Lumi (Cultivated Book 3) Read online

  DEDICATION

  PROLOGUE

  Damian O’Rourke

  CHAPTER 1

  In the Name of Science

  CHAPTER 2

  Day One

  CHAPTER 3

  Babysitting

  CHAPTER 4

  Cross-Fit

  CHAPTER 5

  Virginity

  CHAPTER 6

  Logan O’Neil

  CHAPTER 7

  Never Happened

  CHAPTER 8

  The Best Part

  CHAPTER 9

  Fun at the Pool

  CHAPTER 10

  Self-Protection

  CHAPTER 11

  Pathetic

  CHAPTER 12

  Wild Hunger

  CHAPTER 13

  Darkness

  CHAPTER 14

  Rejection

  CHAPTER 15

  Body Language

  CHAPTER 16

  Friend Zone

  CHAPTER 17

  Private Hygiene

  CHAPTER 18

  Closeness

  CHAPTER 19

  The One Who Got Away

  CHAPTER 20

  Almost There

  CHAPTER 21

  Freedom

  CHAPTER 22

  Closest to the Door

  CHAPTER 23

  Birthday Party

  CHAPTER 24

  Apart

  BONUS

  PROLOGUE

  The Snake

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Copyright © 2020

  By Elin Peer

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author, excepting brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews.

  Asin: B0823FRFVX

  Lumi – Cultivated #3

  First Edition

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons or organizations is coincidental and not intended by the author. Recommended for mature readers due to adult content.

  Cover Art by Kellie Dennis: bookcoverbydesign.co.uk

  Editing: www.martinohearn.com

  For the best reading experience and to avoid spoilers, below is the recommended order of the Cultivated books.

  #1 Charlie

  #2 Atlas

  #3 Lumi

  #4 Nathan

  #5 River

  #6 Maximum

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  www.elinpeer.com

  PLEASE NOTE

  This book is intended for mature readers only, as it contains a few graphic scenes and some inappropriate language.

  All characters are fictional, and any likeness to a living person or organization is coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  To the lovely Irish

  I was lucky enough to take a research trip to Ireland before I began writing the Cultivated series.

  And yet, questions popped up as I got back to Seattle and the story unfolded in my mind.

  I want to thank the lovely people of Ireland that I’ve connected with along the way.

  A special thanks to:

  Caroline Logue for beta reading my stories to check the local lingo.

  David McKnight from the military who taught me about ranks and procedures.

  Damian Hogan from the Irish police force (Garda Síochána) who gave me advice on the plot and allowed me to name one of the characters after him.

  Elin

  PROLOGUE

  Damian O’Rourke

  Lumi

  The deep male voice from downstairs alerted me that he was here. Damian O’Rourke, the man who had thrown himself in front of me two weeks ago and saved my life.

  He was here to see me. Liv had told me that he wanted to make sure that I was all right.

  As if I would ever be all right after what happened that night. Twenty-eight people had died. To the public, it was scary headlines in newspapers and pictures of the victims who were brainwashed by Conor O’Brien to kill themselves.

  But to those of us who survived, the people who died were so much more than those black and white headshots in the papers. We had vivid memories of their different laughs, walks, smiles, and personalities. Ciara, who had loved to spoil us all with her home-cooked food and who would play cards with us children. And Estelle, who went overboard decorating the house for Easter and Christmas, and who loved gardening. In the summer, she would bring flowers into the home, spreading beauty and joy. I would never forget the Portuguese twins, Maya and Isabel, who had given us all a dance lesson in flamenco that had resulted in more laughter than dancing. Nor would I forget Carlos, a flamboyant cross-dresser who was a science professor and made learning fun.

  I would never recover from their all dying at once.

  And the worst part, was watching my mother killed in front of me. Just thinking about it made me tear up, so I pushed the thought away and forced my eyes to focus on the book in my hands. I had always loved reading for pleasure, but these past weeks, it had become my escape.

  Footsteps on the stairs made my pulse pick up, but they were too light to be Damian’s. I’d only met him the night he carried me out of the Red Manor, but he was tall and well-muscled, which meant that his steps would be heavier.

  A knock on my door made me lower the book and look up to see Liv poke her head inside.

  “Hey, sweetheart. Damian and Kit are here. Do you want to come downstairs and say hi?”

  I was sitting on my bed and sank deeper while pulling my book to my chest. My room was my safe zone, and I didn’t feel like leaving it to talk about what had happened. Charles and Liv were already forcing me to speak to a therapist twice a week.

  Liv came inside and sat on my bed. She touched my leg and knitted her brows together. “I know it’s hard. Trust me, if I had a magic wand, I would bring your mother back in a flash.”

  “What am I supposed to say to him? I don’t know him,” I muttered.

  “Damian is the nicest person you’ll ever meet. I’ve never saved someone’s life, but I imagine that I would feel a sense of connection to that person if I did. Maybe that’s why he’s been asking to see you.”

  I shrugged.

  “Don’t you want to thank him, at least?”

  Biting down on my lip, I made a sound that wasn’t quite a word.

  “Was that a yes or no?” Liv asked in her American accent.

  I shrugged again. “I don’t want to go downstairs.”

  “Okay.” Her hand on my leg squeezed a little. “If you prefer to stay in your room, I could tell Damian to come up here.”

  I looked around. “It’s messy.”

  Liv smiled. “He won’t mind. Kit and Damian know that we just moved in.” She stood up. “Maybe later today, I could help you unpack the boxes if you want.”

  “No, I’ll do it when I’m ready.” I had tried unpacking one of the boxes, but each item brought up memories of my mom. I could remember shopping with her for each piece of clothing that I had. The conversations on size and fit, and Mom pushing me to get the yellow silk shirt because she loved that color on me. The book Seven Years in Tibet had been in the box. It had a stain on the cover from when I knocked over a blue candle on top of it. Mom had been upset with me because that book was one of the few things she had from her childhood. I had promised to be more careful, and we’d ended up reading a chapter in the book together and discussing it like we always did, with our feet touching under the Harry Potter blanket that she got me for Christmas when I was eleven. Memories of my childish joy, when I unwrapped my present and saw that she had bought the Ravenclaw one, had made me hug her so tight that she laughed and told me I wa
s strangling her. Yesterday, when I found the Ravenclaw blanket in the box, it had made me sob with grief. I’d known that even though I was seventeen and had moved past Harry Potter, I would treasure that blanket for the rest of my life. My hand touched it as my heart began beating faster at the sound of heavy steps coming up the stairs and moving down the hallway outside my room.

  Liv had left my door ajar, and sitting up against my headboard, I waited for Damian to enter.

  His large frame filled my doorway as he tapped a knuckle on the door. “May I come in?”

  “Yes.” I pushed my long black hair behind my shoulders and watched him step inside.

  There was no chair for him to sit on, so I pulled my knees up and nodded to the end of my bed.

  “Hi, Lumi.” My bed dipped as Damian sat down.

  “You look different,” I muttered and studied him closer. Like me, Damian had brown eyes and dark hair, but his eyes had an almond shape that made him look as if he had a bit of Asian heritage.

  “Perhaps it’s because I’m not in uniform.” He had a pronounced Irish accent that made his speech sound friendly and melodic. I loved the Irish accent, but I didn’t have one myself. My mother had been born in London, and my teacher had been from England too. Liv teased us children that we would make great announcers on BBC because we spoke very properly. How could we not after having Conor O’Brien as our teacher? He had cared a great deal about our sounding sophisticated and cultivated.

  “Ye think I look different?” Damian touched his hair. “I styled my hair so ye can see that I don’t always have helmet hair.”

  My eyebrows drew together. “You styled it for me?”

  He nodded. “How’s yer ankle? Better?”

  “My ankle is fine.” I wrapped my arms around my legs and lowered my head to my knees. “Thank you for saving me.”

  “My pleasure.” Damian gave me a sad smile. “I’m sorry about yer mom, lass.”

  My nose tickled the way it always did when I felt tears prickling behind my eyelids.

  “I wish that we could have saved her, too.”

  I didn’t want to cry, but the mere mention of my mom set me off. Using the heels of my hands, I dried away the tears that I didn’t want to shed in front of a stranger.

  “I’ve been thinkin’ about ye a lot,” Damian said with sympathy. “How are ye copin’ with everythin’?

  “I try not to think of it, but it’s hard.” I nodded my head at the boxes on the floor. “We were allowed to retrieve things from our rooms, and your sister was kind enough to pack everything in my room, but I can’t look at it. Everything reminds me of my mum.”

  “Ye shared a room with her, didn’t ye?”

  “Yes. It was only my mum and me.”

  “Where’s yer da?”

  “Maybe he still teaches at Cambridge.” I shrugged. “All I know is that he was her professor. Mum told me he was the most brilliant man she knew, but impregnating his student when he was married and already had a family wasn’t very bright, was it?”

  “But if he had a family, that means ye might have siblings.”

  My fingers played with my bedsheet. “My mother was used by my father and let down when she needed him the most. I have no interest in meeting him, ever. As for potential siblings, I don’t want to rip up their family by revealing that their father cheated on their mum.”

  “But they’d be adults now.”

  “Atlas, River, Nathan, and Maximum are my siblings. We made a pact to always be there for each other. I don’t need my father’s side of the family or my mother’s, for that matter. My grandfather banned my mum from his house after she fell pregnant. The reputation of his fine Indian family name was more important than supporting his daughter in the most difficult time of her life.” I sighed. “My mum gave up everything to have me, and she died while protecting me.”

  Damian’s eyes looked a little moist too. “Seems God was making sure ye lived. He must have plans for ye, lass.”

  I looked away. “I don’t believe in a God. If there were such an entity with infinite powers, then why would he let my mother die? She never did anything bad to anyone. My mum was kind and sweet.”

  Damian reached for the tissue box on my bed and handed it to me. “Here.”

  I took a tissue and blew my nose. “Do you still have your mum?”

  “I do. My mum is from Thailand. She married my father and moved here twenty-eight years ago. I was born less than a year later.”

  “So, you’re twenty-seven then.”

  He nodded. “Twenty-seven and two months. My birthday is September 17th.”

  I leaned my head to one side. In my eyes, Damian looked very grown-up with his size, deep voice, broad shoulders, and stubble, yet his need to count months reminded me of Atlas, who was sixteen.

  “When’s yer birthday?” Damian asked.

  “September 1st.”

  “No way, that’s close to mine.”

  “No, it’s not. Our birthdays are nine years and three hundred and forty-nine days apart. That’s a total of three thousand six hundred and thirty-six days.”

  He widened his eyes. “I’m going to take yer word for it, but I meant that with us both havin’ September birthdays, we’re only sixteen days apart.”

  “Oh, yes. That’s true.” I sank back against the headboard.

  “Look, Lumi. Charles and Liv told me that ye’ve been locked up in yer room a lot, and we all understand. But the thing is that no one can change what happened that night. If there’s anythin’ I’ve learned in my job with the Gardaí, it’s the importance of counterbalancing all the ugliness by doin’ things that feel good. Maybe ye need to get pissed and dance on the tables or sing Irish songs with yer friends.”

  “What friends?” I stared at him. “The only survivors of my friends who are old enough to drink are Charles and Liv. Atlas, Nathan, Maximum, and River are all younger than me. I can’t believe a guard would encourage an underage person to get drunk.”

  Damian scratched his neck. “All right, forget I said that. What works for me doesn’t have to work for ye. How about a walk in nature? Ye like nature, don’t ye? Or the cinema? There’s a new romantic movie that my girlfriend is tryin’ to drag me to see. Maybe ye’d like that one.”

  I lifted the book in my hands. “I prefer to read.”

  “Aye, I’ve heard. But ye can’t hide in books all day. Would ye walk down to the beach with me?”

  “Now?” I lifted my brow.

  Damian stood up and nodded. “Right now. It’s a fine day, and I know just the way to make ye feel better.”

  I was skeptical and hesitated.

  “Do ye trust me?” he asked and reached out his hand to me.

  He looked impossibly tall from my position on the bed, and I could still remember how he had carried me in his arms like I weighed nothing that night. Damian didn’t have to be here, but there was such genuine warmth radiating from him that I nodded.

  “Yes, I trust you.”

  “Then come with me.”

  He waited while I crawled out of bed, and then we walked downstairs together. It didn’t take Damian long to round up everyone in the house, and ten minutes later, I found myself on the beach, searching for the perfect stone for skipping.

  “What about this one?” I asked and held up a small stone to Damian.

  Behind us, Nathan was chasing River with seaweed in his hands, teasing her that she needed it as a new wig. River ran to Kit for help. She was Damian’s older sister and had no problem helping River gang up on Nathan.

  “Damian, help me,” Nathan cried out as he ran past us with River and Kit on his heels. The whole thing distracted Damian, but when Maximum and Atlas came to Nathan’s aid, Damian turned his attention back to me.

  “What did ye say?”

  “I asked, what about this stone?”

  Damian shook his head. “Naw, it’s too round. Ye want flat stones like…” He searched the ground. “This one.” Flinging his arm back, he threw it sidew
ays, and I counted seven skips on the water.

  “Wow. That’s impressive,” I exclaimed.

  He smiled at me, and then he took me by surprise when he picked me up in his arms. “How many skips do ye think ye’d make?” he joked.

  Damian’s masculine scent and playful grin took my breath away. I wanted to be as happy and carefree as he was in that moment, but as soon as my lips lifted in a smile, it felt like a betrayal of my mother and all the friends I’d lost. They would never see the water again or get to joke around.

  I should tell Damian to set me down, but my arms held on to him, and I buried my head against his neck. He tightened his hold on me and pressed me against his firm chest.

  “It’s okay, lass, I’ve got ye.”

  “It’s not fair,” I cried.

  His large hand stroked my hair. “It’s not fair at all.”

  “Why them and not me?”

  “I dunno.”

  He kept hugging me, as he walked with me in his arms, and then he sat down on a large rock with me in his lap.

  Drying my eyes, I saw that he’d brought us in the opposite direction of the others.

  “I miss my mum.”

  Damian caressed my hair. “No one can replace yer mum, lass, but ye do have a family. We’re yer new family.”

  I still had one arm around his shoulder. Damian and I hardly knew each other, and yet he didn’t feel like a stranger anymore.

  “And one day, lass, ye’ll be a mum yerself, and ye’ll tell yer husband and children stories about yer mum. As long as ye’re here to remember her, she’ll never be truly gone.”

  My eyes were full of tears. “You think so?”

  “I know so. Ye’ll have a long line of suitors, and if any of them treats ye poorly, ye let me know.”

  Damian’s voice shook a little, and his eyes were moist again. He might be big and strong, but my grief affected him.

  “What if you die too? Your job is dangerous.”

  He shook his head. “Naw, lass. I’m not goin’ anywhere. Ye won’t get rid of me that easy. I think I was at the right place at the right time to take that bullet, and that we’re meant to be friends for life.”