Damaged (Boys of Winter #2) - Sheridan Anne Page 0,66

a proper tour. Unfortunately, Cruz’s idea of a tour is just pointing toward things. We’ve only just finished remodeling. We’re lacking in furniture, but you’re the first person through, so I’d love to show you.”

“Of course,” I say, warmth spreading through my chest at the fond way she speaks of her son, something I wish I could have experienced with my own mother. “I’d love that.”

She starts to walk toward me when she stops. “Oh, how terribly rude of me. I’m getting all excited about the tour that I forgot to offer you a drink. What can I get you, love? Water? A soda?”

Cruz grunts. “Water,” he says, his voice filled with authority. “She can’t drink anything else just yet.”

His mother’s brows drop as she meets his stare. “Excuse yourself,” she demands, putting the asshat in place. “Since when do you have the right to tell a lady what she can and cannot drink? If Elodie, the leader of our people, decided she would like a chocolate fudge ice-cream sundae, mixed into a milkshake by Italian gangsters and served through a twenty-four-carat gold straw, then you better go to the ends of the earth to make that happen for her.”

I blink a few times, staring at the way she so effortlessly put him in his place, only in this instance, it’s not called for. “It’s more than alright,” I tell her, stepping forward to stand by Cruz’s side. “He’s right. I should only be drinking water. I’m sure you just caught my little display going up and down the street on my bike.”

“Ahh, yes,” she says, her eyes flicking between me and her son. “I certainly did catch that, but I wasn’t sure that it was my place to ask.”

I shrug my shoulders, not really knowing what I can and can’t share with her—but screw it. I like her and I’m in a sharing mood. “I just had a little run in with another hitman and the bottom of my pool.”

She sucks in a sharp gasp as she races forward and takes my hands. “Oh, you poor, sweet, sweet girl. What happened? Are you okay? I heard about the attack in the woods. I can’t understand how these awful men could do that to such a young lady. You’re barely even an adult with so much already on your shoulders.”

I give her a warm smile, never having experienced an older woman showing me this kind of motherly love and getting emotional over my well-being. “Thank you,” I murmur, instantly deciding that this woman before me is now my favorite adult … ever. “That means a lot to me, but for the most part, I’m fine. He had me under the water until everything went black, and the next thing I knew, Grayson was above me forcing the water out of my lungs and he was dead on the other side of the pool.”

She gasps, and in the blink of an eye, her arms are wrapped tightly around me with tears sitting heavily in her eyes. “Oh, Elodie. Your mother would have been sick to hear the awful things that have been happening to you. How are you holding up?”

“Surviving,” I tell her, not expecting the raw emotion welling up inside of me.

“If you ever need to talk or just want to get something off your chest, even if it’s to complain about the ridiculousness of my son, I’m here. No matter what, you can always count on me.”

“Thank you,” I whisper. “That means a lot. I’ve never had someone that I could talk to like that.”

She takes me by the shoulders and holds me back to look me in the eyes. “Consider yourself my new adopted daughter,” she tells me proudly before looking across at her son. “Cruz, meet your brand-new sister.”

I bite my tongue at the horror that stretches across his face. “No,” he says, shaking his head and grabbing my arm. He steps into me and murmurs, keeping it loud enough for his mother to hear. “Back away slowly. Girlfriend, fuck buddy, even enemies I’m okay with, but I draw the line at siblings. It ain’t gonna happen.”

His mother laughs, but before I can say anything else, he’s pulling me back the way we came. “Where’s dumb and dumber?” he asks her.

She shakes her head and shrugs her shoulder. “Who would know? You know how your brothers get when we come back home. They’re probably over with the Winston boys again. Who knows? But if you happen to