Chapter 9
ASHLEY
Nate: She’s fine. Her usual infuriating self. How many times are you going to ask? We’ll be back in Prosper in a few hours and you can see for yourselves.
Royce: Then why isn’t she replying to us???? Prove it. Video call.
Nate: Because she’s asleep, you whiny little bitch. I’m not waking her up.
Royce: So just take a photo. I need to see her, Nate. I need to know she’s all right. You don’t get it…
G entle fingers stroked the hair away from my face, and I groaned. I was having such a nice sleep, but now all of a sudden, I was aware how stiff my neck was and the awkward angle my knee had been positioned in for far too long.
“We’re here,” Nate said in a quiet voice. “Your mom will freak if I carry you in unconscious, so it’d be better for you to wake up now.”
My mom? Wait, what?
Prying my lids open, I blinked at Nate in confusion. “We’re…I thought…” I exhaled heavily, an uncontrollable shaking taking over my body as tears welled in my eyes.
“Whoa, hey, what’s going on, Duckling? Why are you freaking out about seeing your mom?” Nate’s eyes were wide in alarm, his palm cupping my face softly.
I closed my eyes, drawing a couple of deep breaths in an attempt to calm myself down. “They told me she was dead,” I finally croaked out. “They said she and Max died in a plane crash on their way to New York and—” And that Heath was really dead, but he’s not.
Nate exhaled heavily, whispered a curse as he pulled me into his embrace. Nate was hugging me, which was startling enough to dry up my tears a little more. “Shit, Layne, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t,” I mumbled against his chest, winding my arms around him despite my better judgment. “How could you? I haven’t told you anything.”
He didn’t comment on that—and hadn’t pressured me to talk at all on our journey—instead, just rubbed my back for a few minutes while I calmed myself down. My mom was fine. She was fine .
“We should go in,” I said eventually. “She’s probably losing her mind…” I winced. “Ugh, bad choice of words.”
Nate huffed a short laugh, releasing me from his way-too-comfortable embrace. “Actually, she doesn’t know what happened to you. As far as she knows, you ran off to get space from all of us and haven’t been responding to her texts and calls.”
I looked up at him in bewilderment as I slid out of the truck. “And she didn’t think that was fishy at all?”
He shrugged. “She did. But ‘you’ were replying to other messages so she assumed you were just avoiding a mom-guilt lecture. Also, none of us told her when we worked out it wasn’t actually you replying to texts, because we didn’t want her to panic.”
I shivered, thinking of one of the doctors at that hospital using my phone, replying to messages…
pretending to be me. Had it been Jocelyn herself?
Or one of the other staff? It was twisted.
Rubbing my arms, I quickly headed up the front steps of Max and Mom’s house.
Nate opened the door for us, not bothering to knock, and we headed inside to find our parents.
“Nate, honey, is that you?” my mom called out from the kitchen. “You’re early. We’re in here!”
Nate gave me a little nudge in the small of my back, and I forced my feet to move forward. Part of me was terrified that it was all a massive trick, that I’d never actually left the hospital and I’d walk into the kitchen to find my mom was a decaying corpse baking a cake or some shit.
“Ashley!” Mom exclaimed when she spotted me in the kitchen doorway. “This is a lovely surprise!”
She swept over to me, wiping her hands on her apron quickly before grabbing me in a hug so tight and real, it brought tears back to my eyes instantly.
“Nate, why didn’t you mention you were bringing Ash over with you? I’d have made lemon cake instead of chocolate.” She petted my hair as she lovingly scolded Nate, not letting up on the fierceness of her hug for even a moment. “Ashy baby, it feels like we haven’t spoken in weeks. What’s going on?”
I sniffled against her hair, and she just rocked side to side, humming slightly in the way she used to do when I was little. Fuck. I needed that.
“Why don’t you two head on into the living room to chat?” Max suggested gently, untying Mom’s apron and tugging it off her. “I’ll finish the cake.”
Mom released me, letting Max wipe some cocoa powder off her cheek before ushering me through to the living room. It wasn’t until we sat down that it occurred to me what time it was.
“Wait, Mom it’s like ten o’clock at night. Why are you baking chocolate cake?”
Mum shrugged and smiled her warm smile. “Why not? Nate told us he was coming to visit and he loves chocolate cake. Don’t you, honey?”
“Sure do,” he agreed with a grin, parking himself on a single armchair, leaving me to sit with my mom on the sofa. It irritated me, but I couldn’t explain why. “You don’t? Bullshit.”
I rolled my eyes. “I do. I just…it’s ten at night. You didn’t need to bake him a cake.”
Mom chuckled. “If he’d told me he was bringing you, I’d have made your favorite, Ash.
Don’t tell Nate, but you’re actually my favorite.
” She said it in an exaggerated stage whisper, and Nate just shook his head with a laugh.
“Now, why don’t you tell me what’s been going on?
And don’t spin me that shit about needing space from your boyfriends because I’m not buying it.
Not when I have this one”—she jerked a nod at Nate—“calling to ask if I’ve heard from you. Something happened, didn’t it?”
My gaze shifted to Nate’s, and he just held eye contact with no emotion. No hints or suggestions on what I should or shouldn’t say. He was obviously comfortable with whatever I decided to tell my mom.
Nervous, confused, and anxious, I chewed the inside of my lip for a moment.
“Um, yeah. So…uh…okay, I spent the last week? Or two weeks? I’m not sure how long it’s been, but since Nate’s birthday, I have been held against my will in a psychiatric hospital in Montana where they continuously lied to me about everything , including telling me that you and Max had died in a plane crash.
” It all came out in a bit of a rush, and I kept my eyes fixed on my hands as I said it.
Sure, that wasn’t the whole story, but it was a start.
Mom was silent for a moment, undoubtedly shocked. Then she sucked a sharp breath and straightened in her seat. “Nathaniel, if you had anything to do with this?—”
“I didn’t,” he growled, firm and furious.
I frowned, glancing between the two of them as the cold ick of dread pooled in my belly. “Wait. Why would you think Nate had something to do with it?”
The guilty look on Mom’s face said enough. What the fuck are they hiding?
“We had very briefly discussed the idea of having you sent away for your own safety,” Nate said in clipped tones, his fist clenched on the arm of the chair. “Not there . And certainly not like that. But I can understand why Carina might think I was involved.”
Shock held me in its grip as I stared at him with disbelief. “Is that why you had me sign away my medical rights to you? So you could?—”
“No!” he shouted, leaning forward with frustration. “No, it’s not. Not exactly. I meant what I said; that is a standard inclusion in the prenup and entirely reciprocal. You’re also my power of attorney.”
“Wait, catch me up here,” Mom finally interjected, her confused gaze darting between the two of us. “You had her sign a MPOE? We discussed booking her into a rehab facility in Switzerland, Nate, not forcing her into a psychiatric hold.”
“I didn’t!” he exploded, throwing his hands in the air. “This wasn’t me!”
“So why—” Mom started to ask, probably wanting the same answers that I sought.
“It was a backup plan,” he explained with a huff.
“You made yourself perfectly clear, Carina, that you wouldn’t do anything without Ashley in total agreement.
Unfortunately, I think I know her a little better than that and can appreciate the fact she was never going to agree to our plan.
Not in a million years. And I really didn’t want you being the bad guy on this idea, Carina, it’d damage this fucking revoltingly adorable relationship you two have going on. ”
Mom let out a long, disappointed sigh, folding her hands in her lap in a way that generally meant she was imagining smacking someone around the head. Me? I was fucking flabbergasted. They’d been conspiring to send me to rehab ?
“I see,” Mom finally said, her lips pinched.
“I don’t!” I snapped. “Right now, it looks a whole lot like the two of you were colluding behind my back to send me to rehab …for what exactly? Last I checked, I don’t have any addictions that require treating so if you thought?—”
“It wasn’t for any addiction, Ashley.” Mom cut me off with a no-nonsense tone of voice.
“It was purely to ensure you were in a safe location with good security, so whoever is threatening us couldn’t reach you.
That’s it. And, as Nate just pointed out, I was firm in wanting your complete agreement for that idea. ”
Logically, I could see that made sense and that she had intended to discuss the plan with me and wouldn’t have acted against my will. But emotionally? I felt a whole lot like I’d been knifed in the back.
“So what went wrong?” Mom continued when I said nothing. She tried to reach out and take my hand in hers, but I jerked away. I was pissed, and that would take a minute to process.
Nate scowled at me, like he thought I was being childish. Tough shit, I was entitled to my feelings right now. And to be perfectly frank, I thought I was handling everything very well, all things considered.
Glaring back at him, I fucking dared him to try and say anything. Now was not the time.
Max came through from the kitchen then, carrying a bottle of wine and four glasses. “Sounded like you could all use a drink,” he commented with a tight smile, placing everything down on the coffee table. “The cake is cooling, sweetheart, and I’ve got the ganache ready.”
“Thank you,” Mom said softly, accepting the glass of wine Max poured for her.
Nate declined, checking his phone and reading a message before standing up. “I guess we can pause this discussion for a moment.” Then he headed out of the room, leaving me bewildered until I heard the front door open and close, followed by low voices.
I was out of my seat and racing toward that sound before I could even fully draw a breath, launching myself into the embrace of the first achingly handsome man I could reach.
“Heath,” I sobbed against his neck as he held me tight. My feet were a good six inches off the floor, and I didn’t care. All that mattered was that he was here. He was alive . “You’re okay.”
“Me?” He sounded perplexed, his strong arms wrapped around me as I fell to pieces in his embrace. “Of course I am, Ashes. Why wouldn’t I be?”
I needed to sniff a couple of times and swallow to get the thick lump of emotion out of my throat before I could get the words out. “They told me you were dead,” I explained with a painful tremble in my voice. “They said you’d died when you hung yourself and this had all been in my head.”
Heath stiffened with shock and probably a heavy dose of rage. “Who did?” he asked in a furious growl.
I sucked back my sobs, mentally berating myself for being such a fucking mess. I’d spoken to him by text—I knew he wasn’t dead. But it was different, being able to touch him.
“Jocelyn,” I finally croaked out. “Nate’s mom is the one behind all of this.”
Something smashed behind me, but I didn’t turn to look. It didn’t matter. Heath was okay.