She released a breath. “Right. I’m sorry. I got a little impatient there.”
“It’s fine. I know you’ve been waiting for this just as long as I have,” I murmured.
“I’m so proud of you, darling. I want you to always know that,” she said.
“I know, Mom.”
“And I expect you to come back for dinner soon also,” she mused. I chuckled.
“Fine. But if you invite Dad, I’ll probably have to kill him,” I warned.
“That’s if I don’t do it first,” she joked and let out a light sigh. “He won’t be at the next dinner. It’ll just be the two of us.”
“Good. Once I get everything finished here, I’ll be sure to stop by,” I promised.
“I’ll hold you to that,” she said with a giggle. After a moment of silence, she added, “I’d like to request something of you.”
“Anything,” I said.
“I know you said you were saving Sevyn for last, but…I’d like to be present when you finally…you know,” she said, her voice timid. I frowned.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Mom,” I said.
“I just want to know why. I want to hear it with my own ears for my own closure. Can you do that for me?”
“Can’t I record it for you? Or have her call you or FaceTime you during?”
“I want to see her face to face, Luther. I want to look her in the eyes when I ask her what made her hate my little girl so much that she pushed her to suicide,” she said, her voice trembling as if she were about to cry.
“Okay, okay. Don’t cry, Mom. I’ll have to ask the guys. Anyone who comes out here never leaves alive. I’d need to make sure they’re okay with showing you this place. I won’t make any promises, but I’ll try.”
“I understand. I just want closure.”
“I know you do. That’s why I’m doing this,” I murmured.
She sniffled. “Well, I’ll let you go. I’m sure you’re busy with everything going on there. Just be sure to check in a little more often, okay? I always get nervous when it’s been too long since I last heard from you,” she said.
“I know, Mom. I promise I’ll call a little more often as long as things aren’t too hectic here. I’ll talk to you soon though.”
Okay, sweet boy. I love you,” she said.
I closed my eyes and exhaled deeply. “I love you, too, Mom. Take care of yourself, okay?”
“I will and you do the same.”
“I will. Good night.”
“Good night, honey,” she said and hung up. I tossed my phone on the bed beside me and pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes. I hadn’t anticipated my mother wanting to be here. I wasn’t too sure how the guys would feel about bringing my mother here, and I knew I couldn’t deny her that. I shook the thoughts from my head. I’d deal with it when it came closer to the time to worry about it. For now, I had to prepare for Rebecca’s funeral tomorrow.
SEVYN
I could feel his eyes on me as I sat on the side of the pool with Logan, both of us in bikinis as we tanned. He sat on the opposite side of the pool, a couple of his friends already in the water and throwing a ball around.
“I’m so glad school’s out,” Logan finally said with a soft sigh. “If I had to have another day of Calculus, I would’ve lost my mind.”
I giggled but didn’t respond. My eyes were now on her older brother, my lustful gaze hidden behind my dark sunglasses. The sun reflected off the beads of water on his wet skin, his eyes squinting against the sun as he looked at me, a slight smirk on his lips. It was as if he knew I was checking him out as well. One of his friends hit him in the side of the head with the inflatable ball, tearing his gaze away from me as he went after the ball to throw back at his friend.
“Any plans for your birthday next week?” Logan asked, grabbing my attention again.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. My parents asked if I wanted to take a trip, but I’m not in the mood to travel,” I said.
“You’re so lucky. If my parents gave me the option, I’d totally go to Bali,” she said. I slightly turned in my lounge chair to face her and grinned.
“What if we go?” I asked.
“What? Go where?”
“To Bali, duh. I mean it’ll be fun! What’s the point of having rich friends if you’re not also having fun?”
Logan gave me an unsure look and shrugged. “I don’t know if my parents will let me leave town, let alone the country.”
“Then tell them that Luther can come, too. You know how protective he is over you,” I mused, glancing over at him. He was now back in the water, he and his friends tossing the ball between each other.
“I don’t know. I don’t know if I want him hovering over me either,” Logan finally said.
“Then I’ll ask your mom,” I stated, hopping up from the lounge chair and heading back into her house.
“Sevyn, wait!” she shrieked. “She’s gonna say no!”
“I’d rather hear her say no than to listen to an assumption!” I called out over my shoulder. I opened the glass sliding door and entered the air-conditioned kitchen, where her mother stood at the counter making pepperoni Stromboli’s. She looked up at us when we entered and smiled.
“Hi, girls,” she said as she continued placing loads of pepperoni and cheese onto rolled out dough. “What are you two up to?”
“Nothing!” Logan immediately exclaimed, cutting her eyes at me and giving me a subtle shake of her head. I only grinned at her before turning my attention to her mother.
“Mrs. Evans, I was actually just talking to Logan about my birthday,” I said.
“Oh, that’s right! The big 18, huh?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have anything special planned?” her mom asked me as she placed the exposed dough over the toppings and pinched the dough halves closed.
“Well, my parents had asked me if I’d wanted to travel abroad somewhere, but I kind of wanted to spend it with my friends, you know?”
“So, you’re having a party?”
“Not…a party, per say. I’d chosen to go to Bali but….I kind of wanted Logan to come with me?” I asked with a sheepish shrug.
Her mother finally stopped fiddling with the Stromboli’s long enough to look at Logan and I. “Bali. As in out of the country?”
“Yes, but my parents will be there so there won’t be any funny business going on,” I quickly said.
“I don’t know. I mean if there’s an emergency—”
“Mom, come on. You know it’s one of my dream places to go. Please? It’s only for the weekend anyway,” Logan pleaded, clasping her hands together. Her mother looked at us for a long while before she sighed softly and smiled.
“Since it’s just for the weekend, I’ll allow it. Though, I would like to speak with your parents about it first and I’d feel a lot more comfortable if Luther went with you.”
“Mom!” Logan protested as I snickered.
“Told you,” I said.
“Luther goes or you’ll stay home,” her mother said, pointing at her before she turned away to put the pan into the oven.
“Ugh! Fine,” Logan said before pulling me back out into the backyard. We walked over to the side of the pool occupied by Luther and his friends. He looked up at us from the water as Logan looked down at him, her hands on her hips.
“Take a picture. It’ll last longer,” he joked, hitting her legs with the ball. She glared at him.
“I have to bring you to Bali with me,” she said, knocking the ball back into the water.
He scoffed. “Bali? I’m not going to any fucking Bali,” he said.
“Mom said you have to. Trust me, I didn’t want you to go but she said you had to.”
He grinned. “Wait, so you’re dependent on me going in order for you to go? Then I’m definitely not going.”
“Luther, please! I’ll pay you!” Logan begged.
“Don’t be an asshole, Luther. It’s just for a weekend,” I interjected w
ith a frown. His bright brown eyes met mine with a raised brow.
“What, is this a trip you’re planning for the two of you?”
“It’s for my eighteenth birthday, yes,” I said, putting a hand on my hip. His eyes scanned my form before they moved back to my face.
“What if I don’t have enough money for a ticket?” he finally asked.
“I didn’t ask whether or not either of you had money for a ticket. I just need to know if you’re going,” I said.
“Oooh, rich girl is wielding her money around,” one of his friends said.
“Shut up, Anthony,” Logan snapped before turning her attention to her brother. “Are you coming or not, Luther? She needs an answer ASAP.”
He shrugged. “Whatever. But I’m not babysitting you if that’s what Mom is wanting me to do.”
“Good, because that’s the last thing I want you to do,” she said and rolled her eyes before pulling me away from the guys. A small smile pulled at my lips as we made our way back to our lounge chairs. While my parents were going on the trip, they always did their own thing whenever we went on vacation, leaving me and my friends to do whatever we wanted. And with Luther coming along, I wasn’t sure how much he’d stifle the trip if he was his usual, overprotective self. Either way, I was excited for the trip now and couldn’t wait to see what Logan and I got up to in Bali.
I opened my eyes and stared up into the darkness. My entire body hurt, my tongue thick in my mouth, and a disgusting taste in my mouth. I slowly stretched out and pulled myself from the fetal position I’d slept in, every muscle and joint in my body protesting with each movement. My entire lower body throbbed with pain in the rhythm of my heartbeat, forcing me to clench my jaw as I tried to reposition myself. My mind drifted back to my dream as I sighed. Sometimes I wished I could go back in time and right all the wrongs I’d done. Before all this shit with Luther happened, I’d rarely thought about Logan unless it was close to her birthday or the anniversary of her death. I’d been dreaming about her a lot, reminding me of all the amazing times we’d had and how amazing of a friend she’d been. Reminding me that I was a shit friend to her and didn’t deserve her friendship. Reminding me that I was a large part of why she was dead.
Wincing against the pain, I finally got myself into a slightly more comfortable position with a huff. I had no idea what time it was. I was hungry, thirsty, and really needed to pee. I wasn’t sure what the consequences were for going on the bed, so I forced myself to hold it, even though it hurt to tighten anything down there. To give myself something else to think about other than the bathroom, I thought about the first time Luther and I hooked up near the end of the Bali trip.
“I’m so tired,” Logan said with a yawn when she finally got out of the shower. “This has been the best trip ever.”
“I agree. Thanks for coming with me,” I said as I ran a brush through my hair. She looked at me, still dressed in my bikini.
“You’re still going out? It’s a bit late, isn’t it?” she asked.
“I’m just going down to the beach for a little bit to listen to the ocean. I won’t be far,” I reassured her.
“I don’t know. I don’t think it’s a good idea to go by yourself,” Logan protested. “Luther!”
“Shh! No!” I exclaimed in a whisper.
Luther appeared in the doorway, his gaze lingering on me longer than it should have before he turned his attention to Logan. “What?”
“Could you walk Sevyn to the beach?”
He frowned. “It’s literally right outside the house,” he said, his tone flat.
“Thank you,” I agreed. “It’s seriously not a big deal.”
Logan narrowed her eyes at him. “Is it a crime to make sure my best friend is safe in a foreign country? If anything, can you sit on the back patio and keep an eye on her?”
“What do you two think I am, a personal bodyguard?” he argued.
“Really, I don’t need you to go out there,” I said.
Logan rolled her eyes and threw the blankets that she’d just pulled over her body back off. “Fine, then I’ll go.”
“No!” Luther and I both said in unison.
Luther sighed inwardly. “Fine, I’ll go. But just know it’s my last time coming on vacation with either one of you twits,” he complained before he disappeared.
I shook my head at Logan as I left the room behind him. I stopped by the closet to grab a blanket to lay over the sand before walking out to the patio. Luther already stood outside, looking up at the full moon in the sky. The private beach was dark for the most part aside from the light coming from the patio. He looked over his shoulder at me, his expression indifferent. I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. I’d known him for years, watching him grow and mature over the years. Now he was going into his sophomore year in college, his body a little more muscular than it was when he was in high school. He only wore a pair of swimming trunks despite the fact that he never got in the water today.
“Are you going down to the beach or are you going to keep staring at me?” he teased. I playfully rolled my eyes.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” I said as I walked past him and headed down the stairs. “You don’t have to watch me, you know.”
“Logan asked me to, so I’m doing it as a favor to her,” he said as he followed me down the stairs.
The sand was cool beneath my feet as I walked across it, settling on a spot that was a few yards from the back patio. I spread out the blanket and plopped down onto it, stretching out and letting the sounds of the waves relax me.
“Where the hell do your parents go when you come here?” Luther asked after a bout of silence.
I shrugged. “As if I know.”
“Are your family vacations always like that?”
“Yep. It’s why I usually bring a friend or two along so that I’m not completely alone,” I murmured.
“Damn. I guess if it’s like this in a foreign country, it must be the same at home, too,” he said. I nodded but didn’t say anything in response. It was always interesting to see other people’s reactions when they saw the true dynamic of my fucked up family. Most times, it was pity or surprise. It was as if they couldn’t believe that the girl who had it all didn’t have a real family. They were just people she shared her DNA with but not people that actually cared about her enough to want to be around her.
“I’m sorry,” Luther finally said. “I mean my parents annoy me more than I’d like, but at least they’re around to annoy me.”
“Yeah. It’s why I try to tell people that money doesn’t buy happiness when they try to tell me how lucky I am to have the parents I do.” I looked over at him, making out his handsome features in the dark night. “All the money in the world doesn’t take away the emptiness of feeling unwanted in your own family.”
“I’m sure,” he said. We sat in silence for a while, listening to the ocean waves. He reached into his pocket after a few moments and pulled out a flask. I watched him as he opened it and took a long pull from it before glancing over at me. “Want some?”
“What is it?”
“Just a little gin I swiped from your dad’s alcohol bar,” he said with a cheeky grin. “He has quite the collection of alcohol.”
“He’s gonna kill you if he finds out,” I said and giggled. “Some of those are special.”
“Oh well. He probably won’t even notice anyhow,” Luther said with a shrug before taking another pull.
“Give me that,” I said, snatching it from him and tilting the flask up to my lips. The amber liquid burned as it went down, causing me to cough and sputter the rest that was in my mouth. “Holy fuck, that’s gross!”
He took the flask back from me and chuckled. “Even though you’re eighteen, your taste buds are still young, grasshopper,” he teased. “It’s an acquired taste for us adults.”
I rolled my eyes. “You must’ve played a lot of drinking games in college then.”
“Eh, maybe. Still doesn’t negate the fact
that you have fetus taste buds,” he retorted. I laughed and playfully pushed him.
“Fuck off,” I said before turning my gaze back out to the water.
“Did you enjoy your birthday at least?” he asked.
There wasn’t too much to enjoy. My parents had gone off on a yacht for the day with another couple they knew, and I’d spent it with Logan and Luther. We didn’t do too much, mostly spending time on the beach, going to a fancy lunch and dinner that my parents were at least considerate enough to arrange. And even though Logan did her best to make sure I had a good time, I was still filled with an overwhelming sadness and deep-rooted anger. I was upset that my parents thought being on a yacht with someone else was more important than my birthday, which was the whole reason we’d come here. Even now, they still weren’t back to at least tell me happy birthday, only texting it to me this morning before they left.
“Yeah,” I finally murmured.
“Bullshit,” Luther countered.
I frowned at him. “Why is that bullshit?”
“You didn’t seem like you enjoyed it.” He took another pull from the flask before closing it up and putting it back in his pocket. “You seemed sad.”
“It’s whatever. I’m used to it at this point.”
“Have you ever talked to them about it?”
I scoffed. “You mean when they’re home long enough to talk? All they tell me is that it’s necessary in order for them to continue making money and connections for our family and that I’ll understand when I’m older.”
“That fucking sucks,” he said, leaning back on his hands. “Well…do you have a boyfriend you can run to to get away from the madness in your house?”
I scoffed. “I don’t have a boyfriend and not interested in getting one. Everyone just seems to use me to get close to my parents or the money they give me access to,” I muttered.
“They’re stupid then. I’d be more focused on getting more acquainted with someone as gorgeous as you,” he said, his voice dropping a couple of octaves. I looked over at him, my cheeks heating from his words.
“Shut up,” I said instead. “You don’t have to lie just to make me feel better.”
The Destruction of Sevyn (The Vengeance of Luther Book 1) Page 21
