Page 98 of Somewhere We Belong

“I guess if he wants to take me back to the salon, I won’t say no,” I said, wrapping my scarf around me. “Driving in this weather sucks.”

“I'm with you,” Atlas chuckled, while picking up my bags.

“Y’all are so cute,” Michelle sighed.

“See ya later, girl,” I said, pushing Atlas before he said something. “Drive safely!”

The cold wind hit us, and it was a shock. It was just snowing a minute ago and now it looked like a blizzard was hitting us. Atlas and I ran to the truck, and we hopped into the back quickly. The cabin of the car was warm as I shook off the snow.

“Hey, Cielo,” Colt said, turning around.

I leaned over the backseat, giving him a quick kiss.

“Hey, you didn’t have to come back for me, but thank you,” I said, kissing him again.

“I didn’t want either of you driving in this weather,” Colt said, backing out of the parking spot.

“This looks a lot worse than when he picked me up,” Atlas said, putting his seat belt on.

“Yeah, it had just started snowing when I finished my last client,” I said, as the wind howled.

“They just issued a blizzard warning,” Colt said, driving down main street. “They are predicting ten to fifteen inches of snow by tomorrow.”

Now that they were in the big house, we had to go down a street that was further down the road. I missed them being so close, but that just meant they wanted us to stay with them more often. At first, I wasn’t comfortable with it, but now that Sol knew, the sad faces and pleading eyes she gave me were hard to ignore. She also had the guys wrapped around her little finger and they usually did her bidding of pleading with me for us to stay over. Theo, Colt, Atlas and Sol were a bad combination.

The visibility was awful. The weather had changed completely in a matter of thirty minutes and when we turned down the road to the house, all we could see was white. My heart rate kicked up, thankfully, I didn’t have to drive in this in my little car.

“This is insane,” Atlas said, biting his lip, looking as nervous as I was.

The house came into view and Colt opened up the garage. I've never been so grateful for a garage until now. The wind howled as the door closed behind us. We got out as the door shook from the wind again.

“Thank you for picking us up,” I said, kissing Colt, walking the stairs to the house.

The smell of food hit me as I opened the door, and it was eerily quiet inside. The guys and I took off our jackets and shoes, leaving them hanging in the small mudroom. I walked into the house enjoying the heat. When I didn’t see Sol or Theo, I went down the hall to the room she usually stayed in.

Theo’s soft soothing voice stopped me before going inside. Sol was quiet and then I realized he was reading her favorite book. Tears sprang to my eyes as an overwhelming amount of love hit me.

“The end,” Theo said, the sound of a book closing.

“Again?” Sol said softly, like she was sleepy.

Theo chuckled. “I think I hear your momma and the guys.”

It was silent for a moment.

“Don’t use that face against me,” he scolded, but it was playful. “We can read it tonight. That's my final offer.”

“Ok, fine,” she conceded. “Party pooper.”

“What?” Theo growled. “Oh, that's it.”

The sound of laughter filled the hallway. I leaned against the wall not wanting to interrupt their moment.

“Ok! Ok!” Sol laughed.

Theo laughed with her. “Come on, Rugrat, let's go say hi to momma.”

They left the room, and I acted like I hadn’t been listening in on them.

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