Always?

Chapter 16

Ani was discombobulated, to say the least. She yawned into the crook of her elbow for the nth time, as she not so subtly shoved Matt, whose elbow was digging into her side painfully. Matt grunted out a response, adjusting his position and accidentally stepping on Alice's foot, who screamed in pain. Oliver, the lucky bastard, because he had stormed out first, had claimed the passenger seat, so the rest had to scramble into the back. Usually, they were very good at this, but considering it was three am, all of them had been asleep not even fifteen minutes ago, they dind’t have their usual etiquette. The only one who looked completely awake was Amber; she was staring out of the window, the streetlights' warm white hue casting shadows as they drove past, and Ani, from her awkward position pressed against the side of the car, couldn’t help but watch her in awe.

Even in a situation like this, she still somehow looked stunning. She wanted to say something, as she had so many times in the past, a comment on how gorgeous she looked, but with what had transpired between them, she dind’t know if it was appropriate to do so anymore, but Alice, the wonderful woman she was, did decide to speak for them, letting Ani ride her tailcoat in the process.

“Amber,” Alice groaned. “I don’t know what it is you’ve done, or did or do, but my f*****g god, you look amazing considering we were all in the same situation as you and you’re the only one who looks so well put together, what is your secret?”

“She’s right,” Ani piped in. “You do look amazing. What is it? Don’t be shy, share with the group.”

“I was with my boyfriend, whom I haven’t seen in days,” Matt whined, as he yawned into his elbow. “This better be important, Damian. Or I will sic Oliver on you.”

“Oh, trust me,” he deadpanned, his grip on the steering wheel tightening ever so slightly. “It’s very important.”

“Are we going to get any more information other than that?” Oliver asked as he stared at the iPad in his hand, the bright light illuminating the scowl on his face sharply. He muttered something under his breath as he dug around in his pocket and texted someone.

“What’s wrong with you?” Alec asked, crossing his arms, although he was the most uncomfortable, as he was practically sitting on his sister’s lap and she kept digging her fingers into his side to annoy him,

“I will kill your brother-in-law, and before we even do your wedding, it’ll be a funeral.”

“Not my boyfriend,” Matt yelled. “You raise your hands to him, Alec, and I swear to-”

“Not, Helios, you fool,” Oliver snapped. “Atlas.”

“Oh,” Matt responded, shrugging. “Eh, he’s not my favourite, but I’m sure the others would be sad to see him go, so have you considered not murdering him?”

“Right now? No.”

“What’s he done?”

“Probably something stupid,” Ani muttered. Every little thing Atlas did seemed to bug Oliver to no end, once they had gotten into an argument because Atlas had been breathing too loud beside him, the man had just come back from a jog and of course, he was going to be a little out of breath.

“Tomorrow, well, today. We’re supposed to take a break. I cannot keep up with him, I’m constantly fuvcking exhausted and running on little to no sleep, and I cannot protect him if I can’t even stay awake, and he said okay, fine, that today we would be free. Except I just looked at his calendar, we’re f*****g booked from ten am to lunch and then again from one pm to six pm. I will strangle him until his head pops like a f*****g grape.”

Damian cleared his throat, “Prepare to murder Atlas later, we’re here.”

The group piled out of the car unceremoniously, Damian hadn’t even let them stop for some coffee, deciding they needed to thug it out, and be awake for what was aout to come without the aid of caffeine, Alice had drifted off a couple of times, and Alec had let her sleep, because if she was asleep, she wasn’t annoying him.

“This s**t show?” Ani muttered, staring at the building, frowning. It looked rather run-down compared to how Damian had been acting, they for sure thought, they would be dragged to the nicer part of town, or somewhere much fancier than this. The while place appeared to be abandoned, with smashed windows, broken glass, graffiti of cuss words littering the red-bricked walls. If anything, this place was a hazard waiting to happen.

Ani shivered, the cold air brushing past her skin, leaving goosebumps in its wake. “What are the chances we come out of this alive?” she muttered, expecting no reply from the others, who must have been feeling the same cold she did, because Alice was practically clinging onto Matt, shivering, jumping up and down, taking the taller man’s arm with her.

“It’s not looking good,” Alice hissed, her teeth clattering against one another. “How long do we have to stand outside?”

Oliver’s eyebrows shot up as he pointed to the building. “You want to go in there?”

“It’s better than standing out here in the freezing cold.”

“Max would kill me if I died for real this time,” Alec muttered. Ani winced. They would never let it go. How many times did she have to apologise? It had been a mistake, a panicked slip-up; they were all exhausted, running on caffeine, little to no sleep. She had wanted to say the first thing that came to mind, so she could have gotten into the bed that was so clearly tempting her.

“If it’s ay help, we’ll die together,” Matt said, sighing, running his hands through his hair. “Helly would bring me back to life, just to kill me himself.”

Ani looked over at Amber to see how she was handling this entire situation, but was surprised to see the woman already looking at her. Unsure of what to do, Ani smiled. It was a silly thing to do in a situation like this, she was aware, but she was panicking. But what caught her off guard was the fact that Amber smiled back, although it was forced. Ani could tell when Amber was forcing a smile; from miles away, they had known each other long enough, her eyes didn’t squint as they normally did, and her forced smile didn’t show her teeth.

“Damiam,” Oliver snapped, glaring at the man. “How long? It took us forty minutes to get here with no traffic; it’s going to be longer going back when the city starts to wake up, and I have other things to do.”

“Just one more minute,” Damina responded, crossing his arms over his chest, a scowl appearing on his face.

Exactly one minute later, someone came out of the shady-looking building, and he met with Damian. The two went to the side, and Ani stared at the man. He was relatively tall, with dark skin, wearing dark clothes and a coat with some leather gloves, and in his hand, a clipboard. The only colour seemed to be twinkling in his ear; it was an earring, a single dangling pink earring, with what appeared to be a star-themed charm.

Damian whisped something harshly, but he sighed, snatching the clipboard from the man and walking over, checking over whatever was on there, a scowl on his face.

“You all need to sign these,” he said, pushing the clipboard into Oliver’s hands.

“What is it?” Alec asked, frowning, as he blew into the palm of his hands.

“NDA’s.”

“Oh,” Matt whispered as he signed the piece of paper after taking it from Oliver. “We’re so f*****g screwed.”

Ani nodded as she took the clipboard and slipped the paper over, sighing. She assumed Damian had read through everything and had given the okay. Matt had said it, but she knew they were all thinking it.

~*~