Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 121755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“Shut up, Mike,” Shelby muttered.
Luke’s grin went from half to whole.
Mike’s grin remained whole.
He also thrust a strong hand out to me. “Mike Stark.”
I took his hand and mumbled, “Nice to meet you, Mr. Stark.”
He gave my hand a squeeze and invited, “Mike.” We let go and he turned to Gabe’s mom. “This is Shelby,” he said.
I offered my hand and said, “Nice to meet you too.”
She took it, her squeeze was firm and warm but swift, before we released, and she said, “Same.”
“These are my girls, Shanti, Harlow, Raye, Jessie and Luna,” I introduced.
There were waves and heys.
“I’m sorry about—” I began, aiming this to Shelby, but I stopped when her eyes dropped down to Gabe’s love bite and darted away.
Oh my God!
How weird was this!?
Why couldn’t I vaporize?!
“There you are!”
My body jolted at these words because I knew that voice.
It was my mom.
What was happening, and why?
Why was it happening?
Was I a vicious, brutal murderer in a past life or something?
Was this my penance for leaving a trail of despair in my wake in feudal England?
“Holy shit,” Shanti whispered.
“Oh my God,” Luna whispered.
“Yikes,” Jessie whispered.
“My goodness,” Harlow whispered.
“Hells bells,” Raye whispered.
“Mom,” I said as she and Robbie rounded Luke, Mike and Shelby and stopped, Mom beaming at me.
Robbie didn’t beam at me.
His eyes narrowed on my love bite.
Lord!
I didn’t know whether to run, vomit or cry, though I was leaning toward all three.
Mom was curvy and strawberry blonde like me. She had some white coming in, and she didn’t bother to hide it. Though, she had brown eyes, not my gray.
Robbie was like Gabe’s dad, built solid, with silver glinting in his dark-brown hair. Though, Mike was wearing an ambush-the-new-girlfriend button down and jeans, and Robbie was wearing a faded tee that shared his appreciation for the music of Iron Maiden, but I suspected there were tees in wherever Mike’s suitcase was sitting.
Mom was busy hugging, bussing all my girls and chattering, “We were missing my baby, so I said to Robbie, ‘Honey, let’s just go down and surprise her.’ He grunted. I took that as a yes. And here we are!”
Daughter’s translation: She heard I was with Gabe, so did Robbie, and they were down here, for Mom’s part, to insert the proverbial happiness thermometer to see if I was testing the limits of the mercury (I was), and for Robbie’s part, to make absolutely certain Gabe was treating me right (another translation: he was down here to threaten him about being certain to treat me right).
When Mom stopped talking, I said, “Mom, Robbie, I’d like you to meet Gabe’s family. Mike and Shelby, his parents, and Luke, his cousin.”
Mom’s eyes got big and happy, and she whirled.
“Oh my God! This is amazing!” She rushed them to shake hands with Luke and Mike and give Shelby a hug. She bopped back from Shelby. “What a coincidence!”
Yeah.
A coincidence formed in hell by the devil’s own hand.
“Can you…uh, excuse me?” I asked, then didn’t wait for answers.
I raced to the staff room, pulling out my phone.
Gabe answered on the second ring.
“Hey, baby.”
“Your mom and dad are here. And then my mom and dad showed. Here. At SC. Right now. Right now, they’re here. Right now, they’re all here. All of them, at the same time.”
“My mom and—?” he began, and I should have tuned into his tone, but I was freaking out!
“And I was still mad about Ariana. So I was ranting about her to my girls. And in doing so, saying how awesome you were, and me talking about your varying shades of awesome, it might have veered into the sex stuff.”
“Rewind,” he bit out. “My mom and—?”
Since I clearly didn’t learn my lesson of approximately five point two five minutes ago about not letting anyone get a word in edgewise, again, I spoke over him.
“I think they heard some, if not all of it, and everyone can see my love bite.”
“Go tell them I’m gonna be there in five,” he ordered.
“Gabe!” I cried. “They can all see my love bite.”
“Go. Tell. My parents. To sit their asses down. Leave you alone. And I’ll be there in five.”
His vibe was finally penetrating my freakout.
“Gabe—”
“Five,” he gritted.
Then he disconnected.
Oh shit.
I forgot I had a platinum level protective boyfriend, and as such, he would not be at one with his parents ambushing me, and taking that further, I should have just dealt with it and not told him.
When I took my phone from my ear and turned, I saw all the girls were in the staff room with me.
“Well?” Harlow asked.
“Gabe’s coming, and I think I made a mistake calling him, because he sounds pissed.”
Raye, Jessie and Harlow, all having their own Hottie Squad members, nodded understandingly.
“On the one hand,” Shanti said, “I can see they’d be worried, what with the two who came before you. On the other hand, they can’t be ignorant of who their son is, so gotta say, not sure this was their brightest move.”