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

by Mary Martel

  “Yesterday,” I said, cutting into their glaring at each other, “people called me horrible names and someone even tripped me in one of my classes. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t fun. People don’t like me because they’re small minded and my mother is a bit of a whore.” I ignored their wide eyes and, unfortunately, kept right on spewing out words. “Well, not a whore so much as a stripper turned companion.” The emphasis I put on the word companion said it all. “Mr. Cole is super sweet and, apparently, well-liked by the community. I get why. He’s awesome. Truly. And I also get why people don’t like my mother, but I do not entirely understand why they hate me so much. I’ve wronged no one.”

  They were still staring at me with big eyes as I stood up and stuffed my uneaten lunch back into my bag. For whatever reason, I couldn’t stop talking. “It didn’t help matters any that, even though he was a serious A-hole to me, Tyson still took the time to speak to me. Apparently, he doesn’t talk to anyone and him singling me out for that particular joy made a bad situation a hundred times worse. But, that doesn’t mean any of what happened to me was his fault. It wasn’t because seriously pretty boys are never at fault for anything and small minded people, plus my whore of a mother equals not so good things. It’s all high school drama and stupid if you ask me.” I stupidly waved at them and announced, “I have to go.”

  I was breathing heavily as I turned and speed walked the heck out of there. I’d gotten emotional and said too much. Far, far too much. I shouldn’t have told them half of that shit. And I seriously should not have placed blame on Tyson and called him a seriously pretty boy. I’d gone too far.

  Before the door closed I heard my name shouted, but I didn’t stop. In fact, I walked faster. I had to stop myself from running only because I didn’t want to think about what it would say about me if I literally ran away from them.

  I did what I told myself I wasn’t going to since I’d had the crazy thought about being drowned in the toilet earlier. I made my way to the girl’s restroom closest to my next class. After checking to make sure I was alone I turned the lock on the door, locking myself inside and everyone else out. I sat my butt on the counter with my back pressed up against the mirror and I scarfed down my lunch in record time. When the first bell rang, I unlocked the door and made my way to class.

  The rest of the school day was mildly uneventful. That is, if you didn’t count the twins sitting beside me in the next class and after class the both of them trailed behind me all the way to my next class. A class neither of them shared with me. They drew attention I didn’t need, but, still no one talked to me. I put up blinders after that just to be safe. If someone dared point their stupid finger in my direction I didn’t want to know about it. Day two and I was way over school in every way.

  Also, if you didn’t count the girl in creative writing sitting somewhere far, far away from me, though, that didn’t stop her from glaring at me from across the room. Whatever. Abel and Addison had the class with me and they took advantage of my lack of a tablemate. They both scooted in close on either side of me. It was a tight fit and we were smooshed together because the table was only meant to seat two on each side and they were both really big guys. Their shoulders rubbed against mine. Their thighs rested against mine. It was awkward for me having them touch me like that, but I didn’t complain. In fact, I was too embarrassed to speak to either of them. After they smooshed me in between the both of them they left me be, but I felt their concerned eyes on me the whole time.

  I practically ran out of there and flew through the hallways like a mad woman. I hit up my locker to exchange my books for ones I’d need for my homework assignments and then I got the heck out of there as fast as my feet would carry me without looking like a lunatic. Mr. Cole waited for me where he promised he’d be. I got in the passenger seat and we zoomed off. He drove too fast and he didn’t say a word to me. After the first tightlipped, forced smile he gave me when I first got into the car he never even looked at me again. It hurt. But, I’d asked for it and I’d gotten exactly what I asked for. It hurt like a mother, though. Deep down, I knew I deserved it because I’d hurt him and he hadn’t deserved it.

  Chapter Seven

  Mr. Cole morphed into the same sweet man he’d been that morning as soon as we pulled into the driveway at home. He’d been faking it for me, faking being upset with me. His odd behavior was the least weird of things to have happened to me this day, so I let it go. It took me two seconds to notice my Bug missing from the driveway. I wanted to cry. I didn’t cry, not when I’d decided the day before it would be my nightly ritual. I’d cry about it later when I was alone and in my bed.

  One of the garage doors was sliding open when he spoke. “Your mother asked about your car when the wrecker showed up to take it away. It could not be avoided and she made a big deal out of it and how upset she was for you. I couldn’t get out of taking her with me when I went shopping for you. I’m afraid she picked out the color. Still, I hope you like it. And if you don’t like it we can take it back and exchange it for whatever your heart desires.”

  I looked at him like he was crazy and said, rather brilliantly, “Huh?” I had no idea what he was talking about.

  He laughed quietly and reached out to gently squeeze my shoulder. “I bought you a new car today like I said I was going to.” He hesitated a moment while I gaped at him with my mouth hanging open. Then he spoke so quietly I almost missed what he said. “I hope you like it, sweetheart. I really do.”

  My heart clenched painfully inside my chest when, for the second time that day, someone called me sweetheart in a way where I knew they didn’t mean it to be derogatory or snide or in a false sense of sexiness. It hadn’t been a throwaway endearment, but something far sweeter I wished I could hear every single day for the rest of my life.

  Then something else he said registered in my brain. He’d… he’d taken my mother with him while he shopped for a new vehicle for me. And she’d allowed him to still pick me up from school.

  Oh God.

  Oh, dear God.

  We were both headed on a journey straight down the shitter and he didn’t even know it. He parked right before the open garage door and got out. I had a small panic attack and almost screamed for him to get back in the car so we could make a run for it. His handsome smile with the crinkles around his eyes stopped me. He was happy, genuinely happy, to be giving me something. If I screamed or ran away I’d ruin it for him. I couldn’t do it to him. After the past two days I’d had, Mr. Cole’s smile and happiness meant something to me that I couldn’t deny myself of just then. I’d suffer the consequences later if it meant one of us could be happy now.

  I took a deep breath and exited the sleek vehicle. My mother stood inside the garage waiting for us. Her smile was so forced and brittle it looked as if she made one wrong move her whole face would simply crumble.

  From the moment I stepped into the garage her eyes immediately locked onto me. They rooted me to my spot. I wanted to fight her look and I hated it. She threatened to swallow me whole with only the venom shooting out of her eyes at me.

  “Ariel?” Mr. Cole called out from further inside the garage.

  Damn. Had he not seen her or was he simply choosing to ignore her presence like I wished I could?

  I followed him further into the garage, deciding to ignore her for now. We’d both pay for it later, but to hell with her for now. When I got to the last car parked in the garage my steps faltered and I came to an abrupt stop.

  Oh no, he did not!

  I could not believe my eyes. This had to be some sort of joke.

  “You… you…” I sputtered. “You bought me a Range Rover?”

  A Range Rover. A freaking black Range Rover. It was so pretty I had to reach out and touch it just to make sure it was real. And it was real. Very, very real. Right then I fell in love with a car and I hadn’t even seen the inside of it yet. Or driven it. Or done anything other than caress it with my hand.

  I remembered what he’d said a
bout my mother picking out the color. She’d chosen black? For me? I didn’t understand. I’d expected something bright and shiny that would draw tons of attention and I’d hate it. She’d pick something like that for me and she’d do it knowing I’d hate it. I didn’t understand why she’d pick black, a color I’d actually like.

  “It’s… it’s…” I had no words. This seemed to be happening a lot to me today.

  “It’s all yours,” Mr. Cole told me in his bright and happy voice. “Come on, let’s take it out for a drive.”

  “I’m sorry, Marcus,” My mother cut into the happy moment like I knew she’d been waiting to do. She wouldn’t have liked being ignored when we walked in here. “Ariel probably has homework she needs to do before anything else. She can drive when we all go out to dinner tonight like a real family should.” Her voice had slowly been deteriorating from suspiciously sweet to sharp and angry. “Ariel, you will be having dinner with us tonight. After he went to the trouble and spent his money on a car you’ve done absolutely nothing to deserve, I think it’s the least you can do.”

  “That won’t be necessary, sweetheart.” Mr. Cole told my mother and I noticed something strange when he called her sweetheart. He didn’t call her sweetheart like he meant it as a nice endearment like he had me. “I’m having dinner tonight with a business partner. I forgot to mention it earlier. You two will be on your own for dinner tonight so Ariel and I will be taking that drive now if you don’t mind.”

  I visibly cringed. Tonight was not a good night for him to leave me alone with her, not after this charade. He’d also never, not once since we got here, missed sharing a dinner with my mother and now he was running off to have dinner with a business partner. A business partner was likely his cover for seeing another woman. That’s how it usually went.

  “Marcus,” my mother whined in an unattractive voice. “I wanted to have a-”

  “That’s enough, Vivian,” he snapped back at her. My eyes grew round at his tone. I’d never heard him speak that way to anyone before. “We’ll be back in a little while. I’m sure Ariel will have no problem putting her homework on hold for half an hour.”

  “But-”

  “Get in the car, Ariel,” he ordered me in that same harsh voice he’d used to snap at my mother.

  I didn’t hesitate to obey. My feet carried me around the back of the Range Rover and to the driver’s side door. After opening it I climbed inside. It smelled like leather and new car. I immediately loved it. I ran my hands lovingly over the steering wheel as I looked around me in wonder and awe.

  “Let’s go,” Mr. Cole smiled at me as he buckled his seat belt. I watched him as I did the same. “Start her up.”

  Again, I obeyed and did as I was told. I turned the key and she purred to life. It wasn’t as intense or as seductive as the sound of his car but I enjoyed it all the same.

  As I backed out of the garage I caught sight of the look on my mother’s face. If looks could kill Mr. Cole and I would be dead and my brand-new car would be nothing more than a pile of ash. That lady ruined everything for me. I had the insane urge to stick up my middle finger high in the air and wave it around in her direction. Childish, I know.

  “Sometimes your mother can be a bit… much.” Mr. Cole mumbled to me as I pulled out of the driveway causing a sudden burst of laughter to escape me. He could say that again.

  “Where are we going?” I asked him when I stopped laughing. I didn’t really care where we went just so long as it got us away from home for a little while.

  As I headed towards town I drove past an enormous black truck. Addison sat behind the wheel with Abel in the passenger seat. It did not surprise me one bit that they had a truck suited for a small giant. Tyson’s Audi was right behind them.

  Mr. Cole must have recognized Tyson’s car because as soon as we drove past him Mr. Cole asked me if I’d met the neighbors yet. Seeing as we only had the one neighbor I assumed he meant Tyson. I shrugged in response, not wanting to have that conversation with him.

  “Where are we going?” I repeated myself.

  “Doesn’t matter, Ariel. Just drive and enjoy your gift.”

  As I cruised around town he fiddled with the radio, going from station to station. Every time he stopped on a new station he’d ask me if I liked the song playing. If I did he’d leave it for the duration of the song. If I said no he’d move on to the next station just to do it all over again. I think it was his way of trying to get to know me just a little bit more in any way he could. I didn’t mind.

  Exactly half an hour later I pulled into the driveway. He hit a button on the garage door opener clipped to the passenger side visor that I hadn’t noticed before. The farthest garage door to the left slid open.

  “You’ll park in the garage from now on. I don’t care if you park in the driveway if you’re planning on leaving again, but if you’re home for the night I want your car in the garage with the rest of them.”

  I shrugged and muttered, “Okay.” I could definitely do that for him. Easy. Though, I didn’t know why it mattered to him where I parked.

  Right before I pulled into the garage something across the yard and at the tree line caught my eye. There was a man standing there, half in the shadow of the trees. I couldn’t make out his facial features or much of anything for that matter. Save for his eyes. They were as black as night and staring right at me. I shivered in my seat as he fell back and blended in with the rest of the shadows amongst the trees. Why was there a man lurking in the tree line at the end of our yard? Suddenly parking in the garage didn’t seem like such a bad idea to me now. Not with strange men lurking around.

  I had my seat belt off and my door halfway open when he spoke again. “You mentioned getting a job earlier today to pay for things. I didn’t like this. I don’t mean to overstep my place, but I don’t want you getting a job while you’re living under my roof. I want you to focus on school and being a teenager. I understand that you’ll need money for things so I’ve had a separate account set up for you.” He slid a plastic card and a slip of paper out of his front pants pocket and laid both on the dash. “Money will be deposited at the beginning of each month. Your pin is on the paper. I suggest you memorize it and throw the paper away. It wouldn’t do for certain people to find it.” He opened his door and climbed out of the Rover. “Thank you for spending time with me, Ariel, it meant a lot to me, you have no idea. And if I get home too late tonight, I will see you in the morning.”

  Tears hit the backs of my eyes as my throat closed up tight around the ball of emotion suddenly lodged there. Before I could get ahold of myself enough to tell him thank you after I tried to give him back the card he was gone. He didn’t even bother to go inside to see my mother. Instead he got in his sleek, black car and backed out of the garage.

  I sat there for several minutes gripping the steering wheel tightly in my hands while I deep breathed until the tears were entirely gone. I didn’t want to face my mother with tears in my eyes. I slipped the card and the piece of paper into my back pocket, hit the button on the device clipped to the visor that would close the garage door and climbed out of the Rover. I’d keep it as long as I lived here, if that ever changed I’d try to give it back to him.

  As I walked through the dark garage I shivered, thinking about the man watching me from the woods. I probably should have mentioned him to Mr. Cole. Maybe he’d know who it was.

  This day felt like it would never end.

  I picked up my book bag where I’d left it when I got out of Mr. Cole’s car and headed inside. The door to the garage opened up inside the kitchen beside the pantry. If the man at the tree line hadn’t been there it’s likely I would have tooled around in the garage in an attempt to buy myself time. Instead, I felt the need to hide myself behind as many locked doors as possible.

  My mother was waiting for me inside the kitchen like I knew she would be. She stood tall, with her hips resting back against the granite counter top beside the sink. Today she wore a white, sleeveles
s dress that barely skimmed her knees. Skin tight, of course, but an appropriate length. The neck line dipped so low her boobs looked in danger of spilling out if she were to bend over. Vivian Kimber would never wear a dress that covered up what she liked to call her magnificent tata’s. She’d removed her heels and now stood barefoot. An open bottle of Grey Goose sat on the counter to her left. A glass of ice sat beside the half empty bottle. In the half an hour we’d been gone she’d done a significant amount of damage to that bottle. She poured herself another drink as I came into view.

  “You think you’re better than me.” Her words were surprisingly clear for the amount of alcohol she’d consumed. I wondered how long she’d been repeating that one line in her head to get it to come out without a slur.

  My stomach growled in hunger. Instead of answering her I walked to the pantry, opened the door and stepped inside. I searched the shelves looking for something I could take up to my room with me to eat behind my locked door.

  “Answer me,” she yelled at my back. Ignoring her was always a stupid idea.

  “I would if you had asked me a question,” I mumbled under my breath. Still, I had no doubt she’d heard me.

  “Did you fuck him on your little drive?” she asked nastily. “Is that how you paid for your new car? Did you wrap your teenage mouth and then your teenage twat around his dick to pay for it?” She was screaming at me now. “Answer me!”

  I turned to face her and yelled back, “No! I’m not you, mother.” I cringed, knowing I should not have said that to her. I should have ignored her entirely, said to hell with my hunger and ran right up to my room.