Between the Two [COMPLETE]

4~Family that Prays Together

“Mom, no!” I screamed, reaching my hands for her to yank her away from him. But each time I drew closer, the further they were, like a vortex swallowing them in the distance. Or was I the one being pulled away from them? “I’ll be a good girl but don’t hurt him! Please!”

“Please!” I woke in cold sweat, the sheets clinging to my arms and stomach. Shivers flowed down my spine like a waterfall. I panted for breath, feeling a burning in my chest as I wrapped my arms around my knees. The nightmare of that last night with my mother. I had plenty of nightmares from my years with her but that one haunted me to the core. Before I could stop them, tears sliding down my cheeks, and I just sat in bed until the sun peeked over the horizon.

When there were no more tears left to cry, I decided this was a good time to get ready for the day. Getting out of bed, I searched through my closet for some clothes to wear for church. I didn’t know if it were casual or not so I just decided on a purple dress that stopped at my knees and knitted white cardigan that reached my calves. I took a quick shower and it wasn’t until I was fixing my hair that I heard a knock on the door.

“Come in,” I called from the bathroom, looking around the door to see who it was.

It was the lesser of the three, Katherine who looked surprised to see me. “Oh, my, I thought you’d still be in bed. Glad to see you’re an early riser. Breakfast will be ready in twenty minutes.”

I looked over at the clock by my bed. “It’s not even six thirty yet.”

She smiled gleefully. “Early bird gets the worm. The family heads to the church by at least seven thirty. Everyone is already getting ready as we speak. Do you need anything before I go?”

I shook my head. “No, thank you. I’ll be down soon.”

Once she closed the door, I sighed in agitation that I’d have to go down there soon. Last night, with Ezra’s foot caressing my leg, inching his way upwards towards my thigh, I thought I would have a heart attack. Luckily, he didn’t inch any further. Just thinking about it made me flustered. I gave him one last pass, stating that it was an accident. He meant to caress my mom but...but I was across and she was beside him? And his eyes were clearly sending me mixed signals.

With questions swirling in my head, I shook them out and finished getting ready. Heading outside my bedroom door, I spotted Asher waiting by my doorway with a smile on his face. His shoulder length hair was sat in a ponytail. He wore a dress shirt and navy vest with dark slacks.

“Good morning, step-sis. You sleep well?” he asked, eyebrow raised with suspicion.

I eyed him questioningly, walking out my door. “Yes, why do you ask?”

His arm blocked me from walking down the hall any further, the small space making me feel nervous under his gaze. His eye darkened on me as he whispered, “I heard you moaning last night. Were you thinking about something...naughty?” He licked his lips at the word, his body leaning closer to mine. Citrus cologne filled my nose, causing me to feel calm despite his body pressing into mine. Asher was handsome but the way he made my chest tightening when he was close made me feel vulnerable.

It took everything inside me to glare at him, pushing on his arm with no luck. “No, and if I were, it’s none of your business.”

He chuckled, suddenly placing his finger beneath my chin to lift my face to his. “It’s alright. Be a good girl for dad but when you’re with me, you can be as bad as you want.”

The taste of spearmint filled my mouth as his lips took a hold of mine, catching me off guard. I went breathless, freezing at his touch. My back was against the wall, his body against mine. Then I felt my lips move with his, at first hesitant then confidently, not understanding why I wanted this. His lips were gentle yet forceful. My body reacted on its own. Slowly, I felt my hands reach up to his chest, feeling the solidness and the bumps of abs along the way. Warmth and spice filled me while in his arms, knowing this was wrong, he was wrong, but feeling so right. That is until I felt his hand graze the hem of my panties beneath my dress.

The slap across his face was so abrupt, I barely realized I’d smacked him off my lips until I felt the tingling of my hand heating up. His head tilted to the side, motionless, as though it also took him a second to realize I’d hit him. We were both panting from the kiss, our breaths loud in the silent hall.

We didn’t react until Katherine’s voice shouted upstairs, “Kids, breakfast is ready!”

Hastily, I walked around Asher and headed downstairs, holding my lips that were still burning from that kiss. Ezra and mom were already at the table, mom chatting about whatever while Ezra was contently reading. The room was filled with the smell of pancakes. I took my seat across from mom who peered at me blankly before granting me a fake smile.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” she greeted a little too nicely for my taste. “How’d you sleep?”

“Fine,” I quickly answered, keeping my eyes low while I took my plate. Ezra cleared his throat and I rolled my eyes, realizing what we had to do before each meal. “Grace?”

He straightened himself in his chair, grey eye blinking forward then borrowing diagonally into me. Was he expecting me to sit across from him again? “A family that prays together, stays together. Asher hasn’t come down yet.”

Footsteps strolled through the dining room and Asher took his place at the table, placing his bible by his plate with a charming smile that could melt a frozen heart. I smirked at the absurdity of him, first kissing me then coming down here like an innocent angel. But I had to hand it to him, he was good cloaking his atrocity.

Mom was the first to spot the bruising of his cheek, pushing back her chair and walking over to his side with a worrisome face. “What happened to your poor face, my dear?” she asked in the sweetest tone I’d ever heard her speak in. My jaw dropped at the sight of my evil mother comforting Asher’s wound, feeling my hand clench beneath the table in bitter rage. Never, in my entire life, has she ever gazed and comforted me in such a soothing way. The envy of it all was crawling all over my body like beetles underneath my skin. Then her eyes glanced at me, noticing the obvious hatred seething inside me. “Did you do this, Lilah?”

I flinched at the words, inside knowing that I’d be hit if I admitted it. Maybe not now but later when no one was watching. And it would be worse than a smack in the face.

Asher shook his head, mom’s delicate fingers beneath his chin to inspect his bruise. “I slipped in the bathroom and hit my face on the counter. It’s nothing, Melissa, I’m alright.”

“Are you sure? I can get some ice for you,” she offered, still patting the bruise on his cheek.

“No thanks. I’ve dealt with worse.” His eyes glowered at Ezra for a split second, I barely caught it. Ezra, on the other hand, couldn’t care less about Asher’s bruise, still skimming his book while sipping his coffee. He only looked up once, his eyes grazing his son blankly before they turned to me. Ominously, the corner of his mouth lifting as though he could see that his bruise was no accident. That I had indeed done it. I sunk into my chair before he turned away, returning to his book.

Mom went back to her seat quietly and we said grace, eating silently until it was time to head out to the church together.

From a distance, the church looked quaint and modest until you pulled up past the trees and realized it was huge. The dome top of the church glistened against the morning sun with colorful stained glass windows and pillars of polished ivory on each corner. Over to the side was a playground and on the opposite, a large sign welcoming all guest to St. John Church. Enter this place was like enter a mall. There was a gift shop, coffee shop with a patio of seats, large screens displaying the vast sanctuary, and an auditorium.

“St. John, the heart of Hawthorn Peaks. So what do you think, Lilah?” Ezra asked at my side, smiling as though he’d finally came home. The air, sweet with honey and cinnamon, and the sound of glorious singing made me smile at his side as well. The last church I went to didn’t compare to this place with high vaulted ceilings and twinkling chandeliers of gold.

“It’s so beautiful,” I awed. I wasn’t a firm believer of God, not in the slightest, but if God existed, and He had a house, this would probably be it.

We’d come early enough before the morning bible study group arrived and the coffee shop opened up. The thought of being the new girl made me nervous. My senior year and I had to move away, just when I’d started getting friends around Nani’s place and was about to go to my first pool party. And Nani said I could have my own party for my eighteenth which would be in a few days. But now, that was a distant memory.

A girl about my age with curly blond hair pushed behind a rhinestone headband and a coral pink dress approached me. Her smile was cheerful with dimples on each side. “Greetings, I’m Hazel,” she beamed, offering me a hand to shake. She had a hint of a southern drawl in her voice. “You must be Lady Melissa’s daughter, Layla.”

Lady? Layla? “Lilah,” I corrected, shaking her hand.

She giggled. “Oh, sorry about that, Lilah. What a pretty name. Almost as pretty as those stunning blue eyes. I’ve heard so much about you!”

“Like what?” I challenged, knowing my mom never talked a little--or a lot--about me. She didn’t even tell her own husband and stepson about me until two weeks ago. Hazel was probably just being courteous.

Her smile wavered with hesitancy. “You just got back from boarding school in Europe. Your mom had been boasting about it last week.”

“That sounds like her alright.” Sarcasm dripped off my tongue but I don’t think she noticed.

“Somewhere in France.” She took a seat beside me on the bench outside the sanctuary. “Well, it’s whatever. The important thing is that you’re back. I know your mom must have missed you. Did they throw you a party?” Man, she could talk a lot.

I shook my head, biting my lip to keep from laughing. I was a complete lie to these people. A boarding school brat from France that any mother would be proud of. “Just a simple dinner.”

Her shoulder brushed against mine as she sighed. “You are so lucky to be living with the two hottest men in Hawthorn Peaks. Maybe even the entire state or country.”

I knew she was talking about Ezra and Asher but I said with a scoff, “Hottest? If I was living with the hottest men, I’d know.” When I bit down on my lip, I could still taste the lingering of spearmint from Asher. Imagines of his forest green eyes looking down on me spiral through my mind. I quickly wished it away as Hazel laughed.

“You’re so funny, Lilah. Well, they are your stepfather and stepbrother, so it’d be kind of weird to be attracted to them. Guess you gotta step-off.” She giggled at her own joke. “Oh, I just know we are going to be the best of friends.”

“How do you know that?”

“Pastor Ezra and Lady Melissa told me, of course. Said you needed a friend with good morals and high values and that’s me.”

It took everything inside me not to roll my ‘stunning blue eyes.’ I didn’t want a friend pushed onto me, especially by my own mother. Who knew what was up her sleeves, having a friend who was more loyal to her than to me. However, I didn’t want to be rude. And those puppy dog eyes of honey brown told me she was doing this from the kindness of her heart.

“Thanks, Hazel. I needed a friend.”