Chapter 57: Their Cursed

“Pip?” I said, shocked.

“Remi!” she said happily. Cullen just crossed his arms as Calder shook his head.

“Pip, why are you here?” Calder asked. Carson left the room, heading to the staircase and upstairs. Pip watched him climb the stairs before turning back to us.

“I had a break at school so I thought I would crash here,” she said, giving Calder a noncommittal shrug.

“You’re lying,” Cullen said. I stepped towards her.

“Pip, why aren’t you at school?” I asked her. I was a little worried about her. Her eyes began to water a bit. I looked up at Calder and Cullen.

“Can you give us a minute?” I linked both of them. Calder looked between us and then nodded. They both left the room, leaving Pip and I alone.

“Why are you here? What happened to school? The condensed classes?” I asked her.

Her lip quivered a little. “The truth is I have been failing for a while. Last semester I was on academic probation. If I didn’t bring my average up, they were going to kick me out. I ended up failing two classes….” she explained.

“And you never told anyone so you were hiding out here?” I asked her. She nodded. “What were you going to do if Calder and Cullen came to the Ordinary Realm? And what about graduation?”

“So… I may have taken the note to your landlord and kept your lease. I was going to use your apartment as my back up…” she admitted. I shook my head. “I was just going to tell my parents I didn’t want to go to the ceremony. They would have been happy not to have to go all the way there anyway.” I sighed.

“You could have told me. I would have helped you tell everyone!” I told her.

She shook her head this time. “I didn’t want everyone to be mad at me…” I gave her a sad look. I knew that feeling all too well. She didn’t want to face the disappointment from everyone for failing.

“You know they all love you too much to be mad right? I honestly think Cullen is going to be angrier about you hiding than flunking out of college…” I told her.

She nodded her head. I can imagine the look of rage he gave her when he discovered it was her here without his knowledge. “Yea Cully and Caldy weren’t too happy before you walked in… I’ll apologize. I just can’t tell my mom and dad yet. Or Gen. Wait, where is my brother? Shouldn’t he be with you guys? And have his mate with him? Oh! And why are you guys here? I thought you said you leave for the Summit tomorrow?” She was completely distracted from the initial problem now.

“You have missed a lot….” I told her. I knew by their smell, Calder and Cullen had returned. I turned my head to see Cullen standing with his arms crossed, a grumpy look on his face, and Calder standing with his hands in his pockets. Pip had a nervous look in her eye.

“So?” Calder asked with a bored look on his face.

Pip went completely red in embarrassment. “Telling them will be easier than your parents, I promise. Plus, I am here to make sure they won’t be too mad,” I linked her. She turned to me surprised.

“You can link now!” she replied.

“Yes,” I gave her a small laugh. “Now tell them!”

-

Calder and Cullen weren’t mad at Pip, I think. Calder told her she could have said something. Cullen just had a grumpy, impassive look the whole time. When he deemed the conversation to be over, Cullen pulled me with him out of the room and upstairs. Calder followed, telling Pip they would talk later. Cullen led me to the end of the hall where he and Calder’s bedrooms were, but it looked different.

Cullen stopped outside the door that was Calder’s, but I didn’t see another door. I gave him a curious look as Calder joined us. Calder stopped behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist while Cullen held my hand. “We have a surprise for you,” Calder said with a goofy smile.

“What?” I asked. Cullen pulled open the bedroom door and they both pushed me inside.

The room was almost completely different than before. It was much larger now. The bed was almost double the size and instead of the darker colors that had themed the room before, there were now lighter blues and greys mixed in giving the room a fresher, less masculine feel. There was a new couch set in front of the windows now and it looked slightly bigger as well, like it was made for more people to be together on. The desk was gone but there was now another door on the other side of the room. I walked over to it, opening it to a small office with 3 desks all facing each other. I turned back to Calder and Cullen. Cullen was trying to look impassive, but I knew he was waiting on my reaction. Calder was giddy with excitement.

“We made some renovations so we could all be comfortable together,” Calder said. “And instead of having our desks in here, we thought a separate home office would be appropriate.” I gave them a wide smile. They changed all this for me, to make me a part of their lives. I walked over and wrapped my arms around Calder first, giving him a big kiss. He smiled down at me. “So, we did well?” he asked. I just smiled and nodded. I looked at Cullen.

“There is more,” he said. I followed him into the bathroom that had also been expanded. It was the biggest bathroom I had ever seen. It looked like they had combined the two separate bathrooms into one huge, luxury space. The shower was even bigger than the one in the pack house with glass doors, multiple shower heads and even a bench and shelves built into the walls. There was his and hers sinks along the wall, well more accurately, two his and one hers sinks. There were cabinets on either end of the counters as well as drawers under each sink. Then there was the massive tub to the side of the room. It could easily fit 5 people inside. The room was decorated in whites, creams, and a touch of blue to go with the bedroom.

“Wow,” was all I could say as I looked around. Cullen smiled, his chest rising in pride a little. He was clearly happy to impress me. I turned to him. “This is so much,” I said. He pulled me into his arms, running his nose along mine.

“Not for you, it isn’t,” he said softly. I reached up and kissed his perfectly soft lips, earning me a smile. I kissed him deeper this time making his hands grip me tighter to him.

“Unless you want to skip our plans for the evening, we should probably get ready,” Calder said from the doorway. Cullen and I broke apart and Calder was smirking at us.

“Plans?” I asked.

Cullen nodded. “We thought we would take you out tonight, baby. You deserve to have a little fun and break from everything,” Calder said. My heart swelled. I don’t know what I ever did to deserve two perfect, thoughtful mates.

“What’s wrong?” Cullen asked quietly. I hadn’t realized my eyes were tearing up. But these weren’t sad tears, they were happy tears.

I gave him a big smile. “Nothing. I just love you both so much,” I said. Calder came over behind me at my words. They both held me close.

“We love you more than anything, Remi,” Cullen said softly before kissing me tenderly. We stood there embracing each other for a few more minutes. I basked in their affection, knowing our together time was going to be limited while we were at the Summit.

When they finally let me go, I asked, “So where are we going?”

Calder smiled. “Just put on something pretty,” he said with a wink. I wasn’t sure what was packed in my bag as I was asleep when they got everything ready.

“Oh, go ahead and look in the closet. There should be something in there for you to wear,” Cullen said. I raised my eyebrow at him. He gave me a small laugh. “Our mother may have been instrumental in helping us with that part after she took you girls shopping,” he explained.