Page 14

Chapter 14

P enny and I flinched in unison, my heart rate spiking.

For a moment, Penny's mum blinked, as if dazed, at the jagged stem of glass she still held in her hand. Then she pointed the glass stick in our direction.

"I won't say it again," she said. "Penny, sit down and the rest of you-"

A family angelic hum permeated the atmosphere, smothering the tension like a fire blanket. Fatigue flooded my body and clouded my thoughts as Penny's mum toppled toward the ground, the glass stem falling out of her hand. Asher caught her before she hit the floor and pulled her out of the puddle of wine and glass onto Penny's rug.

The sensation of peace washed over me as the beautiful sound soothed every nerve and quelled the fire raging inside me. Comfort, ease, and all manner of wonderful things I hadn't felt for so long wrapped me up in a cocoon so comfortable that I never wanted to leave it.

I struggled to stay upright, my eyelids drooping as sleep beckoned to me. Penny grabbed me under my armpits as I sank closer to the ground. But slumber enveloped me before I could muster the urge to care.

"You could have given us some warning, Ash." Edward sounded mildly annoyed.

It took a few seconds to realise I was rousing. My head rested on someone's shoulder and the rumble of an engine suggested we were in a car.

"She had a weapon. I didn't want to give her any warning." Asher's voice came from the front seat. "I didn't know Bea was so sensitive to..."

Of course I was. Whenever I couldn't sleep he would hum his song to me and knock me right out. Apparently it still did, even after all this time.

"Mum wouldn't have done anything with it," Penny said on my right. "She was just...angry."

"Penny, I know it isn't my place to say," Asher said. "But I don't think your mother or her boyfriend have your best interests at heart. No wonder Bea wanted to get you out of there."

Penny heaved a sigh, my head rising up and down with her shoulder. "I don't want to be a burden on anyone or overstay my welcome. That's why I thought it was best if I stayed at home while I finished school, but now Carl's here everything has changed."

Okay, I was done eavesdropping. I sat up and stretched, blinking a few times to focus.

We were back in the taxi, the rain hammering down on the windscreen as if the heavens themselves had opened.

"Enjoy your power nap?" Edward wheezed as I elbowed him in the ribs.

"Shut up," I muttered.

"Are you okay?" Penny linked her arm through mine.

"Don't worry about me. Are you okay?" I had only fallen asleep. Penny had actually had to deal with the hard stuff.

"Oh, you know. I'm fine."

Well, that was a resounding 'no.' I would have to deal with that when we got back.

The taxi fell silent but Asher looked over his shoulder from the front seat. He said nothing, but his eyes brimmed with things I hadn't seen in months; apologies, sorrow, maybe even a little guilt.

I closed my eyes again and took a deep breath. There was only one thing I needed to worry about right now and that was Penny. Asher and his weird behaviour would have to take a back seat.

"You did the right thing," I said to Penny as I helped her put the covers on the duvet in the room she had chosen. "Walking out on your mum, I mean."

"I just wish I'd have had more backbone ," Penny said from inside the duvet as she struggled to find the corners. "You guys all stood up for me and all I could do was sit there like a potted plant. Actually, that's generous. At least potted plants have enough audacity to grow."

Hecate, who had wandered in yawning halfway through our duvet struggles, lifted her butt into the air and gave it a wiggle. I dropped one of the corners I was holding and snatched her up in one arm, pressing her to my chest as she meowed her annoyance at me. I ignored her. She could get away with most things, but when it came to ‘helping’ put the linens on, I had to put my foot down. Putting the damn things on was hard enough.

"Not that I wouldn't love to see you punch someone in the face Pen, but that's just not who you are," I said and bent over like a discombobulated stick insect to pick up the corner again.

That, and her mum had really laid the pressure on thick. If how she had acted that night was any reflection on how she had treated Penny her whole childhood, then Penny's timidness made sense. Her mum was a bully and she had taken it out on Penny for long enough.

Penny popped her head out of the covers and we shook the duvet out together, encouraging Hecate to scramble onto my shoulders. "I can't exactly go back home unless I get a backbone. Mum will hold this over me forever and...frankly I'm not apologising."

"Yes." I grinned at her. "That's the spirit."

Penny chuckled, but her smile faded all too quickly. "Are you sure it's okay for me to stay?"

"You can stay here as long as you like to figure things out," I said. "Seems like I'm not the only one who's happy you're here."

"Hmmm?" Penny tilted her head, a quizzical look on her face as she smoothed out the cover.

I wiggled my eyebrows at her, seizing a pillow and jamming it into a pillow case. "Edward?"

"Oh, he's been so sweet," Penny said. "And he's such a cutie, too."

"Well, I'm glad you feel that way because that's how he feels about you too."

Penny's quizzical look intensified and she leaned forward, squinting her eyes as if she was having trouble seeing me properly.

I threw the pillow at her and gestured at her with both hands. "Have you seriously not noticed that he's into you? Edward doesn't just make tea and tag along on moves for anyone."

Her cheeks flushed and she clutched the pillow to her chest. “Do you think he likes me?”

“Yeah, and that’s pretty rare for Edward,” I said. “He’s one of those guys who knows when he knows. It’s been years since he’s had a girlfriend and they lasted a good while before they broke up.”

“Was it bad?” Penny stared at me over the top of the pillow.

“No.” I jerked my shoulders and dumped Hecate onto the newly made bed. She landed on all fours and immediately stretched out as if we had made it just for her. “They basically shook hands and went on their merry way. Edward isn’t one for drama.”

Penny sat on the bed and stroked Hecate’s belly as she rolled around while I fitted another pillow with a case.

I couldn’t decide if I wanted to hook Penny and Edward up or not. She had just gone through something quite serious and although Edward and his charms were the perfect thing to cheer her up, was this really the best time for her?

I placed the pillow against the headboard and sat down with them. Penny could do with being surrounded with all the love and support she could get, and who was I to get in the way of that?

When Hecate and I went down to check on Penny first thing the next morning, Edward had already brought her breakfast in bed and the two of them were chatting over a bowl of strawberries. Well, at least she had no trouble settling in, though I might have a word with Edward about how forward he acted. If Penny needed space, she wasn’t exactly in the right frame of mind to speak up.

Instead, I grabbed a coffee and a few pieces of toast from the kitchen, promising Priya I would make dinner that night before heading back up to my room. I had slacked on my duties to the household ever since Asher and I had split, and it was time to pick up the slack again. Even if it annoyed me a little that I was technically making dinner for him, too.

The events of the night before had kept me up a few hours before I fell into an uneasy sleep. I was under no illusion that Asher’s feelings for me couldn’t have just vanished overnight, but his protectiveness had startled me.

The way he had shielded me from that weirdo in the club and struck Penny's mum down with his siren song brought up too many memories from our past. When he had come to get me when I was walking home from the bakery I used to work at and I thought someone was following me. Another time when some guy had mistaken me for a prostitute in Argentina and Asher had put himself between us and warned the guy to back off. Even after the guy had left, Asher hadn't unwound his arm from my waist until we got home.

A heavy feeling pressed on my chest, the longing still crushing me with the same pressure as the day after he ended things. But the fact he would still act that way to protect me conflicted with him ending our relationship. If anything, what had happened last night had only intensified my need for answers he wasn’t willing to give.

When I passed Asher’s bedroom on the way to the staircase up to my room, I paused, listening. Through the crack in the door, the sound of Asher moving around made my heart even heavier.

Hecate pawed at my ankle. “Thinking of another way to steal his phone?”

“Yeah, sure,” I muttered. It wasn’t exactly what was on my mind, but if it would distract me from my stupid feelings, I was all for it.

Hecate trotted up to the crack in the door and peered through. “He’s about to get in the shower.”

I shoved my sorrow onto the back burner. “Are you sure?” I whispered.

“He’s getting undressed and there’s a towel on the bed. Pretty sure."

I tried to ignore the tingling sensation across my skin at the idea of seeing him naked. Gods, he had my feelings all tied up in knots that I could barely focus. But I had to if I wanted to discover what my prophecy was.

Hecate peered around the door again and dashed inside, disappearing with a flick of her fluffy tail. I huffed through my nose. Was she even going to tell me what she was doing or just wing it?

At the sound of his footsteps approaching the door, I hurried down to the next door along of an empty bedroom that we used for storage. I squeezed in among the boxes, a couple of Yuletide lights dangling in my face as I closed the door as far as I could.

Asher’s footsteps entered the hallway and the telltale sound of a key turning in a lock had me rolling my eyes. He never stopped worrying that someone would come into his room when he wasn't around and rummage through his things. Although, with a sister like Laura and Hecate constantly looking for an opportunity to steal things, the fear wasn't entirely unfounded.

Hecate knew that Asher would secure his room. What exactly was her plan after getting locked in?

Once I heard the bathroom door lock, I slipped out and tiptoed back to Asher’s bedroom door.

“Hec." I knelt down and tried to look underneath the door.

No answer. Shadows danced around on the floorboards on the other side and after a few moments, Asher’s phone slid underneath.

I snatched it. No freaking way. Hecate had done it.

I activated the phone, chewing my lip as the lock screen stared me in the face. Once upon a time, I used to know the code to get in, but had Asher changed it since then?

My thoughts ground to a halt at the sound of the bathroom door unlocking again, and my heart leapt to my throat.