Brothers of the Flame (An Ariel Kimber Novel Book 1)

by Mary Martel

  Huh. Well, okay then. Nothing for me to find offensive there. I did wear a lot of black and I wasn’t a bright and cheery person. I was really girly when no one else was around to witness it and only then, but I never wore bright, girly colors. Still… he’d noticed what I wore yesterday? I liked that. I’d have to have more care when getting ready for school tomorrow now that I knew someone would be paying attention. And I wanted to smack myself upside the head for thinking that way.

  “Next question,” I demanded in the most serious voice I could muster. These questions were starting to make me slightly uncomfortable.

  He said something but it was completely lost to me because I was too busy paying attention to the other students. Desks were pushed together in small groupings, the other kids huddled together, talking quietly amongst themselves. Not a single one of them were turned our way and gawking at us. There were no fingers out, pointed in our direction. There were whispers and animated faces, sure, but I sensed we weren’t at the heart of it.

  “I don’t get it,” I blurted out loud. I wanted to stuff the words back in my mouth as soon as they left it. The last thing I needed was to explain that train of thought.

  Turned out I didn’t have to, he got me. “Sorry, sweetheart,” he grinned, blinding me once again with that damn smile, “but you’re old news as of today.”

  “What do you mean?” I was confused. Great. By the end of the hour he’d think I was a complete moron. And I wouldn’t be able to hold it against him if he did.

  “What I told you earlier? About my Uncle and I now having two of our family friends living with us? Well, that’s a new development. They moved in with us last night, and today is their first official day here. Everybody’s talking about them now. Both the girls and the guys. You’re old news. I’d give it a week, though, before they take notice of you again. You’re too pretty to go unnoticed for too long.”

  I hoped they never took notice of me again. I dreaded it, so much so it hurt my stomach just thinking about it. He must have read part of my thoughts on my face because he leaned across the narrow aisle and got close to me again. His mouth got tight and something I didn’t understand (because I didn’t know him well enough to get it) flashed in his dark eyes. “Yesterday I was a dick and I fucked up. I was in a bad mood when I ran into you in the hallway and I took it out on you. Makes me a dick and it’s something I’m not proud of. Then, I just sat here and watched as…” he trailed off and again tugged uncomfortably at the neck of his t-shirt. His poor shirt had grievously suffered over the last hour and was now entirely stretched out at the neck. “I fucked up big time. It won’t happen again, you have my promise on that. Never again.”

  I felt my face heat up. I didn’t want him to talk about what had happened yesterday. It’s bad enough he’d been witness to it, I didn’t need him to make it worse by talking about it, too. Would my humiliation never end? Would I never be allowed to put that day behind me and move on from it?

  Before I could come up with something to get us off of this wretched topic the bell rang signaling the end of class. Wow, where had the time gone? I barely told him anything about me. His paper was sure to suck.

  “I’ll save you a seat in third, girl.” He told me as he stood up and headed up the aisle. He slid the strap of his backpack over his right shoulder as he walked out of the classroom.

  I stared after him with my mouth hanging open. Um, say what? He’d save me a seat in third? Like we were friends or something? It took a whole lot more than that to become friends with a person (or so I thought). What in the hell had happened here?

  This day just kept getting weirder and weirder by the hour.

  I walked through the hallway in a daze, stupidly hoping Tyson would blind me some more with his smile in third period.

  Man, I was so totally not right in the head it wasn’t even funny.

  Chapter Six

  Not even a minute into second hour and I got it. I understood completely how I’d been forgotten about so suddenly, and I got why Tyson had called me old news. He had not been wrong.

  They were twins, and they were absolutely lovely. Lovely. Same height, same build, same size. If you disregarded their hair and eye color they looked to be mirror images. But, thanks to their different hair and eye colors, they weren’t mirror images. One had hair so blonde it bordered on being white. His eyes were a pale, light blue. The other one had hair as black as midnight on a moonless night and he had bright, vibrant green eyes. They were tall and big, freaking huge. At least six foot two. At least. Full, wide, muscular shoulders. Wide hips. Thick, tree trunk like thighs. They were thick, but not fat. They were packed with muscle and way too pretty to look at for their own good.

  The entire class was enthralled, even the males. Myself included. I sat there with the rest of the class for the entire hour and shamelessly undressed them with my eyes. Hell, I think even the teacher had issues taking her eyes off of them, they were that nice to look at.

  I couldn’t help but think Tyson had been wrong. It would take far longer than a week for their allure to wear off and people would once again take notice of me. Way longer. Like, twenty-five years longer, and then some. Goodness. Their size alone should have made them intimidating, and I could tell most were intimidated by them, if not downright frightened. I wasn’t intimidated. They were, straight up, pure, masculine beauty and I thought the only thing I had to fear from them was possible heartbreak. I didn’t want to take my eyes off of them and figured I might fail this class because of it. I’d happily fail if it meant I got to take in all that masculine beauty for an hour a day, five days a week.

  Then it hit me. The night before they had moved into the house next to mine, into Tyson’s house. It’s highly likely I’d see them outside of school. All three of them. Something to look forward to.

  Goodness, yes.

  And, holy crap, no.

  The hour flew by, and when it was over I realized I hadn’t heard a single word the teacher said. It didn’t matter to me, these teachers seemed to suck anyways, so it’s not like I’d learn a great deal if I did pay attention.

  I made my way to third hour in an entirely different daze than I had walked with to second hour in. This one was filled with lust and not dedicated to Tyson. Not that he didn’t inspire lust, because he absolutely did. I was entirely focused on the salt and pepper twins and their raw, striking beauty.

  Nothing like this had ever happened to me before. I wasn’t comfortable with this intense attraction I had to Tyson and the salt and pepper twins. It wasn’t normal to be attracted to so many people at once.

  Tyson beat me to class. He was sitting in the same desk he’d been in the day before. His backpack had been placed on the desk in front of him. Yesterday I’d sat to the left of him. When I got close he picked up his bag from in front of him and sat it on the floor beside his desk. I mumbled a quiet thanks and took my seat. I’m sure my face was beet red due to my inappropriate thoughts. His eyes did a quick head to toe scan before he blinded me with his smile. At this rate, I’d need to start wearing sunglasses to class.

  The hour flew by uneventful and then we were in the hallway and on our way to the next class that we shared together. I didn’t understand what he was playing at here. Did this mean he thought we were friends? Were we friends now? Did I want to be his friend? I wasn’t so sure.

  “When’s your birthday?” he surprised me by asking.

  “June twenty-four.”

  “You’re lucky,” he told me. “You don’t have to go to school on your birthday. Being stuck at school on your birthday totally sucks.”

  “I believe you.” And I did. I loved having a birthday in the summer even though I only ever celebrated it by myself and I didn’t get to do anything special on it.

  “What’s your favorite food to eat?”

  Ahh. This must be for his paper about me. I’d hardly told him anything before. I thought about his question, liking that he stuck with easy, non-evasive questions.


  “Chicken alfredo. But I actually love most kinds of pasta. If it comes with noodles and a yummy sauce I will eat it.”

  “Favorite movie?”

  “Boondock Saints.” That got me wide eyes and a grin before he moved on to the next question. I figured he liked the movie, too.

  “Favorite band?”

  “Bad Religion.”

  “Ooh, punk. Didn’t see that one coming just like with the canary yellow.” I wondered if he liked them since he knew who they were. I wondered and I hoped. If we were going to be friends we needed something more in common than being next door neighbors who were the same age.

  He grilled me the entire way to class. In the end, he had way more information than me and it was me who worried my paper would suck due to lack of information but I was too afraid to ask him any questions. And, seriously, how much crap did he need to know about me?

  In the next class, he took the seat to my right. All throughout the next hour whenever he could he’d lean across the aisle and whisper questions at me and I’d whisper the answers back to him. He kept them light, sticking with the favorite theme. At the end of the hour I felt naked and exposed, vulnerable. He knew more about me than anyone else ever had. I didn’t know if I should be frightened by this or elated.

  We went our separate ways after that class, likely so he could drop his books off in his locker. It was also after he told me he’d see me at my table so we could have lunch together. I doubted it. No one ate outside and the picnic tables weren’t visible from the cafeteria. I dropped my own books off at my locker and headed to my table outdoors. None of the pod people in the cafeteria looked at me as I breezed through. Today I didn’t need to hit the line to get food because I’d packed myself a lunch that morning. It wasn’t much. A bottle of water, a zip lock bag stuffed full of chips and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with the crusts cut off. I didn’t need anything more and I likely didn’t have the time to eat anything more. Well, maybe a candy bar. There’d always be time for chocolate.

  I made it outside without incident and came to a halt.

  What?

  How?

  Tyson was sitting at the table I’d used yesterday. How had he known? I almost turned around and headed back in the direction I’d come from. I think I would have if a big, very warm hand hadn’t landed on the small of my back and, very gently, pushed me forward half a step. The hand burned through the thin material of my shirt and heated up my skin. I shivered as I turned my head to the side and up to look over my shoulder to see who that hand belonged to. My breath caught in my throat as my mouth dropped open. One of the salt and pepper twins was touching me! The pepper twin. His green eyes pierced me to my spot as his touch burned through me. He’d robbed me of speech.

  He was even prettier up close than he’d been from afar. He had high cheekbones with hollow cheeks that were lovely. A firm, strong jawline. Luscious, kissable lips. I wanted to run my tongue along the bottom one. Tearing my eyes off those lips so I could examine the rest of his face was almost painful, but I managed it. He had black scruff along his jawline and beautiful, thick, dark eyelashes that most girls would be jealous of, myself included. And his hand still rested on my lower back. Shouldn’t he have removed his hand? It wasn’t normal to touch someone you didn’t know in such a way for a prolonged amount of time.

  “Are you just going to stand here all day, pretty girl, or are you planning on moving out of the doorway sometime soon?” His voice came out deep and rough, like gravel. I bet if I had my hand on his chest it would have rumbled along with his voice.

  “Twin, what’s the hold up?” The exact same deep, rough, gravelly voice came from behind the pepper twin. Goodness, their voices were identical. How weird was that? Was that normal for twins? I didn’t think so, but what did I know? I’d never met twins before.

  I looked over pepper’s broad shoulder to see the other twin grinning at me mischievously.

  “What’s the hold up, pretty girl?” He asked me as his grin grew even bigger. “I’m hungry. My twin is hungry. If you don’t move out of the way so we can sit down and eat we might be forced to eat you.”

  The pepper twin laughed at his brother’s words.

  If my face was hot before it was on fire now. I could not believe he’d just said that to me, a complete stranger!

  “Ariel,” Tyson shouted at me. He must have just then spotted me standing there like a moron. “What are you doing? Come and sit down over here.”

  “Yeah, Ariel,” pepper said from behind me in his deep, rough voice. “What are you doing?”

  “Yeah, Ariel,” the exact same voice came from behind the pepper twin, this one mocking. “Go and sit down over there.”

  Yeah, Ariel. I mocked inside my head. Why don’t you just stand here like a moron some more with your mouth hanging open! That sounds like an excellent idea.

  I was so freaking stupid sometimes. It wasn’t bad enough I’d perved on them for an entire hour, which they probably noticed, but now I had to go and act like this? I wanted to smack myself upside the head but feared they’d think me even more of a weirdo if I did it.

  Swallowing thickly, I stepped away from that burning hand and the pepper twin the limb was attached to. Very quickly I made my way to the table. I took a seat directly across from Tyson who did not blind me with his smile. Instead, he looked at me with narrow, concerned eyes.

  To my absolute surprise and utter horror, the twins sat down at the same table as us. Pepper beside me and salt directly across from him. They both grinned boyishly at me. I wanted to die right then and there. How had I not connected it that they would probably want to sit with Tyson when they lived together after all? Like me, they were new to town and likely didn’t know anyone outside of Tyson.

  I desperately wanted to get up and run back the way I’d come from so I could escape this crazy shit show.

  “So,” the salt twin smirked at me with a playful glint in his eyes, “you’re the pretty little neighbor girl Tyson told us about yesterday.” It wasn’t a question but a statement of fact.

  I paused while pulling my water bottle out of my bag. His words completely shocked me to my core. Tyson had mentioned me to them? Yesterday? Yesterday had been a bad day and he’d only spoken to me to snarl at me. And I hadn’t even known he knew we were neighbors until this morning. My face burned bright as I fought the urge to ask the twins what all Tyson had said about me. I looked to Tyson to see him glaring darkly at the twin who’d spoken. It was so scary it made me happy that look was not directed at me. It didn’t seem to bother either of the twins. They grinned at each other as they pulled their lunches out of their bags. I decided to avoid eye contact and do the same.

  “What was wrong with your car this morning?” the pepper twin asked me.

  I opened my bag of chips and looked over at him. His green eyes were so bright they practically glowed. “I’ve no idea,” I told him honestly. “It wouldn’t start and it’s never done that before.”

  “Would you like a ride home?”

  With them? The people who’d replaced me in the dreaded spotlight of this school. I did not think so. I’d take my chances with Mr. Cole before I opened up that particular can of worms.

  “No thanks,” I mumbled. Then I stuffed a chip in my mouth. Although it had been nice of him to ask, I very much wanted him to shut up and leave me alone so I could eat my food in peace. I also very much worried people would come out here in search of the pretty new twins and discover us out here in our hidden sanctuary. That would seriously suck and the place would be over run in no time. That would be a tragedy.

  “She doesn’t like people taking notice of her, like at all.” Tyson informed them. How would he know? “And being seen with the two of you right now would bring her all kinds of attention. And not the good kind. If you want, Ariel, you can ride home with me.” Like that wouldn’t bring all kinds of negative attention? Yeah, right.

  “What are you talking about?” the pepper twin asked.

&nbs
p; This would likely drive me crazy, not knowing their names. So I cut in and asked them.

  “Abel,” the pepper twin smirked at me and answered.

  “Addison,” the salt twin grinned at me from across the table.

  Abel and Addison. I liked their names.

  “Ariel?” Tyson had lost the glare and his eyes were back to being concerned as he starred me down from across the table.

  It took me a second to figure out what he wanted. “Mr. Cole is picking me up from school, but thank you for offering.”

  “No problem,” his voice had gone quiet with a hint of sweet. It was new to me. “You can ride with me tomorrow.”

  Oh, geez. I didn’t know about that. On second thought, it would be better to ride with him than having to deal with one of my mother’s jealous fits.

  “What were you talking about before?” Abel barked at Tyson, his voice commanding and harsh. “Why would you say that about negative attention coming at her because of us?”

  Tyson looked uncomfortable again. The poor neckline on his shirt would likely never return to its normal size. “Yesterday… Shit. Yesterday was Ariel’s first day here and she… didn’t make any friends.”

  I let out a semi hysterical giggle. That was one way to look at it. And why were we talking about this again? The limit to my humiliation was endless.

  “Yesterday was everyone’s first day,” Addison pointed out and frowned. “Well, except for ours.”

  “Who cares if she didn’t make any friends,” Abel put in. “Maybe she’s shy, give the girl a break.”

  “Geez, Ty,” Addison shot Tyson a dirty look. “We wouldn’t do anything to cause her any problems, and if she’s in need of friends we’ve got no problem being friends with her. What the fuck?”

  Poor Tyson, his face was starting to get red in either anger or frustration. Or, perhaps, a little bit of both. I wanted to let him suffer, because of yesterday I felt like he kind of deserved it. But then I thought about how nice he’d been to me all day and changed my mind. He might just be messing with me by being nice to me today but I wasn’t the kind of person who liked being mean to people even when they did deserve it.