“And your brother has a mahooosive trouser snake,” He shrugs admiring his pink polish. “Just saying. Also,” He peers over his shoulder at the cushion three foot away. “It’s a good thing you’re a ballerina and not a rugby player,”
We all end up in a fit of laughter broken by a knock at my door.
When Deena arrives, we switch up the vibe and put on some episodes of my favourite tv show while we sip margaritas and gossip. The normalness of the whole night in stark comparison to the heavy shit going on. But Piper needs this. I need it.
It’s almost 9:30pm Deena is asleep on the left of me, Corden is snoring with his mouth open as he lays across the bottom of my bed and it’s not surprising seeing as he drank nearly a whole jug of the cocktail to himself.
Piper yawns from beside me as another episode begins. I turn to face her as we share a pillow.
“How are you doing with everything?” I whisper. “Have you spoken to Jacob at all?”
She shakes her head, eyes heavy with sleep. “Not yet. I can’t look at him right now. It hurts too much,”
“I get it,” My hand rubs up and down her arm. “You take all the time you need,”
“What about you?” she closes her eyes. “What are you going to do with Asher?”
I yawn myself my mouth feeling furry from the tequila.
“I don’t know. I can make light of the situation now, but at the time he brought everything I feel about myself back to the surface. Like I am not good enough to love, that he could remove it and his feeling from me with a click of his fingers,”
“I know he was probably very convincing at playing the heartless big brother trying to protect me. But I know it wasn’t easy for him. There is no doubt in my mind that he loves you, I can see it when you walk into the room. You light each other up and it’s a beautiful thing to witness,” My head feels heavy. “But that doesn’t mean you should take it easy in him. Make him sweat a little. He deserves it,” I chuckle as Piper goessilent. Her chest rising and falling in an easy rhythm. I turn onto my back, completely squashed by the collection of bodies surrounding my bed and I let exhaustion consume me, completely content. I had such a fun night.
I am almost out when I hear a shuffle and my door open, but my eyes don’t respond when I try to open them.
“Fucking finally,” A male voice I don’t recognise speaks as my heart starts to pound. I try to open my mouth, but nothing moves. “You mustn’t have given them enough,” He speaks, the voice getting closer.
“I did, but Corden nearly drank the whole jug. I had to sit and listen to bullshit all night like I don’t have better things to do,” That voice. I know that one. My hearing is muffled as I fight to stay conscious. The voice in my head screaming to anyone to help, but it meets nothing but silence.
“Grab that one there and bring the others in to get Ruella. Even though she’s small she’s feisty. We can’t afford any more mishaps.”
As the darkness finally takes me, I recognise the voice.
Deena.
THIRTY SEVEN
ASHER
Isit in Daylan’s Porsche with the engine off, my fingers frozen solid as we watch Mr. Walker meet with an older woman from the street beyond the restaurant.
It is so cold; my balls might freeze. I will kill Mr. Walker if he is the reason I can’t have babies with Rue. I sit imagining what our children would look like, how much of her light would burn through whatever fucked genetic rubbish I’d pass on. I hope they take after her. I hope my blood dies here and now.
I know it’s a stupid thing to imagine after what I did. I have a huge hill to climb to try and rebuild the trust I smashed to smithereens. A mountain in fact. But no matter how long it takes or what hardship she throws my way, I am determined to be the person she needs me to be. We have both been through so much already with our pasts, we are bound to mess up along the way. It’s not like either of us have had any great role models when it comes to love, but I intend to always fix what is broken when it comes to us. I know Ruella is it for me, and I am going to prove it.
“I really don’t think this is our guy,” Daylan announces from beside me.
“How’s that?” Jacob inputs from the seating behind. “My uncle said his name was passed around in connection with bids,”
“I find it really hard to believe that this man sitting before us has the power and brains to run a sex trafficking ring from within a highly sought after establishment, when he can’t even pick out matching socks,” I look to his ankles through the floor to ceiling windows and sure enough they don’t match. “Plus, every time he speaks, he turns red and when she touched his arm, he dropped his fork from all his flustering,”
“He has a point,” I sigh. “I think this one is another dead end,”
Jacob protests shaking his head. “It doesn’t make any sense,”
“Unless his name is a decoy,” Daylan turns to face the backseats. “Think about it. If anyone ever spoke up within their ring, then the name given out would never link back to the right person, but it would link to someone really at the academy just in case,”
Jacob sits back and runs his hands through his hair. “Fuck,”
