Chapter Twenty-Seven
Amelie
After lunch Kalen takes Marshmallow to have a sleep and a potty break, and the rest of the day drags on.
All I want to do is play with my new puppy.
I’ll never admit it, but his gift was pretty spot on.
We always wanted a puppy growing up, but my father is allergic, so the best I had was a pet fish named Scooby, who ended up with some kind of fungus and died.
After his loss I never asked for another pet again.
I’m in two minds about the guys: on the one hand, I’m pretty sure that they’re still lying to me and spying on me.
..but then I ask myself why. Yes, the twins and Kalen messed up last term and they will still answer for that.
Somehow. I now know this Order of The Sadists, or whatever they called it, is in the equation.
Their lies and behaviour have to be connected to that somehow.
Doesn’t make it right, but it does go a small way towards explaining things perhaps.
To top it off, Sawyer took me to breakfast and he gave me my gift: he named a star after me.
I swear I’m lucky he gave it to me in public, I was a wet mess.
Then Slate texted and said he would like to take me to an open mic night, so I’m yet to see what he has gotten me.
Onyx walked up to me and handed me a card and said “not a Valentine's gift”, then walked away before he even saw me open it.
I can’t lie and say I wasn’t excited to see cage fighting lessons inside.
The bell goes to signal we’re done for the day, I pack my stuff away and don’t even wait for the teacher to dismiss us. I’m out the door and through the corridors before most students have made it out of their classrooms.
Kalen is waiting by the back oval where we agreed to meet, and the fluff ball is at his feet trying to tear at his pant leg. Kalen’s trying to be stern with the puppy and is telling it to knock it off when he spots me walking – okay running – in his direction.
“This thing needs to go to obedience school, it won’t stop eating my trousers,” he complains. I laugh.
“We just need to get him some toys; puppies need lots of attention.” Hmmm, kinda like Kalen.
I sit down and Marshmallow jumps into my lap and kisses my face, making me smile. Kalen joins us on the grass while we play with the puppy.
“What the fuck is that?” Onyx demands, coming to stand next to us, his form shading us from the sun. I look up and see both the twins are looking down at us.
“That's my puppy,” I say enthusiastically.
“What sort of idiot would get you a puppy? No offence,” Slate adds.
I snap my head to Kalen and he snorts and shrugs at the same time.
“Where do you plan on keeping it? Dad hates animals and Laura seems too self-absorbed to like anything other than herself and money.” Slate really seems to not like this puppy idea.
I frown and pout a little because Mo-Mo is my puppy and Slate is seriously trying to dull my sparkle right now.
“Sawyer,” Kalen says with a wink, and I get the distinct impression that Sawyer doesn’t know about this gift yet. Well too bad, I’m keeping him.
“Sawyer, what?” Sawyer asks joining us. Looking at the puppy, he leans down to ruff up Marshmallow’s fur. “Who’s this little guy?”
“How about I catch you all up, real quick? Kalen gave me a puppy, I’m keeping it even if I have to sleep in my car, and none of you can stop me.
Which reminds me, Slate, I need a rain check on open mic night tonight.
But to make up for it, I will go one better and next week we can go to open mic night, but make it an official date. Tonight we are all going shopping.”
They all stare at my outburst.
“No ifs, buts or maybes.” I snap, taking charge and liking it. “You all owe me, and this is where you’re going to start. Let’s all go and get changed, and meet back here in twenty.”
“You guys want to apologise?” I ask them sternly a while later.
“Hell yeah!” Kalen crows.
“You want to make things right?” The three of them nod their heads eagerly in response.
We’re standing at one of those out-of-town shopping complexes, Sawyer having dropped us off so that I can get pet supplies, but I’ve dragged the guys into the foyer of the supermarket. I have some fun in mind.
“I'm going to buy puppy supplies in the pet shop next door. I’ll meet you at the checkouts here in half an hour. While I’m gone, you’ll play a game.
You have thirty minutes to choose and buy three items that will most embarrass you and make the cashier as uncomfortable as possible. You down for it?”
“How will that help us earn forgiveness?” Onyx scowls.
“You humiliated me.”
“We didn—” Kalen tries to protest, but I cut him off with a raised hand.
“The only thing worse than thinking you might hurt me, was thinking that you fucked around with me for fun. You played games. So now I’m turning the tables. It’s my turn to play.”
“And this will make you forgive us?” Slate asks hopefully.
“Nope,” I reply, popping the p with glee. “But it’s a step in the right direction. And it’ll amuse me. You all have a lot to make up for. We’ll work it on a points system. Obviously Kalen is already out in front because—”
“I have a monster cock!” he crows.
“No.” I shoot him a withering look as if his prize-winning salami is no more than a cocktail sausage. “Because of the puppy and pizza. Totally inappropriate and Laura is going to do her nut, but you actually listened and impressed me.”
“I can get you a puppy too. And even better pizza!” Slate jumps in.
“It’s been done. Don’t be a copycat.” I stick my tongue out at him to show I’m teasing and he gives me a heated look.
“This is stupid,” Onyx mutters, looking unconvinced. Kalen is bouncing on the balls of his feet, eager to get going. Slate looks dubious, but there’s a secret twinkle in his eye.
“You don’t have to take part. So long as you’re good with being the pariah of the family when the others have earnt their forgiveness and you’re an outcast.” I shrug. “Plus, if you don’t think you can win…”
Of course that was exactly what I needed to say. Mr competitive, cannot bear to lose anything, sighs and storms over to the trolley bay and grabs three carts. He silently passes them out and I smirk.
“You know, I’d just like to point out that technically Kalen didn’t listen. You asked for puppies and pizza. He got you pizzas and a puppy.” He folds his arms and pouts.
“Kalen gets a head start because he has the points lead,” I randomly announce, ignoring the very good point Onyx just made.
“That’s not fair!” He sulks.
“Life’s not fair. Keep complaining and you’ll start last.” I’m talking out of my elbow here, making shit up as I go along. In truth, I just want to fuck with them a little and I know this is the best way to really piss Onyx off.
“Let’s go!” Kalen grins impatiently.
“Okay, Kalen, you will go on my first whistle…twins, you will go on my second whistle,” I say in my best John Anderson impression. Kalen beams at me.
“You been watching Challenge again, sis?”
“I’m addicted to your crappy 90s tv shows,” I reply. Gladiators, featuring men in unitards, may just be my favourite. Hence the famous referee impression.
“Well if you think that’s good, wait ‘til you hear our 90s duet song,” Slate quips.
“Ok, Kalen, ready? 3...2...1...GO!” He doesn’t need telling twice, shooting off like a rocket, his trolley waving wildly as he dashes down the central aisle and disappears from view. I wait a beat before telling the twins they can go.
Unsurprisingly, Onyx races off after Kalen, catcalling and trash talking him while Slate hangs back.
“You not playing?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.
“I’m playing. But half an hour is plenty of time. I just wanted to say thanks.”
“What for?”
“The opportunity.”
“To humiliate yourself? Anytime.” I laugh.
“For a stab at forgiveness. You won’t regret it.”
Before I can reply, he leans forward, lightly kisses my cheek and takes off after his brothers.
I can’t fight the grin on my face, or the flutter in my chest, as I leave Tesco and head over to the pet store.
Half an hour – and a hell of a lot of money later – I return to the store and see the three brothers all waiting for me by the checkouts. They all have stupid grins on their faces and I can tell they’ve had a really good time. They also look extremely pleased with themselves.
“Me first!” Onyx demands, dumping his three items on the conveyor belt to be rung up by the cashier.
I walk to the end of his till to see what he’s picked up and the cashier’s gaze flickers between us all.
“Shhhh, she doesn’t know,” Onyx tells the cashier with a wink. She rings up his items, and I bag them while he pays. Black bin bags, bleach and a hacksaw. No wonder the poor girl looks uncomfortable. “It shouldn’t take too long, she’s only little. By the way, what time do you get off tonight?”
She immediately turns white and I call him an asshole, dragging him away so that Slate can pay.
“You were supposed to embarrass yourself, not terrify her!” I snap. Onyx steps back up to the till and apologises to the girl.
“Sorry. I’m not really going to hack anyone to pieces, I’m heavily into Cock and Ball torture and I thought we’d mix it up a little tonight. Makes a change from nailing them to the wall, you know?”
I snort, like that’s so much better and hip bump him away again.
“You go next, Slate!” Kalen insists. “We have to save the best for last.” Slate shakes his head at his younger brother and punches him on the arm as he passes.
He quickly unloads his trolley and we watch the cashier for her reaction.
She does a bit of a double take, but doesn’t say anything as she scans through a dog shock collar and lead set, a fly swat and the biggest damn cucumber I’ve ever seen.
“Do you think the swat will leave welts?” he asks the cashier in a creepy, breathless, excited sort of voice.
“I think you need something sturdier for that.” I struggle not to laugh as she shakes her head no, completely serious.
“Ooooh, like what?” Slate asks, fascinated.
“A belt? Or a crop...or a whip or something. We have some canes in our garden section. But I don’t think you should be hurting animals.” She frowns as if the thought just occurred to her.
“The collar’s for me.” Slate grins. “I’ve heard pegging can be amazing if done right, but I don’t trust myself to stay still.”
Her jaw hangs open in shock and my laugh breaks free this time. The cashier goes red and hastily completes her transaction with Slate. We move to the side for Kalen’s turn.
“My turn now!” Kalen grins as we try to recontain our laughter. He proudly places his items on the belt. I watch with a raised eyebrow as the cashier scans a bottle of hot sauce, an indoor cactus plant and a box of glow in the dark condoms.
“Anything’s a dildo if you’re brave enough, right?
” he quips, winking at the cashier who looks absolutely mortified.
“It’s my birthday and my sister here said I could have anything I wanted.
Voila.” He spreads his hands wide in front of his bounty and grins.
“I wanna be fucked in the ass by my sister with a cactus dildo coated in hot sauce.”
“That’s,” she clears her throat. She’s no longer blushing. In fact, she looks a little green. “￡22.57 please.”
Kalen quickly pays the cashier and gathers up his stuff. Before we leave he calls back to the cashier.
“Remember this beautiful face, sweetheart! We’re gonna film it, put it on TikTok, and I’m gonna be an internet sensation!”
We spy a security guard approaching us so we grab our stuff and run, crying with laughter. Outside, we cross the car park to where Sawyer is waiting.
“What the hell took you guys so long?”
“A rat bit Onyx in the pet store and he shit his pants. We had to go to Tesco to get him some new ones.” I smile sweetly, kissing Sawyer on the cheek as I slide into the front seat. No need to call shotgun, these boys wouldn’t dare fight me for it.
“Yeah, but they only had saggy old man Y-fronts,” Kalen chips in.
“He fucking reeks. We wouldn’t let him wipe before putting them on.” Slate grins.
We all turn to stare at Onyx expectantly. He sighs.
“I didn’t shit myself because the rat bit me, I shit myself because when the rat bit me, I got a boner.”
I howl with laughter and Sawyer just shakes his head at us and begins to drive.
“Am I dropping you back on campus then?”
“Please.”
“Do you want to come and have dinner at mine?”
“I’d love to.” I pull an apologetic face. “But I can’t. These guys have just bought the perfect apology pieces and now I get to go home and use them on them.”
I glance in the sun visor’s mirror and grin as Slate and Onyx exchange horrified looks.
Kalen turns green thinking about what he told the cashier and the now very real chance it could become a reality.
“Stop the car, I’m going to be sick!”