The Sunshine in My Veins (Peterick) ➳ Book 1

Fourteen

Ashley Frangipane was good a pretending. She pretended she was an innocent little thing having been abandoned by her post-invasion group. She pretended to be overly excited about the prospect of safety when she was found—the only price being sex. She pretended to be the princess he claimed her to be in order to protect herself.

But in reality, Ashley Frangipane wasn't nice, innocent, Princess Ashley. She wasn't even Ashley.

She was Halsey, a badass bitch with a nasty temper and sickeningly sweet persona that was just the bait in the trap. She could lure anyone in with the behaviour of a good girl, but pounce and turn into the devil at the drop of a hat. She flirted with danger when she was Halsey.

These two personalities often conjoined, enabling her to flit through them with ease. One second it was Ashley; the next it was Halsey. The dominate personality was all a matter of who she was when she woke up. Today was a Halsey day.

"Good morning, Ashley," he crooned as he stepped inside the room.

She masked the glare of hatred with a bright smile. "Morning!"

"You're in a good mood today."

He didn't know about Halsey. He just assumed that she woke up on the wrong side of the bed more often than other people did, and he was completely okay with that. After all she was his princess, and in his eyes she was perfection.

"Am I?" she muttered as she brushed her electric blue hair.

"You are. And that makes me happy."

"Why?"

"Because you're happy, and there's nothing I want more."

He was a creep. In every sense of the word. From his voice to the way his touch made her skin crawl, everything about him repelled her. She knew he had lied, cheated, and stole in order to keep himself safe in this God forsaken wasteland. And she was pretty damn sure he'd even killed some people, something that would get him executed.

With a smile, she turned back towards the long mirror and let the brush run through an extremely knotted section of hair.

"I'll go get breakfast ready. How does that sound?"

"Great."

He crept out of the room, finally leaving her alone. She dropped the hair brush onto the dresser and looked around the room. Deciding on taking a shower, she rummaged through the drawers and settled on a black tank top and some ripped jeans.

On the counter in the bathroom, she spotted the worn out iPhone he treasured. The screen was currently illuminated showing a name she didn't care to read. Instead of leaving it she propped open the bathroom window and tossed the device outside. He didn't need it anyway.

She left the window open and started the shower.

For an hour, she simply let the water sooth over the sore muscles she had. Fingers run through her hair, washing out the shampoo; hands run over her body, rinsing off the soap. She turned off the shower and stepped out with a towel around her body.

She tugged on her clothes and set on drying her hair, but movement in the mirror made her freeze.

"The hell?"

A hand wrapped around her mouth, another around her waist. The person spun her around no doubt in an attempt to hide their face.

She jerked her leg back, failing to do any damage. The person was pulling her backwards towards the balcony as she continued to fight.

"It'll be in your best interest to cooperate," the man said harshly.

She stopped fighting.

It wasn't that she had given up because that wasn't the reason at all. She had never really enjoyed her time here, and now she was getting a free ride out. So she let herself be dragged along and blindfolded. She let her kidnapper guide her down the tree and towards the unknown.

*

"What the hell did you do?" Ryan exclaimed as he stared down at a cowering Brendon.

"W-what do you, what do you m-mean?" Brendon's stuttered.

"I got a call from someone thanking me for entering a password he needed. The thing was I didn't enter a password. In fact I wasn't even here."

"So? Who says I did it?"

Ryan sighed. "Don't play dumb. It's just going to ruin everything. We were doing so well."

"Ha," Brendon scoffed. "Doing well? You've got to be kidding me."

"Brendon. Don't start."

"What are you gonna do about it?"

Brendon's head whipped to the side as Ryan's hand landed on his cheek. They both stood frozen in that moment, emotions running high. Slowly, Brendon raised a cool hand to his burning cheek.

"What were you thinking? It's not like I wasn't going to find out."

Brendon was too stunned to answer. Sure, he'd gotten into arguments with Ryan before, but never had it escalated to this. Ryan had been so quick to accommodate Brendon's every whim, so quick to shower him in love and affection.

"Well?"

"I don't know," Brendon finally chocked out. "I don't know."

Angrily, Ryan stomped off down the hall, leaving Brendon to retrieve an ice pack from the fridge and press it to his swelling cheek.

And while there was no excuse for what had happened, Brendon couldn't help but sink into the trap so carefully planted. The guilt was eating away at him because if only he had stayed out of that room Ryan wouldn't be mad at him. They be watching a movie or eating dinner together. . . . But then Ryan would sneak away in the middle of the night when he assumed Brendon was asleep to have hushed conversations in the bathroom. He'd be gone for hours during the day, and Brendon never knew what he did.

That night Brendon sat on the couch watching the minutes slip by on the digital clock.

11:57.

No doubt Ryan would be getting up and hunting for his phone among the clutter on the nightstand.

11:58.

No doubt he'd be shuffling his way towards the bathroom, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

11:59.

No doubt he'd be flicking on the light and leaning against the counter in anticipation for a phone call.

12:00.

No doubt he'd answer.

Brendon gathered the bag off the floor by his feet and crept out into the silent night; no indication of his departure left for Ryan to find.

Let the asshole find him, Brendon though, let him fucking try.