The Ruckus

“I do, too,” my mom and I said at the same time.

Mom smiled at me and looked back at Axel. “I wish everyone on both sides felt the way we do. Unfortunately, there are a handful of people who’ll be happy to keep on hating each other until the end of time.”

Axel frowned. “I think you might be right about that. My mom... Well, I’m gonna talk to her. But it’s still a pretty touchy subject with her.”

I had an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. As surprised and happy as I was that my mom seemed to be willing to let bygones be bygones with the Stevensons, I couldn’t help but wonder if she would have felt the same way had she known for sure what the three of us had been up to last night.

And even though I didn’t doubt that Axel would talk to his mother about the feud, the fact that she still didn’t like my family meant there was another hurdle.

“Well,” Mom pushed her chair back and stood up from the table. “The important thing is that your generation is going to start doing things right. Us old folks might be too far gone to save, but it’ll make my heart happy if you and Jasmine can end the feud once and for all.”

“I think we can,” Axel said.

“I do, too,” I added, hoping I sounded more confident than I felt.

Micah grinned. “As long as nobody starts hating on me, we’ll be all good.”

I laughed. He’d been so busy eating that he hadn’t said much at all through the entire meal. But I was glad he was still there to lighten the mood a little.

“Well.” Mom smiled as we all started clearing our empty dishes from the table. “I’d normally love the extra help with the dishes, but you all probably need to rest a little more before I start putting you to work.”

“Are you sure, Mom?” I felt a pang of guilt for sticking her with cleanup duty, but she was right—I was exhausted. And honestly? I was looking forward to going back to my room and snuggling up between my two guys for a little longer.

Especially since I didn’t have any idea when the three of us might get another opportunity to sleep in the same bed together.

“Go,” Mom waved me away. “It’s late, and I’m not going to have you doing housework while you’re still on the mend.” She looked from me to my guys. “That goes for all three of you.”

As if they were going to challenge her. I almost laughed again, but thought better of it and gave my mom a quick hug before leading the guys back to my bedroom.

I was more than a little surprised when my mom didn’t say anything about the three of us staying in my room together, but I certainly wasn’t going to be the one to draw attention to the situation.

“I think that went pretty well,” Axel said once we were all alone again. “It seems like your mom cares about you a lot—like she wants you to be happy.”

I nodded and sat down on the edge of my bed. “We’ve had our ups and downs...” I thought back to all the difficult times I’d had with my family and how I’d been so eager to leave for L.A. the last time I visited. “This is probably the best we’ve gotten along in a few years. I just hope it lasts.”

Micah and Axel sat on either side of me, both men pressing kisses against my neck and cheeks. “Let’s hope it all lasts,” Micah murmured.

It was a nice thought, no matter how unlikely it might have been.

“Yeah,” I sighed, content to lie back as they both made me feel so relaxed and happy and safe. “Let’s hope.”

Chapter Sixteen

Jasmine Bailey

My first thought when I opened my eyes was that I’d been having a bad dream. It was dark in the bedroom, and I had no idea of the time, but I must have been out cold for at least a few hours.

Lying in between Axel and Micah, I still would have been happily sleeping if it hadn’t been for that dream. I could have sworn I’d heard voices yelling.

I hadn’t been able to make out most of the words, but the voices had been familiar.

Too familiar.

I’d recognized one of the voices as my uncle’s, but the other one really scared me enough to wake me up out of a dead sleep.

My heart beat faster just remembering the way Randy had sounded in my dream. Angry and frustrated and crazy, just like he’d sounded when he was chasing me through the woods.

There were only three words I remembered clearly, but I wasn’t sure anymore if they were from my dream or from the even scarier reality that I’d somehow managed to live through.