Parchment & Pearls

22. This Is Going To Be Awkward No Matter What

Chapter 22

This Is Going To Be Awkward No Matter What

"I'm so tempted to draw on her face right now."

"And you know exactly what she'd do if you did."

"She's done to me before."

"And that was before we knew she was a ninja."

A slight pause. "I still want to do it."

The unmistakable smell of Sharpie came closer.

"If you so much as put a dot on my face, Gage Ward, you are going down."

I cracked open one eye to see him smiling sheepishly, trying to hide the Sharpie from view as Ash laughed from behind him. "Hey, Hattie."

"Uh huh," I laughed, shaking my head. "That's what I thought."

Sometime while I was out, I ended up on the couch with no recollection of how I'd gotten there. The last thing I remembered was leaning back against it on the floor, watching infomercials with Drake while everyone slept.

The clock above the fireplace said it was only six in the morning and I wanted to groan since I'd only gotten three hours of sleep. I'd dealt with less before.

Gage was still knelt down beside the couch, giving me an innocent look. "Good morning, sleepyhead."

"Good freakishly early morning," I said with a yawn. "You're lucky I didn't take you down with my knife."

"You wouldn't do that, would you? You don't even have it on you."

I grinned, turning slightly to lift the bottom of my shirt, showing him where I had it hooked on the waistband of my shorts. "Sure, I don't. Like I told you, I've got this thing on me all the time."

"Told you," Ash laughed from behind him. "You knew what would happen if you did that before...and yet you're still tempted to do it now when you know exactly what she's capable of."

"I still want you to show me some of those moves," Gage told me, standing up and tossing the Sharpie onto the table beside the couch.

"For the ladies?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course," he winked with a grin.

"Maybe once we get to the manor," I laughed, shaking my head. "They've got a training room with padded floors. Shouldn't hurt too much when I'm throwing you around."

That grin turned wicked. "Sounds like my kind of night."

I threw a pillow at his head. "You're so gross, Gage!"

He leaned down and gave me a loud, wet kiss on the cheek. "You know you love me most."

Beau appeared beside him, shoving him to the side as he rolled his eyes. "Here you go," he said, handing me a plate of breakfast food. "We're apparently leavin' in half an hour, so you have to be quick about everythin'." He nodded to the front door where four backpacks were sitting. "We're all ready, but you're the last one up."

I looked over at Gage, then Ash now sitting at the kitchen table, and Savannah washing dishes in the sink. But no Drake or Cruz. "Where's...?"

He nodded toward the back door. "They're out back. Been there for a good hour talkin'."

After finishing breakfast, I went to the bathroom to go through my usual morning routine, luckily finding one of the extra toothbrushes in the drawer. All of my stuff was in my suitcases on the jet, so I was out of luck with having anything of my own.