Euphoria (Arrangement Series Book 4)

by King Ellie

  “Uncle Nix! Uncle Nix!” Kal yells out, trying to get my attention.

  “Kal, chill. Let’s call the nurse first and get this dude checked out, then you can bug him all you want.” Ares presses the button for the nurse.

  I look down at Kal; he looks like his father and has his mother’s light blue eyes. I can’t believe I haven’t seen him for over 6 months. I frown. “I missed you, buddy.”

  Kal’s eyes get teary, “Why didn’t you come see?”

  “Give me your hand, Kal.”

  Kal reaches out, grabbing my hand. He’s tall for his age, courtesy of that Moralis gene of tall men. Ares stands at 6’6 like me. Kal holds my hand as the nurse comes in. She smiles at me and checks over me while announcing that the doctor is coming soon.

  “Heard your wife gave everyone hell,” Ares announces.

  “Bambi…” I call her name out and as if I summoned her, she comes barging in with an angry-looking Bowie. Did I die or something? I smile at them and Bowie glares at me.

  I take her in as she stands there frozen on the spot. Her bottom lip is poked out like she’s about to cry. Her hair is disheveled, she looks like she hasn’t slept in days; bags under her eyes and she’s wearing baggy clothes. Who the fuck’s shirt is she wearing?

  “Who’s fucking shirt is that?” I say, not caring that my throat hurts.

  Bambi blinks. “Nixy…” She calls out but still, she hasn’t moved closer.

  We stare at each other for a while. The doctor comes in and is able to maneuver around her, but she still doesn’t move. Lennox is talking to me about what happened during surgery and how I practically died on the operating table, but I can’t take my eyes away from Bambi. She still hasn’t answered my question. Does she think I’ll let her get away with this? Because I really won’t.

  “Markos!” I hear Ares calling my name.

  I slowly take my eyes away from her and look at Ares. “What?” I grit through my teeth.

  “Are they not pumping enough morphine in your system? Why the hell are you so damned talkative? Dr. Nash, you were saying?”

  Lennox snickers. “I’m saying that he needs to rest, don’t do too much and we’re going to need you to take special care of that wound. Don’t let it open up again. Be very careful. Will you be staying by yourself or will your family take care of you?”

  I face Bambi again. “My wife will take care of me.”

  “Wife?” Lennox’s brow furrows, then it’s like it clicks. “Ah, the little lady who cursed me out and threatened to kill me?” He asks. “I thought she was married to…” I know what he’s asking, but I don’t care to answer him right now.

  “She did?” I ask. Bambi’s ears become red, and that’s how I know she’s blushing. “Did she yell at you too?” I ask Bowie, curious as ever, because Bambi has never yelled a day in her life. He hasn’t moved from his wall stance and he narrows his eyes at me. He’s worse than Bambi.

  “Yeah,” Lennox answers. “She saved your life.”

  “She did?” I’m surprised. “My girl.” I state with pride then I think about the fact that she yelled at Lennox. I smirk. “Give me a copy of the video, I know everything is recorded. I want to see it. Email it to me.”

  “No…” She says timidly.

  “Come to me.” I command and bite my lip as Bambi seems like she’s waking up as she comes over to my side. “You saved me, baby?” I say as I take my empty hand and reach out for her hand.

  Everyone is oddly quiet as Bambi wraps her hand in mine. Once the contact happens, she breaks. The tears I know she was holding back spills. It makes me want to laugh because it reminds me of my nephew. Bambi doesn’t hesitate this time as she leans in and hugs me. “I thought I’d never see you again… You, you died.” She sobs.

  Against better judgement, I laugh then groan from the pain it causes.

  “This is the wife, huh?” Ares asks. I look at him with a smirk on my face. He grabs Kal and holds him in his arms because he cries too after Bambi.

  “Yeah, she’s a fucking big baby,” I answer.

  At this, Bambi holds me tighter. “Shut up,” she whispers.

  I’m shocked. She’s never told me that before. “Oh yeah, little deer?” I ask.

  She sniffles but doesn’t let go. “Yeah, shut up because you scared me and I’m mad at you.”

  I kiss her shoulder. “Thank you for saving me.” I say to her. “Now, I’ll never leave you because you brought me back.”

  “Good. Now, you need to fix Bowie,” she whispers.

  “Why?”

  “You broke him or something. He hasn’t said a word. I’m worried about him.”

  “Okay.”

  “Phoenix…” she whispers, once more.

  “Yes, Bambi?”

  “I love you.”

  “It better not be because I almost died, woman,” I whisper back to her.

  She chuckles. “No.”

  “Okay good, cause I love you too.”

  I’m never letting go of her again and I see the door open again. The rest of my family comes in; Orion, Andres, Ainslee and Jagger. The way Orion is looking at me, I know he’s going to kick my ass as soon as I’m feeling better. The bastard hates that I almost died before him. I smile at him and he rolls his eyes but smiles back. I’m happy to see him too.

  Bambi

  I watch as everyone talks to Phoenix. I smile while blending in the background. The one I wanted for him. He has it. He has love from people who want him; a family. My heart warms that he wasn’t alone through all of this but then everything in me freezes. I look at Bowie who is still leaning against the wall watching everything happen. I tilt my head, what’s wrong with him? He pivots and faces me. He stares back at me as if I owe him words, but then he shrugs his shoulders. He winks at me but doesn’t smile. I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I miss the playful Bowie. I don’t like this one because he’s making me realize that while Phoenix and I had a family, he didn’t. Who took care of him when he got sick? Who went to his shows to support him? Who told him they loved him just because it was him, and not the rockstar? I clear my throat, trying not to break down and cry. I shut my eyes. It hurts that I didn’t see him genuinely smile all these years. The smile I saw in the tabloids and stuff wasn’t real. How could I not know? I know him from the inside out. I know everything about him but I pretended not to. I don’t remember seeing him make any connections or anything like that. The woman he was in a relationship with, that disastrous thing ended in flames with Bowie being flamed not only from her getting caught because she posted her drunken nights on her social media but also the media making it seem like it was because he stepped out on her with a coworker.

  I know I had to leave, but sometimes I wish I was born into a different family, so I didn’t have to leave my husbands. I stare at Bowie hard, knowing that he knows I’m doing it. He looks at me again and I mouth what’s wrong and he smirks cruelly but instead of talking; he looks down at the baggy T-shirt as if wondering the same question as Phoenix. My husbands and their one-track mind.

  The door opening prompts me to check out who is coming in. The girl who I saw at the gallery comes in. Now, I recognize her, she’s Esme LeClaire, a founder’s family. From the way she asked him that question at the gallery, I knew something had gone on between the two. Esme looks graceful as ever, and beautiful. She walks over greeting everyone and I move further back wanting to disappear. I watch as she goes over to Phoenix. She leans in, giving him a quick hug.

  “Hey Markos,” she says once she’s standing again.

  He gives her a smirk. “Hey. Glad you could make it,” he jokes with her.

  “Only you would get attention by doing something so drastic. Such a drama queen,” she jokes back.

  Phoenix laughs but then winces. “It hurts you know, so how about you keep your corny ass jokes to yourself?”

  Esme laughs with everyone else.

  I tilt my head. I don’t think he’s ever joked with me before. Maybe he doe
sn’t see it or refuses to. Maybe he’s moved on but is just fixated on me. It makes me wonder though, could I let him go? Is that possible after seeing him die in front of my face? Can I live without him after seeing him again? I don’t think I can, but it doesn’t mean I can’t try, right? I’d do anything for Phoenix and Bowie, even let them go so they could both be happy. As if he can read my mind, his eyes abruptly shift to mine. He’s looking at me as if I yelled my thoughts out. I break eye contact and rush into the bathroom; I shut the door quietly making sure no one else especially Bowie noticed.

  This bathroom is luxurious. Almost like a damn suite, there’s even a damn bathtub. Who would leave the hospital at this point? I feel relief as I notice that the bathtub can be obscured by a shower curtain hanging from the ceiling. I settle into the bathtub and pull the curtains so I can get some peace.

  The bathtub swallows my smaller frame and I sink in. I shut my eyes and lean my head back, thinking about my life off the Island and how empty it was. I had loving foster parents, yes, but I felt like I was walking around with a missing limb or a hole in my heart. Yet, the second that I’m back here and when I laid eyes on Phoenix and Bowie again, I felt like everything in me was restored. That it made sense to breathe again. I sigh squeezing my eyes shut because I don’t want to think about that anymore. Not even five minutes later, I hear the bathroom door open and shut loudly.

  “Someone’s in here, can you give me a minute, I’ll be right out,” I say just so they can leave me alone.

  “What did I tell you about looking away from me, Bambi?”

  I don’t open my eyes, nor do I pull back the curtains. I hear as Phoenix yanks the curtains back but then I feel a thud on my body. I open my eyes and the curtains have been pulled from the rod they were hanging from on the ceiling. Both the rod and the curtains are in the tub with me. Phoenix grabs my jaw and makes me look up at him. “Get up,” He grits through his teeth.

  I know that he’s still in pain, it’s written all over his face. I get up and the first thing I do is yell out. “Mikonos!” I know that wasn’t what he was expecting but his brother needs to put him back in that damn bed.

  Phoenix says nothing but glare at me. In his eyes, there is a promise to become crueler than he’s been to me and to make me regret calling his big brother in here. The promise to destroy me beyond how I’m standing right now and that thread that I’m hanging by is going to be broken for good. I know he’s going to break me, make me cry, make me regret ever stepping foot back on Founder’s Island.

  The door opens and shuts, “let her go, Nix,” Orion says.

  At his words, Phoenix makes his hold tighter and he smirks when I wince. The last promise I see in his eyes is simple. I’ll regret looking away from him and through all this, a sane person would leave, but I can’t.

  He lets me go roughly and I breathe hard. “Phoenix…” Orion calls him with a warning undertone in his voice.

  Phoenix shuts his eyes but when he opens them back up, they’re vacant but the smirk is still there, still so present and ready to harm. “Come,” He says to me.

  My body shudders, feeling his word cause goosebumps all over my body.

  “Give her a minute, you get your ass back in bed before I drag you out.” Orion threatens.

  Phoenix’s smirk turns into a grin because he knows I’m going to defy him. That I’m going to listen to Orion and not him. I’ve never seen a man grin so cruelly, so sinister, yet I won’t leave town. This time, I’m staying because beyond those promises in his eyes, I see it. I see the pain, the hurt and the broken way that he thinks he’s restored. He may have healed from the way he was broken as an 18-year-old, but now, he’s broken for a different reason--me.

  Bowie

  I already expected that Phoenix’s crazy ass would get out of bed and follow Bambi. It’s something that’s like a side effect for us. We can just tell when she’s about to do something or when she’s doubting us. I don’t blame her. She thinks Esme is a suitable match for Phoenix but she doesn’t realize that Esme may be a great person but Phoenix hides himself from her. They were two people who seemed like they kicked it off as friends and one thing led to another, then it ended with mutual respect. An adult thing.

  When Phoenix comes back in the room from the bathroom, I break and snicker. I know he’s mad that she called his brother on him.

  “Next time, you’ll chill the fuck out and wait,” I say.

  He rolls his eyes. “Fuck you.”

  I laugh. “If you weren’t already in the hospital, I’d knock all your teeth out to put you back in here for scaring us to death. Dramatic ass just needed to die, huh?” I cock a brow.

  Phoenix sits back in the bed not wanting any of our help. He glares at me, but then his face softens as he lays back. The meds must be kicking in again. “I’m sorry I worried your bitch ass, but last time I checked, I have a wife to nag me.”

  His apology calms me and makes me realize that I was just scared that my best friend was going to be gone from this world. “Maaan, the last time I left you two alone, you took my girl and shipped her off somewhere.”

  Phoenix snickers and the other people in the room, besides those who are aware of what’s going on, look at us like some undercover freaks. “Get her out of that fucking shirt,” he says and whatever else he was going to say is slurred as he drops out again.

  I shake my head. I go to the bathroom and open the door, “Bams, stop hiding from the both of us and come with me.”

  Her eyes widen. “I wasn’t hiding,” she lies.

  I cock my brow and she shrugs. “Hijo de Puta, huh?” I say to her as she comes right under my arm. I walk out with her, not caring about what the others think.

  “I wasn’t myself,” she mumbles.

  I shake my head and face her again once we’re out of the room. “No, it is you. I want to see more of her. She seems fierce and I want a little taste of her.”

  “Even when you have a shitty attitude like you did a minute ago?” She asks.

  I snicker. “Especially then. Gives me a reason to spank you. For now, let’s get you out of this distasteful t-shirt. Don’t wear another man’s clothes unless it belongs to one of us.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” she jokes.

  I pull her to me and place an arm over her shoulder again. I kiss the top of her head and I bring her to get changed. She’s going to need some food to be ready for Phoenix and me.

  Chapter 13

  Phoenix

  “Come back to us and I’ll marry you guys. I’ll do it.”

  I replay the video of Bambi pumping my chest trying to save my life. I smirk and play it one more time. I’ve been on ‘bedrest’ for the week, but I don’t know what the hell that means. I don’t rest, it’s not in me. I watch as Bambi walks back into my bedroom, I look up at her as she stands there with the gauze and everything else, she needs to change the bandage. I’m grateful that it’s only one of them since Bowie had to go back to finish his set. He’ll be back to nag my ass right in time for the wedding. He wanted to cancel the end of his tour but both Bambi and I threatened him. He listened but has not stopped calling every time he’s on break or in between interviews. He’s worse than our wife.

  I pause the video and sit up, letting my bedsheets glide down my body. Bambi comes into the lion’s den unprepared and I’m grateful because I’m so ready to devour her.

  Watching her come closer, sitting down in the space that I’ve given her and avoiding my eyes while she avoids touching my bare upper body. There’s only one wound to change, I smile as she slowly begins unwrapping the bandage around my torso. I sit up, leaning into her space as she reaches behind to remove it all.

  “I came back,” I whisper in her ear.

  She masks her shock really well, but I bite her shoulder hard, causing her to yelp. “What?” She breathlessly whispers.

  “You told me to come back, and you’d marry us. You’d do it, you said.” I wrap my arm around her waist, lifting her up and placing her on top o
f me.

  “I need to change the bandage,” she says looking down.

  “Yeah?”

  “Yes,” she says firmly.

  I pull her closer to me. I trap her in my hold and groan as I feel her heat pulsating through the sheets and her tights. She has no idea how naked I am under here and she’s about to find out. I sink my fingers in her hair with my other hand and she shudders. I form a fist and pull her head back. “Where’s that girl hiding, Bambi?”

  “What girl?” She asks.

  I smirk. “The one from the hospital. The one cursing everyone out for me. I want to meet her. Fuck, although the side of you I see all the time is my ultimate favorite, she turns me on too. I didn’t think seeing you like that would make me want to nut in your mouth so bad. Fuck baby, yell at me like you yelled at the doctor. Do it,” I grit, my dick getting hard at the memory.

  “No,” she replies. Bambi isn’t a wildcard, she never has been until now.

  “Did you just fucking tell me no?” I ask her. She shudders as if realizing what she said. She nods once and I bite my lip. “Oh, you beautiful fucking irritating creature. I want to fuck you so bad but you don’t deserve my dick. You don’t get to feel me inside of you, how I’ll break you apart with the force of how I’ll take you yet put you back together with how much of my cum I’ll release in you. Let me show what you’re missing.”

  “I need to change your bandage. This isn’t good for you,” she says.

  I let her go completely. “Then get the fuck off me and change it,” I say harshly.

  Bambi rapidly blinks but does what I tell her to do. I watch her as she avoids my hard dick while changing the bandage and making sure that my wounds are healing. The entire time, I stare at her. As soon as she’s done, she stands and begins walking out of the room.

  “Bambi…” I call her name; she turns towards me like a magnet that’s attached to the sound of my voice and how I call her.

  “Yes?” She answers breathlessly once again. This tone is different. She’s just as turned on as I am.