34. Astor
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
ASTOR
“ S he’s sleeping. Says she wants to stay,” I tell Ander and Eleanor. They’ve called me three times, but being that I was in the middle of fucking their daughter, answering was the last thing on my mind.
“Astor, I told you to bring her home,” her father declares.
“And she doesn’t want to yet. I’m not going to make her feel like she has no say so in her fucking life, Ander. I have men surrounding this fucking place, I can protect her. We’ll be home tomorrow, as she requested.”
I hear Eleanor telling him to calm down and then he curses under his breath.
“Astor, ignore him. He’s just on edge. I want her to enjoy herself; distract her. Make sure she has some fun, then get her back here.”
“Of course.”
“Love you, sweetie. Tell her to call us when she wakes up.”
“Love you, too. Will do.”
I hang up and lean back against the headboard, looking down at her as she curls into my side. Her breathing is slow and quiet, and I focus on it as it becomes a melody that is soothing enough to almost put me to sleep. Almost .
The sun is starting to peek through the curtains and I still can’t stop thinking about how close Miles was to her. He could have fucked all of her progress up, she’s so close to remembering, and as much as I hope she doesn’t remember until after we’re married, I’m still glad she’s getting there.
I don’t like that every time she remembers something she faints, though, and I needed to remember to make her get checked out.
I hear her groan and then a second later feel her soft lips against my bare chest.
“Good morning,” she says, looking up at me. “Did you sleep?” she questions. I bend down and plant a kiss on her forehead.
“I’m fine, let’s get some breakfast.” I go to move her, but she grabs me, keeping me still.
“You have to sleep, Ast.”
“I slept.” Lie . She rolls her eyes and climbs out of the bed to head for the shower. I follow after her shredding my briefs and climbing into the shower.
“The rest of your friends are still coming today?”
“Yes, they should be in within the next hour or so.” I wrap my arms around her and she leans back against me. “Excited to celebrate with me?”
“Maybe it was my plan all along. How else can I make sure you don’t have strippers at your bachelor party?” I chuckle and begin washing her hair.
“Trust me, little devil, the only woman I want to see naked and grinding on me is you.”
“Alright man, what the fuck changed? I mean, I know what happened, but you seem more obsessed than you were six years ago,” Teagan says.
“Yeah, you couldn’t keep your eyes off her at breakfast…or your hands, for that matter,” Jay adds, to which I just shrug.
“Be glad he has someone to keep him in line. Maybe he won’t be up our asses as much,” Mikhail says. We all laugh and I watch Alessia from the table as she talks with her friends and my sister.
“Who’s the redhead?” Jay asks, watching River as she downs a shot. I shake my head and Justin chuckles.
“River. And the one who can’t seem to take her eyes off Mikhail is Tess, the one that Teagan is currently eye fucking is Briar.” Mikhail looks up from his phone and glances at Tess, making a grunting noise before turning his attention back to his phone.
“What bar we going to tonight?” Jay asks. I shrug as my phone vibrates.
“I don’t know, some place Caroline found.” I stare down at my phone and grin at the message I read.
Alessia:
Stop undressing me with your eyes.
Me:
How about you meet me in the bathroom and I can really undress you?
I watch how she readjusts herself in her seat as she reads the message, her cheeks flush, and River says something that makes her turn even redder. They all look over to the table and Jay waves at them before they bust out in laughter.
Caroline pushes back from the table and the rest of them follow as they walk towards our table. Justin pushes his chair back and Caroline flops down in his lap. He kisses the side of her hair and she leans back into him.
“When the fuck did this happen?” Jay says, leaning forward and eyeing them. Caro shrugs as Alessia appears beside me.
“Lessia, you sure you wanna marry this asshole?” Teagan asks her. He pulls her in for a hug, but I yank her away from him.
“You hugged her this morning. One’s enough,” I warn him.
“You two give me a migraine. Anyways, I’m being rude,” she says, gesturing to her friends as they pull up chairs.
“Everyone, this is River, Tess, and Briar. We go to Redcrest together. You guys know Ast and Justin, but this is Teagan, Jay, and Mikhail.”
“Hi! You boys go to Redcrest, too?” River asks as she sits down next to Teagan. Jay nudges him and they swap chairs. River laughs and Jay leans back against his chair.
“I graduated last year; Teagan and Mikhail are seniors,” Jay says. River nods and picks up her drink. Tess is quiet, but that’s not surprising. She’s always quiet. She’s the quiet one out of the group, but something tells me she’s just as lethal. I know who her family is and there’s no way she wasn’t trained how Alessia was growing up.
“Excuse me?” Alessia asks. I groan, throwing my head back. She didn’t know Teagan was at Redcrest, she thought she was out of state in school. She had no idea how close he’d been the last two years.
“Lessia.” She puts her hand up as he begins to talk and I watch as she turns towards him, her eyes full of anger. She was about to let him have it.
“You’re fucking telling me you’ve been at Redcrest this entire time?”
“Maybe we shouldn’t talk about this right now?” Caroline suggests. Alessia gives her a death glare and Caroline shakes her head.
“You were one of my best friends and you let me think you were gone for two fucking years?” Teagan stands up and Alessia steps back closer to me.
“You don’t understand, I couldn’t see you.”
“Why?”
He looks at me over her shoulder and she snaps.
“Don’t fucking look at him, T, look at me!”
“Alessia…lower your voice,” I say, but she ignores me.
“I can’t tell you.”
“No one can ever tell me anything . I’m fucking tired of it. Tell me.”
“Lessia, I want to, but I can’t.”
She throws her hands up and pushes him before storming off. She gets close to the exit when she turns around.
“I don’t want you at the wedding. You’ve avoided me for two years; you don’t deserve to be there.”
“Lessia,” Teagan says, walking towards her, and I see it before anyone else does. Her steps waver and she turns pale. I’m on my feet to get to her before she hits the ground. I catch her in my arms and the rest of them follow behind me.
“Give her space!” I bellow out. They all take a step back as I pick her up and carry her to the car. “Grab a water, T, and tell everyone we’ll meet them back at the hotel.” He nods and heads back towards them. They all watch in worry as I will Alessia to open her eyes.
This fucking fainting has to stop.