I winced as I drove toward Dad and Lola’s, remembering the pain I’d been in. Lola had been pregnant with Belle at the time, and I hadn’t thought twice about diving in front of the bullet for her. That day was full of sadness and chaos, but a smile worked its way on my lips as the memory of a bossy Aria came into view. That had been the first time I met her, and I’d never forgotten her lopsided pigtails and her overalls rolled up at the ankles because of how small she was.
Mom moved to France after that, and I’d only seen her a handful of times since. She married twice after Dad, each marriage lasting no more than two years, and if the invitation I received last week was anything to go by, she was getting hitched again to some multimillionaire French socialite. Mom never did anything by halves. Part of me wanted to blame my dad for the life she was leading now, but it wasn’t all on him.
My last three years of high school, Dad got a promotion and was home more. Things had changed. Change wasn’t always a bad thing, and in our case, it was exactly what we had needed. It meant I truly got to know my dad and build the father-and-son relationship I was always seeking growing up.
Several cars littered the driveway, which meant Dad’s team was here, otherwise known as the uncles I’d grown up with. They’d always been there to protect and guide me, but it hadn’t been them I’d wanted when I learned how to ride a bike. It was my dad I wished was there to cheer me on, not the men he saw as his family, but it was the way it was, and there was nothing I could do to change it now.
Switching the car off, I tried to shake all my thoughts. I didn’t want to go into a happy house with a cloud of the past hanging over me.
I could hear the laughter before I even opened up the front door, and as soon as I did, Asher came running toward me with a helmet on his head. I jumped out of the way just in time and pushed the front door shut with my foot.
“Hey, Asher?” He turned toward me, his little face screwed up. “Slow down there, bud.”
“Can’t.” He dipped down, preparing to tackle something else. “Gotta get the bad guys.” He took off in a whirlwind, and I followed after him into the kitchen.
“Hey,” I greeted Lola. She stood at the kitchen counter, prepping food. “I got your stuff.” I placed it all on the opposite counter and stepped back. “Dad and the guys outside?” I asked, trying to see through the sliding glass door that led out into the backyard.
“Yep.” Lola huffed out a breath and swiped her hand over her forehead. “Could you go tell Belle to come down and help set the table?”
“Sure.” I planted a kiss on Lola’s cheek and exited the kitchen. Lola was only a few years older than me, and although she was technically my stepmom, she was more like an older sister. She was now a constant in my life, along with my dad and two siblings.
I took the stairs two at a time and turned left at the top to go to Belle’s bedroom. “Belle?” I called, but I didn’t get a response, so I walked inside her room and stumbled back when she jumped out of nowhere. “Jesus!”
“Scared you!” Her giggle took over her whole body as she caved in on herself, and I couldn’t miss an opportunity like this, so I dived forward and tickled her.
“Stop! Stop!” she screamed and laughed.
“Only when you declare me the winner!” I said, and threw her over my shoulder, not stopping the ticklefest.
“Fine!” She squealed as I let her down to the ground. “You’re the winner.” Her face was bright red from all the laughing, and her hair was a wild mess sticking up in all different directions. She tried to move it out of her eyes as she crossed her bedroom.
“Your mom said you need to go and set the table.” I started to turn around, just as I caught sight of something out of the corner of my eye. What the hell…
“Put your hands up!” Belle shouted, widening her stance and holding me at ransom with a water gun.
I flung my hands in the air, surrendering to her. The girl was a terror. “Your mom will kill you if you use that in here.”
Belle’s eyes narrowed, and then she pressed the trigger, soaking me and the line of teddy bears beside me. She was relentless and didn’t stop until the water gun was empty. Water dripped over my face, down my chest, and in the time it took me to wipe my face, she’d raced past me.
“I’ll get you back for this!” I shouted after her as her feet stomped down the stairs.
Shaking my head, I walked into my bedroom and pulled my T-shirt over my head as I pushed the door open and then slammed it behind me. The kid was a menace, and I had no doubt she’d be a handful as a teenager. Good luck with that, Dad.
I threw the T-shirt into my hamper, murmuring under my breath ideas on how to get her back. She’s started a war, and now I had to put an end to it. My chest was still wet, so I spun to get a towel when something caught my eye. It wasn’t an eight-year-old girl holding me at ransom this time, though. It was a pair of jeans on the floor, alongside some sneakers, which were definitely not mine.
I tilted my head to the side as I stared at them, trying to work out what the hell was going on, when a throat cleared from behind me. My eyes widened as I spun around, and blinked several times, sure I was seeing things.
“Aria?”
She sat in my bed, her eyes puffy and hair even wilder than Belle’s. “Huh?” She rubbed her hands over her face, trying to wake herself up. Her gaze roved over me, starting at my sneakers, up and over my shorts, and finally my bare chest.
I wasn’t sure she even realized she was cataloging everything, but I couldn’t deny the way my body buzzed at her attention. She was in my bed, staring at me like I was her next meal, and I could do nothing but stand here perfectly still, too afraid to move even an inch in case it brought her out of her trance.
Her gaze finally settled on my face, and it brought her out of her daze. “Oh my god!” She flung the covers aside and jumped out of bed. “I’m sorry, Cade.” She was talking, saying something, but I wasn’t listening to a single word she was saying. All I could focus on was where her T-shirt stopped high on her thighs, concealing just enough to keep her modesty but making my body burn with the need to find out what it covered.
I shouldn’t have been thinking about her like that. I shouldn’t have been looking at her the way I was. But fuck…
She was standing in front of me half-naked, just like I was.