Page 86 of Heal For Me

He narrows his eyes. “Stop laughing at me.”

His ass is to a mirror, and I start to giggle again. He follows my eyes behind him. It takes a second but eventually his eyes drop to where I’m looking and his jaw locks. “Your ass is getting fucked tonight, princess.”

Promises, promises.

“That’s it?” My eyebrows inch up my forehead. This is the Buckingham Palace? It’s so . . . boring. “Big Ben is more impressive.”

I turn to Ash’s family. Each one of them is doing their best not to laugh, but I don’t know why, it’s true.

“It looks like a library.”

William is the first one to break, and one by one, they fall into a fit of laughter.

“Easy, babygirl. You’ll offend the king.”

William grunts something under his breath that earns him a slap to the chest from his wife.

Beverly herds us into a group in front of one of the gates. She insists on taking photos at every stop. The poor lady she suckered into taking our photo stands a few feet in front of us, ready to snap a photo.

“Everyone say, Henry is more impressive than the castle.”

No one says that.

I have a brother, but Henry is like the older brother I never had. He’s never serious and picks on me constantly. I pretend to be annoyed, but secretly, I’m glad he treats me like family. All of Ash’s family has accepted me as their own, besides one. I heard William and Beverly murmuring about Grace the days after she stormed out. I think they were trying to call her, but besides that moment, no one has mentioned her. I can’t say for sure, but I think it’s bothering Beverly that she’s not here.

“We will have to Photoshop Janelle into these,” Beverly says while scrolling through the photos we’ve taken so far on her phone.

I giggle to myself. Janelle refused to get out of bed for “a stupid bus ride” when I knocked on her door this morning. I would blame the hangover, but I think she’s just avoiding the bus tour, and I’m sure she will be fresh as a daisy come the fancy dinner tonight. I’ve never heard of the place, but when Beverly mentioned it last night—before we were all drunk out of our mind—Janelle gasped like she’d been told we were going to Disney World.

The bus tour has been amazing so far. It’d be better if my head wasn’t thumping, but that’s not the tour’s fault. We started in the museum, which Ash claimed made his headache worse, but he was just being a baby. I saw how interested he looked during some parts.

Since we didn’t make it to the souvenir shop last night, thanks to my impromptu proposal, Beverly made sure we stopped at three today. I have a whole bag of stuff and a brand-new sweatshirt. Ash made me promise I wouldn’t wear it while in the UK. Apparently, he doesn’t want me making him look like a tourist, which I think is a lost cause, especially when I speak. At least I’m not the only one with an accent around, I’ve heard so many languages since we’ve been out.

I will admit, by the time we are heading back to the subways to get ready for dinner, I’m dog-tired. I didn’t think the tour would be so long, but holy, was it long. Basically the entire day. We got off at nearly every stop, much to Henry’s and Ash’s dismay. When they are together, it’s so easy to imagine them as two whiny children because that’s exactly how they act.

These past two days have been the busiest I’ve probably ever had, and all I want to do is curl up and sleep for the next two hours. We have four until dinner, and since I don’t take that long to get ready, that’s exactly what I plan to do.

Apparently, Ash has a different idea on how we will pass our time.

35

Payson

“On your knees, babygirl.”

I swallow hard. “Ash, I’m tired.”

“You should have thought about that before you wrote ‘Payson’s Property’ on my ass.”

I have to bite my lip to stop myself from laughing again. “I was drunk!”

He flips the lock on our door without taking his eyes off me. “It doesn’t matter.”

“You have to admit using your asshole as the o is so funny.”

His lips twitch but he doesn’t let it surface. “Not as funny as it will be when I use your asshole how I please.”

Last time he used my ass how he pleased, my mind let me believe it was Fred behind me and I blacked out. That was the first day Ash cut me.

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