Sup guys:) 120 reads... wow. *Sighs thoughtfully*. Well anyway thank you SOOO much! I really appreciate it. But yeah, Charlie's aesthetic is above, we're back to Lily's POV. I hope you love it, or at least like it. Vote, comment, share. You guys know what to do;) Also we'll be doing the gym scene from Lily's POV so it's going to be a little longer since she has a more thoughts going through her head than Carter.
Thank you and have an excellent read<3
Chapter Thirteen
~~~
L I L Y
"Of course Violeta."
I loved it. That nickname.
His words left me breathless, though I tried not to show it. Carter Landon was something else. I got up and pushed in my chair, following Carter out the door(which he held open for me again).
Normally, guys holding doors open for me and saying stuff like 'milady' would kind of weird me out. But the way Carter did it was just different. For me, at least. And blushing, jeez. It was a sign of either infatuation or embarrassment. Honestly, he made me feel both.
We talked about River and Jasmine a lot, and I kind of felt bad that his friend was in love with her but didn't really have a chance. I mean, it sounded like he didn't. But I'd have to meet him.
When Carter dropped me off it was about 12:51. I was gonna get an earful from Mom, and Dad too now that he was home. Especially since Rym and I missed dinner.
"Lilith Evangeline Easton."
Here we go.
"Hey... Mom," I said with a nervous smile. "Wait... my full name is Lilith?"
"It's almost one in the morning, you know your curfew in twelve. Rym came home an hour ago, where were you?" Mom crossed her arms. She was in a light pink, fluffy robe and she looked tired. I felt bad, I knew how hard she worked. "and yes you were named after Grandma Carpenter."
"Oh," I looked at the ground. "I'm sorry, me and a friend went out to Fluffy's after the party."
"Please just," Mom sucked in a breath. "don't let it happen again."
I nodded. "Are you okay Mom?"
She nodded and swallowed. "We'll talk in the morning, goodnight."
Then she left, speed walking back to her and Dad's room which she had been sleeping alone in for so long.
Boss. It had to have had something to do with him. He said we'd be bankrupt by tomorrow...
"Lily?" I heard Rym's voice say behind me.
I turned around. "Hey Rymmie, sorry I'm late. Carter and I went to Fluffy's."
My sister nodded. "Come on. Sister meeting."
Sister meeting? We hadn't had one of those since our last nanny died.
Long story.
I followed Rym into Allura and Ana's room, where seven of our sister's were. They were all huddled up on Ana's big canopy bed.
"Hey Lily," Anastasia said, but not as brightly.
"Can we just cut to the chase?!" Athena snapped. "We're going bankrupt! Dad lost all of his money to some hacker!"
Evelyn gasped. "Wait what?!"
"We overheard them..." Ana whispered. "Mom and Dad were arguing. That's why Daddy's been so busy."
"This is insane, I'm sure there's an explanation," Willow said, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Where will we live?" Karyna asked. I could tell she was thinking hard and trying to rationalize things.
"Well I know the house is paid off," Allura said. "I don't know about everything else though."
"Why are we freaking out?" Rym piped up. "Dad'll just make more money, so will Allie and Willow."
"You don't understand!" Athena bit back tears. "They hacked all of our accounts. All of them! Dad doesn't get paid in cash it's transferred to his bank account. The hackers forged our signatures so they get whatever money any of us make!"
Athena buried her face in her hands.
"Who would do that?" Ana said softly. "What did Dad do?"
"He didn't do anything," I said immediately. "There's got to be a more logical explanation."
Yeah, there was.
I had to do something.
~~~
Falling asleep wasn't easy. I had just found out that the next time I fought in the tournament was December. It was ridiculous.
I woke up to my alarm and light leaking through my side of my room's curtains, Rym was sleeping peacefully in her bed and I couldn't help but feel useless.
How could anyone do this? What had my father done? Was it all just for money?
I sat up in my bed and stared at my folded hands, allowing some tears to fall from my violet eyes. Eventually I found myself silently sobbing, holding back a hiccup with my right hand. I wiped the tears from my face not so delicately and slipped out of bed as silently as possible, scurrying to Rym and I's bathroom.
My phone clock read nine-thirty, I let out a breath of relief. Plenty of time for my Saturday morning workout. I decided not to shower since I was going to get sweaty anyway and settled for Dove deodorant. Then I threw my long, black hair into a tight messy bun and threw on some Nike pros and a muscle shirt.
Good enough.
I grabbed my water bottle and started downstairs, not smelling breakfast to my surprise. It wasn't like I couldn't cook or anything, it was just either Mom or Maria insisted on making breakfast.
But neither Mom or Maria were anywhere in sight.
It was weird to see the kitchen so quiet and vacant at this time in the morning, but I shrugged it off the best I could and started making myself an egg in a cup.
Once the microwave beeped, telling me my eggs were done, I removed them and sat down alone at the counter. It was awkward and lonely.
And living with eight sisters was never lonely.
I only ended up eating half of my salted egg in a cup since I could hear myself chewing and eventually lost my appetite. So I texted Mom where I was going(luckily the gym was within walking distance) and laced up my black Jordan's. Finally I grabbed my small duffel bag of extra clothes and headed out the door.
~~~
I entered the gym feeling calm and relaxed. The familiar aroma of sweaty workout equipment and rubber from running shoes greeting my nose when I looked around. I decided to go for the treadmills when I hear a familiar-
"Yo Lily!"
I whipped my head in the direction of River's voice and saw the three boys, Carter, Damien and River standing together by the pull up bars. My lips upturned into a small smile and I began to walk towards.
Crap. I began to feel self conscious since I hadn't put any makeup on, but they didn't seem to mind so I just went with it.
"You guys do Saturday morning gym workouts?" was the first thing that came out of my mouth.
Dang it Lilith of course they did! They're all ripped! I mean, Damien's so-so I guess but River and Carter at least were.
Well... I had never seen them around on Saturdays...
"Wait, this is a daily thing for you?" Damien asked, answering my question.
"Well yeah," I chuckled nervously. "Can't you tell?"
I held up my arms, trying to make whatever muscle I did have bulge.
"I can tell," River smiled, wiggling his eyebrows. "How 'bout you Carter?"
I gulped and as softly as I could and tried to changed the subject.
"Whoa there," I said smoothly. "You like Jasmine remember?"
I knew my distraction worked because River's face turned a bright shade of red, making me giggle. He slapped Carter's shoulder to my surprise though.
"Ow!" Carter exclaimed in the cutest way-
No. No no. Stop it Lilith you're better than this. You do illegal underground fighting remember? Carter's too perfect and nice to deserve to be roped into something like that.
"You told her!" River accused, snapping me back into reality.
"Relax!" I rolled my eyes. "A blind person could that you liked her."
River ran a hand through his fluffy blonde hair and sighed. "Fantastic."
I chuckled, not being able to tear my gaze from Carter's beautiful muscle-
Push up contest! Yes Lily push up contest.
"So Carter, you wanna see who can do the most push ups?" I smiled devilishly.
Carter shot me a challenging look and chuckled. "You're on Easton."
I smiled and raced over to the solo exercising area, getting into a push up position, Carter eventually catching up and doing the same.
"Go!" Damien laughed.
Huh, I was so used to another word I almost stopped to correct him, but I almost immediately remembered my mistake.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
"Don't slip Landon," I chuckled, quickening my up and down motion.
Carter leaned over closer, I noticed River and Damien were arguing on whether I'd win or Carter. Somehow his mouth was right next to my ear without halting his push ups.
"Right back at you Easton," he whispered.
Dang it. Those five words almost had me tumbling down. But no, instead my body betrayed me with a worse punishment.
I blushed.
Anyway, fifty-two push ups later, Carter actually stopped himself, softly gripped his stomach and letting out a quiet groan. He lowered his knees and sat down, exhaling.
"You good Landon?" I asked curiously, but I was a bit more chipper than I was before.
I reach out my hand and Carter took it, sending a tingle from the tips of my fingers to the bottom of my stomach.
"Yeah yeah, fine," he says, catching his breath.
"Dude only fifty-six?" Damien scoffs. "How have I lost to you all these years?"
"Cause your noodle arms couldn't unscrew a pickle jar that's why," River laughs.
Damien shoots his goofy friend a glare and shakes his head. I laugh with River until I feel a buzz on the side of my hip. I hastily take out my phone and look at who send me a text.
Momma_E ~ Lily, we all need to have a talk. Come home now.
I swallowed. I knew what the talk would be about.
"I have to go," I say, offering a weak smile. "Enjoy your workout boys."
Then I grabbed my small duffel bag I had stupidly set by a treadmill and zipped out of there, not forgetting to wave goodbye.
I tightened my frizzy, messy bun and started to walk home.
Ugh, this was such a mess.
~~~
"So the house is paid off..."
My mom was sitting next to dad on the arm of one of our furniture chairs. She looked stressed and tired, so did dad. We were all in the large living room of ours, listening to how things were going to be.
"We can still live here?" Athena asked, her spirits lifting.
"Yes," Dad said with a small smile. "and we own everything in this place, but I'm afraid we can't afford for Maria work here. Or anyone else so it'll be a struggle to keep this place up."
We nodded.
"We can all help," Karyna smiled.
"Thank you sweetie," said Mom. "Your father and I need to figure things out... but this isn't the ideal place to do it. We need to go to New York where your dad's headquarters are."
"Wait... you're leaving?" Athena asked softly. "What about us?"
"It's just for a month," Dad explained. "We trust you girls will be able to care for yourselves, Willow you already have a steady job, Allura and Ana do as well."
"Our accounts," Ana reminded them.
"We've had them taken care of, your money will be transferred like normal," Mom answered. "But we weren't able to salvage the money you've saved."
"What?!" Ana cried. "But... college! I make a lot but I'll need to work harder to earn all of that back! What about you guys, you still have monthly bills to pay."
"That's why we're going to New York, Anastasia," Dad sighed. "We're... sorting things out."
I couldn't believe how complicated everything had gotten. I needed to win my family's money back, and figure out a way to get it back to them without saying anything about me fighting."
I rubbed my temple to process everything.
"I have to go," Allura said. "Write. I have a lot of work to do."
"Same," said Ana and Willow.
"Yes, good," Mom smiled. "Great."
"We'll do our Saturday chores," Evelyn piped up. "Get everything straightened up."
Great.
~~~
Hello...
Tbh this chapter was really hard to write, my brain hurts. Let me know how it turned out, I'm so sorry it took so long.
Btw I decided to give myself a deadline since I've been crazy busy and have not been focused enough, it's time get my head back in the game. So I'll try to update every Sunday, if I update sooner, lucky you ;) Later, I was probably really busy and/or swamped.
So anywho, here's your River quote;
Love you all to pieces <3