Chapter Eleven
Aislin
Everyone in the house is already awake when Zuri and I head downstairs.
It’s not easy being full-time college students and also part of the mob, so everyone is always coming and going.
Like we so often do, everyone is congregating in the kitchen, Rory with a box of cereal in front of him.
Dean looks tired, with creases around his red eyes. I go over and sit beside him, hand on his nape. It’s hard to miss the hickeys all over him from my brother. “Were you up all night?”
He rubs his face. “Most of it. I saw some video of a guy in all black and a cap low on his head. He was smart, though, and never looked toward the cameras, walked with his head down, and shit like that. There’s not even a glimpse of his face.”
“Hey, Shai wore all black when he robbed me.” We all look at Rory before he continues. “Not that he did this.”
“Yeah, thanks for that, Cherry,” Shai replies.
“Wait. Shai robbed him?” Zuri asks, and honestly, I can see why. We’re a fucking mess, all of us, but I love everyone in this room.
“It would take someone special like that to capture our Rory,” I tell her, because honestly, it’s true. Getting robbed by Shai made Rory want him before he even realized the guy who stole from him was the same guy he was following for Cil because of his friendship with Ollie.
“Aww, thanks, Ash.” Rory grins.
“I mean, that was a compliment to me, too,” Shai adds.
“Of course. You’re my pet.”
“Anyway,” I say, getting back to the important topic. “So, nothing?”
Dean pulls out his phone and heads over to Zuri, who is standing by Cillian and Ollie. “I know it’s not much, but do you recognize him?”
I watch her look at the phone before she shakes her head. “It looks like any other early twentysomething guy on campus. I can’t see his face. He’s just a white guy in all black.”
“Yeah, just thought I’d try.” Dean comes back over and sits beside me.
“You’re tired. You don’t have to hang with me all day.”
“Not a chance you’ll be alone,” he says.
“Exactly,” Tiernan adds.
“Plus, if I weren’t with you, I’d be in class,” Dean reminds me. He and Tiernan are the ones who like and care about school the most. Cil is here because T is here. He’ll always be by Tiernan’s side, and Rory and Cillian are a package deal. “I need to do this, Ash.”
“I know.” I squeeze his thigh, then stand and head over to Zuri.
“We’re going to keep seeing what we can figure out. Other than that, Dean will follow you, Ash.” Tiernan turns to Zuri. “Rory will follow you. We don’t want him to know someone is on you. Even though you won’t see him, he’s always there, and if he sees anyone else following you…”
“Then I get to kill them?” Rory asks.
“Stop it,” I scold him playfully. “Let’s have breakfast.”
We sit down and eat together, then head to campus. We know Dean and Rory are out there somewhere while Zuri and I walk together, as far as we can before we have to head in separate directions for our classes.
Her hand is tight in mine.
“Love you,” I say, when we get to where the concrete path branches off in two different directions.
“Love you, too. I like saying that.”
“I like it more.” I kiss her, then watch her for a moment as she walks away.
I’m ridiculously fucking dreamy as I continue on my way to one of my communications classes.
It feels silly that Dean is following me around, but I know how things like this work.
There’s no changing it, so at this point in my life, I just deal with it…
today, Wednesday, and Thursday, too. Dean follows me around by day, Rory with Zuri, and then we spend every evening at the house with the guys.
Zuri and I put up more flyers on Wednesday, and nothing happens to them. When we stop by her dorm, there are no more weird notes either. Maybe this was just some asshole guys, trying to get her to cancel the rally so they can continue terrorizing women.
I have to admit, I’m a little more nervous when Friday rolls around. “If they were going to do anything, it would be this afternoon, right?” I ask Dean while the two of us sit on the couch together. Zuri is upstairs getting ready, and everyone else is spread around the house, or at work or school.
“No one will hurt you, and no one will hurt her. You gotta know that, Ash. You’re…” He lets the word hang because Dean isn’t good at sharing his emotions. He’s good at showing anger and annoyance, and being cocky. He’s exactly what my brother needs, but he’s not good at letting people in.
He does with Tiernan, though.
Once in a while, with Ollie.
And me.
“I know.” I sigh and drop my head against his shoulder. “You protected me in the bar freshman year. Remember that. And I know you’ll always protect me.”
“And you’ll always protect me with your mad ninja skills,” he teases, and I laugh.
“Yeah, I will. Gotta show you boys up sometimes.” We’re both quiet for a moment, my brain flooded with thoughts. “It’s wild being in love,” I say.
“Fucking tell me about it. Your annoying-ass brother made me feel this shit, and it’s terrible.”
I laugh. “No. It’s not.”
“Eh. I guess not.”
“Are you trying to steal my girl?” Zuri jokes when she comes downstairs a moment later and sees us together.
“You might have some competition if I weren’t gay.” Dean winks. “And if T weren’t mine,” he adds.
He stands, and Zuri sits beside me. “Everything is going to be okay today.”
“Promise?” I ask.
“Promise.”
And she’s right. The rally goes incredibly well. A couple hundred people show up. I stand off to the side of the stairs where Zuri is standing with her mic and talking to the crowd. She’s so fucking inspiring, so deep, and so real in her care for people, women, and any disenfranchised community.
When she speaks, everyone listens, and all I can think is how damn lucky I am that she’s mine.
We march from campus and down through Ashford. The guys are all here, too, showing their support—none of them staying close, only watching from a short distance except for sweet Ollie, who is loud and proud and right by our side.
Afterward, we head to The Pizza Palace to celebrate: my family and all the people we love.
That night in bed, Zuri and I laugh and talk, and kiss. We make love to each other and talk dirty to one another, and every single thing about it is perfect.
*
It’s two weeks after the rally, when Zuri says, “I think Rory can stop being my stalker now.”
We’re in the bath together, me between her legs with my back against her chest. “I don’t know…”
“I’ll be fine, baby. He can’t spend the rest of his life watching me. It was stupid guys doing stupid shit. It’s important to me to have my autonomy—not that I feel like they’re trying to control me, but I can take care of myself.”
And the thing is, I get that because I feel it, too. I don’t ever want to be the weak link, the one the guys have to protect. It’s always been important to me to be my own person. “Okay. I’ll let them know. Do you want to keep staying here or in one of our dorms?”
“I kinda like it here, with our family,” she says, and I smile.
“I like it here with our family, too.”