Chapter Twenty-Four
Quinton led the way. Julian and Damien followed behind him. I walked behind them with Tyson on one side of me and Dash on the other. The Salt and Pepper twins brought up the rear, behind us.
I felt better knowing that they were with me and that I was not walking into there first. At least they knew who these people were. I, on the other hand, had no idea who they were and no clue as to what we were walking into here.
We followed Adrian to the third door from the right on the ground level. The dark green trim on the door frame was chipped in several places. In fact, the paint was chipped everywhere.
The windows were cracked and the one two doors down was covered up with a board.
A ratty, old doormat lay on the ground in front of the door. I had no idea what color it had started out life as, but it was now a dark, sickly looking grey and had several holes in places and it looked like it might be a little bit thicker than a sheet of paper.
I didn’t bother to wipe my boots off on it on the way into the motel room. I thought it might fall apart if I did.
The room we entered was surprisingly a lot bigger than I had been expecting it to be. A wall or two must have been knocked out at some point in time. Two motel rooms had been turned into one and it no longer looked like a crappy motel room.
The wall inside looked a whole lot better than the wall outside had. They had been painted a light coffee color and it looked to have been done recently. If my nose was working correctly, and it usually was, it also smelled like it had been painted recently as well.
The carpet was a soft, welcoming grey that had absolutely nothing in common with the rug outside. This was fresh and new, and that old rug was waiting for someone to come along and put it out of its misery.
There was nothing decorative on the walls and there were lines on the new carpet where it had been recently vacuumed.
The room had had a makeover recently and they’d cleaned because we were coming. Well, I doubted Adrian had cleaned anything. He likely didn’t even know how to turn on a vacuum.
There wasn’t a whole lot of furniture in the enlarged room. There was no bed, no television, no desk and chair, no mini fridge, no tacky prints on the wall, no nightstand with a Bible in the drawer and a boxy phone on top. There was none of the normal things you would find in a motel room.
Instead, there were stuffy looking armchairs side by side in a semi-circle taking up a fourth of the room. The rest of the room was oddly barren. Those damn chairs were there to be on display as would be the people who sat in them. They were meant to be thrones of some sort and I couldn’t say I was surprised.
There was an open doorway with a set of stairs going down into some dark place I had no desire to investigate. There were two closed doors behind the thrones and a hallway that lead off to the back of the motel.
The door behind the thrones opened just as Adrian was sitting down in the one in the very center of the half circle.
Funny enough, the little bald man had not offered any of us a place to sit. Or, anything to drink for that matter. How rude.
The guys spread out around me. Abel and Addison stayed behind me as I faced the chairs. Quinton stayed on my left. Tyson stayed on my right. Dash moved back with the twins and, oddly enough, Damien and Julian were beside Tyson. Seeing the three of them standing side by side made me incredibly happy. They looked right standing together. I hated to see them fighting with each other. What’s more is I hated the reason they fought with each other. If I could wipe that stupid Annabell out of existence I probably would have.
“This is the girl?” An aged man said as he sat to the right of Adrian. He had white hair that was thinning out on the top. His cheeks sagged. In fact, most of his body looked like it was sagging. He had mean eyes and he kept squinting at me like he needed glasses and every time he did it his nose scrunched up and his mouth flopped open.
I wanted to roll my eyes at him. I was the only girl in the room, what other girl was there?
Good grief.
Two other men entered the room. The first man looked to be in his early forties. He had dark brown hair that was in a thick braid that went down the middle of his back. He had a broad forehead and a wide nose. He was not an attractive man but at least this one’s eyes weren’t mean looking. They were curious as they roamed over me and I automatically dismissed him. The ones who looked mean were the ones I needed to keep my attention on.
The second man who entered was a big man with bright eyes and the fakest smile I had ever seen on someone.
They had set this whole show up for us. They wanted us to stand over here while waiting for them to stroll on out and take their throne chairs in front of us. It was an intimidation tactic and I had to wonder why the theatrics. What were they afraid of?
“So,” the man with the braid said, “you’re the new little witch, Ariel something or other.”
I arched an eyebrow at him and pursed my lips. Please, this tool knew my name, they all did. They probably had my freaking social security number memorized.
“It’s Ariel, actually,” Quinton drawled. “But you already knew this, Daniel. Adrian already insulted her outside. Must you do it as well?”
“We just got here and I’m already tired of the bullshit,” Dash said in a bored voice. “Get to the point of this meeting. Why did you make us come here?”
“We offered to come to you,” the big one on the end said. “We were told no and that we weren’t welcome. Now you complain about having to come here. How ridiculous are you, Dash? You’re usually not so problematic. I would expect this from Quinton or Damien, but not from someone like you.”
My eyes narrowed dangerously on him as I slapped my hands on my hips and tilted my head to the side.
“Someone like him?” I asked in a sickly-sweet voice. A voice as fake as their stupid smiles had been. “What exactly is that supposed to mean? Do you have a problem with him?”
Quinton groaned loudly as the twins both started coughing. I ignored them.
They could say whatever they wanted to about my fucked-up face. They could pretend like they’d forgotten my name. I could care less about any of that, these people meant nothing to me. But Dash? They weren’t allowed to say jack shit about him. I did not think so.
My left eyelid twitched in rage as a surge of heat blew through the room on a gentle breeze. My silk shirt blew out then back, gliding up my stomach. The cami stayed in place so I didn’t bother with trying to pull it back down.
Adrian clapped loudly, and I jumped. The breeze immediately left me, and I straightened my head. I had wanted to hurl a ball of fire at their smug, stupid faces.
“You see,” Adrian said as he swiveled from side to side in his chair, making eye contact with his buddies. “She’s magnificent. How fantastic is it that we now have her with us? I cannot wait to see what all you’re capable of.”
I was so sure.
“My dear,” Daniel said. “I have no idea what’s got you so angry, but I can assure you, nothing was meant in a negative way towards Mr. Flynn. We’re all family here. Now you are a part of that.”
“We know-” Quinton started.
I talked over him. “Do you or don’t you know who my father is?”
The room was eerily quiet. Alright, so I guess I couldn’t learn. You really couldn’t teach an old dog new tricks. I guess I would never be able to stop myself from blurting out things.
“We have no idea,” Adrian said in a bright voice. “You are a complete mystery to us. We’ve never had someone like you before.”
“Which is why we’ve purchased this place,” the man with the braid said in a sour voice. “We will be staying close to you but not close enough for you to feel like we are taking note of everything you do.”
“We want to figure out where you come from,” Adrian said with the first sincere expression I had seen on his face yet. “You said your fathers name was Rain?” He asked.
I blew out a breath and forced myself to relax. I could let the possible slur against Dash slide, just this once. And only because I wanted to know if they were being honest about my father. But only this once.
“Yes,” I said. “His name is Rain Kimber.”
Adrian tilted his head to the side and studied me. “The last time I had spoke to our dear friend Quinton he failed to mention this to me. Instead, he said you knew nothing about where you came from. And now here you are, claiming to know all about it.”
I sighed. I didn’t want to get Quinton in trouble with these people. Who knew what that would mean.
Now that I’d met them, I didn’t think they were as scary as I had yesterday or on the ride over here. But just because I thought it, didn’t make it true.
“Quinton didn’t know until yesterday,” I told them honestly. This wasn’t a deny kind of moment here. “I only found out about who he is like a week ago. Then with everything going on, there was never a good time to bring it up. I only told them about it yesterday.”
“And how do you all of a sudden know who he is?” Adrian asked in a mildly curious voice.
“I found letters and pictures.”
“Do you happen to have any of those with you now?”
I shook my head. Like I just carried those things around with me wherever I went. Yeah, let me just slip them out of the purse I didn’t have. Sure, buddy, I’ll get right on it.
Again, I wanted to roll my eyes but refrained.
Adrian sat forward in his chair. “Tell me what you read about it the letters.” He demanded.
I sighed and eyeballed the one chair that had been left unoccupied.
“Would you like to take a seat?” Adrian asked in an amused voice.
What a dick.
“Not for me,” I said as I shook off Tyson’s hand. I pointed in Dash’s direction and said, “For Dash. As I’m sure you all know, he’s recovering from multiple stab wounds and it’s rude to make him stand there like that when there’s an open seat available right there for him to sit in.”
“Christ,” Quinton muttered in an irritated voice as some of the Council members let out amused sounding chuckles.
I ignored him and focused solely on Adrian. He sat back in his throne like chair and steepled his hands in front of his chin.
“Of course,” he said in a jovial voice. “Please, Dash, take a seat. We insist.”
“I don’t-” Dash started to protest.
Quinton sighed loudly. “Just go and sit down, Dash,” he said in a tired voice. “She’s not going to give up until you go and sit down. She’s probably the most stubborn person in this room, and that’s saying something. It’s pointless to argue with her.”
My eyes got big. He couldn’t really mean that, could he? He argued with me all the time. And he always won.
Dash took a seat in the empty throne without further argument.
Once his butt was firmly in the seat, Adrian urged me to continue explaining things to him. I gave it all to him. Everything I read about in the letters. About Rain being slightly insane but kind of loving. About Vivian being a dirty kidnapper. They asked me quite a few questions about her and where and how I spent my years growing up with her. I answered all of those questions honestly as well. This was the only part of the conversation that shocked me to my core. I was shocked because they became visibly upset but what I was sharing with them. Their jaws clenched, and their faces pinched in rage. They were upset and angry on my behalf about what it had been like for me to live with Vivian. This had also been the only time the guys had interjected by sharing things they’d learned from me with the Council. I wasn’t angry or embarrassed. I didn’t feel much of anything while talking with them.
When they asked about where Vivian was now, I hesitated, and Quinton took over for me. He explained what he’d walked in on in my bathroom at Mr. Cole’s house on that horrible day and what had happened to Vivian.
The Council never commented on any of it. Not until the whole sordid story of my life was out there for them dig into.
When the story was all out there, I let out a relieved breath and my shoulders slumped forward in relief. There was nothing left to hide from anyone and I felt like the world had been lifted off of my shoulders.
“That settles it,” Adrian said on a sigh. “We are without a doubt staying here until this has all been sorted out.”
I didn’t even have it in me to care that they were staying. At least they were an hour and half away from us. That counted.
“We shall find your father for you,” Daniel said in a soft voice.
“We don’t like not knowing things,” the one with the braid said. “If this horrible thing has been done to you, what’s to say there aren’t other poor little girls out there who have suffered a similar fate. Our girls just keep getting taken from us and it needs to be stopped. This cannot stand.”
Oh dear.
I wasn’t so sure about all that. I just wanted to find my father.
“We don’t need help in this,” Quinton said in a voice full of respect. “We can find him-”
“Yes, yes,” Adrian said as he waived his hand dismissively. “You’re an independent young man, you’ve always been one. You are capable of doing a great many things, of this you’ve proved to us many a time. However, this time, you’ll not be doing it on your own. We will be staying, and we will be helping with this.”
“I think we’ve all had enough for the night,” the one with the braid said. “You can go now. We’ll look into things and get back to you. But, we won’t be going anywhere any time soon.”
I sighed. I was happy to be going but not entirely happy that they were staying.
There was nothing for it.
“It was lovely to meet you,” I said as I headed to the door without prompting.
Adrian laughed. “I look forward to seeing you again, my dear. Perhaps I will come and pay you a visit tomorrow and we can do lunch, if you wouldn’t mind?”
Did I mind?
Hell yes, I minded.
“Sure,” I said, lying through my teeth, “sounds good to me. See you then.”
I opened the door and walked out without so much as looking back.
The guys were right behind me.
The ride home was quiet, but not tense like it had been on the ride over.
For once, Quinton dropped me off without a word. I couldn’t tell if he was pissed about how everything went down or happy about it. I didn’t think I cared, I was simply happy to have it over with.
Everyone went their separate ways, and no one stayed over.
I was thankful for it because I had something I needed to do myself.
Something important.
It wasn’t until the next day that I realized I had completely forgotten to ask about Chuck. When I did remember, I realized I didn’t care.