Page 93 of True Honey
“Don’t make me use the mom voice on you,” I warned and that got his feet moving. August stood up and joined me at the banister. “How you doing?” I asked him, brushing my fingers through his hair until he swatted my hand away.
“How areyoudoing?” He countered and I gave him a funny look. “What? It’s not like you’ve ever gotten involved in anything like this before…I’m just asking.”
“This is the job,” I said, “I work for Silas, this was just work.”
August eyed me, “okay,” he said after a minute. “You’re happy though, it’s…”
“Nice?” I said, instead of saying, unusual, weird, out of character. Deep down my skin was still crawling with anxiety, worried profusely over how today would go and we still had eight hours left of photos to take. It should have been an easy job, it was my idea after all but once the players had signed on to help the stakes raised and suddenly it was elevated to a very important job.
“Yeah,” August admitted. “Mom,” he said quietly, “are we going to stay?”
I want to.
“It’s pretty perfect here, isn’t it?” I said.
He’s pretty perfect.
I watched as Silas scanned the crowd of players and professionals until his eyes landed on me. He always knew when he was on my mind. He winked, the sun catching in his eyes as they were shuffled out to bring in the next group for photos.
“It is.” August said, his voice tight and confident.
He was thriving here and I would do anything to keep his life this full, I just wasn’t exactly sure how when it felt like it was on a winding clock and at any moment the time could be up and we could be evicted from the perfection.
Work harder.
“I should get back to helping,” I tapped the banister and leaned over to kiss him on the head, “dinner later?” I asked and August nodded as I backed away. Cael had been helped out of his shirt and was being prepped to do a few shots with Dean, as Josh looked on with a grumbly expression.
“Don’t worry, you’ll have your turn,” I said gently. “You’re going to have to get wet though…”
Josh’s head snapped in my direction.
“You don’t want to get shirtless, I can respect that, but you’ve got to get wet.”
“Wow, this is the thanks I get for volunteering first,” he jabbed but it wasn’t meant to hurt because there was a small smirk on his face. “No ring today?” He asked, his dark eyes trailing down to my hand tucked across my chest.
“Uh, didn’t want to lose it…” I said, trying to keep my tone flat.
His eyes flickered back up to mine and I could see the question behind them.
“My brother is pretty smart but there’s a whole lot of stupid going on lately, don’t break his heart. He won’t survive anymore betrayal.” Josh's words were heavy and meant with purpose, looking away from me. Lately it felt like everyone wanted something from me that I couldn’t promise. And all the requests involved Silas’s heart or well being. It was a lot of pressure to put on a woman who could barely keep it together for herself.
“Dean and Van are going to dump a tub of water over you for the photo, are you okay with that?” I tried to deflect the conversation.
“Yeah,” he said with a nod. “I’m sure they jumped at the chance when you asked them.” His eyebrows flickered upward.
“They have a bet on whether or not you’re going to punch one of them,” I said.
“Pretty sure you aren’t supposed to tell me that,” Josh responded dryly.
“What are sister in-laws for,” I said softly, knowing what it meant. Whether or not Josh had figured out what was happening between his brother and I, didn’t matter. Because he wasn’t the type to blow something up unless he thoughtit was going to hurt his newly found family. And that wasn’t my intention, it never had been. In fact I had been brought into the circle for the exact opposite reason. With the intention to keep the Nest together, to save harbor.So far, so good.
“Hey Top-gun!” The assistant to the photographer called to Josh and I watched as a few of the players turned to look who she was talking to. It was like the entire field had been fed laughing gas the way they all lost it laughing.
“You know you kinda of look like the other one,” I said to him as everyone continued to laugh. Josh’s jaw tightened, “From the new one, Auggie loves that one. What’s his name…”
“Don’t say it!” Dean tried to stop me but it was too late.
“Miles Teller!” Ella’s head whipped around, finishing my sentence with a wicked grin formed on her face when she pointed at him. “Oh you are never getting away from that one,Rooster.”
