Page 5 of Dirty Deadly & Mine
Jude smirks. “Of course it ain’t.”
“You guys are for real? Your mum doesn’t mind?” I ask, and they shake their heads.
“Nope,” they say in unison, doing that weird twin thing again
“You know what our mum is like.” Ronnie chuckles. “She’s probably been crying every night since we left for uni, so she’ll love having you there. She’ll love having someone to do laundry for again. And cook for.” Ronan shakes my seat from behind like I should be fucking chuffed by the idea, but instead, I frown.
“Your mum isn’t doing my laundry.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time.” Jude grins, and I glare at him.
I know it’s not the first time. I’ve crashed at the Bennett house more times than I’ve stayed at my own since I was ten years old. Lily never told me to leave. Most of the time she looked worried when I’d say I was going home, and always sent me with a backpack full of snacks, telling me to hide them somewhere safe.
She knew my house wasn’t a safe environment, and she did what she could to help. I don’t think she knows that I know just how much she did for me behind the scenes. Lily Bennett may appear to be a sweet, kind woman to anyone who lays eyes on her, but she has another side to her. A side I saw when I was too young to completely understand, yet made me drawn to her in a way a child shouldn’t be drawn to an adult.
Still, all that aside, I won’t have her fucking doing shit for me. I’ve already put her out enough.
“I’m not going to sponge a roof over my head from your mum and make her do my fucking laundry. I’ll earn my keep,” I snap, and Jude’s eyes go wide.
“Okay, man. Chill.” He frowns at me, and I stiffen, realising the prison version of me slipped out.
I don’t have to be such a hard arse out here.
“Sorry,” I huff, feeling the frustration of my hopelessness.
“Hey.” Ronnie’s hand lands gently on my shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “We’re here if you need to talk, Ash. It must’ve been hard in prison. Fucking scary.”
If only he knew.
Nodding, I swallow thickly, keeping my eyes trained forward on the road as I watch the suburbs of London pass by.
Taking a moment as Jude turns up the music inside the car, I close my eyes, relaxing back in the seat to pretend I’m going to have a nap. The drive is over an hour, and I can’t bring myself to want to talk about my time in prison with my mates, so I fake needing a fucking sleep like a sap.
I probably should talk about it with them. I’m sure they have questions, but fuck. I don’t want to reveal how bad it got at times.
Mostly, I consider myself fucking lucky, especially after thefirst initial beating was over with, because for some reason, after that, I was taken under the wing of some untouchable inmates, in turn, giving me protection.
They surrounded me daily, keeping me relatively safe for the duration of my sentence, although I always had to look over my shoulder.
A big guy called Poe managed to get my cell reassigned, so I ended up sharing with him. He looks like a scary motherfucker, but treated me well, and was determined to clean up my fighting skills so I could, and I quote,“stop scrapping like a little bitch and do real men proud.”
He turned me from a street brawler into a lethal weapon, something that also helped to keep fuckers away from me inside. Poe knew my story, though, and understood why I was happy to let him train me.
Christopher fucking Montgomery, otherwise known as Monty, is exactly why. Picturing his face fuelled me. The idea of removing him from my mum’s life once and for all is what helped me to stay focused so I could get out and make sure he pays.
I asked Poe once why he was watching my back, and all he did was shrug and tell me someone thought I was worth protecting… and that’s it. That’s all I fucking got.
Not that it matters now.
I’m out now. I don’t plan on going back.
Shoving my time at Wands aside, my thoughts turn to the fiery-haired woman who is apparently letting me move into her house. Daydreaming about Lily isn’t unusual for me to do on a daily basis. My mates’ hot mum invades my thoughts often.
Hell, thoughts of her got me through my time in the slammer. She even came to visit me a few times during my stay, especially in the beginning, just like she said she would.
I don’t think she told the twins about her visits. She just showed up, reminding me that there were still a couple of people on this fucking Earth that thought about me.
The closer we get to Hedgwick, the more anxious I start to feel. I’m itching to see Lily. Itching to take a shower without other dudes checking me out. And itching to finally sleep in acomfortable bed and not be anxious about getting shivved in my sleep by crooked guards.
