“Alright,” Kole says, massaging his side. “Last and definitely least, it’s Thane’s turn to hand out presents.”
Thane rolls his eyes and tosses Sienna and Kole each a box before walking over to hand me one.
Sienna opens hers and pulls out an emerald necklace.
“Aw, my birthstone! I love it!”
“When’s your birthday? I ask, surprised that Thane would’ve gotten her a gift that thoughtful.
“May sixteenth! What’s yours?”
“Um, I don’t really know exactly. They think I was born in October, but that’s just a guess.”
“Oh, man! That means we missed your birthday this year!” She drops her head into her hands, and it almost sounds like she’s whimpering.
“It’s okay. We can celebrate next year,” I offer, and she immediately perks up, licking my face.
“Oops! Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.” Her face goes beet red as I wipe her saliva from my cheek.
“What do you want your birthday to be?” I look up at Thane, surprised by his question.
“Um, I’ve never really given it much thought,” I admit, picking at the carpet.
“Well, do you have a lucky number?” Sienna asks.
“Twenty-one… though I’m not really sure how lucky it is, considering how my life has gone.” The three of them look at me with pity, so I quickly laugh it off. “But hey, maybe things are finally turning around.”
“Yeah they are!” Sienna puts her hand on my knee and gives it a squeeze.
“Alright, October twenty-first it is then!” Kole declares with the clap of his hands.
Even though it’s technically made up, having a day to call my birthday makes me excited. It’s like I’m a real person and not just some life that was tossed aside and forgotten about.
“Open your present,” Sienna orders, pointing to the unopened box Thane handed me.
I quickly unwrap it, noting that his wrapping job is far better than Kole’s, and pull out a purple perfume bottle with one of those cute puffer balls.
“What is it?” Sienna asks, unable to see it over the pile of wrapping paper.
“Perfume,” I tell her, running it under my nose to smell it. “Mm, that smells good.”
“Let me smell!” Sienna demands, already snatching the bottle out of my hand. “Wow! That is good!”
“Right?” I look over at Thane with a smile. “Thank you.”
“Did you get her that, so you won’t be so tortured by her scent?” Kole teases with a sly grin.
“No,” Thane snarls, whipping his head around to glare at his brother.
“Sure…” Kole says, clearly not buying Thane’s answer.
I glance over at Sienna, silently begging her to save me from this uncomfortable situation.
“Kole, open yours. I want to see if you got a butt plug too!”
Okay, not the help I was looking for.
Kole opens his gift up and tosses his head back laughing. “Well, it’s not a butt plug, but Thane might need to borrow it.”
