Keela (Slater Brothers #2.5) (10 page)

Alec tensed as he picked up two boxes. “We'll talk about this later.”

Wonderful.

“You're
so
gettin' spanked,” Aideen murmured making the girls giggle.

Alec's lip quirked as he walked by me, and his brothers each sported their own knowing grin as they followed him, carrying boxes of their own.

Men!

I turned back to the girls. “Now what do I do?” I asked.

Aideen frowned. “Get the last of your things and... leave here.”

My heart stilled and I took a step backwards. “So soon? But—”

“There is no reason to stay here, Kay. You're all packed up and ready for your new house with Alec.”

Oh, shite.

“Right,” I said and licked my suddenly dry lips.

Bronagh looked sullen as she said, “Are you okay?”

I nodded my head. “I'm fine.”

Branna lightly smiled at me. “You're nervous.”

Try terrified.

“Maybe a little,” I murmured.

Branna chuckled. “You will be fine. Movin' out of here will be hard for you—it's been your home for the last few years, but your new house will be your home too, and Alec's. You will get used to it.”

Will I?

“I hope so,” I replied and sighed. “This sucks.”

Bronagh was transfixed on watching me, her face contorted in a grimace.

“Are you sure that's all?” she asked.

I nodded my head. “Yeah.”

She continued to stare at me, then she said, “You're lyin'.”

I blinked. “What? No, I'm not.”

“You are,” she pressed. “I can see it. You're scared... but not just about movin' houses. It's somethin' more than that.”

Aideen stepped to my side. “Drop it, Bronagh.”

“No,” she replied to Aideen without looking away from me. “We're your friends, and I want to know what is wrong so I can help you.”

She was such a lovely person.

I forced a smile. “Bee, I'm fi—”

“Don't,” Bronagh cut me off. “Don't lie to me, Keela. I
know
you're lyin'.”

How?

I was silent for a long period of time, and during this time Bronagh, Branna, and Aideen just stared at me. Waiting.

“It's... It's just... I'm... I'm havin' nightmares. I'm rememberin' everythin' and I don't know if things are right with Alec. I just don't feel... right with meself,” I blurted out then quickly looked out of my bedroom and down the hallway to make sure none of the lads were there to hear me.

I looked back from the hallway to the girls and found Branna was looking between Bronagh and myself.

“Why are you lookin' at us?” I asked.

Branna nudged Bronagh. “Tell her.”

I blinked. “Tell me what?”

“I had them too... the nightmares.”

Her admission took my breath away a little. “You did?” I whispered.

Bronagh nodded, her eyes filling with tears. “I had them for a long time. They still happen every now and then.”

I swallowed. “Do you... do you see bad things?”

Bronagh nodded her head. “Yeah... I remember what I went through, but my mind adds my worries to my dreams and the bad things that I witnessed happen to Dominic or Branna, and I have to watch.”

I gasped. “Me too! I see everyone—me uncle, Marco, and the brothers. A shadow figure kills Alec and I can't stop it no matter how hard I try, but the shadow figure turns out to be me and I tell myself I don't deserve Alec, and then the brothers ask why I let him die, and then I kill myself at the end of the dream, and then I wake up. It's the same one all the time. Some things differ, but it's always Alec who dies and I'm the one to kill him.”

I didn't realise I was crying until all the girls stepped to me and placed their hands on me.

“It gets easier,” Bronagh whispered to me and pulled me into a hug.

She rocked me as Branna asked, “Does Alec know?”

“No!” I gasped and pulled back from Bronagh's hold. “And he can't know. I don't want to worry him.”

All the girls frowned at me, but I shook my head. “This stays between us—promise me.”

Bronagh groaned.

“Bronagh, promise,” I demanded.

She sighed, “I promise.”

I nodded and looked to Branna and Aideen, and they both murmured, “I promise.”

“Thank you,” I said.

Bronagh sighed, again. “The part of your dream where you hurt Alec, is it because you're scared to lose him or somethin'?”

“Or that you're goin' to be the one to end it with him?” Aideen chimed in.

The Murphy sisters gasped. “
End it
?” they asked in unison.

“You don't want to be with Alec?” Bronagh asked, her eyes wide with shock.

I glared at Aideen who held her hands up. “It was a viable question.”

I looked away from her and back to Bronagh. “I
do
want to be with him. I love him. I just don't know about how fast everythin' is movin' with us. It's so much for me to wrap me head around.”

Branna blew out a sigh of relief. “So explain that to him, he will understand.”

I frowned. “He won't, if he had his way we would be married and knee deep in babies.”

“You don't want that?” Branna asked.

“I do, but not right now,” I explained. “When he asked me to marry him we only knew each other just under two weeks. I fell for him too hard and too fast, I didn't think feelings could develop that quickly but they did and my acceptance to his proposal was fuelled on by almost losin' him to Marco and that entire fucked up situation. I was livin' in the now, when I should have been realistic and just started up a normal relationship and took it one day at a time.”

The girls all listened to me as I spoke.

“So you just wanna be engaged for a few years?” Bronagh asked.

I nodded my head. “We're still learnin' new things about one another, and findin' out little things here and there about our pasts from before the Bahamas. I just want it to be me and him simply datin' for awhile longer... is that so terrible?”

All three girls shook their heads.

“No, it's not,” Aideen said. “It's completely understandable.”

Oh, thank God.

“You have to tell him eventually,” Branna said after a moment.

I cast my gaze downwards. “I know, but I don't know how to go about it.”

“You might wanna try today before we take all your stuff to the new house.”

I froze. “I can't do that, he can't wait to move to the new house.”

Bronagh look deflated. “Better you let him know your feelings here than when you move into the new house and can't come back here.”

I thought on that for a moment and pushed the idea away. “No, I'm just extra touchy because of the move. Once we're settled into the new house I'll explain everythin' to him and we can go from there.”

None of the girls looked happy with my decision, but they accepted it.

We all stopped talking and I quickly wiped away my tears when I heard laughter come from outside my apartment. Bronagh wiped her eyes too, but it was obvious from the redness and blotches on her cheeks that she had been crying. She was cursed with the evidence of crying—she couldn't hide it.

The lads entered the apartment and they called out to us. Alec spotted us still in the bedroom so they all walked down the hallway to us.

“I win, Kitten.” Alec grinned. “I have more boxes packed than you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. I'm gonna poison your food.”

Alec laughed and looked from me to the girls. I saw the second his eyes landed on Bronagh and the change in his demeanour.

“Bee? What's wrong?” he asked, worry laced in his tone.

I smiled. They all loved Bronagh.

“Nothin',” Bronagh replied.

Nico stepped forward. “You were crying,” he stated.

“I wasn't, I rubbed me eyes 'cause dust got in them... that's all.”

She was the worst liar in the history of liars. She wouldn't look Dominic in the eye, and she kept glancing at me. Nico looked at me, and I cast my gaze down to my fingers and played with them. Bronagh was a shite liar, but I was pretty sure I was no better so I didn't look at him.

“What happened?” Nico asked us girls.

“Nothin',” I mumbled.

“Did you argue?” Nico asked us.

We shook our heads.

I glanced to the other brothers and found they were all staring at me.

I was startled.

“What?” I asked them.

Kane and Ryder remained silent, but Nico said, “Something happened, the girls keep looking at you.”

Cheers, girls.

“Nothin' happened,” Bronagh insisted. “We're cool.”

“What were you four talking about while we were downstairs then?” Nico challenged.

Aideen snorted. “Ways to give Alec the shits if he makes Keela cook for him for a month.”

“Hey!” Alec shouted. “You would have made me do a striptease if you won!”

I gasped. “I would have never—”

“Keela,” Alec cut me off and gave me a knowing look.

I couldn't help but laugh. “Okay, I would have.”

“Exactly.”

We all chuckled then.

I glanced around. “What can I box that will even the game out?” I murmured.

“Nothing. Everything is done.”

Damn it.

“I don't believe that,” I said.

I went in search of anything that I could put into a box and pass off as an addition to my haul in the moving van downstairs, but I couldn't find anything. All of us girls were in the sitting room when the lads suddenly screamed and looked over at the front door.

“Storm!”

Storm?

“What?” I shouted. “What is it?”

Alec looked at me with wide eyes. “Storm ran out.”

My baby!

He could get out of the apartment complex and run out onto the road and get hit by a car.

Oh my God!

I was going to vomit.

“Storm?” us girls screamed out in unison and ran out into the hallway of my building.

I jumped with fright when a bang sounded from behind us.

We each spun around and stared at my now closed apartment door.

What the hell?

I stepped forward and pressed down on the handle of my door, but it wouldn't open. It was locked, but it couldn't be, you had to lock it from the inside—

“Omigod!” I gasped and cut my own thoughts off.

I looked up and down the hall and gasped again.

“What?” Bronagh asked.

I kicked my apartment door. “They tricked us. We're locked out.”

Bronagh was silent for a second before she exploded into rage. “You lyin' bastards!” she shouted and slapped on my apartment door.

Laughter sounded from inside my apartment. “All is fair in love and war, Pretty Girl.”

Bronagh growled, “When I get me hands on you Dominic you're goin' to wish you were never born.”

Nico laughed, “I'm not worried.”

“You fuckin' should be!” Bronagh bellowed.

I could see Bronagh and how mad she was, Nico should have been scared.

Very scared.

“Ryder, open the door!” Branna asked politely.

“No can do, sweets,” came Ryder's swift reply. “I'm only a man, I can't help finish packing with you seducing me.”

“None of us can!” Alec shouted. “You all sunk to a new low, using our own cocks against us. You should be ashamed.”

We
should be ashamed?

“You used our love for an innocent dog to get us outside! You said he ran out!” I snapped.

Alec cackled. “That was your mistake.”

“What was?” I growled.

“Believing Storm would willingly run anywhere.”

All the lads burst into laughter.

“Bastards!” I yelled.

I angrily folded my arms across my chest and glared at the peephole of my door. I had a feeling like we were being watched so I gave the peephole the middle finger and more laughter sounded from inside.

“Your girl is pissed, bro,” Kane said, then chuckled.

Aideen growled from my left, “You wait, Kane Slater. You just wait.”

Kane howled with laughter. “What are you going to do, shout at me? I'm
so
terrified.”

Aideen shook with anger, Bronagh and Branna shouted in annoyance, while I seethed in silence.

They were going to pay for this.

Big time.

“Are you not talking to me?” Alec asked as I angrily shoved my phone and its charger into my handbag.

I slung it over my shoulder and smacked Alec with it in the process.

“You're still pissed, I get it. No need to hit me,” he said and took a step away from me.

No need to hit him.
Ha!

I should kill the fucker for what he did.

He locked the girls and me out of my apartment so he and the lads could triple check that everything was packed up. He left us outside for twenty minutes while they searched. The dickheads. They even used Storm getting out of the apartment against us. They were evil, and I refused to look or speak to any of them.

When I packed up my handbag, I picked up my laptop case and put the strap over my shoulder. I looked around my bare apartment to make sure I had everything one last time before we left. My landlord would be by to check everything out in a few hours, and once everything was to his liking he would put my deposit on the apartment into my bank account.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my keys, I took off the apartment key and placed it on the counter. I heard Alec brush his pockets, then his own keys jingled. He unhooked his key from the chain, and reached around me to place it on the counter next to mine.