Brothers of the Flame (An Ariel Kimber Novel Book 1)

by Mary Martel

  Stunned silence filled the room before she let out an animalistic snarl and hurled her glass at me. Pain flared through my head as it struck me in the temple. I blinked owlishly as my feet came out from under me and I crashed to the floor. The expensive (thus heavy) glass hit the floor first and shattered, scattering glass all over the floor. I landed on top of the glass. Blood trickled down my face from the cut at my temple. The glass beneath me bit into my clothes but hadn’t yet sliced into my skin.

  “You stupid girl,” she screamed at me. “I finally find a man worth keeping and you think you can take him away from me. We’ll just see about that.”

  Her bare feet shuffled across the floor as she stumbled drunkenly towards me. I had to get out of here before things got even more out of hand. Wiping the blood from out of my eye, and likely smearing it across my face, I frantically searched the room for a means of escape. The backdoor came into view and I wasted no time scrambling to my feet so I could get to it. She was right behind me, all the while swinging her bottle of vodka at my head. She rounded the island, her legs got tangled in a stool and she went down hard. Taking advantage of her fall I bolted towards the backdoor. It was thankfully unlocked. I wrenched it open and flung myself outside.

  All the while I heard her screaming curses at me. Clutching my backpack to my chest and not caring in the least that I had blood running down my face, I ran. I dodged the patio furniture as I ran along the length of the house. If I could make it around to the front of the house I could punch in the code to open the side door at the garage, I could get to my Rover and get the heck out of here.

  It wouldn’t be safe to come back to the house until later when I was sure she’d passed out from too much alcohol. I could use a gas station restroom to clean my face up and maybe I could find a park or something where I could do my homework.

  As I rounded the house I flinched at the sound of car doors slamming shut and the murmur of male voices. I couldn’t stop or turn back, but I desperately wanted to. Thankfully, my mother’s screams had died off. That wasn’t something I cared to explain to anyone.

  “Ariel?” one of the twins called out cautiously. “What are you doing?”

  “Is she bleeding?” asked a voice I’d never heard before. “Man, look at her head. She’s bleeding.”

  I winced as I looked up while I rounded the corner of the house. Addison stood by the hood of a black SUV with a frown on his face. When he caught sight of the wound on my head he cursed loudly and headed my way.

  “It’s fine. I’m fine,” I told him in a high voice that didn’t sound like my own at all. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “What do you mean, you’re fine? Your damn head is gushing blood and you should probably get it looked at by a doctor.” I looked at the owner of that voice and frowned. I didn’t know him and had never seen him before. He looked older than Tyson and the twins by a few years. He had honey blonde hair buzzed close to his scalp. A gold lip ring winked at me in the sunlight. He wore a tight black t-shirt and dark blue jeans. Did he live there too?

  “Really, I’m fine,” I tried to reassure him. “I’d love to stay and chat, but I really must be going now. Bye.” I was such a moron. At least this time I didn’t stupidly wave again.

  I ran to the door and punched in the code. The little bubble light flashed green and the lock clicked, letting me know it was now unlocked. I had the door shut and heard the lock click back in place just as Addison made it to the door. He rattled the handle, trying to open the door. It didn’t budge.

  “Ariel, open this door right now.” He demanded.

  I did not think so. I shook my head at him.

  “Ariel, what the fuck?” he growled as he banged his fist on the glass.

  He was making things harder for me and now I couldn’t leave because I couldn’t open the damn garage door without him being able to get inside. I could either stay inside the garage or brave going back into the house.

  Tears slid down my face as I slowly backed away from the door. Now the one who’d told me I probably needed to see a doctor stood beside Addison on the other side of the door. They both stared at me with worried faces and Addison’s mouth was pinched tight in a frown. I didn’t care, I had bigger problems to worry about.

  I turned away from them and rushed to the door that lead to the kitchen. I dropped my backpack to the floor and stood at the door with my palms resting lightly against it with my ear pressed up against the smooth wood, listening. After a few very long minutes of hearing nothing I blew out a deep breath and let myself inside. Cautiously, I picked up my bag and stepped into the kitchen.

  She wasn’t in there. As I made my way through the house on silent feet I looked for her in every room I passed through. She was nowhere to be seen. She’d likely locked herself in her bedroom with her bottle of booze. Hopefully she’d drink herself to sleep before Mr. Cole came home, I didn’t want him to suffer the same treatment as I had.

  I’d made it halfway up the stairs when someone started pounding on the front door at the same time as the doorbell started going off.

  Holy crap! They were unbelievable. My body started to shake uncontrollably as my mother started screaming my name. Did she not remember I’d gone outside to escape her? This was no good. Slowly, I made my way up the stairs walking backwards. I made it to the landing when she stumbled her way into the foyer. I couldn’t stick around to watch this. I slipped my shoes off, picked them up, then fled to my room just as she opened the door. I heard a deep, gravelly voice say my name as I shut and locked my bedroom door behind me. My mother’s drunk, giddy laughter floated up the stairs, mocking me.

  Good God, I hoped she refrained from hitting on whichever twin had bothered to knock on our front door.

  I dropped my bag to the floor and kicked it towards the bed, not caring in the least if I broke something inside. With a toss, I threw my shoes in the direction of my closet, not caring about them either.

  I needed to clean up my face and make sure the bleeding had stopped. Heavy footfalls thudded across the carpet outside my room followed by a light knock on my door.

  “Ariel?” one of the twins growled through the door. “Open this damn door… Please.”

  I desperately wanted to flat out deny him this simple request or ignore him until he went away, but I couldn’t bring myself to do either. It felt nice to have another person care about me. Against my better judgement, I opened the door. I stood behind the door as Addison, Tyson and the man who’d been standing by the black SUV stormed into my bedroom. They stood clumped together in the middle of my room not bothering to check it out but instead choosing to stare me down.

  “Jesus, your face.” Tyson gaped at me.

  “Told you something was seriously wrong with her,” Addison muttered under his breath.

  “What happened?” The third one asked me.

  I shut the door hoping I had Tylenol somewhere in my bathroom because this whole thing was starting to give me a headache.

  “Who are you?” I asked over my shoulder as I made my way to my bathroom.

  “I’m Julian,” he muttered, then added as an afterthought, “nice to meet you.”

  I laughed humorlessly. I was so sure.

  “Ariel,” Addison gritted out between clenched teeth. I had a feeling he was fed up with asking me what the heck had happened and having me avoid answering him. I couldn’t honestly blame him for feeling this way.

  “I need to get this blood off me and see to my wound,” I told him in a quiet voice I barely recognized as my own. He frowned at me.

  I moved into the bathroom not bothering to close the door behind me. I stopped short as I caught sight of myself in the mirror. My tan had been bleached out, replaced by a ghostly paleness not suited to my natural complexion. Half my face was coated in my own blood due to the gash at my temple. Thankfully, it had stopped bleeding. I simply needed to clean the blood off, slap on some Neosporin and cover it up with a bandage and I’d be good to go. Or so I hoped.

&
nbsp; I pulled the black t-shirt I had on up and off and threw it to the floor. It had a few small wet spots on it I assumed were blood. It must have dripped onto my shirt when I was running. I had a black tank top on underneath my t-shirt. I normally wasn’t so messy, but I couldn’t seem to bring myself to care about picking up a stupid t-shirt right now. A look in the mirror showed me all three of them watching me from the doorway. Two wore looks of concern, the other simply looked curious. Yes, I definitely had a headache coming on. Ignoring them, I went to the linen closet and pulled out a washcloth to clean the blood off my face with, peroxide to wash out the gash and the Neosporin. I didn’t see any bandages or I would have grabbed one of those for my face as well. I carried it all back to the sink where I unceremoniously dumped it all onto the counter. As I wet the washcloth there was movement behind me so I looked up into the mirror again. My mouth parted in surprise as I noticed Abel had joined the group.

  “What’re you doing here?” I asked in surprise. Were we having a party in my bedroom I hadn’t been informed of?

  “What the hell happened to your head?” He barked at me, completely ignoring my question.

  “Did she let you in or did you just waltz in here on your own?” I was genuinely curious about his answer, at the same time I dreaded it.

  “Is that drunk lady your mother?” He didn’t directly answer my question, but he answered it all the same. He’d met her. She’d let him inside. And he could tell she was drunk. Wonderful.

  I closed my eyes in shame. Yes, that drunk lady was indeed my mother. It got worse, though, if you could imagine that.

  “She patted me on my ass when I walked past her.” He told me proudly with a small smile on his face.

  Addison snorted. “That’s bullshit, twin. I didn’t get a pat on my ass when I got here and I’m the better-looking brother. I’ve always been the better-looking brother.”

  “The hell you say.”

  “Guys,” Tyson butted into their bickering, sounding exasperated. “Do you think you might wanna argue about who is the better-looking brother when Ariel isn’t bleeding to death?”

  “I’m not bleeding to death,” I told them as I wiped my face with the washcloth. “And I’m sorry my mother copped a feel of your ass. I’m so, so sorry about that. But, uh… if I were you and I planned on coming over again I’d probably try and get used to it happening on a regular basis.”

  All three gaped at me.

  I didn’t care, nor did I see the point in lying to them about her. The truth would come out eventually, why not now?

  “What are you guys doing here?” I asked as I wiped off the last of the blood. The gash didn’t look so bad when it wasn’t gushing blood. It didn’t even look that big. Head wounds tended to bleed more.

  “What happened to your head, Ariel?” Tyson asked instead of answering my question.

  I sighed as I cleaned my wound and decided to answer them honestly. I don’t know why I did it, maybe because I was tired and over the whole day, maybe my head had been hit harder than I originally thought. Whatever the case, it didn’t matter. I was brutally honest with them just like I had been earlier at lunch. It’s like they brought something unexplainable out in me.

  “My mother, for reasons that were entirely her own, decided to throw her glass full of vodka at my head. As you can see, she has excellent aim. She then chased me out of the house while swinging her bottle of Grey Goose at my head. She does this kind of thing from time to time.” I shrugged like it was no big deal to me. And it kind of wasn’t. She’d thrown plenty of things at me before, that’s why she had such remarkable aim.

  “Why would she do such a horrible thing to her own daughter?” One of the twins asked quietly, I wasn’t sure which one.

  “She got mad and jealous because Mr. Cole bought me a Range Rover.” I shrugged again. “It’s just who she is, who she’s always been.”

  “That’s…” Tyson sputtered. “That… I don’t understand.” On some days I didn’t really understand either.

  “It is what it is.” I threw the dirty washcloth down on top of my blood-stained t-shirt. “If you guys came over to make sure I’m alright you can go now. Clearly, I’m going to be just fine. I’m hungry, I’m tired and I have homework to do. I’m not trying to be rude, but you guys need to go. Besides, I don’t even know you, any of you, and now you’re here standing in my bedroom. It’s kind of making me uncomfortable.”

  “Haven’t you ever had friends before?” Julian asked me. “It’s normal to have your friends in your bedroom.” Considering I’d met him for the first time in my life all of ten minutes ago, I thought he might be full of crap. I didn’t have the heart to tell him no, I hadn’t had friends before, and I still wasn’t sure I had any now.

  I picked up everything I’d dumped on the counter and headed towards the linen closet to put it all back away now that I no longer needed it.

  “Julian, shut up,” Tyson snapped. “You’re making her uncomfortable so you need to leave. Go next door. Twins, go downstairs and make her something to eat. Also, make sure her mother stays down there. If you can do that and avoid being molested, great. If not, jokes on you, you deserve it.”

  I opened the closet and was putting things away when I heard one of the twins say, “It’s not like it’ll be a hardship. Her mom is hot, like an older version of her.”

  I made involuntary gagging noises in my throat. I hoped they didn’t say anything like that in front of my mother, I’d never hear the end of it.

  “I don’t know, twin. Being an abusive bitch to Ariel makes her ugly as shit in my eyes.”

  “You’re right, twin. I didn’t look at it that way and I should have.”

  “What do you want me to tell Quinton?” Julian asked as the twin’s voices faded away. They must be headed down the stairs now.

  I closed the closet door as Tyson said, “Tell him I said to fuck off.”

  Curious at the change in their conversation, I turned to watch them. Tyson’s body was tense, his hands balled into fists at his sides. Julian looked relaxed with his shoulder leaned against the door jam, his arms crossed loosely over his chest, a smirk on his face.

  “Your Uncle is going to be pissed. He wanted to come home sooner, and now with this shit…” Julian shook his head. “He’s likely to kick your ass now for talking the twins into staying for the whole summer.”

  I had no clue what they were talking about and my head hurt too bad to try and figure it out. A numbness I hadn’t even been aware of feeling started to fade and emotions started to fill me up once again. Why were they in my bedroom? I didn’t even know anything about this Julian person and here he was in my bedroom, witnessing me far from my best. I didn’t appreciate this.

  “Yeah, I get it,” Tyson bit out. “I fucked up several times. I am aware. It’s not like Quint doesn’t know what that feels like.”

  “That’s why he’s going to kick your ass.”

  My head started throbbing painfully. I needed them to shut up or get out. No, I just needed them to get out, period. They didn’t belong here in my bedroom, not when I didn’t really know them. I’d never had anyone outside of my mother this far into my personal space before. I wasn’t certain sure I liked it.

  “Guys,” I grumbled.

  Too involved in their own argument, they ignored me entirely. I walked out of the bathroom and made my way over to my bed where I sat down heavily. I needed Tylenol.

  “Shut up,” Tyson snarled. There he was. With that snarl he was back again. Back to that person I’d first met yesterday. Had it only been yesterday? It seemed like longer. I frowned and placed my head in my hands.

  “You’re an idiot,” Julian shot back.

  “Fuck you.”

  My head felt like it might explode. The more they argued the worse the pain became. I could take no more. Truly. I could not.

  I sat back up and looked at them. They looked like they were about ready to throw down right here and start beating the crap out of each other. I w
anted to kill them.

  “Get out,” I exploded and yelled at the both of them. They flinched at the sound of my hysterical voice before they turned to me. “Just get out. I can’t deal with this right now and I don’t want either of you here. So just get out.”

  “Julian, go,” Tyson snapped.

  I was done. I wanted them both to go but I’d settle for just the one if I had to.

  After telling me (rather bizarrely, I thought) he’d see me tomorrow and shooting Tyson a nasty look, Julian finally left.

  I sighed in relief. Now to get rid of the rest of them.

  Chapter Eight

  I laid back on my bed and covered my face with my hands. This day was a complete train wreck. I heard rustling in my bathroom. Tyson was digging through my things. Why? The faucet turned on for a second, then off again.

  “Ariel,” his voice was back to gentle with a hint of sweet. “Sit up for a second.”

  I groaned but obeyed. He handed me a paper cup filled with water and two white pills. Blessed Tylenol. I muttered a thanks before tossing the pills in my mouth and washing them down with water.

  “You can lay back down now,” he told me as he gently slipped the cup out of my hands.

  I laid back down and covered my face in my hands again.

  “The twins should be back with something to eat for you soon, then you can go to sleep.”

  He was getting annoying. “Stop bossing me around,” I mumbled through my hands. “And go home.”

  He laughed at me. He seriously laughed at me. What he didn’t do was get up and leave. He was definitely weird. Why were they all making themselves at home in Mr. Cole’s house?

  “I’m not going to leave you here alone like this.”

  “I wouldn’t be alone,” I pointed out.

  “Your mother doesn’t count,” his voice was back to harsh. “Seeing as she’s a psycho and all.”

  I cringed into myself. I didn’t like him knowing that about her. Would he think me a psycho too? There was rustling and then the other side of the bed dipped under his weight. My eyes flew open as I dropped my hands from my face.