“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.
“I’m still straight, Mum, and I’m not having sex with the boys if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I did not… that’s not what I was…” She let out a breath. “I wouldn’t have an issue with you being… intimate with them if that was the case. This is just not what I expected from any of you.”
Drake sat back in his chair and shrugged.
“It’s not the first time we’ve shared.”
I couldn’t believe he was admitting this to his mother. I had to put my free hand over my mouth in an attempt to hide my smile.
“It’s not the… lord have mercy, I’m not sure I want to ask what that means.”
The way her face coloured up was making me want to hide under the table and clutch my stomach. It was so difficult not to laugh at this situation and her reaction.
“This is why I don’t tell you things, Mum. You clearly don’t approve, but it doesn’t stop this from being a reality.” He waved at me. “You, of all people, should understand why we can’t stay away from each other with the way you go on about how Francis and I were born on the exact same day. It’s the same for all of us. We belong together. It’s always been Scarlett for me. Always. It will never be anyone else. I can’t stop loving her and I don’t want to try. Not when she makes me happy. She completes all of us. We weren’t okay without her. None of us were. And now we are. We’re a family. I won’t let anything come between us. Nothing will tear us apart. Never again.”
He looked at me then. The love in his eyes almost knocked me off the chair. The intensity of those indigo eyes had me dropping my hand from my mouth and reaching out to touch his face. The fact he was standing up to his mother over me had my heart in absolute knots.
He pressed a kiss to my palm, making me practically swoon. There was nothing like being wrapped up in Drake’s gaze when his full attention was on you. It was overwhelming, exhilarating and oh so fucking everything.
“Death needs his little wisp,” he whispered. “I’m keeping you this time. Eternity isn’t long enough, but it will have to do. I cannot imagine a world where you don’t exist next to me.”
I leant closer and rested my head on his shoulder.
“Listen, I love you and you’re my eternity too, but your mum is staring at us and I’m kind of worried if I kiss you, she’ll blow a blood vessel,” I whispered back.
He chuckled and pressed a kiss to my forehead.
“Don’t worry, I’ll handle her.”
He made me sit up and let go of my hand before rising from his seat. Drake dug his hands in his pockets and walked over to his mother, towering over the woman like he did most people. She stared up at him without compunction. May never backed down from a fight.
“You’re allowed to feel whatever it is you want about the five of us, but you don’t get a say in my life and who I choose to spend it with. If you have a problem with me and the others all being with Scarlett, then I’ll take her and walk out of that door. I’ve already been ambushed by Oscar today. You know I have no issues cutting my family out of my life.”