Page 67 of Blood Magic (Ariel Kimber 3)

I was about to say something about it when the hair dryer shut off.

“Done,” Addison said in a proud voice.

Goodness.

These boys were nuts.

And the Salt and Pepper twins really seemed to enjoy brushing and blow drying my hair.

I wanted to jump to my feet but couldn’t out of fear my towel wouldn’t want to come with me and I’d find myself in a bit of a disaster.

“Excellent,” Damien clapped gleefully. “Now, let’s get you something new to try on.”

He sounded so excited that I almost felt bad for him. My idea of a good time was not trying on clothes in front of a group of people. In fact, this sounded like the exact opposite of a good time for me.

I watched in horror as Damien upended bag after bag, dumping them on to my bed. This had to have cost a fortune and it made me extremely uncomfortable to think about. They had spent all of this money on clothes for me that I hadn’t even needed in the first place.

“I don’t really want to-”

Damien waved a hand, cutting me off. “Don’t worry,” he said reassuringly. “I’m not going to make you try everything on. That would take a goodly amount of time. I just want you to try on a few things to make sure Julian got the right sizes for you. They looked wrong to me, but he seemed sure of himself. I want you to try on a shirt, a pair of shorts, one of these leggings and maybe a pair of jeans. Oh, and one pair of boots.”

I hated to admit it, but I perked up at the mention of boots. I couldn’t help myself. I had been dreaming of a pair of kick ass boots for a while now. What could I say, a girl could only wear flip flops for so long. Eventually it might snow, and I wasn’t really a huge fan of toe socks.

There were a few bags that he didn’t upend over the bed but set aside on the floor. I told myself I wasn’t curious but that was me lying to myself. I didn’t want to be curious.

The twins stood up at the same time. They moved around me as I clutched the towel tightly to my chest.

Abel knelt down beside me, putting himself at my eye level. His eyes swept over my face as he reached up and brushed a strand of blonde hair back behind my ear.

“Do you have more earrings?” He asked me.

I quirked an eyebrow at him. “Why?” I asked. “Do you want to run out and buy me some more if I tell you that I don’t have any other ones?”

He shook his head with a small smile playing at his mouth.

“Nope,” he said quietly. “I’m smarter than that. Christmas is coming, though, and every girl needs jewelry.”

I scrunched up my nose at him. Very dignified of me while sitting there in my towel.

“I don’t need any jewelry,” I told him honestly. “I don’t need anything. From the look of things from where I’m sitting, I probably won’t ever need new clothes again. This lot will last me until my late nineties.”

He leaned in closer and placed his hand on my bare shoulder. He shook me gently, and I knew he wished he could shake some sense into me but wouldn’t go there because I was a girl and he didn’t want to risk hurting me.

“Please be nice to them,” he whispered fiercely.

I knew he whispered because he didn’t want Damien or Julian to overhear him. He hid nothing from his brother.

“What’s the worst thing that happens?” he continued in his fierce whisper. “You have clothes to wear until the day you die, and you’ll never have to go to the mall again? Is that really something you should be complaining about? I don’t think it is. I think you should give them a chance and be nice to them. They’re really trying here.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I’d only been to the mall a hand full of times and I’d yet to actually buy anything from a mall. If I could help it, I probably never would. In this day and age when you could buy pretty much anything over the internet, why would you ever even want to go to the mall. If I ever had money to go shopping with I would do it on my laptop.

Since I likely wouldn’t be needing clothes until I was creeping up on my one hundredth birthday it didn’t really matter.

“I can be nice,” I promised in a soft voice.

I absolutely could and would be nice. And I could even be a little grateful. But I didn’t like it. I had asked them not to buy me things and I had said I didn’t need any more clothes and my opinion on the matter hadn’t meant diddly to any of them.

They all knew where I’d come from and that I hadn’t grown up with much. I was used to it. I wasn’t going to be comfortable with everything changing overnight. I just wasn’t.

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