Mom asked, “So tell me how you’re doing. Not how you want people to think you’re doing.”
“I was shaken last night. But when Drake came home and held me, it eased my fears a lot.” She sighed. “I know that sounds archaic, but just his touch calms and centers me.”
As I listened to her, I knew she would be okay. Today she sounded strong and ready to keep moving forward.
We would survive this.
Mom said, “No, it doesn’t. Ike does the same for me. I get it. And I know you do the same for Drake. It’s what makes you each other’s soul mate.”
“He is mine, for sure.”
Those words affirmed it for me.
Slapping me on the back, Kane said loudly, “Well if the princess hasn’t decided to wake up.”
“Don’t be an ass.”
Mom sighed. “I swear, I did not use enough soap in their mouths when they were younger. If you have a boy one day, Alexa, and he takes after the Foster men
, use lots of soap.”
Her beautiful laughter filled the air. “Will do.”
Our eyes locked, and I knew what she was thinking. Kids. Our kids.
Mom stood. “Do you want some breakfast, Drake?”
“I’ll get some in a minute, Mom. Thanks.”
She waved her hand. “Don’t be silly. I’ll warm up some leftovers.”
Hayden walked in from outside as Mom disappeared into the kitchen. Hell, I was the last one up. “Oh, look who’s up. Morning, Drake.”
“He prefers to be called princess this morning,” Kane said smugly beside me.
Hayden smiled. “Yeah, I like the sound of that better. Morning, princess.”
I shot them both the bird. “Fuckers.”
Lex stood. “Play nice. I’ll go help your mom with your breakfast.” She walked over to me and got on her tiptoes to kiss me. “Morning.”
“Morning.” I smiled against her lips.
Mom called from the kitchen. “Eloise called this morning. She was wondering if one of you boys could stop by to help her.”
Eloise was one of the neighbors. We helped her out from time to time, especially in the winter. She was a bit of a wild lady, at times. One who liked to think of herself as a cougar. I called out, “Kane said he’d love to help. Let Eloise know.”
“Oh good. She loves Mariah. I’ll text her now.”
That earned me a shove. “Not funny.”
“Yeah, it was, Prince Charming. Let me know how Eloise’s ass grabbing goes.”
He muttered a few curse words. Eloise was a character, and she loved Kane. When she was around him, somehow, her hands ending up “accidentally” in the general vicinity of Kane’s ass. Hayden was her second favorite. That was why, most times, I ended up over there.
Kane nodded for us to follow him outside. From the chill in the air, it was clear that fall was definitely upon us. Fuck, I wished I had some coffee—my head was pounding like a freight train was coming through.
“So, I went to your place this morning and set up some game cameras. We’ll know if anyone steps foot on the property. From what I can tell, someone had walked a lot of it, probably figuring out the best way to get to and from the place. Some of the tracks were a week old, I’d estimate. So they’ve been out there a lot.”