SEVENTEEN #2
The world seemed to tilt. The warm night air suddenly felt stifling, and a violent surge of nausea pooled in my stomach. “Oh, my God. No. No, surely not.”
“I’m not lying to you, Amelie. Look, I know I should have told you the second I saw him sniffing around you.”
There was a moment's pause before Kieran added. “I’m sorry, I’m kicking myself now.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“You don’t have to worry, he doesn’t know who you are,” Kieran whispered, pulling me up. “It just isn’t a good idea to get too friendly with him.”
“Yes, of course not. Especially with the trial looming,” I added miserably.
Kieran released my hands and brushed my hair back. “Things have died down. You never know, the press may not even cover the trial. It’s no longer juicy news. And as for you and Aaron. I wouldn’t have let him have you anyway. He was the one who made me realise how much I wanted you.”
There it was again, that word, wanted. Feeling wanted was something I had always aimed for, and I had this from Kieran. So why did I still feel some sadness?
The walk back to my room passed in a numb blur, my mind spinning with images of my father's crimes and Aaron's smile. When we reached my door, Kieran didn’t let me slip away.
He pulled me into his arms, his mouth finding mine.
The kiss was deep, as if he were trying to anchor me to the spot.
I melted against him, forgetting the nightmare for a split second.
When he pulled back, a faint, boyish smile touched his lips. “Dream of me.” Part of me wanted to invite him to spend the night in my room, but I didn’t want to come across as being too forward. I wondered why he didn’t ask me to stay with him. Maybe close friends didn’t do that.
Kieran had told me to dream of him, and I tried to. But when sleep finally took me, the dream curdled. A faceless, menacing shadow emerged from the dark, chasing me through endless corridors. I couldn't outrun him, and I knew why.
I wasn't responsible for my father's crimes, but I was the one who would pay for them for the rest of my life.
* * * * *
I woke up later that day in bed after a troubled sleep, but the first thing I did was message Aaron to say that I couldn’t make our date. As I sat there in my room staring down at my phone, his reply felt off.
AARON: That’s probably for the best.
What the heck did that mean? Maybe that’s how a boy reacted when a girl cancelled a date. Aaron may have felt rejected. I didn’t have time to dwell on it as Adam and I were going to see Sophie.
After showering and dressing in black leggings and a blue sweater, I brushed my hair and grabbed my phone. I hadn’t responded after Aaron’s last message. I needed to leave things after the bombshell that he was the brother of the girl my dad had hit with his car.
Rebecca Blake. That poor, poor girl. She was still in the hospital, and part of me wanted to visit her, but I knew that was the guilt I felt for my father’s actions.
Don’t forget. You are the one who turned him in. You did the right thing.
No matter how many times my internal monologue chanted that, it didn’t make me feel any better.
When I got downstairs, Weston and Tanner were in the kitchen wiping the sides down.
“I must say I’m impressed by how domesticated you both are.”
They both turned to me and grinned. “Perfect husband material,” Tanner said, walking over and kissing my cheek.
“Easy,” Weston warned with a grin as I felt someone behind me.
Tanner backed away with his hands held in surrender as arms slid around my waist. I could tell it was Kieran by the feel of his body on my back and his scent. He then rested his chin on my shoulder and whispered. “Morning,” in my ear.
I turned to face him, not knowing how to act in front of the others.
Kieran took instant control as he kissed my nose and then moved past me towards the fridge. “Breakfast?” he called over his shoulder. I felt a twinge of disappointment that the others were there. It felt like I couldn’t talk to him.
“Er, no thanks. I’m heading out with Adam, and we’ll get something on the way. I watched Kieran’s strong naked back flex as he looked in the fridge. The other two cleared their throats and threw themselves back into their cleaning frenzy.
And then it felt awkward as Kieran closed the fridge and turned around. His expression was blank and hard to read, but he wasn’t snarky.
“Where are you going again?”
“To see Sophie,” I reminded him, smoothing back my hair.
He seemed appeased by my reply. “Cool. I’ll see you later then.”
“Do you want me to help clean anything up?”
“It’s all done, sweetheart,” Tanner replied, throwing a dishcloth into the sink.
Kieran moved towards me and smiled. It was genuine, and I felt a surge of relief; that awkwardness shifted. “You go see your sister, baby.”
And after a quick, brief touch of his lips to mine, he moved around me and called over his shoulder, “Tan, West, we leave for the gym in ten minutes.”
Tanner and Weston grinned as they left the kitchen, muttering something about Kieran being a ‘bossy dick’.
How well they knew their friend.
* * * * *
The tension inside the car dissolved the moment Adam started the engine. He was in high spirits and looking forward to seeing Sophie. I leaned against the passenger door, testing the waters after the party the previous night. "How did it go with Halo?"
He shrugged; his eyes fixed on the road. "Who? Oh, yeah, the girl last night. Honestly? I got the feeling that she was using me to make someone jealous. She started doing that looking over her shoulder thing, and it started to do my head in.”
My stomach did a quick flip. I knew exactly who that someone was—Weston. Instead of dropping that bomb, I bit my tongue and stayed silent.
“Anyway, she introduced me to a few people, and I couldn’t be arsed, so I left to watch TV. Re-runs of Miami Vice looked awesome on the big screen.”
A twinge of sadness hit me as he named an old show that used to be our father’s favourite. I remembered Adam and our dad used to watch it together in those days before he started to drink heavily.
"What about Laura?" I asked, watching his profile closely.
Adam sighed, the cheerful mood dipping for a fraction of a second. "That’s who I went to see last night. Right after I dropped you off at the house." He paused, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter. "I ended it."
A wave of genuine relief washed over me. It felt infinitely better to know the truth, rather than walking around believing my own brother was a cheating toad.
“Can I ask why?”