She couldn't even give me a little hug or something. It wouldn't have hurt her to do it.
Didn't she remember she was married when she was in that tub with me?
I blew out a breath and shook my head a little. I couldn't think like that about her. This was all on me. I was the one who had decided to ignore the rules and pursue her like a love-sick teenager. Skye was a good person, she'd tried to resist my advances so many times so how could I blame her?
If anyone deserved to feel ashamed, it was me.
****
Chapter 10
Skye
After the lust wore off, the guilt came. I could only stand there for a minute and stare at the walls of my bedroom. Mine and Cole's. I closed my eyes and let out a long, weary sigh. The first night, I had decided to put it out of my mind and just get on with my life. A one-time thing, a reckless sexual encounter which was supposed to cool us both off so we could stop with all this nonsense.
But tonight...what had that been? I had initiated sex with a teenager and enjoyed myself like a shameless woman in the bathroom I shared with my husband. Cole and I had made love in that tub so many times...
I placed a hand over my mouth as the full implications of my actions hit me. Why did I not think of the consequences when I was with him, just giving in to those carnal urges? The feel of his dick inside me, the way he lost control and responded so passionately, so wildly...all of it was intoxicating. And that firm body of his which was full of enthusiasm and energy made me feel sexier, younger and more feminine than I had in a long time.
A text pinged on my phone, startling me out of my thoughts. Frowning slightly, I went to pick up the device from the night stand.
- Hey, sweetheart. I know it's late there but I just wanted to say that I miss you. - Cole.
My face crumbled as I read the message and then another text came through just seconds later.
- He's lying. We're snuggling on the couch watching TV and having brunch and we don't miss you at all. - Jasper.
A deep yearning filled my soul then, making my eyes tear up because I wished they were both here with me right now. Or that I was there with them. Cole with his adoring, attentive love and Jasper with his teasing and obnoxious attitude.
Wiping my tears, I climbed into bed and made myself appear normal. Happy. And then I dialled Cole's number via video call. He didn't take long to answer since it was already about ten a.m over there.
"Skye? Honey." He frowned at me in concern as his face came into view. "I'm so sorry. Did we wake you up?"
I shook my head at him, not trusting myself to speak for a minute. Cole was seated on the couch in their hotel room which I had gotten used to seeing during our calls.
"What's the matter? You should be sleeping. Don't you have work tomorrow?" he asked me.
I nodded. "I...I miss you, Cole," I whispered and tried not to cry. "So much."
My husband gave me a long, helpless look. We'd never been apart for this long since we had gotten married.
"I'll be back in a week, honey," he told me softly. Then he seemed to be thinking about something. "Wait...is everything really okay over there? Are the kids being good? Do you need me to come back earlier?"
He would be on the next flight that same day if I said yes. But I didn't want to do that to him or Jasper. They deserved to have this time together.
"Everything's fine. I love you," I uttered in a shaky voice.
Cole lowered his head, removed his glasses and rubbed a hand over his eyes. "Skye, just give me a minute. I'll be right back, okay."
The screen went black as he disappeared and I heard voices in the background, Jasper's gruff tones mixed with Cole's emotional one. Then I jumped a little when Jasper's face appeared on the screen and he regarded me in a contemplative manner.
"Hi, Madison," he said, his dark eyes seeming to pin me to the bed.
I sniffed a little and say 'hi' back.
Jasper narrowed his eyes at me. "What is it? Do you want him to come back?"
I want both of you to come back, I wanted to say but I didn't.
I just shook my head and tried a smile. "No. Of course not. I just really miss him." I paused for a beat and added, "And I miss you."
He cocked his head to the side, his eyes moving from my face to the rest of my body which was visible on his screen.
"Are you horny?" he asked me bluntly. "Do you want me and Cole to-?"
"No," I said sharply, making him scowl. "No, I...I don't want sex. I just miss you guys, okay. Tell Cole I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset him. I really am okay."
Jasper was quiet for a minute and then he sucked his bottom lip through his teeth and studied me some more.
"I'll tell him," he said curtly before bringing his hand up to his neck and brushing his fingers there. "Your robe is slipping," he told me. "Good night, Skye. Take care of yourself." His eyes grew a little sad then. "I miss you too."
And then he ended the call. I felt like bawling my eyes out. When he'd suggested we have video sex, I'd balked at the idea. After the way I had enjoyed myself with Zi, the thought of facing Cole and Jasper and getting naked while we had phone sex made me a little sick.
Blowing out a breath, I walked over to my wardrobe to pick out something else to wear since my robe was a little moist after the bath. I could hardly look at myself in the mirror but I did it out of habit as I studied the numerous things on my face and body that made me so critical of myself.
I was about to remove the robe when my gaze caught on the reddish mark between my neck and shoulder. My reflection grew pale as a cold sensation spread across my body.
Your robe is slipping.
I closed my eyes and placed my hands flat against the mirror as I recalled the way Jasper had looked at me, the strange way he had mentioned that irrelevant fact. Except it had been relevant to him. I just hadn't known it till this second. He'd seen the bite mark on my neck.
.....
Early the next morning, I heard an insistent knocking on my door which made me groan and squint against the sunlight pouring into my room.
"Mom? Are you okay? It's almost eight. Didn't you have work today?" Jacob's voice carried through the door.
Oh, shit.
I sat up and looked around dazedly, trying to figure out how I had slept through the alarm. This never happened to me.
"Mom?" Another knock and I threw back the covers and trudged over to open the door while rubbing my eyes.
Jacob gave me a worried look as he stood in the hallway. "What happened? Are you sick or something?" he wanted to know and sounded really anxious.
I gave him a tiny smile and shook my head. "No, honey, I just overslept." Then my eyes widened in horror. "Oh my God, you guys have school. Breakfast. Lunch. I have to drive you."
"Hey, it's fine." Jacob rubbed my shoulder a little. "We had breakfast and I packed lunch for us already. I just wanted to make sure you're okay before leaving. Zi is going to give us a ride, don't worry."
The look I presented my son with was one of gratefulness and love. He sounded so grown up right now, taking care of his family this way despite the fact that he was wearing his school uniform and appeared so young.
"I can't believe I didn't get up on time," I mumbled and stifled a yawn. "I'm so sorry, honey."
"Don't be," he said lightly. "You needed the rest. TGIF, huh?" He smirked at me. "You'll be able to kick back in the weekend. I’ve gotta go."
I nodded and reached out to give him a quick hug while he kissed my cheek. When he straightened, I caught him frowning at something behind me and followed his gaze to the hoodie that was thrown carelessly over a chair at the far end of my room.
I gulped, not sure how to explain it at first. It didn't belong to anyone in this house and Jacob knew it. He recognized it. Zi wore it all the time except lately because I had forgotten to return it to him. Jacob looked back at me with a question in his eyes and I smiled nervously.
"Um...Zi left his hoodie here sometime last week,
I think," I said hurriedly. "I was doing the laundry so I thought I'd just wash it. I must have forgotten about it."
My son nodded once, his expression calm and trusting before he went over and grabbed the hoodie. "I'll give it to him on the way to school," he said.
I hugged myself, trying to breathe normally. "Tell him he forgot it here and I just washed it okay," I stated quickly as Jacob made to leave.
He frowned at me a little. "Yeah. Have a good day, Mom. Don't work too hard."
Then he was gone and I found myself praying that when he handed Zi that hoodie and failed to mention what I had asked him to mention in typical Jacob fashion, his best friend wouldn't look too panicky and give too much away or end up telling him a completely different lie to cover up the blunder.
****
Chapter 11
Ziad
"All right, I'm ready. Let's go."
Looking up from my phone, I opened my mouth to tell my sister that it had taken her long enough but no words came out. Her outfit. Oh my God. I mean, I'd seen her wear all kinds of clothes before but this took the cake.
"You can't be serious," I blurted out as I stared at her.
Aaliyah gave me a tiny, puzzled frown. "What?"
I gestured at her attire with my phone. "What is that, Aali? I thought you said you were going as Cleopatra?"
She glanced down at herself. At the fishnet stockings and skimpy, leather shorts that clung to her backside and the almost see-through crop top under which she wore a neon pink bra. Then she met my eyes again and shrugged.
"I changed my mind," was her calm response. "Cleopatra's so cliché."
"And who exactly are you dressed as now?" I questioned dryly.
Aaliyah presented me with a roguish smile, her lips painted crimson red. "A slut," she replied happily and twirled for me.
I blew out a long breath. I didn't care that we weren't blood-related or even related through marriage, I have always considered her my sister and always will. So this...dressing like a slut thing wasn't going to work for me. I didn't want any guys eyeing her or groping her while she got lost in the crowd tonight.
Boys everywhere loved having fun. But boys in Italy were just...a little too amorous for their own good since the legal age of consent was fourteen and they loved to openly engage in sexual relations. I was probably the only virgin in my class.
Correction. Had been.
"What's the matter, do I not look slutty enough?" Aaliyah asked me with wide eyes.
"Abbu will never allow this," I told her firmly. "And neither will I. Go and change."
She rolled her eyes at me. "Don't be dramatic, brother. Didn't you see my latest post?"
Frowning, I looked back at my phone and checked my notifications before going to her Instagram page. My eyebrows went up in surprise. She'd posted a boomerang video of her and our dad posing in the library just five minutes ago as she planted a kiss on his cheek while taking a selfie.
Daddy's girl, she had captioned it and the first comment was from Abbu saying, 'Have fun, tonight, sweetheart.'
Did I mention my family was weird?
Shaking my head, I clenched my jaw and grabbed my car keys before heading out the door. "Come on," I muttered, realising that I wasn't going to a party anymore. Oh no. I was actually going to be baby-sitting.
Aaliyah hurried over to join me as we walked and slipped a hand through the crook of my arm. "Don't be such a sourpuss."
When we reached the fountain in front of our place next to which I had parked my car, she made me come to a stop and raised her phone before leaning into me. "My hot, brooding date," she murmured as she took another selfie and started to type something right away while moving to the passenger side.
"You're not going to caption it that," I warned her as I started the car.
"Too late," she quipped, putting her phone away and looking straight ahead.
"Aaliyah. Come on. What are people going to think? You and Abbu. Me and you. Those double meanings in your captions and the way you pose with us. It's not okay."
I could sense her rolling her eyes even as I focused on the road.
"I really don't care, Zi," she told me in a serious tone. "And neither does Abbu. You need to loosen up."
My fists tightened around the wheel. Sometimes, between Aaliyah's rebelliousness, my father's laxity and aunt Jasmine's eccentricity, it felt like I was the only adult in my family. Was it too much to ask for a little normalcy and stability at home? I always felt like the odd one out.
We drove in silence for a while. The party was at the old church ruins just up the village. A gravel road went about two hundred meters into a bushy area before ending at a huge clearing where the church had stood nearly a hundred years ago.
People weren't allowed to party there. In fact, teenagers weren't allowed to go there at all but they did anyway. It was a popular hang-out spot, away from grown-up eyes. Many of them just lied about where they were really going and ended up at the ruins at nights usually in groups or pairs whether to drink or have sex. I had never been one of those teenagers but tonight, Abbu had let us go because he trusted me to act responsibly and also to take care of my sister. I knew Jacob had been there a few times but only when he knew he wouldn't get caught.
"Are you mad at me, Zi?" Aaliyah asked me softly as I maneuvered the car onto the dirt road.
I was. But when she used that tone with me, my heart just softened in response.
"I'm okay," I told her curtly. "Just...please don't get yourself in trouble tonight. I don't want anything to happen to you. We stay together and leave together, got it?"
"Yes, sir," my sister replied smartly. "I wouldn't want to end up like Sierra," she added sadly.
Who? I frowned at her before moving my eyes to the road. "What do you mean? Who's Sierra?" I asked as darkness settled around us, the headlights of my car providing the only illumination. This road was pretty much deserted all the time and there weren't any houses or street lights.
Aaliyah let out heavy sigh. "I can't believe you've never heard of Sierra," she said to me in a hushed tone. "You know...the seventeen year old girl who disappeared at the ruins last Halloween. Not a trace of her was found. Some kids claim to have seen her though. Especially at nights."
Okay, now she was freaking me out. I had never heard of this before and I was sure she was making it up.
"She especially likes to make herself visible to girls similar to her age," Aaliyah continued gravely. "Girls like me. Lost girls who maybe want to disappear as well."
"Okay, Aaliyah, stop," I ordered, finally parking the car and killing the engine as we reached our destination. "Nothing like that ever happened. There is no Sierra. You stick close to me. We leave in two hours."
Without waiting for her to respond, I got out of the car and surveyed the scene around me cautiously. Aaliyah knew how to creep people out as well, it seemed. I had goosebumps that had nothing to do with the cold weather on my arms.
Looking around, I noted the jack-o-lanterns that were scattered on the grass as well as on the crumbling brick walls of the ruins a few feet away. Vines and creepers twisted around the broken-down structure, most of it bathed in darkness since the only light came from a few flashlights placed haphazardly around the spot.
Different kinds of music played on people's phones or through Bluetooth speakers. I could see groups of people all in costumes and I guessed they were from our school and another public school nearby. They were mostly talking, dancing or laughing away but some were just sitting on stone ledges all alone probably enjoying the solitude. I imagined myself as one of them but with Aaliyah around, I needed to be more vigilant.
"Why so serious?" someone growled from behind me and I slammed back against the car while my heart thumped hard inside my chest.
"What the fuck, Jacob?" I scowled at my best friend whom I only recognised as my best friend from his voice because he was dressed as the Joker, complete with make-up and all.
He grinned at me and i
t was creepy as hell with that stretched-out smile and kohl-smudged eyes on a white face. Jacob always chose a character from the Batman comics for his Halloween costumes every year.
"You ready to party, my friend?" he asked me in a villainous tone and a reluctant smile started to curve my lips. If anyone could get a person like me to party, it was this guy.
I was about to turn toward the ruins when I realised Aaliyah wasn't anywhere near me.
"Shit," I said, my eyes searching the vicinity. "Where'd she go? I don't believe this. I told her to stay close to me."
Jacob cleared his throat and when I glanced at him, I backed up again because Aaliyah was standing right next to him with a grin plastered to her face, mirroring his.
"What is wrong with you two?" I hissed at them. "Stop being so childish."
Aaliyah then gave me a strange look. "What is wrong with you? We are children, Zi. Just because you turned eighteen, it doesn't mean you're all grown up now. You're still like us in so many ways."
I bit my lip and tried to shake off the feeling of anxiety and fear. She was right. I should be having a good time with my friends instead of worrying about everything that could go wrong. I usually did have a good time but these days, it felt like I was schooling myself to act more mature than usual. For Skye. But...I had another life too, apart from my involvement with her and I didn't want to make anyone suspicious as to what was really going on with me.
"I'm sorry," I said. "You’re right. Let's go…have some fun."
I plastered a smile on my face just as Jacob put an arm around my shoulders. "That's my boy," he said happily. "I love it when people agree with me, you know. It's the difficult ones that make me mad."
He was trying to sound like the Joker again and I just shook my head, giving in to their antics.
Aaliyah was walking beside me and she suddenly poked my side. "Please don't let me go if I see Sierra."
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