Althena Book 2

42. Drinking Day

Tuesday morning, I get ready for school. Then I sit at the table and glare at the boys. I am going back whether they like it or not.

Mike walks by and kisses my head. "I'm coming with you."

Drogon nods. "We can make sure they fixed the place."

I don't want to know. I just agree. "Did anyone grab my phone?"

Cyrus hands me a phone that's not mine. "We got you a new one. Conner broke the last one. All your stuff is on this one. Same number."

"Thank you." I side eye Conner.

He shoves a bite in his mouth. "I was mad. I'll break it again."

Mike rolls his eyes. "There could have been something on that, Conner."

"Did anyone call you that day, woman? Any weird numbers or anything?"

"No. I just forgot about it. I rushed back to grab it."

"It doesn't matter, Conner. They couldn't rule it out because you broke the phone."

I grab Conner's head and rub it. "Don't yell at him. It's over. Let's move on."

Conner smiles and puts his arm around me. "Let's go to school."

We get there about 10 minutes early. There are guards at every door. My personal guards are a little closer than normal. I'm sure they'll go back to normal after a while.

I sit behind Akmae and he flips around. "Are you alright?"

"Yea, that was a very long nap. I was drugged so I slept. There was a gun fight in the middle. Then I went back to sleep. Woke up with Drogon. Fell asleep on the plane ride home. That's it. I had a very long nap. The boys are crazy though."

"Yea, it wasn't a nap for anyone else. The school went on lockdown. Alarms sounded. Police were questioning everyone. Drogon put Penn through the wall and told him to get the video faster. Conner beat the hell out of a guard. It was something."

I nod. "Not a nap."

"Definitely not a nap."

Class starts and I focus on that. For choir, Lila and I practice our solo. We have fun with it, then go to lunch. People ask me what happened but all I can say is I slept. I think it was so dramatic they're let down by my answers. Mrs. Crew helps me as much as she can all afternoon. The exterior door by her room has guards on it now. I saw that coming. I get to the locker room late and put the lawyer's number in my phone. Then I check. I'm the only one here. I call him.

"This is Cody. How can I help you?"

"It's Thena. I wanted to tell you I'm putting a casino in Darkburn. I didn't know if that would mess with your stuff."

"Not at all. It's in your name, right?"

"Yes."

"It will not affect anything from us. What made you decide to do that?"

"I don't know how to run a casino. I figured I had better learn."

"They run themselves. You don't need to do anything for them. But you should make good money at a Darkburn casino. How did you get them to agree to that? There was a ban in place."

"I lifted the ban for myself. Nobody had to agree."

He chuckles. "That worked. The title for the boat was sent on Saturday. You should get that today. Try to get it yourself. Again, we don't know the shape the boat was left in."

"I understand. Thank you."

"My pleasure. We're working on a plan to get the house transferred. It's taking a little longer. But that's where Edwardo... You know what, we'll discuss that in person. I'll make a trip there in a month or so."

"You should go to the beach resort. That place is amazing."

"That could work. We'll happen to be there at the same time as you. We could talk with nobody noticing."

"COME ON, SLOWPOKE."

I stand up and smile. "Thank you. I'll see you then. I need to go to cheer practice now."

"Have fun. Keep us updated with the casino."

"Will do."

I run for it with Lila. "Who was that?"

"Lawyer."

"Figures."

The second cheer practice is over. I fly home. Monte is sitting on the steps. I get the mail. There is a big envelope with my name on it. I stuff it in my bag and go in with him.

"What are you doing here?"

"I have an idea about security at the casino. What was in the envelope?"

"No idea. It has my name on it."

"Let's open it."

"It's mine. What's your idea for the casino?"

He grabs for my bag and I block him. "Woman, what are you doing? Open it."

"I don't have to. It's mine."

"Fine. Are you keeping it open 24 hours a day?"

"I have no idea. Is that how long they're supposed to be open?" I roll my eyes and go get some water.

"A LOT OF THE BUSINESSES IN THAT AREA ARE OPEN ALL NIGHT. YOU MIGHT WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT."

I come back and he has the envelope open. "MONTE. THAT'S MINE."

"You were too secretive about it. It's a title for a boat. Keys. A letter." He hands me the letter.

"Miss. Sage, I am sorry to hear about your father. He was a good friend of mine. I want you to have my boat. It was his favorite place to go when he needed some time away from royal duties. I think he used it more than I did. It seems only fitting you would get it. My sincerest condolences, Edwardo Nordin." I shrug my shoulders. "I guess I have a boat."

He crosses his arms and nods slowly. "Let's go see your boat."

I don't have a way out of this and if we wait, more boys will join us. "Fine. Let's go." I pull him to the helicopter.

He side-eyes me the entire flight and doesn't say a word. I don't care.

We get to the dock, and I am stunned stupid. A 25 million dollar boat is massive. I don't know what I was thinking, but this isn't it. It has at least 4 levels above the water. It's beautiful.

"Monte."

"Yea." He's staring at it too.

"I don't know how to drive a boat."

"We'll figure it out."

I run for it. I run to the deck and look around. I've never seen anything like it. We walk around for a while. It's clean. Nothing anywhere says anyone was ever here. It's in a nearly brand-new state. There's a pool on the top level deck. I could live here. I lose Monte somewhere in the middle, so I roam around on my own.

The lowest level above water is all inside rooms. There's a kitchen and dining room. Living room. Then 8 bedrooms surround it. The bedrooms are gorgeous. I go into the front one and watch out the window. I wonder if my dad ever did this. It's such a pretty view of the dock. I kick something under the bed when I get up. It's a cardboard box. I carry it out to the table and sit down. It's the only thing that doesn't make this look like a brand-new boat.

I open it and freeze. It's pictures of women. Half naked women. Naked women. Women doing drugs. I think they're on this boat. My dad is in some of them. I'm so confused. Then I see him with a naked woman. I get it.

Monte comes in. "What's that?"

"My dad's time away from his royal duties." He looks at the pictures. "Make this go away, Monte."

"I will. Where did you find it?"

"Under the bed in that room."

He goes into the room and gets on his phone. I look through more of the pictures. I think he was sleeping with all the drug addicts in Darkburn. He's f*****g one over a table while she snorts drugs in a photo. I never wanted to see this side of my father. This is traumatizing as hell. I put my feet on the chair with me and hug my knees. I hide my eyes. I've seen enough.

I don't know how long I sit like that before Mike and Cyrus come in. "I told you, nobody else. She needs help. I can get rid of this s**t on my own."

"I need to see it, Monte." Mike looks at the pictures spread on the table. "Anything else?"

"Discs in here. I'm afraid to check them."

"Stay out here, babygirl." Mike kisses my head.

Cyrus puts the pictures back in the box. Then he puts his arm around me. "You're ok to look now."

I put my feet back on the floor and sigh. "My dad's ass is burned into my eyeballs."

He tries not to laugh and kisses my head. "You want to stare at my ass instead?"

"Please yes."

I hear my dad's voice scream, "AUREL." And the bedroom door slams shut.

"I'm sorry if I throw up on you again."

"Yea, let's go get some air. They can deal with this."

We go up to the pool deck. "This a little better?" He rubs my back.

"I'm afraid of the water in the pool, Cyrus. What the hell is this place?"

"We'll figure it out. Just relax and breathe. Look at the ocean."

I look out into the water and see a dolphin jump. "Is this what men do? Leave their wife at home with the kids and f**k a bunch of women?"

He stops rubbing my back for a minute, then he starts back up. "No."

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I have to get off this boat."

He gets on a helicopter with me and calls someone. "We're leaving. Heading back to the house... Yea."

I sit in the living room with him and try not to get sick. The image of my dad's ass is still in my head. I did not need to see that. Drogon and Conner come in first. "Where's Mike?"

Cyrus answers. "On his way. Sit down."

Mike and Monte come in from the pool door.

Conner stares outside. "Are you having a fire?"

"Yea. Sit down. Where is that?"

Monte picks up the envelope. "Thena got this in the mail today." He reads the letter to them. "So, we went to see the boat. Nothing was out of the ordinary until she found a box. It was full of pictures of her father and other women. There were also videos. They were in a bedroom that we assume was her fathers."

I stand up and smile at them. "WHAT THE f**k? DID YOU KNOW WHAT HE WAS DOING?"

"No, baby. We had no idea about this." Mike gives me a hug. "From what we could tell, he wanted your mom. He couldn't move on. Most of the girls had her hair color. He would call them her name. It f****d him up when he lost his soulmate. He would go off and pretend she was still with him."

"He hid it well. Nobody noticed anything."

Drogon nods. "I don't even think Mary noticed anything."

I squeeze my nose. "Mary wouldn't say anything anyway. She's the queen. She was born for that position. She would just fix it. Cut off his d**k or something. Who the hell knows? Someone just go clean that boat. All of it. Top to bottom. Get rid of everything. Even the curtains and carpet. I want it gone. Then buy everything new. Nothing left in that boat."

Mike kisses my head. "Cyrus and I can watch the clean out tomorrow. If anything else is found, we'll make sure it's gone forever."

"Thank you." I plop down in the chair and cross my legs. "What did you want with the casino, Monte?"

"To know if you're open 24 hours? I can put guards on 8-hour shifts. I was thinking of 10 of them at a time."

Mike nods. "That would be perfect. Are we open 7 days a week?"

I lay my head on the arm of the chair. "Sundays should be off. Let everyone rest a day."

Monte shakes his head. "Not Sunday. People stay in the district mostly on Friday and Saturday. If you cut Sunday, you'll miss a lot of money. Close Monday or something. Everybody would be back at work."

"Fine. We close on Monday morning at midnight. We open back up on Tuesday at noon. We can always alter it later if we need to."

"Good plan." Monte stands up. "I'm going to go check that fire."

"You hungry, baby?"

"No. I'm pretty sure I'll never be able to eat again. I see my father's ass every time my eyes close."

"Who was it from?" Conner grabs the letter. "Do you think he knew?"

Mike shrugs his shoulders. "It says they were friends. The place was clean. What we did find was hidden under the bed. It's possible he had it cleaned, and they missed it."

"I'll take the name to the advisors tomorrow and see what they say."

"I need a drink." I go for the kitchen. "Today is a drinking day."

Cyrus says, "You have school tomorrow."

"BITE ME. I SAW MY FATHER f*****g A w***e WHO WAS DOING DRUGS. TODAY IS A DRINKING DAY."

"Yea, you're probably right."