Cataclysm (Four Horsemen #4)(70)

I rang the doorbell and fidgeted, suddenly wary of turning up at my mother’s house without telling her. She would be home as it was her day off. She was a nurse at the hospital nearby. The one we’d all been born at.

The door was pulled open, revealing the woman who’d given me life. May Ackley was short, with dark brown hair, brown eyes, and a stern expression on her face. When she saw it was me, she broke into a smile. I was still pissed she’d decided not to change her name after the divorce but right now, I was riding on a high. Nothing would get me down. I had my girl. The rest didn’t matter.

“Now, to what do I owe this pleasure?”

Then her eyes fell on Scarlett and widened almost comically.

“Hello, Mum. You asked to meet my girlfriend, so I brought her around for you.”

Mum was momentarily disarmed by my words and seeing the girl who had disappeared ten years ago on my arm.

“Hello, May,” Scarlett said. “It’s lovely to see you again.”

Mum cleared her throat, gave me a look, then smiled at Scarlett.

“Well, this is quite the surprise. Come in, come in, it’s chilly outside and you’re letting the draught in.”

I kept a straight face as Mum stood back to allow the two of us in. This was the house I’d grown up in. Oscar had moved out, leaving it to her.

Mum led us through into the kitchen, waving at the table for us to sit down.

“Now, have you two eaten? I was just about to make some tea, but I can whip something up for you.”

“We haven’t. That would be nice. Thanks, Mum.”

I took Scarlett’s coat and mine, hanging them up in the hallway whilst she sat down at the table. Pulling out a chair, I sat next to her and enfolded my hand in hers on the wooden surface. Mum busied herself in the kitchen but kept throwing glances at me as if she was trying to work out what happened to her son. The answer sat next to me. The girl who’d freed me from my locked cage and awoken the past version of myself.

“I’m not going to beat around the bush here. You turn up with Scarlett, tell me she’s your girlfriend and expect me not to ask where on earth she’s been.” She looked at Scarlett. “Sorry, dear, I should direct that at you. Where have you been?”

I squeezed Scarlett’s hand, reassuring her I was right here.

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that,” Scarlett said. “It’s better for everyone involved if I keep it to myself. All you need to know is I came to work for your son with my memories of the first sixteen years of my life missing. He and the others helped me remember what I’d lost. Now we have each other back. That’s the important thing, not what happened to me.”

Whilst I knew the story we were telling our parents, I didn’t expect Scarlett to inform my mother in such a calm and collected manner. Like she wasn’t remotely scared of Mum or what she might say in response.

Mum pursed her lips and went back to making us lunch. I could see the cogs working in her mind as she poured three mugs of tea for us all.

“Okay, I can respect that. So tell me, how long has this been going on for?”

“A few months,” I said, saving Scarlett from having to. “And I need you to know something before you ask us any further questions. Yes, Scarlett is my girlfriend, but she’s also Francis, Prescott and West’s girlfriend too.”

The teaspoon Mum was holding clattered on the work surface. There was no point in me hiding it. It was better to tell her these things straight away, or she’d accuse me of keeping shit from her. And I knew I was in for one hell of a talking to the moment she turned around and met my eyes.





Thirty One


Scarlett





Whilst I didn’t know what to expect when Drake said he wanted to go see his mother, I certainly didn’t think he would just come out with the whole me being in a relationship with all of them straight away. Judging by May’s reaction, she wasn’t entirely happy to be informed of our unconventional arrangement. The way she stared at Drake with disapproval written all over her face spoke volumes. May Ackley wasn’t known for keeping her opinions to herself. Likely why Francis had told his mother to keep silent about it until Drake told May himself.

“If this is some kind of joke, Drake, it isn’t a very funny one.”

“It’s not a joke.” He squeezed my hand tighter. “Why on earth would I make light out of something as serious as informing you the woman I’m going to spend the rest of my life with is also in a relationship with my best friends?”

May shook her head. I knew she was going to be against this. I hadn’t blamed Drake for not wanting to tell her. It seemed May hadn’t changed much in the past ten years if this was anything to go by.

“You mean to tell me you are okay with… excuse me, Scarlett, I don’t want to insult you, but how on earth are you okay with being with the same woman? That’s…”

“It’s what, Mum? Unorthodox? Unconventional? Have I ever not been either of those things?”

May looked at him with a raised eyebrow and put her hand on her hip.

“You’ve never had a girlfriend before, Drake, and now you’re telling me you’re in some kind of, what, polyamorous relationship with four people?”

Drake snorted, stroking his thumb down the back of my hand to let me know he had this. He wasn’t going to be browbeaten by his mother over his relationship with me and the others. He loved me and he’d proven to me just how much by protecting me against all the odds.