but the manga he brought me back from New York is pretty cool,” he hummed, the way he was playing it off was nice. It felt nice to know that I wasn’t entirely screwing all of this up. “And he buys my favorite pop tarts,” August added.

“Oh is that all it took?” I shook my head and laughed.

“I’m happy here too, Mom.” He said and my breath caught, my chest sore instantly from the weight set there. “So if you like him and it makes you happy. Then it's a good thing.” August smiled but he shrugged, reaching out his hand to Red who slumped across the island like he owned it.

“So you aren’t mad?” I asked him.

“No,” he said, his fingers curling repeatedly across Red’s mangy fur.

“And if it doesn’t work out?” I pushed.

“You’re doing that thing you tell me not to do,” August said and I furrowed my brows at him. “Getting upset about problems that don’t exist.”

“Auggie,” I sighed. It was serious. If anything happened with Silas our life would be upended, all of the happiness we were feeling now would be pulled out from under us…just like that.

“Mom,” he mocked me, “stop making problems and just be happy.”

His tone was low and too authoritative for a son talking to his mother but it made me smile and I gave him a small nod. Just be happy. Easier said than done.

“There you are!” Silas rounded the corner in a huff, blasting into the office.

His Hornets polo was crumpled, and his shorts were lopsided like he had thrown them on in the dark.

“We need to go,” he said, giving a sweet smile to Susanna before turning to me.

He had been like this for days after our impromptu road trip.

Moving too fast, talking in circles. The Hornets had officially beaten Portland and I had hoped that it would ease his stress but the finals were here and he was even more strung out than before.

He was burning out and was too stubborn to admit that it could happen to him.

“Go where?” I laughed, filing a few papers away.

“Up to the cabin,” he said, like I should know what’s going on.

“I have to work today, we can't…” I turned and lowered my voice just for him, “run away again.”

“No,” Silas stopped me, “this isn't… I could have sworn I mentioned it.”

“I am definitely out of the loop,” I said looking to Susanna for help but she just kept working away at her desk.

“Cabin is important this weekend, promise. There’s a reason.” He looked at me, taking the stack of paper from my arms. “Susanna,” he nodded to her and she waved him off as he pulled me from the office.

“Is that?” I asked confused as we wandered out into the light.

August was sitting in the backseat of a black SUV I’d never seen, headphones in and scrolling through his phone without a care in the world.

Silas popped open the passenger door for me and held onto the frame with a serious look on his face.

“Schools out, you’re all packed. We’re going to the cabin. Get in the car, Drew.” Silas’s voice dropped lower. “Please.”

I looked at him for a moment, “this isn’t a ‘ Harbor’s too loud ’ moment?” I asked him.

“It’s a ‘I want to take my girlfriend and her son to my family's cabin for the weekend’ moment.” Silas’s smile was infectious and I couldn’t say no to him when he was in such a good mood so I climbed into the car and let him close the door.

I reached back and patted August on the knee to get him to look at me.

“What did I tell you about riding in cars with strangers?” I teased when he pulled his headphones down.

“Don’t do it unless they promise money…” August joked.

“Seriously?” I laughed but drank in his soft expression.

“He wrestled Red into the kennel for this,” August said with a smile as Silas climbed into the car.

“I have the war wounds to prove it,” Silas grumbled, starting the engine.

“Oh you poor thing,” I feigned concern and winked at August before turning around in my seat.

I hadn’t told Silas that I spoke to August, everything had been so insane that I never got the chance.

He was coming home from the stadium after games and showering on auto pilot.

He was too wound up and exhausted to even entertain sex, he usually just fell asleep curled against me.

But I took a chance and reached across the divide to lay my hand upright for him.

He looked down at it in surprise and then over to me with a flicker of confusion as I wiggled them around for him. It’s okay. I mouthed and he looked back down at my hand, pushing his fingers between mine and giving it a gentle squeeze.

And just like that every piece of the puzzle slipped together with such ease.

“Don’t worry, I made a playlist.” Silas reached over and scrolled through the menu, throwing on whatever monster he had created and Savage Garden flowed through the speakers causing me to laugh out loud. “There’s no way you just laughed at the Savage Garden!”

“I don’t know how I didn’t see the whole Dad Rock thing before, it was right in front of my face the entire time,” I scoffed in disbelief as he smiled brightly at me, enjoying the teasing. “You could have at least eased me into it.”

“Oh, Garden is easing you into it,” Silas chuckled and turned his attention to the road. The drive was nice, August spent most of the time playing on his phone and ignoring our adult conversations.

“You grew up out here?” I asked when the highways became nothing but thick forest for miles on either side.

“Yeah, they built the cottage for team building and weekend retreats but it became this place for my Mom to get away, and she’s always hated the quiet so usually we got dragged along.” Silas explained.

“Arlo?” I asked. It had been weeks of asking him questions I already knew the basic answers to. But I liked hearing his side of the answers, they were so different then what Arlo had coldly written in the binder.

“Yeah, and Nicholas… and their older brothers Lucas and Sawyer.”

“There’s four King brothers?” I asked, knowing the basics.

“Yeah, all four insanely talented baseball prodigies…” he sighed. “Arthur ruined them with the pressure, thinking he could make them even better but it only made them resent each other and the sport.”

“Arlo still coaches though.” I said.

Silas smiled and nodded, “it would take a lot more than drunk Arthur King and a few slaps to make Arlo hate baseball. He’ll play and coach until the day he dies.”

“And you’ll be right there with him,” I said and Silas’s grip faltered on my hand slightly.

“That’s the plan,” are the words that came out of his mouth but they weren’t believable.

He was holding on to so much stress between the team, his grandfather, us, and the trial.

It was insane to watch a man seemingly so soft and humble, stand up to the wind like he was made of steel.

“Look,” he said, directing my attention to the incredible structure at the end of the driveway.

“That’s not a cabin,” August said, leaning through the middle of the seats. “That’s a resort.”

“Had to be big enough for everyone,” Silas said, like that was the natural explanation.

There were people and cars littered the driveway, so many it’s impossible to count as they moved around the gravel talking to one another and hauling things from the backs of vehicles.

“What is going on?” I asked, turning to look at him as he parked.

“A wedding.”

The panic that filled my body when the word wedding left Silas’s beautiful mouth was biblical. It rose up my body and hit me in the chest so fast it felt like someone had run me over with a car. I inhaled sharply and stared at him, not registering a single word coming out of his mouth.

August climbed from the car and I froze, unable to form words to explain the fear coursing through me. Silas grabbed my face and brought us closer together, slowing his breathing down until I was able to follow his lead.

“Not ours,” he said, his tone soft. “Ella and Arlo.”

I let my tongue fall from the roof of my mouth and worked back the urge to sob in his arms. I swear my soul left my body.

“I’m sorry I scared you… I wasn’t thinking—”

“No, no. It’s okay,” I choked out, pleading with my heart to slow down.

Silas looked like I had broken his heart and it only made how guilty and anxious I felt worse. It stung in the most agonizing way as he worked through his own disappointment at my reaction to calm me down.

“I’m sorry, I—” I stopped trying to catch my breath.

“You wouldn’t want that,” I said quietly, “it’s not what you want.

” I choked down the urge to cry as I tried to explain to him that taking this further than what we were doing…

making the ring real. It was a mistake. I could barely manage my own emotions, the intrusive depression that threaded through my mind every waking hour.

I couldn’t trap him in life, which meant always having to look after me in some capacity. I wouldn’t.

“Don’t tell me what I want and don’t want,” he leaned forward, forcing me to look at him. “I didn’t take your fear as a refusal, Drew. It’s just another challenge.” His gray eyes never left mine, his words slow and said with an intense intention. “Do you understand?”

I didn’t. And I did. It was not that simple.

“Yeah.” I offered and his lips curled into a smug smirk.

“The least you could do is say it with some conviction.” He kissed the corner of my mouth and then my cheek and my nose, making a path across my face. “We do this slowly, at our own pace. The ring doesn’t mean anything until you ask me to make it mean something. Alright?”

That helped, the next breath I took didn’t feel as strangled.

There he went, making it better with such ease.

“Come on,” he said, brushing the crazy strands of hair behind my ear with another quick kiss.

He led me through the chaos into the front doors and I paused to take in the incredible extensive inside.

Large couches, high ceilings, with a huge kitchen and a wall of windows that looked over the lake.

There was a set of stairs that led up and down, the sheer size of the building felt daunting but Silas never let go of me.

“Nice of you to show up, asshole!” Arlo groaned, leaning against the counter with Ella resting between his legs with a mug between her hands. “We were going to do this without you.”

“You can’t do this without me, prick,” Silas snapped with a bright smile.

“Van was looking up how to get ordained.” Arlo shrugged and Silas bulldozed across the kitchen only pausing for Ella to scoot out his way before he started wrestling with Arlo.

“Don’t you dare give him a black eye!” Zoey yelled loudly from her spot on the couch with Van who was reading comics with Jensen, his girlfriend, and August… At least he was good at making himself at home.

I must have looked uncomfortable because Ella slid around the island with a second mug and handed it to me. “It’s okay, they won’t hurt each other… too badly.”

“Thank you,” I said, holding the warm tea to my lips.

“I’m glad you came,” She said.

“I’m glad to be here,” I said, she stared at me for a second and I couldn’t tell if she was waiting for me to continue but I tried, “I actually didn’t know until we got here…”

“That sounds like Silas,” Ella sighed with the shake of her head. “Did he spring it on you and scare the shit out of you?”

“Ha,” I huffed, “something like that.”

“For a man that is so incredibly smart. He really is stupid sometimes. However,” Ella paused, setting down her mug. “He did have me pick up a surprise for you.”

“You guys shouldn’t have done that, it’s your d—” I started but Ella shook her head at me, crooking her finger for me to follow. Down the hall and to the left was a massive well lit bedroom with large windows and classic cottage touches .

“One thing you need to learn if you’re going to be around us, is that nothing is a hassle and a day never belongs to just one of us.” Ella opened the closet on the back wall and disappeared inside before I could argue with her that she shouldn’t have been worrying about me on a day like today.

“And if Silas had brought you up here with nothing to wear, I would have had to find another person to marry me and the love of my life, because I would have killed him. So before you argue, this was in the best interest of everyone.” Ella stared at me with a long bag in her hand and a better death glare on her face than I could have ever given.

“Consider me quiet,” I said, holding up one hand in surrender. I set the mug on the table next to me and stepped closer to the bag Ella laid on the bed.