As I descended the stairs of the jet, the back door of the SUV opened, and my mom jumped out. She screamed my name and started bouncing up and down, making me fear she would break the heel off one of her stiletto boots and hurt herself.
“Nev!” she squealed as I neared, and she threw her arms around me.
Her boots made her a few inches taller than me, and her eyes were a warm honey-brown, but other than that, we looked freakishly similar. Mom took great care of herself, and there wasn’t a single line on her face that suggested she’d birthed five children who’d kept her and Daddy on their toes twenty-four seven for the past eighteen years. Her long dark hair was pulled up into a simple ponytail. She colored it to hide the few grays, the only real proof of her age.
“Happy almost birthday, my baby,” she said as she pulled back enough to kiss my cheek. “Oh fuck, Nevaeh, how did you get to be eighteen so quickly?”
“Time flies when you’re having fun,” Mia commented from beside me, earning her a welcoming hug from Mom.
“How was your flight?” Mom asked as Marcus tossed our cases in the back of the SUV.
“Uneventful,” I told her with a shrug.
“I doubt you would have noticed the back end of the plane exploding, you were so lost in your own wonderland,” Mia said with a laugh. “It was so bumpy, I threw up for like an hour because of the weather over the Midwest.”
Mom’s eyes sparkled as we took our seats in the vehicle. “Hmm. I wonder why. It couldn’t be because of a certain retired Marine, now could it?”
I felt my cheeks heat, but I wasn’t about to lie to her. “Maybe.”
“So…” Mom crossed her legs and turned slightly to face me. “What’s the verdict on that avenue currently? The boy smarten up yet?”
“Mom,” I huffed. “Really, it’s none of your business.”
“Bullshit. I just want to know if you two are going to become a thing. And if so, are you still going to go to grad school here or back in Virginia?”
I sighed as I pulled on my seat belt, and Mia took her place beside me. When I glanced at her, I noticed she looked a little green, making me wonder just how upset her stomach really was from the flight. Sweat beaded on her upper lip, and she wiped her hand across it, giving me a grimace before snapping her own belt in place. I knew she didn’t always travel well when it came to flying, but I thought I’d heard her in her bathroom earlier that morning being sick…
My eyes widened when she winked at me, but I kept my mouth shut. Maybe she had a reason other than my birthday celebration with the family to want to come home to see her parents.
“Nev.” Mom pulled my focus back to her. “Are you going to come home or not?”
“As of right now, I’m coming home for grad school,” I informed her, storing away the possibility of Mia being pregnant for when we were alone.
My answer didn’t seem to assuage Mom’s curiosity. Instead, we were subjected to question after question about what was happening back in Virginia on the way to Mia’s house. The driver dropped her and Marcus off without us going inside, and then we made our way home.
Dad was in Downtown LA with the rest of the Demons working on some new music for a movie soundtrack they’d been asked to contribute to. Normally all my siblings went wherever either of my parents went. A nanny was never something I’d experienced growing up because Mom and Dad wanted to be fully hands-on with all of us. So it was unusual for Mom to show up at the airport alone, but she’d been asking Mia and me so many questions, I hadn’t had the chance to ask her where my brother and sisters were.
I finally got the opportunity a few miles from home. “Where is everyone?”
“They all had friends to visit. They’ll be home later tonight, though.” She said it so casually, but I was sure I’d seen something in her eyes. I couldn’t read it, and for some reason, that set off alarm bells inside me.
“I’m making all your favorites for dinner tonight,” she informed me, hurriedly changing the subject as the driver pulled into the driveway.
Mom normally drove a minivan and Dad had his SUV, but when she had to go to the airport or anywhere in LA by herself, she called for a driver—something she didn’t like to do often.
She liked a simple life, one in which she took care of every aspect of her own life. It didn’t matter that she and Dad had millions in the bank, or that she was PopPop’s only heir and would one day inherit all his money and everything else tied to Cole Steel’s name, including his share of the Steel Entrapment brand that still brought in a decent profit every year.
As expected, my room was exactly as I’d left it during my last visit, which had been for a few short weeks over the summer. The bed was perfectly made, with all my favorite stuffed animals against the pillows. My favorite Demon’s Wings poster, which had my mom and all the other Demon wives on it instead of Dad and my uncles, was hanging up on the wall over my desk, reminding me what a badass woman looked and acted like.
My desk had a stack of books on the edge along with my desktop computer. There wasn’t a single speck of dust in the entire room, telling me that Mom had come in at least once a week to clean. It also told me that Arella and my other siblings had thankfully stayed out.
Which was a good thing, so I didn’t have to kill any of them, especially Arella.
After washing up and changing my clothes, I walked downstairs to the smell of Mom already cooking. The scent of garlic bread and rich tomato sauce filled the air, and I followed my nose to the kitchen, where she was standing over the stove, making a huge pot of spaghetti.
As I entered the room, Mom didn’t immediately notice my presence, and I saw just how tense her shoulders were. Her head was bent, as if the weight of the world were pressing down on her and she couldn’t find the strength to hold it up any longer.
I’d never seen my mom like that before. She was a strong woman, my first and true mentor, and I couldn’t comprehend what could be so wrong that she couldn’t hold her head up.