by Marks, Teir
She found Emery sitting on the bed, talking on the phone. Larkin didn’t say anything as she walked in, not wanting to disturb the older woman’s phone call as she headed into the bathroom.
Once inside, she turned on the shower and began to strip out of her clothes. She could already feel some of the soreness settling into her body.
Stepping inside, she began to wash. Deciding to use Emery’s body wash instead of her won. Her girlfriend tended to use male body washes, and of all of them, Larkin’s favorite one was Tame the Beast. It was something about the smell, the way Emery carried herself, that never failed to turn her on.
However, her girlfriend had not used it that morning, so Larkin decided to use it.
When she was finished showering, she stepped out and wrapped a towel around herself. Cleaning off the bathroom mirror, she turned on the water, grabbing her toothbrush to brush her teeth.
Once done, she walked out of the bathroom. Emery was still on the phone, and Larkin made her way to the dresser, pulling out a pair of panties and a bra. She slid into them, grabbing her lotion off the dresser.
Making her way to one of the armchairs, she sat down and began to rub lotion on her arms and legs. She then went over to the closet and pulled out a floral maxi dress. She stepped into it, reaching up to tie it around the neck when hands replaced hers.
Larkin moved her hands, allowing Emery to tie the neck strap for her. When the older woman was finished, she felt her press her lips to her exposed shoulder before arms wrapped around her waist.
“Tell me what I did, Princess.”
Larkin furrowed her brow, wondering where that question was coming from, or what Emery was talking about. She turned in her arms.
“What are you talking about?” She inquired with a raised brow.
“You walked in and didn’t say anything to me. I figured you were giving me the silent treatment.”
Larkin laughed lightly before shaking her head. She leaned up and pecked her girlfriend on the lips. “I was trying to be respectful of your call. I didn’t want to disturb you.”
Emery scoffed. “Fuck that call. Nobody on a phone call will ever be more important than you.”
Larkin was tempted to ask her what if it was her mother or father but decided against it since Emery was being sweet at that moment.
“I’ll remember that.”
“We should do something tonight. We’ve been focusing on all this bullshit, and I think we need to step back. At least for a night.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“Whatever you want to do, Princess.”
“Can we go bowling?”
Emery leaned down and kissed her. “Sure, baby.”
“We should invite some of the others. Maybe Sutton and Kylen.”
Emery raised a brow at her. “You want Kylen to come?”
Larkin shrugged. “Not particularly, but I don’t think I know Sutton well enough, and I’d like too. She’s…timid almost all the time around everyone aside from Kylen, Nyela, Luna, and Maleiha. I want to be one of those people too.”
She had been thinking about it a lot. Sutton reminded her of one of the girls she had been in a Foster Home with at one point. A sweet girl that was just shy, timid, and a little afraid of everything.
“Alright. Let’s see if they want to go. We can get something to eat while we’re out.”
Larkin nodded, turning back towards the dresser to grab a pair of her sandals before going to the closet and grabbing a pair of socks. She and Emery then headed out of the bedroom in search of the other couple to see if they wanted to join their little impromptu date.
Sutton rolled the ball down the lane and watched as it knocked over six pins. Making her way back over to the conveyor, she waited for her ball to come back up. There were others on it, but they were all too heavy, too uncomfortable.
Once her ball came back up, she proceeded with her second roll. She knocked down two of the remaining pins before going back over to where the others were seated. Kylen reached up and pulled her into his lap. She shifted slightly but was getting used to public displays of affection.
“Do you ever let her sit on her own?” Larkin voiced from her seat across from them.
“Shut up,” Kylen stated.
“Be nice,” Sutton told him softly.
“It’s fine, Sutton,” Larkin told her.
Emery came back from her turn bowling, and Larkin got up to take hers. When Emery sat down, Sutton looked at her for a moment — studying her tattoos. It was something she had found herself doing with all of them. The artwork fascinated her, and as of recently, she had been thinking about getting one herself. She wasn’t sure what it would be, but she figured she had time to think about it, and she could get suggestions from Kylen or Nyela.
Sutton felt Kylen sliding her from his lap as he got up to take his turn. She knew that he probably didn’t actually want to be out on a double date with his sister and her girlfriend, but Sutton liked bowling and had wanted to come. So, she figured he had agreed for her.
They were currently on their second game, and she knew they were going to get food after it was over. There were only a few more frames to go, but she was sure that Kylen was going to win. He wasn’t even trying, but it seemed that he was a natural.
Once the game was over, and they were turning in their shoes, she had been proven correct. Her boyfriend had indeed won the game.
“You know, you could have let me win.” She teased him lightly as they were headed to his car.
“You have to play to win, Doll.” He responded as he opened the door for her.
She turned to look at him as she scrunched her nose. “You could have won something else.” She told him, her cheeks immediately getting hot. Though she knew he couldn’t see her blushing.
Kylen wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into him. “I still plan on getting that.” He then leaned down and kissed her.
When he pulled away, Sutton got into the car, allowing him to shut the door as she put her seatbelt on. She wasn’t sure where they were going to eat, but it didn’t matter to her. She really wasn’t all that picky when it came to food.
They ended up pulling into the parking lot of a little hole in the wall place. The outside looked eccentric. Different colored lantern lights were illuminating the patio seating area, and the tables and chairs were mix-matched.
“Come on,” Larkin stated, walking up to her and taking her hand. “Let’s find a table.”
Sutton nodded, allowing herself to be pulled along as Kylen and Emery followed behind them. Larkin let her pick the table, and the two of them sat down, while Kylen and Emery went inside. One for the bathroom, the other for a waiter. There was only one other table with people outside, and they looked as if they were leaving.
“So, Sutton, did you grow up here in town?”
She nodded before reminding herself that she wanted to try to open up a bit to the people she was currently sharing a house with.
“I w-was raised by m-my grandmother.” She watched as Larkin nodded at her. “Did you? G-grow up in town?”
“I did. With a couple of different families.” Sutton knew that she must have looked at her a bit confused for a moment because Larkin smiled at her before continuing. “I grew up in a few different foster homes. The last one I was in was the best. She was like an aunt to me. Too young to be a mom. Too old to be a sister.”
Sutton nodded. “Do y-you get to see her often?”
She watched as Larkin sat back in her chair. “No, she died of cancer a few months after I graduated high school.”
“I’m sorry,” Sutton whispered, knowing all too well that feeling.
At that moment, Kylen and Emery both returned. A waiter following suit behind them. Sutton shifted in her seat as she watched his eyes rake over her before turning to Larkin and doing the same. She didn’t like it when people looked at her like that. It made her feel as if they were undressing her with their eyes. She found herself leanin
g into Kylen as he took the seat beside her.
“You want to keep your fucking eyes. I suggest you keep them off of my woman.” She heard Emery speak at the same time Kylen produced a switchblade.
“What my sister said.” Her boyfriend then spoke.
Sutton didn’t look up at the boy, but he quickly took their drink orders and left. When he was gone, she heard Larkin laughing lightly.
“The two of you are crazy as hell, and you probably should have been twins. It’s creepy the way you feed off of each other.”
Sutton looked up in time to see Emery lean over and bite Larkin’s neck. “Deal with it.”
Larkin elbowed Emery lightly in the side. “You forget, I’m the boss.” She responded playfully, and Sutton found herself giggling a little while Kylen scoffed.
“Man up, Emery.” He told his sister.
“You can’t talk, Kylen,” Larkin responded. “Sutton’s the boss too.” She then winked at Sutton, and she began to laugh a little louder.
“Yeah, yeah.” Kylen retorted before leaning down to kiss her forehead.
A moment later, a waitress came out with their drinks, and Sutton figured that the two siblings had scared the original waiter off.
They placed their orders, and talk broke out around the table. As she always did when people were talking, she sat and listened for the most part. Even though they all went out of their way to include her, she was still getting comfortable around them.
When they were finished eating, Sutton reached for her purse to pay but stopped when Kylen placed some money on the table.
Once they made it back to the car, Kylen pushed her against it, burying his face in her neck. “You still want to let me win something else.”
Sutton could feel herself blushing as she nodded her head. “Yes.”
He bit her neck gently. “Then, we should get home before I give everyone out here a show.”
With that, he opened the door for her and she slid into the passenger seat. She shifted her thighs slightly, feeling the moisture that had settled there.
Ashton was sitting behind his desk, going over a few of the profit ledgers. He was still watching the sale of the new pills that Kylen had put into play. So far, the profit margin was steadily increasing. At this point, he had mildly expected them to plateau off. However, that wasn’t the case. With the way sells were steadily rising, he didn’t see it slowing down anytime soon. Neither he nor his siblings were complaining about it.
His phone began to ring, and Ashton set the ledger aside, picking up the phone. Treece’s name displayed on the screen.
“Yeah, Treece?” He questioned as she answered the phone. He had asked her to look into some things for him, and he knew she wouldn’t be calling if she hadn’t found anything.
“So, I looked into Brian, and honestly, he seems like a small-time guy. He owns two houses and that building that you all infiltrated. Which by the way, I’m still mad I wasn’t asked to be a part of it.”
Ashton rolled his eyes. Even though she couldn’t see him, he was not about to get into that with her again. He’d already explained that she couldn’t go, because they may have known who she was. It was the first thing he and his sibling would have done if they were out to get someone. Get to know all of their employees.
“He has his hands in a few small things.” Treece continued. “Some petty dealing, a little extortion. Nothing too major. I’m pretty sure he works for someone, but I don’t know who that someone is. I’ll keep looking. Miles should be here in a few minutes, and we’ll see what else we can find.”
“Good. Keep me posted.”
The two hung up, and Ashton sat back in his seat. He’d had a sinking suspicion that they’d only caught a small fish, medium at the most. He was more than positive that all four men were taking orders from someone else. Now, they needed to find out who.
Movement in the doorway of his office caught his attention, and Ashton looked up to see Synn standing there. He watched as the older man walked in and took a seat in one of the chairs across from him.
“Gavin is back in town.”
Ashton raised a brow at his brother’s words. “You’re sure?” When Synn simply gave him a look, he nodded. Remembering that his brother never spoke on anything unless he was absolutely positive about it. “Does Grae know?”
“No.”
“He’s not going to be happy about it when you tell him.”
“That was a long time ago.”
“And our brother can hold a silent grudge like no other.” Ashton reminded.
Synn inclined his head as he rose from the chair and left the office.
Ashton ran his hands through his hair as he sat back in his seat once again. For Gavin’s sake, he hoped the man stayed far away.
He had been one of Grae’s friend from high school until their second year of college. The other man had wanted to induct himself into their family essentially. He was around all the time. Ashton was sure it was so that he could feel like an Amato. None of them really had a problem with that until he started popping up in places they hadn't told anyone they were going.
At several turns, he had tried to take one siblings' spot or another in the sense that he would bad mouth one of them to Grae. It never worked in his favor. They were all close, and even when they got into it with each other, they would still kill for one another.
The final straw had come when Gavin had all but tried to take a swing at Emery; it was an occasion that she actually hadn’t done anything to anyone. Grae had lost his shit. All the brothers had been pissed off, but Grae had always been protective of their little sister.
While he, Synn, and Kylen, even though he was the youngest, allowed Emery to take care of herself the way they allowed each other too, Grae still liked to look out for her. Ashton couldn’t blame him. He often felt the same way. It was simply the brother in all of them.
It was a mistake that he was sure Gavin wished he hadn’t made. His older brother had beat the shit out of him, and despite how many times after that, Gavin tried to make it seem as if it were no big deal, and they could go back to how things were, they could not, and Grae was not having it.
For months after that, Gavin had tried to get back in good with Grae. However, it was fruitless. Then, the summer after their sophomore year of college, Gavin had found out that some of the guys he knew that were selling, were doing so on behalf of their family. Like all bitches, he had snitched to the police and had all but bragged about it to their faces.
It was the first time Synn had been arrested. Though they couldn't actually prove that his oldest sibling was the one commissioning the sale of the drugs and their men had been too loyal to snitch.
Before they could handle Gavin, he’d up and disappeared, and they hadn’t thought about it in years. Now, he was back, and though Synn probably should have been the one with the grudge, Ashton knew that it would be Grae. Someone that he had considered a close friend had turned on him in the heat of a temper tantrum. It was betrayal. Plain and simple, and it would not be forgotten.
Rising from his seat, Ashton decided to see if any of the women were at the house and had cooked. Korrae had gone to work and wouldn’t be back for another couple of hours. Ashton had sent three men along to watch out for her. He didn’t see Nyela cooking for everyone. So, he could only hope that Maleiha had cooked, or Larkin. If not, he would just go out and get him something, though he had started to enjoy the home-cooked meals.
Maleiha placed a serving of the Enchilada Casserole she had made onto a plate and grabbed a bottle of water. It had been over two days since she’d gone down to the basement to feed and give Henry water, and Grae told her that it was time to do so.
Making her way to the basement stairs, she took a deep breath, getting herself in the mind frame she needed to be in. She didn’t know what awaited her at the bottom. She knew that Grae had started a different type of psychological torture, but he hadn’t told her what it was, and she hadn’t asked. It would make her
reaction to seeing whatever it was more realistic.
When she opened the door to make her way down, she flinched slightly. There was a high pitched noise resonating throughout the room. It wasn’t high enough to do any real damage to someone’s ears, she surmised. However, it was enough to drive them up a wall.
As she made her way down the stairs, and Henry came into view, he looked like a wild man. There was no telling how long he had been listening to the sound. If she had to guess, she would say at least a day or so. She was also sure that it was started directly after the Chinese Water Torture.
She placed the plate and water down on the table as she looked around for the source of the sound. Even if she wasn’t supposed to turn it off, there was no way she would be able to stay down there to do her part with it going off.
The speakers were mounted on the wall, and it only took her a moment to find the player that was responsible. Walking over to it, she turned it off.
Maleiha headed back to the table, and she could feel his eyes on her. Though she knew he wouldn’t say anything. She had been down there three times, and each of those times, he had remained quiet.
She checked his catheter to see if she needed to change it. Grae had asked her to install it two days after he had gotten there. It was the first one she had inserted without the help of her instructor, but she had been confident in her skills. There was no need for her to change it at the moment.
Grabbing a chair as she always did, she sat in front of him, taking the first bite of the casserole before getting some to feed to him. This went on in silence until he was almost finished.
“What the fuck are you doing?” The voice belonged to Grae. She would know it anywhere, but the coldness it carried had her stilling immediately in her chair.
“I was just…”
“You were just what?” He questioned, cutting her off. His voice hard, demanding. It made Maleiha jump. He had never aimed his anger at her, and that was the reason she found herself stuttering when she tried to answer him.
“Y-y-ou…I…”
