Page 76 of Girl Like Me

“Um, about that. My dad and Chelsea have moved into the house.” Rory says and my nose screws up at what he just said. I like his dad and Chelsea but they have a three month old daughter. Yep, Rory is a big brother to Melodie Anne, she is the cutest and looks so much like her big brother. He's been a little on the fence with how he feels about her but he’s come around and is excited to meet her. The weirdest part though is his mother, she's been out of rehab for a while now and is seeing a school teacher. And get this, they’re living in a middle class suburban area. She even sent Rory a picture of her and Melodie, she is her godmother. We've missed so much while we were away, but as long as they're happy, we are too and both are making an effort to actually get to know Rory.

“We can’t live with your dad Rory, I’m sorry but that's just weird.”

Rocky snorts. “Babe, can’t you just accept a surprise?”

Babe, it’s what he has taken to calling me since we were in Great Britain and some lad called me babe. He was blind drunk and Rocky thought it was hilarious that the poor guy was trying to pick me up right in front of them.

“What surprise, guys, what are you up to?”

They all zip their lips, mimicking putting on a lock on them and Milo turns up the radio. I guess I’ll just have to wait. I’m confused when we pull into the same parking garage as I did just over a year ago when I remembered Milo.

Milo parks the van and we all jump out.

“Welcome to our new home!” Rory says with a flourish. “Milo has been overseeing the contractors for us, while we’ve been away.”

“I can’t accept this Milo.” I say, shaking my head. “This was Mum’s and was left to both of us.”

“JD, I want you to have it. Can’t you just be gracious and say thank you?” he chuckles.

“Thank you,” I chirp.

“We haven’t told you yet, but Maximus was accepted into New Hope University. Levi, Rocky and myself got into Neverland. And Rory is in talks with your cousin about a clothing brand and has found some open space to build a motocross track.” Mercer says.

“And you didn’t think to tell me?” I ask, hurt lacing my voice.

“We just wanted to make sure we have all our eggs in a row,” Rocky declares.

“Ducks.” I correct, rolling my eyes.

“Huh?” he says dumbfoundedly, making us all laugh.

“Let’s show JD around and you can argue about this later.” My brother says taking off towards the lift.

The lift takes us all to the top floor. The doors slide open and I’m in complete awe as we step out.

What used to be the main living area in this building is now a full basketball court, with a running track around the perimeter of the room, and along the massive glass window is now a gym. I can barely recognise that it’s even the same space.

The guys all usher me back into the lift and we go down to the second floor. We step into a small living room with an L shaped couch and massive flat screen tv mounted on the wall.

“You have to see the master bedroom. There are six bedrooms on this floor, one for each of us to have our own private space, but yours by far is the best,” Rocky says excitedly and pulls me to the back corner of the space. We step into a massive open plan bedroom. The bed itself is huge, dominating the room. Rocky drops my hand and runs, jumping onto the bed. Everyone else follows after us, filing into the space.

“You even have your own bathroom,” Rory says, pointing to a door on the side of the room. “We have one to share.”

“How will you all shower in time?” I ask.

“That's the best part, Milo suggested we set it up like a locker room. It has three showers.” Mercer explains.

After a quick tour of the rest of the floor, they take me down to the ground level.

The space is set up amazingly. There’s a kitchen, lounge room, games room, dining room and a study slash office.

Milo walks over to what I’m presuming is the back door and slides the curtains open, tears spring to my eyes when our family yells, “Surprise!”

Maximus takes my hand and leads me through the large glass door onto a patio area where there is a BBQ area that leads down to a massive pool.

I’m so overwhelmed at how beautiful this place is and how they guys managed to keep it a secret for so long. Rocky is usually a dead giveaway that he is hiding something. We do the rounds and say hello to everyone. Rocky and Maximus’s fathers are manning the grill as the women are in the kitchen pulling out all of the salads and side dishes.

“Hey,” Chloe whispers.

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