Chapter 38 #2
Even though I suspect they aren’t even aware the other’s texting me, I can’t help but picture them both egging each other on.
Only if you catch me.
Killian
I’ll have Xav hold you down.
I don’t think so.
Already, I’m wet between my thighs.
Killian
We will. And you’ll fucking take it and beg. For. More.
The front door slams right as my mini lights up, but I don’t have time to check as I lock down both and hide them under the blankets.
“Iris!” Rue shouts. “Come down! Heath says you’re back.”
Someone runs up the stairs, and Mari bursts in a second later. She looks me up and down. “You look the same.”
“Why would I look any different?”
“You don’t smell any different.” Relief floods her face as she leans in.
“Penrith has some killer new blocker,” I whisper.
But then, she meets my gaze and lowers her voice. “Are you okay? You know, after everything?”
I know what she means, so there’s no need to say it out loud. I just offer her a small smile. “Yes, actually. More than okay.”
She moves back and grins. “Good.” To my surprise, she doesn’t mention anything about owing her for keeping my secret. Instead, she changes the subject all together. “Is it true Penrith’s throwing a ball in the Gardener family name? Heath told Mom…”
“Yep. It is. Pen asked for my help. So that means we have a lot of planning to do.”
“We? You and Pen?”
“You and me,” I say. “Violet’s so big, she’s about to burst, and Dahlia’s not into this stuff. Rue is, but she’s way too young and I need someone on my side to make sure this thing isn’t a huge bore.”
“Me?”
“You. One, you’re full of creative ideas, and two, I’m going to need the moral support.”
She smiles, but it wobbles. “First you have to talk to Mom. Alone. She’s waiting for you downstairs.”
Mom’s alone in the living room, back to the door, shoulders stiff.
“I’m glad you’re all right,” she says, somehow knowing I’m there the moment I step in. “A mother worries.”
Horror hits me. I never thought…I didn’t… “Mom?—”
“I guess I understand why you went to Penrith’s. With the way Heath has been…”
“Mom…”
She takes a breath. “Darling, I remember my first heat, so I’ve had things prepared. For all your girls, so that you all would be comfortable while you were here. But…I sent them to you.”
Shit. Guilt stirs. I didn’t think this meant so much to her. “Thanks, I got them, I?—”
“I’m trying not to take it personally. And I get it, I do. But I won’t lie and say it doesn’t hurt.”
I swallow. I move on stiff legs to her, and I hug her from behind. “I’m sorry, Mom. We were out, enjoying the day, and I didn’t realize until…I just thought since Penrith was close and could help…I wasn’t thinking…”
The weight of what I’ve done comes down on me. Crushes.
It’s not the going into heat or having sex or all the rumors about me that has her so upset. It’s the fact that I didn’t even think of her, of how she’d feel. It was an important moment in my life she wanted to help me through, to comfort me and be my mother.
She turns and hugs me back, and in that hug, I feel the truth behind her sadness.
Mom thinks she’s losing me.
And not just to age, but in heart, too.
When she finally releases me, she wipes her eyes.
“I’m being a silly, sentimental lady who wants her girls just to stay girls a little longer. And to be a part of your life in some way during all stages of it.” She sniffs, and a half-hiccupped laugh escapes. “Does that make me selfish?”
“No…I don’t think so. It makes you a good Mom.”
She smiles. “I’m glad you think so.”
I draw in a deep breath and try gently to move on to another subject. Something that may cheer her up.
“Mom, I don’t know if Penrith has told you yet, but while I was over there, we got to talking and she wants to host a ball for us. We decided on a theme—Midnight Garden. What do you think?”
She puts a hand to her chest, her entire face lighting up with excitement “She didn’t say! Is that true?”
I nod, trying to sound enthusiastic about the whole thing. “I know you and Mari can make it into the event everyone talks about for the rest of the Season.”
“Oh my! There’s so much to do. Catering, decorations, flowers—loads and loads of flowers. Everywhere! We’ll make it into Sabine’s own Garden of Eden. A paradise.”
I chuckle. She looks so much like Rue in her excitement, I can see where she gets it from.
“I have to call Pen straight away.” She whips out her phone and makes the call just as Mari pokes her head in. The sound of violin drifts in, followed by Rue.
Mom leaves the room, chattering excitedly to Pen on the phone.
“Is it true?” Rue asks once Mom’s voice fades away. “Am I going to throw a ball?”
“Not you,” I say. “Mom and Penrith. The Midnight Garden.”
She clasps her hands and twirls. “Our ball. It sounds amazeballs. Did you hear that? Pretty clever! Wait until the QB writes about this. I’ll be famous.”
Rue takes off, and Mari takes my arm. “So we’re doing this?”
“ You’re doing this with Mom and Pen.”
She shakes her head. “Nope, we’re doing it. You’re not getting out of this?—”
“Oh, good,” Heath says, striding in. The side of him that Emmie got to see is long gone. “You haven’t run off again.”
“I didn’t run off.”
“I found you at a certain bar,” he says in a harsh whisper.
“With Penrith,” I hiss back, “who took me there.”
He ignores that, pulls out his phone, and turns it to show me the screen. “The message will be coming through to your mini, but Errol’s asked you on a chaperoned date.”
“What!”
He holds up his hand. “Don’t even try to refuse. You’ll be saying yes. Actually, you have said yes already, but you’ll say yes formally through the mini. The date’s tomorrow. Mom will take you shopping for a dinner dress and one for the ball.”
I want to tell him to fuck off, I don’t need any more dates because I’ve already been marked, but that will only bring more problems. And if I want to get close enough to the Monarch at this ball to talk to her, I’m going to have to play along. At least for a little while.
“Fine,” I push out.
Then, he reaches into his suit jacket’s inner pocket and pulls out two wrinkled pieces of paper.
They are the lists of possible suitors I’d crumpled up and chucked at his head.
“And this list? Memorize it tonight. Your afternoons are all book for the week, so that you’ll have your dance slots full for the ball. Understand?”
Heat burns in my cheeks as I snatch the papers from him.
I hate my brother.
“Understood.”