Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31

Gage

The flight from California to Baton Rouge, while long, hadn’t been terrible.

Xavier and I had opted for the ‘comfort’ seats toward the front of the aircraft instead of suffering with the rest of economy being crammed in the back with little to no leg room and some kid kicking at the back of our seats for the entire damn flight.

Dexter had lucked out and had gotten to have his row, which had been right across from ours, all to himself and used it to his full advantage.

Luckily, I’d gotten a few hours of shuteye while we’d been in the air, only having been shaken awake when the meal service rolled through and Xavier encouraging me to eat something before we landed.

Since getting back from his little impromptu shopping trip, he’d been acting... off. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but there was something there that I was picking up on that was definitely fishy.

It was bothering the fuck out of me, but anytime I pointed it out, he’d waved me off and distracted me with some kind of kiss or brush of his hand over my body that had those weird feelings melting away instantly.

I supposed it made more sense for him to be acting this way with the looming issue of him meeting my coworkers in less than a few hours.

No matter how many stories I told about them or tried to prepare him for the absolutely ridiculousness that he was about to be walking into, the full picture wouldn’t reveal itself until after he got there and saw for himself exactly what I had to deal with day in and day out.

Look, I could only do so much.

At least we had a few hours to ourselves to chill at my place before that.

De-boarding and heading back through security was a breeze. I’d called my brothers ahead of time to meet us at the terminal since I’d left my car with them and like fuck I was going to pay for a rideshare that would charge me an arm, a leg, and my left kidney just to be picked up from the airport.

Cramming us all into my little sedan wasn’t going to be fun, but it beat paying an entire goddamn paycheck to get home.

“You sleep okay?” Xavier ran a hand through the back of my hair as we stepped onto the escalator heading down to the front lobby.

“Yeah. Wasn’t too bad. Did you sleep at all?”

“Wasn’t tired.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. Wasn’t tired, my ass, tell that to the bags under his eyes.

What was going on with him today?

I’d blame it on the jet lag but this had been going on since this morning. There was no way I was reading into things when the red flags were waving themselves right in front of my face.

Just as I was about to point out the hypocrisy in his statement, I caught Dexter on the step above us squinting at something.

“Oh,” Dexter said, folding his arms over his chest. “So, it’s definitely a Torres thing, then.”

My brow popped up at that. “What is?”

By the time I turned around to find whatever he was staring at over my shoulder, there were already people huffing out laughs ahead of us. I scanned the lobby, spotting two familiar teenagers who were holding a comically large sign over their heads.

Their expressions were stone cold while they stared down anyone passing by them and snagging a photo.

The sign read: ‘ Welcome Home From Prison. Remember to stay away from the goats!’ in big bold-as-fuck letters.

Oh my god.

I’m going to kill them.

“Quite the welcome,” Xavier noted, an amused look on his face.

I stomped down the last two steps as the escalator folded together and stormed over to them, aware of more people walking by and laughing. When they caught sight of me, they quickly turned themselves toward me, the giant sign bending slightly at the top before straightening out once more.

“You two are so ridiculous,” I said, quickly grabbing at one of the sides to rip it from them.

Asher cracked first. “Welcome home, big bro. Did you miss us?”

“Hey, Xavier. Dexter,” Greyson greeted my travel companions.

“Ugh.” I worked quickly to roll the sign into a tight cylinder, and then used it to smack both of them. “I’m returning all of your Christmas gifts.”

They both gasped in unison.

“You can’t do that,” Asher argued.

“Yeah, we’re already using them all,” Greyson said.

“Get,” I said, pointing to the sliding doors with the sign.

Sharing a look with each other that wasn’t at all remorseful, they quickly jogged for the doors, waving Dexter to follow along with them. Shaking my head, I grabbed Xavier’s hand when he brushed it against mine and laced our fingers together.

“They’re going to be the death of me, I swear.”

He chuckled and pressed a kiss against my forehead. “They’ll be keeping you on your toes until you’re ninety.”

I smacked him next with the sign. “Don’t curse me like that.”

“Too late.”

Despite the weird attitude shift in him today, I was so damn happy he was going to be coming with me to the holiday party. The second Ellie had heard about me rushing to California after his accident, she’d immediately rallied everyone into sending me their well wishes, along with postponing the party indefinitely.

Honestly, getting those texts and calls from my work family had me choked up for hours afterward. Knowing that they cared for me was an everyday thing, but seeing it all in textual proof had been even better.

It reminded me that no matter what I was going through, I could always count on them.

One day, I really hoped that if Xavier moved out here to be with me, he’d find his own place at the station just like I had. We were our own brand of wild, ridiculous, and a little fucked up. Perfect for a newcomer like Xavier to join our ranks.

“Ready for the swamp?” I joked as soon as we reached the doors.

“As long as you’re suffering with me,” Xavier said, tugging me out into the afternoon sun of Baton Rouge.