Chapter 3: It was a spider

"Open it."

"No, you open it," I argued back.

Both me and Blake were very much aware of what was waiting for us on the other side of the door and neither of us wanted to take the impact. This wasn't the first time we had stayed out until dark. I often needed some space from all the huge muscular male in the house. The testosterone in the air was simply overwhelming. Previously we had kept up with our excuse of late-night netball practice for a match the next day, which worked quite well until Harry had seen my coach elsewhere when I was supposedly at netball practice.

"Okay, let's just open it together," Blake suggested after a grumble.

It seemed like a better idea to equally divide the impact since it was mostly my fault anyway. "On the count of three," I announced and started counting as quietly as possible although anyone standing a few feet from the door would've heard Blake and I bickering, "One...two...three."

Blake turned the knob on the door as we pushed the door open to reveal an angry looking Harry. Just as I was expecting.

Harry, is almost the same height as Blake just an inch or two taller. He's blonde and has pretty green eyes. Harry is 25 years old and from what I've learned after having 'the talk' with him, he never wants to get married which the reason he would never tell. Harry is like a brother to me and I'm like a sister to him, so if anything happens to me, he would flip faster than a chicken on the run.

I could practically see the steam coming out of his ears. His tomato-coloured face only made him look more like a devil than he already was. My eyes lowered to avoid meeting his gaze, fixing on his fists that were clenched by his sides as if to keep himself from physically reacting to the situation.

Blake was standing next to me and from the corner of my eyes I could see that his hands were cooly in his pockets. Blake was probably used to getting scolded, especially by my father so it wasn't a surprise to me when he was acting so relaxed.

"Ashley Ann Brooks!" Harry shouted, "Do you know what time is it, now?"

The tone of his voice made me jump slightly, my heart was racing in fear. I didn't know what to say. I wish I was as used to it as Blake was but no matter how many times I get yelled at by Harry, it only gets scarier.

I could not find my voice to answer him so I simply stayed silent as I kept my eyes on my shoes that had specks of cut grass stuck to them. I tried to train my attention on the pattern of the grass to distract my mind.

"What took you so long to come back?" Harry continued and paused as if waiting for an answer. When I didn't respond, he yelled, "Ashley, I'm talking to you!"

At this point, it was getting harder to block him out. Tears brimmed my eyes once again, lowering my head even more so no one would be able to see how weak I was.

"Harry, it's my fault that we're late. She didn't do anything," Blake defended and I could see his feet moving to stand in front of me, acting as a shield in case Harry does anything.

Slowly but hesitantly, I lifted my head and immediately wiped away the tears as I look over Blake's broad shoulder at Harry. He was still fuming red and the look in his eyes only made me cower in my spot.

"I wasn't talking to you, Blake," Harry snapped, the glare in his eyes only intensifying.

Blake didn't budge at all. Harry didn't move either and kept on glaring until I felt that they would burn a hold through each other's heads, which isn't an image I ever want to see. They looked like they were having a mental argument that no one could hear except for them. Finally, after what felt like hours, Harry sighed, "We'll talk about this later. Ashley, go get changed. Baltizar prepared dinner." Without another word or glance, he walked away and disappeared into the kitchen.

By the time my attention was off of Harry, Blake was already facing me with an obvious look of concern in his eyes. I forced a shaky smile to reassure him. "I'm fine, Blake. I'm going to take a shower. I'll see you at dinner," I assured as stable as my voice allowed before walking away as well, leaving him standing there. I was not ready for another round of emotional challenge as I was very close to completely breaking down.

I entered my room and immediately felt comfortable. I relaxed my shoulders and let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

Let me just tell you about my room. My room is huge. Like, really, really, humongous. I have a king-sized bed in the corner and a huge walk-in closet filled with clothes for every season, every occasion and every situation though I never really had the chance to try all of them on. Apparently, father had picked out most of the outfit so I wasn't looking forward to seeing what he had chosen. There is a full-length mirror by the other corner of my room and still have plenty of space to put more things. Oh, and my own attached bathroom. My room is a cosy Espresso brown. The bathroom contrasted in white with the typical elements such as the tub, shower, his and her sink and a toilet.

The house in general was almost the size of a mansion. If it weren't for the guards that my father had left for my protection, it would feel very lonely living in here. My father was barely around. He was always travelling due to, he said and I quote, "business." I've never really asked him about it and he has never told me either. Sometimes he calls if he was visiting or if he needed to inform something important.

I sighed as I felt the warm water hit my skin, soothing all the tense muscles and knots. I stayed under the warm water for too long, judging by the way I look in the mirror. My skin resembled the way Harry looked when he was angry. I surprised myself when I was able to laugh about it as I dried my hair with the towel.

Reaching towards the mirror, I wiped the fogged up surface with my hand to get a clearer look of my bare body. I had never liked my body but then again, most people don't. Everyone wants to look perfect and have a model-like body. I used my hands to press my breasts together, pursing my lips when they still looked rather small. I turned around and looked over my shoulder at my lower body. Nothing was particularly special or impressive.

I clicked my tongue and face the mirror once again, this time only focusing on my face. I remembered when I was ten, my father used to tell me that I looked just like mother. He had even showed me a picture of her when she was younger and he was right. I lifted my hand to the mirror, stroking the reflection of my face. She probably looked just like this when she passed away.

A knocking on the door snapped me back to reality as I quickly tied the towel around my body and stepped out of the bathroom. The knocking continued before the familiar voice was heard through the door, "Ash, it's your father. He's on the-"

That was all Blake had to say to make me open the door by a crack as I was still in my towel. I quickly took the phone from him and immediately shut the door, not wanting him to see me like this even though we had known each almost our whole lives and he might've already seen me naked when we were younger.

I put the phone to my ear and waited to hear the voice I had been longing for. Logically, a normal person would utter a 'hello' but I needed to hear it from my father first.

"Ashley?" The voice made me involuntarily sigh, happily.

"Hi, dad." Surprisingly, my voice did not come out as a whisper.

"Hey, honey, how have you been? I'm so sorry it took me so long to call you. Things have been quite..." there was a pause on the other end, "consuming."

I tapped the speaker icon on the phone and set it on my bed, "I'm okay, dad. I was waiting for your call and I'm so glad to finally hear from you. Is everything alright over there?" I proceeded to take a black over-sized shirt from the folded pile in the wardrobe along with a pair of comfortable shorts.

"Everything is fine, love. Now the reason I called you," My father began as I tossed the towel onto the bed and start to get dressed, "I wanted to tell you that-"

Before I could completely listen to what my father had to say, I heard my room door open and I immediately screamed. My vision was blocked by my shirt over my head. I had no idea who had came in but thankfully I had already put my shorts on. I quickly finished putting the shirt on only to see Blake standing but the door with a tantalising smirk as he mouthed a 'wow.'

"Ashley? What happened? Is everything okay?" I could hear my father sounding worried over the phone.

I grabbed a pillow from the bed and tossed it at Blake who swiftly caught it. I grumbled in frustration but decided to let him be as I took my phone, "Don't worry, dad. It was a..." I looked over at Blake who was making his way to my bed and collapsing on his back onto the bed, "a spider. I handled it though." I sat on the edge of my bed, keeping my back to Blake.

I could hear rustling in the background before my father's voice resumed through the speakers, "Anyways, I was calling to tell you that I'm taking a flight tonight so I should be back tomorrow, first thing in the morning."

Hearing all that, formed an automatic smile on my lips and the fact that he sounded happy when he said that only made me smile even wider. "That's amazing, dad. I can't wait to see you," I could not hide the excitement in my voice.

"Me too, honey. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night." The rustling in the background was getting louder. I guess he was still doing some last-minute packing.

"Bye, dad, good night," I answered and waited for him to hang up before turning around and giving the phone back to Blake. I raised a brow at him afterwards, "What are you doing here?"

Blake flinched and placed his hand over her chest, "Ouch. Way to make me feel wanted."

I couldn't help but chuckle slightly as I lightly hit his arm, "I'm hungry. Let's go." With that I stood up from the bed and stretched without having to worry about my stomach showing as the hem of the shirt reached above my knees.

"After that, it's homework," he notified, "Harry was on my tail for days when you got detention for not completing your assignment."

I groaned internally.

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- S.R. Fizz