Their coats were completely different, as were their pants, shoes, and the visible half of their faces. And Randall was black.
I pointed at him. “Samuel, right?”
Randall threw back his head and cackled before spinning to raise his friend’s beanie. “See? I told you it would work. Let’s go trick the others.”
Laughing, they sprinted for the closet, leaving me to marvel at them. Kids were the freaking greatest.
Havoc, Julia, and Landon were all close enough to hear the exchange, and there wasn’t a dry eye between the three.
Julia patted Havoc on the arm. “I know, big guy. I know.”
24
Landon
MOM COULD HAVE gone home after cleaning up breakfast, but she’d insisted on staying for the party. Now the party was over, and I was walking her home so she could start baking for tomorrow.
We’d barely made it off school property when she flashed me a knowing smile and said, “I bet Mercy’s glad you’re staying.”
Caught off guard, I asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t think I didn’t see the way you two have been looking at each other. You’ve spent a night at her house and another night in the hospital with her. Exactly what time yesterday do you think I was born?”
I shook my head. “Would you have a problem with it if we started dating?”
“Oh, Landon,” one hand flew to her heart as she beamed at me. “It would make my Christmas.”
I grinned at her. “I’m planning to talk to Mercy after work.”
Mom’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “I won’t wait up,” she said before kissing my cheek and heading into the house.
Back at the school, I helped take down the last of the party decorations and clean up the mess. Once the floors were mopped and the final bag of garbage stuffed into the dumpster, Mercy shooed us out and locked up. My brothers all hopped on their bikes, and Havoc gave me a nod before they took off.
“Where’s your motorcycle?” she asked, with a teasing lilt to her tone.
“In the shop.”
She gasped. “For real?”
“Yeah. Wasp found me a ten-year-old Harley Davidson Breakout for a decent price, but it needs a tune-up and a front fork rebuild.”
“That sounds made up.”
I barked out a laugh. “Said the same thing to Wasp. Now the prick’s insisting I help him rebuild it and ‘learn some respect for a real machine.’”
Snow drifted down as we walked, big wet flakes that wouldn’t stick, though they clung to Mercy’s eyelashes long enough to shimmer in the colored lights and damn near stop my heart.
Jesus. She was gorgeous.
Of course, Mom had caught me staring at her. I couldn’t look away. The sidewalk bottlenecked and pushed us closer, and when it widened again, neither of us bothered to move apart.
I needed to talk to her.
Or, according to Sage, I needed to grow a pair, quit being a little bitch, and finally tell her about my past.
The club shrink was an asshole, but he wasn’t wrong.
Mercy had opened up to me, and I needed to do the same. I wanted this woman on my arm as much as I wanted her in my bed, which meant she needed to know what she was getting into, and that she wasn’t the only one with issues.
