We’d been through hell together, and it looked like we were about to go through a hell of a lot more.
“He’s the guy your father sold you to, right?”
I nodded.
“What does he want?” she asked.
“I honestly don’t know. He told me that … they’d been more monsters than anything else. They’ve taken over from their dads and that they regret giving them the choice about me. I’m sorry. I … I didn’t want to ruin our night out. I was loving it.”
Ashley rushed toward me, cupping my face. “Don’t you worry about it. I mean it. I can’t believe you were on your own with that asshole and I wasn’t there.” She growled. “I’m pissed at myself now.”
I put a hand to my chest.
Within seconds, I was in her arms and she was stroking my hair. Panic rose. I hadn’t had a panic attack in so long. Ashley had learned long ago how to get me out of them, or at least to stop them from being worse than they needed to be. She’d been my lifeline.
“I’m here. I’ve got you. You’re safe. Nothing bad is going to happen.”
Even though I didn’t believe her, just being in the comfort of her arms, and listening to her, helped to stop the attack from building.
“We’re good?” Ashley asked.
“I’m good. Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. Wow, I thought you were going to lose yourself.” Ashely kissed my head. “I’m going to make you dinner. It’s still your birthday and that asshole isn’t ruining it for you.”
“He knows where we are.” I felt like I needed to remind her of what the hell was going on.
“I get that, but he’s part of the past. It doesn’t matter what he says or does. He’s not going to ruin our lives. We’ve got each other, Em. That’s all that matters.”
“We’re Amelia and Harper, remember?”
“I know you’re panicking, but stop it. It’s not right. None of this is going to help us. You know this. We all know this.”
I ran a hand down my face. “Fine. Fine.”
“Good. You know I’m right.”
I didn’t know at all. I had no idea what made her right or not. The truth was all I knew was how scary this was. After all this time, I didn’t for a second think I would have to deal with my past.
If it had been Caleb, River, Gael, or Vadik, that would have been different. They were a past I’d wanted. I’d lost them before I’d even realized they were gone.
Kicking off my shoes, I followed Ashley into the kitchen and sat at the island in the center as she rummaged around, looking for ingredients to use. One of her favorite things to eat was pasta and she went out of her way to make a different sauce each time.
Today, it looked like we were going with a garlic and pepper sauce. It was watching Ashley like this that I wished we didn’t have the risk of someone trying to find and kill us. Ashley would have made one hell of a cook. As it was, she’d given up all her dreams for this. She had a wonderful personality as well. People would adore her.
If there was ever one thing I could give my friend, it would be something like this.
Ashley hummed as she filled a saucepan with water and placed it on the stove. I just watched. This was what I did. I’d never make it as a cook, while Ashley, she was superb. I’d gotten really lucky with her as a friend.
“Thank you,” I said.
She turned toward me. “What for?”
“For being the best friend anyone could ever ask for. For being you. You could have left me a long time ago.”
She giggled. “Don’t be silly. This is your birthday and I won’t have you talking like that. It’s not fun. This is supposed to be fun.” She turned her back to me. “I don’t care who this man is, he’s not going to spoil this for us. It has taken us too damn long to find any semblance of happiness, okay? Don’t let them win.”
I took a deep breath. “I wish I was so confident.”
“Look, I get that this is bad news for both of us. It’s not what we wanted, but there is nothing we can do about it. He’s rich, right?”
I nodded.
“Then let’s hope he gets bored with the risk of what kind of hell he can bring to us, and move on. What do you say?” Ashley offered me a smile. “And the next time he turns up, keep him around and I’ll gut him myself.” She held a knife up. “And you know how deadly I can be with a knife.”
I laughed. There wasn’t much else I could do. “Cook for me, woman,” I said.
Ashley winked at me but went back to slicing the garlic. Her hand moved so rapidly but not once did she take off her fingers. I couldn’t tear my gaze away. She was so expert.
Once she’d finished with all the garlic, she grabbed another pan. This was magic in the kitchen.
She poured enough olive oil in the pan to coat the bottom, probably more than I ever would use normally. This was what made her food so good. She wasn’t afraid of the ingredients.
Before putting the oil on the heat, she added in all the garlic, then put the heat on low. The water for the pasta had come to a boil.
Again, so much salt, it made me wonder if she was trying to turn me into a fish. After that, she moved back to her pot with the garlic. Lots of black pepper was added, and she quickly rushed to the cupboard to grab another spice.
I didn’t see what this one was.
There was a time I’d catch her talking to herself, or pretending there was a camera watching her. This was how I knew her dream. When she didn’t think I was around, she’d still do it, and it made me sad to think of everything she’d lost.
Before I knew what was happening, she’d drained the pasta, poured it into the other pot. More work was happening but her back was to me.
Within a matter of minutes, with plates piled high, we moved to our sofa, sat down with the food and forks, and ate.
“I had hoped tonight would be wonderful for you,” she said.
“It was. There was nothing you could do.”
She sighed. “Doesn’t help, though, does it? It drives me crazy that after all this time, all it takes is one appearance from a guy, and we’re panicking.”
I took a bite of my pasta and closed my eyes. “This is really good.”
“This is your way of avoiding the subject.”
“This is my way of dealing.”
Ashely moved so she faced me. “Okay, you now have my full attention. I’m right here. Tell me what you want to tell me. I know there’s something on your mind.”
I kept facing forward. There was nothing to discuss, not really.
“Em, I know you. We’ve done this so often. Don’t try to fool me.”
“It’s nothing.”
“I mean it.”
“Okay, fine.” I turned to look at her. “I’m curious, okay. We all know they were a pain in the ass when we were in high school, but now, aren’t you a little curious?” I asked.
“As to how bad they got?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know. I do try to not think about everything that happened back then. I always felt it was easier.”
I groaned. “You’re right. So totally right.”