Chapter 69 Pleasure Turned Poison

Chapter 69 Pleasure Turned Poison
Ryan moves toward the door. But I step in front of him.
"Move, Zayn." He says tiredly.
"Not until you hear her out." I tip my head towards a very worried Ashleigh.
"I don't need to hear anything from her or you."
"Yeah, you do," I reply. "You're about to walk out that door and maybe do something stupid. Who knows? Maybe even make a scene. And I need to know you're not going to do that."
Ryan glares at me. "Make a scene. What am I, a child?" He hisses.
It's the first time I've ever seen him angry at all.

"And the fact that you think you can tell me what I choose to do with that piece of information is laughable."
He crosses his arms, his voice bitter. "So, you're worried about your reputation."
"I'm worried about her." I correct, glancing at Ashleigh. "Whatever you think of me, whatever you want to call this, she doesn't deserve to have her life ruined because of one night."
Ryan's jaw tightens, but he doesn't say anything.
"Last night was a mistake. With you." I continue.

"The weed. All of it. That's on us. But you need to know that if you walk out that door and say something, it's not just me who pays for it. It's her. It's our parents. It's our whole family."
Ryan stands there for a long, heavy moment, breathing hard. Then he brushes past me and yanks the door open.
"You should've thought about that before."
He slams the door behind him.
Ashleigh and I are left standing in the sudden, ringing silence.

I can see the fear and exhaustion in her eyes. She looks like she's one breath away from breaking, but she doesn't. She just shakes her head slowly.
I'm actually surprised she doesn't start bawling like a kid over her mistakes.
"I'm so tired of hiding this, Zayn," she whispers. "Maybe people finding out is the right thing."
I shrug, leaning against the wall. "I've never really given a shit."
"Yeah, right," she mutters, sinking gently onto the edge of the bed. "Just throw away that hard-earned scholarship."
I walk over to her, stopping in front of where she's sitting.

"By the way, we need to talk, Miss."
She groans, dropping her head into her hands. "I don't like the sound of that."
I crouch down so we're eye level. "I know we were all high as shit last night, but starting something with Ryan? For you to have initiated that threesome… what the hell was going on in your head?"
She lifts her head. Her eyes are tired.
"You know the answer to that question already, Zayn. I was high. We were all high."
I shake my head slowly. "That's not enough. You wanted it. You pulled both of us in."

I explain, my mind flashing back to last night. "You kissed him first. Then me. You were the one who made it happen."
She looks away, her cheeks flushing with a mix of shame and lingering arousal.
"I don't know," she admits quietly. "I was horny. I was tired of feeling torn between you two. And for one stupid, careless moment… I thought maybe I could have both. Just for one night."
She exhales. "Without having to choose, and not experiencing guilt. Just feeling good."
I stay crouched in front of her, studying her face.

"And did it feel good?" I ask.
She hesitates briefly before nodding.
"Yeah," she whispers. "It did. Until this morning."
I let out a long breath and stand up, running a hand through my hair.
"Hm, so I'm not enough for you anymore," I say, turning away. "You want Ryan, too."
"No," she says quickly, looking up at me. "You know I love you."
I face her fully, arching a brow.
"I'm serious, Zayn."

After a long second, I let the topic go. "Last night was different. It was 'fun'. That's simply what it was." I say firmly. "We opened a door we can't just close and pretend didn't happen."
I stare into Ashleigh's eyes. "It should never happen again. Okay?"
She nods. "Okay."
"No more bringing other people into our mess anymore. It has to be just us."
"Yes." She squeaks. "And I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
I wrap an arm around her, pulling her closer.
"Good, now let's go check if the others are awake."

†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††

Breakfast is awkward. Everyone at the table is still hungover.
Melissa and Fareed sit on opposite ends of the long dining table and refuse to look at each other. Roy and Anna, the only ones who didn't indulge heavily, are the ones who thankfully made breakfast — eggs, toast, fruit, and strong coffee.
Samuel is barely eating, groaning every few seconds as he pushes his eggs around his plate.

Ryan is gone.
We checked his room earlier, only to see his bed made, his bag missing, and no trace of him left behind.
"Y'all seriously need some ass-whooping," Roy says, giving the rest of us the evil eye as he sets down a plate of toast. "How far did you take things last night?"
"Blame Melissa," Fareed grumbles, nursing his coffee.
"Excuse you," Melissa fires back. "All I did was offer the weed. Y'all were already drunk."
"What the heck was even in that weed, bro?" Samuel groans again, rubbing his temples.

Melissa shrugs. "I don't know. The plant was maybe a hybrid or something?"
"Never offer it to us again," Fareed mutters.
Melissa folds her arms on the table. "Why?" She fixes him with a challenging look. "Did it make you make any regrettable decisions?"
Ashleigh and I glance at each other across the table. We've both been quiet since we sat down.
Fareed runs a hand through his hair. "Oh God, Mel. Please don't start."

"Start what? I was just asking a question." She smiles caustically. "In case you all were wondering… Fareed and I had sex last night."
A shocked gasp leaves Samuel's mouth.
"Yeah, we kinda knew that already," Ashleigh says calmly, poking at her eggs.
Melissa, Fareed, and Samuel all turn to stare at her.
"Yeah," I add, taking a sip of coffee. Their heads swivel toward me.
"You guys were quite loud," Anna chimes in, too, biting back a smile.

Melissa's face turns bright red. "Aaaand I'm leaving this table." She stands abruptly, grabbing her plate. "I'm just going to finish this outside before I die of embarrassment."
"Coming with you," Fareed starts to rise.
"Sit your ass down, please," she snaps, already walking away.
Fareed follows her anyway, leaving the five of us at the table.
"Where's Ryan?" Anna asks sweetly, pouring herself more orange juice. "I haven't seen him this morning. Is he still sleeping?"

"Actually, he's gone," Ashleigh replies. "Had to run off early. He had somewhere to be."
"Oh, that's so sad," Roy says, frowning. "We didn't even get to say goodbye to him."
Ashleigh shrugs, her eyes fixed on her plate. "Guess it was that important."
Anna is staring at Ashleigh now, the two of them sharing some kind of silent, girlish look I don't understand and don't particularly want to.
I keep eating because that is all I can do.
No one mentions Ryan again. It's like he was never here.