CHAPTER SEVEN
It was a very restless night for her.
She pressed the home button on her phone and watched as the screen lit up.
6:56am.
Kiera couldn't lie there anymore. She pushed her quilt off of her and got out of her bed, dropping her pyjama shirts and pulled new underwear on, leggings, a sports bra and a hoodie on. She slipped on ankle socks and her trainers on before grabbing her phone and keys. She paused her fast-paced footing in the kitchen as her mind went to her baby brother.
She had to remember to consider him now these days in whatever she was doing or else he would be worried about her. It's a weird feeling to her nowadays, a concern or worry about her wasn't something she felt since she was a teenager which now seemed like an age or two ago to her. That's something she'll have to learn again.
Kiera opened up a drawer in the kitchen and pulled out a shopping list notepad as well as a pen. She quickly scribbled down a note for Benedict and once she did, she unlocked the front door and exited her house, closing the door behind her. She needed to get out of that bed and out of that house.
She began walking down the street, pulling her phone out of her pocket and unravelling her ear phones, sticking them in her ears she played her running playlist. Her pace started off slow but rapidly picked up. Kiera wasn't sure of where she was going, and, in this moment, she didn't really care. She needed this time to think to herself.
Her mind wondered to her brother's incident with that cheerleader at the school and although she said she was fine with it, she kept her own opinions on it reserved to protect his feelings or her own – she didn't know. Benedict told her everything that led up and transpired between him and the girl, she was automatically on his side by default, but the story cemented her on the fact. She was more than thankful that the school called her instead of his parents, their parents. She didn't want to talk them or him over the phone or in person for that matter. She would ignore his calls and listen to the voicemails then text message/email her response to her mother instead of contacting her father.
Kiera would swerve and avoid her father at every given chance.
Just the thought of her father brought up memories of trauma filled with fear and anger and feelings she would rather fiercely represses and never think about again, you know, like a normal and mentally healthy person, of course.
She always thought that she would confront these emotions one day but today is definitely not that day and she doesn't see it happening any time soon – or revealing it to Benedict one of these days.
Kiera slowed down her pace to a casual walk as she wiped her sleepy eyes, they were darkened with circles under them. She glanced around at her surroundings and they were surprisingly familiar to her since she took a run in a random direction with twists and turns. She walked down the road and went up to a recognizable house.
She pressed the button of the doorbell and waited patiently through the cute jingle that played. The door slowly opened and a face that shared her tired looks answered with a glare.
"You do know what time it is, right?" Silver scowled at her.
Kiera smirked at him. "Says the one that has to get up and leave for school."
A sleepy and muffled female voice called out behind him, it was Blaze. "Silver? Who is it?"
"Kiera, the goddess of all things that are a pain in the ass." Silver grumbled as he opened the door wider, so Kiera can cross the threshold and into their home and she did. She closed the door behind her and followed them both into their open kitchen.
Blaze giggled as Kiera countered him with a retort. "Aw, you think I'm a goddess?"
Silver rolled his eyes and brought his mug of coffee to his face. "Someone has to."
"Ouch." She feigned hurt.
Kiera then turned to Blaze. "Does your husband talk like this to you too?" She smiled at her friend.
Blaze sat down at the kitchen island and slid a mug of black coffee to her. "Here, you look like you need it."
Kiera caught it and took a sip of it. "I need a lot of things, thanks."
Silver sat opposite them, flicking through a newspaper article of his tablet. "So, what brought you down to our neck of the woods especially at such an early time in the morning?"
"I didn't sleep well so I went out for a run with no destination in mind and I think my subconscious brought me here to you guys." Kiera explained as she rubbed her temple, taking a deep breath she took a couple deep gulps of her coffee.
Silver raised an eyebrow at her. "You really believe that?"
"No, of course not. Have you met me?"
Blaze rolled her eyes. "If it was your subconscious, what do you think it would be trying to tell you?"
Her brow furrowed as she thought it through. "Either my subconscious is telling me that I need to sort out some type of emotional shit with you guys or you have something you've been meaning to spill your guts to me about something – but that's just a guess."
Kiera caught the look that Silver and Blaze shared. "I saw that, you guys ain't slick. What is it?"
Blaze turned her body to face Kiera and took her free hand in her own. "I have, well, we have been wanting to tell you something for a while now."
Her darkened eyes narrowed at her and him, her jaw hardened at the revelation. "You couldn't tell me because you were either protecting my so-called feelings or afraid of my reaction – either way you don't trust me enough to tell me. My 'subconscious' dragged it out of you."
Well, she wasn't wrong.
Silver's eyes softened at her. "We're sorry, Kiera, but you've had a lot on your plate with Benedict and soon you're going to have Lorenzo with you on top of what happened with Benedict and Rouge."
Blaze tried to comfort her. "And we worry about you and I wanted it to be the perfect time to tell you."
"What is it?"
Blaze smiled at her friend. "I'm pregnant, we're having a baby."
Kiera blinked and brought her into a hug. "As I said once before, you'll be brilliant mother, and I guess that you'll be a good father as well, Silver."
He finished his mug of coffee. "I'm glad you have so much faith in me."
Benedict woke up around 9:25am and lounged in his bed until midday, looking through his emails on his phone. He got a few separate emails from his brothers asking how he was and how he was settling in, they downplayed the questions about Kiera, but he knew they really wanted to know how she was. As soon as he knows, he'll tell them.
He got out of his bed and walked out of his bedroom and went downstairs only to notice that he was alone in the house, once again, but this time he got a note off of Kiera which was a pleasant surprise. Their talk the day before must have made some sort of progress between them.
He sauntered into the kitchen and picked up the note to read it.
Benny,
I didn't get that much sleep, so I went for a run, I have my phone and keys on me so if you need me just call me. I don't know when I'll be home, so I'll do some food shopping while I am out today.
If you're bored, then do some cleaning or sort out whatever's in the garage but don't touch my motorbike.
Kiera
"Love you too." He mumbled after reading the letter, he was surprised to learn that she had a motorbike. He's always finding new things about her and being surprised by her but that's what will happen more often the more he stays with her. It was like, well, he didn't know what it was like or what she was like anymore. He was getting to know her again and he keeps trying to compare and contrast her against the person she was before she left when he was so young.
She was brighter, kind and she would dote on him. He would look forward to coming home and she would be there ready to give him a cuddle with a few chocolate-y treats. She was soft, happier and full of light but now…all that was gone. At times he felt like he was talking and living with a stranger. That light was gone, and she is hardly visibly happy around him, he keeps wondering about what happened that extinguished that light – was it her? Was it their father? Or someone else entirely? It racked his brain when he thought of her.
He wished he could talk to someone else about her, that wish will soon be answered when Lorenzo will make his appearance which will apparently be 'soon' according to Kiera. She was quite vague about the whole ordeal.
He actually wished that he could build up the courage to ask her straight about what happened all those years ago, but he needed to build their relationship back up right now. He'll have to put that specific set of questions aside for the time being but that won't stop the subject matter to no longer linger in his brain until that time comes.
"One day." He breathed out.
Kiera has been pushing around her shopping trolley around the supermarket for over an hour now. She has been figuring out meals for two for the next two weeks as well as some treats for them both and whatever deals are on in the lifestyle, bedding and bathroom sections. She saved the frozen foods for last, so she was going through alcohol aisle, she needed to refill her drinks cabinet.
She got two bottles of Prosecco, a case of Sol and a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey and put them at the end of her shopping trolley before pushing her trolley to the frozen food aisle when her eye caught the glimpse of a hedgehog and a bat.
Rouge caught sight of her first when she came out of the alcohol aisle and made a comment to Shadow at her expense. "She's hardly the best guardian for a kid, drunken bitch." She hissed lowly.
Kiera heard her easily.
Shadow glared at Rouge and hit her shoulder. "Ow." She groaned as she rubbed her shoulder.
"Be respectful, mind your own business and if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all." He surprised Kiera with that notion.
Rouge rolled her eyes. "Okay, Dr Seuss."
Shadow eye's met Kiera's and she mouthed a 'thank you', and he gave her a small smile. "Go get bread and milk, Rouge." He looked at her and ordered her away, so he could speak to Kiera privately, and with another roll of her eyes she left.
Shadow walked over to her with his own trolley. "I'm sorry about what happened between your brother and Rouge, she's very difficult and doesn't know human decency and your brother didn't deserve what he got."
She watched his features as he apologised to her for Rouge's actions, and she believed his words rang true. "Thank you, but you shouldn't be the one saying sorry."
He chuckled and nodded. "Quite true."
Kiera bent over the railing of the frozen trays to grab at the frozen bag of croquettes and his eyes lingered on her body. He stared at her ass and she definitely knew what he was looking at, she straightens up. "You're not every subtle, you know?"
He cleared his throat, but his eyes never left her. With a smirk on his lips, he spoke. "Can't help but stare at a beautiful woman."
Kiera rolled her eyes. "That's the best line you could come up with? You should try harder if you want to get anywhere with me."
Shadow chuckled but a noise of disgust was heard, Rouge came back and witnessed that train wreck. "That was horrifying." She scoffed.
