The Arrangement

Chapter Forty-Six

Ashton

I can see by the way Carter shifts, that he's about to shut Blair down. He does everything in his power to avoid the subject of Jamie, has done ever since it happened.

If it wasn't for the fact Henley had already swung for him I'd of done the exact same when the two of them admitted they'd kept the fact Blair had been searching for Jamie from us.

I'm sure Henley and Lennox will have it out between them when the rest of us aren't around, but I'm not shoving this to one side anymore.

All these fucking secrets are the reason we're in this situation in the first place. We've been keeping things from Blair and she's clearly been keeping things from us. But it's the fact we've been keeping secrets from each other, that's the final straw for me.

Blair still trembles in my arms as I keep her upright and from the way she winces every time she shifts from one foot to the other, I know she's in pain. Likely causing her feet to bleed through the bandages yet again.

"Sit down and I'll tell you everything" I say to her and I can tell she's cautious by how she tenses.

"Ash-" Carter begins to warn but I don't give him chance.

He's controlled everything up till this point and look where it's got us. His decision making isn't benefitting any of us and it's about time that changes.

"Don't fucking Ash me" I snap cutting him off as I ease Blair back down onto the couch. "I'm telling her, and after she's going to be honest with us as well" I then say holding eye contact with her.

I can sense her resistance and in truth after the way we've just treated her I don't expect she'll tell us anything but us being honest is a start. Even if it does still result in her walking out of here.

Once she's seated on the couch I seat myself on the other end leaving space between us so she doesn't feel as closed in. It doesn't seem to ease her fear through as she grabs a pillow bringing it to her chest, her eyes darting around us all as she waits for the truth.

Taking a deep breath I prepare myself to let the truth out. "Jamie was the last woman we brought in before you" I begin to explain and she nods along as if saying she already guessed that much. "And she's currently a patient in a secure facility" I then go on to say but where I'm expecting shock she just continues to stare at me blankly.

"Why what did you do to her?" She asks glancing round at us all.

"We didn't do anything to her" Carter grits out, evidently on the defensive.

"Oh so locking someone in a basement isn't the norm for you? I guess I just lucked out then" she retorts back with a scoff as she shakes her head.

"Blair we only did that because-" he says in a clear attempt to reason with her.

"Because of my drunken ramblings yeah so you've already said" she cuts in, "but we're not talking about me right now are we" she then says looking to me, urging me to go on.

Sighing I take another deep breath and tell Blair everything. Like how just like her, Jamie had been Carter's idea. How he'd been so insistent on bringing her in, it made the rest of us dismiss the evident warning signs right from the beginning.

"Wait a minute, what do you mean by like how Carter had been with me?" Blair asks cutting in and easily picking up on that detail.

I look to Carter so he can explain this part, expecting him to want to shrug it off. But to my surprise he doesn't.

"You were escorting with that friend of yours and I knew the moment I saw you that we had to bring you in," he begins to explain, ignoring the way Blair's brows pinch together as he continues. "So I paid Tiffany to encourage you take the agreement" at that her brows don't just pinch together, her whole face scrunches up.