by L. A. Casey
“KEELA!”
Uh-oh.
I swallowed and looked to a grinning Aideen.
“I'm in trouble.”
“Yes, baby?” I sweetly called out as I stepped inside my domain.
I looked to my right as Alec stormed down the hallway holding onto his ears. I looked past him and saw Nico pinning Bronagh down on my bed with one arm while he used the other to tickle her.
Poor lass, she was taking one for the team.
“Don't you 'Yes baby' me!” Alec snarled as he came to a stop in front of me. “You cheated me out of—”
“I didn't cheat you out of anythin', you abandoned your post so the bathroom items were fair game,” I cut Alec off and strolled by him as I walked into the kitchen.
Ryder and Branna were in there. She was on all fours cleaning out my lower presses, and Ryder was standing behind her just watching. From the look of things he wanted to do anything but pack right at that moment. I forgot about Ryder and Branna when my love grabbed my arm and spun me to face him. I held onto Alec's arms so I wouldn't fall because I got a tiny bit dizzy from his sudden move.
Alec glared down at me. “You set Bronagh on me so you could smuggle my boxes out of the apartment!”
Smuggle. Ha!
“Oh, get over it you big baby,” I said and chuckled.
Alec continued to glare at me as he said, “Fine.”
I snorted, “Fine.”
“Fine.”
Alec turned and stormed out of the kitchen while I watched him go with a smile on my face.
He was too easy to wind up.
“Trouble in paradise?”
I turned to face Ryder who spoke to me.
I shook my head. “Nope.”
Ryder snorted as he glanced back at Branna, who was still on her hands and knees, and sighed. “I'm going to pack in the living room instead,” he mumbled
He walked into the sitting room, but couldn't escape Branna because she was hot on his heels and it made me snicker. The lads truly didn't stand a chance.
I got to work on clearing out the kitchen. Thirty minutes passed by before I knew it and I had all the contents of the kitchen presses packed into four large boxes. Two of the boxes consisted of our large pots and pans, and the other two were filled with all the smaller items like cups, bowls, plates and the mountain of cutlery we had.
“Aideen?” I shouted.
Aideen entered the kitchen from the hallway and glanced at my boxes. “Nice.”
I grinned and got to work at taping them closed and writing my name on the boxes then the contents because I forgot to do it while they were flattened. We called Branna and Bronagh in and we each carried a box down to the moving van. We loaded the boxes on my side, which brought the total to six.
When we were out of the van and standing on the path I turned to the girls.
“Status report?”
Bronagh grinned. “We've got the kitchen and the bathroom done. I'm nearly finished with the bedroom and Branna is gettin' there with the sittin' room.”
I looked to Alec's empty side of the van and looked back to the girls. “Well... the plan is workin', they haven't got a single box packed yet.”
We all high-fived one another and laughed as we re-entered the building and headed back up to my apartment. We cut the laughter and stayed silent as we entered my building. I froze slightly when I entered the kitchen and found all the lads sitting down and glaring at us.
Every single one of us.
Shite.
“What's with you lot?” I asked.
Alec growled at me, “Like you don't know.”
Oh, bollocks.
“I've no clue,” I said, feigning innocence.
Nico scoffed. “Cut the crap, we're onto you four.”
Us girls shared a look then in unison we said, “What did we do?”
“That was creepy,” Ryder mumbled.
Kane ignored his brother and said, “You're seducing us.”
We all scratched our necks.
“That is ridiculous,” I said, waving Kane off.
“No,” Nico snarled, “It's not. I know you Bronagh. You're constantly touching me, bending over in front of me and drawing as much attention to your ass and body as possible. You know damn well what you're doing to me.”
Bronagh remained silent, as did the rest of us.
“You seduced me in the bathroom, Keela,” Alec hissed at me. “Then you stole my boxes right out from under me.”
I wanted to laugh so I bowed my head and cast my eyes to the floor to avoid doing so. I glanced at Kane when he crossed his arms across his chest and stared at Aideen.
“You grazed your ass against me five times. Five. Times. You evil bitch.”
I lifted my hand to my mouth and covered it when a snicker escaped.
“You think this is funny!” Ryder bellowed. “My cock was so hard for you Branna and you were all 'Stop it, we have to pack boxes.'“
I erupted into laughter at Ryder's impression of Branna, and so did the other girls.
“You four are unreal!” Nico shouted over our laughter.
I couldn't stop laughing, not even when Alec shot over to me and got into my personal space.
“This game you're playing stops now,” he growled down at me.
I looked up at him, and smiled. “What game?”
“Don't pretend you don't know what we're talking about, we figured out what you four are doing.”
I tilted my head to the side. “Which is what?”
We were going to quarrel over this—I could feel it.
“You're using your bodies to distract us so you four can pack and we can't,” Alec stated.
My lip quirked. “No, we're not.”
“Liar,” Alec hissed.
The four lads then moved to the multiple boxes that were stacked over at the door. I frowned, and leaned over to look at them. I counted eight, and Alec's name was on them all.
“When did you do this?” I asked.
Alec smirked. “You four took ten minutes bringing your boxes downstairs. When we realised what you were doing to us and why, we knuckled down and speed-packed. It worked as you can tell.”
Each lad grabbed two boxes and headed out of the apartment, not looking at us as they walked. I spun to face the girls.
“What the hell are we gonna do? They packed the entire fuckin' sittin' room!”
Bronagh sighed, “Relax, we still have the bedroom.”
The four of us turned and walked down to my bedroom. I lead the way and opened the door then gasped when I entered the room and found five boxes stacked next to the doorway. Everything in the room was bare.
“How the fuck did they pack so fuckin' fast?” Branna snapped.
I looked to Storm who was lying on my bed and let out a whine. “Why didn't you stop them?”
“Because he is a lazy fat—”
“Not now, Aideen!” I cut her off with a growl.
She grunted and folded her arms across her chest. “He is on their team, remember? He is against us, just like those four fuckers downstairs.”
I agreed with her as I glanced around my room.
“I'm gonna be stuck cookin' for an entire month!” I groaned.
This was bullshit.
“Alec sucks. Him and Dominic, and their stupid bleedin' bets,” Branna huffed.
I agreed with that wholeheartedly.
“What if we just nick these boxes? What can Alec do?” Aideen asked.
“He can take them back.”
We all screamed as Alec's voice spoke from behind us.
Male laughter erupted, and female growls were let loose.
“Don't do that!” Aideen shouted at Alec. “You just took ten years off me life.”
Alec seemed pleased with himself then nodded his head to the right. “Step aside.”
I stayed put. “Can't we at least talk about this—”
“Not a chance,” Alec cut me off.
He was being so unreasonabl
e.
“But Alec—”
“I said no, Keela,” he cut me off again.
I screeched and balled my hands into fists.
“It's not fair!”
To become the toddler I was acting like, all I had to do was throw a tantrum.
“Not fair is distracting us for your own personal gain,” Alec said as I stepped aside with the girls so he and his brothers could enter the room.
“You got somethin' out of it,” I snapped.
Alec tensed as he picked up two boxes. “We'll talk about this later.”
Wonderful.
“You're so gettin' spanked,” Aideen murmured making the girls giggle.
Alec's lip quirked as he walked by me, and his brothers each sported their own knowing grin as they followed him, carrying boxes of their own.
Men!
I turned back to the girls. “Now what do I do?” I asked.
Aideen frowned. “Get the last of your things and... leave here.”
My heart stilled and I took a step backwards. “So soon? But—”
“There is no reason to stay here, Kay. You're all packed up and ready for your new house with Alec.”
Oh, shite.
“Right,” I said and licked my suddenly dry lips.
Bronagh looked sullen as she said, “Are you okay?”
I nodded my head. “I'm fine.”
Branna lightly smiled at me. “You're nervous.”
Try terrified.
“Maybe a little,” I murmured.
Branna chuckled. “You will be fine. Movin' out of here will be hard for you—it's been your home for the last few years, but your new house will be your home too, and Alec's. You will get used to it.”
Will I?
“I hope so,” I replied and sighed. “This sucks.”
Bronagh was transfixed on watching me, her face contorted in a grimace.
“Are you sure that's all?” she asked.
I nodded my head. “Yeah.”
She continued to stare at me, then she said, “You're lyin'.”
I blinked. “What? No, I'm not.”
“You are,” she pressed. “I can see it. You're scared... but not just about movin' houses. It's somethin' more than that.”
Aideen stepped to my side. “Drop it, Bronagh.”
“No,” she replied to Aideen without looking away from me. “We're your friends, and I want to know what is wrong so I can help you.”
She was such a lovely person.
I forced a smile. “Bee, I'm fi—”
“Don't,” Bronagh cut me off. “Don't lie to me, Keela. I know you're lyin'.”
How?
I was silent for a long period of time, and during this time Bronagh, Branna, and Aideen just stared at me. Waiting.
“It's... It's just... I'm... I'm havin' nightmares. I'm rememberin' everythin' and I don't know if things are right with Alec. I just don't feel... right with meself,” I blurted out then quickly looked out of my bedroom and down the hallway to make sure none of the lads were there to hear me.
I looked back from the hallway to the girls and found Branna was looking between Bronagh and myself.
“Why are you lookin' at us?” I asked.
Branna nudged Bronagh. “Tell her.”
I blinked. “Tell me what?”
“I had them too... the nightmares.”
Her admission took my breath away a little. “You did?” I whispered.
Bronagh nodded, her eyes filling with tears. “I had them for a long time. They still happen every now and then.”
I swallowed. “Do you... do you see bad things?”
Bronagh nodded her head. “Yeah... I remember what I went through, but my mind adds my worries to my dreams and the bad things that I witnessed happen to Dominic or Branna, and I have to watch.”
I gasped. “Me too! I see everyone—me uncle, Marco, and the brothers. A shadow figure kills Alec and I can't stop it no matter how hard I try, but the shadow figure turns out to be me and I tell myself I don't deserve Alec, and then the brothers ask why I let him die, and then I kill myself at the end of the dream, and then I wake up. It's the same one all the time. Some things differ, but it's always Alec who dies and I'm the one to kill him.”
I didn't realise I was crying until all the girls stepped to me and placed their hands on me.
“It gets easier,” Bronagh whispered to me and pulled me into a hug.
She rocked me as Branna asked, “Does Alec know?”
“No!” I gasped and pulled back from Bronagh's hold. “And he can't know. I don't want to worry him.”
All the girls frowned at me, but I shook my head. “This stays between us—promise me.”
Bronagh groaned.
“Bronagh, promise,” I demanded.
She sighed, “I promise.”
I nodded and looked to Branna and Aideen, and they both murmured, “I promise.”
“Thank you,” I said.
Bronagh sighed, again. “The part of your dream where you hurt Alec, is it because you're scared to lose him or somethin'?”
“Or that you're goin' to be the one to end it with him?” Aideen chimed in.
The Murphy sisters gasped. “End it?” they asked in unison.
“You don't want to be with Alec?” Bronagh asked, her eyes wide with shock.
I glared at Aideen who held her hands up. “It was a viable question.”
I looked away from her and back to Bronagh. “I do want to be with him. I love him. I just don't know about how fast everythin' is movin' with us. It's so much for me to wrap me head around.”
Branna blew out a sigh of relief. “So explain that to him, he will understand.”
I frowned. “He won't, if he had his way we would be married and knee deep in babies.”
“You don't want that?” Branna asked.
“I do, but not right now,” I explained. “When he asked me to marry him we only knew each other just under two weeks. I fell for him too hard and too fast, I didn't think feelings could develop that quickly but they did and my acceptance to his proposal was fuelled on by almost losin' him to Marco and that entire fucked up situation. I was livin' in the now, when I should have been realistic and just started up a normal relationship and took it one day at a time.”
The girls all listened to me as I spoke.
“So you just wanna be engaged for a few years?” Bronagh asked.
I nodded my head. “We're still learnin' new things about one another, and findin' out little things here and there about our pasts from before the Bahamas. I just want it to be me and him simply datin' for awhile longer... is that so terrible?”
All three girls shook their heads.
“No, it's not,” Aideen said. “It's completely understandable.”
Oh, thank God.
“You have to tell him eventually,” Branna said after a moment.
I cast my gaze downwards. “I know, but I don't know how to go about it.”
“You might wanna try today before we take all your stuff to the new house.”
I froze. “I can't do that, he can't wait to move to the new house.”
Bronagh look deflated. “Better you let him know your feelings here than when you move into the new house and can't come back here.”
I thought on that for a moment and pushed the idea away. “No, I'm just extra touchy because of the move. Once we're settled into the new house I'll explain everythin' to him and we can go from there.”
None of the girls looked happy with my decision, but they accepted it.
We all stopped talking and I quickly wiped away my tears when I heard laughter come from outside my apartment. Bronagh wiped her eyes too, but it was obvious from the redness and blotches on her cheeks that she had been crying. She was cursed with the evidence of crying—she couldn't hide it.
The lads entered the apartment and they called out to us. Alec spotted us still in the bedroom so they all walked down the hallway to us.
“I w
in, Kitten.” Alec grinned. “I have more boxes packed than you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. I'm gonna poison your food.”
Alec laughed and looked from me to the girls. I saw the second his eyes landed on Bronagh and the change in his demeanour.
“Bee? What's wrong?” he asked, worry laced in his tone.
I smiled. They all loved Bronagh.
“Nothin',” Bronagh replied.
Nico stepped forward. “You were crying,” he stated.
“I wasn't, I rubbed me eyes 'cause dust got in them... that's all.”
She was the worst liar in the history of liars. She wouldn't look Dominic in the eye, and she kept glancing at me. Nico looked at me, and I cast my gaze down to my fingers and played with them. Bronagh was a shite liar, but I was pretty sure I was no better so I didn't look at him.
“What happened?” Nico asked us girls.
“Nothin',” I mumbled.
“Did you argue?” Nico asked us.
We shook our heads.
I glanced to the other brothers and found they were all staring at me.
I was startled.
“What?” I asked them.
Kane and Ryder remained silent, but Nico said, “Something happened, the girls keep looking at you.”
Cheers, girls.
“Nothin' happened,” Bronagh insisted. “We're cool.”
“What were you four talking about while we were downstairs then?” Nico challenged.
Aideen snorted. “Ways to give Alec the shits if he makes Keela cook for him for a month.”
“Hey!” Alec shouted. “You would have made me do a striptease if you won!”
I gasped. “I would have never—”
“Keela,” Alec cut me off and gave me a knowing look.
I couldn't help but laugh. “Okay, I would have.”
“Exactly.”
We all chuckled then.
I glanced around. “What can I box that will even the game out?” I murmured.
“Nothing. Everything is done.”
Damn it.
“I don't believe that,” I said.
I went in search of anything that I could put into a box and pass off as an addition to my haul in the moving van downstairs, but I couldn't find anything. All of us girls were in the sitting room when the lads suddenly screamed and looked over at the front door.
“Storm!”
Storm?
“What?” I shouted. “What is it?”