Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 139088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 695(@200wpm)___ 556(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 695(@200wpm)___ 556(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
So happy for Jacob and Alexis.
And so proud to be one of their people.
TWENTY-EIGHT
WORTH EVERYTHING
I was a girl on the go.
It was me.
It was how I rolled.
There was a time to rest.
But if there was a time to do anything else, I was in that time.
That said, by the time Knox and I walked through the jungle in front of my parents’ house, I was dragging.
I could tell Knox was too.
Necessarily, due to him still healing (okay, this was somewhat due to me nagging, and three texts to him from Marjorie reminding him of this fact), he could not do all the hefting the other dudes could do in picking up and then returning all the stuff that was rented for the wedding. But he got stuck in how he could.
We had a ton of people to help, but it was still a ton of work.
It had also been a wedding. So, obviously, I’d danced myself dizzy and imbibed a drink (or many).
Therefore, I was glad my mom and dad were how my mom and dad were. They’d sense we were exhausted, feed us and set us on our way.
I shouted, “We’re here!” when we got inside.
Knox dropped Jacques into the melee of dogs that came to greet us and walked me in, holding my hand.
No delay in making our statement, then.
I smirked with satisfaction, but only inwardly.
The thing was, when we got to the living room, my parents weren’t around but Dream and Byron were cuddling on the couch.
We stopped and at least I stared at them (since I was staring at them, I didn’t know if Knox was…I asked later, he was).
“Your dad and I are in the kitchen! Be right out!” Mom shouted.
“Ohmigod, you’re coming out too,” I whispered.
“It isn’t to steal your thunder or anything,” Dream said warily.
I ignored her. “Have they seen you? Have you already come out?”
“Mom nearly started crying,” Dream said.
I smiled huge at her.
She examined me like she’d never seen me.
“I hate your mom disappeared in Mexico, bro,” Byron said to Knox. “But, don’t think I’m a dick, I’m glad to know that’s what happened and I’m not losing my touch.”
Bro?
“I get it. No problems, man,” Knox replied.
“You get a hug for your help in a minute,” I told Byron instead of giving him shit for calling Knox “bro.”
I did this before I skirted the coffee table (and the dogs that followed me and Knox in) and pulled Dream out of the couch.
I then dragged her to the foyer (and some of the dogs came with).
“Luna, what on earth?” she asked.
“Have you done it?” I whispered.
She rolled her eyes.
“Well?” I pushed.
“He hasn’t left my house since Wednesday.”
“Ohmigod,” I panted.
“So yes, we’ve done it. And he has strong fingers due to all that keyboard action.”
I scrunched my nose.
“He also has a very attractive penis,” she declared.
I made a gagging noise.
She studied me.
Then she gave me a quick, awkward hug.
“Oh, my beauties!” Mom, who’d snuck up on us, cried right before she horned in on our hug that had ended, but she made it begin again.
She bounced away, declaring, “I knew you two were sorting your differences. A mother’s intuition. I see it’s worked!” she said gleefully.
“It’s not that big of a deal, Mom,” Dream said, but even she, who could be dry to the point she was crackling about anything, sounded like she was lying.
“We’ll talk when Feather and Harmony are in a tiff,” Mom retorted.
She had her there.
Mom didn’t beleaguer it.
She said, “I knew I should have bought that fancy gluten-free, vegan cake from that bakery. I had a feeling. Now that feeling has come true because it seems we have a lot to celebrate!”
After delivering her exclamation, Mom walked back into the living room.
Dream and I exchanged a look before we followed her.
“You’re looking so much better, little lumpkin,” Mom said, patting Knox’s shoulder as she walked by him where he sat in an armchair. She stopped and gave him an overall perusal before declaring, “I’m so happy to see it. I’ve been worried.”
Knox’s eyes came to me.
I understood the look in them.
His mom worried in an unhealthy way that included recruiting his sister to try to get him to become part of her partner’s drug cartel and ambushing his woman to ascertain she had his back.
My mom patted his arm.
And called him “little lumpkin.”
I’d give him shit about “little lumpkin” later.
In the now, I went to him, sat on the arm of his chair and grabbed his hand.
“Uh, we have an announcement,” I said. “Knox and I, I mean.”
Mom was frozen, staring at us as we sat, holding hands.
Dad, his fingers around the necks of two beer bottles, entered the room, and he froze too.
“Knox and I got together some time ago,” I shared. “We broke up. When he got shot, we realized what was really going on and we got back together. As soon as Harlow can organize my closet, he’s moving in.”