Page 18 of Fractured Constellations
“ARCADE - ACOUSTIC VERSION” BY DUNCAN LAURENCE
BLADE
I grunt as my stepsister gets heavier in my arms, clearly losing the battle with sleep before we’ve even stepped out of the elevator. She doesn’t weigh much, but having all of her pressed up against me is making my mind wander to places that it really shouldn’t, especially given that she’s currently being treated for fucking cancer.
I pull her closer, wishing that my words from earlier were true. That I could just rip it all out of her. That she didn’t have to go through this again. When I got the call from her mom asking me to pick her up from the hospital, it was as if my entire world collapsed. All the shitty things I’ve done to her came back tohaunt me as the endless scenarios of why she was in the hospital in the first fucking place flooded my mind.
It was Chase who discovered that the ward she was on was for cancer treatment, and the silence that filled the car as I drove like a madman to get there was thick and cloying like smoke. Chase used that time to gain access to her medical records and discovered that she’s been going through this on and off for eight fucking years.
Eight. Fucking. Years.
Watching Mom go through it five years ago was bad enough, seeing how rough the treatment was on her, taking her away until there was nothing left. But to have to keep repeating that cycle, not knowing if this time it will work again or fail…shit.
Then she came into our lives and we’ve made hers hell for the past few weeks. Fuck, we really are monsters of the worst kind.
“You drive, Chase,” I say as we approach the parking lot, not even remotely ready to let her go yet.
“You okay, bro?” Thorn asks as we stop outside our truck, which looks out of place in a lot full of beat-up rust buckets. Why the fuck is she here and not at the private hospital? That will change as soon as we get her home and settled.
I have to take a breath to release the tension in my jaw. “Yeah, I just…”
His hand lands gently on my shoulder and he squeezes. “I know, man. It’s fucked up.”
Chase fishes around in my back pocket for my keys, Thorn opening the back door for me. Luckily, our truck is a big bastard, so it’s easy for me to get in while keeping hold of her. I can’t let her go right now, I need to know that she’s still here. I need to feel it. I keep her on my lap as Thorn shuts the door, jogging around to the other side and climbing in next to me.
“We should strap her in,” he whispers, brushing her hair from her face. She sighs, nuzzling into his touch but staying asleep. I pull her closer.
“I’ll keep her safe. Just drive carefully, Chase,” I command, catching his irritated stare as he twists to look at me.
“Of fucking course I will,” he seethes, his voice low. He must be riled up if he’s cursing. He’s usually so professional all the time, even when we’re not in the boardroom. “I wouldn’t take risks with her in the truck.”
“Shit, I know, man. I’m just all…fucked up,” I confess, glancing back down at her. She’s so fucking beautiful, even with the dark circles under her eyes that I only just realize have been there almost the entire time she’s been with us.
“Yeah,” I hear Chase say before the engine roars to life, then he’s driving us away from the hospital.
The tension in my shoulders eases with every mile we put between us and that place, the band wrapped around my chest loosening as I stare down at Luna in my arms.
“I won’t lose you too,” I whisper into the quiet, feeling the attention of my brothers as I make my vow. “I swear it, Princess. We will fight this together and we will win.”
CHAPTER NINE
“ONE NIGHT” BY CHEYANNE
LUNA
Iblink awake, the smell of smokey vanilla enveloping me in a warm cloud that I want to snuggle down into. It takes me a few moments to realize that I’m not in my bed, and that I’m wearing an oversized T-shirt that definitely doesn’t belong to me.
Sitting up, the blankets pool at my waist as I glance around the room, recognizing the space as Blade’s. It’s beyond neat, all the surfaces clear and everything still tucked away in its rightful place. Control freak.
Taking another lungful of his addictive scent, I climb out of bed, heading to his bathroom to take care of business. As I emerge, the sounds of low voices reach my ears, and I look to see the bedroom door open, soft light from the hallway beyond spilling through.
Like Sleeping Beauty going after that spindle, I’m lured out of the room and down to the den, the place the boys banned mefrom, humiliating me for watching stepbrother romance films. I smile when I think about it now, about their care and worry for me back at the hospital.
It’s not like they can really do anything that terrible to me now. I guess that’s the silver lining with them knowing about the cancer. Maybe they won’t be such dicks.
Conversation halts as I step into the room, though unlike before when I was sure they were using it as a tactic to make me feel uncomfortable, it feels different tonight. Like maybe it’s because they are all looking at me with concern in their green eyes rather than animosity.
My gaze immediately hones in on the three of them lounging on the large sectional, not a fucking shirt in sight and all wearing sweatpants, something I’ve not seen them in before.
