Uncharted (Unexpected Book 3) (16 page)

I open the front door to find the smallest of the Colhurst-Decker family. Ainsley, my triplet—the one who looks nothing like us but my parents swear is my female version in many aspects. Like the lack of patience, the bossiness, and the talent. Brown, curly hair tied into a ponytail, green eyes staring at me with worry.

“You didn’t have to send him to pick me up.” AJ tilts her head toward Arthur Bradley, the trustworthy bodyguard. He is more like our uncle, or something closer than our own immediate family. Not a parent, of course. Arthur has worked for Chris since he played in Dreadful Souls. We grew up with Arthur at our parents’ side twenty-four seven. During summer, he’d bring his son along—Mason. The dude was fun. “I’m old enough to take a cab. No offense, Mr. Bradley.”

“None taken, dear.” He hands me over AJ’s guitar case and her bag. I set them on top of the couch and prepare to say goodbye to him. “But please, call me instead of a cab. I want to know that you’re safe.”

AJ kisses his cheek and he waves at us before heading out.

“You okay?” AJ touches my cheek. “How bad is it?”

I explain to her, step-by-step, what the past two weeks have entailed—the throwing up, nausea, tiredness, fever.

“Flu symptoms, pregnancy symptoms… WebMD mentioned cancer,” I continue. “She’s pale and…began to talk about immortality.”

I ruffle my hair while scratching my scalp.

“She’s always saying to live as if there isn’t a tomorrow.” I take several sips of air trying to inflate my broken lungs.

“That’s why you want to give her the song?” I nod.

AJ opens her arms and presses me tightly against her. Another set of arms, much longer and more muscular, come up from behind me. Matthew. It’s strange how having them both close sometimes makes me feel stronger.

“Don’t pull a Gabe on us.” Matthew squeezes me hard one more time and releases me. “Leave the drama to the expert. She’s sick, but she’ll recover soon.”

From the corner of my eye, I spot Norah walking toward where I stand, a deep frown painted on her forehead as her eyes narrow on AJ. My back tenses as I worry she has taken the embrace the wrong way. AJ lifts her face and looks at Norah, smiling at her.

“You must be Norah.” She releases me and walks to her, giving her a tight hug.

An out-of-character move from AJ, who isn’t too friendly with outsiders.

“I’m AJ.” She releases Norah, and my girl’s frown deepens.

Her head tilts a few times. She looks from AJ to us, and then looks at the floor as if putting some puzzle pieces together or trying to figure out what pieces would fit.

“I expected her to be taller,” Norah continues, inspecting AJ. “A different eye color—blue, to be exact. You must look like your mom. I’m sorry about that.”

Why on earth would she be almost…mean to AJ? And what the hell is she sorry about? Weird.

AJ angles her head and watches Norah with curiosity.

“I don’t have a mother.” She purses her lips tight and stares at me. “This is weird. Can we start with the song?”

Matthew gives me that look that says
you should have told AJ
.

Yes, I should have mentioned to my sister that Norah is under the impression that our mother left us when we were babies.

“It’s okay to be in denial.” Norah pats AJ’s shoulder. “But your father must love you.”

“Denial?” AJ repeats. “What bunch of shit did you tell her?” She looks at me when she says that. Turning her attention back to Norah, she continues, “No. I’m not in denial, nor in need of some psych evaluation due to the lack of a maternal unit.” Then back at me, “See, that’s exactly why I’m mad at the ‘rents. I hate their bullshit, and you’re no different than them.”

My sister, ladies and gentlemen. I bet she either had a fight with Porter, or Gabe has a new fake girlfriend on tab.

“Forget it.” She shakes her head. “This isn’t about me. I’m eating something and then we have work to do.”

I follow AJ toward the kitchen and listen to her rant. “Do you know he has a new skank? I saw a few magazines while waiting for my flight. I should start a scrapbook: ‘The deceiving ways of Gabe Colt.’”

I roll my eyes. I knew there was a reason for her bitchy mood. My sister hates that Chris and Gabe make up a second life to shield us from the media. Gabe has a different girl every year, to pretend that he is a permanent bachelor. “AJ, can you tone down your bitchy side?” I request with a warning glare.

“Sorry, I…sorry.” She starts eating whatever she has in her bowl.

One day, my parents and my sister would come to terms and go back to adoring each other, a time when the princess believed the parents would conquer the world just for her. Until then, Matthew and I will stay neutral while watching them do their thing.

Norah doesn’t say much after, and AJ’s eyes go wide as my girl begins to convulse in my arms. Her entire body is shaking, her face is pale, and her eyes are trembling. I walk with her to the couch where I lower her. My body shakes too, as I have no idea what is happening. I hold her limbs tight while her body continues convulsing.

It is seconds, minutes, or maybe hours before she stops trembling, and it’s even longer before an ambulance arrives—though my sister says the convulsions lasted only a couple of minutes and the ambulance arrived within five minutes from the moment they called them. The difference between their words and what I lived differs. It was
my
other half who had suffered through all of it. As the paramedics work on her, I pace around the apartment. They don’t make any sense, there’s mention about some lymphoma marks, and…

Norah had cancer. The doctors didn’t disclose much information. I wasn’t family. I heard lymphoma, stage four while they talked to her family.
They
knew.

They prepared you for everything: Your parents for life. Your teacher for the next move. College for a job. The instances were infinite. But, nothing prepared you for death. Nothing.

Chris, who is a counselor, insisted that I visit a friend of his. Losing Norah and the shit I’d gone through had him scared. I went for an hour, every day, close to Norah’s room in the hospital. I refused to leave. The counselor coached me about letting go and accepting the loss. I listened to and answered the questions he asked at the end of each session the way I imagined I was supposed to act or think. He tried to bring up my past, but I never allowed it. A week later, her family said I wasn’t allowed to visit any longer. At least they let me enter her room for the first time since she arrived in the hospital.

“I’ll see you on the other side someday, babe,” she whispered, as I said my last goodbye to her. “Remember all your promises. Don’t break any of them.”

AJ and MJ remained by my side the whole time. I moved with MJ to the penthouse because being at the apartment was unbearable for me. Both said there was a huge pang that hit them right on the left side of the chest. We empathized with one another like this when we had broken a bone or something else really bad had happened. I never thought a feeling like losing a loved one would create the same phenomenon.

“Let’s get some tattoos,” MJ proposed to cheer me up. “Unless you have a better way to lighten up this sad-fest, AJ.”

“You want to hear something stupid?” AJ asked. “I had to schedule my first time with Porter based on his stupid tour dates—romantic much?”

I laughed and cringed at the same time. Well, at least she’d lost her virginity.

“What kind of tattoos are we getting?” MJ headed to the door. “We should be heading to Europe, living our lives the way we know. You should start fucking again, Jacob.”

Fucking? I had just lost my world. My brother had no finesse or respect for others’ feelings.

This is the worst idea in the history of bad ideas. I walk toward the backstage. One last time. A few words. Robbie is great, but I won’t take the next step with him until I know what happened with Jace. I’ve been seeing Robbie casually for the past six months. He asked me to go steady with him, to take things to a serious level. In other words, have sex. The guy has been waiting for me long enough. I have to either say yes or send him packing.

“Where to, sweetheart?” asks a muscled man wearing a black staff T-shirt. His dark eyebrows dance while his eyes give me a flirty kind of look. “Want to see the boys?”

“Yeah, well, yes.” I fidget with the guitar pick that I now wear as a necklace. “I’m a friend of JC Decker’s.”

“You want to get re-acquainted? Because once you’ve gone through him, he won’t take you back.” My chest sustains a massive blow that leaves me breathless. “Show me your tits and I’ll let you in. If he passes, there’ll be plenty for you back there with any of the other guys. You have a sweet body.”

I gulp and debate on turning around and escaping, or showing him my breasts. If I do the first, I’ll never find out if moving on with Robbie is the way to go. If I stay and he rejects me… No, I decide I need the rejection. For me, for whatever happens next. More than two years of expecting he’ll call me is enough. Like ripping off a Band-Aid, I lift my cami. I had planned on this, covered every possible base, and even left my bra at home.

“I could suck on those all night.” I flinch but say nothing. “Follow the hallway, take a left and you’ll find their dressing room.”

I do as he says. The dark, narrow hallway isn’t long. At the end, there’s a table with food. To my right, three couples are already undressing, and as I find the door that says Without A Compass, I bump right into a broad chest.

“Hi, Matthew.” His eyes recognize me at once. He shakes his head, his jaw sets, and he crosses his arms. “It’s me. Pria. We met a couple of years ago. Your brother and I…” My chin drops, I’m such an idiot. Biting my lips for a second, I regain control of myself, and the tears that are about to flood my eyes. “This is a mistake, isn’t it?” He nods once. “I really thought—how stupid of me.”

“Security.” He finally speaks, and not to me. “Who the fuck let her in?”

“Sorry, she said that… I’ll be happy take care of her.”

I lift my gaze to look at him one last time. “Sorry, Pria, this is for the best. Trust me.”

The same man who let me in pushes me toward the end of the hallway and takes a sharp left. We’re close to a door and no one is around. Only large, black boxes, instruments, and ropes. The creepy room has only one yellow light bulb. I want to get out of here, but he’s holding my arms too tight.

One second we’re walking and the next he’s slamming me against the wall, rubbing himself against me. My blood feels like it is draining away, and my throat is closing, but I fight the large object obstructing it and scream as loud as I can.

“Help me!” I use my legs to fight him but he restrains them with one leg. “Don’t touch me. Please don’t.”

His hand reaches inside my jeans, trying to touch me, calling me a cock tease. “Once the band finishes with you, you belong to the roadies.” His hot breath touches my skin and I want to puke. My heartrate accelerates, and in that moment I wish he would kill me after he’s done with me. “You’re mine.” He bangs my head several times against the wall. I’m having trouble keeping my eyes open and my last thoughts are of Mae, my parents and him—Jacob.

“Get the hell away from her, fucker.” Someone pulls him off me and my body slams to the floor. I hear the thump but feel disconnected somehow. My head hits it and everything begins to fade. The voices are far away.

“Fuck, call an ambulance,” a voice screams in desperation. Male, rough. “Put that fucker in jail, and make sure we absorb any medical expense—the best you can find. Make sure Jacob doesn’t know about this. He’s going to have my balls if he ever finds out.”

“You should’ve left her in the hospital, Mom,” Mae screams at our mother. “She had a concussion.”

“I’m a nurse. I know what to do.” Mom hands me a pair of old pajamas that linger around my room. “I don’t have money to throw away just because she’s a whore.”

“It wasn’t like that.” Each word scratches the back of my throat. “They almost raped me.”

“You were at a concert, like a slut. Then went backstage to have sex with those men. I know what goes on there. You gave him permission to do whatever he wanted by dressing like a prostitute. This is God punishing you. Grow up and become a serious person. You’re never going to meet a nice man, have a nice home, or be happy.”

Maeve hugs me while I cry. I’m not sure why I do. This is the worst night of my life. I learned the truth: he doesn’t sleep with the same girl twice. Matthew confirmed everything with that disgusted look he gave me. Mom hates me for not being like her, and the images of that man trying to touch me replay again and again.

“You’re anything but, Pree-bee,” Mae whispers. “I’ll care for you tonight, baby sister.”

“I promise to be better, Mommy.” I finally speak because the little love she has left for me is about to disappear. “You’ll be proud of me, I swear you’ll be.”

“Cypriana, sleeping around with men who don’t care about you will only bring you heartache and no one will take you seriously. I love you. Everything I say and do is because I want the best for you.”

“Glenda, get out of Pria’s room and stop saying stupid things.” Dad, who never contradicts Mom, enters my room. “No one has the right to do anything you don’t want them to, sweetheart.”

He takes me in his arms and rocks me. “No one should touch my little girl. I’ll keep you safe.”

I’m incredibly thankful for my dad’s support, but Mom is right. This isn’t the first time I’ve been hurt because I’d broken her rules. Never again.

JACOB

The driver stares at the hundred I hand him, and then at me. I don’t stay to find out what he wants. Instead I climb out of the cab and pat it so he drives away. The tombstone isn’t far away from the sidewalk—only a few feet. I walk while looking at the stars above me.

“Fuck you, Pria.” I take a swig of tequila from one of the bottles that I brought with me. “She was everything you weren’t, and because of
you,
I never gave her what she wanted: a song.”

No one responds, the graveyard stays silent. Only a few crickets chirp a sad soundtrack to death. I drop to the ground when I reach her grave. These days I can only be close to her when I’m here. If I had loved her enough, I would’ve done so much more than I did. Provided the money to save her. Had the power to keep our boy with me. I had them both. There’s nothing left for me. Numbing myself with alcohol and women is the only way I’ll be able to survive for the rest of my life.

Every star that twinkles reminds me of her. Pria. Remembering her is a betrayal to the promises I made to Norah. I ingest the contents left from the second bottle of the night and open the third. This should erase her.

Fuck. I can’t keep it together. Pria swirls around my head, as does Hunter… God I can’t get him back from his father. My parents refuse to help me and Norah didn’t leave me any legal document to claim him as mine. But he is mine. Tyler Stinson isn’t letting me see him. I haven’t seen my boy for so long.

I search for answers in the sky, but the only clear thing that comes to me is the image of Pria and those bewitching eyes.

“You’re right, babe. I shouldn’t look to the sky. It’s only you. From now on, I’ll look at you.” I touch the stud earring she left me. She’s buried with the other. A way to keep her presence with me until the end of time. “Never will I talk to her, nor will I think of
her
. I’ll never fall in love again. Only you, babe. No one will touch my lips. Those belong to you. All my energy will be focused on Hunter, our boy. He’ll live like a prince, as I promised.”

I turn my body around and my face touches the ground. My arms wish I could hug her one more time, but the only thing I can do is keep my promises to her and to my siblings. I’ll live for the two of them.