AUBREY

eleven

[ Aubrey's POV]

After Cain came back from wherever he went, he passed out cold in front of us for a long couple of days. I didn't even get to see him before our school rang the nearest emergency services and he was sent home. It's been a week of silence; each day growing the anxiety inside of me.

Nothing I did captivated my entire focus, only him - we slept together. It's nothing taboo, and I am not ashamed to have done it, but maybe I regret it. I am not the type to go out on a whim like that, and sleep with the first boy I see when I'm drunk. A wave of nausea rushes through me at the memory, and my feet race against the floor to the bathroom, where I spill the contents of last night's food. After retching, I lean my head against the cool porcelain, letting the coolness settle the sickness.

"Aubrey?" Azriel edges into my room, his eyes wide as he looks between me and the toilet. It's not ridiculously early, considering that he's awake, but not too late either, as his twin is still sleeping.

He walks over to me and crouches, pushing his glasses up his nose as he scrutinises me.

"I don't like when you do that," I mutter, pacing myself quickly before getting up. His only response is a small shrug as he still watches, his eyes constantly fleeting to the toilet.

"Are you okay?" 

I nod, grabbing the brush from the vanity, softly raking it through the now short hair. Looking at myself, I notice the weariness sketched on my face - the pristine image scarcely there. I hadn't looked like this since the residency; the residency that Fallon and Eli still stay at, and thank goodness for that. Traitors. It was my mistake to trust them, because if I hadn't, Cain would have been okay. I would have been able to speak to him, to tell him that nothing should have happened. 

"Mom wants to speak to you," he almost whispers, subtly shaking his head to himself as he walks out. I tilt my head, following him in silent concern. There is no need for me to be spoken to, unless they counted the drinking as a problem, but even then...

I take a careful foot on each step, wary of the others sleeping, and follow down the stairs in a gentle pitter patter towards the kitchen, where a faint scent of garlic wafts throughout. Instantly, the smell churns inside my stomach and I hold in my breath, perching on a stool as far as possible. Elena spins around at the sound of me, and takes a careful seat diagonal to me, her eyebrow up in a perfect arch.

"What's wrong, you don't like my cooking?"

"I'm sure it tastes great, like always. I'm just not well," I half lie, meeting her stare intensely. 

"Mhm," she hums, moving her seat to me until she is in foot's length, able to knock knees with me, "I think we need to talk."

"I'm not in the mood to talk."

"He's awake, you know. Has been for a few days."  Her words send a pulse of energy in me, and I sit up straighter, but careful of my body betraying me, I only nod.

"How do you know?"

"My daughter is moping around the house; her school is telling me that they're concerned; Azriel keeps hanging around the bathroom after you, covering for you, and you barely speak, you just keep staring."

As if to prove her point, I hold our stare, raising my eyebrow to incline for her to continue.

"It is obviously about a boy - or a girl, of course," she adds, giving a wry smile.

I don't respond. No words form in my mouth, and the ones blurring in my head move too fast to articulate aloud. Cain had been awake for a while, and still kept me in the dark. I was foolish to think that, for one minute, something would change. Obviously that night meant nothing - I was still just a conquest for him, something easy to crack as a distraction from his criminal life.