Cataclysm (Four Horsemen #4)(52)

My eyes went to Scarlett, who was standing in the doorway with a tablet in her hands, staring at the three of us with wide eyes. I left my desk when I saw the fear in them. This was completely my fault for forgetting my parents were coming to lunch. Now I was going to have to explain why Scarlett was here.

Fuck.

Yet, the person I was most worried about was my girl herself. I ignored my parent’s shocked expressions and went straight over to her. My first instinct was to cup her cheek and stroke it to soothe her.

“I didn’t know your parents were here,” she whispered.

“It’s okay. We’ll deal with it together, okay?”

She nodded, leaning into my touch as if it was grounding her. Scarlett might be strong as fuck but seeing people from her past couldn’t be easy. Especially when they happened to be my parents.

I dropped my hand from her face and turned to my parents, taking a breath before I dived in.

“Mum, Dad… you remember Scarlett, right?”

“Well, of course we do, Francis,” Mum said, looking between us and trying to guess at our relationship and what was going on.

“But the last we knew, she was missing,” Dad put in.

Scarlett tucked the tablet up against her chest and sought out my fingers, gripping them tightly between hers.

“I can explain… sort of.”

I felt Scarlett take a breath next to me before giving both my parents a smile.

“It’s so nice to see you. I’m afraid I only just remembered the past, so you have to excuse my shock at seeing you again.”

“The feeling is mutual,” Dad said, but he smiled back at her.

Scarlett let go of my hand and went over to them, shaking my dad’s hand, and Mum gave her a hug.

“We never expected… well, that’s neither here nor there. It’s good to see you again, Scarlett,” Mum told her as they drew apart.

I fidgeted, then Scarlett looked back at me with eyes full of fucking love and I knew what I had to do.

“Should we eat upstairs? Scarlett can join us then.”

I wasn’t going to take them out to a restaurant and air my private life where anyone could hear.

“Yes, that might be for the best,” Mum replied, giving me a nod.

Scarlett popped her tablet down on my desk and followed me and my parents out into the lobby towards the lifts. None of us spoke as we were riding up to the penthouse. My parents rarely came here. I usually went to them, but maybe we should change that now Scarlett was back. Maybe I should be more involved in their lives and them with mine. I was their only son, after all.

Scarlett followed me into the kitchen after we got my parents settled on the sofas. The two of us started preparing something simple together. She leant over to me as I was stirring a pot.

“What are we going to tell them?”

It wasn’t something we’d spoken about, how we were going to address this with our parents. How we would explain what happened to Scarlett and the fact we were all in a relationship with her. Guess I was going to have to come up with something to appease them.

“A stripped back version of the truth, leaving out anything to do with Stuart. They can’t know what we’ve done… they wouldn’t understand.”

She wrapped an arm around me, pressing her face into my shoulder.

“No. I’ll just go with your lead, probably safer that way.”

I pressed a kiss to her forehead, forgetting entirely it was in full view of my parents. Restraining myself when it came to Scarlett wasn’t exactly my forte. Being with her felt so natural. Touching her was something I couldn’t go without when she was in my space. When her attention was on me and me alone. There was nothing in this world like being loved the way Scarlett Nyx loved me.

“Go set the table… and maybe text the others as a heads up. They probably won’t come up here, but they’ll need to know.”

She nodded, stroking my back before she moved away to get the plates and cutlery. I watched her for a moment before going back to preparing lunch.

Twenty minutes later, we were all seated and tucking in. Mum and Dad kept giving Scarlett glances like they couldn’t believe she was there. They asked me about how business was going and we talked about mundane things until I couldn’t hold it in any longer. So I told them Scarlett had come to work for us. How she hadn’t remembered who we were at first and slowly, things changed when she did. And how she lived with us here now.

They didn’t ask Scarlett where she’d been or about the kidnapping. I think they were afraid of upsetting her by bringing it up. They just remarked on how pleased they were that we’d all found each other again.

I left Scarlett talking to Dad whilst I cleaned up the dishes. Mum came into the kitchen and leant up against the counter, eyeing me with concern. I sighed as I straightened after closing the dishwasher.

“Are you and Scarlett in a relationship?”

I nodded, unsure of what else to say about it. We hadn’t hidden it. Scarlett had constantly touched me throughout lunch and I, her. It was like we couldn’t stop. For her, I knew it was a reassurance thing. I was her safe place. There was no fucking way I would stop her from taking what she needed from me.

Mum looked over at Scarlett and Dad, who were laughing at something she’d said. The way my girl’s eyes lit up had my heart racing. Seeing her happy was all I needed. All I ever fucking wanted.