Page 27 of Walker

It's engrained in Darren to protect those he cares about; he didn’t get to do that with his mom.

Plus, he just got out of the SEALs, and he is just now adjusting to civilian life. Now I have the shit of Josh on top of that.

Walker had club business today, so when he left early this morning, Darren and I came straight here to get my house ready for his parents.

“What do we have here?” Darren asks from my bedroom.

NO.

I take off running to my bedroom and Darren is standing there holding my bullet with the most shit eating grin on his face.

I do the most bizarre thing; I scream and take off running. He is laughing, running after me as I escape out the back door.

“Summer,” he says through his laughter catching me around the middle, lifting me off the ground.

I cover my eyes so I can’t see it in his hands. “Darlin,” he snorts and I can’t help but laugh at that. “I hear a pig,” I tease and he lets me go, holding his stomach with my bullet still in his hand like a shining beacon.

A horn honks from the front of the house and I scream again trying to take it from him. He stuffs it in his pocket and pulls me with him to the front of the house.

“My baby.” A beautiful older woman gets out of the truck, walking straight to Darren.

He hugs her tight, lifting her off the ground. I can’t help but think of what she sacrificed to protect Darren; she is an angel.

She pats his shoulder wanting him to set her down on the ground. She turns her full attention to me.

“Now I can see why you dragged me all the way to Texas, Darren. She’s beautiful.” She smiles at Darren then swoops me up in her arms in a motherly hug, the same my mom gives me.

“It’s so nice to meet the woman who raised such an amazing son.” I look at Darren as I tell her this, it’s every bit completely true.

He is amazing and such a special person. “I did a fine job, I have to admit.” She looks proud of the fact.

A handsome older man walks from the back of the truck holding a suitcase. “This is Kerry, my stepdad and Jenelle, my mom,” Darren introduces us.

“It’s nice to meet you both.”

Kerry gives Darren a look that I can’t decipher. “Please come in and make yourself at home; my home is yours!” I wave them inside.

Darren takes my hand and walks with me; they follow me inside and I show them around. “You have a beautiful home,” Jenelle tells me.

“How come you’re not staying here?” she asks me and turns on the water to wash a cup that Darren left there.

“Like Walker would let her stay anywhere but his house,” Darren jokes and his mom looks at us confused.

“Aren’t you guys together?” She points to the two of us.

I suck in my lips scared that she may freak out with what is happening between us. Honestly, I don’t know the label of it myself.

“Yes.” Darren tightens his hand on mine.

She nods. “I thought so, you made it sound like she was with Walker.” She laughs and rinses the cup.

“She is.”

Oh my God! I squeeze his hand terrified how he literally just laid it out like that.

“Oh she’s dating the both of you. Are you dating Walker too?” she asks Darren.

He looks horrified at the idea; she gets a soft look on her face. “It's okay baby, you like who you like.” Kerry looks like he is stopped breathing from trying not to laugh.

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