Here is Home • The Pack

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Jerome and Preston were meant to go and pick up Mitch in less than half an hour from the airport, and Lachlan still wasn't back with the goddamn car.

He had told Preston and Jerome that he just needed to run by the police station to fill out some paperwork for Rob's arrest a few weeks ago, and that it would only take an hour, maximum. It had now been almost two, and the moron still wasn't back with the car that they definitely needed if they were going to actually get to the airport.

Every time a car could be heard going past the front porch, Preston would rush to the window; every time the car wasn't the neighbors, Preston would groan and slink back to the couch.

"He'll be here," Jerome said every time, but Preston wasn't sure if he was trying to reassure Preston or himself.

The seconds ticked by, and Preston got gradually more and more stressed. This was one occasion where he really, really could not afford to be late. Not this time. Mitch could be very selectively sensitive about these things, and he knew that if he wasn't there on time it would probably result in not speaking to each other for at least a month while Mitch got over the mini-abandonment.

At twenty minutes to go Lachlan finally pulled into the driveway with the car, and Preston and Jerome were out the front door before Lachlan even had time to properly park.

"You DICK," Preston gasped as he flew off the porch and over to the car, grabbing Lachlan's arm and tugging him maybe a little too forcefully out of the driver's seat. "You said you'd be gone for an hour!"

"I'm sorry, I got held up!" Lachlan let out an indignant sound of pain as he was tossed unceremoniously onto the sidewalk, almost losing his balance but just managing to snatch onto the somewhat unstable fence; the one with the peeling white paint.

"Sorry," Preston managed to remember throw at Lachlan's jumping into the driver's side and twisting the key in the ignition. "No time to talk. Gotta go. You in, Jerome?"

The older boy was already in the car, slamming the door shut. He clipped in his seatbelt, looking up to meet Preston's eyes. "Let's go."

The wheels made a horrible screeching noise on the tarmac as Preston sped off, leaving a very disgruntled and confused Lachlan on the sidewalk outside the house.

With Preston breaking the speed limit almost the entire way, the pair just managed to make it on time.

They sprinted through the airport, both gasping for breath, and skidded into the arrivals hall just as the rest of the men on Mitch's flight were coming through the big double doors marked 'Customs'.

"Thank god," Preston sighed in relief, collapsing against the barrier.

Jerome clapped him on the back. "Well driven."

"Thanks, man."

Preston felt a prickle of excitement as he watched family after family be reunited, tears of happiness and shouts of joy from children heard from all the way across the room. He wondered if Mitch would have changed at all since the last time they'd spoken, keeping his eyes locked eagerly on the frosted glass doors.

At one point he chanced a glance at Jerome, who seemed even more intent on watching the doors than Preston was.

He grinned to himself, eyes returning to that same spot.

They didn't have to wait much longer before Mitch appeared through the double doors, looking almost exactly the same, give or take a few small details.

He was browner, Preston noticed, much browner, and his hair was cut a little shorter than usual. But he still walked the same way, and he was looking around with that faintly-confused-but-trying-to-hide-it expression that Preston recognized instantly.