Everlasting Bonds - COMPLETE

Chapter 22

POV: Lark

AN: Trigger Warning! There are themes of abuse, neglect, suicide ideation, and sexual assault in this chapter. Please take care of yourself and ask for help if you need it.

I stepped out into their entranceway and took a deep breath. I could hear Colt and Aidan's voices drifting down from the kitchen. It sounded like they were talking about work stuff.

"Honey we're home!", Luka shouted.

"Kitchen!", a chorus of voices shouted back. It sounded like Greyson was home too. They must have just been waiting for Luka and me to finish class.

The two of us wandered into the kitchen and my eyes widened at the snack display in front of me. There were ham, cheddar and pickle sandwiches, pretzels, fruit, mini cereal boxes, goldfish, and veggie straws. All my favorite lunch foods.

For the millionth time since reuniting with them, my heart felt like it wanted to explode.

"Well are you just going to stare at it or you going to eat? ", Aidan's joke had everyone laughing. I stuck my tongue out at him in response. My nerves were controlling my stomach right now. I didn't want to eat now and then puke later.

"I'm not really hungry right now. Can I save a couple of sandwiches for later though?" Colt rolled his eyes at my question. I could tell it annoyed him that I didn't treat their place like it was my home.

"Lark you can do whatever you want here. This is your home too. We can even make that spare bedroom upstairs your permanent room", Colt said. He was leaning against the kitchen island in a white t-shirt. The muscles in his arms seemed to involuntarily flex as he spoke.

I decided not to comment on that. I didn't know how to tell them that I liked having my own space to go back to. Somewhere just for me.

"Speaking of that room, can someone show me the way? I'd love to set my stuff down".

"I'll take you", Colt jerked his head in the universal dude way of saying follow me. The rest of the guys remained in the kitchen. Snacking and chatting away. It would be entirely too easy to just pretend we weren't having a family meeting. I knew I needed to get this out of the way.

Before I stepped out of the kitchen completely, I stopped and turned so that I was facing all of them.

"Look. I – I get why you all want to know what happened. I want to be honest and tell you the truth because I think you all deserve that. Can we just get this over with though? I want to rip it off like a band-aid", I stated.

"How about you go upstairs, put your stuff down, and take whatever time you need. When you come back down we will be in the living room ready to listen", Greyson said. His voice was soothing. It felt like a balm to the rash of anxiety that was taking over my body.

I gave him a quick nod and then turned to follow Colt.