Page 33 of Delirium
“Nice to meet you,” the kid muttered, just as the girl snickered.
I couldn’t stand this anymore. This dick competition, where they were all sizing each other up, where the kid, Ash, obviously was starstruck by Storm. I pushed through Indigo and Atlas and stepped right in front of Storm, ignoring all three of them.
“Ophelia,” Indigo warned, but I paid him no attention. Storm’s presence behind me almost stopped me, but I kept scanning the kid in front of me from head to toe, before I turned toward the girl standing next to him. “Ophelia!”
“Shut up, Indigo,” I growled, focusing on the girl in front of me.
Ash moved to the side, trying to step in front of the girl, boiling my blood more than necessary. His protective stance was almost laughable, considering that I would have been able to put him down in less than one minute. But I had to give it to him—he thought he could take me on.
“I’ll say this once, and only once, darling,” I started and then leaned closer to his ear. “You don’t want to be in my way. You should ask Stormy.” I turned around to look at Storm. “He can tell you all about me and what a terrible person I am.”
Storm’s hands were fisted on his sides, the vein on his temple throbbing and a tick appeared on his cheek.
“Who are you?” Ash asked, the bravado from before nowhere to be seen, his eyes assessing me and everything I did.
“Ophelia, darling.” I turned and looked at him. “Ophelia Aster.” I grinned, while all of them stood frozen, fear coursing through their bodies. “It is so nice to meet you all.” I chuckled.
Storm wasn’t the only one who could play this game, and it was obvious that people still knew who I was.
It was now important that I remembered as well.
* * *
It wasweird sitting in a room full of people yet feeling inherently alone because none of them wanted to talk to you. Other members of Sons of Hades started coming in, and it was obvious that Storm was slowly setting up shop here, in order to help Ash.
I was still kept in the dark about a lot of things, and considering that Storm didn’t stop glaring at me, I knew it was his doing. Even Atlas stayed away from me, talking to everybody else but me.
I missed Cillian now. I missed talking to him and having him in my corner. He was busy with Tristan and Chiara, trying to find out more about Belladonna, while also working with the FBI to bring his father in.
It was harder than we expected and Logan Nightingale was a hard man to find. They checked all of his hiding places, every single safe house he had, but he was nowhere to be found. And if that didn’t piss me off, I didn’t know what would.
The kid, Ash, kept glancing at me from the other side of the room. It was obvious Indigo was warning him against me. Hell, Indigo didn’t want me anywhere near his precious little Club, and he would be happy when he finds out that after this shit, I would be nowhere to be found.
Just like Logan.
The wooden bar in front of me was a perfect canvas to distract me from everything that was going on around me. My hand tightened around the handle when Ash started walking toward me, looking over his shoulder to make sure that no one would stop him.
It was almost laughable that these people thought I could be contained if I decided to cause a mess, but I would allow them to think they had any sort of control. Storm kept standing at the exit. If he continued glaring as he was, he was about to burst a blood vessel.
Ash reached me within seconds, pulling out one of the bar chairs and sitting down, his eyes firmly planted on me.
My eyes narrowed at him, but I didn’t say a word as he fidgeted on the chair. Slamming the tip of the knife straight into the wooden bar, I turned to him and smiled.
“You’re a brave one, aren’t you?” I asked, chuckling.
“I would rather say reckless. Being brave has nothing to do with it,” Ash answered, curiosity written on his young face.
“You have the same last name as Nikolai,” Ash murmured, avoiding my eyes.
“I do.” I smirked, not even bothering to correct his thoughts. Everyone still thought Nikolai was my father, and it was better if they still believed that. “It would seem that I am my father’s daughter.” He didn’t need to know the actual truth.
“F-Father?” He stammered.
“Don’t look so surprised, Ash. Just because somebody gave them the power to be parents, didn’t mean that they were good ones. Yes, we share the same last name, but that’s the only thing we shared. Although, if you ask Storm and his buddies, I’m pretty sure that they will tell you what a terrible person I am and to stay away from me.”
It was obvious that his mind was working overtime, trying to connect the dots, to understand what I just said. But my focus was soon pulled from him when movement behind him caught my attention. Storm stood next to Indigo, talking with him, while both of them glared at us—Indigo with disdain and Storm with eyes full of pain.
Ash quickly realized I wasn’t looking at him. He turned around to see what I was looking at.
