“Go grab what you need, I’ll get the bath running,” Stella says the second we hit the second floor.
I push through into my bedroom with a lingering hope that I might find him in here. I have no idea if I even left the window open, allowing him entry, but my fickle heart still hopes.
It’s pointless, because I soon discover that my window is locked up tight and my room is exactly as I left it the morning before. A fucking disaster zone.
A smile twitches at my lips, knowing how much he’d hate it if he did appear. It’s way more of a mess than he could deal with.
Memories of driving him to insanity in the short time we lived together fill my mind, and for some bizarre reason, longing to go back to that tugs at me.
There was something weirdly enjoyable knowing just how much I was affecting him, how deep I was burying myself under his skin.
“I found some bubbles in the cupboard. I like to think they belong to your dad,” Stella jokes. “All those muscles, the ink, and the bubbles,” she muses.
Reaching for my pillow, I launch it across the room at her in the doorway.
“There’s something wrong with you,” I hiss as a shudder rips through my body at the image she just painted so vividly for me. Bitch.
“Sorry, would you rather I put another body in your head?” She wiggles her brows. “I bet he’d look hella hot surrounded by innocent fluffy bubbles.” She bites down on her bottom lip as if she’s imagining it, and I can’t help following suit.
Yeah, that’s a visual I’m gonna need one day.
“Okay, enough,” I snap out, dragging my head from the gutter.
I gather up a clean pair of knickers and pyjamas and march past Stella and into the bathroom, dumping the lot onto the floor before peeling the clothes that guy gave me from my body.
“Burn these,” I say, holding them out to Stella who I know is standing behind me. Her concerned stare makes the skin on my back tingle with awareness.
I might not want it, but I also can’t deny that it feels nice, comforting.
“Sure.” She takes a step away, but I don’t let her get very far.
“Later. Come sit with me.”
She hovers until I’ve stepped in the quickly filling bath and have mostly vanished in the mass of bubbles before she joins me and closes the door.
She hesitates for a beat, looking between me and the floor before she shocks the shit out of me and starts pulling her clothes off.
“What the hell are you doing?” I gasp.
“Shut up and spin around,” she demands, and not two seconds later does the water rise around me as she joins me. “Tip your head back.”
I follow orders and let her tip warm, soothing water over my head before she grabs my shampoo and sets about washing the stench of that place off me.
Neither of us says a word. They’re not necessary. I feel it all though, deep down to my soul. Her support, her love, her need to look after me and make sure I come out of this in one piece.
It’s not until she’s rinsed the conditioner out of my dark lengths that she tells me to spin back around once more. And the moment our eyes connect, red-hot tears fill mine.
‘I love you,’ I mouth, needing her to know how much I appreciate everything she just did for me. How much her support means to me.
She reaches for my hand and squeezes tightly.
“Talk to me, Em. What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours.”
Laying back, I rest my head on the bath and close my eyes, allowing the warmth to soothe me as well as banish the chill that’s still in my bones.
“He just walked away, Stel. I have no idea what they did to find me, to get me out of there safely, but the second I walked out, he turned his back and left.”
Pain lashes at my insides as I replay the scene in my head.
He looked wrecked. His skin was pale, and there was a massive gash on the side of his head, dried blood still clinging to it.
Was that from the crash, or had something else happened that I have no idea about?
“What happened after you got suspended yesterday?” Stella asks, taking me right back to the beginning of this mess.
“After I let him screw me in an empty classroom and walked out on him, you mean?”
She clears her throat, and I don’t need to look to know she’s fighting a smile.
“Empty classroom, damn. Why haven’t Seb and I done that yet?”
“Focus,” I joke.
“Sorry, sorry. It’s just… that’s hot.”
I scoff, unable to deny that it was exactly that.
“I told him we were done and I left.” When she stays quiet, I force myself to continue, reliving all my mistakes. “I went to Lovell. I just… I needed to get away. I needed space. Somewhere I could think and try to get my head around my mess of a life.
“A couple of old friends bunked off school and found me in the park we all used to hang out in. It was Misha’s birthday. They had alcohol and weed, and before long we were at a Wolves party.
“One thing led to another, and I found myself out the back with one of the guys.”
“Em,” Stella breathes, and I cringe.
“I know, I know. But his attention, having his hands on me… it all felt too good. I just wanted to lose myself, and he was offering that to me.”
“You don’t have to explain that, Em. I get it. I really, really do.”
“He offered me acid. I swear to fucking God, I’ve never had anything other than weed before, and I always said I wouldn’t, but…” I blow out a long, regretful sigh. “He stood there offering me oblivion, and I was so fucking broken, Stel. I so desperately needed it. So I took it.”
I pause, the weight of my stupid decision threatening to push me right under the water.
“Things with Dax—a guy from my past, a Wolf—got a little out of hand. I was tripping and I thought he was Theo so I let go. But then the door flew open and there was Theo with a gun in his hand and a murderous expression on his face.
“Theo shot him. Clipped me,” I add, nodding to my shoulder. It’s kinda scabbed over since it happened, but there’s no way she hasn’t seen it.
“You need that looking at.”
“I know,” I agree, looking at the angry wound. “Theo was taking me to Alex’s mum to get me cleaned up when we were run off the road.”
“By the Wolves?”
“That was who was holding me, but Dad and Cruz keep talking about Pops like he’s involved. I wouldn’t be surprised,” I sigh, sinking deeper under the water.
“But didn’t they… I dunno, like… get rid of him?”
“Fuck knows what they did with him,” I mutter as a soft knock sounds out on the door.
“It’s just me,” Calli says, inviting herself in. “And I’ve got hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows. Whoa, we having a tub party?” she asks in amusement when she finds us both submerged.
“My hero,” I breathe, eyeing the mug happily.
“Just… letting Emmie get it all off her chest.”
“Mind if I stay, too?” she asks, holding my eyes as I take the mug from her.
“Sure. The more the merrier.”
“So…”
“Theo shot her,” Stella says helpfully.