A Slave to Broken Hearts (A Slave to Love Sequel)

Chapter 56: Heatwave

Blade POV

It was late afternoon and I was still lying in bed, having seen no reason to get up, when my phone rang. I rolled over and stretched to reach it, only to wish I hadn't. But not answering would be far worse these days and I had learned my lesson already.

"Hi, Mom," I said, trying to force some levity to my voice even though all I wanted to do was crawl back under the covers. The majority of her calls these days were to make sure I was still alive, still seeing Kiana regularly, and to not so subtly ask if we were back together yet. The only reason I continued to answer these calls was because she threatened to send my dad over here to check on me if she didn't hear from me, and I couldn't think of anything I wanted less. 

"Hi, honey, how are you today?" she asked gently, as if I was a patient on their deathbed. 

"I'm fine, just like I was two days ago when you called."

"That's great. How's Kiana?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Also fine, again, just like I told you two days ago."

"Just fine?"

"Mom."

"Alright, I'm just making sure. But since you're doing so fine, I was wondering if you were busy?"

My answer depended entirely on what she wanted. "Why?"

"Oh, just wondering," she said with a laugh that was a little too forced. 

I sat up. That was a shitty sign if I ever heard one. "What happened?"

"Nothing! Just a teensy incident. Barely an incident, more like a tiny surprise."

The more she compared it to something small, the less I was convinced. "Out with it. What's wrong?"

"Well, Lexi--"

"I'm busy."

"You haven't even heard what I have to say!"

"If Lexi is involved, I'm not sure I want too."

"Please, you're the only one who could tone down these prank wars between your sister and Ace, already I'm surprised he decided to partake considering his job and the spotlight he's under--"

"What prank war?"

"Well, it seems your sister decided to prank Ace the other day, and he retaliated and--" a loud crash had me yanking the phone far from my ear, then came cursing, Lexi in the background yelling "MY ROOM STILL STINKS LIKE SHIT", a loud wordless scream of frustration, then a door slamming hard enough I was sure the wood must have splintered. 

"What the hell did they do?" As much as I did not want to get in the middle of whatever stupid immature games they were playing again, especially right now, it was always interesting to at least hear about, however fucked up and weird it may be.

"She put chickens in his car," Mom said with a sigh. "And he snuck them back into her bedroom but no one noticed for hours and her room was a disaster. I don't know what those chickens ate but they left quite a mess, and I don't just mean feathers and food. It's taking a while to fix."

I had to cover my face in an attempt to hold back my snort of laughter. Though I was less than thrilled with them both, I had to admit, it was amusing to watch them ruin each other's day, especially since it had certainly brightened up mine. "And what do you want me to do about it?"

"Maybe you could talk to Lexi and Ace? Keep them from escalating it like they did back in '83 with the--"

"--the scarecrows, crop circles, and disappearing livestock? Don't you think it's time Lexi learned from her mistakes?"

"You'd think," she said drily, but we both knew it was futile. All that did was make her sneakier, which meant it was better to just clean up her messes instead of allowing her to evolve to some new and unstoppable level of asshole. "Please? You know she listens to you more than anyone and since you and Ace are friends..."

I was fairly certain, as with most of their other prank battles, that even if Ace and I were on speaking terms he would say the same as he usually did; 'I'll stop if she does' and if she didn't, he would continue to retaliate. He may have been older and slightly more responsible, but Ace was still impulsive and always up for a challenge, and the two of them together always brought the immaturity to new levels.

Besides, showing weakness with Lexi was a death sentence and playing her warped games might piss her off, but in an odd way, it was also the best way to earn her respect.

"Why did she decide to prank him now anyway? Not that I'm helping, but what the hell changed?"

"Oh who knows? Does she ever need a reason to do half the stuff she does?"

Fair point. At least half of her shenanigans were simply because she was curious or because she wanted too and she didn't think much further than that. But it had been ages since they'd lowered themselves to the level of pranking each other, so something must have prompted it.

"Maybe you can ask her?" she said hopefully. 

I sank back down onto my pillow, regretting having shown any bit of interest. "If she brings it up or I hear about her doing something that crosses a line, then fine."

"Great! And maybe you could mention it to Ace as well? I mean, I know he's got a good head on his shoulders and he's been doing wonderful work lately, so I doubt he'd do anything that would jeopardize that, but Lexi has no issues with authority or proper decorum. Or legality."

"Yeah, I know." Lexi didn't give a shit about how powerful he was now or what that meant in terms of consequences for either of them, so long as she got her revenge. Ace was smart enough to know what incurring her wrath meant though, so I'd talk to Lexi and hopefully that would end my participation in this problem. "I'll deal with it."

"Thank you," she said, full of relief. 

"Yeah, yeah," I said, regretting answering the phone now more than ever. I didn't know where Mom got the idea Lexi listened to me, since most of the time she was too busy insulting me or trying to kick my ass to listen to anything, and these days she had even less interest in what I had to say. I ranked at the bottom of her list for people she respected lately. "So did he really put chickens in her room?"

"Oh yes, you should have heard the screaming," she said, laughing a little now. 

"Were any harmed?"

"One almost was, but it panicked and started trying to peck her and flew into her face."

"Excellent self preservation skills."

"I thought so," she said. "She also stepped in a pile of droppings. I've never heard her make such a sound of rage before in my life."

"Good." 

A few more minutes of enjoying Lexi's misery as Mom outlined the story of coming home to find that mess before we hung up, only for my phone to go off again, with a text this time and I was sure it was going to be Lexi telling me to butt out of her business, that she had been eavesdropping on our conversation, but nope.

It was a picture. From Kiana.

She didn't normally send me pictures, at least not since we fell apart, since then our messages were strictly about when we were going to hang out, so this didn't make sense. And even more confusing, was that it was a picture of her basil plant. Which admittedly looked like a whole new plant since the last time I saw it since it was actually green and thriving, but still. There was no other context, just the photo, and I waited a beat for more but nothing came.