Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Latham
As soon as Jack rings, I pack up and immediately leave work.
Blaine and Xavier also do the same the moment they see me pack up my desk.
I don’t have to tell them; they’ve overheard Jack on the phone, and I asked him to keep an eye on her until we get back.
It irritates me that I can't just mist over to her.
Bella is still unaware of what we are; if I just pop out of thin air, she will question us or think she has gone insane.
The longer I have been around her, the stronger the urge is to tell her what we are.
Maybe then she would feel safer, or maybe she would freak out, like any normal, sane person would do, and out us to the world.
Sitting on her couch, I can hear her muttering in the kitchen when I spot her laptop on the coffee table.
“Working from home?” I ask, looking over at her.
“No, I was bored,” she says, and I can taste the lie that leaves her lips.
Xavier raises an eyebrow at me while Blaine is staring at that weird box on her bookcase.
I have been drawn to it, too, ever since she freaked out about me touching it.
Blaine looks over his shoulder at her still standing in the kitchen, preoccupied with making coffee.
I watch as he slips the lid off. Xavier, also noticing what Blaine is doing, walks over to her in the kitchen, blocking her view of him.
I feel like I am betraying her, but she gives nothing away, and curiosity is getting the better of me.
Blaine pulls out a rolled-up green tank top, and I instantly see the blood stains coating it.
I can hear Bella talking away with Xavier.
He always has a way of keeping her calm and relaxed.
It must be his carefree attitude and calm demeanor because he hardly uses his magic to get his way.
He is balm to the soul. Looking back over at Blaine, he pulls out a newspaper clipping, and I walk over to him, taking it from him.
“Missing person?” Blaine whispers, looking over his shoulder toward the kitchen.
I unfold it further and look at Blaine, confused. The name is incorrect, but the picture is of Bella. Xavier clears his throat, and I quickly pass it back to Blaine before I have a chance to read it and sit down. Bella places the coffee on the table before looking over at Blaine.
“What are you doing?” she asks, walking to his side, and he turns around with a book in his hand, looking at the back of it like he is reading it.
Bella lets out a breath, and I see her eyes dart to her trinket box.
“You can borrow it if you want. Didn’t know you liked to read,” she says before sitting next to Xavier.
I haven’t realized I’ve been staring so intently at her until she moves uncomfortably, and I turn my gaze away.
“I see your brother brought your car back,” I tell her, and she nods and sips her coffee, watching me over the rim of her mug.
“Did you tell Jack we are together?” she asks.
“I may have implied it,” I tell her honestly.
“Why? All of you, why? I just don’t get it.”
“Because we like you. Why else?” I tell her, and she shrugs.
Another part of me cringes at her words, making me regret my earlier conversation with Blaine and Xavier.
Maybe we have it wrong; maybe we shouldn’t make this a competition.
Then also that part of me wanting to tell her peeps its head up again.
We all want her but know a human with a harem isn’t really accepted in society.
People find it odd, and I wonder if Bella will too.
Besides another nagging thought keeps pinching at me.
We don’t age, and eventually, she would notice that.
I sigh, and both Xavier and Blaine look at me like they know what I am thinking.
“Does it bother you that much?” I ask her when I am hit with the scent of her fear, making me wonder why she is scared.
Xavier also notices her and lets out his magic when his touch on her knee doesn’t work. Instead, he drapes his arm across her shoulders and plucks her mug from her fingers. He places it on the coffee table, and she practically melts into him thanks to his calming essence.
She sighs dreamily, her fear abating, and I ask again while she is under the influence of his power. He is only using it subtly. So if I ask her, she can technically fight my questions off, and she would still remember them and her answers but may be confused, so I have to be careful.
“Does it bother you that we all want you?” I add all, and Blaine and Xavier pick up on what I am getting at.
Her eyes glaze slightly, and I feel Blaine compel her with his power, trying to will her into spilling her secrets.
I glare at him. I can feel it from here, and she will feel the nudging presence against her, but surprisingly she relaxes and lets out a breath like a huge weight has just lifted off her shoulders.
“No. It scares me because of my brother,” she answers.
Xavier’s lips press together.
“Is that all that bothers you about us being with you? What he would think?” I ask her.
“No, what he would do.”
I know she isn’t telling us willingly in a sense, but if she doesn’t trust us, she will have been able to fight off my questions, which means she feels safe enough with us that all her guards are down, and she is open to our influence over her.
“What do you mean? What would he do?”
“He will hurt you,” Bella say, and she blinks, realizing what she’s just said.
She pulls away from Xavier, but before she can move away, my own magic slips over her. She moans, her lips parting, and she clutches Xavier's shirt. I glare at Blaine thinking it is him, but he smirks and shakes his head.
She is reacting to all of us. Our power excites her even if she doesn’t know what it is. Though it is interesting that she reacts like that with all three powers joined; yet, individually, she just relaxes. I pull mine away, and she relaxes again, her arousal slipping away.
“Why do you think he will hurt us?”
“Because he killed my last boyfriend,” she says, almost in a dreamlike state, her eyes far away and glazed.
She almost looks high, and both Xavier and Blaine's magic falters at her words. She stirs, blinking rapidly. I slip off the couch, kneeling between her knees and gripping her face. I watch her eyes glaze over fully, as I use the full weight of my compulsion on her. I hate using it on her, and I would never make her do anything she doesn’t want to do, but I have questions I need to ask and something else I need to do.
“Bella, who is Arabella?” I ask her, knowing she doesn’t go by her full name of Isobella and prefers Bella, and most of her documents have been changed to the shorter version.
“I am,” she says dazedly.
“Are you not Isobella Marsden?” I ask her, and she shakes her head.
I look at Blaine, and Xavier is looking at both of us. I feel her consciousness trying to fight me off, and I know I don’t have long. Whatever she is hiding is a big enough secret that even her subconscious wants to keep it hidden.
“Forget this conversation,” I tell her, and her eyes flicker with my magic as I extract the memory of it from her.
“Your brother won’t hurt us. He can’t hurt us,” I tell her, and Blaine looks at me.
I can’t take the memory of what her brother’s done away without possibly removing her fear of him, but I can remove her fear of him being able to get us. Maybe unrestricted by fear, she may come around to being with us.
“We are having coffee, and then you are coming to our place for the night to watch movies and have dinner.. Your brother can’t hurt us,” I tell her.
I let her go but don’t drop my magic until I am in my seat. Her subconscious is a lot stronger than I thought, making me wonder how she’s been able to mentally fight me off, even under what we call heavy sedation. I lift my magic, and she touches her face before looking at me.
“Were you just touching me?” she asks, confused.
“I was,” Xavier says, and she looks at him, her brows pinching slightly.
“What is your ex's name?” Blaine asks.
“My ex?”
“I heard you talking about your ex through the walls last night. You sleep-talk sometimes,” Blaine lies.
“Okay, but why would you want to know my ex’s name?”
“Because I want to know if that's who you were moaning about in your sleep,” he says, and she rolls her eyes.
“Doubtful, but if you must know, Clayton Williams. So unless you heard that name, I think you must have misheard.”
“Yep, definitely wasn’t Clayton. I thought it was Baine or something with a ‘B.’ You must have been thinking about me,” he taunts, and she scoffs shaking her head.
“Yeah, right. So full of yourself,” she chuckles, and I do too.
“Have you not thought of me, Bella?” he asks, and she blushes, unable to meet his eyes.
I know she remembers something from the other day because we haven’t removed her memory completely.
“You have, haven’t you?” he laughs.
“Are we going to your place or not?” she snaps, glaring at him, her cheeks tingeing red and all the tension from earlier gone.
“Come on, then. You can help me cook,” Blaine says, reaching down and pulling her up.
He grabs her, tossing her over his shoulder the moment she is on her feet.
“Put me down! I have a skirt on,” she shrieks, and Blaine laughs, ignoring her thumping fists on his back.
Xavier smiles, shaking his head at Blaine when Blaine slaps her ass. Xavier hisses at the sound when Bella suddenly bites his back as he reaches the door.
Blaine squeals and jumps. “Bloody savage!”
“Well, that fucking hurt,” she says before digging her elbows into his back to prop herself up.
“Get your bony elbows out my back,” he says, squirming as he tosses the door open and walks out.
I lock the door before walking in, just in time to see Blaine toss her on the couch. She squeals at him, and he laughs at her walking back to the kitchen.
“Dickhead,” she mutters, trying to fix her skirt and her hair, pulling it into a bun and using an elastic off her wrist.