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Axel is absolutely covered in ink now, stronger and more muscular than I remember him, while Kaiden is so incredibly defined and powerful, like he used to be, but somehow even edgier than before. More tattoos cover his skin but fail to hide the flashing silver scars all over his torso. My heart pangs. I can’t see Zie but I can tell from the firm grip he has on me that he finally grew enough to be able to give the older two a run for their money. These boys have morphed into men in my absence but they fail to see that I’m not the weak little girl they dumped and left behind.
“You shouldn’t be swimming with a new tattoo,” Axel snaps angrily. “You better not fuck up that masterpiece.”
I wish I was on solid ground right now so that I could slap him in the face. But attempting to tread water while being held between two solid bodies and landing a solid blow on a third would be nearly impossible. I scowl at him instead but it doesn’t pack the same punch.
“I’m sorry that I don’t know the correct etiquette for post tattoo care. Maybe if I was conscious when it happened I could have taken notes!” What a dick. If he’s going to fucking brand me the least he could do is leave some aftercare instructions behind. Funnily enough, this tattoo was my first rodeo. And if I ever get any damn say in it, my last too.
“Just put the antiseptic ointment on when you get out and stay the fuck out of the water for a few weeks.”
“What ointment?”
“The ointment I left on your desk.”
I stare at him blankly. Yeah, I must have missed that with everything going on. It’s so unbelievably stupid of me, but with everything that happened – even though it’s completely obvious – I never once considered that Axel had been in my room. Both to drug and kidnap me, and to return me once he was done.
It no longer feels like the safe haven it once did. And I hate him even more for ruining that for me.
“We need to talk,” Kaiden tells me, fixing me with a hard stare. I can’t break eye contact. His silver eyes have always been haunting, even more so now he’s seen death so many times.
“Does it have to be here?” I huff in a desperate attempt to break the hypnotic spell he’s put me under.
“We’ll come to you. Don’t bother looking for us.”
I’m about to open my mouth to retort that hell would freeze over before I went looking for any of them, when McKenzie suddenly drops me. I quickly begin to tread water but Axel reaches over and with a firm hand to the top of my head, pushes me under the water.
When I resurface, coughing and spluttering and enraged, they’re gone. With my fucking AirPods too.
“I’m not sure about this.” I bite my lip nervously. No, not nervous. Terrified. “It’ll hurt.”
“Only for a minute,” Axel replies dismissively.
We’re in the woods behind his house and have come to ‘our’ place. A small clearing where the boys and I built a den and campfire many years ago. We don’t use this space so much anymore, though I think the boys sometimes sneak out to come here at night. They seem to be doing more and more without me lately.
The campfire is raging now, spitting and crackling and hissing like an angry monster demanding to be fed.
Axel sits too close to the flames, turning the poker he holds this way and that, making sure it’s heated evenly all over.
I tremble in Kaiden’s embrace.
“I don’t know either, dude. She’s really scared.”
“Oh don’t be babies. We’re all going to do it,” Axel snaps.
“Why don’t you go first then?” Kaiden snaps back. His eyes flash in challenge and I cringe. I hate it when the boys fight.
“Because I need to be able to do the three of yours! I’ll go last.”
“This is stupid!”
“Please—” I beg them to stop.
“Look, Peony. This will bind us all together, right?” Axel leaves the poker in the fire and comes over to crouch before me. His voice is calm and reasonable when he speaks. “You’re one of us, you have been since day one, so why not make it official?”
“I’m scared.”
“I know. But I want to make you mine. Ours. We’re going up to the big school next week and you’ll be stuck behind without us. This will make sure we don’t forget you.”
My stomach twists at his words. I don’t want to be left behind. I certainly don’t want to be forgotten.
