Chapter 104 104. Corinne
Tabitha’s POV
By the way her sons talk about her, I can tell that Corinne Aldair was a good woman. Reed and even Jace can barely say their father’s name without pulling a face, yet every memory they share of their mother comes out soft and just reminiscing about her is enough to put a smile on their faces. I know people usually become saints in stories once they’re buried, but I don’t think that’s what this is. Corinne feels like the kind of woman who genuinely left a warm mark on them. Her sons loved her. Watching them smile while looking at her tree proves that much.
“Did she ever teach you guys anything interesting?” I ask.
“She taught me how to aim a slingshot properly when I was four.” Luca grins. “And learn throwing knives when I was eleven.”
“Oh yeah, I remember when she made us aim the apple on top of Jace’s teddy bear as a punishment when she caught him pulling some nasty pranks on the maids.” Reed snickers. “He almost cried when it was my turn to hit the thing.”
“You were planning to cut Jerry’s head off!” Jace throws a candy wrapper at Reed which only makes him snicker. I laugh with them. Evren shakes his head but I catch him chuckling at his brothers too.
“Well, I didn’t! I did a clean hit of the apple. You were just a shitty little whiner,” Reed flicks Jace a piece of cranberry while laughing.
“You must have done a really terrible prank to receive that punishment,” I note at Jace who just dodged Reed’s attack.
“I, uh, happen to put a spider inside the uniform of one of the maids. And she was deathly scared of spiders so she hysterically screamed and panicked and ended up jumping into the fountain for the rest of the staff to see,” Jace explains.
“Oh my god. Jace!” I just shake my head. Goodness, I almost forgot how terrible his pranks can be. I suddenly have the urge to grab a stick and spank this man. Now, I understand why their mom gave that kind of punishment!
“What, I was sorry! I apologized to the maid. As an act of atonement, I even gave my one year's worth of allowance to her. And that was after my teddy bear almost got ripped into pieces!”
“Your mom was right for punishing you,” I say, smiling. “She knew exactly how to make you learn your lesson.”
“I said I’m sorry!” Jace wraps his arms around me in a quick hug and presses a playful kiss to my cheek. “I promise I’m a good boy now,” he says, grinning.
I roll my eyes and feel my cheeks heat up.
Reed snorts and leans back against the tree. “Don’t be fooled, princess. He’s a rotten little brat. Scold him more!”
Jace turns to Reed with a mischievous grin. “Really? I seem to remember a certain someone who—what was it—the time you swapped the sugar and salt in mom’s kitchen—”
Before he can finish, Reed shoves a fistful of mint leaves into Jace’s mouth.
“Why don’t you chew on these, brother mine?” Reed says, smirking. “Your mouth is getting way too dirty.”
Jace gurgles around the mint leaves, his eyes watering as he tries to speak through the flood of flavor. Evren bites his lip as if to stifle a laugh as he hands Jace a bottle of water which the latter quickly chugs down. Luca chuckles loudly, shaking his head as if he’s so done with his brothers I snort, covering my mouth to hide my laughter.
Damn, these brothers are such a chaotic bunch. They are so loud, messy, and ridiculous, but in their own way, they’re warm, protective, and real. Sitting here among them, watching them remember their mom, I feel an odd sense of belonging.
Somehow, in this chaos, I am home.
After hanging out on Corinne Aldair’s tree, the brothers say their goodbyes to their mom before we leave. But we are not going back to the cottage yet. Apparently, they plan to bring me to, yet again, another place. Seriously, do they ever run out of secret places on this island?
I wonder where they are taking me next as the five of us head to the hills that they were pointing out earlier. Fun fact: if you hate yourself, you should wear a pair of flimsy flip flops while hiking! I have to grit my teeth to stop myself from grunting every time I step on a sharp rock. My feet are killing me and these slippers are making the whole experience torturous.
At some point, I step on a rounded rock that rolls against my right foot, pushing me out of balance.
“Ah!” I was almost sure that I am going to dive face-first on the pile of sharp rocks below but Jace immediately wrap his arm around my waist, steadying me.
“You okay?” he asks, his brows knitted in concern.
“Y-Yeah. Thanks” I straighten my posture and regain my balance. “Please tell me we’re almost there. Because I have a feeling this won’t the last time I’ll trip on these rocks.”
Reed snickers. “Sorry, we’re still a few steps away from there, princess.”
I purse my lips. Great. I’m gonna swim in a pool of pebbles before we reach our destination! I’m a daughter of a fisherman, okay? I know how to run a boat. I know how to swim. I know how to fish. I know how to debone a fish. But I’m no hiker! And damn if anyone can hike with these type of slippers on.
Jace chuckles and straightens the frown with his thumb. “No need to walk all the way there. I got you.”
He effortlessly swifts me off my feet and carries me in his arms in bridal style. That stuns me for a few good seconds. He winks at me.
“Shall we continue?”
I bite my lower lip to stop myself from smiling. “Fine.”
And off we go, Reed leads the line, followed by Luca, then Jace who is carrying me, and Evren tailing us from behind. I’m not gonna lie that it’s good to be pampered like this. But to be fair, the journey is much more faster and efficient this way. It appears that I might have been slowing them down earlier, but since Jace is carrying me now, we reached our destination after just a few more minutes.
A narrow cave welcomes my sight. Inside it, something shimmers—a sheen of aquamarine that is glinting from the subtle sunlight coming from the mouth of the cave. When Jace puts me down, I walk a bit closer and realize that it is a beautiful lagoon!
“Oh my god. This is crazy!” I carefully hop inside the cave. It’s more spacious than I thought. There is a bank—probably three or five meters from the lagoon. The sand here is finer and smooth against the skin, something akin to a beach sand which I am thankful for because my feet cannot handle another rocky soil.
My eyes twinkle at the sight of the gorgeous lagoon. The roof is almost a story tall and it has a tiny opening just enough to let another fleck of sunlight shine through the water. This place looks like something straight from a dream.
“Pretty, huh?” Reed says. He is already pulling his shirt up.
“Yes—wait, are going to swim?”
“It won’t be a full experience if we don’t, right?” he says and throws his shirt somewhere. Then, he fumbles with his camouflage shorts next.
“But I don’t have extra clothes!”
“Who said you need clothes to swim, princess?” His lips curve into a devious smirk as he removes his last piece of clothing.
My face turns into the shade of a ripe tomato as I watch Reed jumps into the lagoon butt naked. Then, he is followed by Jace who is also shamelessly naked. Luca grins at me as he unzips his zipper.
“Aren’t you going in?” he asks as his pants drop to the floor followed by his boxers. If there’s something redder than tomato, that’s my face right now. It takes a lot of effort to fix my gaze on Luca’s smirking face. “What’s the problem, sweetheart? It’s not like it’s your first time seeing us like this. You’ve seen us plenty enough last night. In fact, you’ve tasted us—”
“Ugh, fine! Fine! Just—shh!” I slap my palm over Luca’s lips. He just laughs and kisses my hand before jumping into the lagoon as well.
Evren smiles as he walks beside me and I make a split-second mistake of letting my eyes wander below his abdomen. He’s naked too! Shit. I still can’t get used to seeing them all naked. I mean, yes, I get crazy whenever we get all steamy and stuff, but I feel a bit awkward whenever I see them naked in a casual situation!
“You don’t have to swim if you don’t want to,” Evren says before he joins the rest of his brothers.
The four of them seem to be having a blast. Jace is trying to drown Reed by splashing him water after another while Luca tries to swim away from them.
Whatever, why am I even overthinking this? Luca was right. I’ve seen them naked enough to be uncomfortable about this.
Slowly, I begin to remove my top and neatly put it in the farthest corner possible so it won’t get wet. Then, I remove my shorts next. As I unhook my bra, I realize that all four of them are watching me now. Jace is no longer trying to kill Reed with splashes, and Luca stops swimming. They gaze at me hotly—hungrily. And I’m not sure if I am nervous or thrilled at the attention I am getting. The bra falls on my feet and I wiggle out of my panties next. Before I know it, I am standing fully-naked in front of my four stepbrothers once again.
“What? It’s not your first time seeing me naked,” I throw them back the words, and I try to make my voice sound indifferent, but my heart is pounding so hard right now.
Reed licks his lips and smiles. “Yes. But we can’t seem to get enough of it.”
I roll my eyes to hide the blush that is creeping back in my face. “Make way!” I yell as I dive into the lagoon with them.
The four brothers swarm around me like a group of hungry piranhas.
I laugh and we enjoy the whole afternoon swimming around and making out every five minutes.