My demons: Healing (book 3)

Celebration

After Sky was done explaining, the room grew eerily silent for a few moments before Claire snapped. She was hurt. Not only because Sky put her life on the line but because she didn't even ask for her opinion. She was hurt her own wife would hide something like that from her instead of involving her in her decision making process. 

"We are supposed to be a team," she all but whispered in defeat after solid five minutes of yelling. "I'm your wife for god's sake."

"Claire, I didn't mean to hurt you," Sky sighed. "I just didn't want to argue about it with you again, you always put my life above yours. And I didn't go just because they threatened you again. They shot Nathan. They could have killed him or Aisha yesterday. What then? Where does it end?"

"It was a suicide mission."

"Alex said the same thing. Honestly, you two need to understand that I'm not a baby. Nor am I suicidal. We had a plan and we executed it flawlessly. Trust me, I made sure I wouldn't be unnecessarily exposed to danger," Sky ran her fingers through her hair in frustration, hoping Claire would calm down soon enough and see reason.

"You knew?" Claire turned to Alex, eyes filled with betrayal. 

"Hey, I was against it as much as you!" Alex rose her arms up. 

"Then why didn't you tell me?" Claire sighed. Alex' heart ached for her, but she couldn't change the past, she wouldn't even if she could. "Wasn't part of the plan," she said, shrugging hopelessly. 

"Rose told her not to," Jade supplied.

Claire rolled her eyes before putting her head in her hands. She was so done with this war. "Rose could have died too, Evans."

"We had a good plan, Claire," Sky interjected. "Wasn't talking to you," Claire snapped, before turning to Rose instead. "Did you geniuses at least have a plan b if your oh so great plan failed? Or was the backup plan to simply die and hope the people you are leaving behind won't be too hurt about it?"

"We didn't," Rose shook her head slightly. "But we were confident in this plan, it was a good one."

"Claire," Sky started again but her wife just shook her head. 

"You didn't even say goodbye before leaving. What if something happened? What if you died, Sky? Then what? Did you ever think for even a second that I at least deserved a goodbye kiss or even just a hug? Or do my feelings really mean nothing to you?"

"I'm sorry," Sky whispered then. Truthfully, she hadn't thought about that, she knew she'd be coming home to Claire. Of course, Claire's perspective would be different from hers. 

"I need a minute," Claire sighed out, leaving the room and the four girls behind.

"The bottom line is, we did it. The society is off our necks. Time to party!" Rose declared. "Cheer up, fuckers!" she exclaimed, before she turned on her heel and left the room, presumably to plan the aforementioned party.

"You heard Rose, cheer up," Alex chuckled, turning to Sky, who looked completely crestfallen. "You are so whipped," Jade shook her head. 

"Am not!" Alex complained right away.

"Yeah, Evans, you kinda are," Sky teased then, swiftly ducking a pillow Alex hurled her way. "Shut up, O'Brien. Don't you have anything better to do?"

"No, not really. Considering my wife hates me right now I'll just stay here and annoy you until she calms down," Sky shrugged, settling in on the couch. 

"Suit yourself," Alex shrugged. "I'll go see if Rose needs some help with planning."

"You hate party-planning," Jade quirked a brow at her. Alex just shrugged before leaving the room, groaning when she heard "whipped," being yelled behind her before she closed the door.

...

The loud bass was thumping inside the entire first floor of Manuel's mansion. It was, of course, a rather big party, although they made sure to triple check all of the guests. They didn't need a repeat of the last time Rose organised an event. 

They were all tipsy already but none of them could be considered drunk just yet. Claire was still in a mood from the previous argument, so she was barely on her second drink, not really feeling like partying. Despite her anger, she still remained by Sky's side, having a conversation with Jade who also opted for being a responsible party goer and was currently nursing her first drink.

Rose had somehow managed to convince Marco to join her in singing a rendition of Taylor Swift at the impromptu Karaoke stage whilst Alex and Sky offered their support in cheering them on from the front.

It was a disastrous performance, but the surrounding population were just as into it as both them. After the song ended, they joined their biggest supporters, both grinning freely. "What a wonderful performance!" Alex congratulated, "I think my eardrums might never recover, but that's probably a good thing if you're going to be doing more of that."

"Asshole," Rose playfully smacked her shoulder. "I need a drink," she declared. "Join me?"

Alex followed the blonde hopelessly, wondering what kind of drink she will make her suffer through this time. She would much rather stick to her beloved whiskey but, as per usual, Rose had other ideas for her. 

And it seemed as though the blonde could convince Alex into pretty much anything by this point. She shook her head uselessly as if trying to shake that idea out of her brain but even her denial didn't run that far. 

Lost in thought, she didn't even notice they had already reached the bar and was pleasantly surprised when she saw that Rose procured two shots of tequila from it, grinning widely. 

"Bottoms up!" she exclaimed and they both downed their shots. Without a drink to distract her, Alex suddenly became very aware of just how close they were standing. 

She glanced at blonde's lips, completely unwillingly, and forced her eyes to snap back at the blue ones, that were already looking back at her. She watched as Rose shook her head a few times, barely even moving it at all, like she was trying to refocus her mind on something else. As she bit the inside of her bottom lip, Alex finally threw all of her reservations out of the window. 

She lifted her hands, sliding them into Rose's blonde locks and leaned forward to connect their lips.

The kiss was soft and tender and only lasted a moment before Alex pulled back to look at Rose. She searched her face for any signs of the blonde not wanting this but instead, she only saw darkened blue eyes filled with both, surprise and badly supressed desire.

She moved forward again, and their foreheads touched for a brief moment before their lips collided again. The blonde was a little more prepared this time, settling her hands on Alex' hips as their mouths entwined for the second time.

With a slight dip of her head towards the left, Rose initiated a slightly more forceful kiss, clenching her fingers down onto the brunette's hip as their lips pressed together more roughly, more urgently. Alex pulled away just slightly, giving her the opportunity to tip her head to the right and deepen the kiss. Rose's hands slipped from the curve of Alex's hips to the small of her back, and she felt the brunette sigh as their bodies pressed together fully.

"Alex," Rose whispered against the brunette's lips.

Another gentle kiss.

"What are we doing?" she whispered again.

"Kissing?" Alex whispered back against Rose's lips.

Another lingering kiss.

Before Rose could reply to that, they heard a pointed cough from behind them. 

Rose turned to look at Manuel who was grinning from ear to ear. "Just need to steal you away for a second, seeing you are the host and whatnot," he shrugged and she nodded reluctantly. 

Before she could move herself completely away from Alex, the brunette grabbed her hand. "Don't go," she whispered and Rose wanted nothing more than to kiss the slight pout away. 

So she did. 

"I'll be right back," she whispered against her lips before strolling off. 

Alex watched her leave until she couldn't see her any longer before turning towards the bar. She really needed another drink.