Chapter Thirty-Three | Cabin In The Woods
For the first time in a long time, my heartfelt full. It's an unexplainable feeling, one I'm not quite used to especially since the reason for that feeling Asher Montgomery. Crazy to think only a few months ago we were at each other throats and now we're . . . well still in each other throats but with an entirely different meaning.
The weekend came quicker than I expected it wasn't long before it was Saturday night. I stood outside on my balcony overlooking the area. The moon hovering above me, full and bright.
I wonder if the moon ever gets lonely.
It most likely does. I mean, there's no one up there. The stars that usually crowd the night sky didn't come out to play tonight so it's just the moon. The moon was a warm milky glow in the sky as if the sight of it could become a song in the eyes of anyone willing to raise their head upward. I wanted to take the moon and place it in my pockets if I could, but that's impossible because of logic.
Asher texted me told me he should be pulling up to our front gate any moment now. Good, I was already dressed and ready to go. Since the drive to the cabin was a couple of hours away I decided to pack a little backpack too, plus it goes great with my outfit. The only things I put in the backpack were the jewelry box and photos, along with a few other miscellaneous things. I even got some Sour Patch Kids just because I know Asher goes crazy over them.
My phone suddenly vibrates and before I can ever check the message I see headlights at the front gate. I couldn't fight the smile that came over my face at the sight of Asher's familiar Rang Rover. He flickered the lights as a signal that he was out here and I couldn't help but laugh to myself.
I know in most movies with the teen sneaking away from home they usually escape by jumping out the window or balcony, but I live in a two-story manor. Jumping out the window or falling from the balcony is a death sentence. I think back to the time I made Asher jump from the balcony, but that situation was different. I didn't like him then and his health concerns were the least of my worries. He survived through but Asher's built like that, tough and lean. I'm a peach. I bruise too easily.
I grabbed my backpack and make my way out of my room. I looked out into the hall to see it empty and quiet. Not a Claremont insight. I slowly closed the door behind myself. I gave one last look down the hallway before I started making my way towards my father's office. I needed to get one last thing before I leave.
I made it to the double doors of the office and twisted the knob. The room was completely dark and still, so that's when I clicked on the lights I nearly jumped out of my skin when I spotted my father in his Velvet robe swaying in a desk chair behind his office. His blue eyes motioned over to me, his face an expressionless void of pure disappointment and disdain.
"W-what are you doing up?" I stumbled over my own words, staring down at my watch. It's almost one in the morning. I've never known my father to stay up past eleven.
"What am I doing up?" He repeated my sentence like it was the most ridiculous thing he's ever heard. "I should be asking you what are you doing up so late, but I think we both know that I'd rather not know the answer to that."
The blue in his eyes looked like a burning fire, not yet dangerous but ready to explode at any moment. His stare only hardens on me when I walked closer to him in the office now standing directly in front of his desk. The body still, limbs stiff and my thoughts racing.
"Looking for this?" Dangling in between my father's hand was the necklace Asher had given me. My eyes widened at the sight and I balled my fist not daring to reach over to the desk and snatch it from him. He twirled it around in the light, his face examining it with a look of disgust. "I don't know why you care about this thing so much. It's basic."
"Can I just have it back?" I decided to ask nicely already knowing the answer.
My father pushed himself up from the office chair now standing to his full height. "Now why should I do that? So you can run back to that boy?"
"You know his name. Asher Montgomery." I bit back this time.
He let out a disgusted groan, his lips up turning into an unpleasant scowl. "Do you not realize how stupid you look getting involved with someone like him? That boy is nothing but trouble and I told you to stay away from him and you completely disobey my word and go out of your way for him time and time again. Why?"
"Because I love him-"
"You don't know what love is!" My words were cut short by my father slamming his fist down on the office desk. The sound roaring like thunder through the office that I'm sure Asher himself heard from outside the gate inside his car.
"You don't know what I know. All you ever do ignore anything I ever want unless it's dealing with the company!" Frustrated, I exhaled a groan before turning on my heels and making my way out of the office. Asher's waiting on me, I don't have time for this.
I make my way out of the office and see my mother coming out of the master bedroom rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Liam, what are you doing up?" She yawned and I ignored her, continuing to make my way downstairs.
"Liam, don't you walk away from me. Have you lost your mind?" I could hear the loud words of my father as I rushed down the stairs not even bothering to look back. I didn't have a reason to.
I kept walking, only a few steps away from the front door.
"Liam!" The call of my name was the last thing I heard before I felt myself being yanked back by my backpack. Even though I kinda had a feeling it was coming, my arms were too slow to cushion my fall and I fell to the ground.
"Pierre!" I heard my mother shout from her position on the stairs, both hands over her mouth.
I pushed myself off the ground though, not letting a second pass by. "Hush Penelope, the boy thinks he's some sort of man now because of that boy. I knew we shouldn't have given him back that phone. He's too far gone." My father ranted over me as I got to my feet.
"He's in love so he says." He mocked childishly and if I had it in me I would've slapped him right then and there.
"That's not real love, Liam." My mother added, coming closer to the scene.
I kissed my teeth at her, adjusting my backpack and fixing my stance. "Who the fuck are you to judge?" I snapped.
She gasped aloud, fixing her purple robe. "Don't swear at me!"
"Seriously, Mom, who are you to judge my relationship with Asher? You've spent your entire marriage being a lap down for daddy!"
My father gritted his teeth, the blue flames in his eyes growing larger and larger by the minute. "Watch your mouth boy!"
I shook my head no at them. "I'm tired of holding my tongue. I'm just saying, love, is a million things. Sometimes it feels good and sometimes it doesn't. The one thing I know is that Asher loves me no matter what. He'd fucking kill for me, and I'd kill for him. It feels good to know that there's one person in this whole fucked up world who has my back. You think I want this?"
"Mom you spend your whole marriage doing whatever it is dad tells you. I bet you can't even tell me the last time you did something because you wanted to. I don't want that life for me. I want to make my own choices and do my own thing. Fuck that company and fuck whatever else you two are trying to force on me!" I could feel the lump swell in my throat and the tears threaten to fall from my eyes but I refuse. My parents have gotten too many tears out of me these last few weeks. Not anymore.
My father drew my face a bare inch from his so that I could feel the words as well as hear them. "What did you just say?"
"Fuck the company." Those words didn't sit right with my father and I knew that the moment they left my lips.
Everything happens so fast and my brain is too slow to keep up. I just know that when my father's hand hit my cheek, it's more of a sound than a feeling: a pop like a distant hammer hitting a nail. I scrambled for balance, but my foot tripped over one another and my father let me fall, again. When the side of my body hit the ground the pain immediately hissed in my right shoulder.
"Pierre!" I could hear my mouth scream again.
"Oh, shut up," My father said, tired. "He was talking like a man. He can take a little hit."
I slowly tried to push myself off my hands and knees, but the aching pain in my shoulder was weighing me down. I held onto it hoping that soothed the pain but it was kinda hard to tell with my parents yelling at me while they stood over me like towers. The shouting seemed to only increase the pain, but everything quickly went silent when the front door of the house came crashing open. I didn't even have time to look back, everything happened way too fast.
"You brave enough to come in my house," My father growled.
"Shut the fuck up," Asher snarled, running past me and smashing a fist into the side of Pierre Claremont's face. I don't know who screamed first me or my mother, or maybe I thought it. I don't know.
I just know Asher picked me up from the ground and turned me to him, a worried expression on his face. "You okay?" He asked.
I nodded. "I'm fine."
And that was all the confirmation he needed before intertwining our hands and running out the house with me following right behind him. Everything felt warm. The kinda warm you feel when you're in the passenger seat during a rainy day, or when you finally take off uncomfortable shoes after hours of wearing them. I don't know the word for it, but the feeling made everything seem way better than it was, and as I and Asher ran towards his car outside the gate the feeling only started to grow inside me.
"Liam if you leave you better not ever come back! Do you hear me!" My father's voice sounded off from behind me and I stopped in my tracks. I turned around to see him leaning against one of the entranceway pillars. Hand to his jaw, my mother behind him tried to comfort his wound.
I try to take the image in thinking this may be the last time I see my parents because I wasted no time turning back around and running toward Asher's car outside the gate that he had managed to burst open.
I practically hopped in the passenger seat. The doors aren't even fully closed before I'm surprised to find myself hauled up to Asher's mouth and kissed him hungrily. It was like revisiting an old addiction. Strong and intense and I didn't want to pull away, but when we did Asher wasted no time starting the car and pulling off.
"I told you I could beat your old man." He nudged me playfully and I chuckled, rolling my eyes. "Let's just hope you can beat his lawyers. Me and you both."
Asher throws an arm around me and brings me closer to him. He smells like cinnamon, and I relish in his scent. He rubs a hand up and down my shoulder and it soothes the shooting pain that once erupted through it. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I think." I answer truthfully. I honestly didn't know how to feel.
"I should've run in sooner. I would have tackled his ass. I hate seeing them talk to you like that." His grip on the steering wheel tightly and I rubbed his thigh to calm his nerves.
"It's whatever. We won't ever have to worry about them ever talking to me again because I'm not going back home."
"And you shouldn't. Your folks are toxic as hell. You don't need that in your life." I felt Asher's hand intertwine with my own and he lifted it and placed kisses all around it. "You're with me now though. We can only go up from here."
••••
Asher and I drove around the city to the local gas station so he could fill his tank for the long trip ahead of us, and that's when I took the time to explain to him all the things I found in my father's office from the jewelry box, the photos, the key, and the cabin.
"You grandpa looks like he voted for Trump," Asher commented, holding the photo closer to his face so he could see it better.
"Give me that damn photo," I snatched it back from him and he laughed to himself returning his attention to the now half-empty pack of Sour Patch Kids I bought for him. "But do you understand what I'm trying to figure out here?"
Asher nodded, tossing another piece of candy into his mouth. "You wanna go to this cabin in hopes that we find some answers about your grandpa. For what? I don't know but I support everything you do."
"I just wanna know that if my grandfather was having an affair with who and did the affair lead up to his murder?"
"My grandfather murdered him, remember?" Asher said sarcastically and I shook my head no.
"I don't think so. You said it yourself, your grandfather was framed but by who? That's the real question."
"Relax, Nancy Drew," Asher finished filling his tank and got back in the car. "I can't believe you have me doing this. I can't believe any of this."
I buckled myself back up. "Right. It seems like just yesterday we were trying to drown each other in the sandbox."
"And now we're fucking and sucking. Man times have changed." Asher exhaled a sigh, and I shoved him playfully.
Asher tried to start the car again, but he stopped in his tracks when his phone suddenly rings. The called ID shows up on the car monitor and I instantly turn my head to look at it because who the hell is calling him at this time of the night? I'm right here. But when I see it's Toby Kim I can't help but raise my brow in a questioning manner.
"Toby?"
Asher shrugged his shoulders, a clueless expression on his face as he picked up the phone and put it on speaker.
"H-hello? Asher?" Toby's voice came through shaky, and it was hard to hear him properly with the loud music going on in the background.
"Toby, you good?" Asher worried eyes darted from the phone to mine.
"Yeah I'm fine," He started, there was shuffling going on over the phone. "I'm so sorry for calling you this late at night I feel like such a bad person, but uh, are you doing anything? Are you busy?" He asked.
Asher looked at me again, expecting me to answer for him and I shook my head no. We're never too busy for a friend.
"I'm not. What's up?"
"Can you pick me up from this party at Ryders? I kinda got tricked into going by this girl who I thought liked me, maybe I misread her I don't know, but now I'm here all alone with these Stratford kids and they — can you just come to pick me up, please?" He choked on his words and just the sound of it made my chest tighten.
"We're on the way, Toby!" I shouted into the phone. I gestured for Asher to start the car and he did.
"L-Liam?"
I smiled at how he said my name. "Yep, that's me. Hi. You can stay on the phone with us if you'd like? If that helps you."
The line was quiet for a second before Toby said, "It helps a lot. Thank you, guys." He smiled into the phone.
••••
When we got to Ryder's house I easily saw the Stratford students lingering around in his front yard. From my view, I could see a bunch of people standing around with red party cups in their hands, and a large crackling fire surrounded by more people in the backyard. The music here was loud but not too loud where I felt the need to scream whenever I wanted to talk. It seemed like any normal high school party. Wack.
Asher parked along the side of the road with a few other cars before getting out. I was already out by the time Asher even made his way around the car. This environment was weird which is strange considering I live only a block away from here, but just being here didn't give me the same rush it would have a couple of months ago. I'm almost disgusted at the scene.
Upon entering the house I was greeted with the many familiar faces of the students of Stratford students. They all acknowledged me, eyes squiring with pure hatred, mouths moving with gossip, and lies. I hear it all, the rumor, lies, and the disgust that drips from people's tongues whenever they say my name. And the crazy thing is, the only person at this school knows me and he's walking beside me matching the glares of the passing student's none of them daring to test me or him.
When we make our way back to where the real party was my eyes immediately scanned the scene for Toby. Ryder's backyard was filled with students in the pool and hot-tub, some dancing around the edges to the music that blasted from the speakers, and some making out in the lounge chairs. Under all the foam and strobe lights it wasn't all that impressive.
Asher spots Toby standing against the wall with his hands in the pocket of his hoodie. He looked so out of place compared to everyone else in their swimsuits and shorts.
"Toby!" I called out for him getting his attention. He turned to us and his monolid eyes lit up the brightest I've ever seen them.
"Liam, Asher!" He waved like a child and I couldn't help but match his smile. "I haven't seen you in so long. Have you gotten taller?"
"Toby, it's only been a couple of weeks and I've always been tall." I reminded him and he blinked at me. "Oh."
"You ready to go?" Asher asked him, and Toby quickly nodded.
Turning around I came face to face with dripping wet Ryder and what seemed to be all of Stratford behind him. Ryder's brownish-blonde hair damped to his head, water dripping down tanned skin with his arms folded across his chest. Imani stood next to him a two-piece, her curly hair tied back into a ponytail. They looked cute together. Two wet dogs.
"Leaving so soon Liam?" Ryder was the first to speak and I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, this party kinda sucks." I bluntly told him.
Asher stood beside me and Ryder raised a brow at him, his eyes scanning him up and down. "New guard dog?" He joked, earning a few laughs. I could feel Asher about to pounce on him, but I pressed a hand against his chest.
This is my fight.
"Yeah, my old one switched up on me and tried to steal my girlfriend," I replied, sending Imani a snarl.
Ryder chuckled to himself. "There's no tried. I did."
"You're pathetic Ryder."
He blinked at me, taken aback. "Oh, I'm pathetic. Dude, you're an abuser—"
I cut him off before he could even finish. I don't have time for a recap. "Oh quit the theatrics. You and I both know that was a lie because little miss perfect over here couldn't accept the fact that I broke up with her needy ass, and you just couldn't wait because you've always had it out for me Ryder. You've always envied me and I don't understand how I couldn't see it before. You've always wanted everything that I have."
Ryder scoffed, unfolding his arms as the crowd started to send him looks not knowing who to believe. I don't care, I know the truth.
"You've always been jealous of me. Even after all the things my family has done for you and your family," His eyes widened at my words and he knew where I was going but I didn't care. "When your grandparents brought their asses over here to America on that raggedy-ass boat not speaking a lick of English, it was my grandparents that taught them English and gave them a job at our company. If it wasn't for my family you would have nothing. You come from nothing. You are nothing and that's where we differ."
"This type of lifestyle is something that's been in my family for generations. I was born with luxury to my name while your family was born with nothing and had to sneak and smooch their way to where they are now. You may think you've taken my spot, but you've only lost a real friend because I'm pretty sure none of these Stratford trust fund brats are you gonna want to hang out with you knowing your family is just filled with beggars. Too bad you bit the only hand that feeds you."
I sent Ryder a tight lip smile, before grabbing ahold of Asher and Toby and pushing past him and Imani.
"Oh, Imani I'll see you in court. Defamation Of Character is a hell of a crime." I waved her goodbye, not even bothering to glance at her. She didn't deserve it. Neither of them did.
"That was hot," Asher said to me, as we got in the car and I laughed at how my arguing could turn him on. He's so weird.
••••
Excuse any mistakes or errors