Deep Waters

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"Babe, wake up."

I opened my eyes in the dimly lit bedroom to see Kason leaning over me. His dark-blue eyes peered down at me softly as he moved sections of hair out of my eyes. Fortunately, my hair just long enough to be able to stay tucked behind my ears. I took a deep breath and stretched out my arms before pulling my blanket up around my neck. "Lay down with me," I groggily demanded.

His sweet chuckle was music to my ears. "As much as I want to, I already let you sleep in long enough. It's after nine and the Pipers are here."

I groaned, the thought of getting out of bed sounded the worst. "Pipers?"

"Sam and Hazel's parents."

That just made me groan again, earning me another chuckle from him. I felt his warm lips on mine and it practically swept the fatigue away. My lips instinctively moved with his and the taste of mint filled my senses. I gripped his shirt and pulled him down against me. He moaned and kissed me harder but pulled away just a moment later. "Delilah," he laughed. "Get up."

"We both know this is more enjoyable than being outside meeting new random people who have authority over us," I spoke, not opening my eyes.

He kissed me again. "I would stay right here with you all day, but we have a life with excitement and mystery to experience."

His words made me laugh as I sat up while he climbed off my bed. "That's one way to describe our life."

Kason smiled brightly and winked at me. "Get dressed then meet us in the kitchen. "Susanne is making breakfast." With that, he left me alone. The fact that he trusted me to actually get myself out of bed surprised me, even considering after what went down yesterday. Maybe he was too confident that his kiss was powerful enough to suck my sleep away. I mean he was right, but he really shouldn't let that get to his head.

Reluctantly, I got myself out of bed and changed into a pair of jeans and a big T-shirt before making my way to join the others. It was easy to distinguish who were Sam and Hazel's parents since they were literally the only two people in the kitchen that I didn't know. As I walked into the room, I saw all of my friends sitting at the large dining table. A middle-aged man sat at the end of the table with a cup of coffee in his hand. His hair was void of any hair and his face and torso were on the rounder side, but he wasn't overweight. A woman stood in the kitchen, pulling a pan of biscuits out of the oven. She greeted me with a smile. Her long brown hair braided down to her lower back and her round brown eyes made her look like an older version of Hazel.

"Well, good morning, Darlin'!" the lady greeted me as I walked in. She placed the steaming pan on the stove and quickly took off her oven mitts. Within two seconds, she was in front of me and pulling me into a hug. I didn't return the favor, only tensed until she released me. "I'm Suzanne, Sam and Hazel's mother. You must be the beautiful Delilah." I slipped her a closed-lipped grin and nodded, not really knowing how to respond to that. "Go have a seat at the table; we were just about to start eating...well, say hello, Darrell."

The man sitting at the end of the table finally looked up at me and greeted me with a slight lift of his mug. "Mornin'." That was all I got from him, but truthfully I didn't mind at all. I didn't take my time placing myself beside Kason at the table and actually very quickly did so. I greeted my friends and brother with a small smile and nod, which I received in return from all of them.

For the next half an hour, we ate the perfectly made breakfast that Suzanna had made us and listened to her talk about their business trip that they had been on, and dealt with her forcing us into random conversations. From what I gathered, she greatly enjoyed the trip, and her and Darrell are in some kind of planning/marketing business. Although I did listen to her talk, I spent a lot of my focus on their little habits and characteristics. For example, throughout our short time together I already figured out that she scrunches her nose when she laughs, hiccups quietly after each sip of her drink, and is overly-friendly to everyone she comes across, and talks...a lot. Darrell on the other hand seemed the complete opposite. The only thing I needed to understand about him is that he is quiet, more interested in the cup of coffee in his mug than any of us, and just seemed to linger in his own little world most of the time. The very few times he chipped into the conversation he seemed nice at least. But something about them both just seemed weird, like something was a little off that I couldn't quite pinpoint. It made me wonder how Daniel knew these people in the first place.