Chapter 15: – Chapter 15

I’m standing on the balcony watching Yasmin and Ally play beer pong. They’re terrible at it but seem to be having a good time, each of them holding a fancy cocktail Arden had designed just for them.

Everyone is giving them a wide berth.

Steering clear, not wanting to cause any trouble.

People who get kicked out of our parties don’t get invited back. Ever. No one wants to be blacklisted.

Ralph comes up beside me and bumps my shoulder.

“I’ll watch them. Go and sit with Rhys.” He says nodding over his shoulder. Rhys has been quiet most of the night, letting Arden have the spotlight. But his truth bomb still hangs in the air.

“Thanks Ralph.” I know he’ll watch the girls and have someone close if someone decides to get handsy with them.

Rhys looks up from his phone as I sit beside him.

“How you doing?” I ask cautiously.

“Ashley won’t stop messaging me. I’m close to throwing my phone in the pool,” He says as he slams it on the table.

Chad, always knowing what we need, brings over two beers and two shots. I’ve paced myself tonight, wanting to be there for Yasmin if she needs me. I like seeing her let her hair down and have fun. Arden, on the other hand, will be very sick tomorrow. The girls could be as well. But Arden will suffer from a whole new level of hungover with how much he has had to drink.

“Turn it off. She’ll still be there tomorrow. Ralph send her home?”

“Yeah an hour a go. She’s pissed.”

“It’s not the first time. She’ll live.”

“I’m sorry for not telling you.”

“I’m sorry for not asking. I knew there had to be a reason, I just wasn’t expecting it to be that. I thought for sure you were dating her to piss Ally off.” Rhys jerks his head to look at me.

I’m not stupid. I know there is something going on with those two. I just don’t know how I feel about it yet.

“To begin with, that was why I played along. I spent two years avoiding Ally. When the stuff with Ashley started, she was a good buffer. I always knew that nothing could happen with Ally and I. I value my friendship with you, Arden and Ally. We don’t need to complicate that. Plus, you threatened to castrate me, and I’m attached to my junk.”

“What are you going to do? Marry Ashley?”

“That’s the plan. I’m looking forward to being in New Hope next year. I need some space from her before we get hitched and play happy family.”

“You can’t do that. You deserve to be happy.”

“Until I can find a way around it, I have no other choice,” Rhys says defeated.

“You aren’t alone in this. We’ll help you figure it out. We only have a few months left here. Did Arden show you the house he wants to go and look at next weekend?”

“Yeah, that’s not a house it’s an apartment building. He told me he wants to knock down some of the walls in one of the apartments, join them together. He’s crazy. There’s no way it will be ready in time for us to move in in January.” Rhys is right. Arden has massive plans for the apartment building.

“He’s crazy, but he does it with love. You forgetting who his dad is? They’ll have it done in time and it’ll be bigger and more expensive than anything you or I have ever lived in. Did he tell you about the pool?” I ask.

“What pool? There wasn’t one in the photos.”

“Exactly,” I say finishing my drink.

Yasmin and Ally come stumbling up the stairs giggling. I love seeing them both so happy and carefree. I move towards them to help them walk, neither of them able to walk straight.

“I think it might be time for bed.” I say to them both. They just keep giggling. Rhys comes to help me, taking Ally from me. There’s no way I can help both of them up the stairs. He uses his thumb to unlock the door.

“Ralph, can you make sure Arden actually makes it to his room this time?” I ask over my shoulder. Ralph laughs at me. “I can’t make promises. But I’ll try.”

“Thanks, see you in the morning.” We head inside and try to wrangle the girls up the stairs. Easier said than done.

Rhys ends up picking Ally up and I do the same with Yasmin.

“I’ll stay with her tonight, make sure she doesn’t vomit.” Rhys says as he picks up her bag from outside her bedroom door.

“You sure you’ll be okay?”

“Yeah it’s fine.” He says as Ally snuggles into his neck. Rhys audibly groans. “Maybe.” He huffs as he unlocks his door.

“Let me know if you need some help with her.” I say opening my door and grabbing Yasmin’s overnight bag. Ralph had one of his guys bring the bags up for us. His men can get into the main areas of the house but only us, Ralph, and Martha can get into our rooms.

“Same to you. Night.” Rhys says as he closes his door. I move around the room and place Yasmin on the bed. She gazes up at me, her eyes sparkling.

“Hi,” She whispers.

“Hi pretty girl. How you feeling?”

She starts giggling again. “I’m drunk.” Her hair is loose and her eyes are glazy and carefree. I love seeing this look on her.

“Yes, you are, can you sit up so I can help you out of your dress?” I ask her while I pull my shirt over my head. She slowly sits up and sways a little.

“Woah, did you feel the house move?” She asks me.

“Pretty sure that was you, not the house.”

She holds her arms in the air and waits for me to take her dress off. I drop it on the floor beside the bed and quickly put my shirt on her, before her body can distract me. I look at the scars on her back as I do. I haven’t asked her about them yet. I want to know, but I want her to tell me when she’s ready.

She lifts my shirt and inhales. “I love how you smell. It feels like home,” She mumbles before falling back on the bed again, closing her eyes. I take off her shoes and go to the bathroom for some Panadol.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I coax her into sitting up to take the Panadol and drink the bottle of water before she passes out. I check her sugar levels and breathe a sigh of relief when it shows she is sitting in a normal range. Taking off my pants, I kill the lights and crawl into bed with her.

***

It’s a late start for us in the morning. Yasmin woke me up a few hours after we went to sleep. She wasn’t sick like I expected. No, she wanted something from me, and I was all too happy to oblige. We ended up collapsing into a sweaty mess as the sun was coming up.

Best birthday present.

“How’s your head?” I ask as I walk out the bathroom fully dressed. We still haven’t had sex, but we have pretty much done everything else. We agreed to wait. I want to know everything about her and what happened in her past before we take this to the next level.

“It hurts, but the orgasms helped.” She pulls her hair into a bun and pulls on her cardigan over her pjs.

“Happy to help.”

“I need food though; Arden will be knocking down the door soon. My sugars are 3.5.”

Arden bangs on the door before she even finishes the sentence. “Yasmin get your ass out here; Martha has food ready for us.” Arden groans from the other side of the door. I open it and chuckle.

“You look like I feel,” Yasmin says pushing her way through us and then stopping, realising she doesn’t know where to go. “I was just telling Chase I needed food. Let’s go, I could eat the ass of a low flying duck right about now. I need something to absorb the alcohol.”

“There’s no need to fucking yell.” Ally says rubbing her eyes as she emerges from Rhys’ room. She’s wearing her pyjamas and I glance at Rhys as he joins us in the hallway. He just shakes his head.

Ally links arms with Arden and Yasmin. “Come on you two, we can suffer together. I really hope Martha made muffins. I could eat six right now,” She says as she pulls them down the stairs.

“She’s a pain in the ass sober. She’s even worse when she’s drunk,” Rhys says to me as we head to the kitchen on the first level.

“Rough night?”

“Night and morning. She switched between vomiting and yelling at me and occasionally sleeping. I need coffee or bourbon. I haven’t decided yet.”

“Let’s start with coffee,” I say as we turn the corner and find Arden and the girls already sitting at the table and Martha piling food on their plates.

“You two look better than this lot,” Martha says to Rhys and I.

“Yeah, we didn’t try to drink an entire bottle of tequila or try all fifteen of the cocktails Arden organised.” I laugh taking my seat beside Yasmin.

“There were only five. We needed to try them all at least twice though. Arden put in the effort for us. We needed to return it,” Yasmin says with a mouthful of food.

“OMG Martha, this muffin is amazing,” she tells Martha.

“Told you,” Ally responds. Martha puts a cup of coffee in front of Rhys and I and then loads our plates up as well.

“Ralph told me that it was a good night. No trouble, except that little hussy of yours Rhys,” Martha tells us taking a seat and joining us.

The thing about Martha is she just fits with us. She just turned fifty but has worked for Arden’s dad for over twenty years. She raised Arden and Julia when their parents were MIA.

She’ll always make us soup when we are sick, and she is constantly complaining that we never spend enough time here anymore.

She has already told us she is going to miss us next year but has promised to come and visit regularly to fill the freezer with our favourite foods.

“Don’t remind me,” Rhys groans into his coffee. “Don’t let her in today please. Tell her we aren’t here. She won’t show up at Chase’s,” he begs.

“No problem sweets,” Martha responds. “What’s the plan for today kids?”

“Movies and sleep,” Arden mumbles.

“Alright, I’ll bring snacks up later. Julia messaged this morning. Ralph is going to go and pick her and Millie up soon. They want to go swimming. I’ll make sure they keep it down.”

“Thanks Martha.” Arden and Yasmin respond at the same time.

We spend the afternoon in the theatre room watching movies while Arden and the girls nap on and off. By five p.m. they’re starting to act more like themselves. Millie and Julia stopped in earlier, laughed at us and walked back out.

Yasmin’s phone starts to ring on the couch. I nudge her gently, waking her up again.

“Pretty girl your phone’s ringing.”

She turns it over and groans. “Argh, it’s dad. I better take this.” She walks out of the room while answering her phone, moving out of earshot.

Ten minutes later she comes back in. Her hands are shaking and her eyes are wild.

“What’s wrong?”

“I have to go home. Dad wants to talk. He has no right to start acting like a parent now.” She’s fuming.

“Okay, I’ll take you home. Arden can I borrow your car?”

He lifts his head slightly before dramatically falling back onto his pillow. “Yeah you know where the keys are.”

“Do you mind if Millie stays here for a while longer? I don’t want her to be home for this. I’ll come and get her later?”

“It’s fine. Just text. Ralph will take her home when you are ready.”

“Thanks Arden.” Yasmin and I head to the car.

She’s quiet the entire trip home. I pull into my driveway instead of hers. I don’t want to piss her dad off further.

“Do you want me to come with you?” I ask.

“No, I need to do this on my own.”

I pull her into a hug and kiss her forehead. “You know where I am if you need me. Let me know how it goes.”

I watch as she gets out of the car and crosses the street, straightening her shoulders before walking through her front door.