Page 38 of Unforgotten Family (Ariel Kimber 6)

Now, I knew I had done him and Simon dirty by leaving like I did and not telling either of them where I was going. I damn well knew it, and later I'd find a time with just the two of them to apologize for it, but now wasn't that time. And I was also pissed they stood against me. Call me petty if you will, I didn't give that first fuck.

Trenton immediately let go of my hand. "Simon and I are going with you. Obviously we aren't going to follow you into the bathroom, but we're definitely sticking close."

I nodded, turned my back on him, and walked away. I didn't run. I didn't jog. Hell, I didn't even sprint. I forced myself to walk. I would not give Quinton the satisfaction of seeing me run away from him. Or worse, make him give chase like a predator who'd just caught the scent of his prey.

Down the hall, through the dining room, into the pantry closet, and up the stairs I went. The door at the top of the stairs stood wide open and I rolled my eyes at seeing it. What was the freaking point of even having a lock on the damn thing if Dash or someone else left it wide open at every other turn.

Their footsteps were heavy on the stairs behind me. Thankfully, there were only two sets of them.

I stormed through the living room, down the hallway, and shoved the door open into my bedroom. I didn't bother closing the door behind me. What was the fucking point? I'd likely never be alone again for the rest of my life.

Ignoring my two bodyguards, I barged into my closet and started banging hangers around in search of something to wear for when I got out of the shower that would bring me any semblance of comfort.

Black tank top with a thick strip of lace at the hems and spaghetti straps so thin they looked in danger of snapping due to the weight of my boobs every time I wore it because I never wore it with a bra because,hello,I said it was for comfort. I found a black thermal that looked like it would mold to my body when I put it on with a line of small hearts across the chest. It also looked comfy and warm. I dug around in one of the drawers until I found a pair of black fleece lounge pants that didn't have the tag on them, but I knew were brand new because I had never worn them before.

Great, now Damien was cutting off tags in order to hide shit from me.

I pulled open another drawer, and dug out a pair of bright yellow fuzzy socks with little white hearts on them that would match my thermal. I rooted around until I found the plainest bra and panties set I could find. White with no lace or frill, just simple and comfortable. I didn't have it in me to color coordinate my underwear with my outfit today, and hopefully no one but me would see it.

I picked the pile of clothing up and walked out of the closet.

Surprisingly, Trenton and Simon had made themselves comfortable in my space. Trenton was on my bed, his back against the wall, his legs stretched out straight in front of him, feet crossed at the ankles. His arms were up and cocked at the elbows with his hands behind his head. He was barefoot and looked completely relaxed. Only his eyes came to me as I walked out of the closet.

Simon was on my white rug on the floor, sprawled out on his stomach with the remote control to my television clutched in his hand. He didn't even bother looking up at me when I walked past him.

Whatever, it wasn’t like he hurt my feelings or anything.

"Please, make yourselves at home," I muttered snottily under my breath.

Trenton's eyes left me and moved back to the television. Simon clicked a button on the remote, changing the channel. Fine, they could ignore me, but it was my room and if I didn't like what they were watching onmytelevision when I got out of the shower then I'd be kicking both their asses out. They could lurk in the hallway for all I cared.

I locked the bathroom door behind me and sprinted across the room to lock the door on the other side too. You could never be too safe in this house. Leaving the door unlocked was always taken as an open invitation to join me. Heck, I even had to lock the door when I was going to the bathroom. Once the twins had walked in on me while I was peeing and they'd acted like this was a completely normal thing for them to do, even though I'd been completely mortified. Neither cared and they'd attempted to keep the conversation going, asking me about a customer who'd come into the shop earlier in the day.

Do you know how hard it was for me to pee in front of those two? Next to impossible.

I'd locked both doors after that. And I had since, going to the bathroom peacefully and on my own. That didn't mean I didn't hear the doorknob often rattle because I did, I just chose to ignore it. This house was full of bathrooms and no one needed this one while I was using it, ever. Those twins didn't understand the meaning of the word ‘boundaries.’

I stripped off my clothes and left them in a small pile on the ceramic tile just outside the shower. I could dump them in the hamper in the closet after I got out of the shower, but I knew I wouldn't leave them where they were on the floor. I wouldn't ever allow myself to be that kind of a slob. You didn't live with Dash, share his space with him, and act like a pig. It was simply impossible.

I opened the glass door and stepped into the shower. I didn't bother standing to the side of the spray when I turned the knobs, turning the shower on. Ice-cold water blasted the top of my head and immediately changed to warm before turning to scalding, burn your tits off, hot.

I closed my eyes to savor the heat as it seeped into my skin when a memory hit me like a sledgehammer to the face. I flinched and let it roll right through me.

I had just turned nine the day before and I'd been locked inside my bedroom all day and all night for what Vivian had called “my own damned good.” Then she'd gone on to slap me across the face when I'd had the nerve to ask her why. My lip had been split wide-open and bloodied. Then, while watching the blood leak out of me with a look of disgust on her pretty face, she'd sneered,

"That's what you get when you question me, you little sniveling brat. You need to learn or you're going to get more of that." She'd pointed at my bleeding lip before cuffing me upside the head and dragging me into my room.

She'd thrown me down onto the dirty floor and strutted out on her outrageously high heels. I'd lain there crying as I wiped the blood off my face with the back of my hand. That was when I heard the padlock click into place, locking me inside. I got up and raced for the door, throwing myself at it. I grabbed the knob, twisting it this way and that, pulling while silently crying a river of tears.

The door didn't budge.

The last time she’d locked me in my room I had gotten so hungry and she'd been gone for so long I had thought I was going to die. Of course, there had only been Saltine crackers for me to eat when she'd finally let me out, but I hadn't cared, I'd been so hungry I would have eaten anything.

I hoped she'd come back sooner this time because I didn't want to feel like I was going to starve to death on my birthday.

I gave up on the door and curled up into a tight ball on the middle of my bare, dirty mattress and cried myself to sleep.

It wasn't Vivian who came to get me early the next morning, but some man I'd only seen once or twice before he woke me up by roughly kicking at my mattress over and over again with his worn construction work boot until I sat up and looked around in confusion. Only then did he stop.

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