Emilio

I tutored Karlene in exchange for her helping me with my gadget. Karlene worked on different specs for it so we could test it out.

"Where did you learn to do that?" I asked.

"It comes with the territory when you lived as a devil spawn. My brothers and I were always coming up with ways to wreak havoc. Wow. That sounds so strange to say," she breathed.

"Does it bother you that you returned as a female?"

"Does it bother you that you're not gay?" She arched her brow.

"I don't think it matters one way or another." I shrugged.

"Then it doesn't matter to me that I'm a woman, " she shrugged.

"That's good because I really like you."

Her lips curved slightly. "You do?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I do."

"I like you, too." Her cheeks turned a faint pink while she tried to hide the blush.

I moved my chair closer to hers before leaning in and pressing my lips to hers. Karlene placed her hands on my upper arms and returned my kiss. After a few minutes, we pulled back and got back to work while stealing glances from each other. I can see why Marissa likes Diego. These Harpers were something else.

******
Misty

I didn't want to know what everyone was doing when they were out of sight. I prefer not to see if you catch my drift. No one wants to wash their eyes out with bleach. Well, I don't.

The cousins and their girls were trying to locate Chet. Why can't they leave well enough alone? At least Chet isn't trying to tackle me for the billionth time. I say let the police do their job while we get a reprieve. Nope, they wanted to turn into Scooby-Doo and his faithful sidekicks.

Aiden, Diego, Eden, and Marissa were working on the machine when Diego wasn't working at the bakery, or they weren't attending class. That left Nash and me to own devices, which is never good.

You're thinking we're getting unholy. You couldn't be further from the truth. We were at the grocery store, stocking up since everyone forgot we needed to cook at home. Since we elected Aiden, Diego, and Noah, the designated cooks of our groups, they handed us a grocery list that was a mile long.

Nash stared at the grocery list. "My cousins are insane. Who the hell buys basil?"

"A lot of people do. Did you forget Deigo's dad is a chef? Food snob extraordinaire."

Nash lowered the list and looked at me. "Mags, we're in college. We don't work at a five-star restaurant. Who cares if we need rosemary?"

"Your cousins do." I shrugged.

Nash grabbed the basil and rosemary and tossed them into the car while rolling his eyes. Besides seasonings, we bought meat, pasta, sauces, and anything else we could get our greedy hands on. We had no clue what most of these ingredients were for. We just went by the grocery list.

I grabbed creamer so I wouldn't drink black coffee—yuck. I needed a little sweetness to start my day, and I couldn't do that without creamer. I closed the glass door, put the creamer in the cart, and noticed Nash watching me. "What?"

"I love this about us."

"You love us going grocery shopping?" I arched my brow.

Nash shook his head. "No, I love us spending time together. Even when we weren't dating, I still love being in your orbit."

"Ah, so sweet, yet so disturbing." I grinned.

"Mags, I'm trying to be romantic."

"Nash, we're in the refrigerator section, freezing our noogies off. Wait until we're not near the milk and sour cream."

Nash shook his head. "You're killing me, smalls."

I walked away. "At least you'll die a happy man!"

******
Valentino

I shook my head but couldn't help but chuckle at Mags' comebacks. She was feisty but in the best possible way. I should have never made her insecure because I was. It's a mistake I won't ever make again.

I pushed the cart and followed her as she added items. "By the way, what are we doing for Thanksgiving?"

"Eating turkey and stuffing ourselves so our pants no longer fit."

"No, I meant, where are we spending Thanksgiving?"

"Dad mentioned going to your house. Why?"

"Why my house?"

"To eat and watch Tori yell at the TV."

"You're using me for good food and cheap entertainment." I arched my brow.

"Pfft, I use you for your body. Get it straight."

"I feel so cheap." I rubbed my hand on my chest.

"Since when? You're not cheap. If you were, I need to trade up."

"Cute." I rolled my eyes.

Mags giggled.

We finished shopping so we could lug everything home. The girls took care of the shopping for their house while Mags helped me stock the guys' house.

After paying, I pushed the grocery cart to the SUV and loaded the cargo space. Mags returned the cart to the corral, and we climbed inside and headed to the house. We dragged everything inside and out everything away.

Emilio and Karlene came downstairs with their hair sticking up all over. Yeah, I didn't want to know what they were doing.

"Where is everyone?" Mags asked.

"Beats me." Emilio shrugged. "We were busy."

"You might want to check your face. You have a little lip gloss right there." Mags pointed to the lip gloss on the corner of Emilio's mouth.

His eyes widened before he rushed upstairs.

I glanced at Karlene with a raised brow. "Aren't you worried about your smudged lip gloss?"

"Not really." She shrugged.

"You have no shame." I rolled my eyes and put the food away.

"A man should always smudge your lipstick, not cause your tears. Or that's what I've heard." Confusion flooded Karlene's face.

"Smudged lipstick is fine. A baby, not so much," Mags said.

"Yeah, I'll pass on kids for now. I need to find direction, not a crib."

Emilio returned after cleaning off his guilt. "What are you talking about?"

"Lipstick and babies," Mags said.

His eyes expanded. "Babies! Who said anything about babies? All we did was kiss!" He held his palms out to Karlene.

"Remind us to duct tape your mouth shut if the police arrest us. You'll be the first to crack." She rolled her eyes.

"I'm not ready for a baby. I want to make that perfectly clear." Emilio raised his finger.

"You need to have sex for that to happen."

Emilio stared at Mags and blinked.

"Mags, you broke Emilio," I said.

He turned on his heels and left the kitchen. Karlene sighed and went after him.

I cocked my head to the side. "Some things never change with Marco. He's still clueless about relationships."

Mags threw her head back and laughed.

******
Misty

We finished putting the groceries away when the cousins waltzed into the kitchen.

"Where have you been?" Nash asked.

"Trying to find Chet," Nathan said.

"Any luck?"

"That would be a big fat no," Noah said, grabbing a pop from the fridge.

"In other words, Chet has disappeared without a trace," Nolan said.

"How does a lunkhead disappear without anyone noticing?" I asked.

"It's easy when you have a demon attached to you as a leech," Nixon said, opening a pack of cookies and taking a few.

"How did the grocery shopping go?" Nolan asked.

"Explain why we need basil and rosemary," Nash said.

"It adds flavors to dishes," Noah said.

"We're college students. No one cares if we eat flavored food."

"You forget a food snob raised Diego," Nixon said.

Nash rolled his eyes and shook his head.

While the boys were discussing the concepts of seasonings, I heard a thump at the front door and answered it. I stared at the half-naked girl lying on the doorstep.

"Christ, Maggie. Why are you jacking up our heating bill," Nixon said.

"Because there's a half-naked girl on our doorstep." I stared at the unconscious girl on the ground.

The guys hurried to the door and stared at the girl.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but this isn't a coincidence," Nathan said.

We looked at Nathan before shaking our heads.

*******
Valentino

Nix and I carried the girl inside, laid her on the couch, and covered her with a blanket. Nathan called the cops. They arrived ten minutes later, along with the paramedics. The paramedics loaded the girl onto a stretcher and wheeled her out of the house while the cops questioned us.

There wasn't much to tell them. Officer, we have no idea why there's a half-naked, unconscious girl on our doorstep. She just appeared there. Since the cops didn't believe us, they wanted to swab our cheeks. We refused. It's not like we put the girl there.

Dad wasn't happy when I called him. Grayson was even more unhappy when the police wanted a DNA sample without a warrant. Yeah, we're not stupid.

We told the cops to talk to our attorney if they needed anything else. Once the cops left, I sat in a chair and shook my head while the others sat around the living room.

"Do the cops think we're dumb? Who in the hell would agree to a DNA sample?" Nix asked.

"Someone that isn't familiar with the cops like we are," Nathan said.

"Whatever it is, this thing is leaving its calling card now," I said.

That didn't sit well with any of us. We would find out how horrifying the truth was when we returned from break to a lockdown and curfew.