Page 62 of Ashes

"Come on, Your Highness." Lee smiles, holding her hand out for Olivia to take, which she does without hesitation or doubt. She leads her outside, and I turn to King once they're out of earshot.

"What happened with the bodies?"

"Ro and Eli are taking care of them. The kitchen is already cleaned up as if nothing ever happened. You ready to go?" I nod, looking behind him into the kitchen to see several faces I recognize who are cleaning. They brought in their clean-up crew.

Tearing my eyes away, I follow behind him when he begins walking out of the house that is responsible for changing so many lives.

Outside, King climbs into his car and drives away, and then I do the same with Lee and Olivia by my side.

Without looking back, we drive toward our new life.

thirty-two

ROWEN

“How’s the kid doing?”Maverick asks as I pour him a cup of coffee. I’m at the penthouse, where all of us came three nights ago after Colton murdered Rachel. Since we’ve been here, Eli has been brooding. He’s angry at himself for killing Colton quickly. We all wanted him to suffer, but in an attempt to save Lee, he shot him, killing him instantly. The bastard will never have to pay for hurting my angel. He got off easy, but it’s not Eli’s fault. None of us blame him; we all understand.

“She won’t come out of her room,” I say, passing the mug of black coffee toward him. Ace and Lee moved in with us here at the penthouse. Lee isn’t willing to leave Olivia’s side, and Ace isn’t willing to leave hers. Eli, King, and I decided it would be best for them to be here with Olivia. But we’re only here temporarily, because soon the build of our new house will be finished, and we’ll all be moving there.

We’re one big, happy, fucked up family.

“Well, she witnessed her mother’s brutal murder, so of course she won’t. She’s fucking traumatized,” Maverick says, bringing the steaming mug of black coffee to his mouth and sipping it.

“She wasn’t her fucking mother. She has a mother, and she’s upstairs,” Eli growls, walking into the kitchen. He gets angry when we refer to Rachel as Olivia’s mother, but it’s true. Lee may have given birth to her, but Rachel raised her. She’s the only mother Olivia knows, but Eli doesn’t like hearing it.

He yanks the coffee pot from the warmer, dark liquid slipping over and dripping down the sides.

“Anyway,” Maverick says with a chuckle, “my boy is her age. Maybe she’d like to have a friend. Someone her age to talk to,” he suggests.

“That might be a good idea. What—” My sentence is interrupted by Eli.

“What school does he go to? We need to enroll Olivia so she doesn’t fall behind,” Eli says, his back facing us as he drinks his coffee.

“I don’t think sending her to school right now is the best idea. She’s still traumatized,” I say. “It’s only been three days.”

“Well, Rowen, I think Eli is right. She needs a distraction, and enrolling her in school will allow her to be around kids her age and help keep her mind off everything at home,” Maverick says, and Eli turns around, looking at me with a wide, shit-eating grin.

Fucker.

“Riot goes to Northwest Academy. I’m hoping to get him into Bowler Academy for high school, though.” Mav’s face always lights up whenever he speaks about his family.

I’ve heard of Bowler Academy. It’s the most prestigious and advanced private high school around. Expensive and complicated as fuck to get into, but considering Olivia will be with us indefinitely, we should look into getting her onto a waitlist for high school.

“How does he like the school?” Eli asks.

“It’s a private school, so I automatically like it. He likes his teachers, and yeah, it’s a pretty good school,” he explains.

“All right, done. I’ll handle the enrollment. Olivia will start on Monday,” Eli decides before taking his mug of coffee and storming off like the angry asshole he’s been lately. He needs to see his hellion and change his fucking mood. Lee seems to be the only one who can ever change our sour moods.

“I’ll let Riot know that Olivia is starting in his grade. Perhaps this weekend, all of you can come over, and the kids can play together.” Maverick finishes his coffee and then sets the empty cup in the sink. “Mel and I just finished renovating our house, and she’s been looking for any excuse to host a party.”

Chuckling, I nod in agreement. “That sounds good. Call me with the details.”

“All right, man. It’s a date.” He chuckles, patting me on the back before he leaves.

Once he’s gone, I leave to go and find King and Ace to inform them of our plan for Olivia’s schooling and that we’ll be going to Maverick and Melanie’s house this weekend.

* * *

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