Claiming Isabella

by M. E. Clayton

  “Jesus. I wonder how that conversation went once his other kids tested incompatible,” Nick breathed.

  I was curious, myself.

  Chase cleared his throat, “So, I was thinking-”

  “Did it hurt?” Nick interrupted.

  “Fuck you, Sav.” I laughed. “As I was saying,” Chase continued, “I know Quinn’s still a little on the broken side, but between that shit with Eric and now this thing with Izzy, I think we should get the girls a self-defense instructor. He or she could work with them downstairs.”

  I seriously felt like shit at his suggestion. We should have insisted on it after Avery was attacked by Eric. “We’re fucking idiots,” I murmured.

  Nick was quiet, probably feeling worse than I did, because he hadn’t thought about it himself. I don’t think he’s quite recovered from her attack, yet. Not that I blame him. I’d lose my mind if anyone ever touched Isabella.

  I’ll never forget busting into Avery’s apartment and pulling Eric off her beaten body. I would have killed him had Isabella not penetrated the fog of rage I was experiencing. Eric Anderson owed his life to Isabella in a way he’ll never understand.

  “It’s because we’re egotistical,” Chase announced. “We do our best to be with them all day, every day, that we forget they might want to do some way out shit like go see a movie without us.”

  Nick scoffed. “Yeah, what is that cracked way of thinking? How can they even entertain doing shit without us? It’s like they don’t even love us anymore.”

  We were such sad sacks. “We seriously need some therapy.”

  Nick was still offended. “Yes, they do!”

  Chase leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “Well, how else would you explain their need to do stuff without us? They’re in obvious need of some counseling. Or at the very least, a life coach.”

  I smiled at my two best friends. Love looked good on them. I knew Isabella loved me, but I wished like hell she would at least consent to be engaged. I envied how Nick and Avery were engaged. I wanted Isabella legally bound to me. I wanted our lives so entangled that it’d take a million years for her to ever rid herself of me completely.

  If I even ever let it get that far.

  “You bastards are lucky that you could even land those two. They’re way out of your league.” I took a drink of my whiskey. “In fact, you guys should probably kneel and bow whenever you’re in their presence. You ungrateful fucks.”

  Chase laughed. “I have no problem being on my knees in front of Q, at all.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Chase.”

  He smirked. “Can’t. That woman makes me wanna live there.”

  “Amen,” Nick muttered.

  I didn’t blame them. I think we were so fucked in the head, we’d spend all our days and nights inside the girls if they’d let us.

  I knew Isabella wouldn’t, because I already asked her.

  “Okay, so what say you, gentlemen? Do we get them a self-defense instructor or no?” Chase asked, returning us back to a more serious topic.

  “I think we should, because Lord knows there’s no way I’d be able to put my hands on Isabella violently long enough to teach her anything myself,” I admitted.

  Nick nodded. “Same here,” he agreed.

  “DeShawn Travis, then?” Chase asked, referring to one of the top self-defense trainers in the country. He was ex-military and his seminars and classes were usually sold out. Lucky for us he used to be a neighborhood kid from the Deep East and he grew up with us.

  “I’m good with Travis,” I acquiesced.

  “Yeah, DeShawn’s perfect,” Nick declared, as he knocked back his Johnny Walker Blue. I wish there was way to ease his conscience about what happened to Avery, but I knew there wasn’t. It would be hard for any man to be able to get past not protecting what was his. Even if it wasn’t his fault.

  “Okay, I’ll give him a call tomorrow morning and see what he can do for us.” Chase stood and started pacing the living room.

  I leaned against the back of the couch, as I regarded him. “What’s up, Chase?”

  He stopped his pacing and his eyes volleyed between me and Nick. “I think we need to tell Momma what happened to Avery and what’s going on with Iz.”

  I let out a sigh. We had never told Teresa what happened to Avery. Nick and Avery’s relationship was fairly new and Teresa hadn’t met the girls yet. Teresa had met them after Avery had healed for the most part, so she didn’t know the scar that ran down Avery’s sweet face was a result of a recent attack.

  Avery was a raven-haired, silver-eyed beauty. She was a 5’3” petite bundle of pure love. The thing about Avery was that her eyes were actually silver. Not grey, not pewter…but, honest to God, silver. So, they caught your eye almost instantly when you looked at her, and that made you notice the scar that ran down her face. It started at her forehead and ran through her eye and down her cheek. It’s faded quite a bit since the attack, but you still notice it if you know it’s there.

  Well, Teresa had met her while the scar was still fresh and we knew she was too polite to ask what happened, so since Teresa never asked, we never volunteered the information. But now that Isabella had a creepy stalker, Chase was right. It was time to tell Teresa.

  She’s come to love the girls just as much as we do, and she’d never forgive us if we didn’t tell her something was going on with the girls. “I agree. We should tell her.”

  Nick let out a low whistle. “She’s going to be pissed we didn’t tell her sooner.”

  “Maybe she’ll be too busy being worried about the girls to tear us a new one,” Chase offered hopefully.

  I snorted. Teresa Alexander was no naïve girl. She’s going to see through whatever bullshit we try to shovel her way. Our best bet was to just come clean and beg forgiveness. “It’s Mom. I say we throw ourselves on the sword and beg forgiveness.”

  Chase snapped his fingers at me. “You tell her. She never gets mad at you.”

  I scoffed at his ignorance. “Are you high? She gets mad at me plenty.”

  “Yeah, but she forgives you the quickest,” he pointed out.

  “Chase is right. She forgives you way easier than she does us,” Nick hemmed and hawed.

  I rolled my eyes. “That’s because you guys do way more fucked up shit than I do.”

  Nick bellowed in outrage, “Liar! You’re worse than me and Chase combined and you know it!” He narrowed his eyes at me when his cellphone rang. He looked down and held up a finger, letting me know he still had some outrage in him that needed to come out after he took the call.

  “How can you be the psychopath, but get all the love? I don’t understand it,” Chase muttered.

  I knew immediately Nick was talking with Avery. “Hey, Imp…What?...Why?...Are you kidding me?...You’ve already been away from me for two hours…But…But…What do you think we’re doing? We’re going fucking crazy…Julian’s an asshole…How can you guys not misses us already?...I’m not whining…Well, if Chase and Julez…Jesus Christ, you’re killing me…”

  I tuned him out when my phone chimed with a text message from Isabella. I heard Chase’s phone chime also.

  While I realize u guys r going crazy n all, 1 more hour 4 a drink?

  I smiled at my phone. I wanted to tell her hell-to-the-fuck no, but I refused to let her carry the weight of my worry on her shoulders. And I trusted Garrett completely.

  1 hour. I miss u

  I miss u 2. 1 hour. Promise

  Chase’s appalled voice hit me, “You told Iz she could stay out another hour?!”

  Nick palmed the speaker on his phone. “You bastard!”

  Isabella owed me.

  Isabella~

  “That fucking bitch,” Quinn seethed.

  We were sitting at a little pub a couple blocks away from the movie theater. As much as we loved the guys, our girl time was starting to become few and far between. Quinn and Avery were lucky because they worked together, so they were
able to do lunches and stuff. But some days, when I was feeling insecure, I’d play with the idea of quitting my job and working for SMA.

  “Yeah, I couldn’t believe it,” I repeated. “It was unreal.”

  Ace held up her shot, signaling me and Q to lift ours for a group chug. “If that doesn’t need shots of tequila, I don’t know what does,” she toasted.

  We all threw our shot glasses back and warmth settled in my blood.

  I loved tequila.

  Quinn settled back in the booth. “I’m surprised Julian didn’t murder her on the spot.”

  I grimaced. “I think he would have had she been a he. I think the only reason Loretta’s alive right now is because she’s a woman and Julian would never put his hands on a woman in violence.”

  “I can’t believe your father actually had the audacity to even call her and ask her to ask that of you. I mean, what the hell?” Avery wasn’t the only one swimming in wonder over that.

  I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. Either he was so desperate, he felt like he had no choice. Or he was a true narcissist and felt no shame about asking me for this.

  “I wonder what his wife and children are thinking about all this?” Quinn posed. “I mean to find out 28 years later that there’s a daughter slash half-sister in the picture…”

  “I’m not in the picture, Q,” I pointed out dryly. “I’m sure the announcement of my existence has probably shaken up the conversation at their dinner table, but I’m so not in the picture.”

  Quinn shrugged. “I bet you’re the main topic of discussion over there these days, though.”

  I didn’t agree or disagree. I was trying to stow away my curiosity. I’ve lived my entire life with no contact from the man whatsoever and I didn’t want my childhood wishes and wants to start making an appearance now.

  “The entire thing sounds like one big Jerry Springer clusterfuck,” Avery chuckled.

  I nodded. “I know. The only good thing about this mess is Julian.”

  The girls sighed.

  I laughed.

  I was one lucky bitch.

  “My heart nearly exploded out of my chest, while I was standing in the living room, listening to him tell my mother off,” I added warmly. “When he told her there was no other woman on the planet that was more anything than me, I almost swooned. And then I almost laughed my ass off when he told her not to come back until she’s taken parenting classes or grows a conscience. I wish he hadn’t been blocking my view so I could have seen her face.”

  Quinn laughed. “I can just imagine. Julian’s scary when he’s just being stoic, minding his own business. I can’t imagine him all up in your face.”

  Avery was right there with her. “He’s a damn masterpiece, but he is scary.”

  I cocked my head at Avery’s description of Julian. He truly was a masterpiece in all his male perfection. His face, his body, his personality…all of it combined to make a person so special, mere mortals didn’t deserve to know him.

  And he was mine.

  All mine.

  I took a drink of my beer knowing we didn’t have all night. “You know, he’s constantly telling me how thankful he is to have met me, but honestly, I’m the one who should get on my knees every night and thank God for him. He’s just so damn special.”

  Avery smiled fondly. “They’re all pretty special in their own way, if not a little crooked in the head.”

  Quinn snorted. “A little crooked?”

  She smiled impishly. “Okay, maybe more than a little crooked.”

  Quinn eyeballed her. “They’re nut jobs, Ace. Certifiably; with a certificate and everything.”

  I almost spit my beer out everywhere. I started laughing. “While this is true, they’re just so damn hot and good-looking; I’m willing to overlook some of their crazy.”

  Quinn huffed. “That’s because Julian worships the ground you walk on and Nick adores Ace. Chase is batshit crazy, I tell you. You guys just don’t get to see it in technicolor the way I get to.”

  Avery started laughing. “Chase just has a passionate personality.”

  “He’s got personalities-plural, is what he’s got,” Quinn quipped.

  I really had to hold it together when a thought occurred to me. “Oh my God, I wonder what they say about us when we’re not around.”

  “They, no doubt, talk about how perfect we are,” Quinn predicted haughtily.

  “A couple of week ago, Julian announced to the entire table how he has no problem getting his dick in my ass,” I deadpanned. “I’m sure their private conversations about us are all roses and candlelight.”

  Ace did actually spit out her beer, while Quinn rationalized Julian’s faux pas…well, faux pas in most social circles…just not ours, apparently. “Oh, come on, Iz, like we all don’t know what’s going on in each other’s bedrooms. Hell, the first night we met them, Miss Fuck-Me-Like-I-Have-No-Choice told everyone what Nick was expected to do in the bedroom. It’s pretty safe to say, embarrassment and any sense of decorum and virtue went out the window that night up in Xavier’s VIP. Like we all don’t already know that the three of us are giving up the ass. Pffffft…”

  “Jesus Christ, Quinn,” Avery exclaimed after she dabbed up her mess.

  My face had to be a hundred different shades of red, but she was right. Or maybe Kane was right when he said we were a strange group.

  “Incoming,” Avery warned under her breath. Q and I turned in the direction of Avery’s gaze, and sure enough, walking towards us were the crooked in the head men we were discussing.

  My eyes met Julian and I melted when he smiled at me.

  Quinn was already on them. “One hour, Chase,” she prompted, stink-eying him.

  He just shrugged with no concern for her outburst. “That’s one hour too many, Q.”

  Awwwwwe, how sweet.

  But Quinn just looked at me and Avery as to say ‘See, I told you, UNSTABLE’.

  I scooted over to make room for Julian and Nick, while Chase butt pushed Quinn over until Avery had no choice but to scoot over against the wall to make room for him on their side.

  “This is bullshit,” Nick protested. “Avery’s way in the fuck over there, while I’m over here.”

  “Nichol-” Avery began.

  “Don’t, Imp. Just don’t,” he stopped her. “This is all Julian’s fault,” he muttered.

  “How is this my fault?” Julian asked.

  Chase pointed a finger at him. “You told Izzy she could stay out another hour. You’re always catering to her and it needs to stop. It’s make me and Sav look bad.”

  “Chase, you really should have disclosed to me that you were on medication before you fooled me into dating you,” Quinn pipes up.

  “Pfft, puhlease. Keep telling yourself we’re only ‘dating’,” Chase retorted.

  “Climb over the table and come sit on my lap, Imp,” Nick instructed, and I really lost it then. I started laughing so hard, I snorted.

  “Am I supposed to hover over all the beer bottles and shot glasses, Nicholas? Are you really asking me to use my superpowers in public putting my secret identity at risk?” Avery countered.

  Nick narrowed his eyes at her. “I don’t care if you have to swing from the ceiling fans in Circus du-Soleil style, just get over here.”

  I watched as Avery’s face brightened with her beautiful smile. “I’m going to stand up and jump across this table and you better catch me Nicholas Savage,” she announced.

  His face paled and I instantly knew he was worried she might hurt herself. That Circus du Soleil bit was all bluff. Nicholas really did adore Avery in the most sweetest way. “Don’t even think about it, Imp.”

  Julian reached over and laced his fingers in mine. “Okay, let’s all just get out of here before Avery breaks something. Because, sweet girl, a ninja you are not.”

  Avery gasped at the insult. “How do you know I’m not?”

  He flashed his dimples at her. “Because if you were, you’d have been able to keep Sav
from hauling you over his shoulder and kidnapping you out of Xavier’s that first night,” he broke to her.

  “True story,” Nick agreed.

  “Not fair,” Ace whined. “You’re not supposed to smile at me, Julian.”

  His smiled deepened and we were all momentarily struck stupid.

  “They’re just goddamn dimples,” Chase grumbled, standing up and pulling Q up with him.

  She cocked her head. “Yeah, but they’re dimples attached to all that,” she pointed out spanning her hand up and down, like she was showcasing Julian on a game show.

  Chase rolled his eyes. “It’s a good thing I’m confident in my sexiness to not be threatened.”

  Nick scoffed. “It doesn’t hurt that he’s completely stupid over Iz, either.”

  The rest of us were scooting out of the booths when Avery asked, “Are you saying you’re not completely stupid over me, Nicholas Savage?”

  “Please, Imp. I passed stupid the second you fried my brain at Xavier’s, when you lost your mind over being peanut butter-less,” Nick flung back.

  “Ah, the good old days,” Chase winked at her.

  I just smiled as Julian wrapped me up in his embrace. We really did have the best friends. “So, how are we doing this? I don’t think we’ll all fit in one car,” I asked.

  Chase grinned. “Sav and I hijacked Dennis and Grant, so we can all be driven home separately.”

  With everything that was going on, us girls had decided to use my driver to go to the movies. Dennis was assigned to Q and Grant was assigned to Ace. So far, Garret, Dennis and Grant seemed like good enough guys. They took their jobs seriously, but they weren’t stuffy.

  We all filed out of the pub, and after hugs and good-byes, each couple made their way to their respective cars. It all felt a little Secret Service-ish.

  Garrett got out of the car to come around and open the door for me, but Julian waved him away, and opened the door himself. He took hold of my hand, guiding me into the car and then following in after. Always the gentlemen.