Tug of Fate | When Stars Align Book one

Back to Town

Ananya

The house is as clean as it can get considering the thick layer of dust that covered everything. We vacuumed, mopped, dusted, everything. James, Becs and I are freaking exhausted, Ali has been blissfully sleeping in one of the guest bedrooms. James brewed some coffee. But since there is no milk, we're having it black. Althea is sitting next to James' couch. The look on her face is of utter bliss and contentment.

She gets up suddenly, whining, and runs out the back door. James tries to disentangle himself from a very exhausted Becca, but I jump up before he could and offer to take Althea out.

I open the back door and step out with Althea. She shoots off in a direction and I follow her. Since the property has a hegde growing on all sides, I am not that worried about her running out of the yard. I take a deep breath and look around. James has a decent place here. Everything, however, is so out of touch with the James we've come to know that I am having a hard time putting things together. Like the weeds in the backyard. Or the thick layer of dust in his house. The cabin is very minimalistic in design. Lots of open spaces, free flowing lines, comfortable plush furniture, with the entire house following the same colour scheme. He has everything essential. Nothing fancy. Nothing greedy or consumeristic. So it makes me believe that such a personality would take care of all his belongings and not leave it in layers of dust and weed. It just doesn't fit.

I catch a glimpse of Althea next to the gate. This must be the main entrance. I approach her and tell her that we should go back inside. I approach the gate, and notice the wooden name plaque in the shape of an arrow outside the gate. It reads NICHOLAS and it's pointed towards the cabin's main entrance.

Althea and I turn around to go back inside, but the letter box outside the gate catches my eyes. There are a lot of letters lying on the ground, a lot. I frown. I pick up as many as I can in my hands. Most are marketing pamphlets and some are from a bank. Why would he not collect his mail before leaving for the hike?

****

We look back towards the sound of raised voices. Althea and I look at each other and run back to the cabin. Liam and Logan are back and they seem to be in a standoff with Ali. As soon as Althea and I get inside the living room, everyone quiets and Liam and Logan come forward to give me a hug. I sigh into their embrace.

When we pull apart, I look at James and say, "Dude, why did you not collect all your mail and keep it inside? I got what I could see on the ground. That thunderstorm might have taken a lot of your mail away." He takes his mail from me, frowning.

"How about we eat something first?" Logan asks.

"I need you to take me there Logan!" Ali says, agitated.

So sudden is her reaction that I jump out of my skin. "What happened?"

Ali looks so weak. She is swaying on her feet. I open my mouth when Liam wraps his arms around my middle and says, "Ali, please. Let's all have something to eat first. You look dead on your feet. I promise, we'll go there after we eat something. So please, let's eat first then we'll tell everyone what happened. Please. Ananya and Becca haven't eaten anything either." His voice is pleading with her.

Ali looks at me and then at Becca. She seems to be warring with herself about something. I look at Becca and she looks as lost as I feel. She shakes her head and tells me, "LiLo came and went upstairs to wake up Ali for food. And the next thing we know the three of them are coming downstairs with Ali shouting. I don't know where she wants to go and what they were saying. All I know is that LiLo wants us to eat first and then take us somewhere." She shrugs.

LiLo? I mouth to her LiLo?. She shrugs again. James is trying to hold back his smile and Logan stands there looking baffled – with everything.

I look up to see Liam looking down at me. He gives me a smile and places a gentle kiss on my forehead. I look at Ali. She bites her lips, and nods.

Liam and Logan exhale a sigh of relief. Soon we're all sitting around the table and start eating. I literally die of orgasm when I take a sip of my flat white. LiLo, Becca has named them, start talking.

"So the hiking office is gone. Apparently they found out that some of the hikers never returned and it was a huge scandal. I don't understand how in two-three days this entire thing could have happened. You know what I mean?" Logan speaks.

We all are confused, but we decide not to talk about it until we have seen it ourselves. With that in mind we finish eating as fast as we can. Becca and James clean up, while Ali and I dress up in clothes we had in our hike backpacks.

When I come back to the dining hall I find only James and Becca there. "Where is everyone?" I ask

"Ali is changing, LiLo are freshening up" Becs tells me.

"The name is catchy Becs." I tell her, winking at her.

"What name?" James asks

"LiLo. For them." I tell him with a straight face.

"It sounds like dildo..." he says.

Becca sputters the water out of her mouth. And I look at him open mouthed.

"What? Dildos are good, aren't they? I've heard good dildos make it difficult for women to reach orgasm with a partner. But I don't think you're gonna have any problems about it with them, right?" he winks at me. Winks at me! And smirks.

Becs is trying hard to not laugh. Yeah, she will stick by my honour, that's for sure.

"What problem? Who has a problem?" Liam speaks from behind me. Becca and I jump and James laughs. He looks at me raising an eyebrow. He is standing on the other side of the table, near the sink.

"Well, I was just telling them that the na-" before he could finish, both Becs and I jumped across the dining table. James is so focused on not letting Becs fall that I managed to land next to him. Becca is standing on the chair closest to him and both of us have our hands clamped over his mouth.

Yeah. My girl will always have my back. I blow her a kiss, and we both blow out a sigh of relief. James is laughing silently, his body shaking.

We look around and find LiLo looking at us with dumbfounded expressions. As if both Becca and I thought the same thing, we look at each other and burst out laughing. We laugh unrestrained, breath-stopping-stomach-hurting-tears-inducing laughter. The three men are looking at us with amused expressions. But soon, the tears that are rolling down our faces, turn to that of longing and misery as we mourn Julian. We stop laughing and crying. Wipe our faces and smile at the men around us.

Ali enters the dining room. "I'm ready." She says.

We turn to the door and find her waiting, eyes filled with unshed tears, a sad smile on her face. LiLo leave the room, squeezing our shoulders, and leading the way. Becca and I take hold of each Ali's hand. James holds Becca's other hand. Together, we make our way to town, to see what LiLo wanted us to see.