Nadine Book 7

58. Buried In The Red

"CORAL I WAS JUST..."

Tre steps out. "What happened?"

"NO. I AM TAKING HER TO DIPAK."

Tre follows us, then Johen follows us.

I get pushed in the chair in Dipak's office. All my mates and Elek are here.

"I CAUGHT HER WITH TOBIAS IN HIS DAMN ROOM. THEY WERE COMING OUT ALL CUDDLY AND SMILEY. I TOLD HER NO. SHE WENT AND DID HIM ANYWAY."

I jump up. "CORAL I DID NOT..."

"SIT DOWN." She's mad.

"CORAL. I DIDN'T." I sit back down.

"YOU TELL THEM NOW. I KNOW WHAT I SAW."

"I WAS..."

"WHY WERE YOU IN HIS ROOM?"

"IT WASN'T..."

"WHY WERE YOU SMILING?"

"BECAUSE WE WERE..."

"AND HIS ARM WAS AROUND YOU."

"I missed it. Did we kiss a prince?" Thora sits with me. I shake my head.

"SHE WAS IN HIS ROOM ALONE WITH HIM AND THEY..."

"ENOUGH." Dipak's mad. "Coral sit down and stop talking. What the hell happened?"

"You went to the deck to make shade. I went to see if anyone was playing cards. Tobias was in there reading. I told him we had a library. He said he would rather read in the bar, so he could play cards when people showed up."

"OR SCREW TEENAGERS."

"AUNT CORAL. ENOUGH. LET HER ANSWER."

"Yea, he would rather play cards than read, so he reads in the bar. Then we started talking about putting the wheel in the shade. He said that would be amazing because his clothes are so thick."

Coral snorts.

"1 more." She crosses her arms.

"I told him he could get some t-shirts out of the closet. It's better out here. Well, he had no idea about it. And I thought about it. We never gave him a tour. So I showed him the closet, he grabbed some shirts. Then I showed him the office. He asked if everyone used it. I said some people have offices in their rooms. He was confused by that. So I showed him how we did the rooms with the number system."

"Were you in his room?"

"No. Not at all. We went to the room maker room thing. I showed him how it works. Then I took him to an empty room that has an office in it. Then I showed him the balcony. It had a hammock on it. He liked that."

Coral goes to jump up and Dipak points at her.

"I told him, I think it's a 2." Thora nods at me. "He really liked the system. He said it was genius. Then we walked out. Coral was standing there and freaked out. And his arm wasn't around me, Coral. He was shutting the door behind me. And I didn't do anyone."

Thora spins me. "Did we kiss him?"

"No, I'm sorry. We didn't kiss him. He never flirted with me. He never tried to kiss me or touch me. I think you are all completely insane at this point."

Thora nods. "I would like to agree with that last part." Then she glares at Coral. "You have to stop. You walk into a room and see the worst. Then you run to Dipak. If you had listened to her, she would have told you what happened. It was like when we were playing poker. 2 of her mates were at that table, Coral. If they had seen him do something wrong, he would be dead. She was having fun playing cards. They knew that. They were keeping an eye on everything. I was right there too. I'm not going to let her run off and have s*x with someone when she's drunk. Now this? Because she walked out of a room with him? Why do you hate him so much? Why are you trying desperately hard to keep them away from each other? He's not that bad." She sits back and crosses her arms. "And I like his beard. I'm done. Your turn."

Dipak nods. "Well that was very enlightening. Thora, would you like it if Frode was in a bedroom with another woman?"

"I would kill them."

Dipak nods. "Woman, stay out of bedrooms with men that aren't your mate."

"BUT."

"Stay out of them alone with men that aren't your mates." I cross my arms. "Would you want me in a bedroom with another female? Even if I was only showing her around."

I shake my head.

"Exactly. Don't do that again. I understand what happened. But I don't want to hear that again. You can grab anyone and take them, so you're not alone."

"Ok."

Coral jumps up. "He could have hit you on the head and raped you."

"Why the f**k would you even say that?" Coral glares at her. "Do you really think her mates would put us on the boat with someone who would do that?" Thora plops back down beside me and shrugs her shoulders. "Have any of you ever seen him do anything violent to anybody? I mean, why would anyone think that? Because he offered to have s*x with her when her eyes were dark? That means he's a rapist now? I don't f*****g get it. What am I missing?"

I rub my eyes. "I don't know. I'm missing it too."

Elek smiles. "Coral hopes I'll be your mate. So much so that she is freaking out about Tobias. She knows he's competition to me. So she is doing anything and everything she can to keep you 2 apart. Even if you're only playing poker, she'll run to Dipak, so he'll stop it." Then he looks at Coral. "You have to stop. When you said that he could hit her on the head and rape her, you gave yourself away. You are inducing fear. Which is probably why Tre is going crazy. Has she said things like that to you before?" Tre nods. He looks back at Coral. "Stop putting these ideas in their heads. If we are mates, then we will be. If we're not mates, no amount of spreading fear and rumors is going to change that. He is trying to get to know everyone. Her included and there is nothing wrong with that."

"Well, she could be seduced by him. He will try to have s*x with her."

"I have been kissing that girl on and off for years now. She won't even have s*x with me. Nobody is worried about him. He's only been around for 5 damn minutes."

Dipak looks at Elek and smiles.

"I don't know if you should have said quite that much in here."

He shakes his head. "It doesn't matter. She can't keep a secret from them. She never could. Will you please calm down about him? He's not doing anything. And stop making everyone panic over things that aren't going to happen, just because you want the 2 of us to be mates. Nothing you can do will change the outcome of that."

"Fine, but I still don't want them alone. She is a teenage girl and my little sister. He is way too old to be alone with her."

Thora crosses her arms. "And Elek's fine to be alone with? He's older too."

"Well, apparently he is fine to be alone with. It's been years and they haven't had s*x. I guess he's good."

My boys crack up laughing. Then Dipak stands up. "We actually try to limit the alone time she gets with any men that aren't us. Elek has been back and forth on the 'how close we have to watch him scale'. When he ran with her to the cave, we weren't concerned about them being alone. Maybe a little, but her safety was more important than anything. But since then, he has been climbing 'how close we have to watch him scale' so damn fast. And after this little speech, he is buried in the red. All eyes on Elek. They get no alone time. You can all leave Tobias alone. He's not trying anything."

Coral crosses her arms again. "NOW HOW IS THAT FAIR?"

Marcus smirks. "No one said it was fair."

I roll my eyes so damn hard. "It's alright Coral. Nothing is going to change. I can't have time alone with anyone. I'm surprised I was left alone for an hour to show Tobias around."

Thora stands up. "It's probably because the 1 they are watching was in here with them the whole time."

Dipak smirks.

"You assholes."

They laugh and Elek rubs his eyes. Then the damn pirate alarm goes off.

The boys are gone in 2 seconds.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was doing that. I think he is right though."

"It's ok. I know you'll always look out for me and Elek. Whether we're together or not. I know that has to be hard for you as his aunt, especially knowing we like each other. You're doing a good job."

"Answer a question for me."

"Ok." We start walking to the deck.

"If he found his mate tomorrow, would you be happy for him?"

"Not tomorrow. Maybe someday I would. I would pretend though... For him."

"Thank you."

On deck, Tye is getting yelled at by Kane and Dipak.

"THIS IS f*****g BORING. I WAS RUSHING US ALONG."

"YOU CAN NOT RUSH US TYE. NOW WE HAVE NO IDEA WHERE WE ARE."

"WELL YOU ALWAYS FIGURE IT OUT."

I run to Tye and hug him.

Coral looks around. "What's going on? I thought there were pirates. Is that an island?"

"Tye..."

Thora yells, "US TOO."

I nod. "We were bored, sorry."

Kane rubs his eyes. "Some of the kids decided to drop the sails and sail us all the way across the ocean to no one knows where in the middle of the night. Now we have to figure out where we are. We're going to watch that island. Then we can fly over later. It seems empty, but I don't know."

Thora looks at him. "Wouldn't it be awesome if it was the other side of Tye's island?"

I jump up and down. "We could play at the pool and eat good food."

Coral nods. "I could use a spa day."

Tre looks at Kane. "The weather feels the same. We could be close to it."

"Keep an eye on the kinds of fish in the water too. That'll help if we're close to his island."

Dipak looks around. "Everyone go eat dinner. If it is an empty island, you can run and play on it before we leave. If it's not empty, well then it'll be easier to figure out where the hell we are."

Kane nods. "I'll circle it for now. Someone bring me some food."

I jump up and down. "CAN WE BE PIRATES?"

Elek smiles. "It's probably empty. I don't know what you would pirate on an empty island. You could practice being werewolves though."

"THAT SOUNDS FUN TOO."

"I could give you all another bath and make sure the fleas are all gone."

Elek looks at the boys. "DON'T EAT BAD SHIT."

Omar nods. "Eat only what you kill on an empty island. And no fishing in the ocean. You're all too new, you will get lost. Anyway, let's go eat and let Kane circle it. I'll bring you a plate, Kane."