Page 28 of She's Mine

ALYSSA

Iwas awoken from the best night’s sleep of my life by soft tapping on the door.

“Breakfast is served,” Lawrence called out gently.

“Shit!” David exclaimed, sitting stark upright in bed. “I forgot I asked him to prepare a special breakfast for us.”

I giggled as David scrambled out of bed, and threw a robe around himself, so that he could answer the door.

I pulled the bed covers up to my chin to make sure I didn’t accidentally expose myself and waited patiently for David to receive the breakfast from Lawrence. I heard them exchange pleasantries, and then the bedroom door closed, and David carried a tray over to the bed.

Along with the delicious smelling food was a single red rose in a glass vase.

“Aww, this is so sweet. You’re adorable,” I said, leaning up to kiss David as he laid the tray on my lap.

David blushed as he joined me in bed. “It was all Lawrence’s doing really,” he said, bashfully, as he reached for the coffee pot, and poured us both a cup.

“But only at your suggestion,” I insisted, taking a plate piled high with bacon, scrambled eggs, and pancakes.

David and I ate in companionable silence until our plates were cleared, and my stomach felt full to the point of bursting. Lawrence was an amazing cook, but I was glad the cabin had a gym and workout equipment, or by the time the Bloodline was caught, I’d have gained a hundred pounds.

After breakfast, David and I took a long, luxurious bath together.

“What do you want to do today?” David asked, as he washed my back and shoulders.

“You mentioned all the books you have in the main room downstairs. I wouldn’t mind checking them out.”

“Sounds like a plan. Did you read much as a child?”

“Sometimes, yeah. Every summer Dad took us all on vacation, and we weren’t allowed phones, or video games or anything like that. Most of the time we were busy exploring and seeing the sights. But sometimes there was downtime where we’d read books. Or, I’d read books. Joey was all about comics.”

“You don’t talk much about your brother,” David observed.

I sighed and bowed my head. “No, I guess I don’t. I got so used to Mom and Dad just shutting me down whenever I mentioned him that I stopped trying after a while.”

“I’m so sorry. Both that you lost him, and that your parents won’t talk about him. If you ever want to reminisce, I’m happy to listen.”

I smiled, touched by David’s concern and curiosity, and snuggled in closer to him.

It felt strange thinking about Joey, let alone talking about him. When he first died, Brittany and Courtney would ask me how I was doing. I was only fifteen when I lost my brother, but my friends did their best to comfort and console me. The problem was, I had all these shared memories with Joey that no one else had.

I clearly remembered my life in two parts:

Before Joey had been killed and after Joey had been murdered.

I admit I was privileged in that I’d grown up in an affluent area of LA and went to a private school. But even though I’d had a life many would dream of; my childhood had been very normal. I’d gone to school; I’d enjoyed art and tried hard to keep my grades up.

In the summer, Mom and Dad took all of us on vacation somewhere fun and exciting. One year it was to Disneyland in Florida and seeing all the sights of the east coast. Another time, we’d rented a huge R.V and spent the summer touring around the Grand Canyon. With Joey’s encouragement, I’d even felt brave enough to try abseiling.

Even though my brother had been ten years older than I was, we’d always gotten along well. He never treated me like a bratty little sister, and instead had always watched out for me. At school, everyone knew not to give me a hard time or else they’d have Joey after them. And as I grew into a teenager and him a young adult, I knew I could go to my big brother aboutanything. He’d always protect me and never judge.

And then he’d been murdered.

I didn’t know the full story, my parents wouldn’t speak about it, but what I was able to work out was that Joey had somehow got unknowingly tangled with the Bloodline, and as Dad fought to bring the cartel down, my older brother had been caught in the crossfire.

From that moment,everythingchanged.

I changed.

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