Ashes to Ashes (BDTW #3)

Chapter 8

"Uh..." my brother looked at me funnily, as if this were all a joke. My face flushed with embarrassment, trying as hard as I could to keep the shirt covering everything it should be. I wiped my eyes furiously with the dress in my hand, not even willing to speak. I'd completely forgotten about my birthday today. November second.

"I'm not going to talk about it," I told them steadily as I furiously stallked away from Jackson's apartment. They followed quickly behind, shooting rapid fire questions.

"What's wrong?"

"What did he do to you?"

"Where the fuck are your clothes?" (Bass)

"Why are you crying?"

"SHUT UP!"

My voice instantly stopped them in their tracks. Turning to see their shocked faces, they listened, at least, and we made it (thankfully) unseen back to Bass's apartment. Once arrived, Tris immediately threw me some of her extra clothes and I began pulling on some pants while they patiently waited on the sofa in the living room. Glancing down at the outfit Tris had given me, I cringed.

Tight black pants with a black cropped shirt that showed off my arms and my stomach.

I entered the living room, and my brother took one glance at me then glared at Tris. She simply stared at the both of us with an alarmed look on her face.
"What?" she said with a high voice. "I'm sorry, it's laundry day!"

Letting out a frustrated sigh, I sat across from the pair of them, crossing my arms to cover my stomach. They both sat there with coffee mugs, staring at me expecting answers, and for anything I could've thought in the world at that exact moment, I came across the thought of how much they looked like parents trying to subtly interrogate their daughter about her boyfriend.

"We just got into a fight. That's it." I stated.

Bass eyed me suspiciously. "About what?"

"Really? I thought today was my birthday, not completely invade my privacy day," I mumbled the last part and Tris almost spit out her coffee from laughter.

Bass glared at her. "We just want to know what's wrong."

"Well, I was just trying to break things off, okay? I realized things I hadn't before, and made a decision," I finally spit it out after summoning the will to say the words.

"Realized what?" said Tris. "Did he say anything to you? About Bass? About everything that happened in Erudite?" Bass was sitting on the edge of the sofa, his eyes sharp and his muscles clenched. Something seemed off about the pair of them.

"No, the relationship," I said, as if it were obvious. "I realized I can't do this right now. Not in the middle of everything that's happening."

"Oh, okay," murmured Bass, who seemed to instantly relax back into the recliner. Why was this okay to him? What was going on?

"What the hell are you guys hiding from me? Like, seriously, I'm not a two year-old anymore. I'm not going to act out. If you could just tell me the truth, things would be so much simpler." Though I tried to sound calm, the blood within me began to furiously boil.

"There's something, about Erudite, that we haven't told you yet," Bass said carefully. "Not about what's happening now, but last time."

The air was thick. The couple eyed each other alarmingly, seeming to still debate whether they should tell me or not. My head felt light, my fingers trembled. This never went well.

"I knew that Jackson sold you out. I knew what he did to you before he told me. He came to me, a week after it'd been done, and he was a mess, he told me everything that happened. He told me that they were going to take you soon, probably near the Initiation ceremony, which incidentally was the night they took you. That's why I always made sure you were with someone, why I gave you the gun, the knife, why I told you to stick in large groups, because I knew Eric was going to try to take you away, and I'd made sure that I would catch him on the security cameras, so he would be charged with attempted kidnap and murder.