⚠ To be rewritten.
~BOOK 1 IN THE ROSSETT TRILOGY~
The moment Theo Lycaris first laid eyes on Anastasia, he fell for her . . . hard. But little did he know where his love for her would lead him.
Anastasia Rossett had one motive for coming back to Ma...
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(Ashton's P.O.V.)
"Hey." Ivory shook me awake.
I rubbed my eyes a little before squinting them to take a proper look at her. "Hey." I pushed myself to sit up straighter.
"You can sleep at ours you know. You'll break your neck on this bench, and what if you accidently press on your injuries?" she handed me the latte in her hand.
I smiled at her gratefully, bringing the latte close to my nose to let its steam warm my face. I had already pressed on my injuries multiple times, but I wasn't going to tell her that. After a few hours of adjusting to the bench I had figured out which position hurt and which didn't.
The truth was that I was scared of leaving the hospital. I couldn't go back home . . . was that even home anymore? And sleeping over at Ivory's would be making it all too real. The harsh truth was that I was currently homeless. It was too soon for me to go around looking for a new home. If I could stay in this hospital forever, I might have taken up that option . . . it would have at least let me fool myself into thinking that I still had a home . . . a family to go back to.
"I have to see Anastasia," I told her. Alex, Cameron and Gino had been able to meet her yesterday. And I had been sure I would too, but by the time I could gather up enough courage to face her, it had been time for her medication again.
"Okay."
"You don't have to wait with me, you know? I'll be fine," I insisted. I didn't feel too good about making her worry about me like this when she could've been doing other things.
"I'm not here for you." She shrugged nonchalantly.
"Oh really, who are you here for then?"
"I . . . " she started as I waited for her to come up with an excuse. Her eyes lit up like christmas lights when Cameron came out of Anastasia's room. "I'm here to torture him!" she declared, standing up and hooking her arm around his neck.
"Yes, apparently that's the only aim of her existence." he gave her a bored stare, slapping her hand away when she tried to pinch his cheek. He turned to me. "She wants to see you."
"She?" I asked, pretending to not already know that he had meant Anastasia. My heart rate went up as I felt my palms get sweaty. What would I say to her?
"Ana, of course," he clarified.
I took a deep breath to calm myself down and pushed away the blunder of panic that was beginning to rise in me again. Everything had been my fault. Because I had recklessly decided to expose myself, she had lost her father and had almost died herself. How was I ever supposed to apologise for any of it?
"Should I just tell her you're not here?" he suggested.
"No!" I yelled instantly, causing him to raise an eyebrow at me. "I mean, I'll go."
