Page 44 of Thor

“I know you all must be tired from the long drive. If you’re comfortable staying on the compound, my brother, Torch, has offered up his home for you to stay in. He doesn’t stay there for the time being, so you’ll have the place to yourself, and you’ll be close to Madison. If you don’t like that idea, we do have a hotel reservation for you,” Jonah tells my parents.

“Where exactly is this house?” Mom asks with a slight attitude.

“It’s in the back with the rest of the family houses,” I tell her, trying to save Jonah from her wrath. I know a blowup is coming, but I want to avoid it for as long as possible. I give my mom pleading eyes, begging her to drop whatever argument she has building up inside her. She sighs and plasters a fake smile on her face.

“We’ll stay on the compound, if that’s alright.”

Jonah nods and walks over to Torch. Cara approaches us with a small smile. “Now do you see why we don’t want you to cook?”

I nod with a huge smile. “How long have you known?” I ask her.

“A few days.” She shrugs.

Turning to my parents, I say, “Mom, Dad, this is Cara. She’s the one who provided the laptops for us.”

Both of my parents shake her hand with a thank you. Cara smiles and waves her hand, telling them it was no problem at all. She gets ready to head for the kitchen when Austin grabs her arm. Cara turns with furrowed brows as my brother puts on a sexy smile as his eyes roam over her body. She turns to mewith wide eyes, bewildered by his behavior. Before I can tell my brother he’s barking up the wrong tree, he opens his mouth.

“Well, I think I should thank youproperly, gorgeous.” He takes her hand and starts to bring it to his lips.

A curse sounds in the background and Cara snatches her hand away before flashing him her ring. “Happily married, young buck.”

She runs over to Viper who is striding across the room, looking ready to kill. Patting his chest, she rises on her toes and plants a soft kiss against his lips. He kisses her back while keeping his eyes trained on my brother. There’s a warning in his stare. My brother gulps and nods his head in understanding.

Jonah returns with a small smile as if he’s trying to stop himself from laughing. I narrow my eyes at him, and he barks out a laugh. “Come on, I’ll take you all to the house so you can get settled in.”

As we walk out of the common room, I turn to Austin. “Rule number one to coming on to a woman. Always check her ring finger,” I hiss.

Austin nods while checking behind him. I’m guessing to make sure Viper isn’t after him.

Jonah leads us to the front door and opens the passenger door to the club SUV for me. I hop in while my family loads their bags in the back before piling in. Once we’re all settled in, Jonah drives around back and pulls into the driveway of Torch’s house. It’s beautiful—sleek and modern. Not at all what I expected.

I’ve seen these homes every day for the past month, but I didn’t know who this one belonged to. Jonah hops out and takes my mom’s suitcase before she can protest. She huffs and narrows her eyes at his back. “Mom, please be nice,” I whisper.

I speed up, not giving her a chance to argue and walk through the front door. I gasp when I look around at the beautifully decorated home. This is a bachelor pad for sure. There’s a hugeblack leather sectional decorated with white-and-gray throw pillows. A gray rug lies in the middle of the room with a black table in the center of it. He has a huge television mounted to the wall right above an electric fireplace.

Ethans gasps beside me and throws himself down on the sectional. “I could get used to this,” he says, crossing his arms behind his head and propping his feet up on the end of the couch.

Mom grabs his feet and swings them off the sofa. “Act like you have some manners, Ethan. This is someone’s home.”

Ethan smiles sheepishly and sits upright.

“I’m going to get going, babe. I know your parents are dying to get you alone. Call me when you’re ready to return and I’ll come back to get you,” Jonah tells me softly.

I huff with a small smile. “Jonah, I can walk back alone. It’s not like I’ll get lost or anything.”

He raises a brow, not impressed with my answer. “Call me,” he says firmly. Planting a quick kiss to my lips, he moves toward the door and leaves. I’m so lost in the moment, smiling to myself, I totally forget my family is in the room. My mother gasps, stunned, and the smile is wiped from my face.

“What is going on with you two, Madison?” Mom hisses.

“Mom, please, you just got here. I really don’t want to spend the night arguing. Can we just enjoy our time together?”

My mom opens her mouth but Dad silences her by placing his hand on her shoulder and shaking his head. “Not tonight, Martha. Madison is right. We haven’t seen our baby girl in three years. We don’t need to waste time arguing.”

I mouth athank youto my dad and take a seat next to Ethan. “Look at you, all grown up. And look at the peach fuzz,” I tease, pointing at his chin.

“Ha ha, you just wait. Now that I’m a man, I’ll have a full beard before you know it.” He rolls his eyes and smacks my hand away.

“You’ll always be my baby. I don’t care how old you get,” Mom tells him.

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