Mr. Colton comes to take the largest chair in the room, while a sweet elderly lady comes in to pass out glasses of a dark amber liquid. I wave her off when she offers me one. The champagne is still kicking my ass.
Kade accepts, just as all the other men do, and then Margaret, Kade's mother, walks in and grabs a glass from the tray on her way by.
"Thank goodness it's over," she says, exasperated, and then she drops to her husband's lap, earning a deep chuckle from him as he wraps her in his arms.
I smile involuntarily. She's not the stuffy prude in here that she was all night long in front of the socialites. I've barely spoken to her at all.
"We still on for Aspen?" Tag asks, looking up from his phone and toward Paul and Margaret.
"Of course. Is Melanie going to be there?"
"Mom?" Wren asks, seeming distracted as he pulls out his vibrating phone. "Yeah, she's coming."
This is getting annoying. I'm ready to take all their phones away. After spending so many nights getting comfortable around each other, I don't even think about it when I lean up against Kade and yawn.
His arm comes down to rest over my shoulders, and his hand slides down to be on my arm as he tucks me against him. I could go to sleep right now.
Tag smirks when he glances our way. "What about you, Raya? You coming with us?"
I stiffen against Kade. I've been so relaxed with him in his house, that I didn't think about how misconstrued this situation might get. I'm curled into him, his arm is draped around me, and we almost look like a couple.
"Um... no," I say with a quiet, but nervous laugh.
"You going to your family's place?" Wren asks, putting his phone away.
"No. My family does Christmas next weekend, actually."
Kade tilts his head as I lean up and away from him. "So soon?" he asks, bemused.
"Yeah. My stepbrother is a marine, so it's not easy for him to come back on holidays. Instead, we celebrate when we can. Mom plans it around his return."
"Then what will you do for Christmas?" Margaret asks, making me feel all the more scrutinized.
"I'll... I might go see a friend or something."
Well, hell. I didn't think about the fact Kade might not want me in his house while he's away. He's mentioned Aspen a few times now, but it didn't ever really register that he might be hinting for me to make arrangements to be gone.
"Nonsense," Paul says, swatting the air. "You can come with us. We have more than plenty of room. Tag has a beautiful home up there, and Margaret and I own one as well. It's always a good time."
I squirm uncomfortably when everyone stares at
me. I want to look at Kade, gauge what he's thinking, but at the same time, I'm scared to know.
"Come on, Raya. It'll be fun," Kade says, tugging me back to his body. "Lots of skiing and eggnog."
I breathe out in relief when I hear the sincerity in his tone. He really is okay if I go. Do I want to go?
"Talk her into, Kade," Paul says with a smile. "In the meantime, what about your family? They live in Utah, right?"
I nod, unsure where he's going with this.
"How are you getting there?"
"Oh. I always take the bus. I'll leave Friday after my last class, and I'll get home Sunday night."
Paul frowns, his brow furrows, and he glances over to a large plaque with numerous keys hanging from engraved perches. Each one is labeled, but it's too far away for me to see what they say. It's sad when you have to label your sets of keys because you have so many vehicles.
"Take one of my cars. There's no sense in you riding the bus."