Page 41 of Fourteen Years

He raised his eyebrow, shaking his hair out of his eyes.

“You don’t like all the orgasms I’ve been giving you every night?” he asked, voice low.

I felt my cheeks heat.This man.

“Girls!” I yelled to deflect as Trevor smirked knowingly at me. “We don’t need this argument every morning this school year!” I shook my head.

One month into the new school year and they were having the same fight every day.

In a lapse of her better judgment, Lacey had told Lexi she could borrow some tops occasionally. Lexi in excitement had attempted to do this daily, without checking what her older sister wanted to wear. Lacey had been acting so much better since we’d found out everything she was dealing with on her own. She’d resorted back to the more typical teenage angst you could expect out of someone her age. She was still nervous about her senior year. But I felt like she was going to be able to enjoy it more.

Jackson had settled into Nick’s house and started the new semester at the local college. His financial aid came through for classes but not housing, so Nick had just decided to let him stay. He brushed it off as nothing but I knew it meant the world to Jackson. He’d needed a stable male figure in his life. Lucas, Trevor, and Nick were providing something like that for him for the first time in his life.

We hadn’t heard anything else out of Mike, Chuck, or Richard since the threat in Trevor’s old apartment’s parking lot. It was eerie. We all chalked it up to them talking shit and not having the balls to follow through. Trevor said it was probably because they spent too much of their time high and selling drugs to plan anything.

We’d settled into a peaceful routine. I was secretly grateful for the shove it gave us with Trevor moving in. I felt like it was meant to be. He had started out on the couch, trying to keep up pretenses for the girls. Until Lacey had smarted off one morning after two weeks of him doing this that she and Lexi both knew he was sneaking into my room at night.

I’d been horrified, Trevor had blushed like he used to in high school. Lacey and Lexi had been hysterical. It was wonderful to watch them with him. They’d missed Paul and his antics so much, having a man around was healing for them. It was healing for me.

I felt like all of our grief came in waves still, but it was together. We all had our bad days, missing our father, husband, and friend, but we were all there for each other too.

Footsteps thundered down behind us as Lacey swung around into the kitchen from the stairs.

“Little sisters are annoying.” She growled, heading straight for the coffee machine.

Trevor snorted quietly, and looked up from his cereal.

“She’s all you in the morning, babe.” he laughed.

“Shut up,” I sassed, still cranky myself. I’d only had one cup of coffee. Lacey had obviously inherited her need for caffeine before dealing with people from me.

Trevor’s eyes heated as he looked at me.

“What did I tell you last night?” he asked softly.

I blushed, staring behind me to make sure Lacey was preparing her travel mug of coffee for school. Trevor had informed me that the next time I told him to shut up he’d shut my mouth up with something of his last night. I stared at him pointedly as he raised his eyebrows, uncaring that our daughter was in the room.

“That’s what I thought.” he said as I kicked him under the table. “You’ll pay for that tonight,” he promised.

“UNCLE LUCAS AND AUNT BECKS ARE HERE!” screamed Lexi as she tore down the stairs and headed to the front door. Lucas had promised to drive Lacey to her school today while Becks and I drove where I worked and Nat and Lexi attended.

The school had hired Becks to organize the front office this fall and create a more accurate filing system. She was geeked out over it. I loved getting to work with her every day while the project was ongoing. I smiled as my best friend walked into the room with her burly husband following her.

Becks’ hand rested on her stomach. She was showing now at seven months along. They’d had a gender reveal the previous month and we’d all found out it was a boy. They refused to share a name with us though.

“How are you doing, mama?” I asked, standing and moving to hug her.

“Tired.” she groaned. “Why is growing a tiny human so exhausting?”

Lucas was watching her carefully again and I raised an eyebrow at him over her shoulder, questioningly.

He shook his head.

I’d make him tell me later.

“The miracle of life is amazing. You’re amazing, Becks.” said Trevor.

“Amazing my ass. I feel like a cow.” said Becks, sitting in a kitchen chair and pouting. “I want coffee.”

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