Chapter Eleven
Amelie
The buzz of an incoming call wakes me from my slumber. Panic leaps into my throat as I hit answer without checking the caller display. My mind immediately jumps to Onyx and then Baxter. Are they okay?
“Come take care of me,” a voice whines down the line.
“Fuck off, Kalen,” I snap. “It’s the middle of the goddamn night.”
“I can’t sleep.”
“Boo-hoo, you shouldn’t have had so much sugar. I thought Sawyer or Slate was calling to say something had happened to Onyx. Or Baxter.”
“You really care about him don’t you?” he says in a quiet voice.
“I care about all of you,” I reply simply.
“Good. Then come care for me.”
“Goodnight, Kalen.” I sigh.
“Wait! I just got beat up by your brother. The least you can do is nurse me back to health.”
“If you need medical assistance after two punches to the gut, your brothers are going to tear you a new one once we’re home and they find out about this.”
“Just come cuddle me!” he whines. “I’m lonely.”
“Nope. Your bed is too small.”
“Then let me come get in yours. I’ll be really quiet.”
“Kalen, you couldn’t be quiet if your life depended on it,” I scold him. A cuddle would be nice though. I’m quiet for a moment and then I have an idea. “Meet me outside in ten minutes. Bring a blanket!”
I hang up and leave my room. I decide not to be sneaky about it, if anyone ‘catches’ me I’ll just say I’m heading to the kitchen to grab a drink. Kalen’s on his own. If he gets busted, it’s up to him to come up with an excuse.
Luckily, no one disturbs me and I’m able to slip out the back door to the garden. Of course the jumping castle is still inflated. The thing is so huge it took over half an hour to blow up and Kalen convinced Chelsea to leave it up over night so that the kids could have one last bounce in the morning before the guy collects it. At least I don’t need to worry about suddenly turning the power on and waking everyone.
I cross the grass barefoot and climb into the giant inflatable, lighting my way with my phone and then passing the time while I wait for Kalen by playing a game. I idly wonder what time it is back in the UK, and wherever Baxter is, and I contemplate reaching out.
When all the excitement of the day is done, and I’m alone in my bed at night left with just my thoughts and the horrible churning ‘what if’ scenarios going around and around in my mind, it gets hard to breathe. I feel like I made a mistake coming here, even though during the day when I’m surrounded by friends and family it’s a soothing balm to my soul, I should never have left Onyx.
Not only that, but I have bridges to build with Slate too. I treated him terribly the last few weeks, pushing him away because I couldn’t bear for him to be okay while Onyx wasn’t. Now that Onyx is going to be okay, I feel worse than ever. I should have kept my family close, not pushed them away. But flight or fight has always been my downfall. I’m just grateful that the boys didn’t give up on me, and dragged me back to face reality. Even if I was kicking and screaming the whole time.
“What are you planning, dear sis?” Kalen startles me, pushing his head through the entrance to the jumping castle and grinning at me maniacally in the torch light.
“Shush!” I chastise him, even though he wasn’t loud, he just scared me. “Get in here before my brother looks out of the window and sees you!”
“I think you mean our brother, sis,” he replies as he climbs in and joins me. He has the torch on his phone switched on and in his free hand he’s holding a couple of blankets.
“I’m not your damn sister, Kalen.” I sigh but I’m biting back a smile. I love that he was the first to accept me into their weird fucked up family. I love that even though Laura isn’t my mum, he still considers me family. At least he dropped the idea of me being his future wife. Of course he’d prefer the excitement of potential incest over marriage. He’s incorrigible.
“No, but if Laura marries Monty, Aadi will be my brother. Do you think he’ll get matching bro tattoos with me?” I snort. Aadi would kick his head in if he tried.
“Try him and see.” I chuckle at the mental image and then sober. “Besides, Laura and Monty will happen over my dead body.”
“I expect Laura would probably capitalise on your funeral. What an excellent way to make it all about her by getting hitched on your grave.”
I shudder at his joke. I despise that woman but I could see her wearing white to my wake and making it all about her like Kalen says. She’s a piece of work.