“Put them in my closet,” I stated with an indulgent smile. I pulled out some extra hangers.
“I choose these,” Remy said gruffly as he handed me some clothing. I was surprised that he involved himself in adding to my wardrobe. Other than giving me his clothes to wear, he never seemed to suggest anything.
I smiled to myself and added the clothing to my drawer. He had only one questionable dress in his choices, but I still added it to my closet.
I started grabbing clothing I thought the other girls could pull off better than me.
Jace grabbed me by the waist at one point and dragged me down to the couch. “I don’t think you have much of a say in your wardrobe anymore,” he teased. I looked up, and sure enough, the guys were all going through my clothing and separating them as well. My shoes were kept in boxes and being placed in my closet.
“True,” I murmured with a smile as I leaned back into him.
“We need to get you a shoe rack,” Drake stated as he turned from my closet.
My new closet wasn’t a walk in, but it was definitely spacious. Since I had a limited wardrobe, it had only been about a quarter full; now it was quickly filling up.
A knock sounded on the apartment door, and Jaxson hopped up from the edge of my bed where he had been putting hangers in my clothing. “I’ll get it.”
He rushed out and came back moments later with Pops. Pops’ eyes widened as he looked at my room. It looked like we’d ransacked a department store.
“Well, I see you got some shopping done,” he said in amusement. “Are you sure Jemmy didn’t go with you guys?”
I laughed. “Believe it or not, the majority of this came from one of the clients.”
“The one you took a bullet for?” he asked with a smirk as he looked me over. I could see him looking at Drake, Noah, and Jaxson with the same scrutiny.
“The one and the same,” I said wryly.
“How’s everyone feeling?” Will asked, leaning against the doorjamb.
I looked at the guys. “Today’s a good day.” None of us had complained about anything so far.
“Lincoln Hudgens?” Pops asked in near bemusement.
I nodded. “He has our mark.” I knew where the conversation was going, and I shrugged. “He has my number, and I said my piece, so the proverbial ball is in his court.”
Will nodded. “I’m sure you did your best. He’ll come around.”
“Hopefully sooner than later.” I hesitantly looked over at the guys. I really was stuck between a rock and a hard place. I didn’t want Lincoln Hudgens in my life, and I definitely didn’t want to make a connection with him, but I also didn’t want us to lose our gifts and continue this downward spiral that was messing with our health.
“Well, I just came to check on you guys. The children will be out of school soon, so I’m sure they’ll be by shortly. Megan wants to know if you want to have dinner at our place tonight?” Will asked.
“That’ll be great,” Jace answered without even conferring with us.
Given a choice between the DFAC (even with all the innovative changes Drake had made to it) and a quieter family setting, we would be choosing dinner over there. After the week we had, I’m sure Megan realized our need to avoid the usual grind for a little while.
We had just got back from the West Coast, so we had to adjust to the time change, and even though the jet was luxurious, we all were still in a state of high-strung anticipation and anxiety.
Jace invited Will to stay for some coffee and pastries that we had gotten at a local bakery in California. I could tell Will was reluctant to leave. He tried to hide his worry as he looked at us, but he wasn’t doing very good job of it.
“Jaxson!” We heard Alex yell from the other side of the door before he threw open the apartment door.
“Blake!” Ella called immediately after him.
They both came running into the living room wearing their school uniforms and backpacks. Ella came skidding to a halt. “Where’s the man?”
“He didn’t come back with us,” I said ruefully.
Ella blanched. “He was supposed to come back with you. He’s in trouble,” she blurted out as she dropped her backpack on the ground.