I missed those backstabbing bastards.
Each and every one of them. At night, I replayed the details of their faces, their nuances. I heard their voices in my head, their laughter, their banter.
I played with myself, thinking about their tongues, their fingers, their cocks. They’d taken me to heights I’d never even dreamed imaginable and left me begging for more. And then, they betrayed me like all of that had meant nothing to them.
A lump formed in my throat and I swallowed it away quickly. There was no crying. I had no tears left for them.
“It’s just you and me now,” I murmured, looking up at the six-foot tree. I leaned down to grab a garland from the water damaged box on the floor and draped it artfully around the long limbs.
Carefully, I unwrapped the glass ornaments and marveled at their ugliness, a small smile on my face to overshadow the impending gloom forming in my gut.
Slowly, I became aware of a whooshing noise and I turned to look around curiously as it grew louder.
Jinx mewled at me, his eyes wider than usual and I realized the noise was coming from outside.
I hurried to the window to look into the snow-laden lawn and suddenly, my jaw dropped in shock. A helicopter was making its descent from the heavens and it was unmistakably the white and blue logo of Seven Drawers LTD.
“Oh no!” I cried, backing away from the window. They’d found me!
I froze in my spot, unsure of what course of action to take.
If I ran, they’d find me in a heartbeat with the chopper. If I stayed what would they do?
I needed to hide. They wouldn’t burst in the door, would they?
Yet I did nothing. I didn’t run. I didn’t hide. I simply remained in place and waited for the inevitable knock, which came almost ten minutes later.
I closed my eyes, trying to catch my breath.
If they had wanted to hurt you, they would have done that by now. They had every opportunity.
The knocking was neither loud nor threatening but it was incessant. They weren’t going away.
And I didn’t want them to.
I’d been dreaming about their faces, after all.
“SASHA!”
That was precisely what I’d needed as inspiration and I bolted toward the door before they could call me by my real name again.
I flung the door open and glared at the team whose faces melted in relief in unison.
“I TOLD YOU!” Stevie squealed, jumping around like he was doing an Irish jig. “I knew it was her!”
“Keep your damned voices down!” I hissed, yanking them inside. “The neighbors will talk.”
A look of contrition fell upon them and I herded them into the living room angrily.
“What do you want?” I snapped but my eyes were racing over all their faces, checking them out for signs of tiredness or upset. They looked drawn, a little worse for wear but still the same handsome septuplets I’d missed with every fiber of my being.
“What do we want?” Graham asked in shock. “Are you really asking us that? We want—no, we need you to come home with us!”
I scoffed, folding my arms over my bosom and stared at him.
“Why? So you can lie to me some more? Did Mirror, Mirror send you here?”
“Sasha, you—” Dan started to say but I cut him off.
“I’m not Sasha, not anymore.”
“Blanche, then,” Stevie said and I looked at him in surprise.
“How did you know that?”
He shrugged and grinned.
“I put a trace on Alex’s financials. When I saw she was sending money to Blanche Arbor in Scotland, I knew it had to be you.”
I didn’t know whether to be furious or awed by his ingenuity.
I chose to be both.
“Well you have no right!” I spat but I didn’t mean it. I was so happy they were there, I wanted to cry.
“We have every right,” Harry replied, stepping toward me. “You’re a part of us now, whether you like it or not.”
I couldn’t step away from his outstretched hand and I nuzzled my face into his hand, inhaling his scent.
No! I warned myself. No, I can’t do this. I can’t trust them.
As he he sensed my reservation, Harry’s hand firmed against my face and he drew my eyes up to meet his blazing irises.
“You’ve got it all wrong. We had no idea what Mirror, Mirror was doing until you told us,” he explained gently.
“We were bound by a confidentiality waiver,” Seth added. “We wanted to tell you who we worked for but we couldn’t.”
“And we never lied to you, Sasha. We are drillers. Mirror, Mirror was just a side job so to speak,” Graham added. “I wanted to tell you but…”
He trailed off under the withering gaze of the others.
I looked at them, taking in their faces one by one and exhaled in a hot breath.
What they were saying certainly made sense but could I believe it?