Chapter Forty-Nine
Amelie
Today’s quiet family BBQ has turned into a much larger affair than I expected. It’s my fault; I should have kept my mouth shut about the whole thing, because once Kalen got wind of it, I should have known he’d take over.
Still, I didn’t expect him to turn today into a party of all days.
“Did I do well, sis?” he asks, bounding over to me and slinging his arm around my shoulders.
“With what? And I’m not your damn sister, Kalen,” I say more out of habit now than anything.
“With putting the FUN back in the funeral?”
I sigh. “This isn’t a funeral.”
“But it should be.”
He’s right, of course. Today is Laura’s funeral, and after I explicitly said I wouldn’t be attending, I had planned to just spend the day quietly at Monty’s with the guys. But of course Kalen had other ideas.
“This feels disrespectful,” I say, worrying my bottom lip as I look around at everyone having a good time. Everyone within our close circle is here, except Monty, who felt he should attend Laura’s burial.
Bex and Adrianne are sat atop of Smalls’ and Aadi’s shoulders in the pool, wrestling.
My dad and Onyx are in the water, helping Falon perfect his…
breaststroke by the looks of it. Elsie, Kathryn and Mackenzie are sunbathing.
Debbie, Camilla, Chelsea and Maggie are sipping cocktails on the patio.
It must be weird for Maggie being back here, but she doesn’t seem too affected.
Frost, Jasper and Cap are all hovering nearby, even though none of them are on duty today.
I guess old habits are hard to break. Even Precious, Belle and Emmerson are here, though they’ve been pretty quiet and kept to themselves a lot.
It’s crazy busy, but somehow the mood is light and relaxed, despite all of the tension of the last few weeks. And actually, as my eyes scan over everyone, I realise the connections I’ve made in a relatively short space of time.
“Fuck it!” Kalen cries. “You don’t owe her any goddamn respect, Amelie. She was a vile human being. She’s bloody lucky we didn’t take the party to her grave to dance on it.”
I give him a weak smile, knowing that he’s sort of right.
“I guess. Not the dancing part though,” I attempt to quip, needing to get out of this funk. “I would never do that… I’d set it on fire maybe, but my heels would sink in the mud if I tried dancing.”
“Atta girl! Actually, you’re wearing far too many clothes for this garden party!”
“That’s because it’s pretty damn cold still Kalen.”
“Pah! I’m sick of you moaning about the temperature and the weather all the time!
The sun’s shining, isn’t it? Here in the UK, that means we basically get naked and toast. Because if the weather is actually nice for once, we have to burn, otherwise we’d have nothing to moan about.
We Brits love a good moan. Especially about the weather.
Besides, you’ve been here longer now than some people who claim citizenship.
So it’s time you sucked it up and embraced life in a temperate climate. ”
“It’s time you took a bath, Kalen,” I retort, stepping forward and planting my hands on his chest. With a fast, hard shove he sails backwards into the pool amidst an enormous splash.
It puts a smile on my face at least, which stretches even further when Kalen resurfaces, spluttering and coughing.
The women all laugh and cheer me on. He grins at me though, devilment in his eyes so I make a quick retreat to the safety of the BBQ beside Slate and Sawyer.
They’ll protect me from Kalen’s revenge, I’m sure of it.
“How’s it going?”
“The meat’s almost done.”
“It smells amazing. God, I don’t think I could ever be a vegetarian,” I groan, closing my eyes to savour all the scents coming from the grill. My mouth starts watering about the same time my stomach starts demanding to be fed.
Slate and Sawyer both hear it and fire me matching amused grins.
“Oh shut up,” I snap. “You know meat makes me salivate.”
“Ours does,” Slate jokes with a wink. Won’t deny it, so I laugh instead.
“Room for one more?” A familiar voice asks. I choke and begin to cough until tears are streaming down my face and Sawyer has to gently pat my back. Which does fuck all by the way. Slate just pisses himself laughing.
I turn around, a red faced mess, to stare at my uncle Dirk.
“How long were you standing there?” Sawyer asks, bemused, while I try to catch my breath.
“I just arrived, why? I'm so sorry, Amelie. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Startle me? He scared the living bejesus out of me. I thought my uncle was asking to join in on the dick salivating contest. Gag.
I still have no words so I wave a dismissive hand in an ‘it’s fine’ gesture until I'm able to gasp out an apology.
“So, is it okay that I came? I wanted to catch you at graduation but my overseas business had me held up, and then with everything that happened…”
“Of course it’s okay that you came,” I eventually say. “I'm glad you weren’t at graduation.” Slate sniggers as my faux pas. “What I meant was, with everything that happened, I'm glad no one else was there to get hurt. It’s good to see you.”
“Thank you, dear. May I speak to you in private for a moment? I have a matter I wish to discuss with you.”
“Absolutely.”
I leave Sawyer and Slate to finish grilling the…um, food, and follow Dirk across the garden and into Monty’s kitchen. It’s empty, and Dirk pulls the doors closed behind us.
“So, is everything okay? Is it an Order matter?” I ask, instantly anxious.
“No, no, nothing like that. This is a much more…personal matter.”
“Oh. Um. Right.” I wait.
“I didn’t expect to feel this nervous. It’s not your position that unnerves me, it’s being faced with an opportunity I don’t want to mess up.
” He sighs, shakes his head and begins again.
“It means the world to me to finally have family. I would very much like to get to know you and build a relationship with you, regardless of what happens with Debbie.”
“We’re in an okay place. It will take time but I’m not slamming the door in her face,” I explain.
“I’m really glad to hear that. I was wondering if you might extend me—”
“Of course.”
“Really?”
“Really. If I’m willing to build bridges with my…biological mother, and my grandmother, then why not? The more the merrier, as they say.”
He gives me a warm and genuine smile, which I return. Monty was right, he does seem like a nice guy, and I should definitely give him a chance. I mean, it almost makes me want to give him a hug, but we’re definitely not there yet. It would be too weird.
“Can I get you a drink?” I offer awkwardly instead.
“No thank you. I have a graduation gift for you, if it’s okay.” I mean, what do you say to that? Yes please and hold my hand out? I blush. “I…well…here you go.”
He tosses something in my direction and I only just manage to catch it against my chest in time.
“What is it?”
“Have a look.”
I do and notice I’m clutching a key. A modern sort of house key I guess.
“What is this?”
“Your gift. A house. One that’s big enough for you and your family.”
“I can’t accept this.”
“Well, with graduating, I figured you would need somewhere to live. Can’t stay at the academy forever, and I doubt you’d want to live at Monty’s, Maggie’s, or HQ.”
“I mean, that’s true, but…”
“No buts, dear. Let’s call this eighteen years’ worth of Christmas, birthday, Easter and tooth fairy gifts owed.”
“Tooth fairy?” I raise a brow.
“It’s a big house.” He smirks. “I figured you might also like your space from the boys, so there’s plenty of bedrooms, bathrooms too.”
“Oh wow, thank you. Yeah, boys are gross.” I laugh. “No offence.”
“None taken. We do grow out of it.”
“This feels too much.”
“It isn’t. It would mean the world to me if you’ll accept it.”
“Thank you.” What else can I say? He beams at me and I hug him on impulse. He hugs me right back and it’s a wonderful feeling.
“I’ve emailed over all the details. It’s not too far from HQ so you don’t have a horrible commute to contend with, but far enough away to give you down time. Let’s go join the others. I think the meat is finally ready. I do hope it’s juicy.”
I splutter a cough, causing Dirk to pause. His eyes twinkle, making me wonder if he heard exactly what we were talking about when he arrived. Thankfully, he doesn’t say anything, and we walk back to the garden in companionable silence.
I spy Baxter on the outskirts of the party, a curious observer half in the shadows. I shake my head; he’s part of the gang now, he needs to start acting like it. Beckoning him over, I idly wonder if I’m brave enough to push him in the pool like I did Kalen.
“Don’t even think about it, I’ll gut you,” he murmurs when he reaches my side.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Maybe not. But I’d happily gut any and all of your little boy toys, so try me.”
I ignore the challenge and we both remain on dry land.
“You need to join in.”
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
“You don’t look like you’re having fun,” I point out.
“I’m not allowed to gut anyone. Why would this be my idea of fun?” he deadpans.
Honestly, I don’t think he’s joking.
“Fine. At least try to enjoy yourself. Elsie’s learnt a couple of cool tricks as part of her combat training. Get her to show you them later.”
“Will do, boss.”
“Let’s talk business a minute, Batman,” I tell him. He nods so I continue. “I’m giving you your pardon.” He actually looks relieved. “It’s not finalised yet but all of the board have agreed to sign off on it, once Harold’s corruption has been weeded out.”
“That’s fair.”
“Until then, you have my blessing to take a backseat role within The Order, voting by proxy, if you can agree to be on standby for emergency jobs.”
“What do you deem an emergency?”
“Personal threats to my friends or family. You won’t be The Order’s clean up guy anymore.”
“Those terms are agreeable…”
“But—”
“Ah there’s always a but.”
“But that also means that if you’re not on a job, you can’t go around killing people for fun.”
“Boo. What about the trafficking?”