DEMI
The harsh slivers of sunlight wash into my room, half-blinding my eyes. Stirring, I block the rays with an arm over my face and groggily sit up on my bed. The room spins slightly with every move I make. Cussing, I pull my knees up and cradle my aching head in my hands. Just then, the blinds on the window come down, blocking off the heat of the sunrays.
I blink severally to adjust my vision. My heart leaps at the sight of one of the quads sitting in my room. How long has he been there watching me. His clothes are very casual and very black. I can't make anything from his bland eyes. Trying to figure out which brother is facing me makes my head want to split in two so I just give up.
"What do you want? I am not in the mood for this."
"Beside you." He jerks his chin towards my bedside drawer. "That should help with the hangover." I hastily drain the contents of the cup and toss my head back on the headboard. A film of sweat coats my forehead, dibbles down my side.
"I hate this feeling."
"And yet you still drink." His tone makes me look up at him. "For someone who claims her life turned on its head after one drunken night, you sure haven't learnt your lesson." A small smile tugs his lips.
"Which brother do I have the privilege of being lectured by this fine morning?"
"Hmm. I thought you were somewhat of an expert by now. Are the clothes too abstract for you?" Before I can frown, he makes a familiar hand signal and relief swells inside me.
"Oh, Ashal, just who I wanted to see." I dab my brows. "I'm sorry about last night. I was so foolish. I thought I wasn't furious about Nicola's visit. I wanted to come find you so we can drink and I can air out my feelings but then I recalled you already had plans. I guzzled a can of beer in here. I must have wandered." My head spins again and I close a hand over my forehead. "I hope I didn't do something crazy."
Ashal chuckles. "Isn't it amazing that you seem to never lose your bearings especially when drunk?" He rises to his feet. "If you're going to have a secret hand signal with Ashal, maybe try not to make it so fucking obvious in public, Branson."
I shut my eyes. It just had to be him. I am not nearly ready for this back and forth, especially since our last encounter is still vivid in my imagination. I feel a crimson blush seep into my cheeks. "Of course, you saw that."
My stomach muscles tighten as Ashton approaches with his hands jammed in the pockets of his pants as usual. "You must know that my brothers and I have concrete reasons to be wary of you. Let's say I believe that the Blue Cove was an accident. You came to my family the very next morning to assert your claim to a place here. Pressured by public sentiments and my mom's rare liking to you, you were accepted into our home. You got a husband and a wealthy family. Now, my question to you is why this isn't enough? Why are you hell bent on finding the man who wedded you while intoxicated? What is it to you?"
"Keep it down. My head is aching." I hope I can stall his rapid-fire questions with a show of dizziness but true to form, he persists stubbornly.
"Are you in love with him?"
The question makes my eyebrows slash up at him. The grim set of his eyes has been tempered by curiosity. When he takes a seat right next to me, I stifle a nervous shudder. "Why him?"
"You spoke with mother?"
He nods briskly. "She's worried about you. Everyone is, in their own way." He hits me with those intense blue eyes again and my throat goes dry. It always does whenever I am too close to one of the quads. "Why him, Demi?"
I clench my jaw. "If he remembers that night as well as I do, then he wouldn't have to ask me this question." My eyes frantically search his deep ones. He tears his away, and shifts uncomfortably. "You know him, don't you?" Gently, I touch his broad shoulder and turn him to me again.
"And what if he isn't willing to show himself to you because he is afraid of hurting the people that he loves?"
"I don't see how that could be a possibility. I am not asking him for a lifelong commitment. I just want closure from that night and the morning after. I have a few things to say to him, things we didn't get a chance to discuss because of how intoxicated we were."
My hands trail his jaw, snakes into his hair. He inhales sharply, closing a hand over mine. Unable to resist it, I lean forward and capture his lips with mine in a hurried kiss. Ashton cups my face with both hands and leans in deeper into our kiss. Our tongues discover each other. Our heartbeat drum in rhythm. Then, I pull away to his surprise. I can't allow this anymore. It's too distracting.
"I'm sorry. I can't…" I run a hand through my frizzy hair and sigh. "Tell the Ash I met in Blue Cove that if he ever wants to talk about that night, I'll be here. I just want to talk and that'll be it. I am not breaking my contract with Ashley. I value promises and keeping my word." I try to slide off the bed when his words leave me numb.
"He's right here, Demi. So, what is it you want to say to me about that night? Tell me." My heart thumps wildly at his admission.
"You…"
"I'm sorry." Ashton runs a hand over his face. "I-I had a bad day. I wanted some privacy, away from everyone to drink away my pain." Tears wells up in my eyes when he plants a kiss in my palm. "It was stupid what we did. I didn't think you'd care or show up the very next morning at my house with our marriage certificate on display for the world to see how badly I fucked up. I was mortified, Demi and mad at your arrogance. Heck, I didn't even recall your face from the previous night until you arrived. I thought you were one of the numerous gold-digging women vying for our attention. I-I loathed you in that instant and blatantly denied you."
I wrench my hands from his face but he holds on tight. "Please Demi, you have to understand. A lot was at stake for me. Yes, I did feel a connection between us in Blue Cove but everything wilted when you showed up with your family. Heck, couldn't you have personally tried to reach me first? What was the need for the drama and involving my parents too? I was disappointed in you. I thought you were no different from the other women my brothers and I are used to."
Bile tickles my throat as anger bubbles hot inside me. While I am glad to be rid of this confusion of trying to decipher the one quad that may have a connection to my parents' death, I am devastated to know it's Ashton. I didn't realize how desperately I wanted it to be anyone else but him until this very moment.
I forcefully pull myself off the bed only to feel dizzy and end up falling into Ashton's waiting hands. Though I am grateful for his reflexes, I am too angry to thank him. I shove his hands away from me and wobble towards the bathroom.
"Demi, you said you wanted to talk. I opened up, okay? Please talk to me."
His words irk me right now. A fine head of steam threatens to explode if he lingers in my room. Gritting my teeth, I turn to face him. "You know what, I thought I needed closure. I felt a connection that night and every day since then, I have wondered if things would have been different if you stepped up as you should and we were given a chance to explore life together. After all this time, and learning that it's been you all this while, I feel nothing. So, there's nothing more to be said." A conspicuous frown creases his forehead.
"Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me. I forgive you too as I hope you'll forgive me for all the inconveniences caused. Let's expunge that night from our memory as well as this morning, and move on. Good day, Ash Rollins."
With the bathroom door shut behind me, I exhale deeply and listen as his steps retreat. Tears cloud my eyes. Why him?
"Stop it, Demi. You always knew it was going to be one of them. You were prepared for this." I blot away my tears with the hem of my nightdress and stare at my disheveled face. Maybe this is a good thing. With all that out of the way, it's time to move another card on the board.
***
"You got drunk? Demi, how could you have been so reckless? Anything could have happened to you. There's no telling what those quadruplets could have done to you." Liam chides.
We are in Mr. Rahl's bookstore, sipping coffee in a quiet nook at the back of the shelves. Just before I had to move in with my new family, I had pitched the idea to Mr. Rahl about adding some reading tables and sofas to the shop, as well as displaying treats and coffee to draw in more customers. Thankfully, with Liam's support, he had implemented them, and amidst my chaotic transition from a nobody to a member of the Rollins family nonetheless.
To show his appreciation, he allows Liam and I to hang out at the back to avoid being photographed by desperate journalists. Save for the new employee at the counter with headphones stuck on his head, the shop is empty for now.
I set my mug of steaming coffee down. "It had to be real. Asher was there. I knew he wouldn't buy it so I had to actually get drunk. I know it was risky but I was counting on the fact that they would respect their parents and their home enough to not entertain any dark thoughts they might have had. I needed to get in there somehow Liam and they were going to suspect me way more if I turned up sober."
Liam shakes his head. "Well? Did you succeed?"
I nod in affirmation. "I was literally struggling to keep my eyes open but when Ashal held me by the door as his brothers bickered, I managed to stick one of the devices under the wooden table closest to the door. I was very scared. Asher was onto me but Ashley and Ashton protected me." I stare wistfully into my mug as I recall snippets of their arguments. Ashley really stood up for me? Was he just being a gentleman or could there be more to his chivalry?
Liam scowls at the distant look on my face. He sips his coffee and sighs. "I don't like that look on your face. You know you can't have soft spots for any member of that family if you hope to uncover the truth about your parents' death."
My fingers tremble around the mug. "You don't have to remind me every time. I am not sidestepping from the plan."
"You think you're still in control but you don't see what I see." He leans forward. "Judging by that sappy look on your face over the fact that two of the quads stood up for you, I can tell you for free that you're slipping." Sighing, he whisks out his phone. "Thankfully, you have me to give you a rude awakening. I really never wanted it to come to this but our mission is just as important and personal to me as it is to you."
After a few quick taps on the screen, he slides his phone across the table to me. The minute I pick it up, I lose my mind.
"WHAT THE FUCK? WHY DO YOU HAVE THIS?" Tears track down my face as I stare angrily at him. Without thinking, I smash the phone on the floor and proceed to stomp my foot on it. Liam simply watches me with impeccable calm, sipping on his coffee. When I attempt to upend the table, he catches my wrist. Even through the blur of tears and the rage, the dangerous look he shoots me sends shivers down my spine.
"Are you done nursing feelings for those despicable quads? That's what I thought." He shoves me hard against a shelf. The new hire calls out to know if everything is okay and Liam cheerfully assures him everything is fine. Then his face hardens as he stares back at me. "I want that picture engraved in the deepest recesses of your mind; the mangled bodies of your parents on the national news. I don't fucking care if it nauseates you or not but I will forward every autopsy photo so you're reminded of all the bruises on their ashy skin as they lay cold and dead on the gurney."
"Enough!" I croak in tears.
"Need I remind you that while the Rolllins passed it up as an elevator accident, their autopsy showed that they suffered severe impact prior to their crash down the elevator. The impact was so severe it only points to one conclusion; they were run over by a car, Demi. That was the original cause of death and your bastard in-laws must have dumped their bodies in the faulty elevator to cover it up. You should be ashamed to even feel anything other than brutal revenge against that family."
While I sink to the floor and bury my face in my hands sobbing, Liam huffs out a breath. "You think I don't care enough about this simply because I didn't lose loved ones to the cold hands of death because of the actions of those buffoons? I never competed with you for whose goals are top priority in this. However, I am also in this to save my family and our business. I joined hands with you so we could take down a family that's hurt us personally and continue to hurt others. I NEED YOU TO WAKE UP AND GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER."
He crouches to breathe in my face. "If you dare screw this up for me, I'll come at you with everything I've got and ruin you along with your precious new in-laws. You decide whose side you're on."
He heads towards the front of the store and pauses by the doorway. "Oh, Demi? You have two weeks to install a spy app in the quads' phones. I don't care how you get it done. You can fuck your way through them if that gets you close enough to distract them. If I am unable to record their texts, phone conversations, GPS locations and whatnot on my device in fourteen days' time, I'll send your father-in-law, Brett Rollins, a little gift exposing your connection to the elevator victims from five years ago. I guess you have to hurry if you don't want to end up like your parents."
His smile is dark as he leaves. I dab my tears away. Liam is right. I needed to see that. Maybe I have been derailing for a while now because of some stupid hormones. Guilt wracks my system as the gory image of my parents' bodies flash in my mind. Instantly, disgust at my foolishness fills my mind. I laugh hysterically, clutching my stomach. Women are indeed such fickle minded creatures.
When I arrive at Ashton's company to see him, there are little to no traces of the weepy woman Liam had left behind. Rather, I am elegantly dressed in a chic, white two-piece suit and red stilettos. Ashley's wardrobe haul did come in handy after all, I think to myself while Gris ushers me into Ashton's office. I ignore the silent gasp when Ashton sees me. With Gris gone, I plunk my little purse on the couch and turn to face Ashton with an angry look. He swallows hard, his eyes struggling to stay on my face. I just need to confirm a hunch I've been having all morning.
"You can't make this a habit, Branson. What do you possibly want?"
"That's rich coming from someone who was just in my room this morning. The double standard is nauseating, Ashton Rollins." Surprise flits across his face and fades just as quickly but not before I registered it.
"I'm here finish what you started this morning." He looks flustered as he walks around his table to me.
"I don't have time for this. We'll deal with it when I get home."
Face to face, I see it now. His eyes. It's always in the eyes. Ashton has no recollection of what happened in my room this morning, because it wasn't him in my room this morning!