Maelstrom (Inferno 5)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Dalton

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I pull the house key out of my pocket with shaky, sweaty hands. I don’t know what I’m expecting to see, and I think that’s what scares me the most.

Will Luna still be here?

Is Mom in bed where I left her?

Will things ever be normal again?

Taking a deep breath, I slip the key into the lock, turn it, then push the door in with Kalen trailing closely behind.

We both stop short as soon as we clear the threshold.

The house is fucking immaculate.

It smells fresher and cleaner than it has in years; the floors have been swept and mopped, and it even looks like the vacuum cleaner has been run in the living room.

All of the things that we do on Sundays have been taken care of while we were in school.

My stomach growls quietly, and I place a hand on my belly as I raise an eyebrow at my brother. I can see him damn near salivating, so I know he smells it too.

We both drop our backpacks by the door and walk silently toward the kitchen, where we find Luna busily making dinner.

She shimmies slightly and hums along to the song on a radio I didn’t even know we had.

I watch the way her body moves, and swallow the lump in my throat before finally clearing it and awkwardly announcing our presence.

She glances over her shoulder at us and lets out a giggle, before she reaches over and turns the volume down a few decibels.

“Did you guys have a good day at school?” she questions cheerfully.

I exchange a glance with my brother.

Is this what having a mother would be like?

“It wasn’t bad. Kind of long, though,” I reply with a shrug.

Kalen grunts next to me and I nudge him with my elbow, but she smiles kindly and shakes her head.

“I felt that way a time or two before myself,” she assures him with a nod. “But I’m glad you both had a not bad day.”

“How about you?” I ask a little too quickly. “How did it go?”

“Fine,” she replies with a shrug as she goes back to the pot on the stove. “Since there was no time to get an introduction to your momma this morning, I kept busy straightening up the house. I even went out and grabbed a few things for dinner.”

My face turns red at the mention of not meeting Mom. I know she didn’t mean it in a bad way, but I still feel like shit for not trying a little harder before we left.

“Don’t worry about it,” she assures me as she walks over to us and ruffles my hair. “Family can be hard sometimes, but it’s all we’ve got, you know? She’ll come around.”

I shrug uncomfortably as I steal a glance at Kalen, who’s watching Luna with suspicion.

“I’m gonna go upstairs and check on her,” he suddenly announces, much to my shock. But I have to hide it—the absolute confusion over him volunteering to go see Mom, because this isn’t something he’s done too often before.

“Okay, I’ll get supper started while you boys wash up and relax,” Luna offers with a nod.