by L. A. Casey
Silence.
I watched as a smile stretched across Alec's face. “Baby brother! It's about damn time you called, you have Dominic worried sick!”
Silence.
I lifted my arms and placed my hands behind my head as I gazed up at Alec.
He frowned as Damien spoke. “Anything we need to worry about?” he asked.
I raised my eyebrows and looked at Alec expectantly, but the arsehole ignored me.
Alec released a breath. “So come home then, if you're bored over there why stay?”
I tilted my head to the side when Alec began to pace from left to right in front of me.
“How soon?” Alec asked then when Damien answered his face dropped. “That could be years away, Dame.”
I sat upright and got to my feet, then I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around Alec's waist and rested my head against his chest. Alec used his free hand to rub up and down my back.
“Yeah, I know, you've got shit to work through.”
I hugged Alec tightly when he sighed and his body deflated.
I felt horrible for him.
He missed Damien—all the brothers did.
“Yeah, man, you got it,” Alec said to Damien then chuckled. “You want to speak to her again?”
Alec nudged me and handed me my phone back when he got my attention.
I took the phone and placed it to my ear. “'Hello again.”
Damien chuckled. “You're driving him crazy, you realise that, don't you?”
I snorted. “I'm aware of it, yes.”
Damien cackled through the phone and Alec vibrated with silent laughter because he heard it.
“How is your writing going?” Damien asked me.
I blushed. “It's fine.”
“You talk to Dame about your writing, but not me?” Alec asked me, his tone annoyed.
I rolled my eyes. “You beta read the first ten chapters of me book and when you got to the sex scene you laughed!”
“Because no man moans that much during sex!” Alec laughed.
I glared at him. “You do!”
“Oh, burn!” Damien teased.
Alec glared at my phone, then at me.
“Go away while I talk to your brother,” I said and walked over to our new sofa.
I sat down as Alec walked out of the room cursing to himself.
“I miss you guys,” Damien sighed when his laughter subsided.
I frowned. “We miss you too. I'm dyin' to hug you. It sucks that we haven't met in person yet... you'd love me.”
Damien laughed. “I already love you, spitfire.”
I chuckled. “I love you, too. Aideen doesn't love you, but she fancies you. She said you could be her boy toy.”
Damien snickered. “She's hot, I'll take whatever I can get.”
I gasped. “I'm tellin' Kane!”
Damien whooped with laughter and it made me smile.
“I gotta go, babe. I have the early shift at work tonight.”
I heard the sadness in his voice and it broke my heart—he was always sad.
“Okay, sweetheart. Stay safe, and call back soon.”
“I will,” Damien said. “Give everyone my love.”
“You got it. Bye.”
“Bye.”
The line clicked as Damien hung up his phone and I frowned. I wished I could help him, but I had no idea the depth of his problems or what the hell it was that had him so down. Alec shone some light on his brother's past, but I'm sure not everything was told to me.
“Keela?” Alec's voice shouted from somewhere in the house.
“What?” I called back.
“I left my phone in the moving truck, will you come with me while I go and pick it up?”
That meant I could get out of cushion duty.
Sweet.
“Yes, let's go!”
We just left the building where Alec rented the moving van from, but they assured him there was no phone inside when he delivered the van back to them.
“I can't believe you lost your bloody phone,” I grumbled as I climbed into Alec's SUV.
Alec got into the driver's seat and slammed his door shut. “I didn't lose it. Those bastard's clearly have it, which means they stole it from me!”
I shook my head as I buckled my seat belt.
“I don't know why you're giving me attitude either—if it was your phone you'd lose your shit,” Alec stated as he started up the SUV.
I pressed my fingers against my temples.
I wasn't doing this, I wasn't arguing with him over a fucking mobile phone.
“Stop talkin'.”
“No,” Alec quipped. “You'd raise Hell if it was—”
“Shut. Up.”
“—your stupid phone,” Alec said, continuing on his rant like I didn't just speak.
“Alec. Stop.”
He grunted. “I just bought that fucking phone too, and now it's gone.”
Oh, my God.
He wouldn't close his mouth.
It was impossible for him to just shut the fuck up and it was grating on my nerves.
He was exasperating.
“Can you just stop?” I asked Alec whilst I rubbed my throbbing head. “I'm tired, we have been on the go since half ten this mornin'... I just want to go to bed and sleep for a week. The girls and I unpacked everythin' in the new house while you brought the movin' van back to the rental place. I'm knackered so just shut the fuck up. Please.”
Alec blinked at me. “Well... you're rude.”
Rude?
He thought that was me being rude?
I said please!
“Honey, that was me being nice,” I huffed then sighed. “I'm tired, Alec, don't you get that? I just want to drive home in silence and you refuse to stop speakin'.”
Alec didn't reply.
He did what I wanted and remained quiet, but he did it with a silent attitude. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye and caught him squeezing the steering wheel of the SUV a little too tightly. His posture was a little too straight for him to be relaxed, and his set jaw screamed he was mentally cursing me out.
All of this got on my already worn nerves.
“Why do you look like you're goin' to kill someone?” I asked him.
He growled. “You just told me to shut the fuck up, so that's what I'm doing.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”
“Whatever,” Alec mimicked.
Bad move.
“Really? You want to start somethin' when I'm this tired? Try it and see how it pans out for you,” I threatened.
Alec laughed. “What are you gonna do? Not put out. Oh, no, what ever will I do?”
Wanker.
“You can fuck yourself, that's exactly what you can do,” I snarled and turned my body away from him.
Alec snorted to himself. “We'll see.”
Excuse me?
“What's that supposed to mean?” I asked, my tone firm.
Alec shrugged his shoulders. “We'll see how long you not putting out will last—I give you until midnight.”
Was he serious?
“I'm not a sex deprived maniac, I can easily go without shaggin' you without it botherin' me,” I stated.
Alec laughed. “Yeah, right.”
I could feel my temper rising.
“I'm serious, Alec. I don't need sex with you, I don't even need to sleep in the same bed as you,” I said, my voice raw.
Alec continued to nod his head. “You keep telling yourself that.”
I opened my mouth, but closed it because I was about to say something that I would regret later on. I was going to say I didn't need him at all, but that was a lie. I did need him, but not for the reasons he thought.
“You're so disrespectful. You want me as your wife, yet you treat me like a dog who can't go a day without humpin' your leg.”
I turned my body and faced the window of the SUV as Alec drove.
“I don't mean it like that and you know it,” Alec sa
id, his voice a grumble.
I didn't reply.
I was tired, and I just wanted to go back to the new house and be on my own so I could sit and be in peace.
“Keela?” Alec murmured after a few minutes of silence.
Again, I didn't reply.
“I'm sorry,” he said. “I didn't mean for you to take what I said in the way you did, I think of you as nothing but a blessing in my life. I love you.”
Damn it.
“Say something.”
I sighed. “I heard you, I just want to go back to the house and be on me own. I'm... I'm just tired.”
“Tired of what?” Alec asked. “Me? The move? In general?”
“I'm tired of everythin',” I replied honestly and went back to looking out the window.
We drove the rest of the ten minutes back to the new house in silence. When we pulled up in the driveway I was confused, there was a black sports car parked in our driveway and I had no idea who it belonged to.
“Who is here?” I asked.
“I'm not sure,” Alec replied, but he wouldn't look at me.
He got out of the SUV and I followed.
He waited for me to walk ahead of him before he fell in step behind me. I walked up to the door and tested the handle, but found it was locked.
“Do you have a key?” I asked Alec.
He leaned over me and inserted his key into the key slot.
“It's our house,” he said and turned the key. “Of course I have a key, yours is in the kitchen.”
I stepped forward and pushed the door open. We stepped inside and closed the door. I walked down the hallway and turned into the sitting room when deafening screaming erupted and figures of people jumped out at me. I jumped backward and screamed bloody murder.
“Surprise!” voices shouted.
Surprise?
What the fuck?
“It's okay,” Alec's laughter came from behind me.
“What is this?” I asked him pressing my back into his front as I tried to back away from all the smiling faces.
There was only fifteen or so people in front of me—the brothers, the Murphy sisters and Aideen made up six of them. The others were faces I knew from Branna's job, and Dominic's friends from his gym.
Alec's mouth lowered to my ear. “It's a housewarming party.”
A housewarming party?
“Are you fuckin' serious?” I asked and turned to face Alec.
He scratched his neck. “I didn't think you would be as tired as you are. I thought you would be excited for a party.”
I stared at Alec unblinking for a moment then shook my head at him. “We aren't even fully moved in yet. There are boxes everywhere.”
“We took care of the boxes,” Bronagh's voice chirped from behind me.
I turned to face her. “The place is not fit for guests—”
“We made it fit for guests,” Aideen cut me off, and grinned. “You need a drink. Don't argue with us.”
I wanted to argue, I wanted throw everyone out on their arses and march straight up to bed, but I didn't want to be that woman, so I smiled.
“Thank you,” I said to everyone.
I jolted when music started up and blared throughout the house.
“Where is that comin' from?” I leaned my head back and asked Alec.
Alec moved his mouth down to my ear and said, “Dominic brought his Beats Pill over from his place, it's pretty loud.”
I'll say, the stupid thing could wake the dead with the volume of it.
Alec moved around me and greeted the faces smiling at us, so I followed suit and did the same. After I was done, I excused myself to go into the kitchen to get a glass of water. I'd just downed my glass when he spoke from behind me.
“How mad are you?”
I gritted my teeth. “I could fuckin' kill you right now.”
“Trust me, if I knew you would have reacted like this I wouldn't have arranged it for you.”
I turned to face Alec. “You arranged this for me? Don't you dare lie—you arranged this for you. This entire fuckin' move has been about you. This house? You. The SUV? You. The furniture? You. Everythin' else? Fuckin' you!”
I stormed forward and brushed by Alec but he caught my forearm and jolted me back to him.
“Ow!” I shouted. “You're hurtin' me! Let go!”
Alec kept his hold on me, but loosened it slightly. “What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you being like this?”
I tried to push Alec's hand off me but his grip was too tight. “I'm not being like anythin'... let me go!”
“No!” Alec snapped. “Talk to me.”
That was the last thing I wanted to do.
“Dominic!” I screamed, using his full name to show I needed him.
Alec stared down at me with wide eyes. “Why the fuck are you calling him?”
Dominic shot out of the sitting room with Kane behind him, but when Kane saw it was me and Alec in the kitchen doorway, he closed the sitting room double doors and kept our guests inside with the music blaring.
“What's wrong?” Nico asked as he walked towards us.
I pulled my arm. “Tell him to let me go, he is hurtin' me.”
Nico widened his eyes then looked to Alec's hold on me then to his brother's face. “Bro...”
“Don't, Dominic,” Alec snarled. “Just... don't.”
He let go of me and I quickly pushed away from him. I proceeded to run down the hallway and up the never-ending staircase, taking the stairs two at a time. When I reached the top of the stairs it took me a second to remember which door lead to our bedroom.
I hated that I was somewhere so unfamiliar, and I hated that Alec threw a stupid housewarming party.
My head was killing me, and the blaring music from downstairs did nothing to ease the pounding in my skull. I entered my bedroom and closed the door behind me. I walked over to our new bed and I was grateful there were sheets and covers already on it. I knew the girls made it for us, and I knew they thought Alec was going to get some based on the revealing underwear that was laid across the bed.
I pushed it aside to the floor and climbed up onto the bed where I flipped onto my back and stared up at the white ceiling. I could hear the music from downstairs and it was picking away at my already shot temper. I lifted my hand to my face and covered my eyes, coating them in darkness to try and ease the pain in my head.
I relaxed a little bit, but seconds later I jolted as a bang sound went off during the music, followed by two more bangs. An image from my nightmare flashed across my mind, and I screamed.
You don't deserve him.
I cried out at my own voice repeating those dreaded words to me in my head. I jumped up off my bed and ran to the corner of my room. I slid down against the wall until my behind touched the ground. I drew my knees up to my chest and placed my forehead on my knees and covered my head with my hands.
“Stop,” I cried. “Please. Stop.”
My nightmare was playing over and over in my mind, and it made me feel sick with fear. I heard another bang and I screamed again, but this one was different, it sounded like something hitting a hard surface.
“Keela?” Alec's shout floated into my mind.
“No!” I cried out knowing what was coming.
I was going to see him die.
I screamed when I felt hands touch me. “Stop. Please. Leave me alone. Get out of me head!”
The hands tightened on my arms. “Kitten, I'm here.”
“Alec, just hold her.” Bronagh's familiar voice filled my ears. “It's the nightmare, she is relivin' it in her conscious state.”
“Nightmare?” Alec repeated. “What nightmare?”
I heard a whimper. “She's been havin' them since last year... whatever she went through... it's hauntin' her.”
Aideen.
“I'm fine,” I whispered.
I didn't want to upset anybody and hearing them talk even though they were talking about me, focused my mind on my reality. What
I thought was happening really wasn't. It wasn't real. It was in my mind.
That was the problem though—I didn't want it on my mind.
I wanted it gone.
“She's been having nightmares? I didn't know,” Alec said, his voice broken.
“None of us did, she only told us today,” Bronagh's voice said.
I blew out a breath. “I'm fine,” I said louder this time.
I lifted my head and opened my eyes finding all of my family standing close to me.
“I heard a bang and me mind... it just turned on me, but I'm fine now.”
Alec helped me to my feet and I flushed with embarrassment.
“Please don't tell me everyone heard me?” I asked.
“Dunno, Alec kicked them out,” Bronagh said and shot a glare his way.
Alec ignored Bronagh and focused on me. “We need to talk.”
Oh, God.
I nodded my head.
Alec shot a look at the others and one by one they got the hint and filed out of our room.
“Love you,” Aideen said to me.
I slighty smiled. “Love you too.”
She closed the door after her and left Alec and myself alone in our room.
“Nightmares, really Keela?” Alec began. “Why didn't you tell me?
I frowned. “I didn't want to worry you. I thought I could handle them. I thought they would go away.”
“But they haven't?”
I shook my head. “I have them weekly. Sometimes twice a week. They're about... Darkness.”
Alec lifted his hands to his face and scrubbed them. “About what you saw?”
I nodded my head. “Yes, but also... somethin' different.”
Alec looked at me and waited for me to explain.
I walked over to our bed and sat down, but Alec remained standing in front of me.
“At the start of the nightmare I wake up in a hallway with blood on the walls and lots of turns, and lots of doors. I know the hallway, but can't remember where it is durin' the nightmare. When I wake up, I realise it’s the hallways from Darkness. I walked them once when I was pulled out of the room we were being kept in with Bronagh... Do you remember?”
“Yes.”
I nodded my head. “Yeah, well I'm there and I can hear someone callin' out to me, beggin' me to help them. I know the voice, but can't pin it to a person.” I looked down. “The voice is yours, and I learn that a shadow figure is hurtin' you and you're callin' out for me to help you, but I can't. I try… I try to run as fast as I can, but I'm never quick enough... You die in the nightmare, every time. The shadow figure shoots you in the head.”
