Chapter 466: Squeaky Third Wheel
“Master!”
I was rifling through my clothes closet when I heard that, and then there was a muffled thunk, the sound of head colliding with the top shelf.
Loud sounds startle easy, did you know? Especially when you aren’t expecting it at all... I just found that out for myself.
“Yes, present,” I muttered, groaning. “Thanks for the warning.”
Seeing stars, I pulled my head out of the pile of shirts that just avalanched all over me thanks to the impact and turned towards the noise, that voice – that swaying, tipsy, not-so-dignified Knight leaning unsteadily against my doorway with her entire body.
Pretty sure I settled her down nice and easy beneath a tree before I left. Either I wasn’t as gentle as I thought, or...
“Was your bed not comfortable enough or something?” I asked.
.....
Ash had her right cheek squishing heavily on the frame, and so when I saw her pout, she kinda looked like a very angry duck that also just got stuck by an even angrier wasp.
“My pillow abruptly went astray, missing... how am I ever to be at peace without it?” She whimpered, the sound of her low husky voice a surprising appeal to my ears. “Frantically, how I searched and scoured, completely nowhere to be seen. I was alone. My distraught, my horror... oh, I feared the worst.”
Y’know, I really had thought perhaps that a quick nap would have drained all the alcohol from her system. I mean, usually, that’s the case, right?
Yet here she was stumbling, shambling...
Apparently not.
She tripped, and like lightning, I felt my body spur forward, catching her chin on my chest, and breaking her fall.
It was a valiant, worthy sacrifice of a few ribs, as was the air in my lungs as well – and my reward for saving the drunkard in distress?
Why, even more of a beating on my chest, of course. Her fists went flying, hammering very, very, gently against me, that I hardly felt anything. If anything, it actually felt quite nice.
The grumpy pout on her face on the other hand...
“But it’s worst! Worse than worst!” She continued to bemoan, those bleary green eyes staring dazed up at me. “Beyond my horror, beyond my imagination! Master, I never knew you so cruel. How could you?”
“That’s a very good question,” I said, taking her pummeling hands into my own and settling them down. “But before I give you my answer, do you mind telling me first whatever it is you think I did that you’ve come to hate me forever now?”
“No, no hate, I don’t hate you, Master. I jest, I still love you,” She mumbled, distracted, before quickly finding her thought process again. “I tell you so, and yet irregardless you just keep leaving! Leaving me! Why is that? At your side is where I rightfully, truly belong, but it seems as if as of late we’ve been spending more time apart than we do together. It’s strange, it’s worrying, and it’s... it’s lonely...”
I felt her fingers grip tighter, completely intertwining them with my own. Seriously, there’s only so much affection a guy can handle...
“You never mentioned this before,” I said. “And even if I do leave, it’s never for that long.”
“It’s long enough,” She mumbled, taking another deep whiff in the wrinkles of my shirt. “Missing you is my greatest agony, Master.”
It’s like Ash doesn’t have a filter anymore. All her feelings, all her thoughts, no longer having to be funneled through a sense of grace and modesty first. Every word Ash spoke now was truly her in her entirety.
“I’m right here, Ash.”
Yes, but not for long, surely!” She pulled away from me, straightening upright, and did the most snobbish turn of the nose I’ve ever seen. “Surely, again you’ll leave me once more! In fact, you even plan to! You intend to! A scheme, a plot! I know it! I heard it!”
Is there like a short circuit in her emotions? ‘Cause I could have sworn she was being all adorable and meek just a second ago.
I stood there quietly for some time, but it didn’t take long at all for me to finally pinpoint the cause of her outburst. I mean, what else could there be?
“Hardly a master plan,” I said, snickering, turning, and delving my arms back into the pile of clothes on mountain high. “We’re just going for a swim.”
From behind, I heard a kettle whistling. No wait, that’s just Ash again.
“You couldn’t have known about it from me, considering I’m up here, so I’m guessing...” I threw a brief glance, raising a brow at her staring crossed and with her arms crossed. “Adalia?”
“Master, she schemes! She ploys! I know of her intentions! They are bad! Bad intentions! Very bad! Master, can you not see? Do you not realize? Right now you are being manipulated as we speak.”
Well, that’s news to me... considering I was the one that suggested it in the first place. Whatever though, I’ll just keep indulging her for now.
“She intends to usurp my time with you for her own. Using her wits, her cunningness, her... her adorableness! That is how she sought to accomplish her goals. It is evil. Truly!” She paused, giving the thought the moment of contempt it deserves. “And once she has you, I won’t. You’ll be spending your time with her, and not with me. And I’ll be all alone again. Just as she intends. She’s stealing you from me!”
Wow, she really thought this conspiracy through and through here. Almost had me convinced too.
But before I could poke at and widen the holes in her theory, I felt a gust of wind breeze by me, which was strange, considering the window was shut – and the very next second, a voice.
“Not... true...”
Suddenly, Adalia was sitting at the foot end of my bed, her clouded gaze glancing at us both, as if she’s always been there all this while.
Probably has too.
“Won’t... steal... never... steal...” She muttered again, directing her words to a frowny-faced Ash. “Only... borrow...”
“No!” Ash retorted, and I almost was buried alive in another mountain as Ash jumped and clung her arms tight around me. “Master is my Master! Go seek one of your own, if you truly desire one so much!”
Is selfishness like a side effect of alcohol? Can any experienced drunkards out there please verify? ‘Cause I feel like this was a level of clinginess too far.
“Ash, ash!” I called out, before things could manage to escalate. “You know you’re coming too, right?”
At that, I felt her shifting about again, and I felt a tingling in my neck as her long white locks poured over my shoulder. Her gaze to my right, blinking once.
“I am?”
Okay, I guess airheadedness is another one of those nasty side things. It’s a wonder people even drink...
“She... is...?”
You too, Adalia? Really?
“Unless there’s a reason you think that she shouldn’t,” I said, giving the vampire a raised look and a brow. “Is there a reason?”
Adalia’s distant expression remained as mute as ever, giving only a single blink of consideration before she decided.
“No... reason...” She said faintly. “Ash can... come...”
I won’t pretend I didn’t see that look of mild disappointment disappearing with another blink.
Ash was right about one thing, she did have plans, after all – though what they were, guess we’ll never know.
“Here, catch.”
With a quick toss, I flung a set of clothes at both of them. Ash caught hers with her face, and Adalia ripped a small hole in one, plunging into her claws.
The both of them shared the same expression between each other – confusion.
I explained, “Since none of you have any swimwear. I figured some of my old clothes would do just as fine too.”
“Wear... them...?” Adalia whispered, a little reluctance in her tone.
“Master’s clothes....” Ash breathlessly spoke.
“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to,” I quickly said to Adalia, before turning an eye to a grin-bearing Ash. “And you sound like you want to too much.”
Okay, maybe the whole wearing-my-clothes thing was a bad idea...
I promptly took the clothes back, stuffing them in a duffel bag I had stashed under my bed for who knows how long now.
“We’ll figure it out when we get there,” I said, zipping it close. “For now, we’ll just – ”
“Going swimming, I hear?” sounded a familiar gentle voice from beneath the doorway. “So nice and free we are, it seems. It’s so nice to see.”
Okay, this was the third time now someone waltzed into my room unannounced – what is privacy anymore?
Mom’s dark eyes met mine from across the room. Her small wry smile so ominously prominent beneath her kind, kindred gaze.
“It’s rude to eavesdrop,” I said.
“Mmm, perhaps,” She mused, slanting her head sideways. “But I argue it’s even ruder to make such beautiful girls wear your shabby old clothes, blemishing their beauty, their looks! Have you no heart? Oh, why, I don’t recall ever raising you this way.”
“Oh, you really don’t wanna go there, trust me.”
“Ah, yes, fair enough, I suppose,” Mom gave a sheepish smile. “Point still stands however. That is simply no way to treat a girl.”
I raised my arms in the air. “What else is there? You want me to raid Sammy’s closet instead?”
“Even worse.”
“Hey, I’m open to suggestions!” I nudged my head at her. “Well? What would you do then?”
“Me, hmm? Let’s see...” She briefly pondered, before slowly continuing her way across the hallway, with a faint conniving chuckle sounding from a distance. “Girls? Ash? Adalia? Five minutes, please?”
That was her bedroom I heard her voice echo from... in which case, um... hmm...
Adalia followed her lead without a second’s hesitation, but Ash on the other hand.
“Do I? Umm, hmm,” She narrowed her lips, clinging her arms even tighter around me. “Master, must I follow? I wish to stay with you.”
Now that’s cute, but...
“Five minutes, Ash,” I flashed her a smile of encouragement. “It won’t be long at all.”
Sighing, mumbling, grumbling, she whispered, “It’s long enough...”
.....
Ash drew her arms away from me, and wobbling a little unsteadily, she made her way out my room and across the hall, leaving me alone here with nothing but my thoughts to keep myself occupied.
Right then? The hell does she plan? What was her way? She sounded confident, assured. Like it was all part of a plan? Can’t be. That’s such a bloody reach.
What? You telling me the time where I spent in the city preparing to come home, she went out of her way to buy some swimsuits for the girls beforehand ever in case a situation like this arises? No way, she doesn’t know who I was going to bring. Hell, she doesn’t even know anyone’s sizes! Yeah, that can’t be it, no way! Ain’t possible at all...
Right?
Then again, the fact that I was even considering it a possibility after all pretty much means that...
Welp, I sure do hope it was money well spent at least.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om