23. Asch
ASCH
“Should we have invited River, too?” I ask, and while my voice is thick with sarcasm, I do half-wonder if we should’ve brought him along. He has an in to Pandora that we don’t, and if we’re going to find out more about her, we have a better chance of doing it if he’s on our side.
That means buttering him up a little, which might require making certain allowances.
River had started acting strange with her text, though he’d said he was fine in the universal language of “I am absolutely not fine.”
Blaze straightens his tie again, as if he didn’t get it perfectly right the first time. He wouldn’t ever wear his $200 silk tie crookedly, after all.
I’d opted to forgo the tie, in part because I don’t like the way they feel and in part because none of the ties I own look half as nice as Blaze’s, with the subtle pattern on the shimmering blue.
“River’s going to have to put on his big boy panties and say what he wants,” Blaze says when he’s satisfied with the tie. He goes on to check his hair again.
He looks good already. He’d shaved off the scruff, and he’d added just enough gel to his hair to keep it artfully in place. The suit is a dark navy blue that fits him perfectly and brings out the deep blue hue of his eyes.
In contrast, I’m wearing a black suit that I’d painstakingly saved up for.
It was off the rack, and the only concession I’d made to Blaze was that I’d let him have it tailored for me.
I’d carefully avoided looking at the receipt for that particular favor, not wanting to know how much it had run him.
He can afford it, of course. He can afford anything he wants. When I start officially working for the Bouchards after graduation, chances are that I’ll have enough money to…
Melancholy strikes me, and I realize I’m not going to have money for anything at all. I’ll be too busy continuing to keep my mother afloat with every dollar I scrounge up from my stipend from the Bouchards.
A stipend I don’t really deserve, given I can’t even protect Blaze from himself.
I glance in the mirror again, making sure my own hair is as carefully styled as the unruly strands will ever let me manage. I don’t look as good as him, but then, I never do.
“Yeah,” I agree with Blaze, turning away. “Let’s get out of here before we’re late.”
Before we get far, my phone dings. I pull it out, expecting it to be a text from my mother, but I’m surprised to see it’s from River.
River
If she asks you to eat her out, do it
I blink at it. “River says that if she asks us to eat her out, we should do it.”
It’s not like I’ve never gone down on a woman before. It’s not even like I have an aversion to doing it. But the fact that he’s flat-out telling us to do it is… interesting, to put it lightly.
Blaze laughs to himself. “It wouldn’t be a hardship. Anyway, let’s go. I left my car parked out front. ”
I nod, heading out of the frat house. I stop short when I see Pandora already out there, lying on top of the hood of Blaze’s silver convertible. She props herself up on her hands when we approach, and I get a proper look at her.
Instead of the usual single braids or ponytails, Pandora’s hair is in an elaborate up-do with multiple braids threading together.
Her black dress is short and tight enough that I wonder if she can bend over in it, with enough cleavage showing that she’ll be turning everyone’s head.
Even her shoes are proper high heels, so unlike the combat boots she favors.
“Took you long enough,” she says, waving. My eyes are drawn to the bracelets on her wrist, multiple silver shimmering ones that seem out of character for her.
At least, they seem that way until I realize all of them have a snake motif of some sort. Even her earrings, though fancier than usual, are designed like snakes.
The snake motif continues onto the small purse she has slung over her shoulder, with a subtle snakeskin pattern and a snake-shaped latch.
“We were going to pick you up,” Blaze says, walking over to her. “The whole full chivalrous date thing?”
Chivalry, sure. But also, that way, we would avoid having anyone know we were still associating with her.
Pandora smiles and goes to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and giving him a kiss to the lips in greeting.
“Yeah, but then you’d have to find parking, and take the elevator up to my place, and potentially meet my stuffy roommate. This was way faster.” Pandora looks past Blaze at me and bites her lower lip. “You’re both really hot right now.”
I know Blaze is fine ignoring Zayden’s order to avoid Pandora, but I’m a little more leery about flaunting my association with her right in front of the frat house.
Instead of approaching her, I head to the car, opening up the passenger side of the car so I can open it for her. “You look beautiful,” I tell her .
And she does, even if I know better than to take her less seriously because she’s taken extra effort with her appearance.
Instead of sliding into the car immediately, Pandora kisses my cheek first. “Thank you, Asch.” She takes my hand and places it on her exposed chest. I can feel the bumps of the scabs, a reminder of what I’d done to her barely a week ago.
It’s a reminder, too, of what else we’d seen: the finger bones wired together. I wonder if she’s carrying it right now.
I wonder what River would think if he knew about it.
Pandora gets into the car. I close the door for her, then head to the back seat. It’s a tight fit for my legs, but I don’t complain. I adjust my suit, trying to avoid wrinkling it.
Blaze gets into the driver’s seat and starts it up. “I know you complained about Harmony, but there’s plenty of things to do here.”
Pandora shifts so she can look at me, too. “If there’s so much to do, why does everybody stay on campus? There are rotating parties at the frats and sororities, everybody’s part of a club, and the shuttles into and out of town stop running at 10 p.m.”
She’s not wrong. There really isn’t much to do in town, no matter how Blaze paints it. “It’s mostly fine dining and galleries and things like that,” I say, which is why I never go. “We could always go during the day.”
I realize what I said too late, and I scowl. It isn’t like I want to spend more time with Pandora Pavone. The only reason I’m here now is to make sure she doesn’t try to pull something with Blaze like she did with Declan.
Pandora smiles at me, and when she looks like that, it’s easy to forget that she’s a psychopath.
Briefly.
“I’d love to, Asch,” she says. “Maybe we can go with River next time. He likes… things. Well, he used to. I don’t know if losing the finger made him lose interest in stuff, but I assume not.”
“He had an interesting story about how he lost his finger,” I say, unable to help myself.
At least I didn’t remind her that we know she’s carrying around his bones like a grim token.
Blaze coughs loudly, and I wince at the mild reprimand. River had told us that in secret, as part of the Kappa Alpha initiation. Even if Pandora theoretically knows, it’s not our place to say anything. She definitely doesn’t get to know how we got the information.
Besides, it’s not like we have the full story.
“Maybe you have a version to share. Since you’re carrying his finger around,” Blaze says. It’s harder to hear him now that we’re on the road, with the engine roaring and other cars around us. Having the top down on the convertible doesn’t help.
Pandora rolls her eyes very pointedly. “Whatever version he told you, I’m sure it’s the truth.”
“Do you always carry the bones of your…” What is River to her, anyway? Friend? Enemy? “Anyway, bones are a little morbid, don’t you think?” I ask.
We get to a red light, and Pandora sits back in her seat. “Really? You’ve got over two hundred bones with you right now . So what if I’ve got a few extra?”
It takes me a moment to understand what she means. “Yes, but we keep ours inside our bodies,” I say dryly. I’m not going to get anywhere with this line of questioning, and I know it, but I still want to know the answers.
Blaze chuckles and reaches over to pat Pandora’s thigh. “Everybody likes a souvenir of the good times, right?”
“Exactly!” Pandora exclaims. “You get me, Blaze.”
I wonder how Blaze would feel if it was his bones she was carrying around — or mine. The idea of either situation happening makes rage threaten to rise, obliterating the relatively decent mood I’d been in when we’d set out on this adventure.
I shouldn’t have brought it up.
I sit back, leaving the two of them to their conversation instead of participating.
“Pressed flowers or photos are more traditional, but also less meaningful, less permanent,” Blaze says. His hand is still on her thigh, even when the light turns green and we start moving again.
“Nothing wrong with a good photo, but anyone can keep a photo.” Pandora sets her hand on top of Blaze’s. “I wouldn’t want to be basic or anything like that.”
Blaze laughs again.
I think this is the first time Blaze hasn’t tried to get the woman to pay attention to me instead of him.
I don’t know what to make of it because I’m fucking jealous.
The worst part is, I’m not sure which of them I’m jealous of.
Am I jealous of Blaze, who’s able to get her attention and keep it so easily? Or am I jealous of Pandora, who has Blaze’s? I’m not used to feeling left out, especially when I’m having such a conflicting, complicated reaction to all of this.
One, Blaze is focused completely on Pandora.
Two, they easily let me fall out of the conversation like I’m not even there. I wonder if that’s what it’s going to be like for the rest of my life as Blaze’s bodyguard, where whoever he’s with pretends I don’t even exist.
Three, what happens when he really does find someone for himself? Will he finally drop me because I’m no longer important?
My stomach is in knots.