Wildflower (Chapter 37)

Chapter 37

 

            Allie dreaded French class everyday and today was no different. Aaron wouldn’t give up trying to win her back. To prove that fact today he asked her to homecoming. That was right before the nominations for homecoming queen were announced, she was on the list and so was Kristy. In the past going with him to piss Kristy off would have been wonderful but things were different now. Not that Tony asked her to go or anything, they just talked about it in passing. But even if he didn’t ask she couldn’t go with Aaron. All through class he drew pictures on her notebook and wrote things in French about his little scenes of them at the dance. After class he followed her to her locker and wouldn’t give up on trying to convince her. Tony walked right by them and didn’t stop.

            It shouldn’t have been a surprise that Tony wasn’t waiting for her to go to lunch. He didn’t even show up at lunch and she knew it was her fault. She had to do a little detective work to find him since he wouldn’t reply to her text. When she found him in the weight room he wouldn’t look at her and she deserved it. Because she liked attention she didn’t mind Aaron as much as she should have. And things between her and Tony were kind of strained, especially since she started modeling. That had actually been an accident, she didn’t mean to start but it happened anyway, by fate.

            “Tony,” she started not knowing how she was possibly going to fix this.

            “When someone doesn’t want to be bothered they ignore you,” he replied.

            “I don’t like Aaron, he’s just always following me around, and I don’t want to be with him. You are driving me crazy with this jealousy thing,” she told him.

            “Jealous I am not, stupid I am, but I knew better than to get involved with you. That is why I never said anything to you all summer or before that,” he said turning to look at her. “I need to focus and you are a distraction.”

            “So you are going to break up with me because Aaron won’t leave me alone? That isn’t my fault, I tell him everyday that I’m with you and all I want is you,” she said. This was a nightmare when it was supposed to be a good day for her. “You know it’s funny that my own boyfriend wouldn’t ask me to homecoming but someone else would.”

            “Yeah that’s my stupity again, I want it to be special when I asked you and I even bought you something,” he shook his head. “Here, go with Aaron because I’m not dealing with this anymore.” He handed her a little box before he walked pass her and left.

            When she opened the box to reveal a bracelet with a heart charm she felt like crying. The charm had “Allie & Tony” engraved on it. Because she just couldn’t deal with this alone and there was still time before lunch was over she text her friends to meet her in the bathroom. By the time she got there they were there too, Sammie, Danika, Bianca and Abby. It was good to have friends. Right now she really needed them.

            “What’s wrong?” Sammie asked her.

            “Tony broke up with me,” she whispered.

            “Why would he do that?” Danika asked her.

            “Because of Aaron,” she sighed. Sammie hugged her and that made the tears come, this wasn’t fair.

            “You aren’t cheating on him, right?” Abby asked and she shook her head. “Then why would he break up with you?”

            “I get it,” Bianca said. “He thinks you are giving Aaron ideas, which you are, honey, sorry. You are not known for being friendly so stop being so damn friendly with Aaron. Tony is a great guy but his girlfriend needs to seriously figure out who she really wants to be with.”

            “I only want Tony,” she said with no hesitation. That was the truth and Bianca was right. “He doesn’t want to speak to me, this is my fault.” She dug around in her bag for her cigarettes, she needed to smoke badly. While doing that she knocked her notebook on the floor and Danika picked it up.

            “Are you sure you want Tony?” Danika asked turning the cover to face the other girls; Aaron had drawn all over it.

            “Aaron took it in French and did all that,” Allie said pathetically.

            “Do you remember how Aaron was to you before? The only reason he is doing this is to wreck your relationship so that he can hurt you again,” Sammie told her.

            The truth was that she new all those things but part of her still wanted Aaron even though he hurt her. But Tony would never hurt her or use her and she knew that. So how was she supposed to get Tony back? He was pissed and he had every right to be, she really messed up. There had to be something she could do. An idea came to her and she smiled, she was going to win him back and finally put this Aaron thing out of everybody’s mind.

            “I have an idea,” she said to her friends. If this didn’t work she wasn’t going to give up on trying.

 

            Tony was having a bad day and he had a bad practice and he really wasn’t looking forward to going home. He already made up his mind that he was moving out and Corey could take the truck. Walking to school would have been better than dealing with anymore of this crap. It took every ounce of self control he had not to wipe that smirk off Aaron’s face. This was for the best though, he needed to focus. Though at the moment his choices in where he would live weren’t all so desirable. His mother was back home now and if he went to stay with Ricky, Ivan was always over there. Maybe he would call Isaiah that was the only choice he had left. And it was a shame that he wasn’t speaking to his own brother because of her.

            Maybe he was right to break up with her; she didn’t even try to fight him on it. No wonder Aaron was so happy, he won. She wasn’t there watching him like she had been doing every single day since they first kissed. If she didn’t want him anymore then that was fine and maybe if he was lucky her new boyfriend would ride her home. At least now he could focus only on what was important. Girls were not important. But he had no idea what he was going to say to his sister, this was why these living arrangements had to change. He dragged himself to the locker room and decided he would shower at home. It was then that he remembered that she had the keys; she always kept them during school. Today was just not going to end well.

            When he left the locker room he was surprised to see her there, with her cheerleader friends. They all were standing there with their pompoms. And to his surprise they did a cheer. One that was obviously made up by Allie; he couldn’t help but to laugh. She made an apology cheer and asked him to go to homecoming with her. Hadn’t he already made up his mind that he was through with her? That was the best option, but he saw that she was wearing the bracelet and it got to him. Tony knew that he was probably going to regret this but she was looking at him pouting slightly. So he pulled her to him and kissed her. The cheerleaders applauded and he heard some of his team mates behind him. There was just something about this girl. She was like a drug and he was hooked, even though she was definitely bad for him.

 

 

            Nicolas was trying to think of the best strategy for the situation he was in but he was coming up with nothing. Things between him and Wildflower were difficult at best. So far she hadn’t called the wedding off so that was a good sign, or at least he hoped so. Twelve more days until the wedding and he was still missing a groomsmen. Delanoz and Caroline were still missing and he was ready to give up carrying about that. The Mandrakes were actively plotting but yesterday they left Delanoz’s house and they didn’t know he was having them followed. If they led him to Owen then he was going to just kill all of them.

            As wonderful as that would be he needed to fix things with Wildflower, at the end of the week his nosey meddling sister would be in town. Wasn’t it bad enough that she spent a weekend modeling for Carmen? He was completely against his woman being a model, if he wanted a model he would have found one. But he didn’t say anything to her about it; he had a fight with his sister about it instead. At least Wildflower wasn’t sick anymore; he had almost hoped she would have been pregnant. Though considering the fact that they weren’t on good terms it wouldn’t have helped things.

            Going home lately was like he was an enemy invading his own damn house. Everybody knew they were having problems and since everybody in the house would of course take her side, he was the odd man out. He didn’t know what to do anymore and Jose was no help. And he wasn’t one to air his business out so he couldn’t exactly talk to his friends. When he got home he went straight to his office, it was just easier to avoid a fight. And it wasn’t really fighting it was more like she’s sigh and look disappointed. She was in his office sitting at his desk, he hadn’t expected that.

            “You came in here to hide,” she said looking up from his computer.

            “Yeah,” he agreed no reason to lie. “Since you are here you can tell me if you want to go through with this wedding or not.”

            “Funny, I wanted to ask you the same thing,” she replied.

            “I’ve always made my feelings for you clear, but you hate to be near me anymore everything I say pisses you off so you tell me,” he said. He was trying to keep from getting too angry but he was.

            “Well let’s see I see you about 5 minutes each day and you’re secretive and you’re different. And I know you hate that I did the stupid modeling thing for Carmen, she told me you called her. Yet you can’t say anything to me about it though,” she said glaring at him.

            “Fine then, you’re so desperately want to know what I have been doing?” He asked not waiting for an answer he leaned over her and clicked on a few things on the computer, he brought up surveillance of Delanoz with Caroline. “Do you see this girl? She is probably going to die if she isn’t dead already. I was trying to prevent that but I couldn’t, she is the sister of the girl Delanoz killed and we buried. Her other sisters,” he switched the screen. “Those are the other sisters; they blame us for their stupid sister coming here to be with Delanoz. But she’s gone and so is he, but here you go this is why I can’t really be around.” He showed her Cody with the sisters and she gasped.

            “What is she doing with them?” Wildflower asked.

            “Plotting to kill me most likely,” he said. He turned her chair to face him; he was down on his knees in front of her. “I love you and I will protect you no matter what. We’ve been watching them and digging into everything we can because I think they will lead us to Owen. And I didn’t want them here running our wedding.”

            “Why can’t you just talk to me?”

            “Because you were sick and stressed out already, I’m handling it.”

            “We are supposed to be getting married in twelve days Nicolas; of course I’m stressed out. I’ve been wondering for the last two weeks if this wedding was even going to happen. I just don’t get why you can’t talk to me, I’ve accepted things that you have told me and that your crazy brother told me,” she said staring in his eyes. There were tears in her eyes, he hurt her, again. The right thing would have been to call off this wedding and just let her go.

            “I am sorry, you were sick and your brother said something to me that made me worry even more about you. So maybe I’ve been a little obsessed with neutralizing a threat, hell I barely do anything else when I’m at work. I would do anything and go to any length necessary to protect you,” he told her honestly.

            “Wait what brother said what?”

            “Ivan, he told me about Daisy.”

            “Oh that,” she turned away from him then. “You know you are the first person to mention her to me in awhile. They all must share a brain because nobody will say anything about her right now. I know them; they don’t want to upset me.”

            “Then we will go see her now,” he said. The thought only just came to him.

            “You don’t have to do this.”

            “Yes, I do, so you will either come willingly or I’ll just take you.”

            “Fine,” she sighed. “I love you Nick and I want this to work.”

            “Everything is going to be fine; you are going to have your perfect wedding day. We are going to get away from here and spend some real alone time.”

            “Ok,” she nodded. He stood and held her in his arms.

            Once again all was right in their relationship. Except he knew he shouldn’t marry her and that he was going to cause her nothing but pain somewhere down the line. If he was a better man he would call this wedding off and let her live her life. But he was selfish and self-serving and he did love her. This thing with the Mandrakes was just the beginning; there were so many things she still didn’t know. She was his and he was going to have her and he’d known that since the first time he laid eyes on her. He would do anything to keep her happy and at this point that included killing his brother. It was funny that he just didn’t care if Delanoz lived or died anymore, family was always supposed to be most important. Wildflower was his family now and she was most important and in twelve days it would be official.

            Nicolas drove Wildflower out to the cemetery where her sister was buried. Something about this place was familiar but all cemeteries looked alike to him. Most of the dive while she talked about wedding things, he was mostly thinking about her modeling. That was an unacceptable career or hobby or whatever it was. He did not approve of men looking at her and she knew that. But he didn’t blame her for it he blamed Carmen; he wanted to strangle his sister for this. When she arrived at the end of the week he was going to have to restrain himself from accidentally hurting her. For now he couldn’t make a big deal about it because of the wedding but after their wedding when she legally belonged to him he was going to put a stop to it. His wife would not be some object for men to stare at.

 

 

            Sammie really hated dresses and she found a new hate for them when she was forced to try on dresses for homecoming. The girls dragged her out with them to look for dresses. Allie of course had her own dress from Lexy’s fashion show. Before she would never have gone to a school danced, neither would her cousin but here they were. It had actually been a surprise when Evan asked if she wanted to go and since he asked she couldn’t say no. Jordan laughed when she told him she was going, he would actually be in town then. After four different stores and way too many dresses she found one she didn’t hate.

            “That would look nice on you,” a pretty blonde told her. She’d been looking at tops while the other girls were trying on dresses and other things.

            “Thanks, but its too girly for me,” Sammie replied.

            “Oh no, it goes really nice with your eyes,” she said. “By the way I’m Caroline.”

            “I’m Sammie; maybe I’ll get it everybody tells me I should start dressing better than in jeans and t-shirts.”

            “For a long time that was my thing too,” Caroline said smiling pleasantly. “Oh there’s my boyfriend.” Curious Sammie turned to look but eyes didn’t believe what she was seeing.

            “That’s your boyfriend?” She asked and Caroline smiled.

            “Yes, I know what you’re thinking he’s a little older but we’re in love. I’m expecting him to pop the question any day now,” Caroline said happily and waved him over.

            “Samantha,” her father said staring at her.

            “You know each other?” Caroline asked looking between them.

            “Yes, this is my daughter,” he said.

            “Oh my God, that’s so funny,” Caroline laughed, they didn’t. “We must get to know each other.”

            “Um yeah,” Sammie said. This was the most awkward situation she had ever been in. And this Caroline while she was pretty she definitely wasn’t much older than her.

            “Hey Sam,” Allie called then she came over and looked between the three of them. “Hey Uncle D, I didn’t know you shopped.”

            “He’s not,” Sammie said slightly amused. “This is Caroline, dad’s new girlfriend. Caroline this is my cousin Allie.”

            “It’s good to meet you,” Caroline said happily.

            “We need to go,” Delanoz said. “It was good to see you girls, tell Nicky I’ll be by soon.” He said trying to steer Caroline away from them.

            “Wait,” she said and rushed over to Sammie and hugged her. “It was fate that we met, let me see your cell phone, we’ll have dinner or something.”

            “Alright,” Sammie said a little daze handing over her phone.

            “You know Caroline, we’re having our homecoming this week at school, and you should stop by the house. The family is all going to be around, everybody would love to meet you,” Allie said smiling.

            “That sounds like a great idea, I’ll see you then,” Caroline said smiling. With a wave she dashed out the store to follow her wonderful boyfriend.

            “Why the hell did you just do that?” Sammie asked.

            “Because she’s like 18 and dating your dad, that is freaking hilarious and everybody has been tense lately this would amuse everybody. And she was just so disgustingly happy, I love it,” Allie laughed.

            Sammie was a little amused but this Caroline seriously thought she was going to marry him. That was kind of tragic; nobody needed to marry Delanoz Capriani. On some level she loved her father or at least she wanted to because he was her father. But she was one of eleven and her mother basically raised her and Jordan to hate their father. The mothers of her siblings mostly taught them the same. She remembered once a few years ago when all the mothers had a meeting, they all had interesting things to say. Thinking about that she felt bad for this poor confused Caroline. Instead of thinking about it further she went back with Allie to their friends. Maybe she needed to call her and tell her that dating him was probably a really bad idea.

 

 

            “You will never believe where your brother was spotted,” Nicolas said.

            “Do I even want to know?” Jose asked.

            “At the mall, Caroline started chatting with Sammie,” he told him.

            “They are still in town?” Jose asked stunned.

            “Maybe, I’m working on tracking the cell phone number she gave Sammie.”

            “Well she’s still alive at least.”

            “She told Sammie she expects a proposal soon,” he laughed.

            When the girls came home and told that story over dinner he was glad he made sure to come home early. Now he didn’t have to feel bad because Caroline was dead, she was alive and shopping. It would have been more interesting if she was dead, this was kind of boring. Ten days to his wedding and he was trying to find his stupid brother and the dumb girl that fell in love with him. All was well in the house for the moment so he was in his office while Wildflower was watching TV with the girls. He didn’t feel like suffering through those girly TV dramas. His life was dramatic enough.

            “Saturday, we’re throwing you a bachelor party,” Jose informed.

            “By we you mean who?”

            “I’ve been talking to Richard and Brian, we’re planning something nice. But since we have to invite your soon to be brothers in law it won’t be as fun. Originally I was thinking to go to Vegas for the weekend, would you do that?”

            “You know some of her brothers are underage?”

            “Just three of them, oh and Jordan, aren’t D’s kids coming in this weekend?”

            “Yup, first we get Carmen then the will be arriving every day after that.”

            “Ok fine no Vegas, but we are doing something big.”

            “Don’t think if you get some skank a*s stripers I’m going to have sex with them.”

            “You got ten days left of freedom; I will get you laid one way or another. Remember them chicks from the bar? I’ve been spending time with them nightly, I could lend you one.”

            “That is disgusting,” Nicolas replied. “If I want to have sex I can have Wildflower, why would I need some w***e you found?”

            “Because I know you wouldn’t cheat on the princess, if you do it before you are married it won’t be cheating. Being with one woman forever no matter how sexy she and she is sexy, it’s crazy. You will get bored,” Jose told him.

            “Says you who gets bored and screws around with relatives of your girlfriends,” he paused. “I heard Cheyenne might be pregnant.”

            “Don’t say that I was very careful, brought my own condoms and burned them later. That chick is clingy and needy,” Jose said.

            “I’m not going to get bored with her, she’s up for anything,” he said slightly defensive. With a little encouragement he could get her to do anything he wanted.

            Maybe a weekend of stress free fun was what he needed. As the wedding drew closer he was worried it wasn’t going to happen. None of his enemies had done anything except lay low and that definitely meant something bad was going to happen. Or he was just paranoid; he was after all getting something that he wanted very badly. At least if Caroline was alive then her sisters couldn’t complain. An email popped up on his screen, his associate tracked down the cell phone. Now he had an address.

 

 

            Last night St. Ivy won another football game, currently they were undefeated. Allie was crowned homecoming queen at halftime. Now tonight was the dance and Wildflower had just seen off the kids. They took a lot of pictures and everything was happy and everybody smiled. Only five minutes after they left her mother and aunt showed up. She had to let them in because they were there. As a good will gesture she let them look at the pictures. The real problem was that Ricky was there and he was still very unhappy with their mother. Christina and Ariela were over too and Isaiah made it clear last week at Ariela’s birthday that he did not want them near her.

            “Wildflower, your mother is feeling better now and all she wants is to be able to spend time with her family,” Aunt Maria said. “She feels that if you were to forgive her then the others would follow your example.

            “Since you are speaking for her why does she deserve to be forgiven?” Ricky asked, really they should have been asking for his forgiveness. Once Ricky told them to do something they all listened, she didn’t exactly have his authority.

            “Ricardo, you have to understand that your mother is ill and she has no control over what she does sometimes,” Aunt Maria said.

            “Is that so?” Someone said from the doorway, it was Isaiah and he looked pissed.

            “I’m sorry,” Christina told her. Of course she had to call him to come get her, if she didn’t and hew found out she was near their mother it would have caused problems.

            “Isaiah,” Marguerite said looking at him pleadingly.

            “I’ll say this again so that you both understand,” Isaiah said. “Marguerite you are not my mother and I don’t near my wife or my daughter.”

            “How could you say that? And how could you go marrying her and not tell me?” Their mother asked with tears in her eyes.

            “Because what I do is none of your damn business,” he replied.

            “So who watches Ariela now? I have a right to see my grandchild.”

            “She goes to daycare and you do not have a right to see her,” he said then he turned back. Christina and Brooke were in the hallway, Ariela was standing in between then looking at her daddy.

            “Mom, I know you’re trying but I can’t let you come to my wedding,” Wildflower said. “You’ll just upset everybody and its not fair to me or to anybody else.” She tried to say it gently but it didn’t matter her mother was going to perform anyway.

             “It’s not fair? I’ve already missed so much I can’t be there for my daughter’s wedding because I have a problem,” her mother looked at her pleadingly.

            “Wildflower you should reconsider, we don’t have much family left. Wouldn’t you like your mother to see you get married? She will be on her best behavior,” Aunt Maria the diplomat said.

            “How can you cut me out like this? All I’ve ever wanted was to be able to love and care for my children,” Marguerite cried.

            “Here we go again, same story all the time,” Ricky shook his head. “You never took care of any of us after dad died that is the truth. I took care of your children I took on your responsibilities. Do you think that I grew up wishing I could be responsible for all of my siblings? Do you not think maybe I might have wanted a life of my own? No of course not because that would involve you thinking and that seems to be almost as impossible as you being responsible or owning up to all your crap? You have put this family through way too much and you want to talk about what’s fair.”

            “I was sick,” she said pathetically.

            “Sickening is more like it, all you ever had to do was keep taking your medication and everything would have been fine. I don’t have regrets from taking care of my family but I do really resent that fact that you are my mother,” Ricky said.

            Nobody said anything few a few seconds. Ricky never got this mad and never really complained about having to take care of everybody. He saw it as his duty as the oldest son to take their father’s place. Just for Ricky Wildflower was willing not to have her mother at her wedding. But not only him also for Isaiah and Christina and definitely for Evan and really all of her siblings. Iris never came around anymore and she married a loser just to get away from their family. Without their mother they functioned best as a family and they were all happier. Her family meant everything to her; they always had and always would. But was right now the time to have Marguerite thrown in everybody’s faces when life was more normal than it had ever been?

            “Wildflower,” Ricky said taking her hand. “It’s your wedding and it is your choice if she is there or not. We will all be there no matter what you decide.” He looked at Isaiah who just nodded, but still looked pissed off.

            “Mom, I’m sorry I don’t want you there,” Wildflower said. She wasn’t sure who in the room was more surprised by what she said. After all she was the one that was easily guilted into things. But she felt strongly that her siblings along with herself deserved a day where they could be together and be happy and not deal with her drama.

            “I want my boys back, you can’t keep them,” Marguerite said trying to assert authority that she didn’t have.

            “You are really so spiteful that you would move them back with you?” Isaiah asked, he just shook his head in obvious disgust.

            “They are my sons and you have no right to keep them,” she said.

            “Marguerite this wasn’t what we discussed,” Aunt Maria said.

            “You call them and tell them I want them home now, I don’t care about no dance,” she said.

            “My God you are such a b***h,” Christina said stepping in beside her husband. “I was grateful to you because you took me in when I had nowhere to go, but you are seriously insane. Haven’t you done enough? Those boys are finally happy and you can’t stand for anybody to ever be happy.”

            “Christina I am surprised that Isaiah married you, he never wanted you but you trapped him,” she replied.

            “Mother,” Ricky said before Isaiah or Christina could reply. “You no longer have a say in what goes on with the boys. I don’t know if you remember but I am their guardian and I have been for years, in fact I was the guardian of all your children except Iris of course. Aunt Maria you knew that didn’t you?”

            “Maria?” Marguerite stared at her sister.

            “Yes I did, I was the one who helped him and suggested it in the first place,” Aunt Maria admitted.

            “How could you do this to me?”

            “Stop acting like you are the victim, I was trying so hard to help you make up with your children. They have had to put up with too much, especially Ricardo,” Aunt Maria shook her head sadly.

            “Fine then, I am done with all of you. You are not my children,” Marguerite said. She got up from the table and walked out of the room pass Isaiah and Christina, she paused in front of Ariela.

            “Don’t bother stopping, my daughter has nothing to do with you,” Isaiah told her. Surprisingly she didn’t say anything else just walked down the hall and slammed the door on her way out.

            “I’m sorry,” Aunt Maria said getting up to follow.

            “I am so happy I’m not related to you people,” Brooke said breaking up the silence. She picked up Ariela and brought her in the kitchen and set her down on the counter. “My family is a lot less crazy.”

            “Yet you still hang around,” Ricky said.

            “Yeah but I could leave if I wanted to,” she replied.

            “Ha, I’ve been trying to get rid of you for years,” Wildflower said.

            “Oh hush or I will call Scarlet with last minute changes,” she said sticking her tongue out.

            “So people what are we going to do now?” Wildflower asked.

            “We could stay up and wait for the kids to come home,” Christina suggested. She came over to sit at the table and pulled Isaiah with her.

            “Let’s order food,” Brooke suggested.

            “Chris,” Isaiah said with an odd expression on his face. “What she said, you know I don’t think that, right?”

            “Of course not honey,” Christine said with a smile. “I’d have to be crazy to try and trap you; you’re the most difficult person to live with.”

            “Thanks you are so wonderful,” he replied glaring at her.

            “I love you too,” she replied.

            Tonight was supposed to be a simple night but of course this was her family so it wasn’t. Part of her felt guilty that she told her mother not to come to her wedding but them she thought about Ricky and all he had to do all these years. And then there was Evan who always was made to feel like a mistake by their mother. At this point she wasn’t sure what was going to happen with her mother. Right now at this moment she just wanted to be happy and stress free. Was that so much to ask? Her wedding was in eight days and she was terrified. She wasn’t sure why because nothing was really going to change, she already lived with Nicolas for months. All that would really be different would be that she was legally his wife. Logic didn’t matter to her nerves apparently. And Carmen would be there soon with her dress and with her modeling photos. When this year began she would never have guessed this was where she would end up. Now all she had to do was try to get to the wedding without fainting or running away.

 

 

            Last year in school she was the party girl s**t and she didn’t care about that title. Now everything was different and she was homecoming queen. And it didn’t hurt that she looked amazing in this white lace dress Lexy made. Maybe her sudden popularity had a little to do with her sort of modeling career or it was because she was a more likeable person. The girl that came late to school most days, smoked in the bathroom, dressed very provocatively and had a reputation for stealing boyfriends and doing everything sexually, that wasn’t the girl you wanted as your friend. This new life fit her better and beating Kristy made her especially happy. What truly made her the happiest was Tony; everything was good with them now. She completely cut Aaron out of her life, no more friendly chats in class and no more speaking at all. Once she thought that school functions were for losers, but that was before she was queen.

            Tonight was her night, she liked this new life. Even though she was supposed to be off sex for awhile she was going to have sex with Tony tonight, just like last night after the game. But after that they weren’t going to do it again. She liked the idea of taking sex out of the equation to see if they could function together as a couple, but she really liked having sex with him. Which was weird because she was not a monogamous person and she’d had sex with a lot of guys. There was just something about Tony, she was addicted. Even when they didn’t have sex they were good. Mostly they just did homework together and hung out with friends. It was good to be living at the mansion everybody wanted to come to her house.

            “Hey,” someone whispered in her ear. It was of course Aaron; this was why she tried not to be alone.

            “Leave me alone,” she replied.

            “You look beautiful,” he said and she turned. Why was he always trying to ruin her life?

            “Aaron, whatever we had was years ago and you were really mean to me. Get over it,” she told him.

            “I can’t, and I really can’t stand to see you with pretty boy Tony,” he told her. “You could leave here with me, he’ll get over it.”

            “Uh no, go entertain your skanky date and leave me alone,” she said. The funny thing was that she wasn’t tempted at all, that was a very good thing.

            “Oh you are pathetic,” Abby’s voice came from behind her.

            “Nobody asked you,” Aaron said looking annoyed. “Allesandra, you know you want to come.”

            “Don’t call me that, Allie I can handle but otherwise don’t call me that,” she said. It was kind of automatic, she was taking baby steps into her name and she wasn’t ready to go that far back.

            “She isn’t going anywhere with you,” Abby said glaring at him.

            “That’s what I was just saying,” Allie told her friend. “Aaron I need you to understand I was young and pathetic back then and you lost any tiny chance you could have had when you let your dumb a*s b***h of a sister think for you.”

            “Bye,” Abby said and pulled her away. “I’m so proud of you.”

            “I’m sick to death of him, but I do think I need a drink,” she said.

            “Honey you know I’m always carrying a lil something,” Abby said like she knew she would. “Are we ready to be done with this dance Queeny? I need to get drunk.”

            “Abs, I think you’re becoming an alcoholic,” she told her.

            “Probably, but why would I care?”

            “Let’s go then cause I need to have sex with my boyfriend.”

            “Wait,” Abby said stopping. “Are you in love with Tony?”

            “What? Why would you ask that?”

            “Because we’ve been friends for awhile and you’re either in love with him or obsessed with him. Either way it’s weird.”

            “I don’t know,” Allie said thoughtfully. “Oh my God, Abby I think I really am in love with him.”

            They both stood there staring at each other, this was something new. In the past her and Abby partied together and hung out with older guys and just had fun. It had been Abby’s idea for them to try out for cheerleading just for fun and here they were. Allie was pretty sure that she was in love for the first time in her life. This wasn’t the same as how she felt about Ivan or even Aaron. She knew stupid things like that they had been together for exactly 51 days which was 7 weeks. And she knew his dreams and what he wanted for life and she admired him for how hard he worked, he was a straight A student his whole life. She loved to just look at him and she found herself doing it all the time. She loved to sneak and sleep with him even though he snored and she thought about him in an obsessive amount. Yeah it seemed like she was completely in love with him.

            “Are you going to tell him?” Abby asked.

            “Should I? It was only the other day that he broke up with me,” she sighed.

If he didn’t feel the same she didn’t know if she could handle it. Looking around the room with its crappy decorations, she thought hard about this. The hotel they were at was nice, of course with as much as the parents paid the school it had to be. There were still people dancing and some people at tables, her friends were at a table laughing at something. She caught Tony’s eye and he just looked at her in that way he did. None of this made any sense, why did she feel like this? Abby took her hand and pulled her over and announced to the group that they were leaving. They were going out to get food and go over to Abby’s house where her parents had not been in a month or so. Somehow they got permission to stay the night and she was going to make it worth it.

“Are you ok?” Tony asked slipping his arm around her.

“Perfect,” she replied. Abby was giving her looks that suggested she should tell him. “Tonight can we break our no sex rule?”

“I don’t know were you planning on getting me drunk and seducing me?”

“Oh hell yeah, I know I shouldn’t drink after I didn’t all summer but at least I’m not drinking and driving.”

“Allie,” he said with a strange look in his eyes.

“Tony, I think I’m in love with you,” she whispered in his ear. He stared at her and she couldn’t read him. Maybe this was a mistake.

 

 

“I swear I hate you and you are an evil w***e,” Carmen said.

“This time it wasn’t my fault because I was sick,” Wildflower said.

“I have never heard of anybody with this problem,” Carmen grumbled while she pinned the dress. Somehow she lost weight again and the dress was too big.

“Why can’t I have your problem?” Brooke asked. Her and Christina were trying on their bridesmaids dresses and Lexy put Ariela in her little dress.

“You need to quit being so stressed, be happy you’re getting married,” Christina told her.

“We are going to need to feed you, one of you go get food,” Carmen said shaking her head. “Everybody else fits their dresses except for you; I swear you are doing this to drive me crazy.”

“Trust me I’m not,” she replied. “So what do you think?” She asked Ricky who was lying on her bed.

“I think I miss you being little,” he said. “Do you really want to get married?”

“Yes she does because I have worked too hard,” Carmen said glaring at him.

“And Scarlet would kill somebody too,” Brooke added. “Everybody’s getting married, my life sucks.”

“Says you that gets paid to do absolutely nothing and you’ve been staying here,” Christina said.

“Getting married is overrated,” Carmen said.

“How is Doctor Cam?” Wildflower asked and she rolled her eyes.

“Oh he’s on my last nerve thanks to you,” she replied.

“But he is so hot I would want me a piece of that if I could get it,” Brooke said.

“The sex is the only good part of having him around.”

“Mother, I am still in the room,” Lexy said making a face. “Come on Ariela let’s show your daddy how cute you are and set my brain on fire.”

“Sorry Lex,” Carmen said while she was leaving the room. “Ricky, you’re a man do you have some insane need to get married?”

“I wouldn’t say I have an insane need to, I’d like to eventually. If you love him then the past shouldn’t matter,” he told her.

“I’ve been married twice and I would like to say I’m over that mess but I so am not. Why can’t we just be together without getting married?”

“You should be able to have what you want without the marriage thing,” Brooke said. “It’s not like you’re cheating or anything.”

“Nope, I was broken up with him over the summer and technically we aren’t together now. Yeah we’ve been having sex but I’m not marrying him,” Carmen sighed.

Wildflower looked at herself in the three-way mirror that had arrived earlier that day. Carmen ordered it since they would be getting dressed in the house for the wedding. She hadn’t expected to lose more weight; it wasn’t that long ago that they went to New York. At least so far she hadn’t fainted which meant the reason she did it had nothing to do with wedding dresses. Here she stood in her wedding dress with her best friends, soon to be sister-in-law and her brother. Ricky wanted to see the dress and Carmen thought fitting it to her would be a good idea. Apparently it wasn’t because it didn’t fit again, at least the bridesmaids dresses fit. It was good to do something distracting; she had been obsessing over her mother’s visit until Carmen arrived. The rest of the guys were downstairs probably drinking.

“So when is the doctor coming in?” Christina asked.

“Next week sometime, I should so go have sex with somebody else before he comes,” Carmen said thoughtfully.

“Why would you do that?” Wildflower asked.

“Because I can and because I don’t have to be faithful to him we are not in a relationship,” she paused. “Ricky wanna have sex?”

“As tempting as that is, I’ll decline,” he said. Both Brooke and Christina laughed.

“You know I heard-”
            “Do any of you know how to mind your own business?” He interrupted.

“No,” Brooke replied laughing.

“We’re family and if you want to know anything about my obscenely large family just ask,” Carmen said.

“How’s your girlfriend Ricky?” Brooke asked and he shook his head.

“I do not have a girlfriend, why don’t you focus on Jay ask him if he has another girlfriend,” he said seriously. She stared at him a moment.

“Let him try and you’ll be missing a brother,” Brooke replied with a smile.

“Children,” Christina said giving them a look.

“Oh hush Mama Chris,” Brooke said.

“Ok I’ve made a decision,” Carmen said suddenly. “First I am going to make this dress fit your current size and I’m not changing it Wildflower and you really need to eat. And my other decision is we are so going to have strippers at the bachelorette party.”

“What bachelorette party?” Wildflower asked.

“The one you’re having tomorrow night, didn’t I mention it? Well you’re having one, I can hook up with a stripper,” Carmen said. She pulled the fabric of the dress tighter and pinned it.

“And if I don’t want a party?”

“You would try to ruin my fun, you are having a party.”

“I’ve never seen strippers,” Christina said thoughtfully.

“Isaiah is not going to let you near a naked man,” Ricky told her.

“Why does he need to know? And it’s not like Jose isn’t planning some s**t-fest,” Brooke said.

“Ricky do not open your mouth to Isaiah I do not feel like fighting with him,” Christina sighed.

“Why are you with him again?” Ricky asked. “No offense Chris but I couldn’t live with him so I don’t know how you do.”

“He’s not so bad when it’s just the three of us and he’s really good when it’s the two of us,” a smile crept on her face. “Oh but I do remember all those fights you use to have, and I wanted to kill you both when Ariela was sleeping.”
            “Do you know how great it is to have quiet now? Not that it matters all of you are always in my business and bothering me,” he shook his head.

“I don’t bother you,” wildflower said.

“Of course not,” he said and got up from the bed. He came over to her and kissed her forehead. “You are going to be one beautiful bride.”

“She’ll be a dead bride if doesn’t fit this dress next week,” Carmen said.

“I can’t believe I’m getting married,” Wildflower said looking in the mirror again.

 

 

“You are so crazy,” Allie laughed.

“Drunk is more like it,” Tony replied. He was in fact drunk enough to do body shots off of her so he was pretty drunk.

“You are so going to be hung over tomorrow,” she told him.

“Probably, it’s Wildflower’s fault she shouldn’t have left us unattended.”

“Uh huh and when you tell her that and we lose our doors I’m not going to be able to sleep with you.”

“You’re always in my bed that wouldn’t stop you.”

“Maybe,” she shrugged and rolled over on her stomach.

At the moment they were both in their underwear in the guest room at Abby’s house. Abby’s parents apparently had a big house that they never visited. They left Abby in the care of her older sister that let her do whatever she wanted. Which included having parties and she was the one that brought the liquor. After the dance they came here to all hang out and he was now alone with Allie. Both of them were avoiding talking about what she said before they left the dance. His distraction was obviously drinking and he knew when he got drunk bad things happened.

Taking into consideration that whole week and all the things that happened he just wasn’t sure. The other day he had been ready and willing to move out of the mansion to get away from her. He saw her at the dance talking to Aaron and that kind of pissed him off but he said nothing. But hadn’t he been the one to buy her that bracelet as a symbol of his love for her? His trouble wasn’t if he loved her or not because he knew he did before they ever got together, the trouble was if he should tell her. At seventeen he never told any girl he went out with that he loved her, that wasn’t that odd of a thing. How was he supposed to know if she meant it? Before she was so certain she was in love with his brother. So he had good reasons to question what she said.

This whole thing distracted him so much that he didn’t even have sex with her like they both wanted. Instead once they were alone and undressed he decided to do shots. Since she didn’t mention it again he didn’t either. It was wrong to not say anything but he couldn’t bring himself to. Last night after the game he wanted to tell her he loved her, funny how things changed in just 24 hours. She laid there on her stomach staring at her shot glass; she traced her finger around the rim. Ever since he gave her that bracelet she didn’t take it off, and he felt guilty. But he just couldn’t tell her when he couldn’t be sure that she wasn’t going to run off with Aaron. Oh how he hated Aaron, they never exactly spoke to each other anymore. Aaron wanted what was his and Tony hated sharing anything. That was what happened when you were one of 12; you have to share even when you don’t want to. Allie was not something to share and he couldn’t speak to Aaron because if he did they would fight. If he got in a fight Ricky would kill him. Especially since it would be a fight over a girl, which was definitely unacceptable.

“Are you too drunk to have sex?” She asked after a while, she was still staring at the shot glass.

“I’m never too drunk to have sex,” he replied but she didn’t look up.

Of course he hadn’t thought about how not responding to her confession that it might hurt her. She didn’t deserve that; she’d already had enough hurt. This was too hard it was either say nothing and hurt her to protect his own heart or tell her and risk humiliation. Maybe this really wasn’t the time for him to have a girlfriend. Everything about this relationship was a distraction and ending it was really the best course of action. Looking at her made it hard; she was like a whole different person than the girl he originally fell for. Back then most of it was a physical attraction but now it was more than that. He loved it when she would sneak into his room at night saying that she needed to be near him to sleep. Or how she liked to make all these plans for what they would do once they were both 18, she was keeping a list. She insisted that she was going to take classes over the summer so she could go college with him. She said a lot of things like that, about them getting an apartment together. This whole thing was too hard.

“We don’t have to if you don’t want to,” she said after another long silence.

“It’s not really that I don’t want to because I always want you,” he said.

“Fine, it’s because I said something stupid and you don’t feel the same,” she said. Now she was looking at him and he just felt worse.

“Why did you tell me that?”

“I don’t know because I don’t know when to keep my big mouth shut,” she replied. She got up from the bed and went over to dig in the overnight bag she brought over yesterday. It surprised him when she pulled her pajamas out and start getting dressed.

“Allie, come here,” he said sitting up. With obvious reluctance she came back to the bed. “You aren’t stupid ok? I just wasn’t sure about telling you how I feel because I don’t know if tomorrow you will change your mind.”

“Seriously? Why would you think that?”

“I’m thinking too clearly, I’m not drunk enough,” he said avoiding the question.

“Drink something else and I will break the damn bottle over your head,” she said glaring at him.

“If I were to tell you that I loved you before we ever went out and you decided to run off with whoever you decide you like next, I couldn’t take it. So there you go,” he said. He laid back on the bed if only he could have just had sex with her he could have stalled a little.

“But why do you think I’m not serious about this? I really wouldn’t tell you that if I didn’t mean it and I really do. Do you know how much I think about you? The other day I was daydreaming about you in class. And I really wish you could stop thinking that I have any kind of feelings Aaron or anybody else,” she sighed.

“How can you be sure? You were in love with Ivan not that long ago.”

“That’s not fair, I was vulnerable and confused,” she said just lie her therapist told her. “I was never in love with him or anybody else and the thing with Aaron was when I was 14 and he really hurt me. Maybe I am an attention w***e and I like attention too much so I just let him give me attention and it’s wrong. If you can’t accept that I make mistakes and that I’m trying really hard then we might as well break up again.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I love you Allie Capriani.”

“And I love you too Antonio Laiez,” she said and he kissed her. Somehow he felt like he might regret this but at least he was honest.

 

 

Sammie sat staring out the window, she wanted to go home. She did not know why she let the other girls talk her into this stupid slumber party. This wasn’t her and she didn’t really want to mess around with Evan, like he wanted. Just like she hadn’t wanted to drink with everybody else, yup she was boring. Why was it so important to everybody to drink and party and have sex? Or what was wrong with her that she didn’t want those things? Evan had gone to sleep after she made it crystal clear that she was not doing anything sexual with him. His mouth said it was fine and wasn’t a big deal, his expression was saying something else. Did he really think she was just going to have sex with him?

Maybe she did need to take more chances and do more things but she was maxed out for awhile. She already drank, wore dresses, got a boyfriend and messed around with afore mentioned boyfriend and she had cheerleader friends. Once upon a time she use to laugh at the cheerleaders with her cousin. A cousin who had become a total stranger. So many things had changed; she just needed something to be normal and not so weird. In her opinion staying over a friend’s house to drink and do whatever with your boyfriend was not her idea of fun. There was a reason obviously that she never kissed a boy before Evan, it had to be that something was just off about her. Why couldn’t she want to do the things that her friends and other high school girls wanted to do?

“Are you going to stay up all night?” Evan asked opening his eyes to look at her.

“I’m thinking,” she replied.

“You know I’m not mad that you didn’t want to do anything, right?”

“Yeah I know,” she said even though they both knew the truth.

“What’s wrong then?”

“I was wondering why I’m not more like the other girls. They have fun and I don’t know I’m the wet blanket.”

“Why would you want to be more like them? Your cousin is a sex addict, Abby drinks even when she is in school, Danika cheats on her boyfriend and Bianca has a sugar daddy. Don’t ask how I know these things.”

“At least they have lives,” she sighed. How did he know things about her friends that she didn’t know? Then again they were only her friends because of Allie and she knew Abby kind of had a drinking problem.

“I like you better the way you are,” he told her.

“No you don’t, you wish you had a girlfriend that dressed like a girl and would have sex with you,” she said.

“Why would you think something crazy like that?”

“I know you use to have sex with Allie,” she said. Of course he didn’t expect that, he was silent a moment then sat up.

“She told you that?” He asked avoiding looking her directly in the eyes.

“No, I know someone who saw you together and I asked her and she was honest with me. Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“Because I didn’t want you to think you have to have sex with me because your cousin did. I love you for you Samantha, we don’t need to have sex.”

“Good cause I wasn’t going to have sex with you. I just don’t like that you couldn’t have told me.”

“I thought it would complicate things. Obviously I was wrong,” he shrugged.

“Evan I love being with you but I don’t know I feel liked changing. Or I don’t feel like changing, I don’t know I’m just confused,” she sighed. She had no idea what she wanted but she knew she wanted something different from who she was in the past and her friends.

“Just do whatever feels right to you,” he told her. Now if only she knew what that was then everything would be fine.

 

 

It was just pass 3 in the morning when Nicolas got a call from the guard at the gate. He did not want to get out of bed, especially when Wildflower was naked in the bed. She was asleep of course but it made him more reluctant to get out of bed. He got up threw on a pair of shorts and went down to the front door. Outside on the top step sat Delanoz; he didn’t have a key anymore so he couldn’t have let himself in. It was better that way, these days who knew what his brother might do. Right now he was sitting there looking pathetic.

“When the girls said you mentioned you would drop by I never imagined you actually would,” he said sitting down on the step.

“She keeps asking me about my kids after meeting Samantha she wanted to know things. Then she start talking about her niece that’s around her age, and the more she spoke the more suspicious I became and I think I might be the father,” Delanoz said.

“It took you long enough to arrive at that conclusion,” Nicolas replied. Stupid girl now put the poor child in danger, wonderful.

“You already knew?”

“Jose and I did some digging.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Why would we? Better yet how could we? You ran off with that girl and got caught by your own daughter. What you need to do is be responsible for once in your life and let Caroline go, send her away and don’t let her come back. It isn’t right what you are doing and its going to blow up in all of our faces,” he told him.

“I can’t do it, I love her and you can’t ask me to give that up,” Delanoz said. Of course he was just as selfish as always.

“Do you think it’s fair that you continue this relationship when you killed her sister? And we both know sooner or later you will get bored and then what happens? Are you going to throw her down the stairs or stage a car accident or what strangle her? Let her go if you really loved her you would put her first and send her back to her family. Cause really what are you going to do? Are you going to marry her and destroy her family? They would never forgive her for that and she would resent you and you will hurt her, no matter what way you look at it you are going to hurt her,” Nicolas calmly explained. Maybe logic could win out this time when it failed in the past.

“I guess I didn’t come here for you to tell me its ok, I can always count on you to tell it like it is,” Delanoz said staring out over the grounds.

For a moment they sat in silence. In exactly one wee he was going to be getting married right here at his home. And Sunday afternoon he would be on a flight to Brazil. All of this depended on if the past saw fit to caught up with him one what was supposed to be the happiest day of his life. Maybe it was tragic and fate’s way of getting revenge that Delanoz should fall in love for real and for the first time with Caroline. But everything about that relationship was wrong and even if his brother had no soul he knew what he had to do. For once he needed Delanoz to do the right thing on his own and it was sad and pathetic that he couldn’t put his faith in him.

“It’s for the best,” he assured his brother. Slightly he was praying that Delanoz could act like an adult for once. If not this week was going to end in disaster but at this point it probably would no matter what.

“You are right,” Delanoz nodded. “So did you replace me in your wedding yet?”

“No,” he said surprised he even asked.

“Don’t, I’ll be here,” Delanoz said and he got up. “Goodnight little brother.” He went back down the steps and got in his car. It was when he was gone that Nicolas realized his brother never once looked directly at him, he had a bad feeling.

 

Reviews

[deeps]

So many things going on here, don't get me wrong I love the action you put into this. It's wonderful.
Your characters are outstanding. This is amazing. I really am enjoying your story alot. I love this and
I hope there is more to come. I like how this is all coming together. Can't wait to read more.
Wonderful detail and excellent imagery.