Rubble (Riders of Apollo #7)

Epilogue: Asa Michaels

"Are you sure you want to do this?" June asks me for the twentieth time in the last week.

"I'm sure." I stare at the house in front of me. My heart racing and my chest tightening. It looked so big when I was younger, it just looks like a disgusting bungalow that is in desperate need of a paint job.

My mother called me. I kept the shitty Nokia I had from when I was young in case they ever needed anything. They had never called me before. She was crying and begging me to help her, saying my father had got himself put in jail and she can't live without him. Now, I'm stood in front of the house from my nightmares trying to calm myself down.

"Do you want me to knock?" I nod, squeezing June's hand desperately. The door is thrown open and I almost collapse at seeing my mother. She looks so much older than I remember, her hair turning silver and her skin sallow, marked with fine lines.

"Asa!" She moves to hug me but I shuffle away from her. I accidentally put June between us but she doesn't seem to mind.

"Hi, Mrs. Michaels." Her soft voice comforts me and I tighten my grip on June. I'm ready to pass out at this point.

"Why don't you two come in?"

"Umm, I don't think that's the best idea... Maybe we could go to the diner across the street and get some food, we've been travelling for a few hours." I lean my head onto the back of June's shoulder in relief. She knows me so well that she recognises what being inside that house means to me.

"Okay, I'll freshen up and meet you there." I follow June to the diner, still shaky on my feet. She doesn't push me to say anything, just orders some coffee and keeps her hand on my thigh while I fiddle with my cutlery anxiously. "Thank you." Mom utters when June passes her the mug of coffee, unfortunately, all attention then turns back to me again.

I want to behave like a toddler and slide under the table in a hissy fit. "Hi, honey." Mom greets, sliding her hands across the table to find mine but I pull them away, wrapping them around the hand June has in my lap. "Thank you for coming. I know it was probably hard for you."

"I don't know why you want me here." My voice sounds strange to me like I've reverted back to my seven-year-old self.

"I've missed you so much."

"You haven't called. You only called because dad's gone and you need me to help you."

"I'm embarrassed by that, Asa-"

"My name is Rubble." I bite out, shocking my mother.

"Rubble. I didn't know what to do, you know your relationship with your father was difficult. I couldn't do anything about it."

"He beat me, mom. You just stood there, high or drunk, and let him do it. Now he's gone, you want my help."

"I need your help, Asa-Rubble. I won't make it through the month without it." I reach over into June's lap and bring her legs over mine, desperately needing more contact. June hugs my arm to her chest while I try and calm my breathing.

"What do you need from me?"

"Money." And there's the final hit. She doesn't want to have a relationship with me, she hasn't missed me for a second and she doesn't care. I feel an overwhelming breath of relief, realising that the woman sat opposite me isn't my mother. She never was and never will be.

"Here." I pull out twenty-five grand from June's handbag - money that I withdrew for this exact reason - and drop it on the table in front of her. I put the shitty Nokia down next to it. "Never contact me again."

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I sigh in both relief and sadness as I snuggle into June's chest, my arms wrapped tightly around her waist. Her slender fingers slide through my hair as I do so. "Are you okay?"

"It's weird, for the first time in a long time, I feel good about my relationship with my parents. At least now there's closure, I'm not waiting for them to contact me, I'm not waiting for them to tell me that they love or need me. It's just quiet."

"I love you and I need you." I smile and roll my neck up to look at her. She smiles down at me, placing a kiss on my nose and then my forehead. "You know, I am amazed that we got here."

"What do you mean?"

"Four months ago I was staring out of my bedroom window waiting for the chance to run away and now here I am in the house I've always dreamed of, with my dream job and you." I lift her shirt and tuck myself underneath it, making her laugh and try and shove me out of it. "What are you doing?"

She squeals when I bite down on her stomach. "It's cold out there, now I'm warm."

"Well I was trying to tell you how much I appreciate you and now your head is under my shirt."

"It's very nice under here." I nibble at the underside of her breast and she heaves in a breath. "I would quite happily live in here, you know? Then we'd never have to go anywhere without each other."

"You and your separation anxiety."

"Well if you weren't so fucking amazing and if I didn't love you as much as I do then it wouldn't be a problem. So, we can draw the conclusion that this is actually your fault."

"My fault? You're the one with your head in my shirt."

"I like it in here. With that attitude, I'm going to stay under here until you don't want me to leave."

"I never want you to leave... that's why I got this." She forces something into my hand and I have to take my head out of the shirt to look at it. I flick my eyes between the key and her scared face a few times before she rolls me onto my back and straddles my stomach. "Are you happy?"

"Are you asking me to move in with you Miss Channing?"

"Yes, Mr. Michaels, I'm asking you to move in with me."

"Then I am saying yes, June. Yes, to everything."