Page 6 of Her Devils

The thought is ironic now, because thanks to Mom and Ken’s surprise, Peyton is now officially part of our family.

I sit at the dinner table in a daze, situated between Darrius and Peyton, and look at Mom who’s practically sitting on her new husband’s lap as they hold hands and stare into each other’s eyes for most of the meal.

The only thing that keeps me relatively sane is Peyton’s occasional touch under the table, when he squeezes my knee every time someone asks me a question and I barely notice.

My stepbrother.

I lost my virginity to my stepbrother.

It sounds crazy, even to my own ears, and if this were a book or a movie, I’d laugh, thinking that the writer overdid it when they threw a shocking twist in the story because shit like this doesn’t happen in real life. Right?

After the cake and a toast, Ken surprises Mom with a night in the Imperial Suite at Star Cove Grand Hotel.

That shakes me out of my stupor, because Ken wants to start his wedding night immediately, but Mom objects that she can’t leave when the chef is still here.

“Don’t worry, Mom. I can take care of the chef,” I offer without thinking twice, because I might be shocked by tonight’s turn of events, but I haven’t seen Mom this happy since the last timePapàwas with us.

Uncle Kyle, supportive as usual, offers to help me out and to have me stay at his place if I don’t want to be alone.

I’m about to object, because I want to see Peyton tonight like we agreed earlier, and under the light of our parents’ news, we definitely have some stuff to discuss.

I’m surprised when Darrius insists on helping me here and seems excited to have me stay at his house. Our latest exchange a few hours ago was anything but friendly, so I wonder if he’s trying to be the friend he’s been my entire life—at least until recently—or if he’s being nice to me just to stick it to Peyton.

Yeah, this is definitely surreal.

“Thank you, baby girl. You’re a sweetheart. Come with me upstairs for a second so we can say goodbye,” Mom requests as she leaves the dinner table to go pack for her wedding night. “Lenley, baby girl,” she says, turning to look at me after closing her bedroom door behind her. “Are you sure you aren’t mad? I can’t even imagine how crazy this all must look to you. I—”

I can’t argue with her choice of words. “It is a little bit crazy, Mom, but—”

She covers her mouth with her hands, her eyes shining with barely contained tears. “Oh my goodness, I knew it! When Ken proposed a couple of days ago, we were going to sit you and Peyton down and tell you the news, but things have been busy with the first competition just around the corner, and we haven’t even had time to talk about setting a date. Then earlier today, he called me and said what if we elope and get married today? I don’t know what came over me, sweetheart, but I love him so much. He makes me feel so young and carefree and... sexy. I never should have gotten married without telling you. I’m the worst mother in the world.”

I pull her into my arms. “Are you joking, Mom?” I cup her face with my hands the same way she used to do to me when I was little and worried about something. “You have loved and cared for me, and you’ve done everything to make me happy. You’ve been both Mom andPapàfor the last ten years. How could I ever be mad at you for finally doing something that makesyouhappy?”

We hug each other tight.

“I’m the luckiest mom in the world, Len,” she says, barely able to contain the emotion in her voice. “What have I done to deserve a daughter like you?”

Her words work like a salve on my bruised heart and are especially soothing for my guilt about running away to France last summer and staying away for an entire year.

I open my mouth to say something, but I don’t even know what. She married Peyton’s dad, and work implications aside, I know my relationship with him and the Devils is definitely out of the ordinary.

If things were complicated before, the fact that Kenneth Cox is now her husband makes things even harder to comprehend.

Our lives were connected in an intricate way until yesterday, but now Peyton is my stepbrother, and I’m afraid of what Mom might think if she knew what happened between us earlier and about our deal.

She probably would have disapproved of our deal before, but now?

Mom takes my silence in stride, and not for the first time, she almost guesses what’s going through my head. Sometimes I think she can read my mind.

“Lenley,” she says, pulling away but keeping my hand in hers. “Please don’t worry about anything, sweetheart. I know this is a lot to process, and some things will definitely change, but at least you and Ken’s boys are becoming friends, right?”

There’s an amused light in her eyes, and I shake my head.

I wouldn’t call Peyton, Channing, and Jamesonboys. “Mom, we—”

There’s no way I can tell her about our deal. Unless Peyton wants to end it because of today’s events, I don’t want to stop seeing the guys.

“Baby girl,” Mom says, letting go of my hand and starting to fill a small suitcase with clothes and toiletries. “I’ve seen the way Jameson looks at you, and I know you and Channing are...close. And Peyton... I don’t know, but he didn’t take his eyes off of you all evening.”

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