Balt

 

As the bathroom door closed behind Piper, I hesitated, then yanked open the suite door and hauled Kai inside. He was shaking he was laughing so hard.

“Not quite what I was expecting.” Straightening, Kai wiped his eyes and studied me. His expression began to change and a faint glitter came into his eyes. “Care to tell me what the hell is going on, Baltsaros? I thought you said you couldn’t be with my sister – it was for the best or some shit. Now you two are running away to Greece together?”

His expression became an outright glare and I felt the urge to laugh. “It’s a long story,” I said, holding up my hands and Kai glanced around the room.

“You’re sharing a room with Piper?” He made a face. “Man, she’s still such a slob. And she’s currently puking in the bathroom. How much did she drink?”

“About a bottle and half of wine,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “I didn’t even realize.”

“Great job, Balt. Anything else you didn’t realize about her? Like maybe how much she cares about you?” Kai asked, his lip curling as he folded his arms. “I thought you said you two not being together was for the best. When did that change?”

The wine and the long day wasn’t helping, so I gave him a flat look. “Kai, back off. You know how much I care about Piper. I’d never do anything to hurt her.”

“I hope so,” he said darkly. “Not looking too good right now.”

“Are you threatening me? For Piper? You’ve met her, right?” I asked. “And, for that matter, me?”

“I–” A knock came at the door and before I could say a word, Kai had pulled it open and announced, “You’ll never believe this, Isla.”

“Kai, I told you not to wake them up!” Isla Deluca, my petite and lovely cousin stepped in, her teal eyes huge as she took in the messy room. “Woah, what…” Her eyes landed on me and she smiled. “Hi, Balt. I’m so sorry.”

“Hi, Isla,” I said, grabbing a shirt and pulling it over my head.

“Do you realize what’s going on, Isla?” Kai asked, still giving me a hard look. “I mean, you were the one who saw it coming.” She glanced from me to Kai, puzzled. “But then Balt said it wasn’t. Funny how things change. Was it the two bottles of wine?”

“Are you two in a fight?” Isla asked slowly. “I told you not to wake them up.”

“Key word being them. This is their room. Theirs.” Kai said significantly, raising his eyebrows at her. “As in they are together. You were right, Isla.”

Isla gasped, her entire face lighting up and then she ran to me. Hugging me, she squealed, “Oh my gosh! I’m so happy for you, Balt. When did it happen? Where’s Piper?”

“Throwing up in the bathroom,” Kai said snidely, still squinting at me.

“What?” Isla asked, glancing back at him. “Why are you so grumpy, Kai?”

“Listen, it’s been a long day – why don’t we catch up in the morning?” I suggested as diplomatically as possible. “Maybe late morning, when Piper’s more up to speed.” Then I stopped and stared at them. “Wait. What the hell are you two doing in Greece?”

“Piper was acting weird,” Kai said mulishly. “So, I thought we should come.”

“Kai,” I said, then stopped, staring from him to Isla helplessly. “This is the last place you two should be.” Especially Isla. “First thing tomorrow – after breakfast – you’re going home.”

“I wanted to come here, too,” Isla said, placing a hand on my arm. “I know there’s trouble in our family, Balt, but running doesn’t seem to be the answer. Maybe we should go talk to them.”

Cursing in Greek, I was about to say something else when the bathroom door opened and Piper reappeared. Her cheeks were pale, but she was steady and her eyes flashed with rage.

“Kai Elias Weslark, why in God’s name are you in Greece with Isla?” she roared.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me you were hooking up with Balt?” Kai shot back.

“Oh, you do not get to take that tone with me, little brother,” Piper snapped. “This is my business. And Isla shouldn’t be in Greece – the Kazan family is here, you idiot!”

“You wouldn’t answer the phone, Piper! I knew something was wrong!” Kai snarled.

Sensing a Weslark sibling blowout, I went to move in between them when Isla delicately cleared her throat. And to my surprise, a sheepish look came over Kai’s face.

“I was worried about you, sis,” he said, his voice now gentle and soothing. “It wasn’t just your texts. It was a feeling – like you needed me.”

Piper’s eyes softened. “Oh, Kai,” she groaned, walking forward and rubbing her face. “Your heart is always in the right place.”

“We’ll be careful, Piper. You don’t have to worry,” Isla added.

“Isla, please, it’s not that I don’t want you here,” Piper said, her eyes meeting mine for a second and the same fears I had were right there in her gaze. “It’s not safe. For either of you.”

“TLO is here,” I said.

“They’re everywhere,” Kai said dismissively.

“It’s Frost and her crew,” I said, a jolt of anger snapping inside of me at Kai.

There was a moment of silence where Kai and Isla glanced at each other, Kai grimacing and Isla's face becoming concerned.

“Why don’t we talk about this in the morning? We’re all exhausted. Let’s say 11, for brunch?” Isla suggested a moment later, tossing her brown curls back and smiling indolently at Kai. “Wait, do they have brunch in Greece?”

A small chuckle escaped me. “We’ll be able to find breakfast then, yes.”

Isla smiled over at me and then let out a long breath. “C’mon, Kai, we’ve caused enough trouble.”

“No, I don’t think we have,” Kai retorted and gave Piper a measured look. “You better tell me the whole story and what’s going on between you two.”

Piper snorted. “It’s cute when you make threats, baby brother.”

Kai smirked. “Fine. Don’t. But if I don’t know the whole story by tomorrow afternoon, I’ll tell Dad and Aunt Tisha. I’m sure they’ll be so excited to hear about it. Oh, and Soraya, too. Imagine how many phone calls and messages you’ll get. Balt, too.” A deep flush burned across Piper’s cheekbones as she gaped at her younger brother who let out a diabolical chuckle and gestured to Isla. “Oh, wait a minute.” He paused and pulled out his wallet from his back pocket.

"Kai, what now?" Isla asked a note of impatience in her voice.

“Here.” He handed her a wad of bills. “Or did you want it in Benjamin’s only?”

“Kai!” Isla said, trying to shove the money back at him. “Not now.”

“What are you doing?” I asked slowly, watching Kai smile down at Isla.

The tall, tanned kid I’d known his entire life gave me a lazy smile, shaking back his dark curls. “Me and Isla had a bet about you two. She won.” His eyes were serious as they met mine. “And, everything else aside, I’m glad she did. Sorry about earlier, Balt. Night.”

The door closed behind them and Piper let out a choked gasp. “What was that all about? A bet?”

“Isla knew,” I said with a small laugh, walking over to Piper and hugging her. “Are you feeling okay? I didn’t even realize you drank all that wine until it was too late.”

“Yeah, I just threw most of it up… Isla knew…?” Piper asked, stepping back and frowning. “What exactly? Whatever it was, I assume she told Kai.”

“Knew how I felt about you,” I explained, hunching my shoulders and feeling a little embarrassed. “Um, she saw the way I looked at you and I guess she asked Kai about us, who probably laughed, then made a bet with her about who was right. Or something like that.”

“Isla,” Piper murmured, shaking her head. “Oh, that girl. Do you know that I took her case because I thought she looked like Maria? And then she turned out to be Penelope… It’s all so strange.” Rubbing the center of her chest, Piper stared off into the distance. “Like fate.”

Penelope was Isla's real name before her maternal grandmother had been forced to flee California after the deaths of Maria and Kyros. Yet another way the Frost family and the TLO had ripped holes in my life. Taken my family from me. Taken Isla from me.

“Balty.” Piper touched the side of my face and jarred me back to the present. “You look upset – I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up all of this.”

I took her hand. “It’s fine. It’s late and we both need sleep. You sure you’re okay?”

Piper nodded, looking shamefaced. “Remind me not to give you a hard time about the bar in London?”

I laughed. “Okay.”

Just as I’d gotten comfortable on the pillows, my arm around Piper and the blankets arranged, she suddenly sat up and pressed her hand over my heart.

“I do want to tell everyone,” she said.

“What?” I murmured, rubbing my eyes and sitting up slightly. “Who are you telling what?”

I could see Piper’s face glowing above me. “About us, Balt. I want to tell everyone. The entire world. I want to scream it from the rooftops. I want people to know you’re mine and I’m yours.”

A huge smile tugged up into my cheeks. “Mhm,” I said sleepily, falling back on the pillows and pulling her down with me. “I like that sound of that. We’ll do it first thing tomorrow morning.”

She let out a contented sigh and snuggled down, falling asleep instantly.

But I lay awake a while longer. A strange sense had come over me and I held Piper close. It was like each thud of my heart was the winding down of a metronome.

As though I’d wake in the morning and one of us would be gone.

 

“Balt, while it pains me to say this, you do need to put a shirt on to go out to eat.” Fingers traced across my chest and then poked my chin. “Earth to Baltsaros…!”

Shaking my head, I looked up at Piper as she handed me a shirt. “Sorry, I was thinking about something.”

Fingers now ran through my hair and I swallowed hard. It was taking a lot of willpower not to pull Piper down onto the bed and tell those two kids to go off on their own today.

“You didn’t sleep well, did you?” Piper asked, her blue eyes darkening. “You look worn out.” Hesitantly she asked, “Do you want to stay behind? Rest?”

“No,” I said forcefully, yanking the shirt over my head. I wanted to hold on to each of these moments I had left. With Isla and Kai. And especially with Piper. “Besides, in a way, now I get to show Isla a little of her roots. The good parts.”

The parts her father should have been able to show her. The parts her father would have been able to show her if the Frost family wasn’t so damn greedy. Never mind ours.

Piper was giving me a wide-eyed look and I smiled up at her, asking, “Cat got your tongue?”

Rolling her eyes, she muttered, “Oh, Balt.”

“No, what is it? You wanted to say something, I can tell.” I wrapped my fingers around her fesootai. “And I can sense it. Come on, out with it.”

Biting her lip, Piper looked away and asked in a rush, “What do you want to tell Isla about your family? About the curse, I mean.” She paused. “You told me she knows a little, right?”

“Only the bare minimum,” I said, standing and striding over to the dresser where there was a mirror. I yanked a comb through my wet hair. “And as for the Kazans, I want to tell her nothing, Piper. Kyros started a family overseas for a reason.”

“I know,” Piper said softly.

“But?” I demanded, throwing down the comb and turning around.

“Listen, I get keeping secrets, Balty, I do. We kept Kai under lock and key on Maui for years – even from the family. But I don’t know if you should keep this from Isla. And I don’t know if you can…”

“Of course, I can,” I said brusquely, folding my arms.

I thought Piper would get angry and fight back, but a tired, sad look came over her face. Silence filtered into the room and the hard edges around my soul I’d woken up with faded away. Stepping forward, I went to speak. To tell her the words that had burned inside of me for over twenty years.

To stop keeping secrets between us.

But a series of lively raps had come at the door.

“We’ll talk later,” Piper murmured, giving me slow smile.

“You know, I could toss Kai into the Mediterranean,” I offered, grabbing a pair of sunglasses and a hat on the way out. “Solve half our problems.”

“Isla likes him,” Piper said ruefully. “No accounting for taste, huh?”

Kai was scowling when we opened the door and Isla was smothering a smile. “I heard that.”

“You were supposed to,” I told him, making Isla laugh.

As the three of them walked ahead of me, Isla and Piper arm in arm, Kai walking with his typical slouch and hands behind his head, my jaw clenched. I couldn’t help but imagine this under different circumstances. Where Kyros and Maria were alive. Where Isla hadn’t grown up in ignorance of her family, while we thought she was dead.

Where I could tell Piper how I felt without breaking her heart.