Page 7 of The Lost Kings
“Because my parents left me here. They literally dropped me off and said they had to go to Belize without me. Like, what the fuck could they be doing that’s so important? Whatever, at least this place is big, and I’ll have my section of the manor to myself. Where are the twins?”
That’s when she really inspected me, as if I were missing two sets of arms and legs.
“Wait.” She swung her head around the room, then stood up. “It’s your birthday, they aren’t here?”
Just then, Alex walked into the room from the terrace and plopped onto the couch across from me.
“My brothers are idiots.”
Guilt sprung up like a resilient weed, and in my silence, I was grateful that Alex never looked at me or acted as though I was the reason her brothers had left.
Carter placed her hands on her hips, her black leggings were paired with flip-flops and a crop tank, revealing her toned stomach. “I figured they’d be back by now…especially on your birthday…”
My gaze met hers and while I tried so hard to tamp down the emotions surfacing, my eyes began to water.
“Oh shit.” My cousin dropped into a crouch in front of me, and while we’d never been close, not really, she threw her arms around me.
“I’m so sorry, Pres. You three were inseparable. Annoyingly so, but I can’t believe those idiots still haven’t pulled their heads out of their asses.”
“Carter, stop reminding her that my two moron brothers left. I’ve been trying to cheer her up, but it isn’t working.” Alex sighed, and it made me laugh because what the hell else could I do?
She pulled away from me and eyed the blonde on the couch across from me. “Well, I’m here now. We’re going to have a girls’ night. My side of the manor is empty; we’re going to party over there.”
I was only seventeen. Carter was almost nineteen, and Alex was twenty-one…but we’d never really followed any of the rules. There was enough alcohol in this house to have a fun night alone in the empty part of the manor, so I perked up and swiped at a few stray tears.
“I’ll grab some nacho cheese from my pantry. And chips!”
Alex sat up and held her finger up. “I want margaritas, and only margaritas.”
Carter rolled her eyes but agreed. “Fine.”
An hour later, I was stirring nacho cheese in a saucepan while Carter turned on13 Going on 30at the same time she attempted to use some new, trendy workout machine. It looked like an ironing board and a thigh master had a baby, and while Carter used her knees to pull herself up, she kept crying out each time the thing wobbled.
Alex was blending the margaritas, and something in my chest loosened. I had needed this.
Six months without them, and every day I felt like I wouldn’t make it without breaking down. With Carter and Alex, I at least felt like I could breathe again.
After finishing off two drinks and a pile of nachos, things were beginning to wind down. Alex had turned off the blender, double fisting two of her own drinks while reclining on the couch.
“Okay, I have a question for you, Presley!” Carter laughed while sipping the last of her drink. She was on her third margarita and had apparently hit her limit based off how frequently she was laughing.
“Yeah?” I called over my shoulder. I was now trying out Carter’s work out machine. The thing really was unstable, but it was also sort of fun.
Carter crawled next to me on the floor and whisper-shouted, “I think I finally figured out what Uncle Kyle does for work.”
“Oh yeah?” I pulled my knees up, gripping the handles. Shit the whole thing nearly toppled over again. Carter was never invited into the confidential details of what our family did. Mostly because her family left too often and didn’t want to live in the safety of the manor. Because of that, Dad always said it was imperative that Carter never learn what anyone did.
“He’s in the mafia!”
I fell off the machine and rolled onto my back. Alex’s eyes grew from her spot on the couch, but she didn’t say anything.
“Why would you think that?” I slowly got to my hands and knees and tried to get up.
Carter smiled and tapped my nose. “How does anyone think that? I don’t think it, I know it.”
I hated drunk Carter. “Okay, but how do you know it, then?”
She dropped to her butt then sprawled out on her back. “Because I saw something I wasn’t supposed to…isn’t that how all these things start? I saw your dad shoot someone…do you think that means he’ll shoot me too?”
