Author: A. N. Senerella
Category: Young Adult
Go to read content：https://onlinereadfreenovel.com/a-n-senerella/page,14,76697-mine.html
She nodded contently and looked up at me. “You just have to know how to bargain with him. He’s a total pushover.”
I’d like to push him over the edge of a cliff, if that counts.
Chapter 25
I looked at the board in consideration, letting my head tilt to the side as I peered at it. If I moved my knight the way I wanted to, he would take it with his bishop, and I would take that with my rook, which would mean all he needed to do was sacrifice the queen and he’d have me in check in no more than two more moves after that point. My eyes flickered up to his face, where he met my gaze with his own, his eyes giving nothing away.
Tapping my knight on the top gently, I considered my options more thoroughly. His strategy was brilliant. The only way he’d even have a chance of losing was if he didn’t give me his queen, and even then, it wasn’t certain that I would be able to win from that point on. Finally, I gave in and moved my knight. After Mitchell then took it with his bishop, I took Mitchell’s bishop with my rook, which proved to follow exactly in line with what I imagined.
Now all he needed to do was sacrifice his queen.
Mitchell caught his lip between his teeth for a minute, looking at the board in consideration, his eyes narrowed with concentration. His thumb tapped on the table for about fifteen seconds before he finally moved his bishop.
He wasn’t going to give up the queen?
I raised an eyebrow slightly, moving my rook. “Check.”
Mitchell chuckled briefly and blocked me with his pawn. If I took the pawn, I would get the piece taken by his king. For now, he was untouchable, but if I could manage to get my pawn there…
Charlie peeked her head over the table, slowly extending her hand toward the board.
“No, love,” I murmured to her quietly, moving her hand away.
Charlie looked at me with bright blue orbs of curiosity, tilting her head and slowly inching her hand toward the board again. “I’m gonna play,” she announced.
I laughed slightly. “I’ll play a game with you in a minute, okay Charlie? Right now I’m playing with Mitchell.”
She looked at the board which was hanging about an inch off of the table. “Fix!” Charlie smacked the edge of the board, probably trying to put it back on the table properly, but ended up sending it off the other side of the table.
Mitchell glared at her. “What was that, Charlie?” he snapped.
Her eyes widened. “I wanna help!”
“Well, you pushed the board off the edge.”
“I-I didn’t—”
“Don’t do that again.” He sighed sharply and got up. “I’m going to look for Anika so she can come get her sister out of the way.” With that, he left the dining room.
Charlie’s lip trembled and her eyes filled with tears, causing me to send an acidic glare Mitchell’s way. I lowered myself from the chair to the floor so I could sit and be at eye level with her. She whimpered a little bit, sniffling and clumsily wiping her face, clearing it of tears that hadn’t fallen yet.
“You’re alright, Charlie.”
She shook her head stubbornly, crossing her arms, her brown hair falling into her eyes. Her small body shook from having been scolded.
“Hey, Charlie, can I play chess against you?” I asked suddenly.
“No,” she grumbled.
“Please? I really want to. Mitchell isn’t as pretty as you. It would be more fun to play against a princess than a peasant.”
The tears were gone soon after and she giggled loudly.
Offering her my hand, I feigned an inability to stand up. “Oh no, I think I need a strong girl to help me stand up. I’m really old. Do you know any super strong girls around here?”
“Anika!” she said immediately.
I chuckled. “Anyone a little closer?”
“…Mitchell,” she decided.
The volume of my laughter startled her, but she laughed along soon enough, and smiled at me.
“Just kidding!” she chirped, “I’m really strong too!”
“I bet you are. You wanna help me up?”
Charlie nodded eagerly and grabbed my thumb and pinkie, using her entire weight and leaning back with effort to pull me up. I got to my feet, acting like she was pulling me up, and looked down at her. “Thank you. Now, do you want to play chess with me?”
She nodded again and scrambled into the chair opposite me.
I vaguely noticed Anika’s presence as I explained to Charlie what the different pieces meant. After ignoring my crash course, Charlie insisted we play her way, which was a mixture of games.
“I have three horses. Black, white, black. I win.”
“Is that how it works in Charlie Chess?”
“Mhmm,” she hummed.
“Then do I win too, since the pattern on mine is black pawn, white pawn, black pawn?”
“Nope.”
“Why?”
“’Cause those pieces are ugly.”
“Makes sense.”
Anika lowered herself to the floor in the doorway and raised a finger to her lips to warn me as she crawled toward Charlie’s chair.
I waited until she was close, then widened my eyes. “Charlie! Oh no!”
She looked at me in confusion until Anika pulled the girl off the chair, causing her to squeal loudly. Anika grinned and tossed Charlie in the air slightly, then caught her again and brought her down to rest on top of her. “Did you have fun playing with Foster?”
“Mhmm.”
“I think he’s gonna try to take you home with him at this rate,” she laughed.
Charlie looked up at me with wide eyes and started bouncing a lot, causing Anika to groan. “Will you really?”
This earned some laughter from me, but I picked her up so she wouldn’t hurt her with the bouncing and set her on my lap. “You wouldn’t want to live with me. It’s dark there. Monsters live under my bed and in my closet.”
“So? Maybe they’re nice monsters.”
“They aren’t.”
“They could be if you were nice to them too.”
The logic of children is the purest in the world. She reminded me of Anika.
“Or you could beat them up,” she added thoughtfully.
Yep, definitely reminded me of Anika.
Anika looked at us and smiled affectionately. “Hey, you two. I still exist.”
“I’m very aware of your existence, Anika,” I informed.
“You talk funny,” Charlie commented.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
She swung her legs for a couple seconds before jumping off. “Imma get ice cream!” she said, toddling off in the direction of the kitchen.
Anika and I sat in silence for a few moments before she laughed. “I kind of don’t want to move, honestly. The floor is comfortable.”
Sliding myself from the chair again, I lay beside her and propped myself up on my elbow so that I could look at her. She smiled, shaking her head, and closed her eyes. “I missed you, Anika,” I murmured to her quietly. She didn’t reply and I reached out, touching her cheek gently. Still her eyes stayed closed. “Are you going to say something or should I keep staring at you?”
“I feel like you’d stare at me either way, so I’d rather pretend I don’t know you’re doing it.”
“Fair enough,” I chuckled.
“I missed you too.”
Leaning in, I pressed my lips to her forehead gently.
“What the hell?”
Anika and I both jumped at Mitchell’s yell, and I stood immediately, rushing to find where he was. He was in the living room, looking at Brady with widened eyes.
“You can’t just bring a gun here, Brady, it’s not a puppy!”
Brady snorted. “It’s a gun. An inanimate object which doesn’t hurt anyone unless someone uses it to hurt someone.” Sure enough, in his hands were a loaded clip, a black handgun, and a receipt.
Mitchell op
ened his mouth to talk again but stopped himself before he could, then turned to look at Anika and me. “Anika, tell him he can’t have a gun. That’s insane.”
“If I may,” I interjected, “I don’t think she can tell him not to own it, seeing that he bought it. Brady, may I ask you why you felt the urge to bring a gun into Anika’s home?”
Completely ignoring my attempt to give him the opportunity to tell Anika about what he’d decided when she left, he shrugged. “I don’t know. I saw it and wanted it and had money, so I figured I’d get it, you know?” His eyes skimmed over me, the intention of his look clear in his eyes; he wasn’t ready for Anika to know yet. But what was the point in waiting?
“Ah, Brady? Guns kill people.”
“Okay. Let’s see.” Brady pushed a clip into the gun and set it on the table, too close to Mitchell for my liking. He took a step back and gestured rather dramatically. “Go on, kill someone, gun.” As we sat in silence, I could almost feel Anika’s irritation growing beside me. “Go on, boy, do it,” Brady encouraged sarcastically.
Mitchell raised his hand, causing me to stiffen, and he rubbed his temple. “You people give me headaches.”
Chapter 26
Anika
I looked at Foster, who appeared to be sleeping on the couch, then over at Brady; his eyes were set intensely on the screen, and I smirked slightly as he watched the children’s movie. For someone who made a very adult-like move earlier today, he was a complete kid. Charlie had picked the cartoon movie out, and she was now asleep next to Foster, curled up against his side, her head on his shoulder and chest with her arm and leg across his body. It made me feel warm to see them getting along so well.
When I’d invited Foster, it had been because I missed the idea of him. He was completely harmless, kind of. Foster wasn’t materialistic, or impatient, and even though he had one hell of a temper, he had never said anything to hurt me before. His strength was visible, both physically and mentally, and I always felt really secure around him, like nothing could happen while he was there. Then again, nothing probably could, now that I thought about it.
Charlie had taken to him immediately, and asked me if she could marry him, which made me smile. Now, looking at him with my little sister, asleep on the couch, I was pretty sure I’d missed a lot more than just the idea of him. I’d missed him.
Brady, on the other hand…
By the time I had left, I had figured out that things weren’t going well between us. We had the passion, but what did I really know about him? Foster asked questions about me, letting me spend hours of his time just talking, because he was interested in learning about me. Brady never asked me anything. He just called me pretty and told me I mattered to him. I was pretty sure that was called infatuation.
Love on the other hand… Love was slow. It wasn’t the spark of passion that infatuation was. It was something gentle and safe that couldn’t be broken. I could love Foster. I was certain of it. Who wouldn’t love someone like that? Someone so devoted to your every action?
Foster’s eyelids lifted and he looked at me, smiling slightly.
He had the kind of smile that could make someone contact-high. It wasn’t often that he did it, but when he did… Oh, man. Sometimes the pure art of his expressions was astounding to me. He was just so pleasant when he wasn’t being kind of insane. Maybe he just didn’t know how to show it. Didn’t wolves kill things they loved sometimes?
The thought chilled my blood a little, but I knew Foster. He would never lay a finger on me in a harmful way. I wasn’t sure how I knew that, but I did.
My fingers found their way to the necklace around my neck, and I slowly traced the penguin design, closing my eyes once Foster had closed his as well. I continued tracing the penguin for a while, then eventually traced his name with my finger, and I fell asleep with a smile on my face. Love was really weird.
***
Foster
I opened my eyes, looking down at the little girl on top of me. Her head had fallen slightly to face the couch, and I gently used my free hand to move her back onto my shoulder again. Her hair was messy and wild from sleep, and I smoothed my hand over it to tame it as gently as I could.
Maybe one day, I would have this again; a little girl with brown hair and blue eyes curled up on top of me, with Anika beside me. If it was what Anika wanted in her future, I would make it happen for her. Even if she didn’t want children, that was something I could accept as well. All I could accomplish by having a child would be passing along something to a small human; a beautiful, clean slate that knew nothing about the world.
Briefly, the image of a little boy with big blue eyes and black hair flashed through my mind, causing a smile to light my lips gingerly.
There was some kind of myth among people that girls were the only ones that dreamed about weddings and what their children would look like and their future. Why do people think men are so different? I wanted a life with Anika as much as any girl could dream of her own prince. Every morning that I got to wake up and see her was like Christmas to me. She was the greatest gift I’d ever gotten in my life, after all.
I wasn’t obsessive over her, I was thankful. She gave me my life; my confidence. She gave me a will and a reason. Anika gave me everything I wanted, simply by existing.
My gaze drifted to Brady. He’d stayed awake through the movie and was now scrolling aimlessly through the list of movies on the screen. He would look at Anika every now and then, his focus only ever on her briefly. Then again, that was probably perfectly representative of his “love” of her.
Mitchell walked in, a grim look on his face, and I sat up slowly when I saw his demeanor. Something had happened.
“What is it?” I asked immediately.
He glared at me slightly. “Wake Anika up.”
“Why?”
“Wake her up.”
I waited, ignoring his demand, and he finally leaned over, touching her shoulder gently.
Anika blinked open her eyes, yawning, and stretched a little bit, grumbling about being woken up. Her hair fell across her face messily and her eyes were still hazy from the veil of sleep. “What, Mitchell?” she mumbled at him as she stretched her back.
“Don’t panic, but your dad just called, and he’s in the hospital.”
“What?” Anika half yelled, her eyes wide and her pupils dilated with fear. Well, she was definitely awake now. Uneasiness flooded my body hearing the news.
Mitchell put his hands on her shoulders. “Anika, it’s okay. He got dizzy working on one of the cars and passed out. He hit his head a little, but he’ll be fine. They just need to do a little bit of testing and check out the rest of his system to make sure he’s really okay.”
“We need to go.” She whirled this way and that, looking around. “Where are my keys?”
Brady had uncertainty plastered on his face.
We both knew that Jensen was a little more ill than he’d been letting on. How severe, though, was yet to be determined. I prayed that the tests they were going to perform on him would go smoothly. I didn’t like the idea of Anika seeing him buried either.
The loud clatter of metal against metal sounded —Anika had obviously found her keys—and I stood, moving Charlie so that she was seated on my forearm, her head over my shoulder and my other arm on her back.
“I’ll drive,” Mitchell offered.
She looked at him thankfully and nodded, looking at me. “Foster, I have to go. I’ll see you when I get home, okay? Just stay here and… don’t hurt Brady, I guess.” Anika disappeared through the door quickly.
Mitchell looked at me. “Sorry I can’t take you with me,” he lied through a smile.
“Mitchell!” Anika yelled from outside.
He chuckled and walked out, following her.
Then it was just Brady and me.
Chapter 27
As Brady scrolled through the movies on the screen, I looked at him in consideration. “Do you in
tend to tell Anika that you’re here because you want to see her before going into the military?”
He stopped moving, but didn’t say anything.
“She has a right to know, Brady.”
“I’m an adult. I’ll do what I want with my life, got it?” His tone was hard, and he turned his steely eyes on me. “You don’t say one word to her about that. Understand me? I’ll tell her when I leave.” Brady turned to the screen again, clearly annoyed. “Besides, what would she care? She doesn’t love me the way I love her.”
“You don’t love her at all, Brady.”
“Don’t you dare tell me what I do and don’t feel, creep. You don’t know anything about me.”
“Brief glimpses into the concept of loving someone paired with sexual attraction is just infatuation, Brady. You’re in pain over her because you created some fake relationship with her in your head and let yourself get emotionally invested in it. If you let go of the relationship in your mind, you’ll stop being in pain.” I let a sympathetic smile slide onto my lips, trying to offer compassion of sorts. “It’s understandable. But I’ve seen the way you look at her. It’s not with love. It’s with jealousy or lust.”
“Shut up, Foster.”
“I’m trying to help you.”
“You’re trying to piss me off, and it’s working,” he growled.
“Brady, how much time have you been spending with Sierra as of late?”
When I suddenly mentioned the small blonde, I felt his entire vibe change. Instead of anger, he was hesitant and confused. “Anika has been blowing me off for most of the time I’ve been here. So yeah, I’ve been spending time with Sierra. What’s your point?”
“Has it occurred to you that she may be attracted to you?”
Sighing, Brady tossed the controller to the end of the couch. “Sierra went to a hotel the second she found out Anika was a room short. She’s barely seen her, and Sierra is the entire reason I was able to come, so yes, I do spend time with her. That doesn’t mean that we’re attracted to each other. I mean, yeah, she’s cute and all, but come on. She’s so loud and… yappy. Like a small dog or something. I’d never be into someone like her, man. I’m after Anika.”