Junior shot us both a wink then gave us his back as we all trailed behind him out of the theater room. Associates nodded in our direction as we passed; I would never get used to that.
Used to the way they bowed as if I was royalty too when I was the pauper who didn’t even have her own bank account.
I straightened my shoulders.
Not for long.
Just graduate.
Stay safe.
My future was always hard to look forward to, especially now that I saw flickers of Ash in it.
Damn it.
It was starting to snow as we made our way outside past the expensive sports cars and toward Junior’s new Uris Lamborghini SUV. Had someone told me a year ago that this would be my life getting in a car that cost more than two houses combined, I would have rolled my eyes and then burst into tears for giving myself hope even in my dreams.
Junior opened the back door; I scooted across the leather then did a double-take when Serena did the same thing.
“Um…” I tucked my hair behind my ears; some of it fell forward anyway. “Hi?”
“Hey.” She clapped her hands. “All right Junior, chop, chop, places to go, people to ruin.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He chuckled, and the engine roared to life as he pulled around the circular driveway and out the gates. “I’ll just be up here ignoring whatever the hell Serena thinks you guys need to talk about.” His gorgeous jaw flexed as he smiled and then winked those nearly aqua eyes through the rearview mirror.
“I know.” Serena sighed. “He’s too pretty, right?”
“I’m all man,” Junior grumbled.
“Yes, all man, congrats, you have a penis. Oh, also you have one job. Drive!”
“Driving.” He held up one hand, keeping the other on the wheel.
Before I could take another breath, Serena whipped her head around and locked eyes with me; it was like a freaking tractor beam, her stare. “What did you do?”
“Wait, what?”
“To Ash.” She crossed her arms. “He’s acting human, he actually cracked multiple smiles today, and Junior swore it was either the second coming or he’s the anti-Christ. So which is it?”
“Um… neither?” I bit my lower lip. “And what makes you think it was me?”
“The look,” Junior interrupted. “He had the look.”
“What’s the look?” I made air quotes.
Serena mimicked me and leaned in. “It means he’s seeing only one thing right now, and that one thing isn’t pain, or anger, or destruction, it’s…” She hesitated, only for Junior to answer.
“It’s his queen.”
My throat hurt, burned with the need to say something like it’s not me, I wish it was, but there’s too much hurt, too much destruction, blood, carnage… instead, I said nothing.
“Whatever it was,” Junior said from the front seat, “thank you.”
“N-no problem, I mean really it wasn’t—”
Serena reached out and touched my arm. “It was. It is. He’s… acting human.”
I smiled sadly down at where her black fingernails touched my fair skin. So different, weren’t we? And yet still so human, in need of one thing. Love. “His humanity was never the problem… it was his guilt.”
The car turned down the long road leading to Chase’s compound, and gravel crunched beneath the tires, the only sound breaking the silence that had fallen.
Lonely.
I was still lonely.
“Sometimes.” I began talking again like she was my therapist, and Junior, our freaking driver. “It just takes pain, recognizing pain. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
Junior brought the car to a stop and put it into park. “All right, princess, your castle awaits.”
I smiled. “Thanks for the ride.” I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the car door, then felt a tug on my arm as Serena pulled me back against her in a gruff hug, rasping in my ear. “Thank you.”
“He’s my friend,” I said, unable to move. I’d always loved Serena, but I’d been closer to Claire than Izzy. “I would do anything for him.”
“And we would do anything for you,” Junior spoke for her. “Remember that. Even though you aren’t blood, you’re family, so you may as well be. We protect our own… you don’t have to be alone anymore, Annie. Now, your loneliness is a choice, all right?”
“And yet it doesn’t always feel that way,” I said sadly.
“Then don’t fucking let it.” Serena let me go and nearly shoved me out of the car. “And give him hell.”
“Why do people keep saying that to me?” I wondered out loud.
Junior barked out a laugh. “Because he deserves it.”
“Preach.” Serena winked and then hopped out of the back and moved to the passenger side of the SUV. “We mean it… we’ve got you.”
“I know you do,” I said softly. “I just need time to believe it.”
“That’s fair, princess, that’s fair.” Junior saluted me, and then they were driving away.
Suddenly exhausted, I yawned and walked the short distance to the front door. It was open as usual before midnight, plus the place was completely surrounded by fencing, all thirty acres.