CONSENT: Book 1 in The Dangerous Games series

Chapter 5

       5 weeks ago

"Wake up, birthday girl!" My brother yells right in my ear. After I am jolted awake I throw my pillow over my head in an attempt to ignore his existence. It's been about five days since our pool party. Marc and Thomas have officially moved in and this weekend I will be starting my new job. Xavi lifts the edge of my pillow and I peek up at him, my eyes barely open. "Time to wake up." I groan and roll over. "Oh bloody hell." Xavier sighs, sounding frustrated. "Watch out bro, I got this." I hear Ethan say but I'm so tired the words don't really register. "It's after 11 a.m. KitKat, get your lazy ass up." He snatches my covers off of me and delivers one hard whack across my ass. I immediately fly up and crouch near the headboard. My eyes are wide and I have one hand on my butt cheek. "Jesus Ethan. What the fuck?!?!" He just stands at the foot of my bed for a moment smirking. "One down, 18 to go." With those words, he walks to the door. "You wouldn't fucking dare!" All I hear are his chuckles fading down the hall.

I look up at Xavier who is still standing over me. He offers me a smile of pride as he presents me a plate of blueberry pancakes. "I made your favorite." There on the plate is a short stack of pancakes with a single lit candle in the center. "Just like old times" my brother smiles. This is how he used to wake me up on my birthdays when he lived at home. "Thank you Xavi." I blow out the candle and take a bite. Before I knew it I cleaned the plate. "Well, it's your day Lil'bit. Get dressed and decide how you want to spend it. We share one last smile before he slips out the door.

I jump in the shower and get cleaned up. Once I'm done, I throw on a pair of cut-off jean shorts and a spaghetti strap crop-top. I pull my hair up into a messy bun and I am ready to go downstairs. As I hit the floor at the bottom of the stairs I turn to the kitchen with one goal in mind. David calls out to me from the bar stool at the kitchen counter, "Good afternoon birthday girl!" I walk past him, a cigarette hanging from my lips. I glanced up and flashed him a middle finger before stepping into the kitchen. "Charming as always before your coffee I see." I glare at David as I am making my mug of java. If he understands the issue, why does he keep talking?? "Hey, has anyone seen my wallet?" Marc blows quickly through the room. He's patting himself down while twirling like a tornado scanning the room. Everyone exchanged looks but no one had seen it. This guy lays shit everywhere and can never find it. He's looking behind the throw pillows, sifting through junk mail, even picking up a shoe and shaking it. The sad thing is we are so used to it we simply carry on as if nothing is going on.

"So Xavi, question, what's the plan today?" I take my coffee and plop down in a chair in the living room. Before he can answer, Thomas strolls through. "I have a double shift so I'm out but enjoy your day Kit." I toss him a wave over my shoulder. "Thanks man" As he's walking out the door my girls walk in. Torie throws her arms up and shouts "What up bitch!" Tash, a little less flamboyant, gives me a hug. "Happy Birthday babe! We came to snatch you for a few hours." Torie pipes up, "Unless you have other plans already.." We all turn to Xavi who just shrugs his shoulders. "Nothing set in stone. Go if you want, it's all good." I study his face and determine he is sincere. "Alright, let's go get into some trouble." I chuckle. "And Katya.... Keep it legal. I ain't bailing your ass outta jail." We all shared a laugh at the thought. "Relax bruh. What could possibly go wrong?"

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"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be laughing." From the passenger seat I look over at Ethan who is still suppressing a snicker. "No you shouldn't because this shit is not funny Ethan." I cross my arms over my chest and return to staring out the window. "Well maybe not right now. However, in the future this story will be great for you to pull out at various social gatherings." He laughed at the end of that statement. Didn't speak the words, laughed them. How does someone even do that? "When exactly did you become a full-on hellion?" I glared at him with narrowed eyes. "I hate you." He looks at me with a dejected look on his face. "Is that any way to talk to someone who just picked your ass up from prison?"