Page 105 of Fear of Falling

“Oh, he’d better not be.” Without another word Evelyn took off for the house. Mila and I exchanged bewildered looks before following her.

Evelyn was a step ahead of us as she strode into the kitchen, only to pause mid-step. Peaking around her, I clamped a hand on my mouth to stifle my laughter. Leaning over the kitchen counter were four grown-ass men caught with forks half-raised to their mouths. Sitting in front of them lay a half-eaten chocolate cake.

Wyatt, Landon, Trevor and Bryton stared at us, like little kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar, their eyes wide.

Oh, this is priceless. And that’s my boyfriend right there, with a mouthful of cake.

“Is anyone going to explain?” Evelyn crossed her arms and waited. Beside me Mila tried to stifle her own laughter at the scared look that passed over all their faces. They clearly didn’t expect to be caught red handed.

As Trevor pulled the fork from his mouth and slowly brought it back down to the cake, I snorted, barely containing mylaughter as I gripped Mila’s arm. When Evelyn stepped forward, I almost lost it as all four flinched.

“You are grown men.”

Wyatt and Bryton glanced over at Mila and I, pleading looks on their faces as though they thought we could come to their rescue. We shook our heads in unison—we were having too much fun watching this unfold.

“Sorry,” Bryton mumbled around a mouthful of cake.

Evelyn stared at them for another second before she sighed and shook her head. “You four are lucky I made multiple cakes. But if I see any of you touching the others, I don’t care if you are adults, I will ground you.” While it was comical that Evelyn was threatening to ground four grown ass men, you could tell she was beyond serious. The tone in her voice left no room for argument.

“Now all of you, out to the backyard so we can celebrate Mateo’s birthday.” Evelyn turned and walked out of the kitchen mumbling about how these boys were going to be the death of her. As soon as she was out of ear shot Mila and I started cackling uncontrollably.

“Thought she was going to beat our asses there for a minute,” Bryton finally spoke.

“I know, right?” Trevor added as he quickly picked up his fork and scooped up another bite.

“What are you doing, dickhead? Didn’t you hear what mom said?” Wyatt smacked the back of Trevor’s head.

“What? She has back-up’s and this one’s already ruined. May as well take another bite.” To further his point, he dug into the cake again, quickly followed by the others.

“Wow, hiding out and eating cake, I think you’ve hit a new low,” I chastised once I’d gotten my laughter under control.

“I can feel the judgment,” he said wryly, cocking an eyebrow at me.

“Oh, I definitely am. And on your brother's birthday,” I glanced over at Landon with my best disappointed expression. “You two are his big brothers.”

“Hey, that little shit would have done the same,” Landon said, pointing his fork at me as Wyatt nodded his agreement. I just grinned.

It was nice being around Landon when he wasn’t being his intimating self. When Wyatt and I first arrived, he’d surprised me by saying hello—and with no dirty looks or anything. I didn’t know what had changed since I’d last seen him, but I was glad he could at least tolerate me now.

The sound of Mila moaning took my attention away from the brothers as I saw her standing next to Bryton, his fork in her mouth as she closed her eyes.

“What’s with this cake?” I asked. “It can’t be that good.” They all looked at me like I’d just kicked a puppy. “What?”

“Wyatt, control your woman,” Trevor said, narrowing his eyes at me.

I loved sweets as much as the next person, but they acted like it was sent from God himself.

It’s just cake.

“And I’m dating you,” Wyatt shook his head, grabbing his fork and cutting a piece. “Try it.”

Everyone watched as I leaned forward and took a bite off Wyatt’s fork.

Holy shit. This is the most amazing cake I’ve ever tasted.

Part of me wanted to fake disappointment, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Not when I now knew exactly why they were all obsessed over it.

What the hell did Evelyn put in this?

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