“That needs to stop. Tell me up front, stop hiding things because I might not go along with your plans,” Kellus said. Right as Arik stopped, turning fully toward him, a woman’s voice came out of nowhere, sounding very much like a bullhorn.
“Arik! Is that you sneaking around out there?” Kellus turned to see Arik’s mother sticking her head out of the back door.
“Damn. We’re caught!” he whispered to Kellus before turning toward the kitchen. “Yes, Mom, it’s me.”
“Did you bring Kellus?” she asked in an assessing, clipped tone.
“See? She shouldn’t even know that,” he hissed, then groaned. “Yes, Mom, he’s here with me.”
“Don’t try slinking away. We want to get to know him. Get in here now, son.” The door closed with a loud click.
Arik looked over at Kellus. “I’m sorry.” The horror written all over his face made this even more nerve-racking.
“Why?”
Arik wasn’t helping Kellus’s anxiety as he gave an audible, heavy sigh and started for the house, now tugging Kellus along with him by the tightened grip he had on his hand. “You don’t have to answer anything you don’t want to. And when they start from my birth and tell you story after story of my life up until last year, give me a signal and I’ll get you out of there.”
Well, that didn’t sound so bad. Actually, he liked the idea of knowing that information, no matter how intimidating they all seemed. After a second more, Kellus smiled, knowing his family would have done the same things to him. “They love you.”
“They do, but this is different,” he said at the back door with the doorknob in hand.
“How’s it different?” Kellus asked. Arik stayed silent, staring back at him until the worry on his face turned into a sheepish grin.
“What’s funny is that they get it, yet you don’t,” Arik said and started to open the door. Kellus reached out a hand to hold the door closed.
“Get what?” he asked, wanting to understand before he walked inside.
“Man, you make me insecure in my game,” Arik said, grinning at him as he lowered his voice. “I’m into you. Really into you, and this is the first time I’ve brought anyone home before. They’re very interested in making room for you in our family.”
Arik had never brought anyone home before? Ever? Could that even be possible?
“How old are you?”
Arik barked out a laugh, ignoring his question altogether as he opened the door and tried to usher Kellus in before him. When he stayed rooted to his spot, absolutely refusing to budge a single step, Arik was forced to enter first. Kellus followed him into the large, spacious kitchen. Just like Arik said, they were all in there—aunt, uncle, mom, dad, Gage and Trent, along with four people he’d never met before. Several younger kids, probably the grandchildren, were crowding the area. They were all girls who wore cheerleading uniforms with everyone gushing over how sweet they looked.
“Uncle A! Look what we got!” One of the girls came running straight up to Arik, stopping about a foot from him, giving him more than enough room to admire her uniform. Kellus couldn’t help his grin when another one did the same, standing right beside the first girl. Her big green eyes were bright with excitement. She had to be Trent’s daughter. They looked just alike.
“Kellus, this is Sidney, and that’s Emalynn.” Both girls’ heads shifted, all that excitement now focused on him.
“They call me Em,” she said, both her thumbs hooking over her shoulders, pointing to all the family behind her. Kellus nodded at the sweet face as she explained her name. “I like it because it’s like Uncle A’s. You know, like M and A.”
Oh man, she was cute.
“What team are you cheering for?” Kellus asked.
“We cheer at a gym. It’s not like football team cheering,” Em explained.
“We aren’t on a big team yet. We have to take tumbling,” Sidney supplied.
“But we will, right, Dad?” Em asked, nodding while looking back at Gage for confirmation.
“If you want to throw your head backward and leap blindly into the air, who am I to stop you?” Gage said, grinning at his daughter.
“Dad and the man at the gym work on TV together,” Em said as if they were supposed to automatically know who or what that meant. “Or something like that,” she added after a second, turning her head back to Gage and lifting her hands in the air. “Right, Dad?”
Arik lifted a brow to Gage, waiting for an answer, then mimicked Em. “Right, Dad?”
“Colt Michaels’s husband owns the gym,” Gage explained dryly.
“Ahh, yes. I did hear something about this,” Arik said, tapping each of the girls on the head, before looking then winking at the other two girls still across the room who seemed a little shier. Em and Sidney were clearly the bold ones.