Page 4 of Rayne

But despite my feelings, my parents loved them. And I loved that my parents felt completed so I stayed quiet. Even though they were assholes, they loved and cherished my parents too.

Everything changed when Jett turned eighteen. We received some paperwork once the boys became adults, letting them know that their biological grandparents had left them an inheritance. And suddenly, they were gone.

An odd Christmas card here and there, and the occasional family dinner… but they vanished into thin air for the most part.

As far as I know, their grandparents had owned a company overseas which had been left to the boys once they reached adulthood. Their parents were junkies who abandoned them so since the boys were in foster care and not at risk of the money being used inappropriately, their grandparents left them everything.

Then they were gone.

Mom and Dad were understanding, happy to see their children succeed, but to me, it was a blow. They turned their backs on our parents the moment they didn't need them anymore. That's not family… that's using people and throwing them aside when it's no longer convenient.

Maybe I'm just bitter… or maybe I hold a grudge about Halloween. Either way, I hated that my parents still held on to the hope that we'd be a perfect little family again.

"They are busy with their company," Dad argues. "They said it's doing well."

I bite my tongue, not wanting to upset my parents and their illusion of our little family.

"Maybe they will be open to a family vacation," I say gingerly, not believing a word. "You'll have to ask them when they reach out again."

We fall back into silence and I scold myself for being negative. It probably would have been less awkward to tell them about my plans for tomorrow night.

It's hard to tell what's the lesser of two evils sometimes.

Chapter 2

I can't sleep that night. My nerves have returned as I toss and turn in bed. Truthfully, I don't think they ever left.

My little one bedroom apartment is quiet, only the occasional creak of the floorboards and the hum of the refrigerator filling the silence. Finally, I just give up, flinging the blankets back as I crawl out of bed.

Reaching into my bedside drawer, I pull out a bundle of paperwork inside of an envelope. It's all my documentation for the party. Like a good paralegal, I kept copies of everything.

They are pretty professional, conducting background checks, medical and STD screenings. We were required to sign a waiver, but the kicker was the hard and soft limits I had to fill out.

I hate to admit it, but I've been very vanilla my entire life. I had to engage Margot to help me figure out what my limits are because I had no idea. Even now, with my completed list that I had submitted, I'm still not sure.

Pain has never been my pleasure so we ruled out any type of extreme flogging. In my drunken state, I ticked yes to anal and breathe play as soft limits. It was a resounding no to body fluids such as blood, scat or urine. I never yuck someone's yum, but if anyone pees on me, there will be hell to pay.

The biggest shock was having to specify my preference as to parties. Margot had eagerly ripped the paperwork from me and ticked yes to group play, despite my protests. I've never so much as had a threesome but she assures me they are fun if I'm selected for that.

Lastly, they sent me a key to get into the building. Apparently, the key is the magical card to my room for the night.

My fingers slide over the plastic card, my eyes reading over the room number that I've memorized already.

31.

Ironic that it's my age. Margot reckons it's a sign that this was meant to happen, but to me, it's the gateway to the other side.

They say the grass is greener on the other side… I guess we will find out.

I read the instructions again, the light from my lamp giving my bedroom an odd orange glow. It's technically today and the thought rattles me a little.

I really need to get some sleep.

Heading to the kitchen, I grab a glass of milk, adding a dash of sugar, as I pray it sends me to a deep sleep. The last thing I need is to rock up to this party half-dead, sprawled onto a bed in the shape of a starfish. That doesn't exactly scream sexy.

Crawling back into bed, I switch off the lamp, wrapping myself up like a burrito in the blankets as I wait for sleep to come.

It takes a while, my mind running around in circles until finally, I drift off.

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