Tease Read online

  Tease

  Book Seven in the Terraway Series

  By

  Mary E. Twomey

  Copyright © 2016 Mary E. Twomey

  Cover Art by www.goonwrite.com

  Paperback Art by www.cormarcovers.com

  All rights reserved.

  First Edition: April 2017

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  ISBN-13: 978-1540728470

  ISBN-10: 1540728471

  For information:

  http://www.maryetwomey.com

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  DEDICATION

  One. | Not Buried Yet

  Two. | Fatty

  Three. | The Other Girl

  Four. | How Crazy it All Sounds

  Five. | I’ll be in Bed, if Anyone Needs Me

  Six. | Staying for Us

  Seven. | Madness is my Specialty

  Eight. | Ezra’s Promise

  Nine. | The Labor of Love

  Ten. | Danny’s Love

  Eleven. | Hormones and Hope

  Twelve. | Everything was Chaos

  Thirteen. | A Good Ruse

  Fourteen. | A Little While Longer

  Fifteen. | The Life Von Almost Had

  Sixteen. | I Lost my Baby

  Seventeen. | One Sister for Another

  Eighteen. | The B-word

  Nineteen. | I Get by with a Little Help from my Friends

  Twenty. | Katrina’s Grand Exit

  Twenty-One. | Socks and Lotion

  Twenty-Two. | The Skankiest of Skanks

  Twenty-Three. | Put the Lotion in the Basket

  Twenty-Four. | Fresh Air and Suffocation

  Twenty-Five. | The Last of Von’s Marbles

  Twenty-Six. | My Dark Fairy Tale

  Twenty-Seven. | Mangkukulam

  Twenty-Eight. | The Firefighter and the Fire-Breathing Dragon

  Twenty-Nine. | Wonder Woman

  Thirty. | Boys and Bikinis

  Thirty-One. | It’s a Date

  Thirty-Two. | Red Paint

  Thirty-Three. | Beaten Down and Tired

  Thirty-Four. | Our Odd Little Family

  Thirty-Five. | Dancing with Danny

  Thirty-Six. | Sneaking Out

  Thirty-Seven. | Father and Mother

  Thirty-Eight. | Bobby Brady

  Thirty-Nine. | The Things You’re Destined to Save

  Forty. | The Trap of Gravity

  Forty-One. | Hugging the Monsters

  Forty-Two. | Take Me Home, Honey

  Forty-Three. | Two Creatures

  Forty-Four. | Never Come Back Here

  Forty-Five. | Stripping for Danny

  Forty-Six. | Mariang’s Heartburn

  Forty-Seven. | The Cold that Shouldn’t Be

  Forty-Eight. | Anastasia Grace

  One. | Mariang’s Funeral

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  About the Author

  DEDICATION

  For Kevin Winningham

  My ambition is to one day be as organized,

  lovingly kind and gracious as you.

  (I know that’s not possible, but if I don’t shoot for the moon, I’ll never get anywhere)

  One.

  Not Buried Yet

  I was afraid to dream when I fell asleep that evening. I didn’t know if I’d see Von or Philip, and dreaded meeting either in my subconscious.

  My brain tripped on the mistake I made without thinking. Not Philip. There never was a Philip. The man with white-blond hair who came to me in my dreams was named Sama. We’d slept together in my imagination because I’d been lonely and wanted something fun to distract from the unending stream of exhausting work that Terraway never tired of throwing at me. So I’d conjured myself up a fake boyfriend. I would say that’s pathetic, but it’s not like everyone else doesn’t do the exact same thing. Most other people choose Ian Somerhalder or David Duchovny as their fantasy hottie. I thought I’d made Philip up. But it was Sama, the dude with a surfer’s body who wanted nothing less than all the power in Terraway, and an heir to share it with. He couldn’t get a girl pregnant in real life, due to his remote location, so he’d found a way to possibly dreamwalk into my uterus. It was anybody’s guess who the father was: Von or Sama.

  Von had been gone for three days, and I think at this point only Mariang was holding out hope he’d be back. Gotta love the girl for her sweet heart and total optimism. The engagement ring Von had given me was tucked in the drawer of my nightstand, taunting me with beauty I couldn’t bring myself to look at.

  “I made you some tea, Lady October,” Graham offered as he came into my bedroom. He and Alton were the two brothers sandwiched in the middle of the Vandershot birth order. They had been brought in to pull for me with Boston, and to guard the house I hadn’t left in days.

  “Thanks, Graham. I’ll be out in a minute.”

  My room had once been my sanctuary, but now it was my man in the woods cabin with a “beware all who enter” invisible sign. Graham respected the charade that I had some say in my life, and kept the tea in the kitchen, which I appreciated.

  Boston and Alton were both wolfing down a salad bowl full of scrambled eggs. They were practically starving from pulling all night long for September and me. “Sorry, guys,” I offered, but they waved off my apology. Boston didn’t even look up as he reached around in the air for my arm to rest his hand on it. He pulled from me while he shoveled in as much as he could swallow.

  Graham plated me some eggs and slid them in front of me on the table – a gentleman amongst boys. “I hope you’re hungry, your grace. There’s plenty.”

  I didn’t have it in me to ask him again not to bother with formalities. Alton and Graham were polite and proper around me. It bespoke of how much I’d changed that I didn’t care enough to correct them after the second reminder that a formal address wasn’t necessary. “This is perfect. Thanks, man.” I ate my food like it was my job, taking no pleasure or time to wonder whether or not this is what I wanted, or even if I was hungry.

  None of my life was what I wanted anymore. I was living with strangers and a married couple. I was sure Danny and Mariang would rather be living somewhere fun, and not with a jilted pregnant woman.

  I wore my pajamas like a uniform, since I couldn’t perform my soul-sucking job anymore, what with both my Reapers nowhere in sight. I hadn’t showered in three days, but this was only partly due to the depression I could feel seeping into my pores. The other part was because if a Duwende wasn’t touching me, I had not even a five-minute window before I went into labor. The contractions were no picnic, and took a long time to subside. My master plan to compensate for this was to simply stop showering. It was a solid plan. None of Von’s brothers had seen me naked so far, so you know, I was winning at least on that front. As fast as I could shower under the gun if I had to, being in my last month of pregnancy made everything take a little longer than it used to. I was scared to go into labor – but more scared of what might come out of me when the D-day finally came.

  When I finished, I made to take my plate to the sink, but Graham swept it away and washed my plate. I liked Graham.

  I sipped my tea made from the dried himila weed that Mariang and I shared to keep our babies healthy. Boston held tight to my hand to keep up a steady pul
l. I couldn’t even be proud of how far I’d come that I’d kicked so much of my OCD to be able to indulge in handholding. This, however, was no indulgence. It was necessary, so I decided it best to form no opinion at all on the claustrophobia I was engulfed in. I was grateful that the three guys didn’t need me to be social as they ate and discussed how weird it felt to drive on the wrong side of the road here.

  Graham waited until I finished my tea and then carefully helped me up out of my chair. “It’s a lovely day for a walk, yeah?”

  Graham motioned to my big picture window, and sure enough, there were birds who were looking at me like, “What the crap does she look like garbage for?” I didn’t have an answer.

  I shrugged noncommittally. “You should go enjoy yourself. No reason you should be chained to me. I can sit with Boston and Alton till you get back.”

  Boston spoke with a mouthful of food. “Ee means oo should get ow of the house.”

  Graham nodded. “Indeed. Couldn’t have said it better than if he’d been raised with actual manners.”

  Boston pumped his fist in the air that he didn’t need such boring things as manners to communicate effectively. “Go on, ’Tober.”

  “A walk? I dunno. I was thinking of going back to bed.”

  Graham let out a quiet sigh, Alton shot Boston a look, and Boston spoke for those too polite to do so after he swallowed. “It’s ten-thirty in the morning! You can’t live in your bed, October. You have to get out and move around. Von will come back when he’s ready. He always does.”

  “I don’t care about that,” I snapped. “Von’s doing what he wants, which is fine by me. I’m tired because I’m pregnant. That’s normal.”

  “Is not showering normal, too?”

  “It is when I can’t be alone long enough to take one without going into labor. Do you want to help me in the shower, Bos?”

  Boston geared up to say something pervy, judging by the crook in his eyebrow and the smarmy smirk he conjured out of thin air. Alton stood, saving his brother a black eye, adjusting the gold-rimmed circular frames on his nose as he spoke. “You’ve got three weeks left, yeah? I can’t imagine you’ll be comfortable not showering for that long.”

  Graham held his elbow out to me to walk me to the bathroom. “I can fix that. If you’re worried about something, you’re supposed to tell us. We can help.” He opened the bathroom door with a practiced smile of calm he tried to bestow upon me. Graham had chocolate-hued hair that was cut short to his head, showing off his kind blue eyes and nonthreatening smile that never seemed to have any agenda. He was taller than Boston, but not as bulky, reminding me of a professor who worked out just enough to have biceps that were useful in a bar fight, but not quite so intimidating as Danny. He had a freckle next to his left eye that somehow made his smiles that much more sweet, with no note of Boston’s locker room humor. Boston could make anything dirty, but Graham was calmer, older. He was twenty-seven, and treated me like I was eight.

  Graham led me into the bathroom and leaned against the sink. “I’ll wait right here. Every few minutes, just reach your arm out, and I’ll pull from you while you’re behind the curtain. No problem at all.”

  My spirits lifted slightly at the idea that I might not have to spend the next three weeks without a shower. “Really? You’re sure you’re okay with that?”

  He shrugged, my hand pinned between his elbow and his ribs. “Why wouldn’t I be? Ezra brought us here to keep you safe and see to whatever you needed. You underestimate your beauty to think any of us would think it an inconvenience to wait here while you’re in the bath.”

  The first smile I’d found in days teased my lips as I batted at his charming sweetness. “Oh, hush. Seriously, though. I know this is weird, and I really appreciate you being so cool about it all. I mean, you guys left your jobs and your homes for this.”

  “For the most prestigious and well-paying job a Duwende could ask for, you forget. It surprises me how little you know about our culture, that you constantly think you’re inconveniencing us. We never get to see Danny and Vo—” Graham stopped himself short of finishing the name of the brother they were careful not to mention too often around me. He cleared his throat. “After Bishop dying, it’s a good thing for us to be able to be together as a family. Though Mum’s in a state with all of us over here. I half expect her to show up any day, demanding to join the party.”

  My anxiety climbed at Von’s mama showing up at random. “She wouldn’t come unannounced, would she?”

  Graham smiled at my nerves. “Let’s go get you some fresh clothes, yeah?”

  I was getting better at holding hands, thanks to no one in my life giving the remnants of my OCD any kind of space. Graham linked his fingers through mine and walked with me to my bedroom, letting me fish out my first outfit in days that was not pajamas. The fitted cotton light green shirt and maternity jeans felt like the first step to putting my depression on a shelf.

  My movements were jerky and swift in the shower. Each time I had to reach out and touch Graham’s hand, I wished showering didn’t have to be done so very nakedly. We both survived the awkwardness, due in large part to Graham’s kind and gentle demeanor. He was meek, but unafraid of taking charge when I needed someone else to take the lead. His temperament reminded me a little of Allie’s, which was most likely why I didn’t mind him taking up space in my home.

  Alton knocked on the door after I finished dressing. He handed my phone to me as I emerged from the bathroom with Graham’s fingers twined through mine. “Phone for you.”

  I pursed my lips, wishing Alton hadn’t answered my phone while I was in the bathroom. “Thanks.” I put the device to my ear tentatively. “Hello?”

  Judge’s voice came over icy and laced with an edge. “Is that the clown who got you in trouble?”

  “Who, Alton? No. Alton’s his brother. And I’m not in trouble. I’m pregnant. Big difference.” I desperately wanted privacy, so I could talk Judge down without an audience, but knew I’d get none. Judge had been my world once upon a time when I was a little girl. Now that I was all grown up, I could see clearly the distance that had been birthed and grown between my unofficial big brother and me over the years. “What can I do for you?”

  The doorbell rang, which brought Danny out of the bedroom he’d been “resting” in with Mariang. Boston moved to answer the door, revealing none other than Judge on my front doorstep. He spoke both to my face and into the phone at the same time. “You can tell me what happened to your life!” He pocketed his phone and jerked his thumb at Boston. “Is this him?”

  “No. That’s a friend.” I wanted to be mad that Judge showed up unannounced at my house. I knew I should read him the riot act for butting in and trying to oversee my life too many years too late. I should be so many shades of pissed at him, but all I could feel was relief. Judge was part of my normal life, while everything else felt too fantastical. I missed normal with all my heart. When I opened my mouth to yell at him, all that came out was an unsteady inhale that revealed a quivering lip I couldn’t control.

  Judge made a beeline for me without so much as blinking, ignoring the posturing of the Vandershot brothers, who weren’t keen on strangers in the house. “I’m here, and I’ll take care of it, baby girl.” He pointed to Graham with a scowl. “You don’t hold her hand. I don’t know you.”

  Graham released my hand with a look of warning to make this quick. I wasn’t sure the storm inside of me could be rushed or contained. I fought back tears in Judge’s strong arms as they coiled around me. When I was little and not so inhibited, I remember seeing him down the street and running to him, not caring about the passing cars as I flew to his embrace, jumping up into his arms with laughter and abandon. Life had been so simple back then. Though I wanted to push him away now, the lost part of me anchored myself to the spot where he stood. After a steadying, indulgent breath, I withdrew from his arms, standing next to Graham as serenely as I could manage.

  “Where’s the father?” Judge ask
ed with a tensed jaw. “You quit your job at the prison, so how are you making money? How are you supporting yourself and the baby?”

  I tried to compose myself, and smiled sweetly up at him. “I thought I’d get a job working for you. You got room on the payroll for another dealer?”

  Judge scowled at my poignant jab that beamed like innocence wafting off my face. “Which one of these guys is the father?”

  “Oh, none of them. The father is great. You’d love him. He wants to open a topless bar, and call me a romantic, but I’m all about supporting my man and his dreams. I’ll be his first investor.”

  “Knock it off, October.”

  “We’re pretty serious. I mean, he even asked me to cosign on a loan for him. I was thinking of hopping on the back of his motorcycle and heading off to his mama’s place. That’s where he lives, of course. There’s something poetic about a guy in his late forties who still lives with his mama.”

  I could practically see the steam billowing out of Judge’s ears. “I said that’s enough.”

  “You’ll watch how you talk to my sister,” Danny postured, taking a step toward me to stand on my other side. His hand rested on the small of my back – a thing Judge did not miss.

  Judge’s nostrils flared. “She was my sister long before any of you moved in here and messed up her life. She was doing fine before she got involved in whatever you’ve all got going on.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “I’ve been watching the house for a while now. Tell me what suicidal future eunuch knocked you up. If it’s not one of these jokers, then who?”

  “You haven’t met Bubba yet?” I blinked up at him, pushing all of his buttons. “I’m thinking of taking out a mortgage on the house to help out with his new business. It’ll be my money and his know-how, but what’s money when we’re in love? Bubba said I’d be a terrific dancer. So you don’t have to worry about me making money. I’ve got it covered.” I looked up at the ceiling in thought. “Or uncovered, now that I think about it.”

  “I don’t have the patience for your humor today. Where’s Ollie? He would never stand for this.” Judge looked around at the unfamiliar faces with an impenetrable glare.