“Clearly that last cup was the winner,” I say, laughing.
“I’ll have you both know that this isn’t funny at all,” she cries. “I hate y’all sometimes.”
Kim and I die laughing at that and this time, Ivy joins in.
“I’m a mess.”
“Yes, you are,” I say.
“What you need to do is calm down and drink a lot of water, or maybe some tea to soothe your frayed nerves.”
“My nerves are fried,” she sighs. “I’ll never recover if I don’t get in med-school.”
All the laughs and ribbing aside, I can see that she really means it.
Ivy is more than a smart and intelligent girl. She’s kind, has a heart for people, and a healing spirit.
I used to hate the way Ace liked her, laughed at the jokes she cracked and then in the same breath, he turned around to ignore me as if I wasn’t there, giving me the cold shoulder.
Oh and he kissed her. Right in front of me. On my thirteenth birthday no less. But we’re good now.
“Ivy, babe, you’re going to get in,” I say, trying to soothe my distressed friend. “Stop stressing.”
“True, you’re an overachieving mess but you’re not a failure. You’ll get in.”
“Yeah, but I need perfect grades all through college. I can’t afford to mess up. In any way.”
Yeah, that’s Ivy all right.
Perfect in every way. No darkness in those beautiful, captivating almond eyes.
“Seems like you can’t afford to drink all that coffee if you can’t handle it, but here you are,” Kim says with a chuckle.
“Urgh, stop! I regret it already,” she groans. Then just as quickly, she perks up, clearly fluctuating between the caffeine highs and her usually sweet personality. “But it’s totally fine. I’m fine. It’s going to be just fine.”
Uh… this bitch is tripping.
“Ivy, babe, was there something else in your coffee?” I question, now slightly concerned.
“What?” she gasps, her arms flailing for a bit before she has to restrain them. “What do you mean?”
“Did you put something else in your five cups of coffee? Weed maybe?” Kim questions, biting her lip.
“What? You can’t drink weed.”
“Oh, but you can,” Kim counters with a smirk, her eyes alight with mischief.
I stare at Kim with new eyes. I swear each time I talk to this girl, I feel like I learn something new about her. New, shocking, but mostly scandalous. I love it!
“Dude, what kind of life did you live before I met you?” Ivy questions and just as quickly, the mood grows…sober.
“A shitty life,” Kim says after a while, her face in a perfect mask that fools no one.
“Yeah,” I whisper.
“Yup,” Ivy affirms with gusto, somehow breaking the waft of melancholy that had fallen over us with that one question.
We laugh, even as the shadows in our eyes remain.
Life’s been hard. The three of us know that, almost better than anyone else. Which is such a fucking shame to have lived this short life and have a world of trauma that exceeds a lifetime.
But we’re still here. Even though I’m pretty sure there’s stuff we still don’t know about each other. Secrets we still keep. Which is why this holiday getaway is important to me!
The laughter dies down but soon, Ivy is pacing, holding up her phone which enables us to see all the books scattered on the floor of her bedroom, as well as on her bed. Damn, she makes me feel like I’m doing nothing with my life.
“Calm down, Ivy, it’ll wear off soon.” Hopefully. “Try taking a cold shower. Or go to sleep.”
Kim mumbles something too low for us to hear but I could swear it sounded something like, as if you’d let us fucking sleep for long.
“Love you too, Kimmy!” I holler happily and she groans.
“Has she ever been white girl wasted before?” Kim questions, laughing.
“Uh, no! Y’all white girls are crazy,” Ivy screeches.
“Don’t worry, Ivy, this white girl’s going to make sure you get wasted the right way,” Kim assures. “It’s the rite of passage.”
“Uh, I’ve seen the type of wasted you get, Kim, I don’t think I want any part of that.”
I pause, staring at them. “You’ve been with Kim at a party?”
Kim’s smile fades away, now unable to look at me.
“Raea…”
“Yeah! Just last weekend actually. Kimmy here dragged me there, then ditched me for some guy,” Ivy says with mock offense. “Rude much?”
I stare between the two, not knowing what to say. I don’t know what hurts more, the fact that it feels like I’ve been excluded from their lives all together or the obvious fact that they know more about each other than I do about them.
“I didn’t ditch you,” Kim says, but she’s looking at me, discerning my thoughts as she always does. “It’s not what you think, Raea.”
I nod, not saying a word. It’s not lost on me that the distance between me and my friends is not just physical.
A lot happened in Westbrook Blues. We broke down in so many ways as all the lies—well, most of them anyway—came to light. Like the fact that Kim didn’t just become my friend because she likes me, but because she’s my cousin.
We found that out in the most wicked way possible and it broke us.
My friendship with Kim, well, it’s still so damn fractured, we’re still walking on eggshells and it fucking sucks. Especially after we hit it off the very first time we met.
But now, the thread of trauma is so intricately woven that it’s never long until something tugs at it, awakening a flood of shit no one wants to deal with.
“Astraea…” Kim says with a sigh after a while, the sadness in her voice clear as day. Before this call goes south, I cut her off.
“There’s no need to explain anything,” I say, forcing a smile. “I know you like to party.”
“I know that’s right,” Ivy agrees, acting like she isn’t aware of the sudden tension, but I know she is. She’s aware of everything, even when you don’t want her to be. “It seems she’s been partying a lot these days.”
Huh?
“Is that so?” Like Noah?
“It’s no big deal,” Kim says, rolling her eyes. “Everyone likes to party.”
Yeah but not everyone is like Kim and most definitely, not everyone is like Noah. Could both of their sudden, out of control reckless behavior be a coincidence?
Is it too much to hope that it is?
“Yeah,” I murmur, eyeing her.
Could Ace be right? Is this holiday thing a bad idea?
“You say this will wear off, what if it doesn’t?” Ivy cries after, her beautiful face pinched in displeasure. “I mean is this normal?”
“Uhh with the way you look like you’re about to pace a fucking marathon to San Diego just so you can piss yourself and then pace back? I’d say you’re right to be worried. This isn’t normal,” Kim says, making me laugh.
“Oh my God, I knew it! I should’ve said no.”
“Now you sound like an amateur drug addict,” Kim counters, literally dying with laughter. I swear, when Kim laughs at you, dissing you and being petty as hell, you’d wish the ground could swallow you whole.
But here’s the thing, Ivy is just as good at talking shit, if not better, so I’m not worried.
“Fuck you, Kimberly!”
“Whooo, girl’s cursing, Raea.” Kim whistles, cracking up even more. “Will you look at that. Never thought I’d see the day.”
“Definitely weed.” I laugh. Don’t get it twisted, Ivy does curse, she has a mouth like a drunken sailor but she just chooses to be classy. It’s almost as if she’s super innocent and sweet but we all know she’s so not. “Who gave you that coffee, anyway?”
“I don’t even know why I’m dealing with the two of you. My stupid brother came home with this shiny box of Turkish coffee beans. I was like shit, the packaging is pretty so
I’m going try it out.”
Ah, makes a lot of sense now. And I’m not the only one who thinks so too.
“Of course, you Etsy, Pinterest ready, loving bitch. You got lured in by shiny packaging,” Kim says with a laugh. “Could you be anymore you?”
I bite my lip, trying my best not to follow suit. We’ve been making fun of Ivy since this all started. If we go on, my holiday surprise might blow up in my face.
“Hey, I’m not the only one who likes pretty packaging.” Ivy interjects. “Y’all bitches do it better and bigger than me and you know it!”
“Not me,” I say proudly, with a teasing smirk on my face that Noah says isn’t humble, which is stupid for him to say. That rich fuckboy with a broken heart knows nothing about being humble. “I’m smart enough to know my limit.”
“Bitch please, you better shut up,” Kim says.
“What? Did I lie?” I say, clutching my chest as if I’m offended.
“Girl, you already know you’re lying about your flaws. We’re all the same,” Ivy says, obviously agreeing with Kim.
“Exactly! You of all people know that you love pretty packaging. I mean, you fell in love with the King devil, who, I know you know, wears a pretty handsome mask, hiding his horns and shit.”
Just then, as if he’s been summoned by some sacred dark chant, the King devil himself strolls into the sitting room where I am, his sharp blue gaze going straight to me.
“Speak of the devil…” Ivy says with a widening smile as she looks past my shoulder. “And he shall appear in all his big dick energy, brooding glory.”
I’m sitting in front of the fireplace with gifts that need wrapping in front of me. To say I went overboard with shopping would be putting it midly.
I went all out and as Ace’s piercing gaze sweeps over me, a resigned sigh escapes his utterly kissable lips.
I shrug and he narrows his eyes. I shiver, feeling the stirrings of lust begin in my core.
Yup, I really, really do love pretty packaging.
But no one can describe Ace King as ‘pretty’. That’s too tame a word for him.
In a word, he’s intense. Virile. Possessive. Sexy as hell. Okay, that’s a lot of words but damn, you get it.
“Well then, what did I tell you?” Kim says and Ivy hums her agreement.
I shoot them both a look but they ignore me as Ace comes into view. Crouching down behind me, I feel the heat of his body on my back and my heart starts pounding.
Heartbeat.
Heartbeat.
Heartbeat.
“Oh, hey Alex!” Ivy waves enthusiastically, her eyes even wider than a second ago. Is she still drinking that coffee? But whatever. This is how she greets him anyway, coffee or not. “Didn’t see you there!”
“Hey love,” my man says warmly, his charm is always on when it comes to Ivy.
Kim clears her throat, making Ivy laugh. Ace just pretends like she’s not there at all as he focuses on Ivy. He’s pretty good at the cold shoulder. “How are you, love? Studying late again?”
“Yeah, well, you know how the grind is,” Ivy says, waving her arms around. “But I’m going to crash soon, this coffee is riding me in waves.”
Ace quirks a brow in question, obviously picking up on Ivy’s unusual mood.
“Caffeine high,” I explain with a shrug and he actually chuckles.
“Did Spider give you some of the Turkish coffee Emmett got him?” Ace questions and Ivy grows impossibly still.
“That fucking coffee was from Emmett?” she whispers and Kim smiles.
“Yup,” Ace says, hardly noticing the change in Ivy. “He likes the strong shit, the asshole.”
“Oh,” is all Ivy is able to say, at a loss for words, but that’s not it. She’s getting pissed. “He’s drinking coffee again?”
“Uh, yes,” Ace says, now studying Ivy. “Is that a bad thing?”
“Well, if he wants his fucking heart to race like he’s fucking invincible then he can continue chugging all the coffee and scotch in the world, see if I care.” Whoa. “He isn’t supposed to be drinking coffee.”
Tears well up in Ivy’s eyes as silence falls over all of us. But it doesn’t take me long to figure it out as my heart starts beating painfully.
Emmett… his heart condition.
Ivy knew before any of us did, and she obviously knows more about his health restrictions too.
I have no idea how to feel about that.
I can feel Ace watching me, waiting for my reaction, but I try to swallow the ball now lodged in my throat.
“I’m sorry,” Ivy whispers. “I didn’t mean to… uh, blow up like that. This fucking coffee.”
It’s definitely not the coffee.
Ivy never misses a beat in her flawless character. She’s always composed, in control of her emotions, and besides the questionable coffee that I’m sure Kim wants a bit of, I think the only time Ivy’s emotions overwhelm her is when Emmett is mentioned.
She blew up because she cares for him. Deeply by the looks of it.
A chill races down my spine as guilt slams into me. I wonder if she knows what happened between Emmett and me back in Westbrook Blues.
I look down at the gifts strewn in front of me, unable to look at Ivy a second longer.
I messed up, that much is public knowledge, but I’m pretty sure no one besides Emmett, Ace, and I knows just how much.
But hurting Ivy with that truth… I don’t know if I can do it. But then lying to her, keeping this shit to myself when I know the pain of being lied to firsthand, it’s fucked up.
“Why are you apologizing? I kinda like it when you blow up like this,” Kim says with a laugh, obviously attempting to break the tension.
“Urgh, of course you would,” Ivy sighs.
“Look on the bright side, that weed-coffee is really helping to bring your true identity out,” Kim says, shifting on her bed. “And to think I almost didn’t pick up this call.”
Ace mumbles something under his breath too low for me to hear. I elbow him. His eyes narrow on Kim and she gives him a cheshire smile that makes me grin.
“Did Star wake you?” he says, his question obviously directed to one of my friends he likes.
“Oh no, I was already…” Ivy starts, but Kim cuts her off.
“Yes, she did! And she hasn’t even apologized!”
Ace’s chilly gaze moves from Ivy to Kim slowly and I look away, biting my lip. It’s almost comical how he grows tense, the warmth he radiated toward Ivy now muted as he looks at Kim who’s obviously taunting him.
“Kimberly,” Ace says formally, his voice arctic and stiff.
“Alexander.”
Kim grins wide, her perfect, pearly white teeth gleaming, mischief in her eyes.
That’s all they say to each other though. Ivy chuckles.
I elbow Ace, wanting him to cut it out. I don’t need him and Kim drawing up swords to spill blood and shit on my Christmas getaway.
“That’s it?” I demand and Ace grunts.
“Yeah, you can do better than that,” our resident caffeine-high cheerleader says with a laugh. “We want more.”
Kim grins, knowing that it’s her time to shine. “How’ve you been, my darlin’ King Alexander?” she says, her voice sugary sweet and sarcastic as hell. A laugh bubbles up in my chest, threatening to spill out. “You look well… enough.”
I swear I hear Ace’s molars grind as he glances at me. I school my facial features, narrowing my eyes at him to behave.
He hates it when Kim toys with him, but I kinda like it.
“I’m fine,” he bites out and Ivy bursts out laughing, her pacing now long forgotten.
“Sorry? What was that?” Kim says with a smirk. “I didn’t hear you over that pre-puberty almost-animalistic growl in your throat.”
Her eyes twinkle with mischief. To be honest, it’s been a while since I’ve seen her laugh or even attempt to fake a smile. Maybe this time she’s actually doing well. I hope…
“You�
�re pushing it, Kimberly,” Ace warns darkly, and Kim actually laughs, not in the least bit intimidated.
“There he is! My sweet, cuddly Alexander,” Kim cheers dramatically. Ivy falls over with laughter. I bite my lip harder. “I miss you!”
Ace grows still, and I bet he wants to tell her off, but I know he won’t. Not unless he knows what’s good for him.
“Well, I don’t,” he grumbles, annoyed.
“Oh, boo hoo, are you going to ask how I’m doing?”
“I don’t particularly care,” Ace mutters. I elbow him. “Of course, Kimberly, it’s unfortunately good news to know that you’re still alive.”
Ivy can hardly stop laughing, and Kim, her cheshire grin ever flawless and taunting. “I’m still here, baby,” she says.
“I can see that,” he says through gritted teeth, but just as quickly, he switches his approach, now going on the offensive. The move is so flawless that I don’t have a chance to stop his attack when he flashes Kim a wicked grin and says, “Tell me though, how’s my boy Noah doing? Have you heard from him recently?”
My jaw slackens as my mouth drops open. Ivy falls deathly silent, like she’s watching a fireworks display. A deadly one at that.
When I glance at my best friend, I see her frozen smile, the brief light that was in her eyes now extinguished as if it was never there, but honestly, was it ever there? Nothing’s certain when it comes to Kim. Or Ivy for that matter.
I elbow Ace again, but my sexy King just shrugs, obviously thinking he’s justified in his attack.
After everything, I’d think he knows better than anyone how much words can hurt. Well, he does know, obviously.
“I’m sure you know how he is, better than I’ll ever know,” Kim manages to say, her voice low and strained.
Kim is not an emotional being. Neither is Ivy. I guess that’s why we fit.
We were the same in so many ways but vastly different at the same time, it’s crazy.
“That’s true. As a matter of fact, he’s doing very well,” Ace says sarcastically, milking his moment. “I know you’re sincerely concerned about him and all. You obviously look well too, Kimberly. Have you been working at that strip club?”
“Strip club?” I frown.
“Uhh, what strip club, your royal assholeness?” Kim stutters, trying to laugh it off. “Don’t tell me you’re high too?”
Frosty Blues: A Westbrook Blues Novella Page 7