Lockwood City: The Tale of Eloise

Nine

Lil Wayne Ft. XXXTENTATION- Scared of the Dark

Eloise:

My parents both arrive just after my brother does. He's setting up our dinner. There is a lot of food. I wonder if they invited him. I look down at the fourth thread of text messages on my phone. There are usually only three: Blitz, Elena, and Mom.

"I'm really sorry about Sasuke," my dad says placing the red collar on the kitchen counter.

Blitz and I have been hanging out for a couple of hours now. Just talking about his upcoming fight. There's a billboard on the building across the way with his picture on it. Pretentious but well-deserved. He's an amazing fighter and I'm not just saying that because he's my brother.

"Okay," I say pushing the collar back toward him.

Why would I want it? I only had him for a couple of days and I swear he turned my life upside down. I groan and snatch it. I am going to miss that little s**t. I put it in the backpack I plan to take with me in the morning. It's got my laptop, my tablet, today's class notes, and now my dead wolf's collar.

"I'm here,"

Elena walks in dressed similarly to my mother. Highwaisted pantsuit. My mom's is a creme color while Lena's is black. Mom accessories with pearls and pretty silk ribbons while Lena has gold and diamonds. It's obvious the three of us are related by our features. The only difference between Lena and I is our eyes. Her's are slightly lighter than my father's dark brown eyes. I'm also a lot taller than her, even in her heels.

"Hey," I greet her and tense up when the smell around her hits me. I tense up feeling my wolf stir inside of me.

"Oh," she says with a smirk. "I ran into your mate earlier. I hope you don't think anything bad of it,"

"I don't care," I admit because I don't. I don't care that he knows people out there. As long as that floral scent isn't anywhere near him or tangled with his. I should be fine.

"You could have told me," she says taking a seat on the bar stool next to me.

"I haven't even told myself," I shrug. She laughs. I smile at her.

"I got you something," she says and reaches into her designer purse. She pulls out a black velvet pouch and gives it a shake. Metal jingles inside of it. "Happy birthday, Ellie,"

"Thank you," I say taking the pouch when she offers it. My body trembles when the tips of her fingers graze my own but I push it back.

You can't do that anymore, Eloise. She's your sister. Your baby sister. I repeat it over and over as I open the pouch. I empty the bag on the counter and a bunch of white gold bangles with little snowflake designs slide out. There are eight of them.

"Four for each wrist," she says looking down at the colorful beads on my wrists now.

"Wow," I whisper holding one up. My ears were burning with the sound of cuffs clicking against the metal headboard as I pulled on them until my arms bled. My eyes twitch as I let the memory flood through me until the burning slowly fades. It's little dark images like that one that holds me back.

The bangles are thin, elegant, and very pretty. I set the bangle down and began to remove the colorful beads. The scarring on my wrists goes deep. I rub them a little feeling the cold left behind by the silver that was poured on me. I slip the bangles on to cover them and smile at her. I flick my wrists a little making the metal jingle.

"I knew you'd like them. I got them in London," she says.

"Thank you. I love them," it's the truth. I love them. Hopefully, this will replace the ugly memory. They're from my baby sister.

"Uh, what did you get me?" Blitz asks annoyed. I laugh looking over at our sister expectantly. She reaches into her box and pulls a box out. She tosses it at him. "Matching watch? Check this out, Ellie. Twins," he shows me the watch. He takes the gold one-off and slips the new one on. It has the same design as my bangles. "It's cute. Thanks, baby sister,"

"I have something for you as well," I say getting out of my seat.

I rush up to my room to grab the gift I had been looking for for almost two years. It has a fifty-caliber bullet hanging off of it. I open the box to look down at the white gold rope. It seems there's a theme tonight. I walk back down and place it on the counter then slide it across to him.

"What?" he laughs taking it. He opens it and his smile fades. "Ellie,"

"I found it," I say.

"What is it?" Mom asks.

He takes it out and immediately puts it on and holds up the bullet. It's not something he can casually wear, obviously. It's for his collection of ugly baller jewelry he wears to his fights. But it means something to us. That was the bullet we stole from Dad's weaponry when were six. He carved our initials on the bottom. I lost it the night I was kidnapped.

"How?" he asks looking up at me.

"It's marked and I remember the serial number. It took a long time to track it down but I got it," I smile.

"Silver rounds, for ice hearts," he whispers. "Thank you,"

"You're welcome," I smile. "Happy Birthday, brother,"

"You're going to wear that all the time now aren't you?" Lena shakes her head. "That's hideous,"

"The presentation has nothing to do with the meaning," I laugh. "You got him that tacky blinged-out chain that says, Blitz. Let's not talk about hideous,"

"The jokes are starting early tonight," she laughs.

"It's fair. Now we're both presented on his weird posse propaganda," I motion to my brother.

"Propaganda?" he laughs. "Here we go with your political bullshit,"

"I didn't say anything," I shake my head. "What do you call it?"

"Baller swag," he answers with confidence. The two of us laugh.

"Eww Elliot," I say disapprovingly.

"Ugh, when she calls me Elliot it's fine. Little miss perfect but you. Come on Elle. Don't call me that," he shakes his head.

"I'm starving. Can we eat?" I change the subject. They all look at me "What?"

"Yeah, yeah," Blitz is the first to react. "Let's eat,"

Blitz sets up the table. The four of us sit down and Dad pulls up one of the armchairs to take a seat at the edge. His eyes are on me again. Again, that sense of relief is there. I see it in my mom's eyes as well. I put food on my plate. I start with plain food. Mash potatoes, no gravy, mac and cheese, and a couple of slices of skinless rotisserie chicken. My mom's hand slips into my dad's when I take my first bite. No one looks at me as I continue to eat. I usually take a couple of bites and excuse myself to the bathroom but not tonight. I eat everything I serve myself.

I checked a few things off of my new daily meals list and sent it to Elias.

-Did you eat everything?- he replies immediately. I take a picture of my empty plate and send it to him.

-Yup.

-Eat something cold. Ice cream. Water-based preferably. It'll help keep your food down.

-Ok.

I excuse myself to go over to the fridge. I pull the ice box out from the bottom to find ice pops. I choose a strawberry one and turn around to offer some to my family. Blitz takes a lime one and Elena takes a pineapple one. I sent him a picture. He heart reacts to the picture. I didn't know that was a thing. I go over to Elena and show her.

"Oh, just hold down the bubble," she does it and the reactions show up in a bubble above the bubble.

"Cool," I say unwrapping the popsicle. I put the ice in my mouth and shake my head. "Nope,"

"Take a bite," she laughs.

"No, that's way too sweet,"

"Okay, do it so I can take a picture," she pokes my face. I laugh and agree. She holds her phone up and I put the ice back in my mouth. The reaction is worse than before.

"I don't like that,"

"Try mine," she offers me the pineapple one.

"Uh-"

"Come on," she encourages. I put the corner of it in my mouth. Saliva floods my mouth and surprisingly I don't hate it.

"I'm keeping this one,"

"Yeah," she cheers.

"Try this one," Blitz tries to hand me the green one.

"No. Just the scent of it is bad," I shake my head.

"Aww," he shoves it in his mouth and sits back.

-The strawberry was gross.

-Too sweet?

-Yes. I had half the pineapple one.

-Pineapple is my favorite :)

I don't know what to reply so I push the bubble and give him a thumbs up.

"Who are you texting?" Elena leans a little into me. I growl at her. She's too close and I'm up against the glass that divides the gym and the kitchen. "Sorry,"

"Elias," I answer and look up at my parents who have been too quiet tonight. "You got us a house?"

"It's your chauteus. I made one for each of you," my dad nods. "The one on Cherry Hill,"

"Dad, if we do this. You can't squeeze your way into everything we do. You know that right? The choice isn't yours anymore," I whisper. He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly.

"I am aware, Eloise," his eyes don't meet mine this time but he is smiling. "Where would you like to start?"

"The house is empty. I'd like to start there for now. My main concern is Max," I admit.

"f**k, right to it," Blitz shakes his head.

"Max and your brother. I want you to put me in charge of the L.C. Weapons Trade for starters,"

"You can't run that from your computer," he shakes his head.

"I know that,"

"You want to start at the biggest company under Lockwood Consolidated?" he scoffs. "I don't know, Ellie. Walking around the city is one thing but-"

"This is what I want," I cut him off. "I have to start there. I need to-" I swallow hard and take a deep breath. "I need to feel safe again,"

"Do you not feel safe here?" he asks.

"I don't feel safe anywhere. Here, upstairs, nowhere. It's not something that any of you can help me with. I have to do this myself. I want to do this for me. Not just because of Elias. I've been thinking about it for a long time now. I'm going to graduate soon. I can't be inside anymore," tears fill my eyes. "I feel like I'm fading and it gets worse as the days go by. It's walking out of here willingly or being dragged away in a body bag,"

"Don't say that," Mom shakes her head. She can't even look at me. She doesn't like looking at me.

"It's the truth. Let me start here,"

"Ellie, this part of the company isn't always legal," my dad admits. "It's not like financing or politics. This is a battlefield you're going to be walking into. If I make you head of the board, they're going to be pissed. You're going to be targeted by everyone. I cannot and will not put you at risk like this. You're going to have to go in alone,"

"I'm aware. This is my decision,"

"Do you even know what you're doing?" he asks.

"In theory," I smile meeting the challenging glare he's directing at me. Blitz laughs and my dad smiles.

"You mean how you theoretically know how to drive?" he asks.

"You drove?" Blitz laughs glancing over at the empty spot behind me where the BMW used to sit.

"Yeah, I drove my car out of here," I nod.

"Okay," my dad finally agrees.

"Tec," my mom grabs his arm. She shakes her head.

"Baby, Eloise is going to be the alpha of Lockwood City. If she can't handle this, we might as well hand it all over to Max now," he sighs. "We don't have a lot of choices. She's got the command in her. She's ready. I'll give you two weeks to get your house in order. I'll start making arrangements,"

"Okay," I give him a nod. "About my bike,"

"No,"

"Dad," I laugh.

"No," he shakes his head.

"So guns and ammo are fine but you draw the line at my bike?" I scoff.

"You bet your depressed ass I draw the line at that bike," he growls. "I don't want to see you on it. I have s**t to do tonight. Dinner was for once a pleasure, Ellie. I had a great time. I am sorry about your gift. I will try again later,"

"You got me a house,"

"I got all of you a house. Doesn't count," he stands up. "Baby, say goodnight to your spawns,"

"Goodnight spawns," Mom lets out a heavy sigh. "I love you guys. Happy birthday you twins of hell,"

"Thanks," the two of us answer at the same time.

My brother looks over at me with a smirk. We used to finish each other's sentences. We were as close as twins could be. And then our link was broken when we shifted. We almost died. My feral wolf rejected everything and I let her. I wanted nothing but for the sounds around me to stop. I didn't stop to think of the damage I was causing them. Espeically not him. Over the years, I've longed for our connection. Just to feel more than this numbness inside of me but it's also a little bit of a blessing. He doesn't have to endure my emotions.

My parents excuse themselves. My siblings and I clean up and head up to the roof. Sunflower by Post Malone and Swae Lee plays as I pull my leggings up and dip my feet into the heated pool. My sister changes into one of my bathing suits and jumps right in. Blitz is lounging on one of the inflatables.

"So, you met Tiffany," Blitz says as the song transitions. "For sure thought, you would have tried to kill her,"

"Why?" I laugh.

"She was engaged to your mate," Elena scoffs. "Like the day you met,"

"Well, she's not anymore,"

"You're not concerned?" Blitz adds.

"Not even a little," I admit. "She's not in any way a threat to me,"

"There it f*****g is," Blitz barks out a laugh. "That f*****g god complex. You're the only person I know who absolutely loathes everything about yourself and yet you still think you're better than everyone else,"

"I am the alpha," I remind him. He sits up to look at me challengingly. "You forget that sometimes. I forget sometimes but it's not going to go away just because I want it to,"

"Elias can't be the beta anymore. With your mating in the works, he'll be a Lockwood City alpha soon," he states. I laugh as a flood of heat rushes over the cold very briefly. What is this?

"What are you asking, Elliot?" I ask him knowingly.

"You know exactly what I'm asking, Eloise,"

"What about your Baller Swag Propaganda?" I ask.

"f**k the B.S.P.," he stands up. "I've wanted this since we were kids. I would have killed Elias for it had-"

"Okay," I cut him off. I stand up and turn to face my brother. He towers over me. He's bigger than my father.

"Okay?"

"I'll talk to Elias about it. I can't just say yes. Like it or not, I have to share my things with him now,"

"Don't say it like that, Ellie," Elena scolds. "He's your mate. This is a union,"

"One I-" I stop. "It's not that simple for me,"

"But it is," she pulls herself up to the side of the pool and gets out. "You're making it unnecessarily complicated. I know you love him. You've been in love with him since we were kids and that doesn't go away, Ellie. You're allowed to be selfish. You're the alpha,"

"I don't know him anymore. He's not-" I roll my eyes feeling unreasonably angry again. "He's not mine right now. He let someone else tame him. Who knows what she taught him? He's programmed to love the way she wants to be loved. What I feel has nothing to do with what I want.

"I don't want this patient adoring Elias. I want the boy who stood up to my dad at eight years old. I want the boy that beat the s**t out of Jose Garcia for touching my hair. I want the boy who taught me how to break someone's teeth properly when I turned nine. I want the beta that put Maxwell Lockwood on his f*****g knees and killed his girlfriend in front of him.

"This Elias isn't mine. He's someone else. He's a complete f*****g stranger and I hate him. I hate him for letting her do that to him. I hate her for telling him there was something wrong with him. There was nothing wrong with him. He was f*****g perfect and now he thinks that he's better somehow. She's not a threat to me in the slightest. But he is. The way he is right now, he's a really big f*****g problem,"

"Ellie," she whispers. "I didn't-"

"Don't," I look away from the two of them. The warmth that I felt earlier is long gone. "There's nothing anyone can say anymore. I've made up my mind. If he doesn't cooperate with me, this is probably going to be as far as we go. She can have him. If they want me to be the alpha, I have to do this my way or it's not gonna work,"