Chapter 28 #2
“I’m sick Asher. I don’t want to pass it onto you,”
“I don’t care,”
“You have a game coming up, the team needs you,”
“No, you need me,” my shoulders sag, the energy drains from my body, and I don’t think I have fight left in me anymore. I am bone tired. “Open the door baby,”
I take a deep breath and reach for the handle. Slowly I let the door open a little, but not enough to see me.
“Asher, I am honestly okay, I can look after myself,”
“I know you can, I just want to be with you while you do it,” I smile. For someone so prickly, he is a softy at heart.
I drop my hand away from the door and take a few steps back.
The door opens and, in the frame, stands a man that has consumed my every waking thought. He has to duck slightly as he passes into my room, his hands holding a white plastic bag from the dining room.
He smiles at first, then comes the confusion, shock and then fury. He throws the plastic bag to the side table and drops his backpack to the floor before rushing towards me and grabbing my face gently.
“What the fuck happened to you?” his voice comes out soft, but it feels like he shouts with the intent behind it. His nose crunched up in barely contained rage.
I open my mouth to speak but he interrupts. “And don’t fucking tell me you fell again,”
My eyes fill with tears, and I don’t think I can keep it in anymore. I keep fighting to hold it all together, trying to fake it to feel put together. But when Asher holds me, when he’s here begging for more than scraps of my life, I want to give it to him. He deserves that.
His gaze flits between mine, searching in desperation. Trying to fix everything like he does for his family.
I lick my corner of my mouth where a tear has escaped and pooled.
“Please tell me what happened. Who did this to you?” He says quieter this time.
I put my hands on his and pull them away from my face. “Do you promise to listen and not do anything about it?”
He clenches his jaw and runs a hand through his hair, grabbing a fist full and pulling. “I don’t know if I can promise something like that Rue,”
“You did before,”
“Before was a story from your past, this is happening right now,” He puts both hands on his hips, his eyes fixated on my bruised cheek.
“I will tell you, but you can’t do something stupid. It will make everything worse, and I am already working on my out, there are plans in place that need to be followed through and then I am free. You can’t ruin that for me,”
I hold his stare for what feels like forever as he decides on what he wants to do, his throat bobbing and brows furrowed.
“Okay,” He finally says. “I won’t do anything that will jeopardise what you have going on,”
I sigh. “My father stopped by because I hadn’t answered his messages,” I lower my gaze to the floor. “But I wasn’t here. I was with you,” I look back at him.
“Wait, this is because of me?” He sounds distraught at the thought this could possibly be his fault.
I quickly hold up my hands and move closer to him.
“No no, trust me, it wasn’t anything to do with you,” I let my hands fall to my sides.
“Even if I hadn’t been at the fundraiser, this would have happened,” I point to my face.
“So, your father did that to you?” He sneers in disgust.
I nod.
“I am guessing by your reaction, that it wasn’t the first time,” He clenches and unclenches his fists, fighting the urge to take control and do something.
I shake my head.
“How many times?”
I huff out. “I wouldn’t be able to answer that,”
I thought Asher was furious before, but now his body vibrates with something even deeper, almost animalistic.
If my father wasn’t as rich as he is, I would let Asher do whatever he wanted.
Unfortunately, money connects the vilest of individuals, and I wouldn’t want Asher to suffer from any backlash, especially with the future he deserves.
Not when I can set myself free of him by finding Marlowe, I don’t need Asher involved in this side of things.
“Baby, I’m not going to lie, I am really struggling to not to lose my shit right now and murder your father,” he starts to pace back and forth. “But I am also trying to do right by you and keep my word,”
“I know,” He stops and some of the tension melts away at whatever he sees of me. He comes closer and takes my face lightly again. “This out you are planning; does it include me?”
“It didn’t,” I answer truthfully. “I would have already been gone,” He nods. “But that is why I am asking you not to retaliate. Because instead of just disappearing, I need to sort some things out, get him out of my life for good. So I can stay,” I smile. “For you,”
One minute I am gazing in Asher’s eyes and the next his mouth is ascending on mine, the kiss soft and slow.
Trying to not hurt me further, but that’s not what we are.
I reach up and grab around his neck, pulling up to deepen the kiss.
I can feel the cut on my lip open, but it doesn’t deter either of us.
His hands reach around me to pull me closer, but the action causes my side to protest. I wince and pull back as Asher looks at my jumper.
His face darkens and I watch as he bites the side of his cheek. “Take it off,” He demands.
“I don’t think…”
“I want to see everything he did to you,” he rubs his hand over his chin. “I need to see it all, so that when you are free of him completely, I have the fuel to destroy him,”
I sigh. “Asher,”
“Now Ruella,”
I roll my eyes and wince again at the pain in my face.
I slowly reach for my jumper and pull it off. I never got the chance to take off the t-shirt my father beat me in, just curled up and festered in bed.
Asher spots the t-shirt I stole, the blood on the collar from my nose and lip making his nostrils flare.
“I’ll bring you another,” He reaches for the hem and carefully helps me out of it.
He throws it straight into the bin next to my desk as his eyes widen at the black and blue bruise on my side.
I stay silent as he catalogues every single mark on my skin from the man who should love me unconditionally.
“He’s a dead man walking Ruella,” Asher grabs my hand and walks me to my bathroom. “I will keep my promise and not do anything now,” He starts to run the hot tap and squeezes some bubble bath into the tub. “But he is going to suffer for this eventually,”
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 been a lot to 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 happily tell 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,”
Asher chuckles as he pulls out his sports joggers from his bag. “I mean we need to get the boys, Piper and maybe Corden together for that conversation. There are parts of the story that aren’t mine to tell. But right now, you need rest. I don’t want to hear anything more about it,”
We climb into bed once demolishing the sandwiches and crisps Asher brought up, then curl up and watch a movie on his laptop, my head resting on his shoulder as he holds me tight.
My eyes are heavy as credits start to roll, the feeling of contentment easing my tired bones.
A flash of unease has my stomach dropping when Piper crosses my mind, I don’t trust my father to be patient for me to retrieve the folders, he might get someone else to do it, like Silas.
I need to get down there as soon as possible so I can get rid of her folder from the pile.
“Piper has Jacob with her right?” I ask.
“Always, but I have cameras on her dorm hallway as well, she’s safe,”
“Good,” I settle with a deep exhale.
Asher places a kiss on the top of my head, pulling me closer to him trying his best not to hurt me. “Thank you,” he whispers.
“What for?”
“For caring about us.” Then his eyes drift shut as rain falls from the sky. The pitter patter on the glass pulling me into slumber myself.