Trace + Olivia Series Boxed Set (29 page)

“They would never think that,” Trace sighed, glancing both ways before turning out of the neighborhood.

“How do you know?” I sulked. My nerves were getting the best of me. I had
never ever
met a guy’s parents, because I had never dated before. This was completely new for me. I didn’t know what to do or what to say.

“Because, I know everything,” he winked.

I fanned my face. “It’s really hot in here.” I wiggled in my seat. “I think my butt’s on fire.”

Trace chuckled and pushed a button. “Sorry, the seat warmers
are
kinda hot.”

“How far away does your mom live?” I asked, chewing nervously on my fingernail.

Trace grabbed my hand and pulled it away from my mouth. “Not that far.”

“That’s vague,” I frowned.

“About fifteen to twenty minutes from here,” he shrugged.

“And your grandparents will be there too? Are they your mom’s parent’s or your dad’s?” I rattled.

“They’re my dad’s parents and they—uh—live with my mom and brother. Or my mom and brother live with them. Whichever way you prefer to look at it,” he ran a hand through his hair.

“Um-okay, because that’s not confusing at all,” I muttered.

He chuckled. “It used to be my grandparents’ house but they gave it to my dad. They continued to live there though.”

“Gotcha,” I mumbled, staring out the window at the snow falling.

We both grew quiet and I silently coached myself that everything would be okay, and I wouldn’t make a complete and total fool out of myself.

I never did well with meeting new people and I knew my anxiety would be ten times worse with meeting Trace’s family.

I chewed nervously on my bottom lip, and it began to bleed, but I didn’t care. It distracted me and that’s exactly what I wanted. I’d chew right through it if I had to.

We drove deep into a thickly wooded area with large houses every few acres or so.

Finally, Trace came to a plain black mailbox, and turned in the driveway, but I still couldn’t see the house. The forest surrounded us and I was afraid the craggily branches on the nearby trees would scratch the shiny black finish of the car.

The driveway, or maybe it was a road, went on
forever
. We still hadn’t come to an end five minutes later.

“Are you really taking me to your mom’s house or did you just drive me out here to murder me where no one can hear me scream?” I gulped.

Trace’s laughter filled the car. “You’re funny.”

Actually, I was being serious. We were in the middle of nowhere and the snow was coming down in thick white flakes that blanketed the ground like a fluffy blanket. At this rate, it would snow six or eight inches. In this area, that was rare, and akin to the zombie apocalypse.

But seriously, if Trace wanted to off me, all he’d have to do—

“Oh my God,” I gasped as the trees finally opened up.

High up on the peak of the hill, we were currently driving up to, was the biggest house—no, mansion—I had ever seen. Avery’s house was huge but could have easily fit inside this one
twice
.

It was huge…gymungo…gargantuan...imposing. And I was all out of words to describe it. It was all brick with tall windows. A high fence hid the backyard but I was sure there was a massive pool back there and whatever else rich people put in their yards.

My mouth was hanging open and I was pressed as close to the glass of the windshield as possible.

“This isn’t real,” I muttered.

I couldn’t get over the sheer size of the place. I had seen big houses before but never anything like this. It looked like something that should belong to a celebrity not a normal person.

“
This
is where you grew up?” I squeaked.

“Yeah,” Trace replied, chuckling at my reaction.

“People live here?” I gasped.

He snorted. “That’s typically what people do, you know, live in houses.”

“But it’s so
big!
” I exclaimed, squinting my eyes, as if that alone would make the mansion smaller.

Trace scratched the back of his head and muttered, “I know.”

“I thought you said your dad was a mechanic?” I accused.

“He was…but it wasn’t his job, just a hobby,” he parked the car in front of a four-car garage attached to the mansion. There was another four-car garage detached from the house with what looked like an apartment overhead.

“
Who are you?
” I glared at him. I felt like he had lied to me. I thought Trace was just a normal guy, with normal parents, a normal childhood, and
this
was anything but normal.

He ground his teeth together, and yanked the keys out of the ignition, fiddling with them. “I knew you would react like this and that’s exactly why I didn’t tell you.”

“This is a big thing to keep from me!” I pointed to the house. “You-you’re-ugh!”

“This,” he pointed to the mansion, “changes
nothing
, Olivia. I’m still me.”

“But—” I gasped, “—you were raised by Daddy Warbucks or something!” I exclaimed, still gaping open-mouthed.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know how to explain this to you.”

“How about you use your words for starters!” I was getting angry now. I had been nervous enough to meet his family, toss in this, and I was close to having a heart attack. This was completely unexpected and it made me realize just how little I really did know about Trace. If he had kept this a secret, what else was he hiding?

He licked his lips and took a deep breath. “I come from old money-”

“That makes me feel so much better!” I snapped sarcastically, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Are you going to listen to what I have to say or not?” He waited for me to nod before continuing. “Like I said, I come from old money. It goes back several generations. I was never that interested in our family history so I don’t know how many Greats it might be. Anyway, Great-Granddaddy-Whatever made his fortune during World War I when he invented some new way to make bullets or some shit like that, and it made him a lot of money, and the business boomed from there.”

“This is insane,” I whispered.

“I am not this,” he pointed to the house. “I am me,” he shoved a finger into his chest, “and my family history does not define me. I can’t change where I come from, Olivia, and I wouldn’t want to,” he pulled at the ends of his hair. “I have a good, loving, family that is nothing like the uppity people you’re thinking of,” he growled. “They’re normal everyday people. Don’t you think I’m normal?” He pleaded.

I nodded.

He took a deep breath. “I don’t want you to look at me differently because of this. I thought springing it on you would be the best route,” he rubbed his chin, “but I can see now I was wrong.”

“I’m sorry,” I placed a hand on his cheek and forced him to look at me. “I shouldn’t have reacted like that. It upset me because I feel like I’ve shared so much with you, and if you didn’t tell me about this, what else are you not telling me.”

“Fair enough,” he whispered. “But
please
go inside and don’t freak out. I know it’s a big house and it seems overwhelming, but my family is perfectly normal, in fact,” he grinned, “we might be a little bit redneck.”

“I doubt that,” I rolled my eyes and a small laugh escaped my lips.

“You’d be surprised,” he grinned. “We better get in there before they come out to see what’s taking us so long.”

“You’re right,” I looked at the time on my phone and saw that we had been talking for ten minutes.

“Oh, and Olivia?” He asked, leaning towards me.

“Yeah?” I replied feeling a little sick knowing I was about to meet the Rockefeller’s of Virginia.

“I’ve thought of something that might distract you from your nerves,” his voice had grown husky and his eyes were a dark forest green.

“What?” I squeaked.

“This,” he murmured, and grabbed the back of my neck, pulling my lips against his. He kissed me thoroughly, leaving me flustered when he pulled away.

“Was that sufficient?” His lips turned up in a lopsided grin.

“What?” I muttered.

“Yep, it worked,” he hopped out of the car and jogged around to open the passenger door.

I stepped onto the driveway, my feet sinking through three inches of snow, and the little white fluff balls quickly gathered in my hair and on my shoulders.

Trace looked up, sticking out his tongue to catch a flake. I watched one fall onto his eyelash where it immediately melted and he wiped it away.

Once he was successful in catching a snowflake, he grinned at me impishly, like a small boy.

“I had to,” he chuckled and held out his hand for me to take.

We hesitantly made our way to the garage, cautious of the slippery ground. Trace flipped open a panel, and entered a code, a second later, one of the garage doors began to raise.

I took a deep breath, tempted to beg him to kiss me again. My heart had plummeted to my stomach and my stomach had dropped entirely out of my body and was currently flopping around on the ground.

“Breathe,” Trace reminded me.

I let out a gust of air.

“Breathe,” he repeated as he twisted the knob on the door and leaned over to push a button that closed the garage door.

With a firm grip on my hand, he led me into the house.

It didn’t take long for me to get confused. The house was massive. We passed by so many open and closed doors that I quickly lost count.

The wide hallway opened up and we stood in a large foyer with the highest ceiling I had ever seen and a shiny marble floor. I turned around, taking in the two massive staircases, and tilted my head back to gaze at a chandelier that was bigger than my car.

“Wow,” I gasped in awe. “Are you sure we’re still in Virginia?”

“I’m sure,” he chuckled.

“This place belongs in Beverly Hills,” I murmured, turning around to face the massive front door. “I’ve never seen a house like this before…only on TV and in magazines.” My mouth was open in awe.

“It’s alright,” he shrugged with a laugh.

“Alright?” I smacked his shoulder.

He grinned. “Okay, maybe it’s
more
than alright.”

“I’d say,” I whispered, peering to the right of the staircases where there was a living room. A gas fireplace was lit there, and I watched the flames for a moment, admiring the way they illuminated the room with an orange glow.

“Enough gawking,” Trace grabbed my hand, leading me to a different part of the house. I think he was purposely trying to get me lost so that if I decided to run, I wouldn’t be able to find my way out.

Suddenly, Trace stopped, and I would’ve fallen over my feet if he hadn’t had a firm hold on my hand.

“I really am sorry that I didn’t tell you,” he cupped my cheek with his free hand.

“It’s okay,” I sighed. “I understand why you didn’t.” I glanced around at the spacious hallway and expensive fixtures. “It’s a bit much.”

“Still, you were right. You’ve been honest with me, Olivia, and I didn’t return the favor,” he rubbed his thumb over my cheek. “I won’t make that mistake again.”

“Alright,” I breathed, my eyes fluttering closed as his thumb skirted over my lips.

He kissed me lightly, and I jerked back, eyes popping open. “Trace! Someone might see!”

“You’re so shy,” he chuckled, “it was just a little kiss.”

“Yeah, a kiss that your mom, grandma, grandpa, or brother could’ve walked in on,” I ticked each of them off on my fingers.

“You worry too much. Live a little,” he grinned and pushed open the double doors we had stopped in front of.

The doors opened into a formal dining room, that much was clear, but I couldn’t look around. Instead, my gaze was focused on the four people sitting at the table, looking right at me.

Trace cleared his throat. “Hi, mom.”

She smiled at her son and then smiled at me. “You must be Olivia. Trace can’t seem to stop talking about you.”

My cheeks colored at her words and my eyes darted to the ground.

“Mom,” Trace groaned.

“Don’t mom me,” she eyed her son. “It’s true and it makes me so happy that Trace has finally found someone he cares so much about,” she addressed me.

“Thank you,” I squeaked.

“Stop being rude boy,” a gruff man with thinning gray hair said from the end of the table, “introduce us to your girl.”

Trace coughed. “Olivia, that old geezer is my Gramps, Warren.”

“Just call me, Gramps,” Warren smiled. “No need to get all fancy.”

Trace pointed to the distinguished older lady beside his grandpa. She had curly, shoulder-length, graying blonde hair. Her eyes and smile were kind when she looked at me. She had a calming affect that instantly put me at ease. “And that lovely lady is my Grammy, Eleanor.”

Eleanor smiled and surprised me by scooting her chair back to hug me. Trace released my hand and I hugged his grandma back. “It’s so nice to meet you, sweetie,” she held me at arm’s length, “and call me Grammy or Ellie, it’s up to you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Ellie,” I smiled back.

She took her seat and Trace pointed to his mom. “That’s my mom, Lily.”

Lily, like Eleanor, stood to hug me. She was on the shorter side with straight dark brown hair and bright blue eyes.

“It’s nice to meet you, Lily,” I whispered when she pulled away. My voice had all but completely left me.

“And that fucktard—”

“TRACE!” Lily and Ellie screamed while Warren chuckled.

“—is my brother, Trenton,” Trace grinned.

“But everyone calls me Trent,” the guy spoke up. He looked a lot like his brother, with dark hair and expressive eyes, but while Trace’s were green, Trent’s were a bright blue like his mom’s. A black baseball cap sat atop his head and he had black gauges in his ears. His grin was infectious, with small dimples indenting each cheek, and I was sure that the girls at his school dropped at his feet. Trace had the whole hot bad boy thing going for him but Trent had it even more. The sleeves of his blue sweatshirt were rolled up to his elbows and at the edge of the fabric, I saw the start of a tattoo that I was sure went up the rest of his arm.

“Hi,” I waved.

“Now that introductions have been made,” Warren grinned, “you can sit down and eat.”