I woke up to someone running their fingers through my hair. I sighed at the feeling. Slowly blinking my eyes open I turned around to see Violet staring down at me.
"Hey" she whispered and I groaned stretching out my hands and pushing myself off the bed and crossing my legs facing her.
"Hey" I smiled and I looked around looking for Lilo.
"He's downstairs eating" Violet said and I nodded my head.
"I'm guessing dad told you?" I questioned and she nodded her head.
"Yeah, he called when the letter came and told me where you guys were" Violet explained and I stared at the ceiling.
"Av it's not your fault" Violet said sincerely and I shook my head.
"I know, what I don't know is why she is going through all these lengths to make us feel bad" I said and she looked at me not saying anything. It didn't make any sense to me. She died years ago yet stuff she left is biting us in the ass.
"She's just an ass" Violet sighed and I nodded my head in agreement. She wasn't just an ass, she was a manipulative woman with a victim complex and a problem for everything that anyone ever did.
"Yeah I know" I laughed and a smile found it's way on her lips. I loved how we both managed to smile through situations.
"Come on they should be back any minute now" Violet said grabbing my arm and pulling me up off the bed.
Dragging me down the stairs she kept a firm grip on my hand. I winced at the tightness but I kept a straight face not muttering a word. She looked overly excited and I knew it's because of how beautiful the house was.
"This place is-" she began
"huge" I finished her sentence and she laughed running into the big ass kitchen. Why the kitchen was so big is beyond me.
"Girl you could make a 10 course meal in here!" she shouted and I cringed at the echo.
"Violet maybe don't stand on the people counter" I said and she ignored me still standing on the counter I'm sure they are going to eat on later tonight. Violet reached her hand up to touch the ceiling and as her finger grazed the front door opened and she jumped down from the counter and sat on one of the stools. I quickly turned around and opened the fridge door pretending I'm looking for some thing.
"What are you girls doing?" Uncle Jaden questioned and I closed the fridge door to look at him. Behind him three men including Ace and two women walked in and all of them except Ace sat on the stools around the gigantic counter.
"Avery this is Matteo, Alya, Louis, Kina and Java" Ace introduced and I immediately recognized them from the warehouse. Alya smiled at me and I smiled back at her. I noticed Matteo giving Violet little side glances like the one you would give your secret crush in middle school.
"This is Violet my best friend" I smiled and I saw Matteo's eyes light up as Violet smiled at everyone. Oh someone definitely has a crush. Java took a quick glance at me and I grinned. Dad and Uncle Marco walked in a couple minutes later holding a bruised up Uncle Ricky. His face was red and swollen. He looked terrible, almost terrifying. If I saw him in the middle of the night I would automatically think he's a baboon or something.
I raised my eyebrows and dad sighed shubbing Uncle Ricky to sit on one of the stools. They all dressed in appropriate attire for a mission and I regretted not going when dad asked me too. I would of loved to dress in fancy clothes and hold a gun, not to shoot anyone or anything but just to look cool.
"He ran into a bee hive" dad groaned taking a wet wash cloth and patting it on the swollen areas of Uncle Ricky's face. I bit my lip trying to keep my laugh at bay.
"Shut up" Uncle Ricky groaned and he had a pained expression on his face. I felt almost bad for him.
"Yeah your the one to say, who told you to be a blind dumbass and run into the bee hive" Dad scolded and Uncle Ricky didn't respond to him.
"Yeah that's what I thought" Dad muttered and then he hunched forward.
Dad held his stomach punching Uncle Ricky's shoulder and I stared on admiring their relationship. I always said that I wanted to have a brother relationship like that, which I do but I rarely saw my brother.
Roman is five years older than me, married with two kids Elijah and Emma and living his best life in Dubai.
Malia his wife and I are pretty close. We've been close since they got together but we haven't talked in person since they got married. After they got married they left together away from this place.
I don't blame them, our mother caused us enough trauma. I'm more than happy for them but sometimes I missed them deeply. It used to be four of us, Roman, Malia, Violet and I but now it's two. Violet and I. It sucked for a while but that's how life works.
"Avery" Dad called out and I jumped slightly at tone of his voice.
"You okay?" he questioned and I nodded my head.
"Yeah just thinking" I smiled and he smiled back. I didn't like how easily I could lie to my father but that's a trait of his I got. Lying. He did that a lot when I was younger, he lied about where he was, if he had smoked or drank alcohol. Hell even lied to my mother about sleeping with another woman.
I love my dad but some things I just can't bring myself to forgive him for. I'm happy he is trying and we have a good father-daughter relationship though I wonder what it'd be if mom didn't die and he was loyal to her. Mom wasn't loyal either, she cheated on dad on multiple occasions but I had no clue about it till recently. Everything that happened in my childhood household stayed between my parents and brother.
"What are we eating for dinner?" Lilly questioned coming into the kitchen and tugging on Ace's shirt. He looked down at her and picked her up placing her on the counter.
"I don't know what do you want?" Ace asked and Lilly put her pointer finger against her chin and titled her head looking up as if she was thinking really hard about the question.
"Chicken Alfredo" Lilly beamed and Ace smiled nodding at her. I wished me and my brother was like that when I was Lilly's age, but Roman used to wrestle with me and put me in a choke hold every time. One time he kept me in one so long that I almost died due to the lack of oxygen.
"Okay I'm leaving" Kina announced waving at us as she left. Louis and Alya got up not too long after and said their goodbyes leaving as well.
"I'm going home, I'll see you at work Av" Violet said and I smiled giving her a quick hug. She hugged dad and I saw a small smile on Violet's face when she glanced at Matteo. She waved at Lilly who waved back and then left.
Dad got up followed by Uncle Marco, Ricky and Jaden and I assumed they were going to their rooms. My mind went to Aunt Mar and I wondered where she was. Java and Matteo fist bump Ace and Lilly and said their goodbyes leaving. I already started to feel awkward so I decided to keep my head down and just walk out. As I was about to leave a tiny voice stopped me.
"Av you can stay" Lilly suggested and I turned around shaking my head in denial and smiling so she wouldn't feel bad that I said no.
"Yeah sweetheart you should stay" Ace butted in and I sent him one of my deadliest glares. He's not actually serious. I couldn't tell if he was being serious or just messing with me because his face showed no emotion what so ever.
"Um I should really head to bed" I tried to nogiate but Lilly shook her head and I sighed walking back in the kitchen.
"Cheer up Avery it's only cooking" Ace grinned and I punched his shoulder.
"Shut up" I muttered and Lilly clapped her hands together jumping down from the counter. She took my hand leading me to the cupboard that was filled with different sized pans.
**********
"You can't cut chicken like that!" I yelled as Ace continued to cut the chicken with a fork..... a plastic fork. Turning off the burner that was boiling the pasta I pushed Ace aside and grabbed an actual knife and started cutting the chicken myself since a grown ass man can't do it himself. We only got as far as making the chicken and boiling the pasta.
Ace has been a pain in my ass since we started cooking. Lilly left five minutes ago to use the restroom. I think she got fed up of all the arguing and decided to leave. Ace and I have been going back and forth arguing to the point it almost got physical.
I think staying here was a bad idea. I'm almost regretting not making a run for it but the more I thought about the Alfredo the harder it became for me to convince myself to leave. So now I'm sucking it up and dealing with the dickhead.
"Whatever chef" he smiled and I gave him a distasteful look. I contemplated grabbing the gun from his waist band and shooting him in his fucking kneecaps. The man pissed me off.
Lilly walked back in the kitchen and sat on the stool. She didn't have anything to do yet so she sat and stared at me. It wasn't in a creepy way though, she looked genuinely interested in what I was doing. Her eyes trailed with every one of my movements like she was paying extra attention to what I was doing. I found it cute.
An hour later and over twenty more arguments we finished and I was more than exhausted. I felt that at any moment I was going to drop. Ace took out some of the Alfredo in a plate and passed it to Lilly who happily took it with a big smile on her face.
She exited the kitchen and I sighed wiping down the counter and stove. Ace remained standing by the sink and I ignored his presence.
"Do you even know how to cook?" I questioned pushing him aside and rinsing out the wash cloth.
"Yes I do but it's funny seeing you get all riled up sweetheart" he said and I bit the inside of my cheek.
"Your a dick" I muttered and I heard him laugh softly.
I heard movement behind me and felt his front press against my back. His hand trailed from my spine to my waist and he pulled me flushed against his body. I gasped softly my mouth hanging slightly open.
"That you are right about" he whispered in my ear and I felt a chill go down the back. His body pulled away from mines and regret filled my heart. I shook my head trying to get rid of it and tossed the wash cloth on the side of the sink.
I turned around and I breathed in at the sight of him. God I hated how attractive he was. I need to stop and get some help. Well I'm already getting help but my therapist is a pain is my ass. She's nice some times when she isn't trying to make me talk about my past.
"Goodnight Ace" I muttered immediately leaving the kitchen not sparing him a second glance. The tension in the air was extremely thick and I didn't like it one bit.
I walked up at the stairs and went into my room dropping down on the bed. Lilo came near my head and licked my forehead snuggling in my hair. I heard my phone ding and I reached my hand out to the bed side table grabbing it without making much movement.
No doubt Lilo was sleeping and I had no intentions of waking my baby. Looking at the screen I saw messages all from Ryan.
Ryan: Hey baby
Ryan: Are you ignoring me?
Ryan: Where are you?
Ryan: Text me back when your on your phone again babe
My eyes scanned each message and I felt my heart sink. Ryan was a really sweet guy but sometimes I wondered why he's even with me. He did reassure me on occasion which I'm thankful for.
My phone started vibrating and I looked at the incoming call from Ryan. I smiled swiping on accept but what I heard on the other side of the line made my heart drop. I definitely didn't like what I was hearing and I knew for a fact I was about to murder him.