Page 124 of Hush (Fighting Fate)

I’d been unsure when she’d first pulled if off the rack. I didn’t want to stand out too much, purely because it was Kara’s night and I didn’t want it to look like I was trying to steal her limelight. But when I’d tried it on, I knew I had to get it.

It was a pale blue cocktail dress. Strapless, with an empire line, and had lots of little strips of chiffon that fell to my mid-thigh. The bodice was a sweetheart shaped neckline, covered with lots of sparkling silver gems. I’d matched it with some long, dangly silver earrings and my most favorite pair of four inch heels, also sparkly and silver. My only other accessory was a big, thick silver bangle.

Mia had styled my hair for me, setting it in big, bouncy waves that fell down my back, but I did my own make-up, sticking to my usual minimum.

“Hey…look at you two. Fashionably late again?”

We both turned to see Isaac striding towards us.

“It was Kaeli’s fault,” Noah said. “She took too long to get ready.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Only because I had to get ready twice.”

He smirked and twitched his eyebrow. Isaac laughed. “Just as long as you’re both here. How you going, Lina?” he said, leaning down to kiss my cheek.

Noah growled at him. “Lina?” I said, confused.

Isaac looked at me like I was daft. “You can’t expect me to keep calling you Thumbelina. It’s too long.”

Noah rolled his eyes. “You could try calling her Kaeli. That might work.”

“Nah,” he said. Quite seriously too. “She’ll always be little Thumbelina.” Noah shook his head at him and Isaac smiled. “Dad wants you in the kitchen by the way.”

Pulling on my hand, Noah started towards the back door. “Douche,” he said so Isaac could hear.

“Pee wee,” Isaac called back.

As we moved inside, I couldn’t stop myself from giggling. “You two are hilarious.”

“Don’t let him charm you. He’s a manwhore.”

I was going to reply that I had a feeling it might run in the genes, but then we were in the kitchen and Alli and Luke were smiling at us in welcome.

“Oh goodness,” Alli exclaimed, giving me a hug. “You look beautiful. You boys sure know how to pick them.”

“They get it from their dad,” Luke said with a grin as he kissed my cheek.

He smiled over at Noah, then gave him an assessing look, his gaze falling down to his waist.

“You know the rules. Put it away.”

Noah sighed but he was smiling. Reaching under his shirt, he pulled out his gun and shrugged. “I was getting there,” he said cheekily.

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head at him and laughed. My boy was the ultimate Boy Scout. Always prepared.

I watched him walk over to the cabinet on the other side of the dining table and place the gun in the draw. After locking it with a key, he turned and held it up for Luke to see before putting it in a dish on the kitchen counter.

“Happy?” he said dryly.

Luke smirked at him. “Very.”

“Alright you two. Enough with the mucho stuff. We have relatives to entertain,” Alli said, picking up a plate of food and passing it to Luke.

Noah took my hand and we followed his parents out the back door.

The yard had filled up a bit while we’d been inside. If I had to take a guess, I would’ve said there were about forty or fifty people there.

“Are these all your relatives?” I asked, feeling a little overwhelmed.

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