Share...

Share...

The word goes round and round in my head as we bring everything upstairs into the dorm room, Per had come out, grinning at our handfuls of equipment, food and logs and we direct her to the kitchen where she starts to set the stoves up, as we climb up and down till there is a pile of logs in the nook next to the fireplace.

Topper had pulled out all the makings for coffee and lit one of the stoves and Per was waiting for the water to boil, whilst we built a fire, hoping the fireplace had been swept and would work for us. The dark evening was drawing in and once again the snow had started swirling in the wind outside.

Thad had found some candles in the storeroom but we were waiting until they were essential, just in case.

The fire lit, Topper and Per had passed out hot drinks and we had all settled around the fire, Ivo doing his usual interrogation, wanting to know more about Per. Not that I minded, I wanted to know more as well.

Her whole demeanour changed when Ivo pushed to know why she had left her previous schools, Thad warning him to back off when she had closed in on herself. Then we had seen the tears and Ivo shocked us all by pulling her into his arms and then sitting holding her to him as he rocked her.

"Will you tell us what happened?" I asked her softly, when she had calmed a little and had finished glaring at Ivo. For her reaction I knew that something had, but what.

She tensed and closed her eyes and we all stayed silent as the words came out hesitantly. "I attacked another student, knocked them out"

"What did she do to you to make you react like that?" Topper asked and we were all shocked by the sad dark laugh she gave us.

"It wasn't a girl"

We exchanged looks over her head, she attacked a male student and knocked him out... Why?

"What did he do?" I asked, instantly knowing this was not her fault.

She lifted her gaze to mine and I saw pain and anger... years of it and I wished with all my heart I was Ivo right now, holding her in my arms.

"You know how it works, parents try to set us up with other eligible children, to forge dynasty's" she said bitterly, "I was at school with a few of them... Callaghan Vaughn was the worst, he was at school, at parties my parents threw, his family do a lot of business with mine and he told me" she took a deep breath "He told me that it was our parents idea and I should just give in and let him have me... he wouldn't take no for an answer, he tried, tried to... force the issue"

We waited knowing there was more to come.

"No-one came when I screamed for help, he ripped at my top and I was on the ground... under him when I managed to get free, I grabbed the nearest thing and swung, it was a chair, I knocked him out and broken his nose, left him lying in a pool of blood and rushed to the Principle's office"

Topper leant forward, his hand reaching for hers and squeezing it. "Did you press charges?"

"I tried, my parents and his spoke to the school, then it was all twisted, it was my fault, I lead him on. So, I was expelled, he stayed there, nothing happened to him" her voice had become quieter as she told us. "I was sent here afterwards, I agreed to come here because it was so far away from them and no one we knew went here"

"Fuck!" Ivo muttered and held her tighter, his hand stroking her back as he soothed her.

"Vaughn Chemicals?" I questioned and she tensed before nodding.

I swing a quick look at Thad, his family has links to so many businesses and he nods. I know he will check out if there's a link once we are back online and if so, we have ways of making the bastard pay for what he did to our girl.

"Is that what your parents want for you, an alliance with someone useful?" Topper questions and we all still, waiting for her response.

"My parents don't care anything for what I want, they see me as an asset, a business asset" she replies quietly and again we can hear the pain in her voice.

"Is that why you are still here?

"I wanted to leave it till the last minute to leave, let time I am home the better for me, but then the storm hit and I was stuck, I would rather be here that there, what about you, why are you still here?" she explains

"Our taxi broke down, by the time it was recovered it was too late to make our flight, we couldn't get another taxi and we had no way of getting to the airport anyway through the storm, we walked back here with our cases and have been trying to call out since" Ivo told her and she nodded.

I saw Ivo grin down at her, still in his lap where she had relaxed, he stayed silent and still and I knew he didn't want to spook her, but damn if I didn't want to bring her back next to me, not that it bothered me seeing him holding her, in fact...

Share...

There was that word again going round in my mind and I wondered if she would ever consider it, consider us...all.

"What are your plans, what are you studying?"

"I want to do something based on the environment, this is the first time I have been able to choose my courses so I am just investigating what I like at the moment, environmental law is a possibility, some of my old courses give me a good foundation for that. At St Judes my courses were law, politics and business based, not that my parents expected me to use them..." again she trailed off and we looked at each other over her head. Her parents were awful.

"With the way environmental issues are coming to the forefront of everyones agenda's I think you are making a good choice, no matter what industry you chose to work in you will be needed" Thad tells her and she smiles at him, those few words of positivity changing her whole mood.

Thad grins back at her, "Now not wanting to sound sexist but can you cook?" he asks and she blushes before laughing.

"Yes, though I've never tried just using camping stoves" she replies with an easy smile and the whole room feels lighter for it.

I thought about all the food we hauled back and hoped she would like what we had grabbed, none of us were good beyond a fry up in the kitchen. I got to my feet and held out my hand to her "We suck at cooking, all of us, can you help us get dinner together?" I ask and she nods taking my hand and I pull her up out of Ivo's lap.

"I'll light some candle and help too" Thad offers and get up to do that.

In the time we have been sat talking and watching the fire, it has got dark outside, Topper pulls the curtains shut to keep in the warmth from the fire and goes room to room opening doors and shutting curtains. The room temperature dropping as the cooler air floods the room but we need to circulate the heat into the other rooms if we are going to get though the night and this was the best way of doing it.

By candlelight Per looks over our food supplies and directs us, setting pasta boiling as she and Thad chop tomatoes and other vegetable to make a sauce and I fry off some chicken she diced. It took a little longer than a normal kitchen would but at the end I knew both Thad and I watched proudly as our 'brothers' tucked in.

"This is great" Ivo said and we both pointed at Per who blush could be seen even in the candlelight.

"Couldn't have done it without her" we praised before tucking in ourselves.