Chapter 233

Chapter 233
"Break it up you two rascals," Kade chimed in and plucked Jake up off of me, holding him over his shoulder. I watched as he brought Jake back into the living room, and by what I could hear, dump him onto the couch and sit directly on top of him after.

"Hey," I started, standing up and bringing my hands back to Asmodeus's waist, "you're not gonna lose custody of him." I assured him, noticing the sad look that had spread on his face when Jake was out of the room.

"I hope you're right," he replied, looking over my sure features.

"I always am," I grinned, and he went to kiss me again, but my phone started ringing.

I saw it was my mom, and pulled out of his embrace to hold it up and show him, too. He gave me one last kiss on the forehead and walked away to go back in the living room.

"Hello," I picked up when I was alone again.

"Hi sweetie, I was just calling to check in and see if you needed me for anything before I go in with Connor- this is going to be sort of a long appointment they just told me and apparently they want me in there this time, so," she replied, and I took a sip of my water, feeling a little dehydrated.

"No I'm good," I replied, then realized that I didn't actually feel very good. Emotionally, I mean. It had been a while since I felt good. I didn't know what the hell made me say it, but something in me did- "actually, um... mom?"

"Yeah?" She responded, and I could hear Connor greeting someone on the other end- presumably the therapist. They were at his scheduled appointment.

"Do they, um, offer therapy to all ages or just kids?" I asked her, fiddling with my shirt to calm my nerves as I talked. I could tell that she seemed to know why I was asking, since she paused before answering.

"Not just kids," she told me, and I nodded even though she couldn't see me. "Why do you ask?" She asked, despite sounding like she already knew. I swallowed the lump in my throat. I was proud of myself for feeling strong enough to ask for help, but that wasn't making it any easier.

"Well, um, I was thinking about starting up therapy again," I tried to comment matter-of-factly, but a few moments of silence followed, and I knew that it was resonating strongly with my mom.

"I think that's a great idea, honey," she said, and I could tell it was through a smile. My lips upturned slightly, despite my nerves still being heightened.

"So, uh, do you think you could ask about setting something up for me? I can pay since you're tight on money and paying for Connor's-"

"Don't be silly, Carla," she chuckled, "I can pay for it. I'd pay anything and sell my soul if it helped either of you two be happy," she added, and I smiled.

"Well that's a bit intense," I joked, and she laughed. "I love you, mom," I expressed my gratitude, meaning it one hundred times over.

"I love you honey, Connor wants to make cookies tonight so let's do that later," she began wrapping up the call.

"Hell yeah," I agreed and smiled again, "love you, bye."

When we hung up, the small smile stayed on my lips as I grabbed the remaining drinks that Asmodeus hadn't taken into the living room and made my way back to them all.

Kade and Layla were aggressively "singing" songs from The Lion King at each other, presumably still arguing about it, and I laughed as I set the drinks down and plopped down next to an exhausted-looking Asmodeus.

My gaze shifted over to the beer in Jessica's hand, and my heart rate picked up slightly. As per usual, though, Asmodeus must have noticed this, since he reached up to bring me down next to him and offered me the lemonade he had been drinking. I smiled slightly at him and took a sip of it.

He put his arm around me as I leaned into him on the couch, playing with his fingers casually as they rested on my stomach. I looked up at Asmodeus and smiled to myself before looking over at the rest of them.

It's not like I thought life would be totally easy going forward, or that just because I had these guys the hard times would go away or hurt less... but I did know that no matter how hard things got, we would at least be able to able to rely on the fact that we had each other to turn to.

And that ounce of golden hope had already proven to save me more than once.

I started laughing at the pure ridiculousness that Layla and Kade always unlocked within each other and saw Asmodeus smile down at me out of the corner of my eye. He brought me in even closer to him and I gladly let it happen.

A few minutes later, Madison and Josie arrived, and Savannah immediately jumped in on the Lion King argument with equal craziness as the other two.

Yeah.. they were definitely my happy place.