The Insiders by Tijan

FORTY-SIX

Chrissy was up before any of us the next morning. She marched over to the main house and had a word with Marie. Somehow, the two had a hashing out of sorts. Neither would tell me what they spoke about, but they did let Quinn and Peter know that my mother was staying.

They didn’t ask. They informed.

There were other words shared. I wasn’t allowed in on that conversation, but I got the gist of it later. Chrissy said it was for the parents. Quinn, Peter, my mother, and Marie were all included. Kash and I weren’t. Not that I was champing at the bit to get in there, but I knew they were talking about me.

My mom had been not happy when I mentioned the part about Peter ignoring me, so I was guessing she wanted to deliver an ass chewing, and I was guessing Marie wanted to be witness to it.

An hour later they came out and the decision was announced.

My mother was here to stay.

Quinn left moments after that for a charity meeting, and the other bit of business was next dealt with. Seraphina and Cyclone were told about my mother, and then about me. No one could have been prepared for their reactions. Cyclone started sprinting around, pumping his fists in the air, his head back, chanting, “Yes to the matriarchy!” Seraphina dissolved into tears.

I’d been nervous about how they would react. Having a fun friend was one thing; having a sister was a whole different thing. At the first sight of Ser’s tears, I almost dropped to the floor. Kash grabbed my arm, holding me up until Seraphina had wiped enough tears aside and came to me. Those thin little arms wrapped tightly around my waist, and she buried her face into my side.

Her words, though. Her words cemented everything.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, her nose pressed into my shirt.

“Honey.” I exchanged worried looks with the rest of the women in the room. Quinn was noticeably absent. No shock there, and something I knew my mom had noted, pressing her lips together.

Unwinding Seraphina’s arms, I knelt down so we were face-to-face. Or closer to equal level, because now she towered over me. She’d had a recent growth spurt that I was just catching on to.

“Ser? What are you sorry about?”

“How you must’ve felt.” Her eyes were decidedly not looking at me. She was biting her lip. Her head folded low and she was bunching her shirtsleeve over her hand, tucking back some hair that wasn’t there. Her hair was perfectly swept back in a bun. Looked too tight for her head, to be honest.

“Felt?”

Her head lowered even more, almost falling to my shoulder. I could barely make out her next words.

“Us not knowing. You … We love you already.” Her eyes lifted, meeting mine. Tears lined them. She was still whispering, but with renewed vigor. “You being our sister, now we can love you more. Should’ve loved you like that from the start. We didn’t know.” Her eyes fell to the ground again. Her voice hitched on a sob. “I’m sorry we didn’t know.”

She felt bad for me, for them not knowing.

Done. Everything was done for me then. I had fallen in love with my siblings before, but now I was even more in love. Chrissy and I were never leaving. School be damned. Well, not school and life in general, because I couldn’t only be here.

She sniffled, and I promptly lost my resolve.

I was never leaving this little girl’s side. Bring us bunk beds, because I was moving in. To infinity and beyond infinity.

“Oh, Ser.” That’s all I could get out. A huge slobbering lump formed in my throat, blocking me from talking and doing anything else. I just gathered her close, and I didn’t think I could let her go. I managed to break out, “You loving me the way you’ve already been is more than enough. I’m not going anywhere.”

We were both blubbering messes.

Chrissy was wiping at her nose.

Marie was blinking over and over again, then turning sharply to wheeze.

The men … I had no clue what they were doing. Kash was in the room, behind me somewhere. Cyclone had quieted. And Peter was there too, but like all the other times, he was in the background and still being quiet. Since my mom had arrived he hadn’t looked at me, but why would I expect otherwise? Past behavior predicts the future. Well, future meet the same. He was being the same.

Then Cyclone launched himself at Seraphina and me and the moment was done. He hugged us both, kissed us both on the cheeks, and tipped his head back again to yell out, “Pillow fight!”

And it was on.

Whack!

He got Marie right in the face.

Chrissy went for him, a pillow in hand. Seraphina was giggling, shrieking, trying to help Marie get him back. When they began advancing on Kash, he gave them a look, arched an eyebrow, and they took off.

We could hear Cyclone yelling down the hallway, “Theresa! We’re coming for you!”

Seraphina was still giggling right with him.

I looked up, but Peter had disappeared.

Chrissy saw, too, and I swear, if she’d been holding a balloon, it would’ve deflated from disappointment. Marie took it all in, then slapped her hands to her legs. “Right. Okay.” She said to my mother, “You come with me. We’ll find you a room on the estate somewhere.”

And that was that.

Kash and I went to visit Matt the next hour.

Kash had gone earlier in the day, giving me time with Chrissy, and I knew he was checking up on the Bonham situation. He didn’t share details when he took me with him later, and seeing how weak Matt was feeling, I didn’t say anything to add stress to what he was already going through. Instead, I told him all about my mother’s arrival, and he was grinning by the end.

Coughing, he rasped out, “I can’t wait to meet her. Seems like I’ll love her.”

He probably would, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. “The two of you will be like two peas in a pod. Troublemakers.”

He barked out a laugh, then winced. “Don’t make me laugh.” He looked to Kash, his lip lifting. “Can you imagine me taking Bailey’s mom to an orgy night?”

I was horrified. “God, no! Please no.”

Matt started laughing again, then began coughing, and a nurse came in to make sure he was okay. Kash thought it was time we headed back, and Matt was already closing his eyes by the time we were to the door.

There were conversations we didn’t have, and I felt the weight of them heavy.

They were with us almost as soon as we left the estate for the hospital, including how Kash was handling that he was firmly in the press.

The attention he got at the hospital affirmed all of the media.

I hadn’t looked online or watched television, so it was easy to forget. Not when we got to the hospital. All eyes turned to him. His face was on the television, even, and what was worse, no one stood to turn it off. They kept it running as we checked in to see Matt. Kash didn’t really need to; he had checked in earlier. They knew his name. But the new day staff needed my name for the visiting sheet. All the while, total silence in the lobby, except for a baby crying and the reporter discussing the rift in Kash’s family and how Peter Francis had taken him as a son.

I felt the pinch of tension in my shoulders as we left. Kash’s hand went there, smoothing over me, like he could feel it. I was thankful, once we were past the prying eyes back there, but it hadn’t really gotten better. Nurses quieted, watching us as we walked past. One nurse was coming out of a room as we walked by. She startled, saw Kash, and startled again, saying loudly, “Oh my God!” Her colleague hushed her, and both retreated back into the room they’d been leaving. The door was slammed shut behind us.

Then it was the elevators.

Waiting, we heard the whispers.

Getting on, we heard the looks. Yes, heard the looks. They were speaking volumes. A few business guys stood taller. A nurse was blushing. Another was eyeing Kash like he was candy. An elderly couple looked stricken to be in the same elevator as us.

It was like that going up to see Matt, and like that leaving, except word got out.

As soon as we hit the front lounge, press were outside.

Kash sighed, the first time I had heard it that day, and touched my arm. “Hold up.” He was on his phone, having a car service brought around.

“Where are the guards?”

“I thought there’d be an even bigger spectacle if they came with us today.” He was regretting that decision, I could tell.

A hospital staff member came over. “We were sent for you. You have a car waiting by a side exit.”

Kash frowned but confirmed with his phone, and a moment later he nodded to her. She led us through that lobby, through those hallways, past the nursing desk again, and through a whole other department. We were taken out to the emergency room drive-up. A black sedan was waiting for us, pulled up so an ambulance could park behind.

“Your car?”

“We’ll get it later. I can send someone for it.”

“The estate, sir?” the guard in the passenger seat turned to ask, the driver already pulling out into traffic.

Kash nodded, his eyes closing. “Yes, please.”

He looked so tired, the reason having nothing to do with sleeping. I ached for him, and so, reaching for his hand, I laced our fingers together.

He let out a sigh and squeezed my hand once. We rode back home that way.