Page 110 of Tear Me Down
Their conversation pulls me back from my thoughts, and I go back to focusing on them. Taylor is talking about ‘neutral’ blanket colors. Fuck that.
Start with pink.I mouth to Taylor, and she happily nods, looking over to Ashia and giving her a sly grin. Zeke just shakes his head in amusement, but I can tell they’re all at least comfortable with each other now. I’m sure Ashia will enjoy rubbing the fact that bringing Taylor around was a good thing into his face. Serena then storms into the room, eyeing multiple pill bottles and a grocery bag like she’s working at a busy pharmacy.
“Okay, so it’s time for your antibiotics, Tylenol, the prescribed prenatal, and your nausea meds. I got a water bottle and a banana, because if you take the antibiotics on an empty stomach, it’ll make you sick either way.” She looks up when she goes to take in a breath and notices me. “Oh, hi. That was quick.”
“Yeah, he’s a good kid. We’ll be seeing him more.”
“I'm glad to hear that!” We all jerk our gazes in the door’s direction, Ashia flinching lightly at the surprise, and that instantly kicks my protectiveness into gear. Adrien walks in, strutting like he’s the big man on campus and sits down in the chair next to Ashia’s side of the couch. “Oh, you must be the Mrs. I'm Adrien.” He sticks his hand out like he’s greeting an old friend, and while I’m glad he already feels comfortable here, he’s beingwaytoo fucking friendly.
“Ashia,” she introduces herself curiously and shakes his hand.
“Adrien? What are you doing?” I ask him, my tone coming off deep and low, almost menacing. My offer can be as easily taken away as it was given if he makes her uncomfortable.
“Carter told me to wait while he put me in the system, so I figured I’d wait with you.” He turns his attention to Zeke, stands, and walks over. Zeke raises an eyebrow and stiffens as he steps closer, clearly not pleased with his excited energy. “Hi, I'm Adrien.”
“And I'm your worst nightmare, kid,” he says to him, and his girlfriend smacks his chest.
“Be nice to this sweet boy. Hey, I'm Tay.” She sticks her hand out and shakes his hand. I feel Ashia lean into me more as she whispers.
“Please don’t tell me we nonchalantly adopted a teenager?” She giggles softly, and while that sound makes my heart skip a beat, I huff in feigned annoyance, knowing we have to keep him around for a while.
“Definitely wasn’t the intention.”
“Well, you know what they say, give kids an inch?”
“Yeah, yeah,” I say as I turn my head, tilting it down just where I need it to kiss her. Those soft lips brush against mine in a gentle swipe before she pulls back. Serena drops the pills in her hand, leaving no room for argument on whether or not she needs to take them now.
“Damien?” Serena says to me as she holds out two pills.
“Serena. I should only have the antibiotic. What’s the second one?”
“You, sir, needsomany antibiotics that you have to take two at a time. If you would have stayed at the hospital, like they told you to, they could have given you the bag, but nooo, you wanted to leave. So take it.” She shoves them in my direction again, clearly pleased with the fact that she’s getting away with bossing me around. Ashia looks at me and laughs, coercing me to obey her stubborn and demanding friend.
The door to the rec room pushes open again, and I look back to see Alex poke his head in.
“We have the black room ready for you, D.” I look down to see her smile fade as she looks down and begins to tremble slightly under my hold. She’s known this entire time that he was here, but I suppose with all of the distractions, it was pushed to the back of her mind.
“I'll be right there.” I tell him just before he shuts the door back. Hooking my finger under her chin, I lift her gaze to mine and look her in the eyes, hoping to share the conviction in my voice. “I can make it as quick as you want me to, baby.” She shakes her head, even though the light in her eyes that was just there is dimming subtly.
“No. You do what you need to, so you feel better. No matter how long it takes, I'm fine here.” I hear the uncertainty in her voice. The way it shakes lightly and how her voice wasn’t as confident as it was just a moment ago.
“Ashia…”
“I'm serious, Damien. All I need is for him to be dead, but you need more than that, so I'm fine here. I'm resting, I've got company, and Serena is about to shove this banana and water down my throat, so I'm okay.” She chuckles again, but I can see through the façade. The heat and weight in my chest turns into a cold stone, and my inner demon is starting to claw its way out. He hurt her, turned her bright eyes into something dim, and left marks on her body that she’ll have to look at for the rest of her life. The man downstairs, chained and hung as a gift, is the reason for her fears—the cause for her aching heart, and while I’m not sure there’s enough time left in the world to make him suffer appropriately, I have to keep her needs above my own.
“If I'm not done and you want to leave, you make them come and get me, okay? I’ll end it the moment you need me to.”
“Okay, baby.” She nods and grins, melting my heart. I kiss her forehead and stand, looking to Zeke with a harsh glare.
“If she gets sick or she needs anything…”
“I know, D. I got her.” He reassures me, and after the few moments it takes for me to actually believe him, I turn and walk out of the door. Alex steps in beside me, knowing I’m not going to wait any longer.
“Update me,” I demand.
“He thinks you’re dead, just like we wanted. A few fake, ‘overheard’ conversations and he thought he could escape. We even let him try once, let him get to the end of the hall before we ‘caught him’. So, I’d say he's feeling pretty fucking confident right now.” Alex relays, his tone just as dark and detestable as mine. Thankfully, they’ve mostly left all of the torturing to me, and the mind games that we played on Hugo should make this more enjoyable. Perhaps he’ll think he’s gone crazy if he really thinks I’m dead. The moment he eyes me, he’ll think he’s in his own purgatory.
Which, he is.
