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“And Earl, you gave it back when she landed her ass right back here. This is done. I won’t call again.”
He hung up, and I threw my phone across the room.
I’d find a way to protect Ashley.
She was mine. She didn’t know it yet, but the moment it was right, I was coming for her.
Chapter Eighteen
Ashley
Two weeks later
I was leaving tomorrow. Excitement filled every single part of my body. My hands shook a little. I’d be alone, but there was already a job lined up for me at a restaurant on the other side of London. I wasn’t going back to the place that knew me as my other name. I’d be free to be myself, and I couldn’t wait.
My bags were already packed.
Rather than check on absolutely everything for the sixth time, I’d decided to head to the kitchen to cook one last meal.
A cake was already cooling. I’d made the frosting, and that was waiting to be spread all over. Now I was baking an entire head of cauliflower, crazy but also fun. I’d been trying out a bunch of new recipes the past few weeks after seeing some experiments online. This one I was baking in a tomato roasted sauce.
It sounded so good. My mouth watered for a taste, and the scents coming from the sauce made me hungry.
“I’m going to miss you,” Drake said, coming into the kitchen.
I smiled at him, keeping my hands busy as I made a salad.
Amelia, River’s sister, was also around. I’d rarely seen her. She either kept to her room or ate in the kitchen. She wasn’t mean, but I’d come to realize she was incredibly shy and had a way of sneaking around the house undetected. Three days ago, I’d managed to meet her. She’d been eating breakfast when I entered. For a good ten minutes, she didn’t say anything until she finally spoke hello softly to me.
That was all she said.
I’d kept on talking to help fill the silence. I didn’t know if it helped, but I liked to think it did.
She was … different.
“You’re going to miss my cooking,” I said.
“You can’t cook well. Honestly, it’s disgusting.”
I laughed as he wrinkled his nose. “You’re cute when you lie.”
“Damn, woman, I’m clearly losing my touch.”
“No, you’re not. I get it. You don’t want me to feel bad for leaving and then you’re going to have to find another cook.”
The cook who had been here before I turned up quit. Everyone had asked for me to cook instead. I didn’t even know their name, and I never saw them in the kitchen. At first, I thought they were happy to not have to do any work. Now they lost their job, and I did like cooking a lot.
Emily told me not to worry about it, and so I didn’t. Tomorrow would be the start of a whole new life for me. One I intended to grasp with both hands.
I couldn’t wait.
Earl Valentine.
His name was like a whisper in my ear.
Even as the days were filled with excitement where I held control over what I could think about. If he so much as came close to the surface, I got busy. I made sure I was distracted. He couldn’t invade my thoughts, at least not for too long.
At night, that was a whole different game.
I couldn’t stop him from invading them.
He did so all the time. The nights were always the worst. When memories flooded and desires rushed through my body as if they had a right to. They didn’t.
I hated it.
Even though I was carving an entire life out for myself away from all of this, he still filled my mind.
I wondered all the time if he was okay.
Did he think about me?
“Earth to Ashley,” Drake said, snapping his fingers.
I swatted at his hand but smiled, not letting him see where my thoughts had drifted. “Don’t go snapping your fingers in my face. It’s so rude.”
“I’ve got a call. You were way too off in your own little world. We’ll talk when I get back.”
I laughed. “You don’t have to keep trying to make me feel better.”
“I can see it, Ash. You’re not a very good liar.”
Pressing my lips together, I tried to gain focus once again and forced a smile to my lips. “I’m fine.”
“Are you saying that because you believe it or to make me believe it?”
“Does it even matter which one?” I asked.
I didn’t know what I was doing, why I was even talking to him. He was right, though. I was a bad liar.
Once he left, I looked at the salad in front of me and tuned Earl Valentine out of my head. Thinking of him didn’t help.
With my focus back on food, I went to the fridge. This was going to be a fully loaded salad, with everything on it. Olives, artichokes, salad leaves, avocado, and so much more. I even grabbed some feta.
