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

by Mary Martel

  “I don’t get it,” I told him honestly. “He doesn’t even know me. Why would he care if I was all alone? And, let’s be honest here, I never actually came out and said I didn’t want to be alone. It was you who said it. Not me.”

  He gave me a look that this deserved. Alright, so we both knew I didn’t want to be alone. Didn’t mean I’d be admitting it out loud any time soon.

  “Quint cares about you, we all do. I told you, he’s protective of you.”

  Yeah, I didn’t understand this either.

  “Why?” I asked bluntly.

  “Because you’re you.”

  Oookay.

  “Try again,” I told him. “And this time give me a real answer. One that’s not full of bullshit.”

  He sighed loudly. “Go home and pack a bag, Ariel. Then come to my house. We’ll get you settled in and I’ll try to explain everything to you.”

  “Everything?” I asked. What all did he think needed to be explained?

  “Everything,” He agreed.

  I wanted to know what everything meant. I needed to learn how to quit while I was ahead. Here he was agreeing to give me more than I was asking for and still I wanted to push it.

  “Alright, alright,” I grumbled. “I’ll pack a bag.” I hoped I wouldn’t end up regretting this decision later.

  He grinned at me, not a full, blinding smile, but it was definitely still nice to look at.

  I asked a question I was really curious about. “Are the rest of them going to be there?”

  “You mean the one’s from last night?” He asked. When I nodded, he continued. “I never know. Those three don’t tell me shit and they do whatever Quint tells them to do. But if they do show up and you don’t want to be around them we can stick to my room or the twins room.”

  I studied his serious face and I had more questions than I had a minute before.

  “Go pack, sweetheart.” He nudged me on the shoulder. “Then head on over to my place.”

  He could be very bossy at times, I was learning. I was also learning that I didn’t entirely mind. I could see it getting on my nerves eventually, but for now I’d let it slide.

  “Fine, fine,” I grumbled as I opened the car door and climbed out. I hauled my backpack up off the floor and slung it over my shoulder. I heard his car door shut quietly as I walked away.

  The stupid alarm beep, beep, beeped at me from its place on the wall as I locked the dead bolt. I punched in the code then rearmed the damn thing.

  I dragged my backpack up the stairs behind me. There wasn’t anything breakable in there. I couldn’t remember if I had learned anything in my classes before lunch but if I had I couldn’t remember. Did I have homework? Did I care?

  Could I really spend the night at Tyson’s house? Would he expect me to sleep in his bed with him? Last night had been the first time I had ever slept beside a boy before. I realized I wanted to do it again.

  But I couldn’t think on that at the moment, I had more important things to worry about. Like potentially coughing up blood. Magic and being claimed (whatever the fuck that meant). Waking up with my girl bits pressed up tight against Tyson. Wanting him to put his tongue in my mouth. And, worse, wanting a few other people to maybe put their tongues in my mouth, too. Also, I couldn’t help but wonder, would the twins still be built exactly the same if you took all their clothes off?

  And on top of all the crazy inside my head I still needed to pack a bag. Did I have cute pajamas to sleep in? This was a bad idea.

  I threw my bookbag at my bed and missed. I overshot and it sailed through the air over the bed and hit the wall with a loud thud. Again, there wasn’t anything in there to break so I didn’t care.

  I walked into my closet and started sliding around coat hangers. My hands were shaking. I stopped sliding around the hangers and stared at my hands. This day wasn’t even half way over and already it had been too much. Too much had happened. Too much to deal with. Too much to handle. My brain couldn’t comprehend it all. Not on top of everything else and with my lack of sleep last night. I was utterly exhausted and I think I might have been in shock a little bit. Seeing all that blood come out of people today had part of my poor brain trying to shut down on me.

  This town sucked and the people in it weren’t much better. My first week of school had been a disaster of epic proportions. My mother had done what she always did and she’d hurt me. I’d likely fallen in love with Mr. Cole who’d shown me a great deal of kindness and we weren’t even going to get into the Range Rover. The only friends I had made were intense and they were hiding things from me. Tyson promised me answers tonight. Did I want answers? I thought I did, now I wasn’t too sure I could handle any more.

  I thought about what happened today during lunch and the fact the twins and Tyson had thought Quinton had been responsible in some way. Had he somehow poisoned them with something? Did I really want to spend the night under the same roof as a man whose family thought capable of harming others in such a way? Had he really been responsible for today? And, if so, how? And, would I really care if he had? Chucky had humiliated me and treated me like garbage. Yeah, he’d since changed his tune and now claimed to want to date me but it seemed like a trick. Did he really deserve my compassion now? I didn’t think so and I did not like what that said about me at all.

  I didn’t want to be a bad person no matter what. It hit too close to home for comfort. My mother being a terrible person and all, I knew exactly what it meant to not be good. If I ended up like her I would hate myself.

  Thoughts to examine later. But for now… What to pack.

  After standing in my closet and staring at my options for the better part of fifteen minutes I finally said screw it and made my selections. It was just for one night, I could do this.

  I grabbed an overnight bag from the floor. It was cute, girly and big. It also reminded me of a beach bag. The bag was wide with thick, short straps and covered in bright white and pink horizontal stripes. I sat it on the bed and dumped my clothes beside it.

  I folded them up neatly and placed them in the bag. Black bra with black lacy matching panties. They were cute and I looked damn good in them if I did say so myself. I had looked for something less pleasing to the eye but found I didn’t have any ugly under things. Who knew. I decided I didn’t care. What did it matter when I wasn’t planning on anyone else seeing them? It didn’t. So in the bag they went. Next I packed black cotton shorts and a black tank top with thin straps and a skull and cross bones covered in glittering sparkles across the chest. My outfit for tomorrow. I stuffed that in the bag. I’d found I didn’t have ugly pajamas either. I packed a thin tank top with matching drawstring shorts to sleep in. They were blood red and covered in little black hearts. They were also super cute. I packed a different pair of flip flops for tomorrow, black with a very pretty red and black Gerber daisy where the straps met. They too were girly. Shit. Last, I packed a red pullover hoody. It had large fangs on the front and big, white words scrolled under the fangs that read: Eat Me. They were vampire fangs and I adored that hoody. My mother hated it.

  I went to the bathroom next for my toiletries. I grabbed my bright yellow toothbrush, hairbrush in the same color, deodorant a few hair ties, thick headbands in three different colors; black, red and white. I thought about anything else I might want and shrugged. It’s not like I was going to be gone for long or never coming back. If I forgot something I could always run back next door and grab it. I pulled a cute little clear bag with a bright yellow zipper out of the closet and stuffed it all inside. I zipped it up and went back into the bedroom where I tossed it inside my bag. I thought about packing makeup but shrugged it off. I didn’t need makeup for this trip.

  I grabbed my phone charger from where it was plugged into an outlet in the wall near the window seat and tossed it into the bag as well.

  I looked around my room and asked myself if I needed anything else. Socks. I needed a pair of socks. I didn’t want to walk around their house in my flip flops
all day and I didn’t like to walk around bare foot because my feet tended to freeze. I needed socks. I went to my dresser and pulled open the top drawer. I found a pair of bright, fuzzy yellow socks. Perfect. I tossed those into my bag.

  I had everything I thought I needed except for my phone. I dug my phone out of my backpack and stuffed it into the bag too.

  I looked around my room one last time. Looking for something, anything. I was stalling for time.

  I couldn’t do this but I had to do it. My mind was at war with itself. I was nervous and didn’t want to go over there. But I didn’t want to be alone more than I didn’t want to go next door and I really, really wanted answers.

  With those thoughts on my mind I grabbed my overnight bag and headed towards the stairs.

  I could do this.

  Probably.

  Maybe.

  Shit.

  Chapter Eighteen

  For the second time today I found myself knocking on this door. If Quinton answered the door half naked with his pierced nipples winking at me again I was going to turn right back around and lock myself in my house until it was time for school on Monday.

  The door opened and (thankfully) Addison stood there fully clothed in the black Henley and dark blue jeans he’d worn to school. He’d lost the black boots and if he’d worn socks earlier he’d lost those as well.

  “I was starting to think you’d changed your mind and weren’t coming over after all. Not that I would blame you, this place is a mad house because Quinton’s turning into a tyrant and-”

  “Twin,” Abel stepped up behind his brother and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Let her in. She doesn’t need to hear about Quinton right now. There will be time for that mess later.”

  “Right, sorry.” Addison moved out of the doorway as he raked his hands through his white blonde hair. “Sorry, Ariel, didn’t mean to be rude. I’m a little on edge.”

  “We’re all a little on edge, twin,” Abel said as he took my bag from off my shoulder, sliding it down my arm. “No harm done. Come on, pretty girl, let’s drop your bag off upstairs and get you settled in.”

  He took my hand in his and pulled me inside. I smiled at him because he looked cute with my giant pink and white striped bag over his shoulder, it looked ridiculous on him. Or maybe he’d just look good in pink. I bet he’d make a pretty drag queen.

  “We should put her stuff in our room.” Addison told his brother as Abel pulled me towards the stairs.

  “I’m way ahead of you, twin.”

  “You two share a room?” I asked. That seemed weird because this house was just as massive as Mr. Cole’s house. There had to be plenty of room and only four people lived here.

  “Yeah,” they both said at the same exact time in the same voice.

  “Is that a twin thing?” I asked about their shared room. I’d never even met twins before them, maybe it was normal.

  “We do everything together,” Abel told me as we started up the stairs.

  Addison placed his hand on the small of my back and I found myself engulfed in their strange heat. Thankfully, it wasn’t overwhelming this time, but comforting instead.

  “We’ve shared a room since the day we were born,” Addison told me.

  “We’ll likely share one until the day we die,” Abel said.

  I found myself a little envious of their obvious bond. What would it feel like to have someone to be so close to, someone you could count on, someone who cared so much? I wanted someone like that in my life.

  We were halfway up the stairs when the shouting started.

  “Shit,” Abel muttered as he picked up his pace, practically jogging up the stairs and pulling me along behind him. “I thought we’d be long gone before they started yelling at each other.”

  “What the fuck were you thinking?” Tyson shouted.

  I realized his voice was coming from the office that had no door I’d passed on the way to the kitchen the other day. Or had it been yesterday? I couldn’t remember anymore, too much had happened.

  “What I do isn’t any of your fucking business, nephew.” Quinton snarled back.

  Oh boy.

  “Hurry,” Addison gave me a gentle push from behind.

  “None of my fucking business?” Tyson shouted, sounding more enraged than he had been mere seconds before. “None of my fucking business? Are you kidding me right now? You can’t do shit like that. You’ll expose us all and it’s dangerous. Not to mention you scared the shit out of Ariel and now I have to explain things to her that I thought I would have more time to…” His voice faded as we reached the top of the staircase.

  There was a huge open area to the right of the staircase that was completely empty. Weird. Tyson’s house might have looked a lot like Mr. Cole’s house from the outside and I thought they were similar in size but they had entirely different layouts on the inside. A hallway went left and I could see another hallway leading deeper into the house from the weird empty room.

  Abel pulled me left down the hallway. We passed by two doors on the left before stopping in front of the only door on the right side of the hallway. It was closed. Abel turned the knob and pushed the door open. Addison pushed me inside.

  “Holy crap,” I sputtered as I took in their bedroom. It was at least twice the size of my bedroom at Mr. Cole’s house. It was the largest bedroom I had ever been in before or ever seen for that matter.

  To the right, were two king size beds. One up against the left wall, the other up against the right wall. The bed on the left had a black comforter and the bed on the right had a white comforter.

  I pointed between the two beds. “Which one’s which?”

  If I had to guess I’d say the one with the white comforter belonged to Addison and the black belonged to Abel. I was wrong.

  “The black one’s mine,” Addison told me. “The white one’s Abel’s.”

  Huh.

  I hadn’t seen that one coming.

  On the other side of the room sat a black leather couch facing a mammoth flat screen mounted on the wall. There wasn’t much else in the room save for boxes stacked up against the walls. On the wall with the flat screen were two doors. I imagined they lead to a closet and a bathroom.

  “It’s… uh… roomy.” I said. It was roomy but it was also weirdly empty like the rest of the house.

  They both laughed at me.

  “We’ve only been here for a week,” Abel told me. “We haven’t had a whole lot of time to unpack anything yet.”

  “Besides, you’re one to talk,” Addison teased me. “Your room is a blank slate except for your comforter and all those girly pillows covering the window seat.”

  I shrugged, he wasn’t wrong.

  “How long have you been living with Mr. Cole?” Abel asked me pointedly.

  I rolled my eyes. Like he didn’t already know. Please. “You know I’ve been living with him since the beginning of the summer. Why you would pretend different is beyond me.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “Did you guys stay here a lot before your…” I trailed off as soon as my brain caught up with my mouth. I could not believe I started to ask them about their lives before their parents died when neither of them had said anything ever to me about their parents. I only knew they were dead because Tyson had mentioned it to me.

  “I’m sorry, guys.” I quickly tried to apologize for my stupidity.

  Abel walked over to the black couch and sat my bag down on it. He plopped down beside my bag and immediately started digging through it.

  “Hey,” I cried as I ran to the couch and tried to grab ahold of my bag so I could take it away from him. I had underwear in there!

  Abel had ahold of one handle and was pulling it his way as I grabbed hold of the other handle and tried to pull it in the opposite direction.

  “Abel, stop. What are you doing? You’re going to rip my bag.”

  “If he rips your bag I’ll buy you a new one.” Addison said from directly behind me. Too close behind me.r />
  Distracted by his nearness I turned my head to see just how close he really was to me. My hands loosened on the handle when I realized Addison was right there. If he moved forward another inch he’d be touching me.

  “What are you doing?” I squeaked.

  “Twin?” Addison ignored me to ask his brother.

  “Ready,” Abel replied.

  As soon as Abel finished speaking he gave a vicious tug on the bag. At the same time, Addison put his hand in between my shoulder blades and shoved me forward. I let out a scream that was not girly in the least but filled with terror as I flew forward.

  I let go of my bag as I fell and Abel threw it to the floor. I crashed into him and he grunted at the impact. My forehead caught him on the chin and he let out a pained sound. My entire body draped over his. I dug my elbows into his stomach as I tried (and failed) to sit up and scramble off of him.

  He rolled over onto his side, taking me with him. I ended up smushed between Abel and the couch with my hips pressed up against his, my arms stuck in between our bodies and my legs tangled up in his.

  Deep, masculine laughter came down from above me. I turned my head to see Addison’s face hovering above me, his body shaking with his laughter and his fist pressed tight to his mouth in an attempt to hold in the sound of his hilarity.

  “What the hell, guys?” I whined as I struggled against Abel’s tight hold on me.

  Abel’s arms tightened around me as he buried his face in my hair. “You felt bad,” he mumbled.

  “About Tyson and his Uncle?” I asked in confusion. What was he talking about?

  “No, pretty girl,” Addison said as he brushed a strand of hair out of my face. I was glad he did it because my hands were currently trapped between me and his brother. “Although, those two together can be a little upsetting for anyone and they’re worse today because-”

  “Addison,” Abel growled. I tensed. I’d never heard either of them call the other by their name. “Stop saying shit to her about Quinton and Ty. We promised.”