Serenity and tranquillity surround me before a series of nudges to my shoulder and the continued whispers of 'wake up' in my ear pull me away from it. I groggily open my eyes and take in my surroundings.
I'm still seated in the car with my head rested on Liam's arm, I look up at him in question unsure why he woke me from my peaceful slumber.
"We are home, you need to wake up," he says softly and I rub my eyes as I nod in understanding.
"Do I need to?" I whine sleepily making him chuckle.
"Yes, now wakey wakey!" He says ruffling my hair which annoys me, but I'm too sleepy to react to it.
I watch as the car is being driven into the garage, convincing myself that I still have a few more minutes before I have to get out of the car, I close my eyes once again with my head still resting on his arm.
"She's out again," I hear someone mumble next to me, but I chose to ignore it.
"Take her up to bed, we can wake her up a bit later when dinner's ready," I hear the stranger recommend.
I'm taken aback when my brothers consider his recommendation and I feel myself being lifted. 'Who is this man and from when did MY brothers start taking advice from anyone?'
"Put me down," I say opening my eyes to find myself in Liam's arms. He puts me down immediately and looks at me with frowned brows.
"What?" I ask when he keeps looking at me in the same way. "Nothing," he mumbles and heads inside the house.
Flowing him, I too enter the house and my eyes immediately start to search for Lindsey and I spot her soon enough sitting next to Fallon on one of our many sofas. Approaching them I take a seat next to her, laying my head on her shoulder I close my eyes as a yawn escapes my lips.
"I'm so thankful the match didn't go into overtime," Lindsey says sighing in relief and I nod in agreement.
"I saw Chrissie in the bleachers," I blurt out randomly. Lindsey suddenly jerks her shoulder to the side causing my head to fall off. I give her an annoyed look only to receive a look of disbelief in return.
"What was she doing there?" She asks and I roll my eyes.
"Sorry I forgot to ask? What could she possibly be doing there; I don't know, hmm?... Maybe watching the match?" I retort, sarcasm dripping from my every word.
"You're mean when you are tired," she points out with a pout earning a shrug from me.
"But on a serious note, I feel bad for her. But then again, she was a bitch to everyone on the team, so she kind of deserved it," Lindsey voices her thoughts.
"She's a good player though," I point out and she nods in agreement.
"In more than one way," she adds evocatively which causes me to cringe in disgust at the picture her words put in my head when I realize what she's implying.
"I didn't need that image in my head," I whisper yell at her smacking her arm as she bursts out giggling at my mortified face.
"What image?" Lucas butts in into our conversation with a curious yet suspicious look.
"Nothing," Lindsey says in-between laughs while I try to rid myself of the horrifying image that has formed in my head.
He looks at us with narrowed eyes, "Lucas leave the girls alone," the same stranger commands authoritatively. A million questions form in my head when Lucas stops his interrogation and leaves grumbling to himself.
"Who is this guy?" I ask Lindsey in a hushed tone since everyone in the room seemed to know him except me.
Lindsey turns to looks at me with an unreadable expression in her eyes. "You don't know who he is?" She asks almost in disbelief which causes my frown to deepen.
"If I did would I be asking you?" I counter a bit irritated.
"Astoria his is you-" Lindsey is stopped mid-sentence by Fallon, "Linds can you come here for a second?" Lindsey looks unsure for a moment but soon nods in compliance and head over to her sister.
I discreetly glance at the stranger, meticulously studying him. His very familiar eye causes a nagging feeling in my gut. He is standing next to Noah and Liam who are busy conversing with him.
The ringing of my phone grabs my attention, I narrow my eyes at the unknown caller ID but accept the call nevertheless.
"Hello?" I'm the first one to speak as soon as I press accept.
"Hey, it's me, Parker," the person on the other side says.
"How did you get my number?" I ask, my defensive mechanism kicking in almost immediately.
"I have my ways," he replies obnoxiously.
"You know how stalkerish that is?" I point out as I move out of the room and head towards the patio away from anyone else's hearing range.
"Eh," he says nonchalantly.
'Why am I still talking to him?'
"Why are you calling me Parker?" I ask cutting to the chase.
"I thought you said you would love to talk more?" He articulates feign a hurt voice quoting me.
"That's called being polite and having manners," I retort, rolling my eyes at his words even though he can't see me.
"Well that hurts," he grumbles, all the playfulness gone from his voice.
"That's your problem, not mine," I tell him in a casual tone.
"You are definitely a Santos." I frown at his words. "What's that supposed to mean?" I voice my curiosity.
"Never mind that, the reason I called is to ask if you would be coming to watch the game next Friday?"
"What game?" I enquire further.
"The boys team are playing our first game next Friday, you silly girl," he chuckles and I just roll my eyes once again.
"Nah, I have plans next Friday," I say lying through my teeth, but not feeling the least bit guilty about it.
"You sure you don't want to change or maybe even cancel those plans?" His asks haughtily, I can feel the egoistic smirk in his tone which irritates me.
"Yup! Plus, I have no interest in being there either way," I retort truthfully. This guy has an ego the size of Mount Everest and I'm in one way going to add to it.
"Fine, it's your loss," he says and even though he tries to act all cool and unaffected by the situation, I know that I have hurt his fragile ego.
"Um-Parker?" I say with hesitation and uncertainty, "yeah?" He replies almost immediately with an edge of hopefulness to his tone.
"Lose my number, will you?" Saying this I hang up without giving him the time to respond.
Giggling to myself, I head back into the room. Still at the entrance of the room, I notice a heated conversation going on inside between Jack, Xavier, Liam, and the stranger.
"You can't just take such a major decision without even consulting us!" Jack yelled at the rest and the stranger in particular, his face red with rage as his eyes sparking with fury.
Frightening and a bit intrigued at what is unfolding inside, I decide to stay where I am away from their sight and watch.
"Jack mind your tone, don't forget who you're talking to," Xavier warns in the most intimidating tone I have ever heard which sends shivers down my spine.
"Mind my tone?" Jack scoffs, " do you understand what he's proposing here Xavier?!" he adds and I flinch at his tone.
"I have to agree with Jack here, this is ridiculous!" Jason climbs in adding his opinion to the ongoing conversation.
"It does not matter what either of you thinks boy, my decision is final and binding in this family," the stranger says in a controlled voice and with an impassive demeanor looking at Jason dead in the eye challenging him to protest.
"I'm with these two on this, Astoria just like every other family member here deserves to stay with her family. She will not be going anywhere and that's final dad," Xavier's words cause shock and realization to hit me like jolts of lightning that run up my spine and hit my brain-numbing every part of my being.
'Dad?!'
'Sending me away?'
A thousand questions are running through my mind, but I'm too numb to even care to find the answer. 'How many more things are they hiding from me?' I ask myself as tears of betrayal accumulate in my eyes, but I refuse to set them free.
"She needs us and we need her. The only way we will know that she is safe for sure is when she is with us physically and not eight thousand miles away!" Noah tries to reason out, but from the look of it, the man who Xavier called 'dad' doesn't seem the least bit convinced by it.
"I did give you a fair chance, didn't I? But you all failed miserably. I will not be compromising on my daughter's safety and that's it!" His voice booms through the room with authority and power.
"Mr. Santos with all due respect sir, relocating Astoria to a safe house eight thousand miles away will only cause her psychological distress and nothing more. Being ripped away from her newly found family after her mother's tragic death will be hard on her and while I understand your perspective and want nothing more than her wellbeing, and completely understand your intentions of keeping her safe, physically you may succeed, but mentally you are harming her more than you think," Fallon explains calmly and her words seem to put him in deep thoughts.
The room falls silent for a while and I notice Xavier mouthing a 'thank you' to Fallon, I mutely witness everything my body still processing all the newfound information.
"You make a fair point Fallon... She can stay, but I want her security doubled," he gives in. Everyone in the room visibly relaxes at this and so does the tension in the room.
"If we increase or tighten her security anymore, the next thing that will be tightened is the rope around our neck as she strangles us to death," Jack grumbles which cause everyone to burst out laughing except me.
Why would I?
All I feel at the moment is betrayal and hurt piercing through my chest. 'First, they keep secrets and now they are deciding my future for me?'
'Were they even going to ask me if I wanted to go?'
'Probably not, just ship me off to wherever'
'When were they going to tell me, about him being my dad?'
I didn't trust easily, but with them, it came naturally, maybe that's why it hurts so much to know that even Lindsey got to be a part of this conversation but not me?
'Did they even know I was not in the room?'
Mustering up all my courage, I walk into the room with my head held high. Not paying them or they dumbfounded looks as I walk past them any mind, I make my way out of the room.
"Astoria-" I don't wait for them to continue and make a run for my room.
Locking the door as soon as I can, I push a chair in front of it and jam it under the knob to double lock it, knowing well that they have a key to every room in the mansion.
'When did my life get so complicated?'
I fall on my bed and let the tears free. 'What should I be more upset about? The fact that they never told me about my father? Or that they don't deem me worthy to be apart of a conversation regarding ME!'
It's hard to trust someone with all your secrets when all they do is keep you in the dark. There is a limit to where I can tolerate being kept in the dark, the excuse of my 'safety' and 'what I don't know can't hurt me' can't cover up for them forever.
'If they have no regard for how I feel, then I'll return the favor!' Now all I need to do is think of something that will irritate and enrage them as much as I am right now.
Like a light bulb an idea illuminates my brain, grabbing my phone I decide to do something that I know for sure will turn their faces red in rage. There will be consequences for my actions and I'm willing to take the risk.
But what if I'm risking more on the line than I should?
Author's Note:
Lately, writer's block has been giving me a tough time, but I tried to overcome it and I must say your comments were of great help.
Hope all of you are safe and healthy and are having a great day!
Thanks for reading
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~Kia