“Uneventful,” I told her with a shrug.
“I doubt you would have noticed the back end of the plane exploding, you were so lost in your own wonderland,” Mia said with a laugh. “It was so bumpy, I threw up for like an hour because of the weather over the Midwest.”
Mom’s eyes sparkled as we took our seats in the vehicle. “Hmm. I wonder why. It couldn’t be because of a certain retired Marine, now could it?”
I felt my cheeks heat, but I wasn’t about to lie to her. “Maybe.”
“So…” Mom crossed her legs and turned slightly to face me. “What’s the verdict on that avenue currently? The boy smarten up yet?”
“Mom,” I huffed. “Really, it’s none of your business.”
“Bullshit. I just want to know if you two are going to become a thing. And if so, are you still going to go to grad school here or back in Virginia?”
I sighed as I pulled on my seat belt, and Mia took her place beside me. When I glanced at her, I noticed she looked a little green, making me wonder just how upset her stomach really was from the flight. Sweat beaded on her upper lip, and she wiped her hand across it, giving me a grimace before snapping her own belt in place. I knew she didn’t always travel well when it came to flying, but I thought I’d heard her in her bathroom earlier that morning being sick…
My eyes widened when she winked at me, but I kept my mouth shut. Maybe she had a reason other than my birthday celebration with the family to want to come home to see her parents.
“Nev.” Mom pulled my focus back to her. “Are you going to come home or not?”
“As of right now, I’m coming home for grad school,” I informed her, storing away the possibility of Mia being pregnant for when we were alone.
My answer didn’t seem to assuage Mom’s curiosity. Instead, we were subjected to question after question about what was happening back in Virginia on the way to Mia’s house. The driver dropped her and Marcus off without us going inside, and then we made our way home.
Dad was in Downtown LA with the rest of the Demons working on some new music for a movie soundtrack they’d been asked to contribute to. Normally all my siblings went wherever either of my parents went. A nanny was never something I’d experienced growing up because Mom and Dad wanted to be fully hands-on with all of us. So it was unusual for Mom to show up at the airport alone, but she’d been asking Mia and me so many questions, I hadn’t had the chance to ask her where my brother and sisters were.
I finally got the opportunity a few miles from home. “Where is everyone?”
“They all had friends to visit. They’ll be home later tonight, though.” She said it so casually, but I was sure I’d seen something in her eyes. I couldn’t read it, and for some reason, that set off alarm bells inside me.
“I’m making all your favorites for dinner tonight,” she informed me, hurriedly changing the subject as the driver pulled into the driveway.
Mom normally drove a minivan and Dad had his SUV, but when she had to go to the airport or anywhere in LA by herself, she called for a driver—something she didn’t like to do often.
She liked a simple life, one in which she took care of every aspect of her own life. It didn’t matter that she and Dad had millions in the bank, or that she was PopPop’s only heir and would one day inherit all his money and everything else tied to Cole Steel’s name, including his share of the Steel Entrapment brand that still brought in a decent profit every year.
As expected, my room was exactly as I’d left it during my last visit, which had been for a few short weeks over the summer. The bed was perfectly made, with all my favorite stuffed animals against the pillows. My favorite Demon’s Wings poster, which had my mom and all the other Demon wives on it instead of Dad and my uncles, was hanging up on the wall over my desk, reminding me what a badass woman looked and acted like.
My desk had a stack of books on the edge along with my desktop computer. There wasn’t a single speck of dust in the entire room, telling me that Mom had come in at least once a week to clean. It also told me that Arella and my other siblings had thankfully stayed out.
Which was a good thing, so I didn’t have to kill any of them, especially Arella.
After washing up and changing my clothes, I walked downstairs to the smell of Mom already cooking. The scent of garlic bread and rich tomato sauce filled the air, and I followed my nose to the kitchen, where she was standing over the stove, making a huge pot of spaghetti.
As I entered the room, Mom didn’t immediately notice my presence, and I saw just how tense her shoulders were. Her head was bent, as if the weight of the world were pressing down on her and she couldn’t find the strength to hold it up any longer.
I’d never seen my mom like that before. She was a strong woman, my first and true mentor, and I couldn’t comprehend what could be so wrong that she couldn’t hold her head up.
“Mom?” I asked and watched her jump.
Turning to face me, she laughed and pressed a hand to her chest. “You scared the hell out of me, Nev. Damn, I guess I’ve gotten so used to you not being home that I forgot for a second. Sorry, sweetheart. Do you need something?”
“For you tell me what’s wrong,” I told her, not buying for a second that she’d forgotten I was in the house.
Her smile died, and she turned back to dinner. “Nothing’s wrong, silly.”
“Mom.”
“Okay, maybe I’m feeling my age because tomorrow I will actually have an eighteen-year-old child.” She laughed again, but I could easily hear the strain in it.
“Seriously, Mom. Since when do you worry about your age?” I knew she was lying, but for the moment, I would let her pretend. If she didn’t want to tell me, then maybe Daddy would let me know what was wrong with her.
“It’s a new development.” Mom played it off with a wave of her hand. “I’ve realized that with one child out in the world finding herself, the others will soon follow. And then all too soon, it will just be me and your father in this huge house with no babies to care for.”
There was real sadness in her voice now, and it made my heart clench for her. “Relax, Mom. I’m sure by the time Damien is out of the house, at least one of us will have given you grandkids to spoil.”
She shot me a wicked grin over her shoulder. “Maybe sooner than expected if you and Braxton figure yourselves out.”
“Mom…” I whined even as the thought produced the most unusual feeling of rightness I’d ever experienced. “Please do not say shit like that in front of Daddy.”
Laughing, she bent and pulled a pan of crusty garlic bread out of the oven. “Go set the table. It’s us and Dad for dinner, and he just called to say he was on his way. Should be here in less than twenty minutes.”
Doing as I was told, I grabbed the plates and silverware and set the kitchen table since it was just the three of us. There was a huge table that could potentially seat fifty in the gigantic dining room that we only ever used when we had family dinners with our extended family. But that didn’t happen often, so the dining room table was more often than not an arts and crafts table that Mom and Arella constantly had covered.
By the time Mom had placed a bowl of salad on the table, I heard the front door open.