Page 124 of Fear of Love
“You’re mother is a grown woman and can see whoever she wants, but I…” Steven cleared his throat. “I would like to get your approval to date your mother.”
When he said the last part, he looked directly at me. No, wait, not at me. At Landon, who was still standing at my back. No one said it but we all knew Landon was the ‘father figure’ and ‘man of the house.’ He was the one who stepped up when their father left.
All the boys were close with their mom, but there was nothing like a bond with your firstborn. Landon was the oldest and remembered everything that happened with Evelyn and their father. He was the one who was there through it all and saw the aftermath. So if anyone needed to grant permission, it was Landon.
Landon’s arms disappeared as he stepped around me. My hand shot out to grab him, but I pulled it back at the last second. He wasn’t going to hurt Steven… I hoped. This was between them, not me. So, I stepped back, crossing my arms, and watched. Steven and Landon were about the same height and build, both with wide shoulders and big arms.
“Do you love my mother?” Landon asked. It was the first thing he said since they approached us.
“I think I could with time,” came Steven’s honest response. I moved a little to the side, pressing against Mila’s side so I could see Landon and Steven’s faces.
Evelyn stayed quiet as she watched, looking between the two nervously.
“If you so much as make her cry, all three of us will see to ruining your life.” Landon stared right into Steven’s eyes as he spoke. He didn’t balk or look away.
Steven gave a firm nod. “Understood.”
“Good,” Landon said with a slight tilt of his head. Without another word, he stepped forward and wrapped his arms tightly around his mother’s small frame.
Hesitantly, Mateo stood and approached Steven. Clearly, Mateo was intimidated by Coach like the others, but he squared his shoulders and met Steven’s gaze head-on.
“You treat her right and we won’t have a problem.” The hard look he gave Steven made me smile. Mateo was goofy and always smiling, but when it came down to his mom, he didn’t mess around. When he went over to hug her, whispering something we couldn’t hear, Wyatt came up to his coach.
Out of everyone, this had to be the weirdest for Wyatt. His hockey coach was dating his mom. Trevor and Bryton’s eyes bounced back and forth between the two.
“Make sure you look after her and keep that smile on her face, understood?” I’d never heard Wyatt use tone with his coach before. Even Trevor and Bryton’s eyes widened in surprise. “She’s my mom, and you’re going to treat her like your number one priority.”
“Always.” There was no mistaking the promise in Coach Barnum’s voice. Wyatt stared at him for another minute before giving a small nod. When he went to hug Evelyn, she was already crying. Seeing that they all needed a moment together, I stepped back.
“How about we,” I gestured over my shoulder at a spot behind us. The others quickly nodded and moved away from the Boone family. Steven, sensing he might not belong, walked with us but kept glancing back at Evelyn. Once we were farther away, Josie stopped beside him.
“Well, I, for one, am happy for you, Coach.” Going up on her toes, she wrapped her arms around him in a hug. He stood there for a second, stiff as a board, before patting her back in return. “Welcome to the family.” She beamed up at him, stepping back.
A month ago, when I saw the two of them cozy at the Knights’ playoffs celebration, I hadn’t thought much about it, but I guess there was something going on that none of us noticed.
“Since he’s part of the family now, do we get out of doing suicide drills?” Trevor interjected.
“No,” Steven instantly answered with a hard voice.
“Damn it,” Trevor muttered.
“Are we—” Bryton didn’t get the words out before Steven was saying no. I stifled my laugh at the way their faces fell. If they thought Coach was going to go easy on them because he was dating Wyatt’s mom, they had another thing coming.
I kept one eye on Landon as he talked with his mom and brothers. Evelyn was saying something that had them all nodding. None of them looked deeply upset, so it couldn’t be that bad. Then again, I didn’t expect any of them to show their anger or pain in front of their mom, especially Landon.
They talked for another moment before Evelyn pulled them all into a hug. When she stepped back, she wiped her face but was smiling. As if he couldn’t be away from her, Steven slowly made his way over.
I watched with bated breath as the guys and him spoke for a moment before Steven extended his hand to Landon.
“Wow,” Josie whispered next to me, taking the words right out of my mouth as Landon shook Steven’s hand. Followed by Mateo and Wyatt.
Evelyn and Steven intertwined their fingers once more and stepped back. The rest of us watched as they said their goodbyes, or at least, I assumed they did, before Evelyn waved at us. The two turned and walked away then, heads close as they talked.
Wanting to be there for Landon, I walked over to him. Josie did the same thing. I placed my hand on Landon’s arm as I came up to his side. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah.” Landon’s response didn’t sound all that confident. Across from us, I could hear Josie asking Wyatt and Mateo the same question.
“Are you okay?” I moved close so I could peer up into his face. It took him a moment to answer, as if filtering through everything that just happened.
