Smokescreen

“Gladly.” I strip quickly and follow her to the bed.

“Go away,” I groan at whoever’s knocking at the door.

“No! I need to see Stella,” Laci yells.

Stella snores lightly beside me with her legs tangled in mine. I reach for my phone and shoot a quick text to Laci on the other side of the door.

Me: Keep your voice down, Stella’s finally sleeping

Laci: That’s great, but we’re all here including her parents. She needs to wake up.

Me: I’ll be right out.

Laci: You have five minutes. Wake her up too. I know she’s tired, but we have questions.

Me: You’re a pain in the ass

Laci: Forever

I unlatch myself from Stella’s body and miss her warmth instantly. She stirs and her lazy eyes open to mine.

“Where are you going?”

“Babe, Laci’s here and so are Sam and Jenny. We need to get up.”

“Ummm.” She closes her eyes and rolls over. I notice the bite on her neck and it makes me grin, remembering how she got it.

Her body jolts and she lifts up with the sheets covering her. “Did you say my parents are here? Already?”

“Apparently.”

“Shoot, shoot, shoot. I need a shower. Can you keep them company?” She jumps up and runs to the bathroom looking at me.

“Yeah, babe, but when you get dressed, may need to cover my love bite. I may have gotten carried away.”

Her eyes turn soft and she gives me a sweet smile before closing the door.

When I get to the living room, it’s standing space only. Not only are Stella’s parents and Amy here, but so are my brothers. There’s a ton of chatter, but when I walk in, it stops. Shame washes over me when Sam’s eyes meet mine. His disappointment is clear. Jenny is a bit softer, her expression is more troubled.

Laci surprises me by walking up and hugging me hard. “You okay?” she asks.

“No, last night the woman I love fell apart in my arms. She cried so hard, I can still feel her shaking. One of the men I grew up admiring has turned into a greedy, pompous, conniving bastard and his coward ass went after my girlfriend. I’m pissed.”

“Good. I like pissed. What’s the plan?”

I tell them as much as I can without compromising Jake’s role. Stella joins us and comes directly to my side, slipping her hand into mine. Eyes dart between the two of us and my heart beats faster. With this one gesture, she’s made a huge statement. We’re in this together. She’s doesn’t blame me. She’s showing everyone who loves us that we’re a team. This means as much to my family as it does hers.

“Max is cooking tonight, we’re drinking, playing games, watching football—whatever normal families do on Saturday night. Tomorrow we’ll talk more, but tonight I want to forget. Can you all do that for me, for us?”

“Hell yes!” Mason booms and goes straight to the bar. “Let’s start the normal part of the evening while my brother tells Matt and me why we didn’t know about this place.”

“My fault! I wanted it to be a surprise. There’s still a lot to do, but I wanted us to have a vacation home.” mom tells him.

“Cool, this is an awesome place. Anyone want to show me around?”

“I’ll do it! I want to show everyone. Follow me.” Stella kisses me quickly on the cheek and leads the crew downstairs to start in the basement. “Max, will you get my parents things and set them up in the blue room? And put Amy and Laci’s stuff in the back room?”

I move quickly, doing exactly as she says. Chris and Jake shake their heads, but help. When I get back to the kitchen, I notice someone has stocked it fully with enough food to feed our group for several days.