Chapter Nineteen

Luc

“T hanks Kat,” I reply drily, “it’s not like that is an embarrassing memory for me.”

“Oh hush, you big baby, you grew,” Kat replies.

I can’t help but laugh again at her no-nonsense reply.

“Mom, you wanted to be put on speaker, and I’m assuming that it wasn’t because you wanted to wind up Luc,” Trick says, with a smirk, trying not to laugh but also trying to get the moms back on track or this conversation is going to last through the rest of the school day and most likely through dinner too.

The moms can really talk when they want to.

“Oh, yes.” Jenny says, “We were thinking of having everyone up to the house after school as a little welcome home get together, and then we will throw a proper one in a couple of weeks maybe.”

Jenny starts to explain, all of us share a worried look. Ever is jumpy, that is clear from how easily she went into flight mode in the hallway, I don’t think that she is going to appreciate the parents throwing her a small get together tonight, and certainly not a full-blown party in a few weeks time. I know that they mean well, and that they are both just excited that she is coming home but Trick needs to come up with a way to put a stop to it.

“We were wondering if you boys could pick up some stuff from the store for us?” Kat asks before plowing on without waiting for an answer, “We need party food, balloons, and banners. We are going to start cooking what we have in a moment, but we need a few more bits, and we aren’t going to have enough time to go to the store ourselves.”

“Momma,” Cash starts the Italian use of her name, instantly getting her attention. “I know that you both mean well, and it’s an awesome idea, but I’m not sure that Ever is going to appreciate it as you think she will.”

“What do you mean?” Kat asks.

This is what I love about them both, they are genuinely asking, they aren’t mad or defensive, they have listened to Cash and want to know more.

Trick takes over, “Well, think of everything that she has gone through in the last few days, even today, she has started at a new school and that’s got to be really overwhelming.”

“Maybe just hold off on doing it today and wait until she’s settled in a bit more if it seems like something that she would like,” Cash adds, trying to be diplomatic.

“Yeah, I mean, she seemed like she was a bit shyer than she used to be; I don’t think she would like everyone’s attention on her,” I add, although I have a slight smile on my face, as I think about the way that she has been dealing with Serena.

That is not shy, but there is no other way that we can explain why we think a party might not be a good idea.

“Shoot,” Jenny says, “you’re right. I don’t know what we were thinking.”

“We got too excited and forgot all about what the poor girl has been through,” Kat replies.

“You meant well, Mom,” Trick replies softly, relief on his face.

“Thank you for reeling us in, boys,” Kat says, sounding proud, “you saved Rob and Marc a job later when they would have walked in, and no doubt realized the same thing that you did.”

“No problem,” Trick chuckles.

“Well, I guess I will see you when you get home,” Jenny says.

“And I will make sure that I’m not here,” Kat says, which surprises me, “I don’t want to overwhelm her in any way.”

I’m about to point out that her being there is probably not going to be an issue. It’s more the party with everyone there that might be too much, but they have already moved on with the conversation, and maybe it is for the best in the long run. They say their goodbyes and hang up.

“Well, I think that was probably a bullet dodged,” Rafe signs.

“For the moment, yeah,” Trick replies, “I mean, we might have it completely wrong, and she may love a welcome home party, and then the moms can throw one in a couple of weeks.”

“Yeah, true.” I agree and then add, “I don’t think we have it wrong; she didn’t like all the attention on her when she was a kid.”

“Good point.” Trick replies with a fond smile.

“I was thinking,” Rafe starts.

I look at him, “When we have been on the phone?”

“Well, it’s not like I speak,” Rafe signs, somehow managing to convey his sarcasm by facial expression alone, which is fucking impressive and makes me smile.

“Sorry,” I concede, “what were you thinking?”

He smirks, but then his face becomes serious again, “I think we should send a message to Luke and explain the situation as succinctly as possible and tell him that we don’t want to do any more jobs. Think about it: do any of you want to leave Ever now that she is home?”

“Fuck no,” Cash practically shouts, the panic evident in his tone and expression.

I have to say that I agree with him, I can feel that same panic start to overtake me, like if we left her, she would disappear again and this time we would have no hope of finding her again.

“I definitely don’t want to do any jobs,” I reply.

“I’m not leaving her; what if Tomlinson decides to start shit back up again?” Cash explains a bit more, as if his initial outburst wasn’t answer enough and shaking his head for good measure.

“Same, I’m not doing it,” Trick adds fiercely.

“No way,” I add simply, aware that my expression is most likely swimming with emotion.

Rafe smiles and starts signing, “We have only been using Luke the last few months anyway, and not the others. Message him and explain. Then send a message to anyone else that we have used in the past and say that we are out and that we won’t be doing any more jobs for the foreseeable future.”

“On it,” Cash replies, pulling out his phone and sending two very different messages. We don’t have to wait long until we have a reply. “Everyone said some version of okay. Luke said that he was really happy for us and that he completely understands, no more jobs will be sent our way.”

“Awesome,” I reply, feeling relieved after that momentary panic that seemed to engulf the group as a whole.

If Riot and Jensen were here, I know that they would have had a reaction to the suggestion of us carrying on doing jobs as strongly as we did. The idea was horrible to me, and I wasn’t a fan at all.

Thankfully, I wasn’t alone in my reaction, so I didn’t feel like I was going crazy, or at least if I am, I’m in good company.

“Can we go and see Ever yet?” Rafe asks, hopefully.

Cash checks the time on his phone, “Yeah, we can go now, it’s about the right time for gym to start.”

“Let’s go and see Ever,” Trick says as he gets up from the table, and we all follow him.

Let’s face it we were hardly going to stay behind, not when the other option is to go and see Ever.

I don’t think that any of us are ever going to want to go anywhere without Ever again. After our reactions to us going on jobs, which is something that we have loved doing over the last couple of years, I think that we may have some unresolved issues around Ever leaving.

I still can’t believe that this is happening.

I’m really sleep deprived from the job and I’m running on adrenaline at this point, I am worried that I might be dreaming. I shake that thought from my mind as I follow the guys to Ever’s gym class.

I have never been so excited to go to a gym class in my life.