You call this fate?

Chapter 32

"How do you even plan to hide this?" I inquired curiously. "This is never going to work."

"I will try," she said shortly, pulling out antiseptic wipes and tearing a packet with her teeth.

"Ella's going to notice," I continued. Dread was filling up my chest again. "What will I tell her?"

"Zara, I don't know!" she exclaimed suddenly, hiss-shouting the words. "I don't know anything." She sighed and motioned at me with her hand. "Just turn around."

Propping my hip against the sink, I turned to face her. She placed the cool gauze on my cheek. I winced.

"I am so sorry," she said after some time had elapsed during which she methodically cleaned the cuts and avoided my eyes.

"What for?" I asked mildly, playing with my fingers. They were unmarked. I was faintly surprised. I had expected all of me to be marked. After all, Zayn was a thorough man. I thought about the last image I had of him, lying broken and bleeding against the wall of a store room, Mr. Rodwell's last complementary right hook sending him to sleep again, and smiled internally. Had been a thorough man.

"I should have been there sooner." Her voice was starting to choke. "Christopher should have been there sooner. If it hadn't been for me, he would have been!"

"If it hadn't been for you, I would have gone insane."

Her hands stopped. "What do you mean?"

"Tasha, if you hadn't been there in that room to hold me, I would have shattered into a million pieces right there. In fact, you're the only thing that's holding me together right now."

She stared at me, her eyes wide. "Really?"

I sighed heavily. "Please don't make me say this," I begged. "I am putting on the tough girl act. It's not easy."

"You don't have to. Not with me."

"Actually, I do. Especially with you. I don't want to cry in front of you."

She frowned. "But you cry all the time in front of me."

I exhaled in exasperation. "I know I do, Tasha. And that's why I don't want to right now! You won't understand. It's just like-like I have fooled my brain into thinking I am tough. Don't ruin it, please."

A single tear fell out of her eye and landed on her cheek. I wiped it away with my thumb. "I will keep you safe," she promised, like she always did.

I smiled. "I know," I said, like I always did.

I guess we both knew we were lying, for everything was suddenly out of our hands.

After this the time flew by pretty quickly. The cuts and hickeys cleaned to the best of her potential, she bandaged as many as she could without making me look like a mummy. Then she proceeded to the bruises. There wasn't much that could be done for them now, and even if there was, we didn't know how to, not having enough medical experience to place a sharpened pencil tip on. So Tasha just coated a thick layer of concealer over my skin, hiding them as effectively as she could.

When she was done, I looked at the mirror. "Wow. Nice job. I can't see an-no wait, I can." I shrugged. "As good as it's ever going to get, I guess. You might want to think about reapplying in that beauty school. You sure have potential."

She huffed, but didn't reply. Stowing all the brushes she had used to paint my face back into her bag, she grabbed my arm and put it around her neck. "Come on. Time to go home."

We hobbled out the door and stopped at the curb, where the limousine idled. Conrad stood leaning against the hood, playing with his hat. When he saw us, he immediately sprang forward to open the door, avoiding my eyes. I wondered how much he knew.