Mismatched irises meet mine.
I nod, finally feeling like I have someone in the world. It’s nice having someone else to weather the storm with, I never thought I’d get that, especially here.
When I am in the water, I feel a million times better as the warmth eases my aching muscles. Asher silently washes my hair, spending time massaging my scalp as I fight to stay awake.
“Relax,” He dries his hands. “I’ll go make you a Horlicks,”
While he heads down to make it, I sit and think about my options. I think it’s time to join forces officially on the missing girls, the quicker we figure this whole thing out then the quicker I can tell my father to go drop dead. It is also time to tell him about Piper’s name in that drawer. He deserves to be able to protect her from whatever fucked up things are happening at this academy. I just hope it doesn’t put us right back at the beginning when he didn’t trust me. I hope he understands.
I am almost asleep when I feel a tap on my shoulder.
“Drink this, then we can eat and go to sleep,” He hands me the warm mug. The aromas a comfort blanket over my battered soul.
I take a sip while Asher takes a seat next to me, his focus never straying from my face.
“I have something to tell you and you might change your mind about us,” I whisper.
“I doubt it, but okay,” He gets comfortable and I explain how Corden, Deena and I wanted to find our school files. I left out the part about Marlowe because this is about Piper and protecting her at this moment. I want to open up about my sister, ask him if he knew her, but for some reason something always stops me, like my tongue refuses to listen to my brain.
I tell him about us finding the creepy locked drawer and being the nosy people we are we couldn’t help but open it. I explained the folders we found, not only with Bronwyn’s name but, a handful of names, all girls who were no longer at the academy.
“So that’s where this obsession with the missing girls came from?” he asks as the water gets cold.
“Yeah, I guess so. Once I saw Bronwyn’s name things started clicking into place, I started asking around about her, but no one tells you anything, they don’t even check in on those who have left. The way everyone just accepted all these dropouts is crazy,”
He reaches into the bath and undoes the plug, reaching for a towel and motioning for me to get out. “Very true, I was one of them until recently. The students here are a little self-absorbed if you haven’t noticed and the staff are extremely close lipped,” He shrugs. “But why would this make me question us?”
I allow him to wrap me up before I turn to speak. “There was one name in the drawer where the girl wasn’t missing,”
His brows meet in the middle.
“Piper,” I whisper.
Asher stands in silence as he looks away. His mind running through a million things at once.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” His jaw clenches but he still refuses to turn my way.
“I wanted to, but I didn’t think I could trust you,”
“You couldn’t trust me,” he snaps.
“No,” I give back his tone. “Look at what I live with,” I gesture to my whole body. “I don’t open up to anyone ever, because the more someone knows, the more they can use against you,” I put my hands on my hips. “At first, I didn’t think much of her name being in the drawer because she was still here, but after asking around more about the dropouts and how no one has heard of them since, I realised that Piper needs protecting. I don’t know what is going on here, but I have a feeling it might be linked to whatever happened to her last term,” His eyes narrow as I sigh. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but this has all beena lotto deal with,” He releases a breath and lets his head fall back in thought. I remain silent while he processes everything. When he finally addresses me, I am completely dry beneath my towel but shiver as a drip from my hair trails down my spine.
“Okay,” He nods.
“Okay?” I question sceptically.
“Yeah,” He sighs before grabbing me. “I can understand why you didn’t trust me, because I didn’t trust you until pretty recently as well,”
I laugh. “Well gee thanks,”
He places a soft kiss on my nose. “Can we agree to not keep anything from each other from now on. Whatever happens from here on out, we inform one another. We are on the same team,” He holds out his pinkie finger. I hesitate, knowing I can only tell him so much at the moment. Once I have found Marlowe and my father isn’t an issue, I will happilytell him everything he wants to know. I ask for forgiveness silently to whoever will listen, then take his finger with my own and agree.
“So, are you going to tell me how you found out about all this tomfuckery?” I ask as he guides into the bedroom where he has laid out some fresh pjs and the food he brought from the dining room.
“That will have to be a conversation for tomorrow,”
“Erm, unfair,”
