Wicked Princess - Ashley Jade Page 0,5
my bed. “And who are they? Why are they here? What do they want from me?”
“We’re your brothers,” the guy who looks like my dad barks.
“Cole,” the short nurse from earlier hisses. “Calm down before you frighten her.”
Too late.
“You aren’t my brothers.”
Scary guy tries to reach for my hand, but I pull it back.
“Bianca, I know it’s confusing and I know you’re afraid, but it’s true.” His brown eyes soften a fraction. “I’m Jace.”
“And I’m Cole,” the other guy declares.
No. Jace and Cole aren’t this old.
“That’s not possible. Jace is eleven and Cole is ten…so is Liam.”
Tears spring to my eyes. I need to see Liam. He’d never lie to me.
“I know my brothers,” I yell, frustration clawing its way up my throat. “You aren’t my brothers!” My vision becomes blurry as I peer up at my dad. “Go get my real brothers and my mom.”
Dr. Jones claps his hands. “Okay, I think that’s enough for now. Everyone needs to give her some space and time to process.” He starts ushering them out of the room. “I need to run some more tests. If Bianca’s feeling up to it, you can come visit her later.”
“I’m not leaving,” my dad insists. “She’s confused and she needs someone—”
“She needs someone who’s not a pseudo-father,” someone grunts before the two claiming to be my brothers rush back into the room.
“When you were six, you fell off the jungle gym, cracked your chin open, and needed five stitches,” the scary tattoo guy says. “It scared the shit out of Mom. She cried harder than you did.”
I rub the faint scar underneath my chin as the memory rushes through my head. “How did you—”
“Because you’re my baby sister.” He reaches for my hand again. “I was the first person to hold you when you came home from the hospital. The first person to see you take your first steps in the living room, right by the fireplace. I know almost everything about you, Bianca. Like how you slept with a stuffed bear named Mr. Wiggles until you were twelve.” Visibly flustered, he points to Cole. “Or how when you were seven, Cole was playing ball in the house and broke Mom’s favorite vase, but he told Mom it was you.”
That’s true. God, I was so mad at him for that.
“Gee, thanks, dick,” Cole says before he addresses me. “All right, fine. I blamed you for breaking the vase.” He slaps his chest. “But who took the rap when you stole the entire carton of ice cream from Mom’s grocery bag and then threw up all over Mrs. Garcia’s dog five minutes later?”
“Liam,” Jace and I say at the same time.
Cole’s jaw works. “Right. But Mom knew Liam hated ice cream, so she didn’t believe him. She blamed me.”
I can’t help but laugh. Cole was pissed when he had to give Mrs. Garcia his weekly allowance so she could get her dog washed and groomed, but I told him he owed me for the vase.
There’s no way they’d know any of those things if they weren’t Jace and Cole.
I look at Jace who’s finally smiling, and I can’t believe I didn’t realize it until now. “You have Mom’s smile.”
I turn my attention to Cole next. “And you look like Dad.”
He waggles his eyebrows. “Only way better looking, right?”
A laugh flies out of me again because that’s totally something Cole would say.
That’s when it dawns on me. “Wait a minute…if you guys are all grown up. How old am I?”
They exchange a nervous glance before Jace answers. “Eighteen.”
The news feels like ten-thousand bricks to the head.
“I’ve been in the hospital for ten years?”
“Not exactly,” Cole mutters before Jace shoots him a warning look.
“What?” I try to sit up in bed, but the pain makes it impossible. “What does that mean?”
Cole sighs. “You’ve been here for a month.”
That only makes me more confused.
“How is that possible? If I’m eighteen like you claim, that means the accident happened ten years ago. But if I’ve only been here a month—” I stop mid-sentence because there’s something way more important that I need them to tell me. “Where is Mom? Where is Liam? Why aren’t they here?”
There’s no way Mom wouldn’t be here.
Jace squeezes my hand. “I know you’re confused, but everything will be okay.”
“Where is she?”
I’m tired of everyone ignoring my questions about her.
About them.
I turn to Cole. “Where—”
“Cole, don’t,” Jace warns.
Why won’t anyone tell me the truth? “Why—”
Oh, God.
The inconsolable expression on Jace and Cole’s face twists my insides.
“What