Chapter 5
The front door slammed shut behind me, resounding through the house. "Hello?" I called out. "Guys?"
After a moment, there was the sound of feet from upstairs and Texas' head popped over the railing. "Hey, Spider-Monkey, you just gethome?"
"Yeah, are Marv or Grayson back yet? Bellamy?Knix?"
He shook his head, moving to the stairs and descended slowly. "Nah, Gray and Marv are still out. Knix is working at a construction site. Why? What's up? Is it something I can helpwith?"
I bit my lip, unsure if I should reveal what happened at the Care Center without everyone present. Texas watched me with curiosity, but he didn't push when I sighed and shook my head. "It's nothing," I lied. I really wanted to tell everyone when we were together. That way we could all come up with a solution as a team. No more running off to fix things and leaving anyoneout.
Texas tilted his head to the side and then reached out pulling me close. I blinked in surprise as he nuzzled my nose with his own and then pressed a sweet kiss to my lips. Almost immediately, the tension in my muscles melted away and my arms arched up to cross behind his neck. My eyes closed and I sank myself into his mouth, letting his tongue touch mine. Texas' grip on my waist tightened and he grunted, pulling back with a mischievousgrin.
"Bellamy's in his room," he said as he extracted himself from my grip. "Why don't you go hang out while I make us somesandwiches."
"Roast beef?" I askedhopefully.
Texas laughed, bopping me on the nose. "Roast beef it is," hepromised.
I smiled back, feeling honestly relieved. I didn't know how he did it, but Texas could turn stone into jello if he tried hard enough. Just being around him was relaxing. As he disappeared into the kitchen, I dropped my purse on the stairwell and made my way upstairs. Just as he said, Bellamy was in his room, sitting on his bed with a guitar in hand. I paused by the door as he settled into a rhythm, strumming several chords together. Against the far wall, I let my gaze stray to the covered paintings he had left there. I wondered which was mine. I wondered if he’d finished ityet.
After several minutes, he stopped and looked over his shoulder. "You gonna stand there all day or come in?" heasked.
I smiled and then bum-rushed the bed, flinging myself onto the pillows at the head. A startled and angry kitten shriek followed my actions and I immediately rolled over as Cleo poked her little head up between the pillows. I reached for her apologetically. "Sorry, sweetie." I cradled her in my lap for all of fifteen seconds before she began to paw angrily at my hand for me to let her go. I released her and she shot from the room, meowinggrumpily.
"I think you pissed her off," Bellamy said with achuckle.
I groaned and laid down. "She'll never want to sleep or cuddle with me again," Ilamented.
Putting his guitar in its stand against the wall before moving back to the bed, Bellamy stood over me for a brief moment before reaching down and clasping me around the waist. He lifted me easily before turning and sliding onto the mattress. He brought me over him until each of my legs slid alongside his and I was half-straddling, half-laying on top of him. I sighed against his chest and snuggledcloser.
"How was your mom?" heasked.
I released a frustrated breath and pressed my face into hischest.
"Thatbad?"
Squeezing my eyes together, I shoved the tears back, refusing to let them fall. But my eyes ignored my commands. They started to water anyway. I shook my head—I couldn’t talk about it. I didn’t want to be reminded. For just this moment—just for the short breaks from reality these guys gave me—I wanted to pretend like everything was okay. That Theodora didn’t exist. That my mom was happy andhealthy.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart." Bellamy's wide palm cupped the back of my head, gentle and warm. Reassuring. We laid like that, in the quiet comfort of his room until a sound outside the doorway brought both of our attention back to the present and out of our own individual internalthoughts.
"One cheese and ham for Bell," Texas said as he set a plate piled high with several sandwiches down on the nightstand. "One PB&J for lil' old me and one roast beef sandwich for the Spider-MonkeyPrincess."
I groaned, rolling off of Bellamy. "I thought I told you to pick one nickname," I said as I reached for mysandwich.
"I'm a rebel," Texas said with a shrug as he bit into his PB&J.
"I thought I asked for the PB&J," Bellamy said as he satup.
Texas grinned around a mouthful of food, swallowing before he answered. "You did," he replied, "but I changed my mind on what I wanted on the way uphere."
Bellamy's eyes narrowed on the sandwich in Texas' hands before he slumped back and reached out in defeat for the ham and cheese consolation prize. Halfway through our sandwiches, Bellamy turned to me. "Alex called today, wanted to know if you wanted to work tonight. He had a girl call out because she’s got the flu and no one could pick it up. He says he’s still got you on the payroll and if you wanted some hours, he could use someone to fill in until his regular girl is feelingbetter."
"What about Iris?" Iasked.
Bellamy shrugged. "We don't have any missions right now. You can stop when we get one, but it'll be good money for you until wedo."
I almost flinched—almost—at the reminder of the hundred thousand dollar check burning a hole in my purse. As soon as I could, I was going to get the guys together and we were going to figure out what to do with Grayson's mom. From what I had seen, that woman was a piece of work and not likely to back down any time soon. She worried me and now I truly understood Grayson’s hesitation the night before. One meeting with her had proved exactly why he was so concerned about her. She was going to be trouble, I just knew it, and I dreaded having to deal withher.