"Touch me. Why don't we kill each other slowly? What can I say? Baby, what can I do? The monster in me loves the monster in you."
Chapter Theme Song: 'Monster in Me' by Little Mix.
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Amelia
As soon as we entered through the doors of the physics classroom, which reeked of old books and wood polish, the familiar face at the back of the room made me stiffen slightly. Cole was lounging back in one of the iron chairs, lips dragged up in a smirk while he flicked between his fingers what looked like a compass from his open geometry set. I slowed down in my steps hesitantly and saw when Keegan glanced back at me as he lumbered to a seat at the far left of the room. There were no empty chairs together. The other vacant one was on the right hand beside a girl who was tugging at her flaxen strands.
Aware of the many gawking eyes and hushed exchanges, I anxiously ambled my way down the narrow aisle to occupy the only spot that was available. The girl glanced at me then pushed over her books and pencils that were laid out on my side of the desk.
"Thank you..." I muttered as I peeled my bag off my shoulders and hitched it around the arms of my chair. My eyes fell on Keegan's across the room, and he was watching me absorbingly. Maybe I was thinking too much but it seemed as though he was ensuring that I was alright. I sent him a tight smile, and he looked away thereafter. He didn't smile back, but that was okay; Keegan didn't like smiling. As he had said earlier that morning, he liked to be straightforward with people. Fake smiles, fake cares...he didn't have the tolerance for it.
Then the smell of nuts and cinnamon appeared. An aroma similar to the one I'd smell at home when Madonna baked raisin cookies. A figure appeared above my head, a tall one as their red necktie brushed against the side of my face. I drew back slightly and craned my neck to see Cole smiling down at me, his lips captured between his sharp teeth. The class was watching on inquisitively, and I felt severely uncomfortable. It was not that I feared him; I didn't, but I didn't know how to interact with the boys of the outside world. It took too much work, and I hadn't even practiced yet.
"Is there something you need?" I questioned softly.
His grinning friend came up behind him, propping a skinny elbow on his broad shoulder. Cole looked at the action, then glared silently at his mate. The pal's smile faded as he immediately took a step back, rubbing his shaved head as he returned to his seat at the back of the room like a rejected puppy.
Cole tore his gaze away from him, then smiled again. "Kasey?"
The girl next to me drooped her eyelids. "What?"
"May I have that seat?"
She rolled her eyes but gathered her resources, anyway, fixing her bag on her shoulder as she stepped out of her seat and moved to the back where his friends were.
Cole installed himself into the chair and splayed his arm over the edge of mine. "How are you this morning, Amelia?" He extended a buff hand to the left of him, and his friend placed his bag handle and his books inside of it. He looked at the stack then rolled his eyes. "This is Jordan's Chem book, Leo!"
"Oh, sorry!" The gaunt boy from earlier collected the book at the top of the pile and replaced it with another. On the front of it were a bunch of old Spiderman stickers that were already peeling off, and doodles of naked girls with...hairy genitals? My mouth slackened.
"Anyway...where were we?"
"Amelia."
That soft voice. I turned my head to the left of me to find Keegan staring in my direction. Was he the one that had called me? Of course, he was. I knew his voice by now, though he wasn't a frequent talker.
"Come sit here." He pointed his head to the now empty spot beside him while the guy who'd been sitting there was already on his way over to me.
Cole blew his cheeks out. "Damn, I can't get a moment with you."
I pursed my lips as I grabbed my bag.
"Your brothers are too overprotective..." He said this beneath his breath then swung his gaze to Keegan, who was glaring at him with no hint of sentiments. "Don't worry, dude, I am not planning on fucking her..." I could have sworn he said as I passed by his shaking head with a grin bursting my face. I was glad he called for me.
"Hey." I smiled as I got over, dragging out the chair from under the table. Keegan leaned back in his seat and ripped his eyes away from Cole and at me.
"What happened? Did you ask the boy to leave, Kee?"
He shook his head as I sat down. The guy was now settling into my prior seat as Cole got up disappointedly and returned to the back of the room. Kelsey was laughing as she took her stuff and went to repossess her stolen seat.
"No," Keegan answered flatly. "I just looked at him."
I blinked a few times. "You just looked at him...and he moved?"
He nodded, eyes as dead as the lilies sitting on our teacher's desk. And as though I thought too soon, our instructor came waltzing into the room with his teaching materials.
"In here smells like ass."
The class laughed.
"Let's all pray for Matt Colton." He breathed as he placed his resources on the desk. "It's sad what happened to him."
My breathing quickened, and I darted my eyesight to Keegan. What was I expecting, a reaction? There was absolutely nothing there. He was focusing blankly ahead as though the name hadn't even ring a bell.
"Oh look, we have the pretty people in our class." The teacher quipped, gasping in Keegan and I's direction. "The McKays." Then he smiled dreamily. "Those fertilizers. Your Dad is a genius."
Though they didn't know, Kai McKay was not my father. But Keegan was only staring at the appreciative man with a straight countenance that may come off as mean, so I forced a small smile on his behalf and said,
"Thanks..."
"Beautiful kids. Beautiful kids, I tell you." He beamed, and the class chuckled at his shameless 'fangirling.' Beautiful kids. We were far from it. "Anyway, some of you may not know, but I am now the Dean of Discipline."
Groans thronged the room, and he laughed as he turned to erase the old chalk writings from the board. "So, I will be watching those skirts and pants." He threw his eraser down and rubbed his hands together. "I was assigned to seek mentors and tutors for the um, what's that again, Partnership Program. For those who don't know, it's a program where the twelfth to thirteenth graders assist the seventh to eighth-graders with their assignments, conduct, well-being, anything at all. Who would like to volunteer?" He sat on the rim of his desk as he scoured the room.
"Are we going to get money, Mr. West?" A girl picking at her nails asked, and he chuckled, shaking his head.
"No, it's not a job, Elizabeth."
The room was eerily quiet now as it seemed no one wanted to volunteer if money was not involved. The teacher looked desolate, disappointed, as though he was counting on the class to make a remarkable first impression. I decided then that I wouldn't mind having an extra star under my belt. My life had been monotonous since the moment I was born, and so doing something new for a change wouldn't be so bad.
With that as my final conclusion, I raised my hand timidly. He was desperate. Mr. West, I mean. The way his head rose, and his chin tilted as though the creator himself had beckoned to him. "Oh, yes, McKay, are you interested?"
Keegan looked at me from the corner of his eyes. A look that would have appeared feisty to many but didn't mean anything at all.
"Yeah..." I chewed on my lip nervously.
"Amazing!" He snapped his fingers and pointed. "See? Amazing kids, Amaze-balls; I tell you!"
Laughter blared through the class.
"See me after class, McKay, alright?"
I nodded, and for some reason, I wanted to smile. I tried to keep it away though, as I could feel several eyes on me. It took me literally nothing to be happy. While some found their joy and assurance in riches and fine things, just the mere idea of helping someone else gave me such solace and peace.
Class went on for another dragging hour, and when it finally closed off, I went to meet Mr. West at his desk. He wasn't ready, though, as though he'd forgotten he'd asked me to stay behind. He had a lot on his head; I could tell, and so I tried helping him out. Fetching the pens and documents that got knocked on the floor while he searched around for the Program flyer. When he finally found it, he did a run-through of what it entailed. It was basically a Mentorship program; I'd be like a mother to whoever I was going to be assigned to. It was cool and I didn't mind the responsibility; I had been a mother to Adam for years.
Mr. West said he would get my partner ready by next Monday and thanked me a zillion times for volunteering. I could tell it meant a lot to him. I knew what it was like wanting to prove your worth to people. I hate to admit it, but I grew up secretly wanting to please my adopted parents. Kai and Meredith. Meredith especially since it seemed as though no matter what I did, it was just not good enough for her. Getting into her good graces was hard and exhausting until I eventually stopped one day. Well, for the most part.
When I stepped out of the classroom after my meeting, I was shocked to see Keegan waiting for me in the busy corridors. His hands were hidden in his pockets, and he stood square-shouldered and stiff-backed. So confident; his stance was, and his profile remained unresponsive though the girls passing by were bluntly throwing him gestures of admiration.
"You waited for me," I stated the obvious, grinning my face off again.
He said nothing to that, and I smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Keegan."
"Kanan and Khalil are on the rooftop." He spoke as he slid his phone into the top pocket of his clean red jacket. A brunette was biting her lip as she strolled past us, and Keegan only regarded her at the corner of his eyes. His famous reaction to everything under the sun. Sometimes I felt sorry for the people who meant him well but didn't know that his 'harsh' feedback was only due to his distorted emotions. Or lack thereof.
Keegan led us up the endless flight of stairs until we got to the top floor of the school's building. I could see the front gates and lawn through the holes of the red fancy blocks that lined the story. Up here appeared darker and more ancient, and he guided us through a dim hallway with broken ceiling lights and to a huge metal door that smelled like wet steel. He opened it, and the first thing I saw was the clear blue sky above us. A beam emerged on my face, and then it transmuted brighter when I spotted Khalil and Kanan perched on an old desk on the left side of the roof.
"Kanan!" I sprinted over ecstatically, the wind beating against my face as I threw myself into his opened arms. He laughed and caught me, one leg perched on the table and the other on the ground as he squeezed me close to his hard body. He smelled of Trident bubble gums and 'fresh air.' So refreshing and cuddly and reminded me of the sea. I wrapped my arms around him, and between his arm, Khalil was staring at me. Giving me that expression again. The one that made me feel like a five-year-old.
I scrunched my face up, and he mouthed, 'potato-face.'
I jerked him a middle finger, and he smiled and shook his head. "What do we need next?" He swung his face to the boy next to him who sat on a rusted iron chair, chewing on the bottom of a pen. I didn't know him. I eased up as Kanan trailed his fingers through my wind-tossed hair.
"Uh, some drugs?" The lad rubbed his jaw, and I narrowed my eyes.
"Drugs? For what?" I ping-ponged among the boys, then stopped on Kanan. "Kanan?"
"No drugs." Khalil shook his head in disapproval.
"Okay. Liquor."
"Alright. Put that down."
The boy wrote in a white notepad, and I crossed my arms against my bust. I felt like they were doing something wrong. "Kanan, what are you guys doing?"
"We are having a party, Amie." He placed his hands on my waist and buried his face into my neck. "When Meredith and Kai leave this weekend."
"Only you're not invited," Khalil spoke as he took a sip of his cherry boxed drink. He swept his tongue across his unreasonably red lips, and I found myself staring at them. They seemed fuller and reminded me of ripe plums. "You'll be in your room sleeping, Amelia."
Kanan chuckled and sat upright, fixing his body on the desk so his feet hung over the edges. I broke away from his embrace and strolled over to Khalil, cocking my head as I held my elbows in my hands. "You can't tell me that."
"Of course, I can." He salivated his mouth again, swinging his feet comfortably as he elevated his chin. A flash of light caught his dark hair, making it sheen under the fair skies.
"Well then..." I shuffled on my feet, the wind frizzing my hair around. "I'll just tell on you..." I smiled sweetly.
"You wouldn't." He chewed on the inside of his cheek, smirking.
"Yes, I would."
"You wouldn't."
"Yes, I would."
He locked my gaze, taking me up in a brazen stare-off. I quirked an eyebrow defiantly.
"Alright." He slapped his thighs and hopped off the table. I stepped back, grinning as he tried to grab me by the hips. I laughed as I turned to run away, but he wrapped his arms around my middle and backed us up against the table. It shook against the cemented ground, and my breathless chortles filled the air as he pressed his face into my neck. His arms slowly loosened around me, feeling gentler for some reason. And then he bit me there. On my neck. Sucking into my skin, and my mouth open in a squeal. "Ah, Khalil!" I pushed at his chest, and Kanan smiled and looked away, squinting his eyes from the sun.
Khalil backed up with a smirk, and I saw the unknown boy looked at us weirdly. Yeah...brothers and sisters don't bite each other's neck. I know; it was messed up and looked so abnormal to the outer world. Khalil didn't seem to care, but I didn't like people seeing us as those weird kids in Flowers in the Attic.
I rubbed my arms. My neck was hurting. If he did that to punish me, he had succeeded. I glared at him, and Kanan simpered. "Come here, Amie."
I tore my eyes away from him and walked over to Kanan, who moved my hair away from my neck to look at the bruise. I ran my fingers along the area and could feel Khalil's teeth marks. I figured it was some form of payback for the many times I bit him in the past. Kanan massaged me there. "Aw, it's okay, Amie..." He then glanced at Khalil with amusement in his eyes. "What's wrong with you, Khal?"
Khalil played a bit too rough sometimes and I just couldn't keep up with it. It was either he was too sexual, or too insensitive as though he'd forgotten that I was a girl and not one of his brothers. The last time we were wrestling on his bed, he kept me in a headlock for almost five minutes.
I held my neck as I climbed up on the desk next to Kanan. "I don't understand...why are you guys having a party?"
"Well, if you want to survive at Sade Rose, you have to earn the respect. If this party kicks off, I can guarantee that you guys will be respected in these hallways." The guy shrugged. "It's like a survival guide. Trust me; this will work."
I massaged my neck. "Oh..."
The boys always felt like they had to be in control of their surroundings. They hated knowing that they were in an unfamiliar environment and didn't have the upper hand. They wanted to reign the halls and gain ownership of these kids. The triplets were so dark, so overwhelmingly dark that sometimes I got so fearful of them. It was like sleeping with one eye open, although there was this reassuring inkling inside of me that they wouldn't do anything to hurt me.
Then the metal door at the end of the roof pushed open and out stepped Hallie, Rose, Ava, and Jack. I tensed up slightly. I just couldn't fancy them.
"Wow. Looks like our spot got conquered." Hallie smiled, the wind sending her skirt flying again. That day she was wearing dark red panties. I sighed. She seemed allergic to spandex.
"We were the ones who set these chairs up, you know." Rose's tongue was all blue as though she'd been sucking on blueberry lollipops.
Kanan threw his arm around my shoulder. "I wish we cared." He smiled.
Rose bit her lip, and Hallie was staring at Khalil. He glared back at her as he emptied a pack of M&M's on his tongue.
"Can I just say...that you guys are fucking hot?"
"Yow, watch it, Ava." Jack roared at his girlfriend's comment as he pumped his fist against Cane's.
She rolled her eyes and sighed.
"What are you doing, mate?" Jack reached for one of the old chairs and dragged it next to his friend. "Party planning?"
"Oh my God, I heard about the party you guys are having." Rose grinned. "I am so fucking there. Let me know if you guys want some stuff."
Stuff? Did she mean drugs? I recalled Raina saying they did drugs.
"Nope, we're good," Kanan muttered, and Keegan was observing the crew with no care for their unwanted presence. I caught Rose giving him a suggestive signal, but he only glanced away as though she was nothing but a moth under his shoe. A piece of lint to be more precise.
The ache on my neck was more annoying than their company, to be frank, and so I spent most of the time rubbing the bruise while they blabbered away, trying to impress the brothers who looked nothing short of peeved. I'd have been embarrassed.
When the bell went off and lunchtime ended, Cane, the boy who was helping us plan the party promised to talk to the triplets later. They exchanged phone numbers, and we began to leave the rooftop. The chatting crew had gone ahead and Kanan, Keegan, and Cane weren't far behind them. Khalil kept the door open for me, and I wondered why he was being such a gentleman all of a sudden.
But I got my answer when he gripped my arm and tugged me into a dark corner that led to a small stairwell. A door was at the end of the stairs, like a basement. My eyes opened wide as he placed my back against the wall.
"Khalil, are you mad?" I whispered, but I was so loud I might as well had yelled.
"Let me see your neck." He held my chin and tilted my head to the side. The corner was scarcely lit, but he must have been able to see the damage he'd done since he ran the pads of his fingers against the deep indents.
"Do you see what you did? Are you a vampire or something?" I made a face. "Do you just go around biting people's necks, Khalil?"
"No..." He answered, his voice thin yet thick with something. "Only yours..."
My lips separated. I could see his eyes in the dark. They were shiny and somewhat penetrating. There was a gleam inside of them. One I couldn't make out. And I suddenly felt weird and wanted to go to class.
I blinked my eyes because what he said hadn't made sense to me. "Why would you want to bite my neck?"
"Because I like to mess with you, Amelia." He sounded frustrated, like I was supposed to know that he liked biting my neck for fun. "But I feel bad whenever I do. Do you want me to make it better?"
Unsure, I nodded my head. Then he brought his head closer and placed his lips on my neck, kissing me there. I gasped as my hands flew up to his chest. "Khalil..."
I felt his tongue. Warm and wet as it soothed the sting of his bite marks. I was frozen, staring off at the grey walls behind him as my heart pounded in my chest. And that was the first time I felt that sensation in my abdomen. It was different than the usual butterflies. It felt like butterflies merged with cranes and crows and every living creature with wings. It was a sweet feeling. Like something wanting to build up but needs something more in order to. I squeezed his chest with my shaking fingers. "Khalil, no..."
I was getting aroused. I knew what it was. The girls in the books I read had spoken about this feeling. But not with boys they'd grown up with or who they could consider their adopted brother.
He didn't hear me. Khalil didn't hear me because I didn't say no aloud. I said it in my mind. My tongue was heavy, and I liked how his mouth felt. I liked it too much to tell him to stop. The demon. The one who sat on my shoulders and fed me inappropriate thoughts was back again. Telling me it was okay. Telling me it was just my neck, and that he was only trying to make me feel better. It was like your parent kissing you on a bruise and telling you that you'll feel better in the morning. It was just like that. It was okay.
But my body knew it wasn't okay. Because my panties weren't comfy anymore. His palms were on my fists that were pressed against his grey dress shirt, and I snapped back to my senses and squeezed him hard. "Khalil, no," I said it aloud this time because my small voice rang out in the hot and narrow corner.
He moved away, and I wished I could've blended into the wall behind me. I was blushing and had no idea of what to say to him. Thanks for kissing the bruise? Could he see it? How red my face was?
Then he smiled, and my heart stopped for a little over a second. "Does it feel better now?" He asked. Oh so casually, and I got the impression that I was the only one having crude thoughts about what he just did to me.
Maybe...maybe it was normal?
I nodded my head, my lips parting slightly. "Y-yeah..."
He ruffled my hair with a half-smirk, only one of his dimples showing up. "Okay, I'll put some ointment on it when we get home. Let's get to class."
I was still addlepated but managed to produce a smile as I leaned off the wall with shaky feet. He took my hand in his and we went to find our classrooms.
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I could hardly focus on class after what happened with Khalil on the top floor. I was blushing throughout my entire English session, and it only got worse when Raina pointed out the red bruise on my neck.
"Oh my God, Amelia. Is that a hickey?" She had asked, squinting her eyes to have a better look.
I immediately drew my scrunchies out and allowed my hair to spill around me, then I smiled. "What hickey? It's just allergies."
"Or eczema. I have a bad case of it." And she drew down her white sock to show me her ankle that had small bumps and rashes on it. I smiled a little, knowing the reason for the mark on my neck was not because of eczema.
Then the day flew by, and Jon came to get us. It was the weekend now and the next day would have been Saturday. Meredith and Kai would be flying abroad for their marriage anniversary and wouldn't be back until Sunday night. That was why the boys decided to host a party.
That night after we got home and did our homework, as per Meredith's nightly regulations, she called us downstairs to give us a few rules to adhere to during their absence.
"No leaving the house. No 'friends' over. Be obedient to Madonna. Yousef won't be around."
Right. Madonna. How were they going to have their party with Madonna being around? The thought made me smile. I wasn't hunky-dory about this whole 'partying' thing, though deep down I wanted to see what the fuss was all about. The girls in the books I had read were always talking about parties.
"And Khalil and Amelia...no sleeping on the same bed or hanging out in the same room, am I clear?" Meredith was glaring at me while saying this. Even to that day, Meredith didn't know that Khalil slept beside me at night. He had been lying to his parents. Telling them that the darkness no longer bothered him, and that was why, based on conversations I'd overheard, they terminated his appointment with his psychiatrist. Khalil was not better. I knew he wasn't. And like Keegan, he was excused from seeing his psychiatrist. Keegan's excuse was that the lady spoke too much and that the last time he had seen her, he felt tempted to bang her head in with the stapler on her desk. He flat-out told them not to take him back, and they agreed. It was one of those days where he spoke out of the blue and we all had to listen. His parents respected him, so much that if he ordered them to do something, they complied without thinking twice.
And maybe they feared he would have truly done it. They feared he would have murdered his psychiatrist the same way he and his brothers had murdered Jacob Whitaker.
I am sure they would have covered it up too...
Meredith and Mr. Kai left at the break of dawn the next day. The house was quiet when I opened my eyes, feeling Khalil's pajama-covered knee pressed between my thighs. It was weird; the way I had woken up. It felt as though I was forcibly awakened by something. I scrubbed my grainy eyes, and though the morning was sunny, I felt a dark, gloomy presence around me. It wasn't the darkness; I could tell.
I peered sleepily over my shoulders to see Kanan standing motionlessly at the doorway. Shirtless, arms crossed. Messy hair lying over bottomless eyes. Chill covered my body. But not from the cold.
"K-Kanan."
"Good morning." His mouth turned up a fraction of an inch, and it was weird that he was watching me sleep. I blinked my eyes and moistened my throat.
"A-Are you okay?"
"Mm. Perfect. Come down for food." He eased off the sill, and with a glint in his eyes, walked away. I shifted on my back and turned my head to find Khalil still fast asleep. He didn't want to let me go as I peeled his hand off my waist and slid out of bed to go wash up. I brushed my teeth and went downstairs as the sound of sizzling oil drifted through the empty house. I saw Kanan's back as I broke the corner and scrunched my eyebrows as there was no sign of Madonna.
"Kanan."
"Mm?" His elbows moved as he stirred something in the pot.
"Where's Madonna?" I climbed up on the stool.
"She's not here, Amie."
"Where did she go?"
"I sent her away." He turned around to face me, leaning his back against the edge of the counter, and I tensed up slightly at his response. Sent her away? To where exactly?
"Um...where did you send her to?"
Our visions locked like magnets. A shadow passed over his eyes, and he watched me the way a tiger watched a little mouse. I squirmed on the stool. "Kanan?"
Then my gaze drifted to the cutlet knife on the countertop. It was covered in something red. Red like Jacob's skull when his head was bashed open. My breathing sped up and I swallowed.
Kanan noticed where my pools of fear were focused, and he only smiled as he reached for the cutting tool, and with his black eyes fixed on mine, slowly swept the sharp blade against his tongue. I stilled on the seat, looking nothing short of an immovable statue as the red substance coated his flesh. The light had now faded entirely from his orbs and it felt as though I was being sucked into them. I was shaking, fear tautening my limbs and bones.
"It's just Ketchup, Amie." He then uttered softly. And he smirked. Light reappearing in those spirals as though it hadn't left in the first place "Don't look so scared."
My shoulders relaxed and I blinked a few times. He didn't break eye contact as he turned to the stove, and soon, brought some breakfast over to me. Eggs and sausages. It smelled good and I tried to forget about my anxiety as I took in the delectable fragrance.
"Woah, chef."
He laughed. "Eat up." He sat in front of me, placing his elbows on the counter. The muscles in his biceps flexed and I noticed how toner he had become. Especially since Mr. Kai had furnished the gym room with new pieces of workout equipment. All for the boys. He loved his sons immensely. The same way my dad had loved me and Adam, though he couldn't afford to get us the fancy things, Mr. Kai could.
I stuck my fork in a cut of sausage and slipped it into my mouth. My eyes widened at the smoky taste of it, and I jerked him a thumbs up. "Amazing," I said through chews, and Kanan chuckled.
"I am glad you like it." He reached his hand forward and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. The edge of my vision followed the action, and then instead of retreating his arm, he used his fingers to gently caress my earlobe. Rolling the skin between his forefinger and thumb. I met his eyes, and they were boring into mine intensely. My chewing stopped, the minced-up sausage lying motionlessly at the corner of my mouth.
I swallowed harder than needed to. "Are you okay?" I stared at him, lines of worry chiselling themselves into my forehead.
He retracted his hand and folded it under his chest again, then lowered his chin on his arms. "Eat."
I pursed my lips in a confused line then took another bite of my breakfast. He pressed his finger in the black saucer on the table and rotated it, his eyes following the spiraling motions. "Amie..."
"Mm?" I took a sip of the black tea.
"If I was scared of the darkness...would you have slept next to me?"
I looked up at him, the mug perched at my mouth. I removed it and licked my lips. What did he mean?
"The way you sleep next to Khalil." His thin voice took on a shallow tone, and the clattering sound of the saucer against the table was the only noise that floated through the kitchen for a while.
I offered him a small smile and nodded. "Of course. If you're ever feeling scared, you can always sleep next to me, Kanan."
He smiled and propped his head on his palm, inspecting me again. "Okay, Amie...only, I don't think there's room on your bed for the three of us."
I wasn't sure I heard what he said since he muttered the retort beneath his breath, and I was distracted from asking when a cold hand clamped over my eyes. I smelled Khalil behind me and tore his fingers away to see him grinning above me and chewing away at my breakfast.
"There's more food in the pot, Khalil." I scowled, and he smirked as he flumped next to me, swinging his topless body around.
"It's better from your plate."
"Alright. By six o'clock we should be setting the place up." Kanan said, sitting upright as he grabbed his cellphone from his shorts pocket. "I already called Cane, so he'll get here by four."
Keegan came walking into the kitchen without a shirt, and I could tell he had just woken up since his eyes were still swollen and his hair was unkempt. Patently, the boys were not only susceptible to pain but also to low temperatures. They didn't seem to mind the cold morning air while I was freezing in my pink nightie. But with Khalil's hot body now so close to mine, I could handle the frigidness just the same.
And now I had to go upstairs and find a dress for the party that night. All my clothes were old-fashioned, thanks to Meredith. She claimed I was getting older and shouldn't display my curves to boys. It's not living righteous, she had said. And I still kept remembering when she allowed the fish man to grope her bottom at the market. It was sad that little did she know that after my fourteenth birthday I was no longer righteous. And I felt like it was just getting worse from there. It was like drifting out into a sea and the waves kept taking you farther and farther to the point of no return. No lifeboats, no safety guards. Just me and the blue oceans of three handsome boys. And I was drowning, but I like how the water felt in my lungs. I liked the water currents and how they made me feel. Maybe that was why I didn't push a hand up for help. I didn't want someone to rescue me, did I? Or was I so used to going with the waves that I was scared of being on land?
Either way, I would be experiencing my first real party in only a few hours. And I hoped it wouldn't end in tragedy like the one on my fourteenth birthday.
~
Ending song: 'Monster in Me' by Little Mix :)❤❤❤❤