May 13, 2023

Queen

I glanced at Syn, an annoyed expression painted on his face as he walked beside me. Crossing the street every step he took, his wet shoes would make a squishing sound that had begun to aggravate him. I found his irritation amusing along with everything about him at the moment. He was dressed in the soaked clothes he had decided to jump in the lake with and slapping his cell phone against his palm.

"We can put it in rice," I told him.

"Put what in rice?"

I pointed at his cell. "Your phone."

"Why the hell would I do that?" His brows creased in confusion as he looked at me like I was losing my mind.

I laughed. "It's a remedy to devices that fell in water and stuff. The rice draws out the water after a few days."

"I don't have days to wait, unfortunately," he muttered. "Despite what's going on, I'm still the King of Hell and there are people I need to stay in contact with even if I'm staying up here."

"You can use my phone until the rice does its job. Don't worry. And it's not like we can't just go to Hell every now and then to handle things that come up."

"We?" He looked at me.

"Yes, we." I shrugged a shoulder. "Hell is where you grew up, Syn. And as selfless as your offer earlier was, I wouldn't make you stay in New York for me. The thought of going back isn't one that I haven't thought about, trust me." Syn pushed the gated door open for me and I walked through.

"So you'd come back home?" He asked me.

"Well, you considered leaving your life there to be up here with me. It's only fair that I do the same, right? It wouldn't hurt for me to think about it."

He smiled, nodding. "Okay."

"One step at a time though."

"Of course."

I took his hand into mine and he accepted it, lifting it over my head to rest his arm on my shoulder. I grimaced when I felt his wet shirt against the back of my neck and he chuckled, pulling me against him and getting my dry clothes wet with his. "Ew, Syn...stop, you're wet!"

"Oh, relax." He rolled his eyes. "You never hear me complain."

"Wait, what?—"

"Finally!" I tore my eyes away from Syn's cocky smile and looked up at the stairs in front of the house. Abel sat perched on one of the steps, smoking a cigarette. "Where have the two of you been?"

"On a walk," I answered. "Since when do you smoke?"

He coughed, beating his chest. "Today."

"You okay?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "Yes, I just wanted to figure out the obsession people have with these things."

"And have you figured it out?" Syn asked.

"Nope." He blew out a cloud of smoke. "But it does make me feel a lot cooler than I am. Almost makes me think I can kick your ass if my sister gets hurt again."

"So it makes you delusional—"

I jabbed Syn with my elbow, prompting him to stop his sentence and clear his throat. I had to admit that it was funny, but I wanted my brother to like him, and compared to everyone else, he and Abel were the ones that didn't have a close relationship. Abel didn't know Syn well before all this happened- for him, there was no reason why forgiveness was warranted.

Abel stood up and sighed. "See, Cain is predictable. The world knows exactly what he's capable of and if you fuck up, you know he'll kill you. I, on the other hand, am nothing like him. No one knows what I'm capable of and I don't believe in killing. That should scare you, Syn."

"Okay, I think that's enough," I spoke up. Every one of the men in my life had a fuse, and Syn's fuse happened to be the shortest. The only person he didn't mind threatening him was my father. Everyone else could get it as far as he was concerned.

"I understand," Syn said, taking Abel and me by surprise. I looked up at him, convinced he had been possessed, but he smiled and squeezed my shoulder before looking back at Abel. "I promise you there is no one that wants to hurt me more than I do after I hurt this girl."

"Hmm," Abel hummed, clearly taken aback. "That's what I fucking thought. You best be afraid." He nodded, pointing at Syn.

With that, he turned to leave. After a few steps, he slightly faced me and winked, holding two thumbs up. I smiled, giving him a thumbs-up before laughing softly. "He's quite the character, isn't he?"

"He's the best," I said as we walked up the steps. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yes."

"Do you pick and choose who gets to threaten you?" I asked. "Because if I remember correctly, you don't exactly have the best reputation for letting people get away with it. Yet you've let Cain, Abel, and Aiden do it."

"I wouldn't hurt anyone you cared about...regardless of how I felt about them. So they can say what they'd like, I'm no threat to them. Except for Aiden...his fate remains undetermined yet I don't believe I'll be the one to end his miserable-"

"You need to let go of that." I shook my head. He sighed, and his words floated through my mind, making me think of my own actions in comparison to his. "Can I ask you something else?"

"You just did." I side-eyed him and he let blew out a breath. "Go ahead, you don't have to ask."

"Did you care about Stella?" He tensed beside me.

"Never mind, you do have to ask for permission to ask stupid questions."

I stopped walking at the top of the staircase and faced him. "I only ask because you said you don't hurt people I care about regardless of how you feel yet I killed Stella without knowing how you felt—"

"I didn't feel anything," he said. "You saw what she did, and made the call to do what you did to her. Although I don't trust Aiden, I've yet to see him hurt you. Jealousy and annoyance aside, there would be no reason for me to kill him...as badly as I'd like to."

I nodded. "I just wanted to double check...just in case there was anything I needed to apologize for."

"There's nothing to apologize for, okay? We can start fresh. I forgive you for all the things you have and haven't told me you've done."

"Okay," I smiled. "I also forgive you for all the things you have and haven't told me you've done."

"What a stupid thing to do," he whispered.

I scoffed. "Oh my-" he raised a brow. "Syn. Oh my Syn," I cleared my throat, walking toward the front door.

"I like that."

I bet.

I walked past the foyer and into the living room where everyone still was. I was thankful to see Saint fast asleep on the couch next to Iris. I'm sure he was fine saying goodbye, but it was hard on me.

"You guys on your way out?" My dad asked.

"In a little bit." I smiled.

"I'm on my way," he said. "Let me say my goodbye first." He walked over, giving me a hug and a kiss on my head before slowly pulling away. "Why is your hair wet?"

Syn walked up beside me and my father looked over at him. "And why are you completely wet?"

"He fell into the lake," I answered for him.

"And you?" My father pointed to my hair.

"Well, Syn can't swim so I had to jump in and help him."

"What...." Syn dragged the word awkwardly. "If anything it was the other way around."

"Why aren't your clothes wet?" My dad asked me.

"I took them off so they wouldn't get wet, duh."

"So he was drowning and you took the time to save your clothes before him?"

"Uh, yes."

"Are you sure you love him?" My father asked in a lower tone, making Syn snicker.

"Mhmm." I nodded quickly.

"Okay," he said unsurely, raising his arms.

"Wait, was it the lake across the house?" Iris chipped in from the couch.

"That's the one," Syn said.

"My grandfather goes fishing there all the time. It's beautiful, isn't it? He and Abel are going in the morning."

I cleared my throat. "To fish?"

"Yes, they want to have some surf and turf type of thing tomorrow. Fried fish, steak- all of that."

"That sounds delicious," my father spoke up.

"You should join us," Iris invited him.

He nodded. "I think I will."

"And you all...are going to eat the fish from the lake?" I asked, my eyes widening.

"What else would they do with the fish, Queen?" Abel asked.

"They fucked in the lake," Cain spoke up. We all looked at him in shock and he shrugged, looking up at us. "What? They're wet and Queen is obviously terrified of us eating the fish because they infected the lake. Keep up, guys."

Iris eyed the both of us curiously before giggling and Abel looked at us in disgust. I avoided my father's eyes for as long as I could before peeking at him and seeing him laughing quietly. "Well excuse me, Iris, but I actually have plans for tomorrow that slipped my mind. I regret to inform you that I will not be present at this surf and turf, but I hope you all enjoy yourselves."

He turned to me, getting ready to hug me before stopping. He switched arms for a hug to try a different angle but stopped once again. He pulled a handkerchief out of his suit jacket and wiped my nose before tapping it. "Cute as a button, I'm going to forget everything I've just heard."

My mouth dropped at his refusal to touch me and a laugh escaped me as he moved on to Syn, looking him up and down. "And you're just...covered in it, aren't you?" He waved his hand. "Air hugs for everyone, he said. "Stay in contact. Syn, if you don't mind."

He tilted his head at a blank wall nearby and Syn nodded, walking towards it to create a portal back home for him. Standing alone, I faced my brother and Iris, shifting back and forth on the heels I had convinced Syn to go back for.

"A surf and turf sounded like a splendid idea," I quipped enthusiastically. "And I encourage you to still do it...just fish far away from the dock."

"Ughh, eww." My brothers groaned.

"I'm going to take a shower before I leave." I turned on my heel.

"You do that," Cain said.

When I remembered something, I turned back to them and looked specifically at Abel. "Oh, Abel, when you go fishing tomorrow, please keep an eye out for any panties. I heard a rumor that people were just throwing those things in there."

"Oh, fucking hell." He cringed.

"Okay, they're pink and white and they—"

"Go," Cain yelled, throwing a pillow at me. I dodged it, laughing out loud before scurrying toward the steps and rushing to my bedroom. When I reached it, I immediately tore my clothes off and started the shower before double-checking that my suitcase was ready to go.

I hopped into the hot shower, the glass steaming from the scorching water. I let it fall over my body, welcoming the heat after being in the cold forest for so long.

I felt a familiar hand wrap around my stomach and I smiled, turning around to see Syn standing behind me completely naked. My eyes trailed down his sculpted body and I bit my lip, tilting my head. "Are you going to continue ogling or can I get into the water? I'm fucking freezing."

"Sorry." I smiled, stepping aside. He stepped into the water and let it pour over his face and body as he ran his hands through his hair. I watched as the water fell into his mouth before he spit it out and ran his hands down his face. I watched the muscles in his arms flex, his tattoo sleeve contorting with each movement. My eyes trailed down his body, moving to his backside as I admired him in appreciation and he turned around to face me.

"What are you doing?"

"I can't look at you?" I raised a brow.

"Sure...but why?"

"I'm a lucky woman. Sometimes I just want to take a step back and see."

"Is that so?"

"Mhmm." I nodded.

"Then what do you see?"

꧁꧂

Author's Note

Nahhh what she needs to do is move tf over so I can see🙄

Love you to pieces, Queen. But I'll push you. <<and that's on getting a peak🌚😮‍💨 lemme stop.
See y'all in the next upload hehe. No- it's not going to be next month🙄🤚🏾 Love youuuu. Watch out for my announcements on my message board in the next day or so hehehe🤭

✨Lmk your thoughts✨