Copyright © 2020 Kaizer Wolf

Originally Published: October 31, 2020

Submitted on Scribblehub: June 28, 2021

 

Innocent Devil's Harem | Chapter 17-4: The Blonde and Redhead Get to Know Each Other

Damn, I hadn’t even considered that Gabriella was old enough to be a sophomore in college. It kind of made her feel older than two years for some reason. Maybe because I still had the perception that college girls were a lot older than me, even if I was old enough to be starting college myself.

Gabriella quickly shook her head. “No, I have a cosmetology license. I work at a nail salon.”

Avery regained her composure some, perking up a little. “Oh, which one?” she wondered, sounding interested now.

Normally, I wouldn’t have cared too much if Gabriella shared, but the guy behind me had slowly drifted more to the side, giving him a better view of all the women. And the last thing I needed was for him to learn where my fiancé worked and decide to stop by.

Call it paranoid, but I had reason to be.

Gently, I rested my fingertips in the middle of Gabriella’s shoulder blades, as if I was just going to rub her back a little, prompting her to stop midsentence as she began with, “Oh, over on–”

Avery immediately noticed, focusing up at me with wide eyes, though I kind of wondered if the expression was due to the fact that I was finally making eye contact with her again.

I gave her an apologetic look. “I’ll tell you about it at lunch on Monday. It looks like your mom is done.”

And thankfully, she was just about done, not seeming to have needed much of the teller’s time, already accepting what looked like a deposit slip receipt from the woman. Avery continued to hold my gaze for a couple of seconds too long, before slowly nodding. She didn’t even bother verifying that her mom was really done, seeming to trust that I was being honest with her.

“Okay,” she whispered, only to clear her throat as she focused on Gabriella and then Serenity. “Umm, it was very nice meeting you both.”

“Nice meeting you too,” Serenity agreed cheerfully. “Hope you have a nice day.”

“You too,” Avery replied, giving her a small smile. She then gave Gabriella another nod before turning around, just in time for her mom to do the same.

“Ready, sweetie?” Michelle wondered, her tone slightly sympathetic.

Avery only nodded, looking almost like a deer in headlight’s now.

Serenity gave the mom one last wave when they made eye contact, before giving her focus to the teller as she stepped up. Gabriella followed suit, and thankfully the guy stayed put at a reasonable distance.

The woman greeting us had curly brown hair, and brown eyes that were somehow a world of difference from Serenity’s eyes. It wasn’t the first time I’d noticed that fact, that Serenity’s milk-chocolate brown eyes were comforting and attractive, seeming to somehow be different from every other person with brown eyes. But for some reason, it stuck out to me now.

Likely because this woman had almost the same shade of brown eyes as Serenity, and yet they were flat. There was no depth to them, no comfort, and no attractiveness. The woman had a plain face, plain appearance, and overall made my friend look like a goddess in comparison.

Serenity spoke up as soon as she got to the counter, reaching into her leather purse to pull out the envelope from earlier. “We need to withdraw the contents of a safety deposit box,” she explained, pulling out the letter and handing it over.

The woman looked it over for a few seconds, before focusing on me. “I presume you’re Kai Ashworth? May I see some ID?”

“Yep,” I said with a nod, pulling out my wallet.

She accepted my Driver’s License and placed it on the counter in front of her, before beginning to type some information from the letter into the computer.

“One moment please,” she said after a few seconds, sliding my ID back to me, while moving the letter further away. She then proceeded to make her way around a corner, disappearing for about half a minute. When she came back, she held a pitch-black wooden chest no bigger than my hand stretched out, having a tiny combination lock on it, as well as a worn envelope.

She then proceeded to print out a slip of paper that was essentially a receipt for the contents of the bank’s safety deposit box, literally just listing the tiny wooden chest and letter. No indication of what was inside the chest, if anything.

After that, she printed out another receipt showing the balance of a special account that had been used to pay the yearly fee for the space inside the vault.

“The remaining deposit left is yours,” she explained. “Do you want me to move it to a different account, or would you like a cash withdrawal?”

Glancing at the receipt more closely, I saw there was only a few hundred dollars left over, which was probably enough to keep the lockbox available for a few more years, depending on how much it cost. “My checking account is fine,” I replied, focusing on the black wooden chest again.

Despite the tiny lock’s size, it was a four-number combination, prompting me to wonder if the code was in the envelope. I decided to ask.

“Oh, and is the lock combination in here?” I wondered, gesturing to the paper.

She shrugged. “I would presume so. Though a wooden box like this really isn’t secure to begin with. Someone could just take a hammer to it and get it open.”

My brow furrowed as I considered that, realizing she was right. Maybe my parents just didn’t want bank personnel to get curious and peek inside, since obviously damaging the chest would be a huge ‘no-no’ for them.

Once the lady finished the transfer of the few hundred dollars, she handed me yet another receipt slip, and asked if we needed anything else. I glanced at Serenity just to make sure and she confirmed that we were good.

Grabbing the chest and envelope, we headed back out to the car. Once we were all in, and Serenity was holding the wooden box in her lap, the first thing I did was open the letter, surprised that it was a very simple note, written in my mother’s elegant handwriting. The sight of her script made me nostalgic and somber, though I tried to push it off for now.

“Huh,” I said out loud, attempting to keep my voice even. “It says I need to open the chest in private.”

“Can I see?” Gabriella wondered, prompting me to hand the letter back to her. She then began reading it out loud, word for word. “The combination is Kai’s birthday. Not to be opened by the bank. Not to be opened by anyone other than Kai. Open in private.” She then handed it to Serenity. “It’s literally just a list of bullet point instructions.”

Serenity accepted it, only for her eyes to instantly fill with tears.

I immediately reached over and rested my hand on her shoulder, prompting her to bend her arm at the elbow so she could reach up to rest her hand on mine.

“What’s wrong?” Gabriella whispered in concern, shocked by the abrupt shift in our demeanors.

I took a deep breath, really trying to not get emotional myself. “My mom wrote this,” I said simply. “We both recognize her handwriting.”

Her emerald eyes widened in surprise. “Oh.” Her expression dropped. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

Serenity shook her head, taking a deep breath as she let go of my hand to wipe her eyes. I went ahead and let go too, deciding to shift into gear and begin pulling out, with her sniffling before focusing more intently on the letter.

We were all silent for a couple of minutes, before I finally spoke up once Serenity carefully placed the letter back in the envelope, likely planning on keeping it. After all, even if it was my own mom’s handwriting, she would still treasure it as something representing all our parents.

“I wonder what’s in it,” I commented, glancing at Serenity. “I’m fine with all of you being there when I open it,” I added. “But probably best if we do it at home.”

“Definitely at home,” Serenity agreed, sniffling again. “Although, it’s fine if you open it alone, Kai. You can always show us afterward.”

Gabriella immediately agreed. “Yeah, definitely. We can wait to see.”

I frowned as I considered that, beginning to slow down since there seemed to be a traffic jam up ahead. “I mean, I can’t imagine why I’d need to be alone, unless…” I paused. “Well, unless they really did know about me. But even then, it would be fine since you both know my secret now.”

Serenity shrugged. “There’s probably no harm,” she agreed. “So I guess we’ll do whatever you want when we get home.”

I nodded, concentrating fully on the road now, scanning ahead to try to see why we were all stopping. And then I saw it – an accident at the intersection just ahead, though it couldn’t have happened too long ago, since no emergency vehicles were in sight and we were stopping only a couple hundred feet away.

Honestly, I was surprised I hadn’t heard it happen, knowing there were so many sounds around right now that I tried to keep my focus closer, so that I could concentrate on the people in the car with me.

Attempting to see between the traffic and through windows, I was able to piece together that it looked like an SUV and semi-truck had basically had a head-on collision, appearing as if the SUV might have tried to make a turn in front of the semi, with the truck swerving in such a way that the trailer tipped over and landed on another car, crushing the top.

“What is it?” Serenity asked, likewise trying to crane her neck to see. “An accident?”

“Yep,” I agreed, sighing heavily. Part of me reflexively wanted to jump out and help, but what could I do? Probably nothing except draw attention to myself. Not to mention, we were a decent distance away, and I was sure there would be others already out of their vehicles, trying to assist.

Best to just stay with the car and wait until they started redirecting traffic. This definitely wasn’t the first accident we’d passed on the road, and it wouldn’t be the last.

However, I couldn’t help but notice the faint scent of blood, seeming to grow stronger in my own perception, allowing me to pinpoint the exact location, coming from the SUV. Figuring it couldn’t hurt to at least focus my senses and see how things were going up ahead, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, wading through the plethora of scents and sounds.

Immediately, it felt like someone punched me in the gut.

My heart froze solid in my chest.

All my senses instantly focused on one sound.

On one scent.

A scared whimper of pain, coming from the partially crushed car underneath the semi-trailer, the voice so familiar that I recognized it even though I’d never heard her make that exact sound. Her scent equally just as terrified, her normally floral aroma suddenly the only thing I could smell.

Gabriella shocked me by speaking up before I could, her nostrils flared, her vivid green eyes wide.

“Avery…”

 

Copyright © 2020 Kaizer Wolf