Chapter 21
ASHLEY
Work: Thanks for sending your new number, Ashley. I know you’re still on leave but we had a couple of staff call in sick with the flu. Any chance you can cover some shifts this week?
Ashley: I’m so sorry, I can’t. I also have the flu right now. Hoping to be back next week though!
Work: No worries. Let me know if you feel better and want those hours.
O nce we’d all recovered from the eyeball incident and Heath had insisted on me letting him deep clean my hair rather than shave it off like I’d wanted, we spent the next several hours giving official statements about what’d happened to plainclothes officers.
When I’d asked to see their credentials, Carter had quietly told me they were private security.
What’d happened on the lake would be handled by the Devil’s Backbone elders council, not government authorities.
I was of two minds whether that was a good thing or not, but ultimately, I was glad not to spend those hours sitting in an interrogation room. Instead, one of the staff had arranged clean clothes for us all to be delivered and the chef had prepared gourmet lunches while we gave our statements.
On the drive back to Nevaeh, Nate called Max to explain everything.
Apparently he’d texted his Dad from the helicopter, then forgotten to circle back and provide any further details, so Max was losing his mind by the time Nate called.
He put the call on speaker, so we all got a slice of Max’s tirade, and I squirmed uncomfortably knowing my mom was probably freaking right the fuck out too.
Finally, when Max calmed down a bit, he took that worry off my mind. “I haven’t told Carina about this. I’m leaving it up to Ashley to decide what she wants to share, and honestly I don’t think Carina needs the extra stress right now.”
I blew out a breath of relief so hard, I slouched in my seat in the back of the limo, and Carter pulled me into a hug.
He kissed my hair as I snuggled into his side, listening to Nate fill Max in on everything else that’d happened.
As he spoke, verbalizing the harsh reality that his own mother had tried to kill him, me, and his best friends, his eyes kept drifting to mine.
The pain and guilt there was almost too much to bear, but what the hell could I even say to make it better?
“She will be coming for Carina, Dad,” Nate eventually concluded. “You two need to get somewhere safe, okay? Can you book the jet and take her on vacation for a while until Mike can deal with things?”
There was a long pause on Max’s end. “Yeah. Yes, you’re right. I’ll text the pilot now and line up a flight to St. Bart’s as soon as possible. I’ll call you back with the details shortly.”
The call ended, and Nate met my eyes across the car. I gave him a small nod of reassurance, silently offering my support that it was the right move. I wasn’t the only one who’d come to the conclusion that, had Carter not tossed the air compressor, we’d be dead right now.
The dark circles under Nate’s bloodshot eyes spoke volumes about how he was taking the realization that his own mother had just tried to kill him.
I nearly moved to sit beside him and…do something to comfort him.
I had no idea what, though—we were far from affectionate with each other even on the best of days.
To distract myself from doing something embarrassing, like offering a hug, I pulled my phone out and powered it on. It’d died sometime in the woods, and I’d been charging it while we made our statements at the lodge.
Once it booted up, several new messages popped up from Carter, and I smiled. He’d been thinking of me while we were out in the wilderness, and I was weirdly excited to see what he’d said across so many messages.
“Whoa!” Carter startled, quickly grabbing my phone out of my hand before bringing his lips to my ear. “That’s for watching in private, Spark.”
My eyes widened, and I grinned up at him. “Sir Carter! I am scandalized. Did you send me filth?”
“Yes. I did.” He was utterly unapologetic as a devilish smile played across his lips. “And I really hope you’ll return the favor sometime.”
Well, fuck , now I was horny in the back of the limo with all four of my sexy men, and that was a startling realization. Four. Was I insane? How the fuck did I think this was all going to work? Surely this was just a phase they were all going through, like…um…like Pokémon.
“You good there, Squirrel?” Royce asked, squinting with suspicion. “You’ve got a funny look on your face.”
“Fine,” I mumbled, slouching down in the seat a little more and replying to a message from my boss at the country club, declining her offer of shifts this week.
Once I’d sent that, I put my phone away and closed my eyes.
If I pretended to sleep, they wouldn’t know I was a nervous wreck of self-doubt right now.
Carter kept his arm firmly around me for the remainder of the drive, and I kept my eyes shut the whole time. When the limo pulled up in front of our apartment building, I yawned dramatically as I “woke up” and Carter gave a short laugh under his breath.
“Cute,” he murmured, taking my hand as I climbed out of the limo, “but your pulse was racing that whole time. Wanna talk about it?”
I shook my head firmly. “Nope.”
He didn’t push the issue, just kept hold of my hand while we all headed up to the apartment. Nate unlocked the front door, then headed straight for the kitchen and turned on the coffee machine to warm up.
“Yes please,” I moaned, letting my feet carry me closer as if in a trance.
He shot me a smirk. “I figured you’d want one. Not to pile onto your stress levels, but have you taken a look at the notes we gathered for the classes you missed?”
I grimaced, shaking my head. “Not yet.” I’d only been home a few days before we left for the Devil’s Backbone event, and my head hadn’t been in my academics.
Instead, I’d spent those days catching up with the guys and watching Squid Game in bed, imagining every dead player was Jocelyn and the other staff from the hospital.
“I need to, though. I must have missed…three weeks? Does that sound right?” I tried to mentally count the weeks between Nate’s birthday and now, nodding vaguely.
“You were ahead on all your assignments, though,” Heath pointed out. “You only missed one for Political Science, but you can probably make up the credit if you speak with the professor tomorrow.”
Groaning, I slouched onto a barstool and scrubbed my hands over my face. “It’s not just the assignments, though. I’m here on a scholarship. My attendance is a requirement and enough missed classes could see me lose my scholarship. Fuck, I need to work out exactly what the thresholds are.”
Riddled with anxiety, I pulled out my phone and started panic-scrolling my emails, searching for the admission information I’d been sent along with my scholarship offer. I knew I’d seen that clause somewhere but couldn’t for the life of me remember what the exact percentage of absences were.
“We won’t let anything happen to your enrollment, Spark,” Carter said, taking my phone from my hand. “But you also don’t need to be worrying about this right now.” He tossed a pointed glare Nate’s way as he said that, and his friend grunted what sounded like an apology.
I swallowed hard, wanting to cast this worry aside, but I was also grown up enough to know that simply wasn’t how the world worked.
I couldn’t just ignore this problem and have it disappear.
“Carter, I need to know how bad this is and what impact it’s going to have on my future at Nevaeh.
If I lose my scholarship, I can’t afford to stay. ”
He scowled, not releasing my phone when I tried to take it back. “That won’t happen. We will handle it.”
My brows rose, irritation blooming in my chest. “You are not paying for my degree, Carter Bassington Junior, so don’t even fucking think about suggesting that.”
He glared back at me, jaw set. “Why the fuck not? I can , so what difference?—”
“Okay, enough,” Heath interjected, snatching my phone from Carter and handing it back to me.
“No one is paying for anything, and no one is losing their scholarship. We will sort it all out, Ashes, I promise, and in the meantime, Carter’s going to take a long, hard think about his actions and remember who the fuck he’s dealing with here.
Our girl doesn’t need you to solve her problems with money. ”
The two of them locked eyes, Heath’s glare hard and unyielding as Carter ground his teeth audibly. After a moment, Carter gave a short nod and stomped out of the kitchen in a huff.
I rolled my eyes. “Great. Now I’ve hurt his feelings.”
“He’ll be fine,” Nate told me, sliding a coffee under my nose. “This will help your headache if nothing else.”
Frowning, I picked it up to blow on the hot surface. “How’d you know I had a headache?”
He chuckled. “You drink a minimum of three coffees before ten o’clock every day, rain, hail, or shine, yet you haven’t had one in nearly thirty-eight hours.
If you don’t have a caffeine withdrawal headache, you’re a stronger person than me.
” Then he took a gulp of his own cup and winced dramatically.
“Fucking hell. Burnt my tongue. Great, now I’ll have no taste buds for the next day. ”
Amusement at his plight lightened the burden of my worries, and I grinned while Royce poured some cold milk into mine, so the same thing wouldn’t happen to me. What a thoughtful sweetheart.
“Well, thanks,” I murmured, still awkward about how I should be acting around Nate right now.
Yes, we’d fucked, and yes, it was fantastic.
Twelve out of ten, six stars, would do it again.
But this part? The comfortable banter and sweetness?
It wasn’t us. Or it wasn’t us yet. “I’m going to go talk with Carter, then start looking over those class notes. ”
“I’ll order Chinese for dinner,” Royce offered. “Your usual?”
I nodded eagerly, my mouth already watering in anticipation.
“Leave Carter to sulk,” Heath told me with a sigh. “Otherwise, he’s going to sweet-talk you into bed and feel like he’s won. You can study in my room.”
He was probably right. I still needed to watch that video Carter had sent too.
But my schoolwork had to take priority; the alternative was dwelling in anxiety and despair over the deaths on the lake that had very nearly been my guys.
“Thanks, honey,” I murmured, taking my coffee with me as I gathered the folder of notes off the dining table and headed for Heath’s room.
Could I have sat out in the living room to study?
Absolutely. Was I kind of hoping Heath would also sweet-talk me into bed?
One hundred percent yes. Because the third option to cling to sanity was to lose myself in between the sheets with any one of my men…
and right now I desperately needed Heath’s brand of sweet and caring.
Did I just contradict my own thoughts? Yes.
Probably. In my defense, I was still suffering the after-effects of shock and trauma.
It was a fucking miracle I hadn’t voluntarily checked myself back into a psychiatric hospital, but that’d be letting Jocelyn win.
Fuck that bitch, she wasn’t breaking me that easily.
“So…” Heath flopped down onto his bed. “Are we reviewing notes or…?”
I grinned, tossing my folder onto his desk and placing my coffee safely out of the way. “ Or please.”