The Ties That Bind (An Ariel Kimber Novel Book 4)

by Mary Martel

  "What's in the box?" Abel shouted, and I jumped, shocked at the volume of his voice, it was so incredibly loud.

  "You tell me, twin," Addison muttered. "What's in the box?"

  I sighed, not wishing to play this game with them at the moment. I was too high strung for their brand of amusement.

  "Whatever, guys," I muttered. "I don't even really care."

  "Aww," Abel said. "You're no fun tonight, pretty girl."

  "Yeah, Ariel," Addison said, "don't you know by now that we only want to play with you when you're being fun?"

  I rolled my eyes as I waited for them to get to the top of the stairs so I could head down. They moved passed me, and I got a good look at the writing and the giant picture of a flat screen television on the side of the box.

  "What the hell is that?" I asked, which was stupid, because clearly it was a television, it said so on the freaking side of the box. I knew that Dash didn't have a tv in his bedroom, because he said he could just as easily watch it in the living room, and it had only been him and Binx for the longest time so it wasn't like he had to worry about sharing the remote control or fighting over what channel he was going to watch. That tv obviously wasn't meant for his bedroom, so that left my own.

  "Where are you even going to put it?" I asked, and I honestly wanted to know. "There's no room for that monster of a television in my bedroom."

  "If you say so," Abel said as he walked backwards into my room.

  "We are going to mount it to the wall," Addison said, taking pity on me as he followed his brother into my bedroom.

  I tapped my fingers against the banister as I stared at my now empty doorway. I heard them moving around in my room.

  "Ariel," Damien called up from the bottom of the steps, and I looked down at him. He stood there with his hands held loosely at his sides, a patient look on his face, waiting for me to descend the stairs.

  I could stay and mess around with the twins and fight with them over the fact I didn’t need a tv, and I knew they'd argue back with me, and it would likely turn out to be a good time for all of us. Or, I could forget about them and walk down those stairs to meet Damien and go out and do whatever it was he had planned for us tonight.

  I left the twins behind in my bedroom and walked down the stairs. It was Quinton who'd said something about the tv they'd gotten for my room the other night, so I figured there would be no returning the stupid thing even if I never used it.

  Damien's eyes trailed me over from head to foot as I walked down the stairs, taking in my outfit. I wasn't changing, dang it. I had looked through everything twice, both this morning and half the afternoon in search of the perfect thing to wear. Something cute, but warm, and something he'd purchased for me.

  I think I had pulled it off quite nicely, and was proud of myself. And I was comfortable, so bonus for me.

  I had on black skinny jeans that clung to my long legs like a second skin. I had to admit, even if only to myself, they looked good on me. I had on a long, white cami with pretty lace edging and a thin, see through black sweater over top of it that had a scooped neck, showed some cleavage, and was really cute but not too girly. I'd put a thin, black jacket over top of it that was lined with soft hoodie material, and had a hood in the back. It buttoned up the front, but I had left it unbuttoned, showing off the sweater and the cami underneath. I had added a red, studded belt to give the mostly black outfit some color, and I'd matched it up with a thin, red head band that was covered in gold sparkles. It matched my belt nicely, and I was thinking red might be my second favorite color.

  I had a different pair of boots on tonight than I'd worn the night before. They were black, had a thick sole that gave me an extra two inches of height, and went up to my knees. These ones didn't lace up the front but zipped up the sides. I loved those boots.

  The only jewelry I wore was the piercings in my ears and my ever-present lip ring that I only took out to change. The lip ring was black. I had exchanged the studs in my ears for black and red ones that matched my outfit, and my fingernails were painted black.

  For a date, it wasn't anything fancy like a dress, but it was the best he was going to get from me because he'd said we were going to be outside... And I didn't really care much for dresses. But, hey, at least I'd gone with something that didn't have a graphic on the front or some weird saying. I was as ready to go as I ever would be.

  The appreciative light in Damien's eyes told me that I'd done good.

  "Do my clothes pass inspection?" I asked quietly, hoping he said yes, because I was going to run away from him and hide if he said no.

  "They do, actually," he said.

  "Goody," I muttered sarcastically, and his lips twitched.

  "Nice boots," he murmured.

  "Thanks," I said cheerfully. "You ought to like them since you're the one who bought em for me."

  "Clearly, I have impeccable taste."

  "Clearly," I agreed with him.

  "Are you ready to go?" He asked me.

  I wanted to say no because I had no idea where we were going and wouldn't be ready until he told me, but then that would have ruined his surprise and I didn't think that would be much fun for him, so I simply nodded my head and gave him a small smile.

  The corner of his lips tipped up and his eyes shone with amusement. I had a feeling he was amused because he knew it was killing me to not know what was going on, and that was probably the reason he didn't tell me in the first place.

  He took ahold of my hand and I winced. My palms were sweaty, and I wanted to rip my hand out of his and wipe it off on my pant leg. Damien either didn't notice, or he didn't care, because he squeezed my hand and pulled me along beside him as he made his way through the house towards the mud room.

  "Have fun, you two," Dash called out as we passed the living room.

  I smiled at him and gave a dorky little wave in response. He was sprawled out on the couch with Binx lying on his stomach and the remote control to the tv in his hand. He didn't wave back because it was dorky, and Dash wasn't a dork, but he did smile sweetly at me before turning back to the tv and lifting the remote towards it.

  "Do you think this is weird?" I asked Damien quietly.

  "Is what weird?" He asked me back as he opened the front door.

  "You and me going out and Dash telling us to have fun."

  In all honesty, it was weird because it wasn't normal to be in a relationship with more than one person at a time. Most people would think it was gross and slutty to date so many people at one time. I didn't think it was either, and it usually didn't bother me when I did think about little ole me having a relationship with several different guys, but now that I was actually going out to do something with one of them it hit me. I would be outside amongst other people, normal people, and they would likely see me out and about with more than one of them, and I wondered what they would be saying about me. Would they call me a whore like most people in town had called Vivian? Would they whisper about how the apple didn't fall far from the tree? I thought it was highly likely that they would. Look at how those girls had treated me in the diner the other day. It would get worse if I was seen around with different guys each time.

  Damien shrugged.

  "Maybe it's weird," he said. "But I wouldn't know because I was raised to want this type of relationship."

  Right. I hadn't forgotten that part, that they all wanted to share a girl even though they sometimes argued about it and didn't always act like they wanted to share. They'd been raised with the mindset that they would one day be sharing a female between their whole coven if they were lucky enough to land a girl with magic. And, what's more, they all wanted it.

  If our roles were reversed I can't say it’s something I would have been all fired up to do. I didn't think sharing was my thing, especially not when it came to my boyfriends. Which wasn't exactly fair, now was it?

  "I hope you don't mind," he said as he bleeped the locks on his SUV, "but Julian might be joining us some time tonight. I thou
ght he had plans, and would be gone for the night, but plans changed, and he will be back early."

  "I don't mind," I told him, and hoped I didn't sound as relieved as I felt at hearing this news, because it wasn't nice.

  Damien's SUV looked even more expensive than my Rover did, and it was twice the size. The front grill had the emblem for Cadillac on it, and I knew enough to know it was an Escalade. It was so big that I didn't think I would have been able to back the thing up without running something over. Unless it had one of those nifty cameras in it that were specifically for backing up. I was betting it did.

  To my surprise, Damien came around to the passenger side of the SUV and opened my door for me.

  "Thanks," I murmured as I climbed up into the big SUV.

  "Of course," he muttered back as he shut the door behind me.

  Ha! I was right, and there was a screen that when the vehicle was turned on I imagined would show behind the SUV. I wanted one of those for the Rover because it was sweet.

  I peeked back between the two front seats as Damien climbed in on his side. There were two different rows of seats back there, and I couldn't imagine ever needing that much space in a vehicle, but then again, up until I had met them I'd never had a friend before. Maybe Damien knew lots of people he drove around with in his SUV. Or, maybe the guys rode around with him a lot. But, it was simply too much vehicle for one person, or so I thought.

  "Seat belt," he grunted, and I snapped around to face forward again.

  Shit.

  I couldn't believe I hadn't put my seat belt on first thing after getting into the vehicle. I pulled on the belt and clicked the end piece into to place, locking it.

  He backed the SUV up and turned it around without any mishaps, and before I knew it, we were headed down the dirt road towards the main road. We made it to the main road and he turned towards town.

  I couldn't take it anymore and had to ask, "Where are we going, Damien?"

  Damien chuckled quietly but didn't answer my question. It was frustrating, I tell you.

  "Fine," I grumbled. "Be that way."

  "You don't do well with surprises, do you?" He asked me. When I shook my head he kept going, "You don't like surprises, you don't like it when people buy you things, you don't want me to poison you with my food." He shook his head in mock sadness. "Since shopping was out, and I can't cook for you, I had to get creative for our first date."

  Our first date. Oh man. I hadn't thought about it like that.

  Damien and I were having our first date!

  "Are we going hiking?" I asked in an attempt to steer us away from talking about all the things I didn't like and just how difficult I could be. None of those things were attractive and I didn't want to rehash them, thank you very much. I also didn't want to go hiking in the cold while it was dark outside.

  Damien shook his head. "You aren't getting any information before the fact out of me," he said. "I mean, you can try. I'm sure I will find it very amusing, but it will be pointless because I won't cave and tell you what you want to know."

  I slumped in the seat and crossed my arms over my breasts. "Not even a hint?" I asked.

  He laughed. Loudly.

  "Nope," he said through his laughter.

  The rest of the drive was spent in silence as I stared out the passenger window and went over every single thing in my head that could be a possibility for our first date. A nice dinner and a movie were out because he'd wanted me to dress warmly because we were going to be outside. That left a lot of things out, actually. Damien didn't seem like the outdoorsy type, but then again, I didn't really know Damien all that much, so what the heck did I know about what type he was or wasn't?

  The SUV stopped on a residential street. The houses were small and compact. They were also practically right on top of each other. I had never been here before.

  "Where are we?" I asked curiously, but it was no use. Damien had already shut down the SUV and got out. He was walking around the front end and heading towards my door.

  "Geez," I muttered under my breath. I didn't need him to open my door for me all the time. I unbuckled my seat belt and was reaching for the door handle when he opened the door.

  "You don't have to do that," I told him.

  "Yes, I do," he said. "It's a rule."

  "A rule for what?" I asked him as I got out of the vehicle.

  "A boyfriend rule," he said as he shut the door.

  "There aren't boyfriend rules," I told him as I followed him up a sidewalk and towards a small house.

  "How many boyfriends have you had?" He asked me as he looked back over his shoulder at me.

  Hmm... It would seem he had a point.

  "None," I mumbled.

  "I'm sorry," he said. "Could you say that a little louder, I didn't hear you the first time."

  He'd heard me just fine.

  "Where are we, Damien?" I asked, not wishing to discuss my previous love life, or lack there of, in this case. I had gone out on a few first dates but hadn't ever had a real boyfriend before. Damien didn't need to know that. I was betting he'd had tons of girlfriends and had gone out on even more dates.

  "Julian and I live here," he told me as he slid a key into the lock on the front door.

  I gaped at his back.

  This was our first date and he'd brought me back to his house after telling me to dress warmly because we'd be outside?

  What the hell was he playing at here?

  "Damien-"

  I snapped my mouth shut as he pushed open the door and held his arm out for me to enter.

  Chapter Seventeen

  What I saw of the house was small, the rooms not very big. The living room had been packed with shelves that were crammed full of movies, an overstuffed couch, and a huge television. There hadn’t been room for much else in there. I would have liked to take a look at the movies, but Damien didn’t give me a chance to. You could tell a lot about a person based off of what they filled their shelves with, and I wanted that look into Damien and Julian’s home life.

  The kitchen was long and narrow, and I didn’t think you could have the fridge open at the same time as the drawers across from it. There were no dirty dishes piled up like one would imagine finding in the house owned by two bachelors. The place was spotless, the counter space bare. There was a total of four other doors besides the one Damien headed towards, and every single one of them was closed.

  “Why do you live in such a small house?” I asked him curiously. “I heard you have a whole entire room at the Alexander house that’s just filled with your clothes. Why don’t you guys just move to a bigger house? Or, move into the big house with the others?”

  We stopped in front of a door at the end of the hallway and he opened it up. Once again, he held the door for me to walk through, and I sighed. It was very sweet when he did that for me, and I decided I liked it.

  "If it were up to me I would live at what you've been calling the big house," he said as he ushered me outside. "But, for whatever reason, Julian won't live with Quint. They are the best of friends at times, but he claims he'd kill him if he had to live with him. He moved into this place a long time ago because it was better than being home for him. And I moved in with him because he didn't want to be alone, and I know exactly how it feels to not want to be alone. So, now we're here, and even though we've outgrown the space, Julian sees it as home and has no desire to leave. And I have no desire to leave him alone."

  I had once enjoyed being alone and wouldn't have understood him, but since they'd burst into my life I'd gotten used to being around good people all the time, and didn't enjoy being alone much anymore. I liked living with Dash because I liked knowing that he was there, but he still gave me my space so I could pretend to be alone if I needed space to do so.

  The backyard was fenced in with a high, wooden fence and, was much like the rest of the house; that's to say it was small. A brick patio ran the whole length (not that it was much) of the back of the house and out a good five feet. The
re was a circular table with a glass top and an umbrella stuck through a hole in the center of it. The umbrella was open, and the entire pole had been wrapped up in fairy lights. In fact, the entire fence had been covered in strands of fairy lights except for a part of the back wall that was instead covered by a large screen. There was a small table on the patio that had a movie projector on top of it.

  "This is-" I was going to say cool, but stopped short when I caught sight of what was on the grass in between the brick patio and the screen.

  There was a large, thick looking round rug covering the grass. There were blankets and pillows piled high on the rug and a small, white cooler sat off to the side of the rug.

  "What's..."

  "Our first date," Damien said dramatically as he waved his arm low and in the direction of the rug. "Is dinner and a movie."

  This was definitely dinner and a movie done the right way for any kind of date, but only so long as Damien hadn't made whatever was in that cooler. I hadn't eaten anything he'd made yet, but I sure had heard the horror stories the other guys had told me about when they'd been forced to try his cooking out.

  I didn't want to die, and if rumor was to be believed, it was a definite possibility.

  Damien must have read some of my thoughts on my face because his body started to shake with his laughter.

  "Everything in the cooler is store bought and made by Julian, I promise you," he told me. "Julian picked it all out. He lets me pick out all of his clothes for him, but I'm not to be trusted with what goes inside our refrigerator."

  He rolled his eyes and gave my hand a gentle tug. I followed him to the edge of the circular rug and watched in fascination as he kicked off his shoes. We weren't going to have to take anything else off, were we? I certainly hoped not. Damien might be comfortable touching me, which I'd only learned the other night, but I wasn't yet interested in taking my clothes off around him. Not that he hadn't already seen the whole package in all of its glory, because he had. But the situation had been extreme, and not in any way sexual; it had only been treated as such by my outrageous Salt and Pepper twins. It's not that I didn't find Damien attractive, because I did, anybody would. I just wanted to get to know him a little better and be more comfortable with him and around him before we took things to a physical level beyond cuddling. I wanted a bond with him first, that's how I wanted it to be with all of my guys. It was important to me that I not be like Vivian in any way, shape, or form, and Vivian had been the Queen of allowing people to take liberties with her body.