Alarick: King's Descendants MC #1

by Bella Jewel

  “You expect me to believe that?” I laugh bitterly. “That she didn’t get killed in her own home because of that damned club? That some random just decided to murder her? You honestly think I’m going to fall for that?”

  “Yes,” he snaps. “Because it’s the damned truth. I’ve never seen my dad like this, and I know he’s goin’ to go to the ends of the earth to find her killer, even if it means he leaves his club behind. You think he’d give it all up if he knew who it was?”

  God dammit.

  None of this makes sense.

  Nothing is adding up in my mind.

  King is falling apart, Magnolia is drowning, and I’m not sure how in the hell I’m supposed to cope with any of it.

  I’m dying inside.

  “I just want you to hear me, Flick,” I whisper, my voice hitching. “To hear what I’m saying. To even consider it. You won’t listen. You won’t support me. I lost everything ...

  I drop my head, tears fall down my cheeks, and Flick steps forward, wrapping his big arms around me. “I’d fuckin’ do anything for you, Briella. You’re the only thing in this fuckin’ world that makes my life bright. But that club is my family and I know what family means, especially now. They’re your family too, you gotta know how much those men love you.”

  “I’m not blaming the club for this,” I whisper.

  “You’re blaming my dad,” he says into my hair, “you’re not lettin’ me tell you otherwise.”

  “I just want someone to be on my side.”

  “I am on your side.”

  “No,” I whisper, stepping back. “You’re not. You’re on his side.”

  He looks pained, like nothing he can ever say will change my mind. Maybe he’s right, maybe it won’t, maybe I’m too far gone. I’m finding it hard to let go. I’m finding it frustrating that he’s not hearing me. I know he cares about me. I know he cares about King, and I understand that.

  But he won’t listen to me at all.

  Not even a single part of him will consider that maybe King had something to do with this, that maybe someone wanted revenge.

  He fully believes that King is certain it wasn’t to do with him, and I wish he would just step back and see it how I see it.

  Who else could it be?

  Who else would want to hurt my mother?

  None of it makes any sense.

  “Why are you doing this to me, Briella?” he murmurs, his voice low. “Why are you tryin’ to make me choose?”

  “I’m not making you choose,” I say, shaking my head sadly. “I’m just wanted you to see ...”

  “I do see. I see clearly. You’re the one holding your hand over your eyes.”

  I exhale angrily and shake my head. “This is pointless. Everything right now is pointless. I don’t even know why I’m here anymore.”

  I turn and walk toward the street near King’s house and start heading down the sidewalk to flag down a cab.

  Alarick calls out to me, but I don’t stop.

  What’s the point?

  Nothing makes sense anymore, and I’m tired.

  I’m so damned tired.

  I just want to be done with all of this.

  “IT’S OKAY,” I SOOTHE, rubbing Magnolia’s head until she stops crying.

  It’s hard for her, being only seventeen and losing your mom makes things so difficult to cope. She moved out of King’s house right away and there wasn’t a great deal he could do to stop her. I know she loves King, I know she sees him as a father and is probably far more forgiving than I am, but mostly, she couldn’t be in that house anymore.

  Where our mother took her last breath.

  So, she got out of there and is renting a room off a friend of ours. Much to my horror, she pulled out of school and got a job at a local café. It’s her final year, but she said she just can’t take it anymore. She wants to work, save some money, and do something with her life. She promised to study and go forward.

  I can’t stop her.

  Not really.

  “It’s just so hard sometimes,” she says to me, leaning back. “I mean, I’ve got such good friends and I’ve got you, and my boss is amazing, but sometimes I just want to ...”

  “Talk to her?” I finish for her.

  She nods, sniffling. “Yeah, tell her about my day. Tell her about the boy that asked me out. Tell her anything. I just want one more moment with her.”

  I bite my tongue to stop my own tears flowing forth. It has been so hard, for both of us, but I’ve been trying to keep a brave face for Mags, trying to be someone she can rely on.

  “What would you think about moving out of this town? Starting somewhere new? I mean, we don’t have to be here. Mom left us some money; I want to use it to start fresh.”

  Magnolia stares at me then wipes her eyes, “What about Flick, you two are ... like epic love story and all of that?”

  “No,” I say softly. “No we’re not. He isn’t on my side and I can’t breathe anymore in this town. I feel so broken, I just need to be done with all of this.”

  “Where would we go?” she asks, pursing her lips.

  “We could go anywhere, anywhere in the world.”

  “I’d be happy with California.” She giggles.

  I laugh, the first time I’ve made that sound in months. “I wouldn’t say no to that.”

  “Are you really serious about this?” she asks me, studying my face.

  “Yes,” I say calmly. “Yes I am. I’ve already made my mind up, I just want you to come with me. I want you there. I want us together.”

  “Yes.” She claps. “Yes, I want to go. I want to start again.”

  “Really?”

  She nods frantically. “Yes.”

  “Then let’s do it. Let’s get out of here.”

  “You’re definitely sure this is what you want? Alarick, he’s like totally in love with you ...”

  The thought of leaving Alarick breaks my heart, it breaks it into a thousand tiny pieces. Because I’m in love with him, I’ve been in love with him since the day we moved in with his family. I’ll love him until the day I die, but our love is toxic. It is unbalanced and dangerous. It’s only going to get us hurt. This is the best thing, even if it feels like every one of my insides clams up at the very thought of leaving him.

  “I’m sure,” I tell her. “Listen, don’t tell anyone about this, especially not King. I’ll do all the arrangements and we’ll just go, okay? We’ll leave and never look back.”

  She nods. “I’m so ready!”

  I hug her close, and for the first time I see light in her eyes. Hope. Like maybe, just maybe we might be able to start our lives fresh.

  But there is one thing I have to do first.

  I have to let the man I love go.

  I have to severe the ties.

  I have to say goodbye.

  Forever.

  18

  NOW – BRIELLA

  I step into Alarick’s room, my fingers trembling, my whole body on high alert. Not because I’m about to do something bad, but because I’m about to go in there and attempt something that could backfire. It could be a really bad idea, yet it’s the only thing I can think of right now that I need. The only thing in this world. I’m so broken, so lonely, and last time I was like that I ran.

  This time, I need someone to make it better.

  That someone being Alarick.

  I need him more than I need anything right now, even if before my sister died we were on rocky grounds. The very night her body was delivered to us, we were saying things against that shed that I know we both didn’t mean. It was that night I was reminded just how short life can be and the thought of anything ever happening to Alarick makes me feel like I simply couldn’t go on.

  Besides, I need to tell him about Rupert.

  My appointment is coming up quickly and I’m terrified, and I know, I just know, I’m going to need him. He’s the only person I have left right now, and I don’t want to be alone.

  It’s time to
tell the truth and move forward.

  I step into his room at the club to find him sitting on the sofa watching a game of baseball on television. Alarick always did this to unwind, even when he was a teenager, he would sit on the sofa and watch it every night. I’m not even sure he likes the game, but I think it’s just his way of zoning out. He needs something to relax his mind, and that’s it.

  I’m surprised to see he still does it.

  “You still watch baseball at night, huh?”

  He jerks and glances over at me, his eyes softening the moment that he sees me. That makes me feel good inside. It makes me feel like maybe we still have a chance here, even just to mend broken bridges.

  “Yeah,” he murmurs. “Still don’t understand a fuckin’ thing about the game, but it helps.”

  “Can I?” I point to the sofa and he nods.

  I walk over and sit beside him, just like I used to, and tuck my legs up, leaning back into the comfortable couch. For a moment we just watch the screen together, and then I turn toward him. It’s time to get all of this out in the open. It’s time to try and fix this.

  “Can we talk?”

  He picks up the remote and flicks the television onto mute and then turns to face me. Tonight, he looks so utterly gorgeous. His hair is wet from a shower, falling down around his shoulders. His skin smells warm and soapy and he’s not wearing a shirt. He’s wearing nothing but a pair of grey sweatpants, and we all know what grey sweatpants do to all woman kind.

  It gets us incredibly hot under the collar.

  Especially when they walk and ...

  Oh boy.

  I’m trailing off here.

  “What did you want to talk about?”

  “Everything, anything,” I say, shrugging, not really sure where to begin.

  I’m nervous, because, there is a lot of water under this particular bridge and if I’m not careful, it could all crash down and we are just as likely to drown. The past is the past, and I need to clear it so we can move forward.

  Alarick stares at me, waiting for me to go on. So, I do.

  “I know I ran off, and it wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right in any way back then to just leave with no explanation. My mind, it’s different now, but back then I was overwhelmed and in some sort of shock. I didn’t understand things the way I do now and I was scared, I was heartbroken, and you were the only person I had to lean on and I felt like you weren’t on my side. I get it, I really do, you had a different opinion on things and I was just as stubborn about not hearing your side, so you weren’t the only one in the wrong.”

  I shift to my side and face him, keeping my legs crossed.

  “It was wrong, what I did. Leaving you, walking away on what we had. It was wrong, and I’m sorry. I should have said that right away, but as you know my pride is pretty strong. Still, you deserved to hear that.”

  “Appreciate that,” he murmurs, his voice husky and low. “I’m sorry, too, Briella. I should have listened, even if what you thought wasn’t the same as what I was thinkin’ I owed it to you to hear you, and I didn’t.”

  “I appreciate it,” I say softly. “I want the past to be left where it belongs, in the past. I don’t want things to follow us forever. This club, you, you’re the only family I have left, and I don’t want to risk any of it.”

  “You’ll always be family, and we’ll always have your back. You never have to worry about that.”

  “I know,” I say softly. “And I’m sorry about King, I should have come back when I heard he died, but I didn’t. I was scared and stubborn, and ... it wasn’t right. You deserved me to be here.”

  Alarick looks away, just for a moment, and then he murmurs, “It’s finished with.”

  “There’s something else ...” I trail off, this part being something I’m super scared to tell him.

  “Go on ...”

  I take a deep, shaky breath. How do I even say this? Do I say I’m sick? Am I sick? Not really, I mean, I don’t think so anyway. I could be, if it’s cancerous, but I don’t know that until it’s removed. Do I just blurt out I have a tumor and his name is Rupert and I should have had him removed weeks ago?

  “Briella, you’re stallin’, what is it you want to tell me?”

  I exhale and look him dead in the eye. “I’ve got something ... dangerous in my brain.”

  Okay, that didn’t sound quite right either.

  Alarick narrows his eyes. “Not sure I follow.”

  “I have a brain tumor, Flick,” I say softly. “It’s making me ... sick.”

  For a moment, he just stares at me. His face expressionless, like he can’t comprehend what I just told him.

  After a long moment, he rasps, “How bad?”

  “I have to get it removed, the surgery is risky, really risky, and they won’t know how bad it is until they take it out.”

  “You mean if it’s cancer?” he grinds out, his voice tight.

  “Yes.”

  He shakes his head. “Fuck. No.”

  “Hey,” I say, reaching out for him. “It’s going to be okay. I trust that I’ll come through this.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” he demands, his voice angry but I can hear the pain behind it so I don’t take it to heart. “Why didn’t you come straight here and tell me? Why did you leave it so long?”

  “We weren’t exactly on speaking terms, you know that. Things were ... messy. I didn’t want you to stop feeling what you were feeling just because I threw that news on you. You didn’t want me here, you made that abundantly clear, I didn’t need to force you to change your mind.”

  He looks hurt by this, but he has to know it’s the truth. “If I had known ...”

  “Exactly,” I say softly. “Exactly.”

  “Why haven’t you had the surgery?”

  “I wanted to find Magnolia, I wanted to help her and make sure she was okay just in case ...”

  He looks away, his fists tight. Then he stands and starts pacing around the room. He looks like he’s going to explode. I stand and walk over to him, placing my hands on his shoulders to stop his pacing. “Hey, it’s going to be okay.”

  “I can’t lose anyone else. I can’t fuckin’ lose you, Briella,” he says, putting his hands either side of my face. “I can’t fuckin’ lose you.”

  “You won’t,” I whisper.

  “You don’t know that!” he barks, letting me go and storming toward the door.

  “Alarick!” I call after him.

  “I need a minute.”

  He disappears into the hall and I’m left standing, staring at the empty space where he just was. With an exhale, I walk over to the sofa and sit down. I drop my head into my hands and take a few deep breaths.

  This isn’t how this was supposed to go, not really.

  I knew he wouldn’t take it well, and I know he’ll come back.

  But I just ... I need someone to hang onto me right now and tell me I’m going to make it through this.

  To tell me I’m not alone.

  To tell me not to be scared, because right now, I’m so damned scared I can’t think straight.

  I need Flick.

  More than anything in this world, I need him.

  Because he is the only thing I have left.

  He is my saving grace.

  THE BED MOVES, AND my eyes pop open. For a moment, I stare into the darkness, not entirely sure what's happening. Then I feel the bed dip again before a warm, hard body presses against mine.

  "It's okay," Alarick's sexy, husky voice murmurs into the darkness, "It's just me."

  "What are you doing?" I whisper sleepily. "Are you okay?"

  He takes hold of my body and pulls me into him, positioning me so I fall into his big arms. There, he hangs onto me so tightly I struggle to breathe, but I don't mind. It feels so incredibly comforting to have him here, beside me, hanging on. I wonder, for a moment, if I'm dreaming.

  "I can't lose you, Briella."

  His voice is genuine, and his words make my heart flutter. "Y
ou're not going to," I whisper. "I'm going to be okay."

  "Why didn't you come to me sooner? Tell me earlier?"

  "I told you why."

  "I fuckin' let you down. Again. I'm sorry. Know how fuckin' sorry I am."

  "I know you're sorry," I say, pressing my cheek to the skin of his chest and taking a moment just to breathe him in.

  "I'll be there every step of the way. You have my word."

  I go silent for a moment, wondering if I should bring up something that really scares me, probably even more than dying.

  "Can I ask you one thing? One thing I want you to promise me?"

  "Do not say if you die..."

  "No," I say carefully. "No, it's not that. They're operating on my brain, and with that comes a big risk...brain damage. If for some reason, something goes wrong and I come out of it alive but...you know...damaged...I want you to promise me you'll find a good carer for me. Do not take care of me yourself. Promise me you'll do that for me?"

  He goes silent, and when he speaks, his voice is strained. "You want me to drop you off at some home and walk away?"

  "Yes."

  "Briella..."

  "Alarick, please. It's one thing that is important to me. I don't want you to put the rest of your life on hold taking care of me, because I know you will. I don't want that. I want you to put me in the hands of experienced carers. Promise me."

  "You're makin' this really fuckin' hard for me."

  "How so?"

  More silence.

  Then he speaks, and his words rock me to my core.

  "Because you're the fuckin' love of my life, Briella. I can't imagine going another fuckin' day without you, let alone droppin' you off to be cared for by someone else. I don't know if I can do it."

  I roll out of his arms and reach over, flicking on the light. Then, I look down at him so that he can see my face, so he can see how much this means to me. "That is probably the most beautiful thing you've ever said to me, Flick, and I appreciate it. But I will be nobody's burden. I won't have this surgery until you agree to respect my wishes."

  He closes his eyes and exhales. "Okay," he tells me, his voice almost forced. "Okay, I promise you I'll do that if that happens."