“Shhhh, we’re outside, Astraea, are you okay?” Kim whispers too. “Those assholes that broke us are in the house.”
What kind of reefer was in those damn brownies? These bitches are high as fuck.
I see the flashlight getting closer and my heart hammers in my chest.
I need to get out of here. It could be a home invader, a thief, a dangerous hiker who came upon this cabin and decided to make himself comfortable.
“Who’s out there?” I call. The light pauses, as if the person stopped moving. “Whoever you are, we’re armed!”
“Armed with what?” Kim giggles loudly. “You’re a little liar. Let’s light the place up.”
The next thing I know, I hear the flickering of a lighter. Turning around, I see Kim playing with a Zippo, her eyes wide with mischief.
“Put that down before you burn yourself, fool!” I whisper hotly, but as always, she doesn’t listen to me.
“It’s so pretty,” Ivy sighs. “It would look good in your hair.”
“Oh my gosh, right?” Kim cheers like a sorority bitch. Before I can dive for the lighter, Kim has it flicked and then puts it to her hair… and it catches on fire.
“Oh my God!” I whisper-yell. I swear I’m going to have a heart attack.
Like my ass is the one on fire, I grab the dish towel and dive for Kim’s burning hair, trying to put the fire out.
“Shit, shit, shit!” I whisper, looking over my shoulder, the flashlight is getting closer, my heart is racing, there’s smoke in the kitchen, and Ivy is lying on the freaking floor! “Get your ass up!”
Ivy sits up and I start dumping cold water on Kim’s head while she just sits there, unbothered.
What the fuck?
“Raea Raea you’re so pretty but you look fat and constipated,” Ivy says.
“Thank you very much, Ivy,” I grit out. I don’t have time to assess Kim’s charred hair—I’m just glad it didn’t reach her scalp—as the flashlight gets closer and closer, sounds of heavy footsteps also draw nearer.
For a second I think it’s the boys, but they wouldn’t be that stupid, especially with my history of strangers lying in wait in the dark for me.
“You made me wet, Raea! No fair!” Kim whines.
“Shh, get behind me and grab Ivy’s hand,” I whisper in a rush, then grab the biggest knife I see on the knife block.
Before I can move though, the lights in the kitchen start flashing on and off, repeatedly.
“Oh, it’s like we’re in a disco!” Ivy exclaims loudly.
“Shh, Ivy, stop.” I wave incessantly at her, but the lights keep flashing and she starts dancing to some unknown rhythm.
“What? Let’s dance!”
“Yes!” Kim cheers.
Just then, I hear a loud bang. Kim and Ivy scream, huddling together behind my back.
“What’s that?” Ivy whispers, obviously frightened.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, bitches,” I whisper hotly. The lights go out again, darkening the kitchen that’s now illuminated by the moonlight filtering in through the wide open window.
When did that open?
Someone taps my shoulder. “Stop, I’m trying to see,” I whisper.
The poking goes on, jabbing into my shoulder. “For God’s sake, what is it…?” I turn around and come face to face with a hooded figure in the scariest mask I’ve ever seen in my life illuminated by the flashlight, wisps of blond hair blowing with the breeze.
Before I can process that, I scream.
Kim and Ivy, I kid you not, start crying. “It’s the devil!”
“Ahh!”
The next thing I know, Ivy has my hand in a death grip. In the next breath, we haul ass out of there.
Screaming, we run down the hall and there in the middle of the darkened hallway, is a huge glow in the dark blue skull on the wall, with real blood dripping down from it… and a pig’s head on the floor.
“Oh my God! Oh my God! It’s a dragon’s head!” Ivy screams. I don’t have the heart to correct her. “I’m going to have a heart attack.”
“We’re going to die!” Kim cries, then we’re running again, only to come to a stop when we see three dark figures standing at the end of the hall, wearing masks like the guys we saw in the kitchen.
One is holding an ax, another a bat with spikes, and the other a chainsaw dripping with blood.
Just then, some haunted music shit starts blasting in the house.
“He chainsawed the dragon!” Ivy screams and then she’s off, screaming bloody murder.
“I knew this house was haunted! Let’s go!” Kim grabs my hand and we follow after Ivy. My stomach starts protesting. I’m growing nauseous and faint.
Ivy is already at the front door, and bursts through it with the speed of lightning, only to come to a stop when she runs smack dab into a solid chest.
“Ah!”
“Get away from her, you ghost!” I brandish the knife.
“Twin Turbo?” the voice says.
I grow still. Every inch of me freezes as the shadow steps into the light.
“Astraea?”
“George?” I croak and as the haunting song playing in the house reaches its crescendo, I lean over and barf my guts out right before I pass out.
When I come to, there is shouting and cursing. I hear something breaking, like furniture or glass.
Everything comes rushing back to me in a flood. Is my brother responsible for the break-in? Where are Ivy and Kim?
“What the fuck are you doing here, you asshole?” Someone, no, that’s Ace! I hear his anger as clearly as it snakes its way in my stomach. “Look at what’ve you done!”
“Ace,” I croak, wanting to calm him down, knowing better than anyone how hellish he can be when he’s angry.
“Shh, Raea, it’s okay, you’re all right,” Noah says soothingly, pressing a wet cloth on my forehead.
“What happened?” I squint my eyes open and see that I’m lying on a couch, with Noah hovering over me.
“You threw up,” Kim slurs. “Ivy and I are high as fuck. Your man is about to kill your brother, Noah doesn’t care about anyone but you, and Emmett is trying to hold them back.”
Jesus Christ.
“Stop them,” I croak, trying to get up.
“Oh no you don’t,” Noah says, pushing me back to lie down. “You threw up and then passed out. You’re not going anywhere.”
“They’ll kill each other.”
“Then let them, I haven’t worn my custom Tom Ford funeral three-piece suit and coat since my brother offed himself in front of me.”
I wince, not knowing what to make of that.
“Noah, please, tell them to come in here.”
“Er, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he mutters. “Besides, you girls are something else. Did you eat those brownies, Baby Blue?”
“No, I never had the chance to, thank God. What the hell did you put in those brownies?”
He grins. “Who said it was me?” I stare at him, feeling another bout of nausea. “Oh shit.”
Noah thrusts a bucket in my arms and the next thing, I’m throwing up again.
“There, there, Raea,” Ivy says, lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. “I might be high, but I know you’ll be fine.”
“In a few months,” Kim says. “I’m so happy.”
I grow still. Noah frowns. “What does that mean?”
“No one’s talking to you, asshole,” Kim says petulantly, her arms folded, her head covered in a scarf of some sort.
“Kim…”
“Nope, don’t say my name. You lost the right. You and me are nothing to each other from now on,” she seethes and Noah’s face falls. Even I know that Kim means it this time. “I lost my mind and burned my hair because of you.”
“I didn’t force you to eat that…” Noah is saying but I take my chance then.
Ignoring them, I get up and quickly run toward the front door where my brother and Ace are trying to
bypass Emmett so they can throw hands. Judging by the looks on their faces, they actually want to kill each other.
“She’s my sister! You have no right to keep her away from me!” George is shouting.
“How about you take a hint! If she wanted to talk to you, she would’ve answered your annoying, unwanted calls! Now fuck off!” Ace sneers.
“I’m not going anywhere!”
“You fucking bet you’re leaving! Either in a damned body bag or by your fucking self, one thing is clear, you’re not getting anywhere near her!” Ace growls, circling Emmett but he steps along with him, a cool impassive look on his face.
Emmett notices me first and he grows still.
“Raea,” he mutters, and they all turn to look at me.
“What are you doing?” I say, swallowing another bout of nausea.
“Twin Turbo,” George breathes, making tears well up in my eyes. I look at my brother, the other half of me, the one who has had my back all our lives until he…
“George,” I whisper. Behind him, I see another small figure, half her face huddled and covered by her black neck warmer, but I see that it’s Lara, George’s baby momma. She holds their baby tightly in her arms, fear in her eyes.
“Come in, all of you.”
“Star…” Ace growls in warning.
“It’s cold out, they have a baby, come in.”
I make room for Lara and she comes closer, then murmurs a quick thank you, but doesn’t look me in the eyes.
With a deep sigh, I grab Ace’s hand in mine, walking into the warm house, lighted fully now. He follows me, his whole body tense with anger.
Emmett follows with my brother right behind him and then we’re all inside the house, but no one makes another move.
We stand there in the large foyer, staring at the two—well, three with the baby—guests who just came out of nowhere.
“Don’t try to get comfortable jerk, you’re not staying,” Ace grits out but my brother ignores him, staring at me.
“Hey George!” Ivy waves with a big smile on her face.
“Hey beautiful Ivy,” my brother says with a small smile.
“Shh, you’re high not stupid,” Kim whispers to her and they fall silent.
“Are you okay?” George questions, worry in his eyes as he looks at me. I see a million questions, a million thoughts, all sorts of emotions swirling in his eyes, so much like our late mother that for a moment, I can’t breathe.
He looks beaten down, haggard, and so different from the last time I saw him.
“Something’s wrong,” I mutter, staring at my brother. He doesn’t react but I can see my answer. “What do you need?”
“Star…” Ace mutters angrily but I ignore him, staring at my brother, my twin, for so many years, my other half.
“To talk to you,” he says softly, but I know him so well, the pain in his voice is like an alarm to me. “To talk to you all.”
“You must have some nerve thinking we’ll listen to anything you say,” Ace grits out.
“You’re in trouble, aren’t you?” Noah says, arms folded.
My brother doesn’t say anything, he just looks at his friends. I don’t know if they see what I see on his face because one by one their shoulders ease, but the tension is still there.
I shift my gaze to Lara, she doesn’t look at anyone but their sleeping baby.
My heart clenches painfully as something blooms in my chest.
In that moment, I’m just tired. Tired of everything.
I feel Noah and the girls behind me. Ace is now right beside me, and Emmett is still standing as a barrier between Ace and my brother.
“I’m pregnant,” I announce to the room. Before I can take in their reactions, I lay down the law. “And just so we’re clear, I’ve already lost a lot in my life, more than any of you, apart from Ace, would ever understand or know and I’m not losing this baby again. Not for whatever you came here for.” I stare at my brother. “Not for your father.” I point at Emmett. “I’m not losing this baby. Even if it kills me. I deserve this slice of Heaven too.”
Silence. Wide eyes stare at me in shock. I glance at Ace who’s looking at me like he can hardly believe what I’m saying, his blue eyes now glittering…with something close to unshed tears.
“Baby…”
I cut him off, wanting to talk to him alone. I turn to look at everyone else.
“Welcome to the party, brother and by the way, I’m engaged to be married to the guy you never wanted me to be with.”
I grab my diamond ring hanging on the chain with my pendent and show them.
There, the truth is out.
Without another word and not daring to look at the shocked expressions on all their faces or the smug smirk on Ace’s handsome face, I turn on my heel and race upstairs to Ace and my room and straight in the bathroom, then I throw up like I’ve never thrown up before.
Unknown
When the beautiful, fiery spitfire that is Astraea Beaumont, soon to be King, drops the bomb on everyone’s head like a boss and leaves, the room falls deathly silent, you can just about hear the not so sick boy’s heart stuttering and pausing with a furious beat that threatens to give out.
Emmett sighs, then grips his hair in frustration, but also something else that eases his chest—a bit of relief. Or something like that. He doesn’t really know what to feel.
Alexander King gives everyone a rare smile, making the girls who are as high as Snoop Dogg on a regular basis, gasp in surprise.
Both are sure they’ve never seen him smile like that before. But before they can point that out, or for Kimberly to say something snide and slightly nice, Alex leaves the room, going after the beautiful spitfire, his blue Star.
“She’s pregnant?” the playboy, fuckboy with expensive taste in clothes and cheap taste in where he sinks his dick in, says with a confused look on his face. “She’s really pregnant?”
No one knows who he’s talking to, as no one knows how to answer that.
The newcomers stand by the door, dripping wet and cold, not knowing what to do.
Feeling the temporary lapse in hostility however, George takes his jacket off, toes off his shoes and helps the frightened young woman standing beside him by holding the sleeping child in his arms while she takes off her jacket tentatively.
“That’s why she wanted all of us here,” Ivy, the young smart beauty with her own secrets and a broken heart says, her heart not aching as much since her friend dropped the good news.
“Well, not all of us,” Kim, her friend with the burned hair says, pointedly staring at the newcomers with a shrewd look on her face. “But oh my gosh, we’re going to have a baby!”
The two girls start dancing around, riding their state of euphoria and foggy thoughts like pro-surfers, then they bound up the stairs, squealing and giggling.
Downstairs, Noah and Emmett start making bets on whether the new addition to their family will be a boy or a girl, making their way to the kitchen where the food they ordered awaits. Emmett bets his ten million dollar high-rise penthouse in SoHo, New York on it while Noah puts his mansion in upstate New York on it—not caring about the difference in value—and they shake on it.
Bets made by the Blue Boys are sacred. Everyone knows it.
“We should heat this up,” Emmett, ever the one with common sense, says.
“You think she’ll eat it?” Noah frowns, worry in his eyes.
“Hmm, we’ll just have to see.”
They set up to get dinner ready, leaving the nervous trio to navigate their way in the buzzing house all on their own. They look at each other, then at the large house, feeling every bit as strangers who just wandered in from the cold. Which wasn’t completely far-fetched.
George is cursing every decision he’s ever made that has led him to this, being estranged and iced out by his own friends, the only people he regards as family. But what could he do? Turn away from the girl he loved after he got her pregnant and made her promises?
George was overwhelmed by what his twin sister just shared and the declarations she just made. He was aware of how much he hurt her, but he didn’t know the extent of the hurt he caused until he showed up—unannounced—on their holiday cabin front door and all hell broke loose.
If that was the reception he received, what was going to happen when he shares the news that brought him here even after Spider—who gave him the location of the cabin—advised him to not rock an already shaky boat?
The truth is, what he had to say was guaranteed to rock everyone’s life so he knew he couldn’t stay away, not when everyone he loves is in danger.
Upstairs, Ace and Star are in each other’s arms, holding each other with a tight grip that surely no man would be able to break. Not if Ace motherfucking King could help it.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Ace mutters softly.
“I wanted it to be your Christmas gift,” Star whispers, unable to speak past the emotions choking her up.
Ace chuckles, tears in his eyes as he looks down at the girl he gave his all to; his heart, his dark soul and everything else in between hating and loving her until forever.
Now she’s his everything and more than everything he ever dreamed of. Getting married to her and starting their family! After everything that happened to them.
“When did you know?” he questions, deciding whether or not to be pissed that she kept this to herself but understanding almost immediately why sharing this kind of news took a lot of courage for the love of his soul.
“A few weeks ago,” she whispers, her eyes welling up with tears.
“The nightmares and remembered trauma?”
“Are heightened by pregnancy, studies show,” she whispers, accepting the thousand kisses he’s showering on her face. “Including my horny behavior. I know you love the fact that I can’t seem to stay off you and your cock.”
“And here I thought you’ve always craved my cock, pregnant or not.”
“You know your cock does it for me,” she says throatily, getting aroused with just his words.
“Keep talking like that, you dirty little thing, and we might just stay locked up in here.”
“Yeah, but I’m hungry,” she says with a laugh. They fall silent, staring at each other, memories coming alive without a word uttered. They lost a lot, hated each other for what feels like forever and now, it’s so much love brimming in their eyes, they can hardly breathe.
Frosty Blues: A Westbrook Blues Novella Page 17