500 Days (4 page)

Forgetting we ran here, I asked the boys for
a ride until Declan pulled me out the door saying we would be fine
running back. I gave a Jack a quick hug goodbye and whispered,
“Help me,” as Declan yanked on my arm. He laughed as I was dragged
out the door. Declan ran circles around me as I walked/jogged back
to our apartment. I checked the time to see I had a few hours
before I had to get ready for tonight. I crashed face first on my
bed and took a much needed nap.

Chapter 3

Casper

I made it back to the townhouse sometime
around three. Colton and Greyson were on the couch playing video
games when I stumbled in. Colton looked at his watch. “She must of
have been something. I don’t think I have ever seen you come in
this late.”

“
She was something
alright,” I mumbled to myself.

“
Details brother,” Greyson
demanded as he jerked his thumbs back and forth on the remote
controller never taking his eyes off of the TV.

I fell back on the recliner and ran my hand
over my face. “I’m trying to forget.”

“
What? We are talking
about the blonde from last night, right?”

“
Yep.”

“
Come on, what, she have
like a third nipple or something – oh fuck you!” Greyson yelled,
throwing the remote. Colton smiled at his victory and reached over
to grab a cigarette. Greyson leaned back on the couch. “So what was
so bad about her?”

“
Just not what I
expected.” I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my
knees.

“
That’s because you’re in
love with a woman who doesn’t exist,” Colton said, flicking ash off
his cigarette.

Greyson leaned forward. “Please don’t tell
me you’re still hung up on this mystery chick?” When I didn’t
respond he took it as a yes. “Dude, it was six months ago! Let go
of the fantasy and move on.”

As much of a dick as Greyson was, he was
right. I needed to let go of the imaginary girl with the ivy
tattoo. “I’m gonna hit the shower.” I got up and headed back to my
room. The only room that had its own bathroom. I tore off my
clothes, dropping each item on the floor as I headed into the
shower. I turned the water on hot and stepped in letting the stream
hit my face. I washed away the memories of last night and watched
it all go down the drain. I grabbed a towel from the rack and
wrapped it around my waist. Then I wiped the fog away from the
mirror. When I saw the long pieces of my hair flopping over my eyes
I knew it was time for a haircut not to mention I was long overdue
for a shave. I looked down at the unfinished tattoo on my arm and
knew I should call sometime this week to get that finished. I had a
lot of shit to do that I was putting off.

I squeezed the last of the
toothpaste onto my toothbrush. Okay, time to get my ass in gear. I
got dressed and combed my hair to the side, making it look somewhat
presentable. The one thing I loved about this haircut was that it
had many looks. It was short on the sides, but not shaved, and long
enough on top that I could spike it into a crazy Mohawk when I
wanted. And when I needed to look more respectable I could comb it
over to the side, but with the length it was at
now
,
it was
getting harder to maintain. I made a mental list of things I needed
to do and grabbed my keys on the way out. “Where you going?” Colton
asked.

“
Running some
errands.”

“
You going to dinner at
your dad’s?” Fuck, I forgot about that. “He called while you were
in the shower.” Colton stood up and slapped me on the shoulder.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be there to referee.” I raised my brows at him.
“He told me to come.” I nodded once. Of course he would want Colton
there. He liked him more than he did his own son. I’ve known Colton
since we were little. My dad and his dad were business partners.
His parents died in a plane crash when he was little. After the
accident my dad brought Colton to live with us and later adopted
him. I didn’t mind. Colton and I got along great and he was more
like a brother to me than my own stuck up half-brother. He was also
the only one who could keep the peace between my dad and
me.

“
Is CiCi going to be
there?” Greyson asked, wiggling his brows.

“
Fuck off,” Colton and I
said at the same time making Greyson laugh. Greyson knew how to
push our buttons and loved to get under our skin, but when it came
down to it
,
he
was an awesome friend. He knew sisters were off limits but he still
loved to be a prick. I threw an empty water bottle at
him.

“
Tell her I said hi and
looking forward to the next time she comes to one of our shows.” I
narrowed my eyes at him and closed the door leaving him laughing to
himself. When I sat down on the smooth leather of my restored
mustang, my hair fell forward into my eyes, and I knew now the
first thing on my list was to get a haircut.

Two hours later and we were heading to my
dad’s for Sunday funday as Colton liked to call it. He always
placed a bet to see how long it would take my dad and me to get
into an argument. I only usually lasted an hour, but I was going to
try my hardest to make it through the whole dinner before I stormed
out.

We were greeted at the door by Charles, my
dad’s butler. “What’s up Charles,” I smiled, patting his arm.

“
Good evening Mr. Casper
and Mr. Colton. Your father and mother are in the living
room.”

“
Stepmother,” I corrected.
Charles gave me a sympathetic smile and gestured for us to join the
rest of the family.

Before we even rounded the corner I was
attacked by a tiny fairy. “Casper!” she shrieked, gripping her
small arms around my legs.

I untangled her hands and bent down to meet
her at eye level. “Katalina, how is my favorite fairy
princess?”

“
Look at my wings, they’re
purple.” She turned so I could see the bright sparkly wings she had
strapped onto her back. Glitter covered the back of her white
sundress and long blonde hair.

“
I love them,” I
smiled.

I stood up to greet the rest of my family.
“Wait!” Katalina yelled. She took her sparkly wand and waved it
over us. “Now you may enter.”

“
Why thank you your
majesty.” Colton and I did a small bow before we followed her into
the living room. My father was sitting in his chair while Dallas,
the atrocious blonde bimbo he called my stepmother refilled his
drink. She was younger than my sister who was
thirty
,
and she
was his third wife. I don’t blame the first two for leaving. He was
a son of a bitch and cared more about money and appearance than he
did anything else.

When he saw me approach his eyes gave a
disapproving look. I bit my tongue. I just had to make it through
dinner. Two hours and I was free. “Casper, it’s nice to see,”
Dallas greeted, giving me a kiss on the cheek. I fought the urge to
pull away. “Colton, good to see you as well.”

“
And you as well Mrs.
Covington.”

“
How many times have I
told you, you can call me Dallas?”

“
My apologies,
Dallas.”

My dad finally stood up
and walked over to us. “Colton, glad you could come.” He embraced
him in a friendly hug and when he pulled back he gave me a slight
nod before he walked away.
Two
hours
,
I repeated
to myself. “Dinner should be ready if you would like to follow,”
Dallas gestured with the wave of her hand like she was on some game
show. I stifled a groan and followed Colton in to the dining
room.

“
Casper, watch, I can
fly!” Katalina yelled. She was standing on the arm of the couch
with her arms out at her side.

I heard a scream as she
leaped from the couch. I dove and caught her midflight. My sister
Candice came rushing over from the stairs and ripped her from me,
putting her down on the ground. “Katalina, how many times have I
told you
that you cannot fly? You just
cannot. It is not possible.”

“
But Tinkerbelle can,” she
said softly, her soul
,
crushing at her mother’s harsh words.

My sister crumbled when she saw the lip on
Katalina’s mouth start to tremble. She brushed the hair out of her
eyes. “Honey I know, but we’ve had this discussion. You are not
Tinkerbelle and you do not have the ability to fly. Do you
understand me?” She nodded her tiny head making her tight blonde
curls bounce. My sister sighed and picked her back up, glaring at
me.

“
I don’t even get a thank
you?” She smacked me on the back of the head. “What was that
for?”

“
This is all your fault.
You are the one who told her all those bedtime stories of magical
fairies and now she’s obsessed with it.” She turned and walked
away. I looked over my shoulder at Colton and he just shrugged his
shoulders. I let out a deep breath and then joined the rest of my
family.

“
Is everything okay?” my
father asked, looking at a frightened Candice clutching
Katalina.

“
Yes, fine.” She looked up
at me and narrowed her eyes. My father cleared his throat and made
it a point to let me know I would get a reprimand for something I
didn’t even do.

“
Where are CiCi and
Cayden?” I asked just as they both joined us at the
table.

“
Cas…Colt,” CiCi smiled,
giving us both a kiss on the cheek as she made her way to her seat.
She wore an off the shoulder sweater with a tank top under and
shorts. Her light brown hair was streaked with blonde and hung
straight just below her shoulders. Cayden strolled in behind her
wearing a polo shirt and khaki shorts, his blonde hair cut shorter
than normal. He smiled when he
saw us. I
pushed my chair back to give him a hug.

“
Casper you crazy son of a
bitch, how you been?”

“
Language,” dad
growled.

“
Sorry pops,” Cayden
laughed and gave Colton a half hug
,
half hand shake. He took a seat on the other side
of CiCi just as Charles began to serve dinner. Cayden was my
half-brother. My bastard of a father cheated on my mom when she was
three months pregnant with CiCi and ended up knocking up the other
chick. When my mom found out she divorced my dad. He married
Cayden’s mother and then when she got too old he traded her in for
something younger like he always does. That marriage only lasted
five years. The sad part was that she wanted nothing to do with
Cayden. She just left him, with no rhyme or reason.

No one talked during dinner and I had a
feeling my dad was waiting until the end to tear into me. After the
plates were cleared and dessert was served, Katalina was off and
running into the back yard. “Kat wait!” Candice called.

“
No need to worry Candy,
she’ll be fine.” Dallas waved her off with the flitter of her
hand.

“
I told you not to call me
that.” Candice excused herself from the table so she could keep an
eye on Katalina.

“
I’ll come with,” CiCi
volunteered, not in the mood to sit through another one of dad’s
boring talks.

“
Both of you sit,” dad
directed.

“
Dad, I am not going to
let my five year old, who thinks she can fly,” she glared at me.
“unattended in the back yard
,
where there is a pool she can fall
into.”

He gestured for one of the servants. “You,”
he pointed.

“
Roberta dad, her name is
Roberta,” I said, trying hard to keep my anger in check. She had
worked for us for over twenty years and he still hadn’t
learnt
her name, but of course not, these
people meant nothing to him.

“
Roberta,” he corrected,
staring at me. “Would you please go keep an eye on young
Katalina?”

“
Yes sir.” Roberta dipped
her head and made her way out back.

“
Now that’s taken care
of.” He looked to his joke of a wife and smiled, cupping her hand
on the table. Dallas took her other money grabbing hand and ran it
up and down the length of my dad’s arm. I fought the urge to vomit.
She was only twenty-five but she was a gold digger. Her store
bought breasts sat right at the edge of the table and her latest
injection of collagen made her lips look like a blowfish. I hated
the day my dad told me he was going to marry her and I have a
feeling I’m going to hate today even more.

“
Dallas and I wanted you
all together today so we could tell you the good news.” I held my
breath and waited for the delivery.

“
I’m pregnant!” Dallas
shouted, excited. I scrubbed my hands down my face while the rest
of my siblings sat there in silence. My dad cleared his throat when
no one said anything.

“
Congrats daddy,” CiCi
said, breaking the silence.

Colton jumped in next. “Congratulations to
the both of you.”

“
Thank you
Colton.”

“
Yeah dad, way to go. Now
she’ll finally have someone her own age to play with.” I stood up
from the table and watched as Candice and Cayden tried to hide
their smiles.

“
Don’t you speak to her
like that. Sit down.”

“
Honey, it’s fine.” The
she
-
witch patted
his hand before she placed it on her stomach.