Page 5 of The Other Princess

“I don’t fucking need to know any more than that, you little shit.” I actually chuckled a little under my breath at Declan’s exasperated response to his brother’s man-whoring antics. I hadn’t been around Jay for more than ten minutes at a time since his graduation three years ago. I had also kept my promise to him, and refused to speak even a single word, despite the couple times he’d pleaded with me to forgive him. Those few times were also the reason I came up with every excuse under the sun not to attend club functions. Well, it was just one of the reasons. The fact that the club members still seemed to hold everything against me, even though I was completely innocent, was the other. No point going where you aren’t wanted.

The only time I had to spend more than those couple minutes here and there near Jay was when my dad forced me to the clubhouse for some bullshit ritual the guys had in order to atone for wrongs committed against another person. Usually, it was reserved for brothers who had been wronged by another, or by the club as a whole. They made an exception in my case since my dad yelled and screamed at them until it happened, and also because even the grown ass adults – who should have known better – let some bullshit high school bitch’s lies affect how they treated me. Jay bled for me and begged forgiveness once more for his actions and how they had hurt me. The brothers, likewise, did the same. Every single one of them, my father and brother included, had all stood up and asked forgiveness. I wasn’t sure I was capable of forgiveness even though I gave them all a final parting shot about it. “Forgiveness isn’t for you. It’s closure for me, and it’s definitely not the same as forgetting. What’s broken can never be repaired with a ceremony that is more for your guilty consciences than my broken heart.”

Aside from that little ceremony – that was to make the brother’s feel better about their deplorable behavior, not me – I stayed away from most of the club gatherings, and when Jay came to the house I hid in my room or left altogether.

“Earth to Ever, did you hear me?” Erin was saying as I found my way back out of my memories.

“Hmm?”

“I said that the Donovan brothers were headed this way.” She tipped her head subtly in the direction they’d been standing moments ago. Unfortunately, I had been lost in my thoughts a little too long, and it was already too late to duck out before they got to our table. Instead, I glanced up warily to see Declan’s bright smile plastered on his face.

“Ever, I thought I was seeing things until Jay confirmed who you were.” He gave me a noticeably lingering once over. “You sure have grown up, girl.”

“That’s what happens when you’re away for five years, Declan. Some of us grow up.” My answer was slightly snippy and I regretted it the moment I saw his brows furrow together. An action that was hard to miss since his hair was still cut almost military-style short. It wasn’t quite a buzz cut anymore, but it wasn’t much more than that. The short brown pieces had quite a bit of blond streaks interspersed. Were he a different kind of man I would think he went to the salon for that look, but being Declan I knew those streaks of light were earned in the sun. His darkly tanned skin confirmed my theory too. Skin, I might add, that was packed overtop what looked like a whole lot of hard muscle.

Declan had left for the Army at 19, and had been away for five years now, making him 24. Every single one of those 24 years showed in the manly shape that stood before me. Good lord. If I were the type of girl to have sexual fantasies about men… well, actually, now that I saw Declan again, I might just be the type.

“Please, tell me you’re not going to hold whatever this dumb ass did to piss you off so badly over my head too?”

I just sat there; jaw slack, not believing that Declan didn’t already know about everything that had gone down. Then again, he’d been in a war zone for the better part of three of the five years he’d been away. So, maybe no one thought to tell him. Shame started to flood my face as I briefly remembered how my life had been turned inside out by his brother’s dumb shit. “Nope, sorry. I’m just not having the best day.” I finally managed to choke out my excuse for being rude. As excuses went, it wasn’t a bad one. I had, in fact, been having a shit day. From the perv across the way who was staring at my boobs again to my equally pervy store manager I was ready to go home and take a shower, because I was beginning to feel dirty.

I glanced at Erin then, with apology in my eyes for what I was about to do as I stood up. “Sorry I don’t have time to catch up, but I have to get back to work.” When I glanced back over to Declan, still ignoring Jay’s presence, I added, “It’s good to see you again, Deck. I really am happy you made it back home safe and sound.”

“Me too, Ever. Are you coming to the barbecue Saturday? We could catch up then.”

“Um,” I hesitated. My dad wasn’t a huge fan of me attending club functions now since I started growing breasts and never seemed to stop. Since Toby and Jay had patched in I had mostly avoided going there anyway. “I don’t usually…” I started to say as I slowly began creeping away from the table and closer to turning and bolting to my store.

“Maybe you’ll make an exception since it’s my welcome home party?” When I looked away before trying to beg off once more he really laid it on thick. “Come on, Ev! It’s been five whole years! Come catch up with me, Saturday. Please?” It was the begging with his hands in prayer position beneath his chin that held the slightest hint of a dimple in it that got me. Those deep, ocean blue eyes pleaded with mine, and I caved like the spineless little girl who always used to turn to jelly around both him and his brother. Yeah, I’d had a little girl crush on the other Donovan brother at one time too. It had transferred to Jay simply because he was more accessible considering our closer ages.

“Fine, I’ll see you there.” I turned then and started walking away as I called back to Erin, “I’ll call you later.”

“Damn, I see what you mean, little brother. She didn’t even look at you, let alone speak. What the hell did you do to her all those years ago?”

“He broke her trust, betrayed her, publicly humiliated her, and stood back and did nothing as the entire school bullied her for months without end. To top it off he ruined her relationship with her dad, Toby, and the club too. And all of that for the price of the whore’s pussy he chose over believing one of his best friends wouldn’t actually stab him in the back the way his lying cunt-ass girlfriend actually did. Only, the punishment he got for his mistake was to wait on being a patched member of your precious club. The punishment that girl got for his fuck up was that she lost everything. Literally, every damn thing a girl looks forward to in high school. Friends. Gone – except me. Prom – there was no prom for Ever. She had to drop out and do online school too so she didn’t even get to attend her own graduation like your punk-ass bastard of a brother did.” The venom dripping from Erin’s voice told me she remembered all too well what kind of fresh hell Jay had landed me in with his bullshit.

“Damn, don’t hold back or anything,” Jay whined.

“Why should I? You didn’t spare her a damn thing when you told the entire school about her dead mom or about how she would never ride your dick, did you?”

“We had an Amends Ceremony with the club to fix it,” Jay mumbled.

“Yeah? Did it make you feel better about things, Jason? Because it sure as fuck didn’t change anything my best friend went through as a result of your stupid bullshit.”

“Amends Ceremony with the club? You told her she’d never ride your dick in front of the whole school?” I heard Declan roar at his brother before I sped up and took off down the hall that led to the Hot Topic. That mess was for them to hash out. I’d already lived it, and didn’t need the fuckin’ recap. Thank you very much.

~ Declan ~

Seeing her for the first time in nearly five years did something to my insides. When I last saw her she was still a girl waiting to fill out. Now, Ever was pin-up perfection. Her long dirty blond hair had highlights in it that brightened her whole face, and I just knew they were natural, because the girl had always loved to be outside when she was younger. Her body had definitely lost the childhood look and had curves in abundance and in all the right places. I almost felt like a damn pervert when I first noticed she had tits, because it was fucking hard to look away or to reconcile the Ever I remembered with the one whom I suddenly wanted to take a bite out of.

Watching her slink away from us in the food court left me with an equally mouthwatering sight, because the girl was all about balance with an ass that matched her tits. Curves for days, and something my hands itched to take hold of. Jesus. I couldn’t believe the ways I was thinking about the girl who once was like a kid sister to me. I glanced at my brother who was also watching her with longing in his eyes. When I asked what he’d done to piss her off so bad that she hadn’t even looked at him once her friend, Erin, was none to quiet when it came to handing over the details, and still I felt like I was missing something huge. What the hell could have snowballed into all of that?

My fists clenched at my sides when Erin explained how my idiot brother had yelled in her face in front of their whole school about how she’d never ride his dick. I thought he was a dumbass before when Ever used to write me about his bullshit and changing girlfriends like other people changed underwear. Now, I knew he was dysfunctional, because in no way did a hot-blooded man ever attempt to put a woman like that on a no-go list. Not unless he was completely stupid or just plain crazy.

We left, because I didn’t really want Ever’s little friend, spitfire that she was, to cause any more of a scene than she had already done by listing my brother’s deficiencies. Instead, we went back to the clubhouse. Once we were inside my brother attempted to scamper off, but I halted him and sat his ass down with me at the bar. “Tell me,” I stated, and he knew I meant that he better come clean with everything. Halfway through his explanation of the events that took place a few years ago, around the time I stopped receiving letters from Ever, Toby sat down with us.

“Where were you when all this was going on? Weren’t you supposed to be protecting your sister?”

Toby screwed his face up angrily at my question. “I should have been,” he seethed through clenched teeth. “I fuckin’ stupidly stood up for my brother instead, and he was so cocked up with the pussy he was getting he believed that bitch’s lies in order to keep getting it. I should have known,” he finally lamented.

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