Page 113 of Cruel Debts
I blinked in surprise at Asher's question. "Why wouldn't I be?"
He lifted a hand and started ticking off reasons on his fingers. "Well, maybe because you camethis closeto being trafficked atauction, you were shot at, you were held at gunpoint, and you were kidnapped, not to mention all the things that went on here before you left." His glare shifted to Liam, and the other man winced, reminded of his harsh words meant to frighten me off getting involved with the others. "For starters."
I shrugged. "It was scary, sure, but I'm safe now." I eyed him, then Liam, and then finally Hawke, who looked like he was itching to say or do something. His knee bounced like a pogo stick, and his eyes were shifty, almost hesitant, every time they cut to me. "You guys came. You saved me. You protected me, just like you promised."
"The mission's over, though. You're safe now." Hawke cleared his throat. "You don't have to stay here if you don't want to. You can go home and?—"
"I don't want to leave," I damn near shouted, hands shaking at the thought that they might actually still send me home. "Are you going to make me leave?"
"Yes."
"Not a chance."
"You should make that decision for yourself."
Three very different answers. Three very different men.
Asher spoke first as they all glared at each other. "You should be able to make that decision for yourself. Only you can decide where your life will lead you. We can't make that choice, or take it away from you, just because we want to keep you here with us."
It was as close to a love confession as I'd get from him.
Hawke leaned forward, his hands reaching for mine. "I don't want you to go anywhere. As much as a pain in the ass as you can be, and for all that you can't be trusted in a kitchen with a boiling pot of water, I like having you here. I'll kick anyone's ass who thinks they can make you leave if you don't want to go." His eyes turned hopeful. "You don't want to go, right?"
"Don't browbeat her into it, Hawke," Liam snarled. "She shouldn't be here, and you know it. This isn't the kind of life for a girl like Trinity. She deserves—" His eyes found mine, and I watched as they softened in real-time, though his lips didn't turn up or down. They stayed pursed, firm, unyielding. "She deserves a life better than the one we can give her."
"What if I don't want a life like that?" I asked quietly, realizing they were giving me a choice. As much as Liam wanted me to be happy in a normal life, and Hawke wanted to keep me, and Asher was determined to play the neutral party, they made themselves and their positions very clear. "What if I want to stay here with you guys? What if I said I've wanted nothing but you three since the day you walked into my life, all those years ago?"
Hawke groaned and pulled me onto his lap. "Then I'd tell you that's exactly how it's gonna go. And fuck anyone who wants to say otherwise. They can kick rocks."
Liam's frown deepened as he watched Hawke preen over me like a mother hen. "We'll have to reach out to your parents?—"
"We don't have to do anything like that. They've had their chance to raise me; I'm an adult now. I make my own decisions?—"
"They hired three killers they hadn't talked to in years to track you down and bring you back to them. Do you think they'll just roll over and let you go like that?"
"I'm not giving them a choice. If you send me away, I'll just come back." I scowled at Liam, who clearly had thought this whole thing through even though he'd pretended this whole time that he was indifferent. That I was just a job. "I'll keep coming back again and again until you give up and let me have my way."
"Brat," he swore, but the smile that finally broke on his lips was a welcome reward.
"You like it," I sassed, knowing from the scene on the car that he'd likely have fun trying to tame the brat right out of me.
"No comment," Hawke said with an eye roll. "But now that you're officially staying, why don't we take you shopping for something a little more befitting a Guild girl."
"Guild girl?" Asher shook his head and sighed. "You idiots never cease to amaze me."
FORTY-SEVEN
?????
The headaches were getting worse.Every day, I woke up feeling slightly sick to my stomach. Something was happening to me, but I wasn't sure what.
Min from across the way had stopped coming home a week or two ago, and nobody knew where she went. I worried for her, but in the end, I had to worry about myself, so there was no room to worry about her anymore.
I lost my job two days ago, thanks to my inability to think straight for more than ten minutes at a time. The doctor said I was fine; this was just my mind adjusting to a high-stress situation, but what stress? Nothing had changed. I was still the same as I'd always been.
Well, except for the dreams.
The dreams started a week or so ago, and it was always the same one: a blonde girl in pigtails, running down the sidewalk, turning back to see if someone was following her with a radiant smile. When I looked around, I was always the only other one on that sidewalk with her. Or, the same girl at a football game, sitting with three other men whose faces were always too blurry to see properly. She sat on one's lap, and teased the other two asthey fucked with her braids and toyed with her pompoms. Her wave when she spotted me was warm and inviting.
