“Get up,” Jasper demands. Elsie crosses her arms over her chest. She glares at him and doesn’t budge. Oh, this is going to be good.
I guess she’s chosen the hard way because Jaspers walks over to her, leans down and scoops her into his arms, before straightening and throwing her over his shoulder. She kicks and screams as he starts to walk away, and what amazing timing, because Monty and Laura walk outside at that moment.
Laura looks mortified, which makes me laugh. Maybe I should ask them to stay for dinner after all.
Adrianne has managed to get her brother from the pool and salutes me as they walk past. Laura screws her nose up at them. Adrianne turns back around and flips Laura off behind her back, causing more laughter to slip from my lips.
Once everyone has left Laura turns to me.
“What the hell is going on here? The patio is a mess and you have strangers in my house.”
I get to my feet and she looks at me in my bikini and opens her mouth. So help me god if she comments on my weight again. I’ve never been super thin, I have curves and embrace them, but she’s so obsessed with ‘perfect’ appearances.
Apparentlymyweight is somehow a reflection ofher. I fall way short of meeting her impossibly high standards.
“First off, this isn’t your house, it’s Monty’s. And secondly, those strangers are my friends, who were invited here by Kalen,withMonty’s permission.”
“Guilty!” Kalen calls out from the pool where he is lounging on a huge eggplant blow-up.
He manages to get himself to the edge of the pool and comes to stand beside me, dripping wet. “That float is almost as big as my cock,” he whispers in my ear and I snort.
“Well, get it cleaned up and get dressed. Bigger girls should dress to their size, Amelie. You look like a joint of meat all trussed up ready for roasting with all those straps and strings and things.”
I go to lunge forward and Kalen grips my arm. Dress to their size?! Who the fuck does she think she is? A woman should dress however she wants. If people don’t like it then fuck them all, they can just not look! Yes, my boobs spill out of the top a little – any big breasted woman knows this happens – and my ass eats the bikini bottoms, but again, there is never any surface area in the bottoms. Unless I want to wear high waisted ones but they just don’t suit my body type. I felt like a pregnant goldfish when I tried them in the past.
Sawyer leans into my side.
“Ignore her, you look fucking amazing in that suit and she’s just jealous.”
“You know I can hear you Sawyer!” Laura spits with disgust. But she won’t say anything bad about Monty’s sons in fear that he’ll throw her out on her ass.
“With all due respect Laura, I don’t care if you did. Your daughter is stunning in whatever she wears. Even if she wore a potato sack she would be the most beautiful woman in the room.”
Sawyer’s words have me swooning then Onyx pipes up, “I think we all agree with Sawyer here.”
Having four boyfriends works wonders for my confidence.
“Laura, it’s hot. Well, as hot as it probably gets in this damn country. And we’re having a BBQ and pool party. My clothing is both appropriate and comfortable. If the sight of me offendsyour delicate little eyeballs, I suggest you leave. It’s not like you’re going to eat anything at dinner anyway.”
With that, I turn my back on her, run towards the water and tuck myself up into a cannonball. The splash is epic, and from the laughter that reaches my ears when I resurface, followed by the slamming of the patio doors, I know I’ve soaked Lauraandmanaged to chase her off. Good.
Monty chases after her and Slate walks over to help me out of the pool and hands me a towel. I wrap it around myself and we all go and sit at the table that is set up next to the massive kitchen style BBQ area. This is something my father would die for.
“I fucking hate her,” I snap. “She has to die.”
“You can’t go around killing people just because you don’t like them,” Slate complains, placing a hand on my leg and I swat it away. Anger is fueling my body, and I feel like I don’t have full control of my limbsormy mouth right now.
“You can’t abuse your power like that,” Sawyer adds. I look around at all of them and they all seem to nod at what their brother is saying.
“Are you all fucking kidding me right now?! That woman abused me, treated me like garbage, and you think it’s just because my feelings are hurt over a damn bikini that I want the bitch to die?!” I stand from my seat, dropping my towel and turning so my back is facing them. “Left shoulder blade, burn marks from an iron. Lower back a scar from being hit with the buckle end of a belt.” I swing back around to my front and lower my bikini bottom slightly. “Small puncture wounds from where I ‘accidentally ran into a knife’ when she was doing the dishes. Do you need me to continue?”
I glare at the twins. Onyx hangs his head, barely containing his rage, and Slate’s eyes water. Out of everyone, he should understand where I’m coming from.
“She’s not even my mum. I always wondered why a parent would treat their child like that, but in some ways what she’s done is worse. My dad trusted her with his secret. With me. My life. And she abused that because I served as a reminder that she wasn’t the centre of my dad’s world. If anyone has abused their power here over the years, it’s that woman.
“You all claim to love me and want to protect me, yet you sit down to dinner with that woman knowing what she’s done. You stand there and watch as she continues to abuse me in more socially acceptable ways. You talk to me about the dangers of The Order, yet seem oblivious to the fact that Laura is the most dangerous threat in my life. She isn’t going to go away, and she isn’t going to stop. So sure, tell me I’m overreacting, abusing my power even. I’m not asking you to help me, because lucky for me, I have a best friend who is crazy as fuck and who actually has my back. He’s already killed for me. What have you done?”
I plop back down in my seat and Kalen looks at me with his big brown eyes. “She’s our father’s girlfriend…there are rules,” he protests.
