We never made friends with anyone else. I’d tried to make connections, to really start this new life, but I’d never been good at it. Once people began asking questions and were curious about my life before we moved to England, I had no choice but to cancel or break up any potential new friendships. Emily was content to just have me, I thought. There were times I was sure she wished I’d been killed right along with my mother, like today, when I wanted her to make a wish.
“It’s stupid,” Emily said.
“Come on, there is nothing stupid about it.” I smiled at her, trying to encourage her. “Come on, please, please.”
“Ash, enough, okay.” She stepped back from the cupcake and started to pace our small living room.
I’d taken the time to decorate, purchasing some streamers and balloons. All of them calling out to the birthday girl.
Two years and still, she mourned.
The decision the Monsters had made had destroyed what little hope and happiness Emily had.
“I know it’s stupid. There’s no chance of wishes ever coming true.” I took a deep breath. “Do you know what I wish for?”
Emily looked toward me, bored. That was all on me.
“For someone to one day look at me like I’m the only person in the world.” Tears filled my eyes as I looked at my best friend. “I hope just once I get to experience what you got for a couple of months.”
“I only got it for a couple of months, Ash.”
“Yeah, and there are women out there who go through life and don’t get it with a single guy. You had it with four. Do you know how amazing that is?” I held out the cupcake. “Stop seeing all that you lost, and start realizing all that you gained.”
****
The memory struck me hard, and I felt myself hyperventilating, screaming. I had to protect Emily. She needed me.
Something sharp hit my arm, and slowly, the world began to slow until I felt my whole body fall.
****
Earl
I didn’t take Ashley to the hospital. After the doctor had given her the sedation, I’d carried her up to the room we’d been sharing inside the Monsters’ house. She was still out of it, and I sat by her bedside, waiting. I’d already received word from the men that Emily was fine, or she would be.
The damage their fathers had inflicted had been quite severe, but that pain was over now. All of them were dead. The contracts on their heads were gone. I’d taken care of everything, and now, my reward lay before me on the bed. I didn’t want to be here anymore. The thought of staying in Crude Hill even one more night was enough to enrage me. Ashley wouldn’t be good until she saw Emily.
My time here was extended, and it pissed me off.
Seated in the chair, I couldn’t believe I was actually watching this woman, guarding her. There was a perfectly good hotel room waiting for us, but I was here, watching and waiting. If my grandfather could see me now, I’d get a beating. He’d have Ashley spread eagled and demand that I fuck her raw. That I take her virginity from every single hole, that I force her to take me in her pussy, her ass, her mouth.
Running a hand down my face, I gave thanks that I’d killed my grandfather.
Ashley let out a little moan, and I watched as the sedative slowly wore off. She’d been so lost in her pain, it had startled me.
This woman was supposed to be easy. She was a sweet woman. Compliant. Submissive. Yet, every single step I’d taken with her, I’d come to see there was a lot more to Ashley than I realized.
Her eyes opened and she lifted her hand with a groan. “What’s going on?”
“The doctor gave you a sedative. You weren’t handling Emily’s attack very well,” I said.
She lifted up in bed, her gaze coming to me. Tears were already falling down her cheeks. “Is she okay? Is she awake? She hasn’t died, has she?” The panic started to rise within her.
Getting to my feet, I moved close to her and sat on the edge of the bed. “The doctor is close by, Ashley. If I need to give you another sedative, I will.”
“Please, don’t. I just … I promised her. Emily and I, we would protect each other.” I had to wonder what Emily had done to protect this woman from me. She swiped at her tears. “I shouldn’t have let her go, Earl. She got hurt because of me.”
“Why should you have stopped her?”
“Because the letter, the vagueness of it. I know these men. They wouldn’t have sent her a letter. They would have come and taken her.” Ashley covered her face and began to sob. “This is all my fault.”
I could let her stew in her own pain, but this was far from her fault.
Cupping her face, I forced her to look at me. “Stop!” My voice was sterner than it needed to be, but the noises she made stopped. “This has nothing to do with you. Emily’s attack was not about you. It was about power and revenge. What you got caught up in, and even what Emily got caught up in, is a family fucking dispute. The change of reign. Those boys took over, and they made mistakes. That has nothing to do with you. You’ve been out of the loop for seven fucking years. You have no right to take this on. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”
“But—”
“No! No buts. No nothing. What went down today has nothing to do with you. Fucking nothing. Do not give me a reason to start a war with these little pricks.”
She frowned. “What?”
“You heard me. If you keep trying to take the blame, I will make them pay. You’re not the one at fault. They are.” I was tired of Caleb, Gael, Vadik, and River being a topic of conversation. They had invaded my precious time with Ashley for too long. “Whose fault is it?” I asked.
She tried to pull away from my grip, but I wouldn’t let her. She wasn’t getting away with this. I wouldn’t let her. Plain and fucking simple.
“Earl, please.”
“Answer me.”
She closed her eyes, counted to ten, and then opened them, looking right at me. “It’s not mine.”
“Exactly, so who do you have to blame?”
“The Monsters.”
“Good.” I pressed a kiss to her lips. “If I think you’re going to take any blame in this, I will hunt them down.”
I didn’t move away.
“You can’t keep doing that,” Ashley said.
“What?”
“Threatening to hurt the people I love.”
I paused and looked at her. “You love the Monsters?”
She wrinkled her nose. “No. Eww. I love Emily. She’s like a sister to me. She’s who I care about. Not anyone else.” She blew out a breath. “If anything was to happen to them, I know Emily would never be the same again.”
“Then stop taking the blame for shit that’s not yours.”
She touched her head and groaned. “I feel a little sick.”
The doctor had warned me this might happen. After climbing off the bed, I helped her to her feet, and we made our way down to the kitchen. There were guards everywhere, but I ignored them. I put Ashley into a seat and went to the fridge.
“Do you know how to cook?” she asked.
I pulled out some eggs and glared at her. She held her hands up. “You’ve never cooked for me before.”
“Ashley, you like things overcooked and burnt.”