The smell of coffee and bacon woke me. Sitting up, I stretched, and my stomach rumbled. I pped my hand <b>over </b>it, <b>trying </b>to keep quiet so I wouldn’t wake jake, <b>who </b>was still soundly asleep beside me. I kissed his brow gently before climbing out of <b>bed </b><b>and </b>heading for the bathroom. I dressed quickly and followed the strong scent of coffee into the kitchen.
I kissed Drew’s lips in thanks when he handed me my cup of coffee, perfectly made the way I liked it. Taking it with me, I made my way <b>to </b>the dining room <b>table </b>and sat with my eyes closed, just breathing in the scent of the potent brew, “We need to get <b>more </b>of this to bring back to the city. It’s much better than what we have there<b>,</b><b>” </b>I told Josh as he sat beside me, cing a te of <b>bacon</b>, eggs, and toast in front of me.
“Drew was the one who picked it out, so he will know what it’s called. <b>We </b>can probably stop on the way out and pick up a few bags to take with us. Josh said before inhaling his food like a <b>teenage </b>boy in the middle of a growth spurt. I just shook my head and <b>picked </b>up my <b>fork</b><b>, </b>eating normally. When Drew joined us a few minutester, he assured me we would stop and get some of the fantastic coffee to bring back to the city with us.
“Tim d someone else is as big a coffee <b>snob </b>as I am, 1 <b>told </b>Drew, giving his hand a squeeze. I didn’t have a chance to get really good coffee often, but when I did<b>, </b><b>I </b>always savored it. <b>Drew </b>gave me a gentle smile.
“I love you,” Drew said before kissing the top of my head and heading <b>back </b>into the kitchen with his empty <b>te</b>.
“Love you too,” I called after him. I had finished my breakfast and was just sitting at the table savoring thest of my coffee when Jake <b>sat </b>down next to
“Moming, sweetheart,” He mumbled.
“Moming, sleepy head,” 1 <b>teased </b>him. All I got was a <b>grunt </b>in return
“I’m d I’m not the only one in this family who doesn’t function well in the morning.” I continued, nudging his arm. <b>When </b>I got no response, I let him drink his coffee, and after a couple of minutes, he blinked at me before his sweet smile spread across i his face.
“There you are. Has the caffeine started working? I joked.Jake grinned and blushed a little before taking my hand.
“Sorry, sweetheart, <b>I </b>didn’t mean to ignore you. Thest few <b>days </b>have been a lot, and everything feels surreal. Have you ever felt like all this unexpected stuff is happening to you, but it feels like you’re watching it on a giant movie screen?”
as a coping
“Yes, every time my dad beat me, it would get to the point that it seemed like I was watching what was happening to me. I think it was mechanism, at least for me.” I shrugged.
“That makes sense. Thank you for being so patient with me over thest few days. I know I have some issues around being left by people I love.” Jake twined our fingers together before pulling our linked hands toward him and kissing the back of my hand. I smiled at him, understanding what he was anxious about.
“Jake, I will always be there for you<b>, </b>all of you, Loving someone and being a family means being there for each other through everything, the bad and the good.” Jake slid his chair closer to me, pulling me into his embrace, <b>and </b>we just sat inpanionable silence for several minutes<b>. </b>Just <b>as </b>we were standing to bring our empty breakfast dishes into the kitchen, Patrick came around the corner, his phone pressed to his ear <b>and </b>visibly upset. When he <b>saw </b>us standing there, he turned and walked outside<b>, </b><b>still </b>listening to whoever had called him. <b>Jake </b>and I watched him with concern etched on our faces, wondering what was happening.
“Go get the others,” I told Jake, who nodded and hurried out of the room in search of his brothers. I stood there, anxious but not wanting to distract Patrick from his conversation. I knew he <b>would </b>tell us what was happening as soon as possible. Jake returned with his brothers just as <b>Patrick </b>ended the call and returned inside. <b>Without </b>saying anything, Patrick nodded his head in the direction of the living room, and we followed him silently. Once we were all seated, me between the twins holding Jake’s hand tightly in mine, Patrick paced for <b>several </b>seconds, ninning his fingers through his hair before turning and facing us. I <b>had </b>a bad feeling about what he was going to tell us, and when Josh reached for my hand, I took it without looking at him.
Patrick stood facing us, taking several deep breaths before beginning to speak.” Guys, I don’t know how to say this.” His eyes were full of such sadness and worry that I wanted to go to him, but I knew the brothers, especially the twins, were <b>going </b>to need me to. “You guys, I’m so sorry. Your <b>dad’s </b>boat has been found, but <b>your </b>parents were not on it; there was a lot of <b>blood</b>, though, <b>and </b>bullet holes everywhere.”
The four brothers were very still. For what seemed like forever, the only sound I heard <b>was </b><b>heavy </b>breathing. <b>The </b>only movement <b>was </b>Jake’s hand tightening <b>on </b>mine. Finally, Drew was the one to break the silence.
“Where was the boat found?”
“Jamie <b>said </b><b>a </b>local fishing boat spotted it drifting off the coast of Columbia. The fishermen noticed something wrong when they saw the boat was leaning to one side. When they saw the bullet holes, they called the local authorities.”
“So what do we do?” Mike asked, and we all turned to Patrick, who took a breath before speaking.
Jamie and Sean are on their way to Aruba, thest ce we know they were seen. Once they get there<b>, </b>Jaime will give me a call. It probably won’t be until tomorrow morning when we hear from him, though. Patrick cautioned. “We are supposed to be out of here by noon, so we still <b>have </b>about three hours. If someone would get my stuff together, I will call my <b>dad </b>and see if he can give us some advice.
We all nodded in agreement before standing, Jake was still clinging tightly to my hand, and Josh watched him with a worried look. Make your calls
Patrick, 1 will take care of your stuff, I told him…
“Thanks, love,” he said,ing to me and giving me a quick kiss before heading back outside, his phone already in his ear.
Once Patrick was outside, <b>Drew </b>and Mike came to where i was standing with the twins, and I was wrapped in a big group hug. Jake was shaking next to me, and 1 hugged him tighter. Drew reached across our group and gripped jake on the shoulder. “We <b>are </b>going to be ok, brother, I promise<b>, </b>Drew swore. jake just nodded, not saying anything.