Chapter 24
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
Sawyer
I wake up feeling secure, with a large arm draped around my waist, wrapping me in warmth.
It’s exactly how I want to wake up every morning.
I press myself back into him, smiling at the feel of his body flush against mine.
“Careful, sweetheart,” he says, his voice raspy from sleep. “You keep doing that, and we’re never leaving this bed.”
“Hmm.” I lift his hand to my face, placing a kiss on the back of it. “That sounds perfectly fine to me.”
“Dad.” Willow knocks loudly on his door. “Can you get up? I’m hungry and Ellie won’t stop playing with the toys Sawyer got her to help me cook,” she yells.
“I’ll be out in a few minutes,” he calls back to her.
“Sawyer too?” she yells again.
“Yes, me too, Willow,” I yell back, laughter in my voice.
“Okay, good,” she says normally, and I hear her small footsteps walking away from the door.
“Raincheck on staying in bed forever?” I ask King.
“Yeah.” He sighs, leaning over and placing a quick kiss to my lips before climbing out of bed.
I follow behind him, throwing on a pair of his sweatpants that I have to tie extra tight just to get them to stay up and a T-shirt of his. I walk into the bathroom, where he’s placing his toothbrush back in its cup holder.
He reaches underneath the cabinet, pulls out a fresh toothbrush, and hands it out to me.
“I bought it for you last week, so you’d have one here,” he says. “I also got some of your face wash, shampoo, and conditioner. It’s in the shower.”
I stare at him, eyes wide.
“You bought all of that for me?” I ask, my voice softer, more vulnerable than normal.
“Of course,” he says easily. “I know you’re not actually living here yet, and maybe it’s too early to talk about that, although if I’m being honest, I’d be happy if you moved in tomorrow. But regardless, I want this to feel like your home too. I meant it when I said you’re a part of this family, Sawyer.”
“I know, it’s just, no one’s ever bought me a toothbrush before.” I smile wide.
“Best four dollars I’ve ever spent to get you to smile like that,” he jokes, and I nudge him.
“As far as the moving-in thing…let’s just take it day by day, okay?” I ask.
“Whatever you need.” He leans down, placing a kiss to the top of my head.
He walks out of the bathroom, throwing on a shirt and opening his bedroom door to go help Willow. I quickly brush my teeth and wash my face before following behind him. I walk into the kitchen to see King standing on one side of the counter, mixing eggs in a bowl in front of him, and Ellie and Willow sitting at the barstools on the other side of the counter.
“Morning, Sawyer.” Willow jumps off the barstool and runs over, hugging my legs.
“Good morning.” I laugh, leaning down to hug her back.
“Dad’s making eggs and pancakes,” she says excitedly.
“Eggs and pancakes.” I gasp. “Wow, lucky us.” I smirk at her.
“Right.” She nods eagerly, going back to the end barstool she was sitting on.
“Morning, sunshine,” I say to Ellie, hopping up on the barstool next to her and nudging her seemingly tired frame.
“Morning,” she mumbles, leaning her elbows onto the counter and letting her chin fall into her hands.
“How are the presents?” I ask her.
“Amazing.” She smiles. “Like really freaking amazing. I couldn’t stop messing around with them. I barely slept all night,” she says.
“Yeah, it took five years to get her away from them this morning.” Willow huffs.
“Is that why you look like you’re straight out of The Walking Dead ?” I joke.
“It was worth it.” She shrugs.
“Better wake yourself up,” King says. “We’re having family day.”
“Wonderful,” Ellie groans.
“Yay, family day,” Willow says. “You’re coming too, right, Sawyer?” she asks.
“Of course she is,” King answers before I can. “She’s family.”
“Yeah, I’m not going anywhere.” I smile at Willow.
“Where are we going?” Ellie asks.
“How do you guys feel about go-karting?” he asks.
“Like it’s the perfect way for me to practice driving.” Ellie perks up.
“I wanna drive,” Willow shouts.
“We can all drive them,” King says.
“Is it a race?” I raise a brow at him. “Because I love a good competition.”
“Get ready to be beat,” Ellie taunts me.
“Bring it.” I laugh.
I get up and help King finish making breakfast. After we all finish eating, the three of them go off to get ready.
Since I didn’t plan on spending the night last night, I don’t have any of my things, so once they’re all ready, we drive to my apartment so I can get ready quickly myself. Aria is thankfully awake by the time we get there, and she happily shows Ellie and Willow around, letting them look through some of the new magazine spreads she’s been in while I get ready. Willow seems especially interested in them, asking her a million questions like she always does.
I quickly throw on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeve shirt with my white sneakers, put some light makeup on my face, and pull my hair back into a messy ponytail. I throw everything I might need into a small purse, and then shove some extra clothes and makeup into a duffel bag to bring to King’s house just in case.
It’s around eleven thirty in the morning by the time we head to the go-karting park. Willow is practically bouncing off the walls with excitement by the time we get there, and even Ellie seems more excited than normal.
The building itself is essentially a huge warehouse with a front lobby area to check in and pay, and then bathrooms and a small locker room to leave your things off to the side. Some arcade games line the wall as you make your way to the back of the building, and then there is a huge go-karting track in the very back. It starts as a straight track, going into multiple different twists and turns and even some makeshift hills to go over.
King pays for the four of us, and we put our stuff in lockers before heading over to the track. They give us a safety speech, along with our helmets, and then check our seat belts as we buckle in. Willow is allowed to drive, but only with an adult in the car, so King ends up going in a double go-kart with her. I line up my go-kart next to Ellie’s, nodding my helmet-covered head toward her.
“You’re going down!” I yell toward her.
“We’ll see about that!” she yells back just as they give us the all-clear to go. She slams on the pedal, taking off across the track, and I do the same, following behind her.
I laugh loudly as the three of us do multiple laps around the track, racing each other. It’s pure chaos, Ellie and I desperately trying to beat each other, while Willow is just trying to keep up.
On our last lap, Ellie has the lead by barely an inch, and I’m sure that she has me, but then somehow, out of nowhere, Willow comes speeding by us both, squeezing between our cars and taking the win.
Ellie and I look at each other in complete bewilderment as we all stop our cars, while Willow screams for joy, King lifting her over his head onto his shoulders as they get out of the car.
I raise an eyebrow at Ellie as I take my helmet off, and she meets my gaze as she does the same. The two of us burst into laughter at the turn of events and then make our way over to celebrate with a happy Willow.
We take a break, playing some arcade games before racing a couple more times, once with Willow driving me and then once with me racing King and Ellie while Willow plays arcade games. We spend a couple hours at the place overall, and then on our way back to King’s house, we stop and get pizza.
By the time we get back to the house, everyone is exhausted, the girls going to their own rooms while King and I change into sweats and lay down on the couch. We put on a movie, and eventually Ellie and Willow both come out laying with us too.
It’s there, lounging with the three of them, that it fully hits me.
This is what a real family feels like.
Going out and having fun together. Lounging around and doing nothing together. Just genuinely enjoying each other’s company. Being surrounded by love.
This is the family I always wanted as a little girl—the one I dreamed of having.
And now I do.
Now that I have it, I’m absolutely certain that I’ll do anything and everything to keep it.
The past week has been one of the best of my life.
Even though I told King that we’d take me moving in as a day-by-day thing, I’ve been practically living at his house since Ellie’s birthday. I spent one night back at Aria’s apartment simply because I missed my best friend and I felt bad about not being there as much, but of course, I shouldn’t have been worried.
Aria has been nothing but happy and supportive of me since the second she found out about me and King. Plus, I’m pretty sure she hasn’t been at the apartment most nights either. Something’s going on with her and her photographer again, but she’s keeping it close to the belt this time. I don’t push. I know she’ll tell me all the details when she’s ready.
Everything about my life lately has been pretty perfect.
When I moved to Seattle to get away from my past, I never imagined that this was the life I would find here. Truthfully, I didn’t even know if this would turn into a permanent place or just a stop along the way.
Little did I know I’d find a home here. In Seattle. At Blackheart Ink. With King and his girls.
Now, I never want to leave.
I smile at King as he places a fresh cup of coffee in front of me, where I sit at the countertop. It’s just us in the kitchen, the girls both getting ready for school. We already ate breakfast and got ready for work, so I’m now on my second cup of coffee.
It’s become kind of a routine for us the past week. We get up, eat a quick breakfast with the girls, get ready, drop them off at school, go to work together, and then come home together.
You’d think I’d be sick of him by how much of my day is spent with him, but I’m not. In fact, it’s the opposite. It feels like no matter how much time we spend together, it’s never enough.
I’m sipping on my coffee while we wait for the girls to be ready to go when my phone rings. I look down at the screen, freezing, when I see the caller ID.
Mags. My old neighbor.
Why the hell would she be calling me?
It can’t be my brother. He wouldn’t go to her. It could be my mom, but even that seems unlikely. I hesitate for a second before deciding to answer, slowly bringing the phone to my ear.
“Hello?” I say into the speaker.
“Sawyer, hey. It’s Mags,” she says.
“Yeah, I know, Mags. I have your number saved,” I say. “Is everything okay?” I ask, the nerves present in my voice.
King watches me inquisitively, concern in his gaze, but he stays silent as I speak.
“Not really.” She sighs, sounding more tired than upset. “Look, I’m sorry to be the one to have to tell you this, but it looks like your mom passed away last night.”
She says it so matter-of-fact-like, like it’s not a life-altering type of news. Like, oh well, it happens, sorry about that .
But I guess it’s because it does happen often where I grew up. It’s normal. I just never pictured the day when it would become my normal.
I stay silent, the words sending a shockwave through my system. I feel the color drain from my face, and I grip the coffee cup in my hand like it’s a lifeline.
My mom’s dead. Both my parents are dead. I don’t have parents anymore.
“How?” I ask, the word barely a whisper.
“Overdose,” she says.
I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to process it. It’s not a shock, but it hurts all the same.
My mom overdosed…after I left her.
Maybe if I were there, I could’ve stopped her. I could’ve looked out for her better. I could’ve tried for the millionth time to get her the help she always refused. Or maybe I could’ve tried harder to keep my brother and his drug dealer friends away from her, because what makes this whole thing even worse is that it was probably his drugs that killed her.
Sadness fills me. Then anger. And then, just for a second, I feel a sliver of relief, followed by an immediate wave of guilt.
I run through a whole list of emotions, and in the end, I’m not sure what I feel.
What I’m supposed to feel.
“Hello?” Mag’s voice filters through the phone.
“Yeah, sorry. I’m here.” I clear the emotion from my throat. “Where did they take her? Do you know if Brent knows if he wants to plan a funeral or anything?”
“Well, you know I don’t talk to that boy, Sawyer, but I saw him hanging around yesterday morning, so I’m not sure,” she says. “I think they took her to the Alton Memorial down the road. I’m sure they’ll give you a call if you’re on her emergency contact list.”
“I doubt that I am.” I sigh. “Thanks for calling. I’ll figure it out.”
“Alright, no problem,” she says. “If there’s a funeral, let me know, I’ll try and make an appearance.”
“Thanks, Mags,” I say, hanging up the phone.
I sit there, staring at the now-black screen.
I have to go back. I never wanted to go back. I never thought I would.
But now I have to. My mom may not have done much for me in life, but she deserves a funeral, and I have to say goodbye.
“Everything okay?” King asks, and I look up at him.
Not even a little bit.