Chapter Nine
Amelie
It takes us a couple of days to prepare the party for Kelsie, Chelsea’s niece. We have to run errands all over town, and Kalen is by my side every step of the way. And he’s an incredible pain in the ass the entire time, whining and moaning all day long.
“I want Fairy Bread! You promised!”
“Why can’t we get the blue pinata?”
“I want the big bouncy castle!”
He thinks he can just pout and flounce to get his own way, and when that doesn’t work, he throws money at everything. Seriously, the boy needs to be put on an allowance. A small one. He’s spent more on this party for some kid he doesn’t know, than my family has to feed everyone in an entire month.
I know he means well, but it is exhausting. I do give in and let him hire whatever the hell he wants from the jumping castle people – stipulating that it needs to fit in the garden and there still be room for the adults and the BBQ.
Chelsea, on the other hand, adores him. They go to Coles to get the party food and their butcher to get the meat, which I know she would never usually do.
She always used to say why spend the extra money when it’s the way you cook it that creates the flavour.
Maybe she’s trying to impress Kalen. It backfired on her when he fills two entire trollies with items – one with all kinds of crap for the kids and the other full of meat and seafood for the adults to barbecue – before picking up the bill.
“Oh my, I don’t know where I’m going to store all of this,” Chelsea says as we enter the kitchen with the final bags from the car.
The bottles of booze clink loudly as I put them down.
I snapped at Kalen earlier, telling him to quit wasting money on crap for kids.
If he wants to part with his not-so-hard-earned cash, he could spend it on booze for the adults.
Once he realised there would be alcohol at a kid’s party, he got even more carried away.
Hence why Chelsea’s kitchen now looks like a farmer’s market crossed with a brewery.
“Yeah, sorry, I can’t help you there.” Kalen laughs. “But I’ll sure as hell help eat and drink it all tomorrow. Can I man the barbie?”
“No!” I yell at the same time Chelsea says, “sure.” I glare at her and shake my head. That is not a good idea. My dad will be pissed; manning the barbecue is his pride and joy. Chelsea knows that, so she must really be trying to make Kalen feel welcome to give up my dad’s favourite job to him.
“Maybe Kalen could be in charge of the kid’s table instead,” I offer, trying to keep the peace.
I’m pretty sure if we put Kalen in charge of the barbecue everyone will go home with food poisoning.
We never had a BBQ at Monty’s house but I noticed one in the garden.
It used charcoal. That’s almost a dirty word here, unless you’re camping and literally have no other options.
“What the hell is that?” Kalen hisses at me when my dad heads inside to get a beer.
“What?”
“That!” He points to the metal monstrosity that we use for feeding our extended family.
“It’s the barbecue.” I look at him like he’s stupid.
“That is not a barbecue.” He frowns, shakes his head, sneers. “Where’s the charcoal?”
“We use gas,” I tell him simply, shrugging my shoulders.
“Wow. I feel betrayed.” He places his hand over his heart. “Like, by your entire nation.”
“Huh?”
“You’re supposed to be these famous barbecuers and you’re imposters...it’s not a barbecue at all. It’s a grill! A hob! An outdoor cooker! That’s the ultimate betrayal.”
“You’re crazy.” I shake my head at his theatrics. “It’s just the way it’s done here. And don’t let my dad hear you dissing his barbecue. I swear he loves that thing more than Aadi and me.”
Kalen’s still staring at the barbecue like it’s going to bite him so I know I made the right call to put him on the kid’s food instead. Not that my dad would ever have let him cook.
“It’s almost time, the guests should be arriving any minute,” I tell Kalen.
“Is it ok? Does it look ok? Do we have enough food? Should I have hired jugglers to entertain?” I can’t help but laugh over the way Kalen is stressing about ‘his’ party. He’s committed to ensuring all the kids have a great time. It’s pretty darn adorable actually.
“Relax. Everything’s perfect. Now...did you want to try the Fairy Bread before the kids get here and demolish it all?”
His eyes light up and the bribe I’ve been holding over his head for days now, so I cave and finally let him try a slice. I mean, it’s just bread and butter covered in rainbow coloured sprinkles, but I knew he’d love it.
He does. He practically inhales half the loaf of bread before I can swipe the plate away from him.
“Oh my god,” he groans orgasmically.
“Kalen! Save some for the children.”
“Give it back! It’s mine. They can get their own fairy heaven bread.”
“It’s just called Fairy Bread you idiot.”
“Nope. It’s heaven. I love how it crunches when I chew.”
“Well, I do not!” I laugh. “Close your mouth while you chew.”
“It’s sooooo good, Amelie.” He closes his eyes in bliss. “You should have some.”
“Thanks, I’ll pass. I grew out of eating that when I was eight.”
“You don’t know what you’re missing.” Suddenly his eyes open and he’s staring at me with a wild, wired kind of look.
“I need to make more fairy food!”
“What? No, Kalen, you don’t.”
“Fairy juice! I want to make fairy juice. I can mix soda and sprinkles!” He races into the house excitedly, calling out for Chelsea. I shake my head, letting him go. He can be her annoying problem for a while.
An hour later, I watch with barely concealed amusement as Kalen screams and charges at the jumping castle, twenty sugar-hyped kids following in his wake. They’re enamoured by him, staring at him like he’s a god or something.
I sip my Corona and lime and let him get on with it.
If he wants to provide free party entertainment, there isn’t an adult here who will stop him.
I glance around the back yard and see everyone is having way more fun at this party than we usually do for the kids’ events.
Kalen and Chelsea went all out on the food, the decorations, the gifts. ..everything.
I’m groaning under the weight of the platter of seafood I just polished off when Aadi and Smalls come sit by me.
“What the fuck is wrong with that guy, Milly?” My brother asks, shaking his head. I laugh.
“He’s just having fun, letting off some steam.”
“Is he always like this?” Smalls joins in.
“Pretty much, only he doesn’t have such a captive audience at home. His brothers tend to get tired of his crap much sooner and shut him down.”
“Home?” Aadi says sharply, making me cringe.
“You know what I mean. We were talking about Kalen, the UK is his home.”
“So long as you remember that this is your home.”
I nod to keep him happy, but I’m not convinced. Knox is my home for the next three years. Maybe longer. And what about The Order? What then? Do I have to stay in the UK because I’m part of that now? They say home is where the heart is...if that’s true, the UK is fast becoming my home.
“I’m surprised anyone can shut him down,” Smalls says. “He seems out of control to me.”
“He has ADHD,” I explain.
“Milly! Do you have any idea how much sugar he’s had?!”
I shrug. “Relax. It’s a party and he’s on holiday.”
“He knows how to throw a kid’s party though, I’ll give him that.” Smalls smirks, but I can tell he’s impressed that Chelsea and her niece have had such a lovely time. “I just thought, with how all out he’s gone, that he would have hired a clown too.”
I laugh.
“He’s terrified of clowns. Some stupid shit when he was younger. He made me promise we wouldn’t have any at this party.”
“You don’t say…” Aadi grins wickedly and I know he’s plotting some prank for Kalen. I could intervene and save him, but he said he wanted the authentic Aussie experience, and getting pranked by Aadi is very much a part of that.
“He’s going to be bouncing off the walls all night,” Smalls points out.
“He can’t do any harm,” I reply.
“No. But I might kill him,” Aadi growls, glancing at the jumping castle where Kalen has taught the kids some annoying song and they’re all belting it out at the top of their lungs.
Thankfully, once the guests all leave, Kalen does deflate a little.
He definitely likes having an audience to perform to.
I watch as he carries a load of empty bottles to the bin and on his way back, grabs an armful of plates to take inside.
Chelsea stops him, takes them from him and kisses him on the cheek.
He turns to face me, a massive beaming grin on his face.
“I think she likes me!”
“She does. But Chelsea likes everyone.” His face falls like I just kicked his puppy and I sigh. “But the kiss? That means you’re family now. Not everyone gets that.” He perks back up before grabbing my hand and pulling me to my feet.
“Come on!”
“Where?”
“On the bouncy castle, of course!”
“Kalen, we don’t call it that. And it’s for kids. We have to let it down before the guy comes to collect it.”
“Nah, I rented it for twenty-four-hours. I wasn’t sure what time the party would finish so I just said pick it up in the morning.”
I shake my head at him, because of course he did, and let him pull me over to the giant purple monstrosity filling the garden. I quickly slip off my shoes and follow him into the enclosed space.
“I haven’t been on one of these since I was little,” I tell him.
“You’re still little.” He snorts. Dick.
“Kalen! What the hell are you doing?” He’s started to remove his pants.
Holy crap, why is he getting naked in my garden?
How much sugar did he have? Has he been drinking too?
My panic lessens somewhat when he stops after just removing his pants, but he’s commando so I get distracted by his cock.
It really is mighty fine, even at half-mast. He laughs, chucks his pants through the small opening onto the jumping castle, grabs my hands and starts to jump.
“This is so much fun!” He laughs.
“It is, but why are you half naked?”
Before he can answer there’s an urgent cry “Milly!” and Aadi’s head appears through the mesh door.
“What the fuck are you doing with your pants off and my sister in here?” He yells at Kalen, climbing in so that Smalls can follow. I giggle at the way Smalls has to twist and turn to squeeze his broad shoulders through the small gap.
“Well this is cosy.”
“Shut up, Milly. You’re in trouble here too.”
“Me? What have I done?”
“You’re having sex on a jumping castle.”
“Erm, Aadi, I love you brother. But if this is how you have sex, I think you’ve been doing it wrong.”
Smalls and Kalen laugh, Aadi glowers at me.
“Dude, relax. I’m not having my wicked way with your sister. It’s just a pants off, dance off.”
“What?”
“You know…jam out with your ham out? Funk out with your junk out? Rock out with your cock—”
“Yeah! I get it!” Aadi snaps. “What I don’t get is why?”
“Amelie, does anyone not willing to helicopter their dick around to cheer you up, even really care about you?” Kalen grins at me. Tears are streaming down my face, he cracks me up so much.
Smalls is eyeing Kalen’s cock with a fascinated kind of horror.
“I take it back, you win. I’m not small but that thing is a beast.”
“Monster, dude, it’s a monster. Come bounce with us.”
“Not til you put that weapon away, someone could get skewered on it.”
“Maybe later.” Kalen winks at me.
“You will not touch my sister!” Aadi screams, charging at Kalen. He dives, wrapping his arms around Kalen’s waist and tackling him to the ground. Brave move, I can’t help but think as my brother gets a face full of monster cock.
Even though Kalen’s dick is out, the pair of them start wrestling. It’s ridiculously immature, but my side soon hurts from laughing. Kalen keeps insisting Aadi doesn’t hit his face, screaming like a girl. Smalls just has this bemused ‘what the fuck?!’ look on his face.
Eventually they tire but not before Aadi punches him in the gut and says to keep his hands off his sister.
“She’s my sister too, brother,” Kalen gasps.
Which earns him a second punch.