Keela (Slater Brothers #2.5) (14 page)

Bronagh shoved her. “You took one too, so shut it.”

Alannah balked at her. “You forced me. You literally pulled my trousers and knickers down!”

That statement sent the three musketeers into another fit of laughter.

“Have you ever heard of waxin'?” Aideen asked, then fell into the bathtub as she burst into uncontrollable laughter. Bronagh and Branna were wheezing from laughing so hard.

I wanted to laugh simply because they were laughing, but I had to keep my no-bullshit expression on my face to get to the bottom of what the hell they did.

Alannah angrily folded her arms across her chest and glared at Aideen. “It's
winter
time, who gets a wax during this season? Give me a break!”

I looked between all the faces before me and felt the beginnings of a headache form in the base of my skull.

“What the hell went on in here?” I asked. “You forced Alannah to get semi naked with you all, to what? Jump her bones?”

Bronagh put her hand in the air like she was a student in primary school, and I was the teacher waiting to give her permission to speak.

I couldn't help but grin as I said, “Yeah, Bee, what is it?”

“Can you tell Dominic what you think happened? He will be so hot for me, thinkin' that I was strippin' Lana that he will overlook me drinkin' this early.”

I snorted. “Don't use me to soften up your lad, they
all
told you wait until they got back before crackin' open the wine. You three can deal with those impendin' arguments on your own.”

Aideen put her up hand next and that move did make me laugh because she was in fact the educator out of the five of us.

“What is it, Ado?” I asked.

“I'm not in a relationship with any of the brothers so they can't say shite to me,” she said proudly from her spot in the bathtub.

Branna rolled her eyes. “Please, you and Kane argue most out of the lot of us. You two are practically in a relationship, but don't kiss, have sex, or do anythin' intimate... you're in an enemyship.”

Aideen seethed in silence while we all chuckled at Branna's very correct observation.

Alannah grunted to me, “Can you get back to you givin' out to them for forcing me to—”

“We didn't force you, you wanted to do it for fun too. I could see it in your freckled face!” Bronagh cut Alannah off and laughed with her sister.

I raised my hands to my temples and rubbed. “What the hell did the four of you do?”

Things were eerily silent for a moment until Aideen cracked it with a giggle. “We took pregnancy tests.”

I blinked my eyes and stared at her.

“You took pregnancy tests?” I repeated.

“Yes,” Bronagh giggled. “Just for fun.”

I continued to blink and stare as I silently judged my group of friends.

They were such morons.

“Okay, so you took pregnancy tests... you better have thrown them in the bin and washed the counter down—if I find piss anywhere in here I'm stickin' your noses in it,” I warned.

Bronagh gasped. “Like a dog?”

“Exactly.” I grinned. “Just like a dog.”

Bronagh widened her eyes and it made Branna laugh. “Would you relax, we cleaned up and we'll wipe down the counter again when we're done with the tests.”

That piqued my interest.

“You mean you aren't already done with them?” I asked.

Branna shook her head. “We're waitin' for—”

Someone's phone let out a shrill sound cutting Branna off and causing her, and the other girls to grin.

“We were waitin' for
that
alarm,” she finished.

I rolled my eyes. “Well, go on then. Look and then throw them in the bin.”

All four of the girls remained still.

“Oh, shite. I can't do it,” Bronagh said as her complexion suddenly paled.

“I can't either,” the other three morons mumbled in unison.

I threw my hands up in the air. “Why did you take them if you're too afraid to see the results?”

Bronagh wiped her brow with the back of her hand. “Because it dawned on me that I could be pregnant. Me and Dominic have been tryin' for months.”

I stared at her. “So why can't you look?”

“Because it's terrifyin'!” she replied.

“Oh, for the love of God,” I grumbled and pushed them out of the way. “I'll bloody do it.”

I stumbled forward, but when Alannah didn't move aside right away it caused me to fall into the counter. I caught myself and wasn't hurt, but my forearm sent the pregnancy tests into the sink.

“Shite,” I said and quickly gathered them.

I wasn't worried about them being tampered, they all had the caps on the end where you urinate. I just had no clue which stick was whose because they were all the same brand of pregnancy test.

“Now we don't know which test is which!” Aideen groaned and got out of my bathtub.

Alannah snorted. “One will definitely be negative, I can't remember the last time I had sex.”

Bronagh grinned. “I do, it was six months ago and you said your one night stand was
way
better than... What's the insult you dubbed him with? Was it Snowflake?”

“Bronagh!” Alannah gasped. “We're not discussin'
him
!”

Him?

“Who is
him
? Who is Snowflake?” I asked.

Alannah glared at Bronagh. “Don't,” she warned.

Bronagh ignored Alannah and looked to me as she said, “Damien.”

I remained quiet for a second then said, “Damien Slater?”

Bronagh nodded her head then hissed when Alannah thumped her in the arm.

Branna and Aideen giggled as Bronagh grumbled and rubbed her arm.

“You had a
thing
with Damien?” I asked Alannah.

She groaned. “It was one night
years
ago, it is
not
a big deal. Seriously. We were kids.”

Bronagh gave Alannah a knowing look. “You're lyin' through your teeth and you know it.”

Alannah sighed, but remained silent.

I was shocked.

“You
shagged
Damien?” I asked.

Things were silent for a moment then everyone burst into laughter, including Alannah.

“Dude, nice one. Damien is fit!” Aideen said then high-fived Alannah who was shaking her head.

“Hey!” Bronagh frowned.

Aideen rolled her eyes. “I said Damien, not Dominic.”

Bronagh deadpanned, “They're identical twins.”

“Can't be, they have different hair colour,” Aideen said, waving Bronagh off.

Bronagh shook her head. “I said that too, but they both informed me it didn't mean anythin'. Even with the different hair colour they have matching DNA—they're identical twins. It's very rare for twins to have different eye colour or hair colour because their DNA is a blueprint match, but Dominic and Damien are that very small percentile of identical twins with different hair colour. Argue against it all you want, but that's how it is.”

Aideen was silent for a moment. “Okay... but I still think Damien is hotter. Sorry, not sorry.”

I laughed. “You never met him—neither of us have. How can you think he is hotter than Dominic? That lad is ripped.”

“Girls, that's me fella you're both—”

“Because I'm around Dominic so much that I think of him as a kid brother. He
is
the same age as Gavin after all.”

I pinched the bridged of my nose. “Damien is the same age too... We
just
discussed them being
identical twins
meaning they're possibly minutes apart in age.”

Aideen snorted. “Yeah, but Damien could be a boy toy that I could—”

“I
beg
you not to finish that sentence!” Branna suddenly cut Aideen off and heaved.

I laughed and looked at Aideen. “I'm tellin' Kane you want to shag his little brother.”

“I'm gonna be sick,” Bronagh mumbled.

Aideen grinned. “Make sure I'm present when you do.”

“You're twisted,” I stated, but smirked.

“You speak the truth,” Aideen replied, not fazed by my insult.

Alannah held her hands up in the air. “Can we get
off
the Damien topic, please?”

“You mean the Snowflake topic?”

Bronagh cracked up laughing. “I
love
that insult, so much better than Fuckface.”

I chuckled and looked at Alannah.

She didn't look angry.

She looked sad.

I momentarily wondered what that was about.

“Sure, we can get of the topic,” I murmured then looked down to my hands.

I flicked through the pregnancy tests. “Negative, negative, negative, nega—Wait, what?”

“What?” the four girls shouted in unison.

I stared down at the pregnancy test in my right hand with wide eyes. “This one is positive.”

All of the girls gasped.

“Fuck off!” Aideen snapped.

“You're messin!” Bronagh accused.

“I'll cry if you're playin',” Branna whispered.

“It's not mine,” Alannah stated.

I looked up from the positive pregnancy test then lifted it in the air and flipped it around so each girl could clearly see the visible pink plus sign.

“I'm dead serious, it's positive.”

“Omigod!” the girls cried.

I was shaking.

One of the girls was pregnant... but which one?

“Why didn't you mark the bloody tests so you knew which one was whose?” I snapped.

“Because we weren't expectin' you, aka he-woman, to crash into the counter and knock them all into the bloody sink!” Aideen bellowed back.

I felt like I was about to throw up.

“So one of you is pregnant, but we don't know who?” I asked.

Bronagh had tears in her eyes. “Dominic and me are tryin' and Ryder and Branna don't use protection and she came off birth control last month so it could be either of us. Alannah had sex six months ago so it's not her... Aideen, what about you?”

Aideen was pale. “Could be. I had unprotected sex a good few weeks ago with a one night stand.”

Oh, for Christ sakes.

“Fuckin' hell, Aideen,” I growled.

“I know,” she snapped. “I know it was stupid, you don't need to convince me of what I already know.”

I rubbed my pounding head. “Take more tests to see which one of you it is.”

Bronagh nodded her head and quickly jumped up and opened my medicine cabinet. She pushed aside a few things and then gasped. “There are none left.”

Bloody hell.

“We'll have to go get more,” I said and placed my hands on my hips.

“If I move I'm gonna puke everywhere,” Bronagh informed me.

“Me too,” Branna mumbled.

I glanced to Aideen who looked like she was about to fall over and I groaned.

“Look after them,” I said to Alannah. “I'll go get the stupid tests.”

Alannah nodded her head to me as I walked out of my bathroom and descended the stairs.

This was all I needed.

I had enough on my mind without worrying about the girls.

I was so consumed with my thoughts as I stepped off the bottom step of my staircase that I forgot about my surroundings and walked head first into a chest. I stumbled backward, but arms gripped onto my shoulders and held me steady.

“Whoa, careful, sweetheart.”

I stood motionless as I opened my eyes and stared at my unexpected houseguest.

“What are
you
doin' here?” I asked, my voice a growl.

“Now, now. That's no way to talk to your uncle.”

“Cut the bullshit, Uncle Brandon,” I said and stepped back away from him. “What are you doin' here? How the hell did you get in here?”

My uncle dropped his arms to his sides and frowned at me. “I'm here for your housewarmin' party.”

The stupid, fucking housewarming party.

How the hell did he even know about it?

I was going to
kill
Alec for arranging it.

“Now is a bad time, I've stuff to do and—”

“Keela,” my uncle cut me off. “Calm down and take a breath.”

I did as he said and took a nice deep breath.

“Good.” My uncle nodded.

My pounding head worsened by the second, and the sight of my uncle didn't help matters.

“Why are you here? I thought we agreed to havin' lunch once a month.
Once
.”

He was lucky I agreed to seeing him once a month, I found it hard to be around him now. Especially with my nightmares, I was worried about what I would see.

My uncle snorted. “I wanted to see you, so sue me.”

I grunted, “I can't be dealin' with this right now.”

“Is everythin' okay?” my uncle asked.

I sighed. “Yes, everythin' is fine, but the party is not happenin' anymore so you will have to—”

“What do you mean the party isn't happenin' anymore? We drove over here for
nothin'
?”

I recognised that voice, and I glared at my uncle. “You didn't.”

Uncle Brandon groaned, “You and your 
cousin 
haven't spoken in over a
year
.”

“She bailed on me weddin'!” Micah's shrill tone shouted, filling my ears.

Jesus... why are you doing this to me?

I wanted to cry. “I
had
to leave, Micah... and we haven't spoken because you won't give me the time of day.”

Micah scoffed and stepped out from behind her father. “Why
did
you leave?”