Chapter 23
"Â Why do you have so many condoms and how many are you willing to sell me? "
Rochelle Quinn's POV:
For some reason, the brothers don't seem to know the difference between day and night.
Hence why they decided to wake me up at 9am.
"GIVE ME THE DAMN CONDOMS BEFORE I RUIN YOUR NOSE."
"YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE."
"SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH, I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!!"
"TELL HIM TO GIVE ME BACK MY CONDOMS THEN."
"What the fuck is going on?" I asked frustratedly, walking into the hallway to be greeted by 3 brothers slumped on their door frames. "Someone wanna tell me whats going on before I start smashing things, and possibly faces, up?"
Kane rubbed his eyes before pointing to the room where I could hear shouting. "Kade and Keegan are arguing, this happens on a monthly basis. Kace got annoyed because he wanted to sleep even though they'll stop in about 20 minutes."
" Not good enough." I mumbled, stalking towards the door. I hit it two times and the shouting paused for a second. "Either you guys shut up or I'm coming in and shooting the balls off you both."
"Rock!" Kade shouted, opening the door and running out. He was grinning like the Cheshire cat. "Look at what I found in Keegan's school bag."
I took the packets out of his hand, chuckling as I flicked through them. "Strawberry flavoured. Cola flavoured. Bubblegum flavoured. Mango flavoured - kinky. Chocolate, mint, blah, blah, blah. Whiskey. Vodka. Rum. Geez man, you gotta hook me up with your dealer."
Keegan blushed as I laughed at him, handing him back his condoms but pocketing the vodka one. Kenzie raised an eyebrow at me as he saw me sneak it into my pocket. I shrugged, "It's hot."
"But anywayyy." I dragged out the last letter, "The real question is, why do you have so many condoms and how many are you willing to sell me?"
My eyes widened and I spoke before he could answer, "You're a condom dealer. Oh my TG, you're a condom dealer!"
"I'm not a condom dealer!" Keegan argued back instantly, despite his face turning redder by the second.
"Yes you are! Don't lie to me." I faked being offended, placing my hand over my heart for the added effect. I held my head in my hands, "God, I should not be up this early in the morning. It should be illegal? Hey Kacey, why isn't it illegal?"
"Guys?"
"I don't sell condoms! Kade, tell her I don't sell condoms!" He gestured to his brown haired brother, who stood chuckling just a few metres away.
He shook his head disappointedly, "I was shocked too Rock, it was so unexpected."
"Guys?"
"For Pete's sake, I don't se-"
Kane cut Keegan's shout off as he spoke again, louder and more desperate. "Guys!"
"What?!"
He gulped, glancing over at Kenzie's alarmed expression. "Mom and Dad are home."
"Fuck." Kace whispered, clutching his head. "Why are they home so early?"
"It's Thanksgiving tomorrow, dipshit." Keegan stated as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Shit." I threw my head back without thinking, "I hate Thanksgiving."
"How can you hate Thanksgiving?" Kade asked stupidly. I began to question whether he had learnt anything about me in the short amount of time that I had known him.
"Because Thanksgiving means people, and people means actual communication and that shit isn't okay with me."
-&-
The last time I had celebrated Thanksgiving, I was 12 years old and it had ended horribly for all the children at the group home.
It's safe to say that Thanksgiving definitely isn't my favorite holiday.
Yet here I was, the 'perfect' foster daughter, sat at the table with my quiet foster brothers.
It was completely different to what I was used to.
Our meals normally consisted of who could get the most food, or who could eat the loudest. It certainly wasn't who was the quietest, or best behaved.
The boys almost seemed nervous in their parents presence.
Even fearful.
Mrs Jensen smiled sweetly at us, sitting down at the head of the table whereas Mr Jensen sat down at the opposite end. I noticed Kenzie shuffle away slightly as his father sat next to him.
"It's good to know my home hasn't been trashed. " Mrs J joked, "Lets all say something we're thankful for and then we'll give out the presents!"
Fml.
Wait..?
Presents?
"Who would like to start then?" She smiled at all of us. Her grin faltered slightly as none of us spoke, "I suppose your father and I will go first. Ky?"
Mr Jensen raised his glass, "I am thankful for my wonderful wife, my sons."
He held Kenzie's shoulder and gave it a quick squeeze. If I wasn't sat right next to the boy, I wouldn't have noticed how his body tensed at the sudden contact, or how his fists clenched together tightly, or the way he instantly relaxed as soon as the touch was removed. It was strange yet I ignored it, trying not to pay attention to the way he began violently scratching his sleeve under the table.
"And the new addition to the family." He nodded his head towards me so I sent him a tight smile of acknowledgement.
"I'm thankful for my precious family, including you Rochelle." I held back a flinch at the name and caught her gaze, the emotion in her eyes appeared too authentic and perfect for the word to have just slipped. "We'll go oldest to youngest, and Rocky can go last so she understands how this works."
Kace set his hands down on the table, looking straight at Kade with an unfamiliar glint in his eyes, "I'm thankful for my brothers, no matter what."
Kane put an arm around his twins chair, his lips moving upwards. "Amen to that brother."
I turned to Kenzie as I felt a hand skim across my knee, finding mine and holding it gently.
"I'm thankful for my brothers." and you.
He didn't say it aloud, but I could almost hear his thoughts echoing across the room, accompanied by the soft squeeze of my hand.
I almost felt bad for using this family just so I didn't have to go back into the system.
"I'm thankful for my parents, who have gave us a life and money that we are so lucky to get." I felt Keegan's piercing eyes on me, "And I'm thankful for the strength, resilience and determination that my brothers and sister show permanently."
All hail the wise one.
Kade's quiet voice interrupted the silence that Keegan's heartfelt speech left, "I'm grateful for each of my brothers, the new and the old, my Mom and Kyle, and Rocky."
I could tell instantly that Mr and Mrs J weren't happy at the name comment, instead of father or dad. I decided right then that it would be the time to take all the attention off Kade before something bad happened.
"My turn I guess." Mr Jensen's attention directed itself onto me instantly, his eyes narrowed into slits. "I am eternally thankful for my new home and family." The sarcasm in my voice was almost unbearable. "The very sweet and cheerful Mrs J. The easily irritated teddy bear Mr J. My dear, dear friend Kacey. The insanely handsome Kane. The beautiful goth with a girl's name, Kenzie. The blonde haired princess who adores skateboarding, Keegan. And my little ray of sunshine Kade."
The comments started instantly.
***
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful day tomorrow!
Question of the chapter: What are you thankful for?
Thank you all so much for reading this chapter!
Lotta Love,
Laska xð