Memories & Aftercare

**Ronin**

I’m not proud of what we did to Artie leading up to our dating senior year.

This was the moment I went from hating her because her father was a corrupt politician to being possessive about her.

*I stumble down the hall with Amanda leading down the hall. I don’t know where Razz went. He is usually the one carrying me when I get like this, high on cocaine and wasted from drinking too much alcohol. It was the last party before winter break. That’s right, Razz is livid with me for almost drowning that plebeian Artemis. Who names their kid after some mythological Greek goddess? It’s so pretentious. Why does Razz care that he had to give CPR? Yeah, okay, getting caught murdering would suck and our fathers might torture us to prove a point, but they won’t kill us over it. They will call Uncle Ryder and all the evidence will disappear and silence will be bought. We are untouchable.

“You will enjoy what I’m going to do to you. I’ve wanted you for so long. You’re perfect Ronin. We will be so happy together. I’m ovulating so I get pregnant with your child and then you are all mine,” Amanda blabbers, but I’m not paying much attention to her words. Especially since I caught the eyes of my little drowned mouse. She looks fine. Maybe a little pale, but I still don’t see why Razz had to make such a fuss. He had never called me heartless before, but he did then. It stung. I’m not heartless. Just because I don’t feel emotions with the intensity he does, it doesn’t make me heartless. Callous, but not heartless. I see nothing wrong with what I was doing.

“You can’t do that, Amanda, that’s rape. He is leaning heavily and his rolled back into his head, he is so plastered. He does not know what’s going on. He is not going with you.” The little mouse says with the fire of the goddess she is named after. I didn’t know she had that fire. She is always crying about everything.

“Move, pleb. He is my boyfriend and I’ll do what I want with him,” Amanda spits at her. I don’t recall agreeing to that. My head is fuzzy, so maybe I did. I don’t like this girl helping me. Amanda reminds me of a beady-eyed rat whose neck I snapped when I was ten, just to see what would happen. It died, of course. I discovered a broken neck will kill just about anything.

Artemis doesn’t move, she remains in our path. “I’m not moving.”

Amanda continues forward, shoving Artemis against a table. I hear a crack, but then I’m kneeling on the floor. My knees hurt. Amanda scrambles up and tries to pull me to my feet. I look at her and vomit. I think some went into her mouth. It’s all over her and smells foul. Amanda screeches, dropping me to the floor. Artemis's arm is hanging limply by her side. I want to go to her, but I convulse. She screams for Razz. The last thing I notice is my brother coming out of her tiny closet-sized bedroom with a purple towel around his waist, smelling of chamomile and lavender. They both do.

Even when I woke up in the hospital, both Razz and Artemis were there smelling of the same soap. Artemis’s arm was in a cast. Why is she here? Does she have no sense of self-preservation?

“It’s good to see you awake,” Razz says, holding my hand. Artemis’s non-cast hand is on his shoulder. That’s a comforting gesture. I don’t understand why, but I know it is.

“What happened?” I croak with a rasp. My throat feels as though I walk through a desert without water for days.

“You overdosed is what happened. Did you want to die that badly?” He snarls, but there is no heat to it. He just looks weary. Around his eyes are dark and sunken in, his features are tight and drawn up like he hasn’t eaten in weeks. I was shocked by his words. I didn’t want to die. I don’t remember consuming so many drugs for me to OD.

Suddenly, I remember our fight after Artemis was whisked away by the paramedics. I had yelled at him to kill me if she died. If her life meant that much to him, then he needed to kill her murder. That’s why he thinks I was trying to kill him.

“Artemis not only prevented Amanda from raping you, but she also saved your life after you almost killed her. She didn’t have to, but she did. Why do you think I had called off our vendetta against her the week before you decided to not listen to me?” I shake my head that I don’t know. “She lied to the Dean for me telling him I wasn’t drunk. Then, after the pool incident, she had the evidence to get us expelled. She had everything we did to hear recorded. I was already in trouble because the Dean caught me with my hand around her throat threatening her. We were in the office, and she gave it to the Dean. He called Dad Caleb immediately. But the first words out of her mouth to him was…”

“I don’t want Xavier and Ronin expelled. I won’t press charges for what they did to me. I just want the harassment to stop. I want my senior year to be peaceful,” Artemis finished for him.

That’s when I decided since she protected us, when she had every reason to lash back, I was going to protect her from now on. She was mine. In that hospital room, we vowed to do everything in our power to redeem ourselves to her. Even if it took us the rest of our lives, we would make up for what we had done to her since freshman year. *

A knock sounds on the door followed by Slater’s deep voice. “¿Sigues respirando, plateado? You’ve been there longer enough. The water should be cold. Do you need help?”

“I’m breathing, Papi. I’m fine. I’m getting out now,” I pull the plug, still unsure of how to think of this stranger who can give me what I need without complaint. I didn’t have to pay him or sign a contract for once. He is also looking out for me. He genuinely wants to take care of me. It’s foreign to me, just like Razz and his parents were at first, and later Artemis.

I opened the door to find him right there in my path while I towel off my hair. I’m completely naked, standing before him. His steely gray eyes scan my body. Once satisfied, he relaxes. “Go lay on the bed, face down.” He moves and I see Artemis on the bed with her legs crossed as she sits against the headboard with a book in her hand.

When she feels the bed dip, she places her book in, closing the book and setting it aside. She pats her knees. “Come, put your head in my lap while Slay rubs your backside.”

“Why are you here? I thought you were asleep.” “I was, but I woke up needing to check on you. I do this when he gets done with Camden, too. I pet while Slay doctors,” she replies.

I look at Slater, who nods his approval. I lie down on my stomach with my head in Artemis’s lap. I relax instantly when she strokes my hair while she croons a soothing lullaby about pretty little horses.

The ointment is cold at first, causing my eyes to widen, but soon it is warmed by Slater’s calloused hands. His large hands rub soothing circles on my rear and the backs of my legs. When he is done, he pours a liquid onto my back and messages it into my skin. Because of his ministrations and having my head back in the lap of my goddess as her fingers massage my scalp while softly singing, I relax so much that I fall asleep.