Chapter Thirty-One
Amelie
Baxter makes a swift exit. This whole sex trafficking has him more focused than I have seen in a long time.
It scares me to see him like this because I know what he is capable of and innocents do not need to be in his firing line when he explodes.
The clean up is not going to be pretty. I just need him to not kill anyone before we get some answers.
“Will you be okay if I leave?” Sawyer asks. “I need to make sure that all the new laws are ready to be sent to every headquarters around the world, and then I have to help with all this year’s recruits.”
“I’ll be fine. How does that work exactly, do they run like us and have someone in charge?”
Sawyer laughs. “You’re in charge of everything.
Each country has a board, all of which are changing hands today, which is why it has taken me so long.
I wasn’t just sorting problems in our backyard.
Theirs are run by their own families that were appointed for each country.
So while The Order was founded here and we are the top of the food chain, there are also important families that help keep everything running smoothly.
Everywhere except Australia, that is, because your grandmother is a force to be reckoned with. ”
“Wow, okay,” I say, scratching my head. I knew The Order was ‘worldwide’ but I hadn’t really thought much beyond that. I thought it was a generic term for really big, not literally everywhere. There is still so much that I need to learn.
Slate, Onyx, Kalen and I head back to the hotel. I want my dad to officially meet the twins as my boyfriends. Aadi and Bex have to stay behind to meet with the other recruits. They are all being given tasks to help aid the takedown.
Frost escorts us back to the hotel, and Jasper is there waiting for us to take over. With Elsie occupied today he is back on duty.
Slate takes my hand as we walk through the doors. His hand is sweaty, and I look up at him.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
“He’s nervous about officially meeting your dad. I’ve told him how awesome he is but he doesn’t believe me,” Kalen crows with a laugh.
“Shut up! This is just getting real, that’s all. The whole ‘meet the parents’ thing. I know Amelie has met our parents, but this is her dad and she’s his daughter,” Slate huffs.
“That’s generally how it works,” Onyx quips, earning him a smack on the back of his head from his twin.
“You’re both assholes. This is a man from a founding family, so he grew up training in The Order. He could probably kill us before we could even think about defending ourselves.”
When my father was seventeen, he came over here to attend a boarding school. There are a few gaps in the story because my information came from Baxter and everything with him is on a need to know basis. He likes to keep bombshells up his sleeve, just so he can whip one out at a moment’s notice.
“My dad is a big teddy bear,” I protest, defending his honour, but I’m sure Slate is actually right. I’m still afraid to look at his file to see what he did exactly and how he managed to be allowed to go home and take a back seat within The Order.
Kalen knocks on the door, bang bang bang, stop, bang bang, stop.
“What are you doing?” Onyx snaps.
“It's a secret knock, duh.”
The door flies open and the doorway is filled by Smalls. My eyes go wide and my mouth hangs open.
“Are you just going to stand there catching flies or are you going to give me a hug?” Smalls asks, followed by a laugh.
I step forward into his arms and he pulls me into a bear hug. “I missed you so much, baby girl.”
Onyx growls and I go rigid in his arms. Smalls and I have resolved our feelings for each other, but sometimes habits are not as easy to break.
I take a step back from his embrace and Onyx takes my hand and pulls me to his side like a damn caveman. I shake my head at him.
My father clears his throat from somewhere behind Smalls, who retreats back into the room.
I squeal when I see Chelsea standing beside my dad.
I drop Onyx’s hand and run into the room, and she stumbles backwards slightly when I latch on to her tightly.
With all the Laura and Debbie drama, I didn’t realise how much she meant to me and how much I see her as my proper mother.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” I ask once I have finished hugging the crap out of her.
“We wanted to surprise you! Plus, I didn’t know if I could take leave from work, but it was approved at the last minute and here I am.”
“Please tell me you’re staying for longer than a few days,” I beg.
She nods. “Sawyer has organised everything, we have a lovely place to stay from today. I have a few weeks off, and your father will stay as long as you need him.”
She smiles, and I look at dad. I don’t know how much she knows but he has to have told her something.
“Is everyone ready?” Kalen asks, and we all look at him.
“What have you organised?” I groan. Sometimes he worries me.
“Since we are all graduating—”
Onyx cuts him off. “We don’t graduate for weeks yet. Technically, you still have years to go.”
“Semantics. I didn’t know if Amelie's family would be here for her graduation, so because they’re here now, I moved the celebrations up. We’re going to the fair!”
“That’s months away,” Slate points out, confused.
“Not for us! I have it all organised, don’t you worry. I think with everything going on we all deserve one day of fun. Am I right?”
“Of course you’re right sweet boy. Amelie is so lucky to have you around, making sure she doesn’t work too hard. Let’s message Aadi to make sure he comes.”
“Already taken care of,” Kalen answers. He’s up to something; I can just feel it in my bones. “Let’s go, I have a car waiting downstairs.”
We all head down to the lobby, and I snort when I see Jasper get into a minivan out front with a scowl on his face.
I can’t imagine taking orders from the likes of Kalen would be fun, especially when he goes all rogue and organises things which are usually over the top, but his heart is in the right place.
Once we are all seated in the van, Jasper drives us to the next town over. The fair comes into view and I gasp. Kalen has gone all out.
Jasper radios through to Frost to let him know that we’ve arrived.
“Happy graduation!” Smalls yells, standing next to me once we exit the car. I chuckle at him.
“Thanks, I guess. Though I’m not even sure if I qualify to graduate early. Monty hasn’t updated us yet.”
Students that I recognise from Knox Academy are lining up for rides, and I spot several Order members running the rides.
Turning to Kalen with a frown, I ask, “Is it smart to use our resources like this?”
“Don’t worry,” is all he says.
I start to wonder where Elsie, Adrianne, Bex and my brother are, but then they’re walking towards us.
Smalls bellows out a laugh and my brother flips him off.
Elsie and Adrianne are dressed in clown makeup with corsets, skirts and white stockings with heels, though the only one who looks happy about that is Elsie.
My brother and Bex are dressed as mimes.
“You’re going to die,” I whisper to Kalen who is standing to my left.
“They can thank me later. This counts as one of their training assignments, and they only have to do the day shift. I have split everyone into day or night.”
“I’m not sure that clowns and mimes belong at a fair,” Chelsea points out as everyone joins us.
“They do in my head,” Kalen replies with a god-awful cackle. God knows why he opted for clowns and suddenly seems to have gotten over his fear of them. It was pretty extreme when we visited Australia. It makes me even more nervous for what he has planned.
Chelsea pulls my dad away to a booth to get some fairy floss, which is apparently called candy floss here. Kalen was shocked when we were in Australia because we had fairy bread and fairy floss. But both were approved by him since both are delicious.
“When you said we had training today, Amelie, I didn’t realise this would be involved,” Adrianne snaps, and I try not to laugh.
“I think we look cute,” Elsie states and she looks at Jasper with a smile. “All we have to do is walk around and offer kids balloons, which we have to go and inflate.”
Adrianne declares this war between her and Kalen, making me laugh. I don’t know if they will ever fully get along, but her not wanting to kill him every time that he walks into a room is a huge improvement.
“Hey, Amelie.”
I turn my head as Adrianne's brother Falon runs past me, fairy floss in his hand. Maggie chases after him.
“Why isn’t Adrianne watching her brother?” I ask Kalen.
“Because that wouldn’t have annoyed her, and my mum is old, she doesn’t need to be dressing up as a sexy clown, which is also gross. I don’t want to see her half naked. Adrianne couldn’t get her sitter and I suggested Mum step in, since she has to be involved in all Order activities.”
When my dad and Chelsea come back with the fairy floss we all walk around.
My brother and Bex head out on their own.
They say they’re going to amuse the kids, but I think they just want to be alone.
I don’t mind. I have no idea what I was going to say to Bex yet and it’s all a little awkward.
I watch them leave, bickering between themselves.
I’m unsure why Kalen made them mimes since they can’t be in the same room as each other without fighting.
Kalen leads us to what we call sideshow alley in Australia. We start with the balloon bust, where Onyx is very competitive, of course. He walks away with the biggest stuffed bear that I have ever seen.
“For you,” he says with a smirk when I take it. Kalen also gave me his prize, a small purple and pink unicorn toy.
“Thank you.”
We make our way through a few games and move to the rides.
I end up with more teddies than I could carry, and Jasper calls down Cap to come and take them all to the minivan.
I try not to laugh at him staggering away under the weight of so many fluffies, while wondering what the hell I’m meant to do with all of them.
Momo is partial to a soft toy or two, so it looks like all his doggy Christmases have just come at once.
All the guys decide to go on a ride that looks like a hell no for me. You’re locked inside a cage with another person, both strapped to a seat and as it swings around, the chair rotates.
Chelsea dragged my father to go on the teacups which are for kids, but she didn’t care. They’re safer than the cage of doom.
“How is your day going?” Sawyer asks, sneaking up behind me. When I turn, he has a huge smile on his face.
“You knew about this?”
He nods. “Kalen couldn’t pull it off by himself, and I usually wouldn’t have allowed it but he had a strong argument that we hadn’t spent much time with you, and your family is here.
They deserve to make special memories, and they did the same for him.
He adores Chelsea, you know. He also mentioned that you had a small fair in your town every year around this time, and I caved. ”
“We do.” I grin both at the memory and that Kalen remembered me telling him about it. That boy deserves more credit. “We all go every year and take Chelsea’s nieces and nephews. It’s always an amazing day.”
Onyx races back over to us. All the worry lines have eased from his face and he’s smiling. I don’t think in the entire time that I have known him that I’ve actually seen him look this carefree.
“Having fun?” I ask him as wraps his arms around my waist.
“Yes. Slate had to sit next to Kalen and he threw up! He shouldn’t have had that much candy floss before going on rides, and you should see the shirt he has to wear.”
His laughter rings through the air as a green-faced Kalen and a sour-faced Slate walk closer to us.
Slate is wearing a Hawaiian shirt a few sizes too big for him.
The shoulder keeps falling down and he keeps adjusting it.
I can tell how uncomfortable he is. I pull Slate into my embrace and he holds on tight.
It may be something simple to everyone else, but not him.
The thought of anyone other than his family seeing him with no shirt on causes him anxiety, and I get that. I hate anyone seeing my scars.
“Let’s go for a walk, Slate,” Jasper states. “Amelie, you need to come too.” I don’t question it.
“Where are we going?” Kalen asks, unable to pick up on body language or any type of social cues. He’s lucky that I love him.
Jasper brings us to a first aid tent, and he asks the guy to step outside because he needs the tent for a minute. The paramedic leaves without question.
“Slate, Amelie, in,” Jasper barks, pointing inside. We both walk past him.
“Oh, orgy! Yes please!” Jasper holds his arm out, blocking Kalen’s entry into the tent and Kalen pouts. “So...no orgy?”
Jasper shakes his head and steps inside. Wordlessly, he unbuttons his white business shirt and shrugs it off, he has on a tight white T-shirt and he also pulls that off over his head too and hands it to Slate.
“Thanks,” Slate mumbles as Jasper turns away from us to give him privacy. Jasper puts his smart shirt back on as Slate pulls off the hideous Hawaiian shirt and slips into Jasper’s T-shirt.
With both guys dressed, we head back outside.
“I can see your nipples,” Kalen laughs.
And now we know why Jasper double shirts.