Chapter 16 ~
Alec ~
The guy's laugh uproariously as Rory tells us the story of Jace's sixteenth birthday party.
"So," Rory has to stop to control her laughter before continuing, tears streaming down her face.
"So, he walks past the kitchen in his hungover state—not realising during some point in the night Dec's donned him a skimpy, bright red, matching lace number and has now proceeded to flash Devon, Helen and me his goods thinking his parents won't be home for a few hours. "
We're all in tears with laughter at this point while Jace's scowling, his hands covering his bright red face.
"What did you do?" Maverick manages to get out between laughs.
"What could I say?" Jace throws his hands up. "I owned my shit and dealt with it."
"The hell you did!" Rory jumps in.
Jace groans realising Rory's more than willing to throw her best friend under the bus.
"He told his parents they were mine and that I'd dared him." Rory crosses her arms from her position on Mason's lap at the head of the table.
"Ro!" Jace whines while Rory just grins.
"I've been holding that story in for four years," Rory tells him, shrugging unapologetically.
"You were fourteen when that happened?" I jump in after quickly doing the math.
Her eyes filled with mirth move to mine.
"Yeah," she nods, "his parents didn't look at me the same for weeks."
"You went along with it?" Dominic questions, grinning.
Rory rolls her eyes. "Yeah, I covered for my brother and his best friend because they weren't supposed to throw a party in the first place and I definitely wasn't supposed to be there, let alone drinking. I wasn't going to face those consequences—Devon and Helen thought I was an angel."
Jace blanches. "You weren't drinking."
"Sure I wasn't." Rory reaches out and pats Jace's chest before nestling back into Mase's hold.
The horror enriched into Jace's face is enough to make us all burst out in laughter again while Rory smothers her grin by taking a sip of the orange juice and champagne concoction Mason made. It’s her third glass and is clearly drinking just enough to make her a little loose lipped. Good for us—bad for J.
All of the guys except Jace and I have their own glass. I guess after this morning, Jace doesn't trust himself. I don't drink so declining was easy for me.
Breakfast was a gloriously cheerful affair. We came out to find Luc and Rory asleep on the daybed, curled up in each other's arms. This morning took a lot out of them. Out of all of us.
Maverick picks up a sliver of honey dew and brings it to Rory's lips. She chews slowly, the rest of us watching when her tongue flicks out, catching a drop of the sweet fruit about to drip from the corner of her mouth.
Heated glances fly across the table at Rory’s obliviously innocent move that has everyone shifting in their chairs.
A familiar stifled, quiet groan has me looking across at Dominic on my left. The lust in his eyes is replaced with guilt when Dom catches my pained look. I shift my gaze, desperately trying to fix enough resolve to hold together a neutral expression.
I move my knee, accidentally knocking Mav’s leg in my attempt to get Dom’s hand off my knee when it rests there.
He doesn’t reach out again, leaving me with a weird mix of thankfulness and confusion that swirls around my stomach.
“If you guys keep cooking like this you’re going to have to roll me everywhere.” Rory groans, placing her hands on her flat stomach.
Mason picks up her hand and places a gentle kiss on it. “You’re beautiful, Angel,” Mase murmurs.
Rory smiles, a hint of a blush creeping up when she straightens, her lips finding Mase’s cheek. Hmm. Is she blushing because of his words or her reaction?
Happiness dances in Mase's eyes at Rory's small show of affection.
My thoughts are interrupted when I feel my phone buzzing. I discreetly pull it out under the table and sigh when I see my therapist’s name. Of course, she would call today of all days.
Hitting ignore, I slide my phone back into my pocket. Immediately, it starts vibrating again. My fingers tap against the table drawing Dom’s eyes. When I can no longer ignore it, I sigh before standing.
“I’ll be right back,” I tell the group, not missing the concern that floats around the table.
Jace gives me a knowing look, having some idea that she would call today.
“Alec,” I answer, just as the front door shuts behind me.
“How are you?” Katrina’s soft voice comes through my phone, getting straight to the point.
“Fine,” I respond distractedly, my feet shuffling on the hardwood as I walk down the hall to my room. I flop back on the bed, bringing my hand up to run through my hair. It’s been two days—it needs washing tonight.
I glance down at the sheets scrunched up at the bottom of my bed and grimace.
I didn’t get up and make my bed during my normally very structured routine this morning when Mase came bounding in at 5:30.
In my haste to get dressed and bid Rory ‘happy birthday,’ I didn’t even think about making my bed, checking my emails or watching the security tapes from the night before. It just didn't cross my mind.
“Alexander,” Kat sing songs in my ear, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Don’t call me that,” I immediately respond. The phone gets put on speaker so I can make my bed without having to hold the phone.
“Then listen to me when I’m talking to you.” Kat’s tone softens.
I take a deep breath before exhaling. “Sorry, Kat. You just caught me at a bad time.”
“What’s going on?” Kat asks. “Is it Jace?” She automatically assumes it’s my brother because of what today is.
“No.” I pull up the bottom sheet tightly. “Jace is fine.” I move onto the doona.
“Really?” Kat says disbelievingly.
“Yes,” Is all I say, straightening the pillows on the bed. I start looking for other things to fix.
“And why is it that Jace is okay and not spirally like he has the last three years?” Kat probes.
I weigh up the decision to tell Kat about Rory or not. She’s proven loyal to me. I wouldn’t even consider it if I thought Kat was a untrustworthy.
She waits patiently as I come to a decision, used to my silences before the hard questions.
“We found Rory.”
Silence is all that follows my words.
I pick up the phone to make sure we’re still connected.
“Kat?” I question.
“You found Rory? As in Declan’s sister? As in Jace’s best friend who disappeared after Dec’s death and hasn’t been seen since?” Kat says in one breath. Ohhh…stunned silence. That makes sense.
“More so she fell into our laps…but yes.” I fix up the pens on my desk until everything is orderly, nothing askew.
“How did you—”
“School.” I interrupt, anxious to answer her questions so I can get back to Rory.
“If you know what I’m going to ask, why don’t you talk and I’ll listen,” Kat says with a hint of annoyance.
I feel a flicker of guilt for being rude when she’s helping me. I sigh before nodding and recounting the story, excluding our interestingly complicated relationship with her but including the part about seeing James, knowing she’ll jump on that.
Kat’s quiet for a while, a pen scribbling in the background. I hate when she writes notes during our sessions. It makes me uncomfortable, like I’m under a microscope being observed rather than listened to. It's a staple of my childhood.
“Please stop that,” I ask her quietly. The sound instantly stops and the itching feeling evaporates.
“Sorry, Alec,” Kat apologies. “I didn’t think you could hear it.”
“It’s fine,” I automatically respond.
“How does she fit in with the group dynamic? Any issues so far?” Kat probes. My normal reaction is to close up but I fight the feeling.
“It’s like she’s always been here,” I admit.
My bedroom door creaks open and Maverick pokes his head in, probably wondering what’s taking me so long.
I mouth Kat’s name. Realisation hits him and he gives me a thumbs up before closing the door.
“Who was that?” Kat questions, clearing hearing the door open and shut.
“Maverick.” I open one of the top boxes stacked neatly in the corner of the room.
“Any chance of me getting him in for a session?” I laugh at the absurdity of Kat’s question and she grumbles.
The truth is, the whole group’s been to therapy at one point or another and I’m the only one who stuck it out. They all have their own ways of coping. Dom’s version of therapy is looking up at the stars with a bottle of whiskey. It could be worse.
I tried to get the twins to go after their mum’s death but with no luck. Some people just don’t like the idea of sharing their thoughts with a stranger.
“So, how do you feel about her?” Kat jumps back on track.
I hate those questions. As I'm pondering over the right respond, Kat says, "Don't overthink it, Alec. Just talk."
I sigh heavily. Picking up a handful of books, I place them down on my desk.
"She's…nice. Smart. The guys don't have to hide themselves around her. That tells me a lot," I answer her carefully.
"What about you, Alec? What does she know about you?"
I'm quiet for a while. Kat knows better than to push me again. I stack a few books, thinking about how I'll order my bookshelf.
"She knows I'm a hacker. She knows about Mum. About her death. She vaguely knows what James is involved in."
Kat asks me more questions, pushes me until I'm mentally exhausted.
. . .
Rory ~
Alec comes out about an hour after breakfast looking more weathered than I've seen his cool, collected self.
"Hey." I raise my voice so it's over the kettle boiling. "I'm taking orders. What can I get you?" I flourish my hands to show him all the cups lining the bench.
Alec chuckles, his eyes lightening like I hoped they would.
"Do you know how to use the coffee machine?" Alec lowers his mouth til it's near my ear so he doesn't have to yell.
I shake my head. "Luci was helping me but he got distracted. The guy's are setting up a video game on the TV. I figured it couldn't possibly be that complicated to figure out…but it is."
Alec laughs softly, his melodic voice making my stomach flip flop all over the place.