Deity (Boys of Winter 4)

The girls nod and I stand. “Alright then,” I say, pulling my mother back away from the wall and looking down at the girls. “Go and pack your bags. You’re going to stay with me.”

CHAPTER 29

My foot hits the bottom step and I turn into my kitchen to find Dominique and Danika Carver sitting at my breakfast bar, their older brother standing directly across from them as he pours them each a bowl of Lucky Charms. “Ummm …” I cut myself off, not really knowing what the hell I was going to say.

All three of them turn to face me and I can’t help but notice the way the girls’ eyes widen with excitement. “Dante said we could stay here,” Danika rushes out, bursting away from the breakfast bar and racing toward me. “Oh, please let us stay. It’ll only be for a little while until we can get our place fixed up.”

“I … ummmm.” I look up at Carver, my brows furrowed in confusion. “What?”

He smirks back at me, still going about his kitchen duties, popping a spoon in each of the bowls. “They kinda walked in on me with a gun to Ida’s head and convinced me that she should stand trial instead of being executed on the spot. Soooo …. we sorta have a few house guests. At least, if that’s okay with you. If it’s too much, I can take them back to my place. We don’t want to impose.”

I stare at him blankly. “It’s six in the morning,” I say. “I haven’t even had coffee.”

Carver laughs and steps around the breakfast bar, walking straight into my arms and all but barging his sister aside as Cruz comes striding into the kitchen, not even noticing the two new miniature guests. “I don’t want you to feel pressured into letting us stay. If you need some time to work it out, then that’s fine. It’s just … I’m all they’ve got now, but the thought of being away from you ...”

“It’s fine,” I murmur, stretching up on my tippy toes. “I was just surprised to see them in my kitchen. No one heard you come in last night so we figured that you stayed there. If I knew you were bringing them back here, I would have stayed up and made up some rooms for them.”

Carver pulls back and searches my eyes. “Are you sure?” he questions, his eyes filled with desperation.

I nod. “I’ve been the girl with nowhere to go. I know what it’s like to lose everyone and not have a home to go back to. I don’t want that for your sisters, but I also don’t want you to be doing it alone. Little girls are hard, and it’s going to be worse for you because there’s two of them, but we’ll figure it out.”

Carver pulls me in close, his arms wrapping tightly around me as Cruz sails right up to the breakfast bar to find one of the cereal bowls ready to go. He grunts to himself as though he’s just stumbled upon the best find of his life. A stupid grin pulls at his lips and he drops down at the breakfast bar and starts eating Dominique’s Lucky Charms.

“Hey,” she squeals, racing back to the breakfast bar and pummeling her fists against his thigh. “That’s mine.”

Cruz’s eyes bug out of his head as he glances down at Dominique, looking at her as though she just came out of nowhere. “Where the fuck did you come from?” he rushes out, his head whipping up to find Danika by my side. “Fuck, there’s two of you. Have you been here all morning?”

Danika grins wide and her eyes sparkle as though she’s got the biggest crush in the world. “Uh-huh. Elodie said we can stay here now.”

Cruz raises his brows and looks up at me in surprise before glancing across at Carver with a questioning stare. “I’m assuming that means things didn’t go so well last night?”

Carver grunts, shrugging his shoulders as he moves back to the breakfast bar to make another bowl of cereal for Dominique. “Things were going fine until these two stopped me,” he explains. “Ida admitted everything and I was ready to end it, but the girls didn’t want me to be like them. So, Ida’s down in the cells and will face trial instead.”

King appears from the other side of the room, his bare chest dripping with sweat and his shirt dangling out of his pants pocket. “You realize that means they could vote for an execution,” King mutters, clearly having heard the whole conversation as he stops by the fridge for a bottle of water. “Whether or not it was their decision, they will always feel guilty for that and that’s a lot of weight to put on their shoulders.”