STORY PICKING UP RIGHT WHERE THE LAST CHAPTER LEFT OFF!


CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

"Should we order the wings yet?" Hilary enquired, looking around the booth. It was a large one with the ability to hold up to ten people, five on each side. Kenny sat at the end, sandwiched by the wall on his left and Ray on his right, then Mariah, and Hilary. Tyson and Max claimed the other side, the empty space saved for the ex captain of the Bladebreakers.

Mariah squeezed the garnish of lemon into her Coke, "Shouldn't we wait for Kai?"

"Oh," Tyson rolled his eyes, "Don't worry about the sourpuss, he's always late,"

"But he should be here in..." Kenny trailed off, eyeing the time on his cell phone, "In exactly one minute and twenty-six seconds,"

Ray nodded in conformity, "Kai's never more than three and a half minutes late for anything,"

"We call it 'Kai Time'," Max grinned while Mariah wrinkled her nose at the strange mathematics behind the time of arrival for the former teammate.

"Gonna kick your ass in pool," Ray broke through her thoughts

She punched her childhood companion, "You wish," With Hilary having tagged along in their supposed 'boys night out', Ray had hauled her along as well.

"And Kai should be here..." Tyson chimed in, his eyes glued to the time on his phone, "Now," The accuracy was spot on as the phoenix appeared by the table.

With a plus one.

While everyone looked stunned, Mariah's facial reaction had to take the cake, "Oh," She stared at Tala, "Hi,"

"Hey," He greeted, his disbelief masked away expertly as he sat beside Max, who scooted over to make further room for Kai as well, "Didn't know you were coming,"

"Yeah, well," Mariah chuckled, "Ray thinks he can beat me at pool,"

"He thinks?" Tala scoffed, "Or he knows?" It had earned him a high five from Ray and a glare from Mariah, which had gone slightly unnoticed as the raven haired blader swooped the redhead's interest away, the topic of conversation moving and changing with each passing moment.

The pinkette subconsciously stirred her carbonated drink with the straw, her golden eyes subtly wandering off to Red Bull. The contrast of his plain black sweater made his eyes pop. He sat back, mildly slouched, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his khaki pants as he listened to whatever Max had to say. When he laughed, there was a tingly feeling in her stomach, the kind you get when the elevator was going down.

"What?"

Mariah felt her cheeks rise in temperature from embarrassment as he caught her checking him out, "What?" She tried to play off, shifting around in her seat to indicate how comfortable and guiltless she was. While he only chuckled and continued his discussion of God knows what with Ray, she was utterly mortified. Luckily the wings that were served made for good distraction. Everyone reached in – some opting for the suicidal spicy ones, others for mild.

"Alright," Max started, "So, teams," He reminded, "Who wants to be captain?"

Tyson raised his hand instantly, "Kenny's on my team," After all, the geek had whooped all their asses in pool last time.

"And who's captain for the other team then?"

Tala wiped his hands on a napkin, "I'll do it," His eyes scanned the table full of potentials, landing on Mariah briefly. Her hair had been done up in a loose braid today and pulled to one side, the style helping to expose a sexy slice of shoulder created by her brown off-the-shoulder top. A tempting offer, but Tala would never let a bro down, "Kai,"

"Damn," Tyson muttered, "He was gonna be my next pick. Alright, Max,"

To pick Ray would be fair, with the invite and all. To pick Mariah would be a bad decision – not because of the game, but for obvious reasons. It would spark conversation, it would force proximity, it would go against Julia's order and Mariah's proposition. But he'd caught the way she was looking at him just a few minutes ago – did she feel something for him? She had to, otherwise why did she kiss him back that time? Or was she just a little horny that day? He wondered who else she slept with after him. Fuck that, why did he care?

"Hurry up, man," Tyson rolled his eyes.

"Mariah," Her name had rolled out of his mouth before he had the time to decide.

"Ray,"

Tala smirked – looked like there was opportunity for Kai as well, "Hilary."

And so it was settled: Tala, Kai, Mariah, and Hilary vs. Tyson, Kenny, Max, and Ray.

"We're the solid balls," Kenny announced and as Tyson took it out of context, Kai was glad that he longer had to deal with the dumbass. Drinks were ordered and the game moved along, the promising Kenny living up to his promises. His winning streak finally ended after five consecutive turns. He pushed his glasses up, looking over at his adversaries, "Your turn,"

With a nod, Mariah stepped forward to represent her team. She could hear Ray snickering from across the pool table; pssh, she'd show him!

"Mariah,"

The pinkette looked over her shoulder, "Yeah?"

"Aim for the yellow one," The redhead guided, "It's an easy shot,"

"Oh," She didn't second guess him – she figured he knew more than she did when it came to this game, "Okay,"

"Yeah! Come on, Mariah!" Hilary cheered, "You can get it in!"

"That's what she said,"

Max chuckled with a shake of the head, "Tyson,"

Mariah ignored Tyson and a scoffing Ray as she walked around the table, closer to her target. She looked over at Tala, his approval given with a thumbs up. Positioning herself over the table with the cue in hand, she eyed the target, her brows slightly furrowed in determination. But there was no focus. She wondered why he picked her to be on his team – he could have picked Ray or Hilary. Was there some kind of meaning to this? Then again he did pick Kai first. If there was some sort of 'meaning' he would have picked her first. For that matter, why did he take so long to pick her anyway? Maybe it was because she was wearing too much blush today. Did she even want there to be a 'meaning'? What would it mean anyway? Was she thinking too much? Or maybe he was trying to separate her and Ray to be on opposing teams so they could face each other. Did he even find her attractive anymore?

Dear men, welcome to the mind of a woman – where it never stops.

Pulling the cue back, she finally hit the target. It went across the green surface, dropping into the hole in the corner, "Oh shit!" Mariah exclaimed, "I did it!"

Tala smirked, "Congratulations, noob."

x x x

The smell of roast chicken had filled the air. Finally, something familiar for once. Dinner would be served soon. As Viktor continued to add finishing touches to the meals, Alden excused himself for a moment as he took a call. The sound of his voice and the Russian words associated with it disappeared as he continued the conversation from the second floor.

Dylan removed the cushion from her lap and hopped off the couch, an unfinished Monopoly game between her and Alden remained unfinished on the coffee table. The American strolled closer to one of the shelves occupied by books – as if their in-home library was not enough – some ornaments, a small plant, and a few photos encased in frames.

There was one with a much younger version of Alden holding an even younger version of a diaper-clad Kai by his feet, balancing him in the air in the palm of just one hand. She chuckled to herself, just in time for Alden to overhear as he made his way back.

"What is it?"

"My brother and I have a picture like that with our dad," She pointed to the picture while glancing over her shoulder. As he came closer, her fingers moved to another photo, "Who's that?"

"Kai's grandfather," He further clarified, "My father,"

"Oh," She was quick to recall Tala mentioning Kai's grandfather and their turbulent history, "Did they get along?"

"No," He provided truthfully, "He beat Kai too much,"

She was alarmed, first by the disclosure of personal information, and second, by the concept, "He hit Kai?"

"Yes, hit and very bad punishment,"

"Bad punishment?"

Alden's recollection of one incident in specific was so vivid, it had caused the hairs on his arm to rise. At 24, subsequent to already earning both his Bacherlor's and Master's and breaking teen parent stereotypes, he was finally making good money, more than enough to live comfortably and to raise Kai without his father's 'help'. Young himself, what he hadn't realized was that making decent money came with hefty responsibility which resulted in very limited time. The hours spent in the office were long, and the travelling was excessive.

Voltaire was once again appointed secondary guardian to his son.

He had just returned to Moscow after being away for a few weeks in Saudi Arabia. Two suitcases wheeled behind him, one full of his belongings, and another full of things he had brought back for Kai. As he neared his massive estate he purchased just months ago, he narrowed his emerald eyes upon hearing shouted apologies from the other side of the door, something about losing a beybattle. He unlocked the door immediately, his things dropping from him at the sight of his son hanging by two barbed wires circled around his small wrists, a little bruising and blood visible where they were cutting into his skin. He had been trying to tip toe to reduce strain in his arms, but his feet barely touched the ground.

"It left a scar," But as Alden turned to show her his own wrist as an example of where the marking lied on his son, he felt that the narrative may have been too graphic for the blonde. With a lack of interruption to his story, a pokerface contrasting her typically expressive features, and those piercing blue orbs trained on him, he realized he had disturbed her. He decided she need not hear the other stories – she was not ready.

x x x

Mariah grabbed a cold fry off the platter. Save for her, the other seats in their booth remained empty. After many rounds of pool – with Kenny's team emerging as winner for most of them – she needed a break. But there were other factors, such as an absurdly high level of excitement that made for hands too shaky to hold a cue. Her mind raced and her eyes remained on him like glue. Tala was much too absorbed in the game of pool to notice. It was cute to watch. In fact it was endearing to watch him do anything whether it was practice beyblading or even, on one particular occasion, try to cook for her; she recalled the horribly undercooked pasta and the not very well seasoned meatballs.

He had suddenly appeared by the table, "Not going to play anymore?"

"I'm tired," She grabbed another fry nonchalantly as he, too, grabbed a seat next to her, using the vacant seats in front of him as a foot rest. Amused, she mimicked his tardy gesture, "Remember when you made me spaghetti and meatballs?"

"Would you let that go?" He glared, "That was over a year ago,"

"Hey, I thought it was sweet,"

"The part where you were gagging or the part where I was dying of embarrassment?"

"Really? You were embarrassed?"

"You have no idea," He poured himself a beer from the pitcher, "Why do you think I 'accidentally' spilled wine on your plate and then took you out to a proper dinner after?"

"You little sneak," She laughed lightly, partially in shock of the newfound information, and partially at the hilarious tale, "I really did think it was very nice of you though. I'm sure Julia would appreciate a home cooked meal too,"

"I don't think mac and cheese would impress her very much,"

"And how are things holding up with you two?" Her eyebrows wiggled suggestively, "Any interesting stories?" She was surprised when he declined with a mere 'no', "Why? You guys have been seeing each other for a while now,"

"It'll happen when it happens,"

"We slept together in like a week,"

"That's because you're a pervert," Was his justification, "We were watching a movie in my room and you randomly started undoing my belt – what did you think was gonna happen after?"

The pinkette nodded with a shrug as if to agree, "Couldn't help it," She'd been crushing on him for a while before he finally asked her out and by that time, she'd run out of patience for him to make the first move.

"So..." He took a sip and spared her a glance, "What happened to us cutting off contact with each other?"

"That still applies, Tala,"

"Doesn't seem like it's been working in our favour,"

"We're allowed to be civil with each other under certain circumstances, such as today,"

He chuckled in amusement, "Still a rule bender, huh?"

She rolled her eyes. Nonetheless, it was evident that clarifications needed to be made to the no contact rule. They knew too many of the same people and with the BBA tournament, bumping into each other was not as rare as they had both presumed for it to be, "We will not have contact with each other unless there is a purpose," Came the amendment to the proposal, "And before you ask, today's purpose was that we were both invited to the same event and in order to not make things awkward for our mutual friends and to ensure our friends don't find out why we have this rule in place for us, we were forced to talk,"

Tala was impressed by her elaborate thinking, "Fine,"

Mariah granted him a weak smile, "This way we both get to keep Julia."

x x x

"Okay, here is good,"

Alden glimpsed over at Dylan briefly before moving the Benz closer to the curb and eventually coming to a halt – the home of the Blitzkrieg Boys' was just a few houses down, far enough for neither of them to be seen. The duo-haired man took the keys out of the ignition and relaxed in the driver's seat, "Dylan, please take care of yourself,"

She nodded, buttoning up her jacket, "I will,"

"Don't try to run away again. Russia is not like America – over there you have rules and you are safe. Please try to understand what I am saying,"

"Yeah, I get it," She assured before grabbing her backpack, "Alright, I guess I'll get going then,"

"Okay," He smiled, "And remember to give me a call when Kai goes to the gym."


A/N – Sorry for my disappearance. I had a lot of trouble tying things together in this chapter because of how the last chapter ended. Sorry for the lack of editing and the smaller length of this chapter compared to the others. I really wanted to upload a new chapter more than anything.

I've also had a lot of growing up to do.

Hope everyone is doing well...that is, if anyone is still reading this. Please review to let me know if you still are! Or if you are a new reader!