Page 23 of Lunar Diamonds (Celestial Magic #1)

RILEY

I woke up to an empty bedroom, sunlight pouring through the balcony doors.

“Drake?”

No answer. No sounds.

With a big stretch, I got off the bed and headed back to my room. Outside my door were a couple of suitcases filled with my clothes, toiletries, and some books.

Yay! All the necessities.

I dragged them inside, my mood as bright as the sunshine painting the terracotta carpet.

Last night had been lovely. Sweet frosting on a cupcake, a welcome distraction. I’m glad things went the way they did, circumventing the hate train. Drake was a nice guy wreathed in mystery. But good. I could tell. He got some green flags flying.

Maybe the next ten years wouldn’t be so bad. Unless, of course, it was all an act and an anvil loomed in the heavens, about to crash-land on my foolish judge of character.

To hell with negativity.

After a shower, I sorted through my clothes, slipping on underwear, a pair of pale blue jeans, a green jumper, and checked myself out in the mirror.

Not good enough. The red tee would be better.

Nope. Too red, washing me out. What about the white polo? Nah, it didn’t suit my face today. Drew attention to the marrow-like structure of my head everyone told me I didn’t have, but I saw it every time I looked in the mirror.

How the hell would a white polo do that to a head?

Sometimes my reflection disgusted me, my body dysmorphia sliding its tentacles around my sparkle. Crushing, crushing, crushing.

Reason didn’t matter as I skirted the edges of a spiral into crippling self-loathing—rare but always possible. It’d been a while since the last one.

“You need to stop!” I scolded myself, whipping off a yellow jumper.

I sat down, opened my left hand, and drew a circle on my palm. The tickling motion calmed my breathing, rationality quickly following.

I’d always be indebted to Dr. Louis for the technique. It got me through the painful days of my eating disorder, always there to carry me across those choppy seas. It kept the monster small.

So did karaoke.

Ten minutes later, in a better headspace, I put the green jumper back on and fixed my hair, then smiled at my reflection. There, all better.

My phone rang. Mum. Oh, crap. Should I answer?

I did. “Hi ya.” I kept my tone pleasant, normal.

“Why didn’t you call me about the library?”

She sounded really hurt. “Sorry, Mum. It was a crazy day.”

“Too crazy to call me? I’m your mother. You should’ve called me straight away.”

Oh, she really couldn’t take any high ground here, not after what I’d learned.

Don’t go there yet . “I know. I’m sorry.”

At least she didn’t yell at me, in one of her happier moods. “I’m just glad to hear your voice.”

“Yours, too.”

“What are you doing tomorrow?”

“Erm…” I rummaged for an excuse.

“How about Sunday dinner?”

And drag Drake along with me? I don’t think so. We weren’t ready to explain that.

What a shame. She made an incredible roast dinner. I mean, those roast potatoes were beyond chef’s kiss. And the homemade stuffing? Get in me!

But not now, with too many unanswered questions looming.

I went in with an excuse. “I can’t tomorrow, sorry. I just need to recharge after yesterday, you know?”

“I understand. I’m here if you need anything.”

She fell for my lie as easy as margarine spread on hot toast.

“Maybe in a few weeks,” I added.

“Please make it work, it’s been too long. Let’s do a Sunday, if you can.”

God, it sucked to lie.

What, like her?

“Will do, Mum. How are you?”

“Happy to see some sunshine.”

“Yeah.”

“And you?”

“I’ll be okay.”

She sighed. “Those bloody shades.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’ll let you go. Can I send you some money?”

“For what, Mum?”

“A takeaway tonight?”

“I’m good, but thanks.”

“Are you sure?

“More than sure.”

“Well, I’ll really go this time. I love you.”

The temptation to tell her where I was and what I’d discovered sat on the tip of my tongue. “Love you, too.”

We said goodbye, a bullet dodged for now.

So many emotions bubbled in a saucepan, ready to spill over the sides. I should call her back and hash it out, demand…what? The truth? I already knew the truth, I just needed some of the finer details from her perspective.

Honestly, though, I was afraid of what it might do to our relationship. Despite her fluctuating moods and acid tongue, we’d always been close. Admittedly, we’d drifted apart slightly after my attack, but that wasn’t on her.

My stomach grumbled with perfect timing.

I went in search of breakfast.

April whipped up some pancakes with cream and strawberries. Totally rich, totally fabulous.

I sat back in the dining chair nursing a cup of tea, satisfied. “Thanks for that.”

We were alone, everyone else occupied with something. Isaac with yoga, Drake meeting with Erin at an appropriate distance in the living room. Alice worked on the vehicles in the garage, Ollie fixed some broken light switches, and Aaron continued with his search for Preston.

Where are you? I thought into the universe.

The cookies sat close by, ready to be handed to Erin the moment I saw her face.

“I really hope he’s okay,” I said about Preston. “It’s weird he can’t be found.”

April wiped the worktops down. “Erin’s asking Drake to help find him. He’s certainly a gift, eh?”

Oh, yes. “Yeah.”

“The sooner we get The Star here, the better. And before Marcus Kingwood gets his grubby mitts on him.” She growled. “I’d love to smash his fucking face into this countertop. But poor countertop.” She gave it a little pat.

Erin entered the kitchen, Drake behind her.

I got to my feet, picking up the cookies. “Morning.” I took a few steps forward, but tripped on my own damn feet, lumbering like an excitable zombie.

The cookies flew out of my grip, the lid coming off. A dozen disks of chocolate chip goodness rained down on Erin’s head.

Damn. It. Hard. Horror turned my blood to ice. My breath caught, a flurry of apologies on the cusp of being unleashed.

For a moment, Erin’s expression gave nothing away. But it soon changed, her lips spreading, a guttural laugh erupting from her throat.

Oh. Unexpected reaction.

“This isn’t how I wanted to give you cookies,” I said, face nuclear crimson.

That made her laugh so hard she needed a sit down.

“Oh my!” she cried, tears streaming down her face. “This has made my morning.” She caught her breath. “Thank you so much for the cookies.” And the howling began again.

I wasn’t sure why it was so funny, but I’d take laughter over anything else.

The rest of the morning was spent going over a few more details about our new lives. Expenses and all those monetary things were handled by Erin, with full transparency. We didn’t have to want for anything.

As for our jobs, Isaac did tell his hotheaded agent he’d be out of action for a week, and I called in sick to buy me some time.

I’d have to quit the library at some point. I mean, how could I possibly continue to work and kick apocalyptic arse? Not that there was much of that now.

Alice and April went over the lunar diamonds plan with me, Drake, and Isaac in the living room. Drake showed us the entrance to the catacombs—hidden within a sea cave—and revealed the route we’d take to the diamonds.

It sounded eerily deep. From the slight twitch in Drake’s cheeks, I could tell he wasn’t entirely happy about this.

Satisfied with doing this under the cover of darkness, I spent the rest of the day resting with Isaac in the recreation room, trying to keep a lid on my anxieties. Drake was in the art room next door, granting us the privacy for some brotherly time.

Spread out on the squishy biscuit-brown corner sofa, in full couch potato mode, we watched the ‘90s movie Muriel’s Wedding on the enormous television screen.

“I love Abba,” I said, loving the abundance of the Swedish pop group’s bangers within the film.

“Same,” Isaac agreed. “Give me ‘Waterloo’ any time, any day.”

“I’m more of a ‘Voulez-Vous’ guy.”

My brother snorted. “I bet you are.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know.”

Okay then.

There were all sorts of things in this room, including a karaoke machine, several gaming consoles, books, a chess board, and a huge lava lamp.

Glorious sunshine streamed through the windows, the sky a magnificent blue, the marble garden structures outside under a natural spotlight.

My brother lay on his side with effortless glamour in that sunlight, even in his comfy clothes. They were Prada, navy, and fit him perfectly.

Damn. So not fair.

“I’m like a happy little solar panel,” he declared, following it up with a huff. “This sucks.”

I sat up, agreeing. “Waiting around is the worst.”

He hugged a cushion, glaring at the TV under a cloud of seriousness. “Do you think we came around to this too quickly? Like we should’ve protested more, even stomped our feet?” He looked at me. “Does that make sense?”

“Yeah.”

“We’ve been flung from the frying pan into the fire.” He scowled. “I hate that saying. Makes me think of fried bread and how I’m not allowed to eat it.” He rolled his eyes. “Model problems. Anyway, maybe we should rebel or something.”

I swallowed, my throat a little dry. “I did try leaving last night.” I sipped some of my water.

He crossed his legs, straightening his spine. “Do tell.”

I explained it all, including popping into Drake’s bathroom.

He gasped, a grin on his face. “You saw him naked?”

Ugh. “Don’t latch onto that .”

“Sorry.” His grin dropped. “Did you see?—”

“Stop.”

He laughed. “Are you okay this morning?” He asked the question with a sincerity I believed to be real.

“Yeah.”

“Are you sure? Vent it out if you want. Your brother is here.” He pointed at himself with both index fingers.

“Thanks. Baking cookies helped.”

He dropped his hands. “And so did being with Drake?”

I saw a flash of his smile in my mind, a glimmer of his charm. I craved more of it “Yeah.”

He shuffled closer. “So, everything is good between you? Like, you’re not mad?”

“No. He didn’t have much of a choice.”

“Plus he’s fit as fuck.” He fanned himself. “I so would. Sideways, upside down.”

“Erm…”

“But Ollie…” Cue more fanning. “He can fiddle with whatever he wants. This body is a willing toy for those hands. Have you seen them? By Hecate, they’d turn you inside out then hold you close afterward.”

“Isaac…” I said, trying to pull this back.

“I’d be the nastiest toy. I’m telling you now, I’m up for anything. Well, not being shat on. But?—”

“Enough!” I barked, beyond the point of too much information.

He blinked at me. “What?”

“We’re done.”

“Done?”

“With how much you want to bounce on Ollie.”

He snorted. “Why, yes I do.” His expression turned serious. “We have to give ourselves the space and the time to struggle with this.”

Talk about a sharp left turn into a new subject.

His blue eyes glistened. “I’m here for you, Riley. We can get through this together. And when Preston shows up, we’ll take him under our wings.”

His words were painkillers. “That’s lovely.”

“The worst part is dealing with our families,” he added. “Nothing about our lives has been real.” He bowed his head. “Fuck. I think I’m about to go.”

I moved closer to him, taking his hands in mine. “Our lives have been real. We’ve lived, we’ve achieved, we’ve loved, we’ve cried and hurt and all those things. This doesn’t get to erase who we are.”

Listen to me being all strong.

A few tears rolled down Isaac’s cheeks. “Fuck it.”

I gave his hands a squeeze. “We can do this. Together. Look at how we survived last night. And you scared off Marcus Kingwood. The Marcus Kingwood.”

He blinked, slowly nodding.

“This will take time to adjust to,” I carried on. “So, let’s make a pact, here and now, to have each other’s backs no matter what. I really know, deep down, that I trust you.”

He kept hold of me, wiping his eyes on his long sleeves. “We’ve got to stick together.”

“That’s right. Through thick and thin. We don’t let anything or anyone break us. I know that’s easier said than done, but we can’t let the arseholes get us down. Aurora Unit, power up.”

He snorted, squeezing my hands this time. “Thank you. I agree. I just know that I trust you, too.” He exhaled a long breath.

“Good to know.”

We hugged to seal the pact, our attempt at brotherly unity amazing. A steel thread joined to Isaac, entwining with our shared purpose.

I would see this through, face the danger with him and everyone under this roof.

“Enough of this,” Isaac said, swinging his legs off the big sofa. “Let’s have some fun.”

A fabulous idea. My vocal cords were craving some musical stretching. “Karaoke?”

He quirked an elegant brow at me. “For real?”

“For real.”

I rolled off the sofa, making a dash for the machine resembling a jukebox with a big screen and an arched light. Complete with two mics.

Isaac joined me. “What shall we sing?”

Flipping the on switch brought the arch to life. A red-and-purple light pulsed through it, a chirpy tune welcoming us as the screen brought up a menu.

“Spice Girls?” I suggested.

“Yes!” he cried. “I was actually thinking that.” He clapped his hands. “Proves we’re brothers. Okay, so what song?” He placed two fingers on each temple, staring me in the eye. “Come on triplet bond. Talk to us.”

I giggled. “Give your answer in three, two, one… ‘Say You’ll Be There!’”

“‘Stop!’ Oh, fuck.” He snorted.

This gave me all the warm and fuzzies. “You’re the oldest, so we’ll go with your pick first.”

He rubbed his cheek. “Get ready for pain.”

“What do you mean?”

As the song wound down a few minutes later, I understood why. Isaac might be a big supermodel, but what a set of brutal pipes.

Yikes.

“Told you,” he said with a shrug.

My ears rang from the caterwauling. “At least you, erm, tried.”

“Honey, I couldn’t give two fucks. This is fun. If your ears can take it, let’s do the other song.”

You had to admire that. No matter what, fun trumped everything else. That’s why I loved to sing karaoke. For the elation. To overcome the troubles and hopscotch away from it. If only for a little while.

Someone knocked on the door.

“What?” Isaac called rather haughtily.

“Is everything alright in there?” Drake asked from the other side.

My chest fluttered like butterflies trapped in a jar.

“We’re singing, if you can call it that,” Isaac answered. “Why? What’s up?”

“Just checking.”

Isaac smirked, giving me a mischievous look. “Shall I invite him in?”

Hell yeah! “I… I don’t mind.”

“Sure.” He pointed at my face. “Are you shy?”

“Don’t tease me,” I clapped back. “Because I’ll launch vicious singing critiques that’ll break your heart.”

He snorted so loudly it must have hurt his throat. “You’re too sweet to hurt my feelings.”

I puffed up my chest in a ridiculous attempt to prove him wrong. “You don’t know me well enough yet.”

Damn him for being right.

“Go on then,” he said, folding his arms. “Hit me with your best shot.”

“Right. Get ready.” I searched for something sassy to give him the smackdown.

And came up empty.

Crap.

“What’s taking so long?” he pressed.

“Give me a minute.” I’d used most of my insults on the goblin yesterday.

“I think Drake’s gone.”

That threw me off completely. “Dammit.”

Another mocking laugh. “My little brother is so sweet. It’s okay to be missing a bitchy side.”

There must be something I could throw at him to wipe the smugness off his face. I searched and probed the sassy vaults for a nugget of verbal attack to put him in his place.

Damn my empty storage.

Isaac slapped me on the back. “Never mind. Shall we sing?—”

The blue orb exploded into the room.