10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Rune

After arriving at home, I park my Nova in the garage and grab my car cover from one of the shelves, covering her up to sit for the winter. Pennsylvania weather is wild, we’ve gotten snow once this year, and it only stuck to the ground for a few hours. Our first big storm is set to hit tonight, so I need to tuck my baby away for the winter.

“Do you need a minute alone with her?” Cali asks from somewhere behind me.

“Shut it.” I say over my shoulder before tapping the hood twice and walking to push the button on the wall. The garage doors close as I grab Cali’s hand and lead her through the small door. As we climb the stairs, I admire the lights and small trees my mother has decorated. Red icicle lights dangle from the roof of the small porch, and the walkways have trees on either side. “Mom must have got here early.” I smile when the front door swings open, and a sea of long black hair races toward me.

“My baby!” She squeals, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing me tight.

“Hi, Mom.” I smile, hugging her back.

“I’ve missed you both.” She hugs Cali and kisses her cheek. My heart fills with joy at the sight, but the joy quickly turns into annoyance when Karrion stalks toward us. My mom puts her hand against his chest and points to the door. “Let them get inside before you start with your bullshit, Elias.”

The prick winks at me as he wraps an arm around Calista and leads her into the house. I follow them inside, the annoyance turning to jealousy as she laughs at something he says before they disappear around the corner. I start to follow after them, but my father catches my attention in the kitchen, waving me toward him. Sighing, I walk through the living room, saying hi to my brothers as I pass them.

“Should it bother me that Karrion has both of our girls in the office right now?” Silas asks as he claps me on the back.

“Probably.” I shrug, taking the drink my father offers me. “He’s probably giving them all sorts of ideas how to torture us.”

“Your brother tells me you finally popped the question.” My dad starts, draping his arm over my shoulders. “Congratulations!”

“Yeah, it’s fantastic news.” Silas rolls his eyes and walks to the couch, jumping over the back like he doesn’t have any home training.

“What’s going on?” Dad asks, looking between Silas and I. That’s one of the worst things about this house, how open it is. There’s no privacy unless you’re in the office or the bedrooms upstairs.

I take a sip of my drink, waiting for Si to speak up. When he doesn’t, my father slaps his hands down on the island. “I’m not talking to the wall, Merrick.”

“Oooohhhhh. Somebody is in big trouble, dad brought out the government name, Merrick.” Karrion taunts from the archway that separates the foyer from the living room/ dining room/ kitchen clusterfuck. Seriously, I can’t stand open concept shit.

“Go fuck yourself, Karrion.” I spit, taking another swig of my drink. “Nothing is going on, Dad, Silas is just being a dick.”

“I’m not being a dick, I’m being realistic.” Silas counters, making his way over to me. He stops a few inches away and glares at me before speaking again. “Not even an hour after you ditched her at her parents, she’s texting her old plug.”

“So she’s never allowed to fuck up?” Karrion questions, pushing off the archway and stomping over, he pushes Silas back a step, getting in his face. “She didn’t meet him, she didn’t take anything.”

“Look at you, a knight in shining fucking armor.” Silas seethes, pushing against Karrion’s chest.

“Put your dicks away and sit the fuck down.” Alaric growls. I didn’t even realize he was home, but that’s normal, the man could sneak up on anybody and they’d never hear him coming. “It’s Christmas and you three want to act like babies.”

“Please don’t fight,” Mom speaks up, “your father and I only have a few hours until we need to be on the plane, I don’t want to spend our time here as referees.”

The tension flees the room instantly and everyone takes a few steps back. Karrion storms out of the room and returns a few moments later with both girls behind him. Cali comes to my side, locking our fingers and squeezing gently.

“Rune, this is Marley.” She says as the brunette reaches her hand out to shake mine. “Marley, this is my fiancee, Rune.”

“Nice to meet you, Marley.” I shake her hand as Silas wraps his arms around her from behind. She practically melts into the floor when he whispers something in her ear.

“You too,” she smiles, “your brother has told me a lot about you.”

We chat for a couple minutes before taking our seats around the table. As we’re about to start eating, my fathers cell phone rings. He pushes away from the table, bringing the phone to his ear as he stands. Looks like another holiday where we don’t get to eat as a family. He returns a moment later with a sad expression on his face. “Idris will be here in about fifteen minutes, we’re needed in New York right away.”

“Okay dear.” She smiles sadly at him. “Let’s eat our meal before he gets here.”

We eat in comfortable silence until Karrion stands abruptly, his fork clanging against the plate when it drops. Cali scoots her chair back, but I grab her thigh and shake my head no.

“I’m just going to check on him real quick.” She says quietly, trying to push her chair away.

“Leave him, Cali.” Silas warns. “He knows what to do when his head gets dark.”

“What does that even mean?” She squeals. “He could be hurting right now and nobody is going to see if he’s alright?”

“You know how his head gets, baby.” I rub her thigh. “If he was alright, he wouldn’t have walked away.”

“They’re right, hun.” My mom chimes in as she glances down at her watch. “He’ll come back when he’s in control again.” Just then, a horn honks outside and my parents stand from the table. We say our goodbyes quickly and watch as they climb into the back of the SUV and pull away.

Once they’re gone, we load the dishes into the dishwasher and sit in the living room while Alaric passes out everyone's gifts. Our parents may not spend as much time with us as we’d all like, but they’ve always gone out of their way to spoil us every time they come home. This year, we all got matching envelopes. Ric puts Karrion’s envelope back under the tree and sits down beside me. “Let’s open them up and go take a nap.” Ric laughs as he begins tearing his envelope.

“Holy shit,” Cali gasps, “that’s a lot of fucking money.” Glancing over at her, I see the check for a hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

Marley squeals in excitement, showing Silas her check and kissing his cheek. “Thank them for me, please.”

Folding my check in half, I slide it into my wallet and grab Cali’s hand, pulling her toward the door. “We’re going to the hotel, see you guys in a couple days.” I call over my shoulder as we walk out the door.