She leans over and kisses my cheek before sitting back down. “Thank you for not making me sit here in silence for four hours.”
I walk into my bedroom hand in hand with Rory and instantly get déjà vu.
That Russ, the one who was pretending to be confident, would not have believed that this would be the situation we’re in a couple of months later. Not one to dance around the obvious, Aurora struts straight around me and sits on my desk.
“Wanna roleplay us doing it?” I roll my eyes as I walk over and step between her legs, gripping her under her thighs and throwing her on my bed, making her squeak. “Hey, you weren’t this rough with me!”
“Yeah ‘cause I was fucking terrified,” I say, throwing myself down beside her. “I don’t get girls like you and I was very worried I’d watch you come and it’d be game over for me. In my pants.”
“Confident you could then,” she teases, rolling to lie on top of me. “How’d you know I wasn’t faking it?”
“I’d have suffocated between your legs before I’d let you fake it.”
The guys are at JJ’s for the housewarming party and after the day I’ve had, I think taking out my stress in a healthy way is a good idea. I spread her legs over my hips and run my hands along her thighs until I’m under her sundress, when her cellphone starts ringing.
“Are we destined to be interrupted forever?” I groan. “I thought this would end when we left Honey Acres.”
“You know who it’ll be,” she says, climbing off me and reaching for the phone. She holds up her screen to me and man who pays the rent stares back at me.
We haven’t really talked about the fact Aurora is supposed to be in Palm Springs right now. I was too distracted with my own problem and I guess she didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t have anything to add when she pointed out that he’s never punished her before.
She presses the accept call button and puts it on speaker, but even before she says hello, she does something I haven’t seen her do in weeks: she forces a smile onto her face.
“Hi!” Her voice is unnatural, not the voice of my girl and I hate it.
“Where the fuck are you, Aurora?”
Six words and my blood is boiling.
“I’m not coming, Dad.” She chews on the inside of her cheek and I pull her along the bed, letting her sit between my open legs with my head resting on her shoulder. “Something came up, I’m sorry.”
“That doesn’t answer my question. I asked where the fuck are you?”
“I’m in Maple Hills.”
“Get your ass in your car right now. I am so serious, Aurora. I’m not playing your games this time, do not ruin this for everyone.”
I hold her a little tighter. “I said I’m not coming.”
“I’m coming to get you.”
“I’m not at home.”
Leaning around her I press the mute button so her dad can’t hear us as he launches into a rant about how selfish and immature she is. “I’m so fucking proud of you. You’re so strong, Rory. Don’t let him bully you into doing something you don’t want to do. You’re worth more than some photographs in a magazine. If you have to force a smile you deserve better.”
She takes us off mute as he finishes yelling. “I don’t care that you’re upset with me, Dad. I don’t like who I am when I let you dictate how I act.” I hold her a little tighter. “I’ve spent a really long time being reckless to get your attention, because at least then you’d remember I existed. You make me feel like I’m not worth sticking around for. I’m not letting you burn me anymore because I have people in my life who do like me for me.”
“If you arrive in the next two hours, we’ll pretend this conversation never happened,” he says, not an ounce of emotion in his tone.
“I hope your marriage is happy, but I won’t be there. I’m not faking smiles for you. Goodbye, Dad.”
She disconnects the call and I expect her to burst into tears, but she doesn’t, she sinks into me and pulls my arms tighter around her. “I’m going to crush you if I hug you any harder.”
“I don’t mind.”
“How do you feel?”
“Supported,” she says.
“That isn’t what I mean, sweetheart.” I kiss her neck and she’s quiet for a moment, something I’m still not used to.
“I feel lighter, like I made the right decision for once, and I know it’ll help me move on now I’ve told him. Maybe if it makes him change we can work on our relationship. Maybe it’ll be the thing that wakes him up.”
“I hope it does.”
We sit in silence for five minutes and she doesn’t let me loosen my grip until her phone starts ringing again. I feel her freeze in my arms, only relaxing when she lifts the screen to her line of sight and sees it isn’t her dad. She presses accept and the screen fills with a woman with dark brown hair sporting a huge grin. There’s no resemblance between her and the woman in my arms until she lifts her sunglasses, placing them on the top of her head and I spot the exact same eyes I’m used to.
“Oh, so the boyfriend thing is true then,” is the first thing Elsa says. Aurora moves the camera down so less of me is in the shot. “Mum said she has a cat and you have a boyfriend. I thought she was mixing prescriptions with wine again.”
I can’t lie, the British accent catches me off guard at first.
“Hello to you too.” Aurora shuffles in my arms. “What are you doing? Why are you calling? Feel free to answer any other questions I might have missed.”
“You stand up to dear old Dad one time and suddenly you have an attitude,” she tuts. “Hold on, I’m just getting to a dress fitting.”
We hear Elsa talking to someone rapidly in a language I don’t recognise and Aurora sits up a little straighter. “El, who are you talking to in Italian?”
“I’m in Milan at a dress fitting for Fashion Week next month.”
Aurora’s jaw hangs open. “You’re not going to the wedding?”
Elsa’s nose scrunches and it’s the exact same expression Aurora pulls when she’s horrified. “To the weather woman? Christ no. I’m not being pictured in something that can be made in three weeks.”
“I thought you might be calling to convince me to go.”
Elsa scoffs and Aurora lets go of a breath, relaxing a little more in my arms. “I’m calling to congratulate you on finally growing a backbone. I’m proud of you, little sister.”
“Uh, thanks, I think,” she mumbles quietly. “Does he know you’re not going to Palm Springs? He’s going to be really mad at us. I know he’s mad at me.”
“I have no idea, nor do I care. You definitely shouldn’t care. I’ve set up a reroute so when he calls me, he’s forwarded to a therapist’s office in London. I suggest you do the same. Lord knows the man needs it.”
I can’t help but snort, but I try to smother it by hiding my face in Aurora’s hair. “I haven’t forgotten about you, mysterious, faceless boyfriend,” she says, making me freeze. “You’re lucky I have to go get pins stuck in me, but at some point, I will interrogate you.”
“She won’t,” Aurora says. “She’ll forget.”
“Stay mad at the patriarchy, Ror. Ciao.”
Aurora throws her phone onto the bed beside us and turns around, climbing over each leg until she’s straddling me with her head pressed against my chest and her arms wrapped around my waist. I stroke the back of her hair, not saying anything. Another five minutes of silence pass and I can’t remember a time where she’s ever been this quiet.
Eventually, she pushes herself off my torso, sitting up to face me. “So, that was Elsa.”
“That was Elsa,” I repeat. “She’s . . .”
“She’s very Elsa.”
“How do you feel?” I ask again.
She trails her hand down the side of my face, brushing her fingers across my jaw lightly. “Still supported.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
RUSS
“You’re really annoying to sleep beside, do you know that?” I say, pulling a t-shirt over my head.