True (True Believers #1)(56)
Author: Erin McCarthy

But I decided that if Tyler could sit in prison for a month, I could hold my shit together for the same amount of time in my relatively easy existence. I only had three days before my dad was picking me up for winter break, and after my bio final, I felt myself seized by motivation to get everything done before I left. I packed a few weeks’ worth of clothes and toiletries into a jumbo suitcase and propped it up by my closet. I cleaned all the food out of our mini-fridge. I bought a Christmas gift for Tyler, a hand-stamped metal disc on a chain. The letters spelled TRUE across the worn metal, and I thought it was cool and personal and his style. I got excited every time I glanced at it, tucked in a resealable plastic bag in my purse.

I also called Riley and made arrangements to go to the house to give Jayden a birthday gift and to bake them Christmas cookies. I had always been planning to do that, but now it felt more urgent.

It was odd to spend time with Riley, who offered to drive me to the grocery store to get the ingredients, though he did shake his head and say, “I don’t think U needs cookies. He’s getting a little thick in the middle.”

“Who cares?” I asked. “He likes sugar, and it’s not like he’s going to be dating a whole bunch of hotties and he needs six-pack abs. Let him have a Christmas cookie.”

Riley still looked skeptical. “Alright. But I’m not buying him new pants when his jeans don’t fit.”

“It’s his birthday. Give the guy a break.” I clutched my purse tightly to my chest in the cold car and hoped I had enough money for everything I was planning to do. It was going to be an expensive day. “Did you make the appointment?”

“Yes, for the third time. It’s at eight. You’re one of those organized people, aren’t you? I would have just shown up as a walk-in.”

“I like to be prepared.”

He glanced over at me. “Tyler’s lucky to have found you.”

The compliment caused my cheeks to burn. Riley wasn’t one to blow smoke up anyone’s ass. “Thanks.”

I bought cookie cutters in the shape of Santa and a snowman, and sprinkles and decorative icing in a squirt bottle. Riley scoffed, but an hour and a half later, I was quick to note that he spent a huge amount of time decorating the crap out of a Santa cookie.

“My Santa is pimped out,” he declared, holding up his handiwork for everyone to admire. He had filled in the beard and the hat with icing and shaken sprinkles on top of the iced cap. It was impressive.

“Whoa,” was Jayden’s opinion. He was biting his lip as he tossed sprinkles on a snowman until it looked like it had repeatedly rolled in a field of red and green grass clippings.

Easton was wearing more icing than his cookie, and I noticed that he kept slipping his finger into the mixing bowl to scrape up the remaining bits of dough and pop them in his mouth.

The kitchen smelled delicious, and the boys were happy. The only thing missing was Tyler, but I took pictures on my phone to show him.

Riley glanced at his phone. “We should get going here soon. We have a birthday surprise for U.”

“Really?” Jayden abandoned his cookie. “What is it?”

“It’s not a freaking surprise if I tell you, now is it? Let’s put these cookies away in your room so Mom doesn’t toss them, then we’ll go.” Riley helped me collect all the masterpiece creations and put them in a plastic storage container. I gingerly made layers so I didn’t mess them up.

“Okay, Easton, you take them in your room and lock the door behind you. I’ll be waiting to catch you.”

“What?” I asked, bewildered as Easton ran down the hall, the cookie container tucked under his arm. He went into his room, and I distinctly heard the lock click in place.

“If he locks the door from the inside, our mom can’t get in. Easton jumps out the window and I catch him. Then when we get home, I toss him back up. It’s foolproof.”

“Ingenious,” I agreed, giving him a grin. I could learn a thing or two from their survival techniques. They repeatedly just made the best of their situation.

“It’s how we hide food and money from her. Once she tried to kick the door down, but she broke her big toe so she never did that again.”

Jayden and I followed Riley out the back door and into the yard. Easton was sitting on the window ledge, legs dangling. When he saw Riley, he turned around so his backside was facing us.

“Alright,” Riley told him. “Jump.”

He dropped down and his brother caught him. Riley reached up and pulled the window down until it was almost closed.

“She doesn’t just try to go in the window?” I asked.

Riley scoffed. “That would require a ladder and coordination. Strength and ambition, none of which she has.”

“These guys are lucky they have you,” I told Riley quietly. “I can’t imagine what would happen to them without you and Tyler.”

“I can’t even think about it,” Riley said, his jaw set as we walked down the drive to his car. “Or I’ll punch a wall.”

Jayden immediately realized what was happening when we pulled up to the tattoo parlor. “Am I getting a tattoo?” he asked, bouncing in the backseat with excitement.

“Yep. You’re eighteen today so you don’t need permission. Rory and Tyler and I all chipped in to get your tat started. We can have them do the TRUE today, and we’ll have to add the Family part later when we have more money.”

“Oh, my God, this is awesome!” Jayden looked like he might die from pure bliss.

Seeing his joy made me grin. I was happy to be a part of this with him.

As we got out of the car, Riley reminded him, “You know this is going to hurt. Bad. You can’t be jerking around or it will get messed up. And if it hurts too much we can stop.”

“I can handle it!” Jayden sounded offended.

Riley rolled his eyes at me. “I hope this isn’t a disaster,” he said under his breath. “If he ends up smacking the tattoo artist, I will never live it down.”

After a round of greetings and wassups and Riley showing the guy his own tattoo and how he wanted it replicated on Jayden, they were ready to get started. Jayden sat on his hands to keep himself from jerking around. Easton had wandered away to look at pictures of the shop’s work hanging on the walls. Riley kept his hands on Jayden’s shoulders, and I stood next to him, trying to distract him by offering suggestions on what he could do on Christmas break from school.