“He wasn’t perfect, but he was mine, and now he’s gone.”
I reach for her, and she doesn’t protest, coming into my arms and letting me soothe her.
He needed to go. She will recover and find someone worthy of her.
Twelve
Chapter
ALICE
“You sleep like the dead,”
Asher announces to my barely awake form.
“Creeper much,” I snap, pushing the blankets from my body and smirking when his eyes track my movements, lingering on my bare legs.
“Why are you in my room?”
I shuffle out of the room and go relieve my bladder.
Asher’s left by the time I return.
I find him a couple minutes later downstairs in the kitchen.
“Why is she here?” I narrow my eyes on his uppity cousin, who I hate just because she’s rich, stuck up, and a cunt.
“I’m here because my family needs me,” she flicks her cheaply – dyed hair over her skinny shoulder.
She means Asher. She has a creepy fascination with him.
“Ash?” I ask as he lifts a mug to his lips, taking a sip.
“I asked her to come over, my dad’s car…” He answers after a couple of swigs.
Oh, God, am I supposed to guess the next line? I snatch the mug from him and suckle down the nectar of coffee.
“It’s covered in blood,” he finishes, and I stop my movements, eyeing him over the lip of the mug.
When I regain my ability to move, I look to the living room to see if Fred’s in there. His chair is empty.
“Where’s Fred?”
“Sleeping in there, with your mother.”
My eyes snap to the door where my mother lays in her deathbed.
He never sleeps in there.
“So whose blood is on the car?” I ask the burning question, irritated that he’s not being forthcoming and I have to drag the answers from him.
“Well, that’s what we need to find out, isn’t it,” the bitch says, batting her fake eyelashes.
I see concern in Asher’s eyes, and as much as I despise Fred, I actually have a soft spot for Ash.
I grasp Asher’s arm.
“He probably hit an animal, this road is notorious for wildlife coming out of the woods at night.”
“Well, that would be wishful thinking, April,” little Miss Fake huffs.
Ash rolls his eyes and corrects her. “It’s Alice, and you know it. Don’t be catty, it doesn’t suit you.”
Sneering, she rolls her eyes. “As if. It was a genuine mistake, she looks like an April.”
She mouths fool at me when Ash turns to look out the kitchen window.
I offer her the middle finger and wrap an arm around Ash to aggravate her.
“We can get it cleaned up and check the news just to be sure.”
I reassure him and feel his body relax against mine.
“You’re right, let’s do that,” his eyes flicker to the pale bruise on my cheek and guilt washes in them.
Without permission, my face contorts into a cringe when I see the state of the car.
It looks like someone’s actually attempted to clean up the front of the hood; smeared blood is left diluted from someone pouring a substance over it.
It just makes this all seem really fucking dodgy. There’s a crack in the windshield and blood across the roof.
Whatever he hit, I doubt it’s still breathing.
Did I push Fred to this?
“Ash, I’m not sure if you should touch that car. It could be evidence, you could be implicated if you clean it,” his cousin tells him, concern in her tone.
Dammit, she’s right. I don’t want to touch it now either.
“Let’s just cover it for now?” I suggest.
Ash grunts his approval and goes to pull a tarp out of the garage.
We can’t even stash the car in there because it’s full of Ash’s tools and bike.
I help fix the tarp into place then leave them to go check my emails.
Dear Alice,
It saddens me to know you feel alone.
Tell me about yourself.
Kind regards,
Ebony.
I hit Reply:
Dear Ebony
I let a boy use me. It was in hopes he would talk to his father about a scholarship. I’m desperate. My mother got sick. Her illness ate my college fund. I hate myself for being so weak.
Thirteen
Chapter
ERIK
Knowing you’re doing something wrong and actually doing something about it are two very different things.
I know it’s not normal for me to be sitting outside my sister’s bedroom listening to her cry.
I’m not normal though.
I have a sickness, and I know that.
But I can’t force myself to move away.
Her sorrow comforts me, makes me feel strong.
And now I need to be the warrior that will re-build her life for her, eliminating anything in it that hurts her.
I’m her savior in this. Richard was a cunt who had to go.
Getting to my feet, I knock on her door.
Not waiting for a reply, I go inside to find her dressed but crumpled up on the bed.
“I can’t do it,” she says, her voice muffled by a pillow. “I can’t see him like that, Erik. Don’t make me.”