Caged

9

I could do this, I thought, standing at the entrance to the kitchen. What's the worst that could happen? He says no?

I could hear Elijah and Kaiden's voices coming from inside, laughter accompanying their drunk words. I also heard Alastair's voice.

It was currently Thursday night, and I was mustering up the courage to ask Elijah about the party Mia had told me about tomorrow at Addison's. The asking to go out part wasn't difficult because he wasn't as strict as he used to be about curfews and all. The hard part was avoiding the interrogation that would begin about how big it was going to be, and more specifically, questions related to alcohol, drugs and boys.

It had also been months, maybe even a year, since I'd really gone to a party but that was my fault. I had isolated myself, pushing everyone away.

I also hadn't really talked to him since a couple nights ago when we talked about Sophia.

Yesterday, after I'd run into Amina here, I'd approached him several times, asking what that was about. He'd managed to avoid every single question I had by giving me some vague, off-topic response until he left for work. He also said she had just come to visit us, but I didn't believe him. It was infuriating.

Before I could take any longer and convince myself not to even bother going, I walked into the kitchen and three pairs of eyes turned towards me, their conversations halting.

Elijah was sitting on one of the chairs surrounding the table, a glass of some amber-colored liquid in his hand. Kaiden was sitting on the island counter, but he wasn't drinking. Alastair was standing near the open fridge, looking through its contents, when his eyes found mine.

"Look who it is," he announced, a teasing grin on his lips. Alastair opened his arms and I rolled my eyes, but trudged over to him. He enveloped me into his arms and I hid my smile against his shoulder as he lifted me off my feet for a second. "How's it going, Bella?" Kaiden chuckled at the nickname I absolutely despised from where he was behind us.

I scowled at the nickname and shoved Alastair away, dropping back onto my feet. He smirked, and squeezed my cheeks like everyone used to do, sometimes still did, when I was a little girl. Not that anyone really treated me differently now. "Aw, don't be mad," he chuckled, his dark blue eyes flashing with amusement.

"Fuck off," I muttered, pushing his hands away. He laughed, moving over to the counter to sit next to Kaiden.

"Don't you guys have work?" I asked, opening the fridge to look for something to drink. I grabbed a water bottle, and nudged the fridge closed with my hip.

"Soon," Elijah replied smoothly, tracing his tattooed finger across the rim of his glass.

I turned my attention to Kaiden and I knew I was stalling, but I continued on anyways. He shook his head, and grabbed a cigarette.

"I'm off tonight," he told me, which wasn't unusual because Elijah happened to be his boss. Kaiden also worked alongside him with the businesses they owned, but I didn't know the specifics of his exact job. I just knew that he was also gone most nights, but on different nights and at different places or clubs than Elijah.

It was sort of like a family business, but they'd started it, or more specifically, Elijah had.

"Did you do your homework?" Elijah asked casually, leaning back in his chair.

I nodded, and walked over to sit at another one of the chairs around the table. "Yeah, a couple hours ago," I paused, playing with the label around my water. I looked up to meet his eyes and he tilted his head my way. "Elijah?"