20. Thea
20
Thea
“ A re you sure you’re not coming back?” Eden passed me a cupcake decorated with pink frosting. It looked too good to eat, but I needed sugar, so I took a huge bite. This baby clearly had a sugar craving. At least that was my excuse, and I was sticking to it.
“I doubt my father paid a full year’s fees, so I can’t afford to come back.” And besides, I had no interest whatsoever in studying more bullshit business modules.
“I’m so sad. I’ll have no friends if you abandon me.” Her lip wobbled as she teared up. God . Eden had a master’s degree in emotional blackmail. “And I have to see that asshole, Michael.”
“I can pay him a visit if you like?” He deserved a throat punch at the very least. I had trusted him not to hurt my friend, and he fucked up. In my book, that meant war.
“Nah, he’s not worth it.” She twirled a lock of freshly dyed pink hair around her finger. “Plenty more guys out there.” A small smirk told me she already had one in mind.
“Oh?”
“I may have been … chatting … to a guy called James. He slid into my DMs after I posted a photo from the club on New Year’s Eve. Said he loved my dress.” It had been a spectacular dress, so no surprise there. Eden was a true fashionista, unlike me, who didn’t know my Gucci from my Temu. “We’ve been messaging ever since.”
“Where does he live?”
“He says he’s from Edinburgh. Reckons he’ll drive over to the campus when I get back and take me out for lunch.”
“Is he hot and have you told Declan?”
“The picture he sent was hot, and hell no. Declan would send armed men to accompany me, and that’s hardly a good start to any situationship. The poor guy would never want to see me again.”
I understood where she was coming from. She’d probably had her cousins acting like overprotective gorillas her whole life. However, I was concerned that she might be putting herself in danger by meeting a random dude off the internet. For a mafia princess, Eden was remarkably reckless.
“You need to be careful, Eden. If you do decide to meet this guy, do it on campus, where there are security guards. He could turn out to be a serial killer.”
She rolled her eyes but murmured in agreement. “Yes, you’re probably right.” Then she shook her head dismissively. “He’ll probably ghost me in a couple of days anyway. That’s what guys do these days.”
I knew nothing about online dating. I’d gone from zero to five guys with no dating whatsoever. Unless I counted two trips to Landon’s estate, drinks in the student bar with Cassian, the cafe with Dario, and one movie date. That was the sum total of my dating experience.
Pathetic. I was officially a sad loser.
The girls came in and the conversation turned to school. Declan’s man, Connor, was driving the girls to their school in the morning. Ronan and four other men were accompanying them on the drive, which put my mind at rest. Declan had assured me the school had the best security money could buy and several of the staff were ex-military.
Verity would be safe there. Plus, she’d get an amazing education. Our father had paid for a tutor over the years, mostly because he knew that no man would be interested in a girl who couldn’t read or write, but her education - like mine - had more holes in it than a Swiss cheese.
The school had assigned her additional tuition so she could catch up on the subjects she was unfamiliar with, and she had Aoife and Saoirse to help her settle in.
“We have actual trunks, like Harry Potter!” My sister bounced on her toes with excitement.
“Good job we bought you a load of new clothes, then,” Eden smirked. She’d taken the girls shopping and spent a fuck-ton of Declan’s money on fashionable new outfits for all three of them. It was honestly obscene how much she’d splurged.
“Speaking of, you need to tell me how much I owe Declan,” I whispered. My meager savings were soon going to run out if I wasn’t careful. Once Verity had left for school, I needed to find paid employment.
Perhaps Declan had some jobs I could do in the short-term.
“It’s my treat,” Eden said.
“You mean Declan’s treat,” I corrected.
“Exactly. He won’t care about the bill. He loves to spoil his sisters, and Verity is now one of us.”
Hmm. I wasn’t sure I believed her, but OK, whatever.
“Is there anything you want to do this evening? It’s the last time I’ll see you for a while.” Verity looked sad for a moment.
“I’ll miss you, sis.” Not once had she said she missed our father. She’d asked after him briefly, and I’d told her he was in prison. “ Good,” she’d replied. I knew she missed Mrs. Gia, too, but so far, Milo hadn’t found any trace of her.
“Can we watch Harry Potter again?”
There was a collective groan. Probably because everyone apart from Verity and I had seen the movies a thousand times.
“How about I introduce you to Damon Salvatore?” Eden suggested with a wink in my direction?”
“Eden! It’s too old for her.”
“Ooh, does it have sexy time in it?” Saoirse asked.
“If you want sexy time, you need to binge watch True Blood ,” Aoife sniggered.
“I’ll send you a link later,” Eden promised when I threw her a baffled look. I assumed from the way she fanned her face that the show was another one of her spicy picks. Maybe I could watch it while the guys were busy sparring in the gym or doing other guy things. Whereas I would have joined them pre-baby, now I needed to be careful. Exercise was fine, but sparring was definitely not.
“Let’s watch Stranger Things again,” Aoife said when it became clear Vampire Diaries wasn’t an option.
“Yes! I love that show!” Saoirse agreed.
“Great. I’ll bring snacks. Meet us here at 6 PM and we can watch the first three episodes before bed.” Perfect. That would give me enough time to sneak out and buy my sister a going-to-school gift.
“Promise you’ll call if you have any problems? Anything at all. If there are any mean girls, I’ll come and sort them out for you.”
Verity rolled her eyes. “I can fight my own battles, Thea.” No, she couldn’t. My sister didn’t have a bad bone in her body, despite sharing genetic material with our father. Whereas I was a product of our father’s brutal conditioning training, he’d left Verity alone, deeming her nothing but a spare.
Thank God.
“I know you can,” I lied. “But if you have any trouble, let me know. Or tell the girls to send for me.” I pulled her into my arms for a hug. She’d shot up in the last few months, blossoming from a little girl into a gorgeous young woman. One day soon, she’d have boys beating a path to her door.
But until then, she was my baby sister, and I would happily kill people to protect her.
“Thank you,” she said, her voice muffled against my shoulder. “Thank you for not leaving me behind.”
“Ver, I would never have left you with that man.” Neither of us liked to call him ‘Dad’. He’d never been a father to us. Not once. “Never.”
“I miss Mrs. Gia,” she whispered. “I wish she’d come with us.”
“I know.”
We stood holding each other for a few moments while everyone chattered and stowed bags in the car, but eventually, it was time to say goodbye.
Verity’s cheeks were wet with tears, but she smiled as she wiped them away with her sleeve. “Thank you for the cat onesie,” she said, pointing to the gift bag as Connor put it in the trunk next to her other luggage.
I’d seen it in a boutique store down the road and knew immediately she would love it.
“It will keep you warm in that drafty old castle.” I wasn’t kidding about the castle bit. Eden had sent me a link to the school’s website. It looked a bit like Abernethy, with turrets and gargoyles. Creepy as fuck, but as long as she was safe there, I didn’t care about the decor. It could be Hogwarts for all the difference it made.
“Make sure you message me at least once a week.”
This prompted an eye roll. “I will.”
We had one last hug before she climbed into one of Declan’s cars. Eden and I both watched the vehicles pull away in a convoy with tears in our eyes. It was pathetic, but I couldn’t help but feel happy my sister was finally being given a chance to spread her wings like the beautiful butterfly she was destined to become.
“Wanna watch True Blood with me tonight?” Eden asked once the cars were out of sight. “Lots of kinky sex in it.”
I considered her offer. The guys probably had shit to do. We all needed a break from one another. While they seemed to like my company, we were becoming dangerously co-dependent. At least I was.
“Sure. Bring snacks and I’ll be there.” A relaxing evening watching a show about more vampires seemed like fun. And God knows I needed some fun in my life.