A thousand bad times - Post Malone

Fourteen

Holi is woken by Austin pouncing on her like a frog, he is an oaf. "Wake up we have a busy day! Get up," he says and pulls the blanket then quickly snaps the blanket back over her, "Holiday! You are naked! Why the fuck are you naked?" he complains. Holi laughs and sits up letting the blanket fall off her breasts so Austin jams a pillow to her chest. "You woke me at fucking 5 am when you were getting up to work out I battled to fall asleep because your room is so hot so I took off my clothes," she moves the pillow and Austin lifts the blanket over her breasts, "then you open a fucking window not take your clothes off! There are rules, Holiday!"

Holi scrunches her face at him, "rules? what fucking rules?" Austin scratches around the bed till he finds her sleep shirt and slips it on Holi.

"Well, you already know rule number one."

"The ritual? It's a stupid rule."

"But it's a rule nonetheless. Rule number two - always...always keep yourself fully clothed."

"Rule number two is also stupid."

"I mean it Holi. It's a very serious thing. If we lose the game and people heard I broke my ritual there would be a mob with pitchforks and fire."

"Really?"

"Football fans are crazy motherfuckers."

Holi laughs this whole thing is just crazy, "so what time do we have to be at your game?" Austin frowns at her, "the game is on Sunday," Holi glares at him, "you fucking serious? I thought tonight after your game we could...you know," Austin smiles and wriggles his eyebrows, "look at you being all modest, but no sorry you have to suffer by my side for one more day...then I will fuck you." Holi snorts at him - he is an idiot.

"Whatever. So why did you wake me up? And what big plans do we have to do today?" she asks. Austin leans over and takes a coffee cup from the side table handing it to Holi, she practically inhales it. She has a thing for coffee. "Well, today would be the only day that I could focus on just you. Sunday is game day and Monday we get the kids back. So I wanted to take you somewhere nice for the day and then on a date tonight...what do you think?" Holi can't contain herself, a day that she does not have to worry about anything? No fighting for survival...that's dark. But just a fun day out? Yes, please.

"Yes, I would really like that. Can I ask where you are taking me?"

"No."

"Oh? Ok," Holi says. Holi may be living a new life here with him, but she will always have a little bit of 'street' within her and it plays dirty. If Austin thinks he is being cute by not telling her where he is taking her she will make him regret it...sure it's petty but Holi never claimed not to be. She smiles at him then whips off her shirt and gets out of the bed while Austin is busy scrambling to catch the shirt as it falls back down.

She is completely naked with her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face, just waiting for Austin to pull himself together and then look at her. When he finally does she can see he has a thin line of sweat on his brow. She lets him trail his eyes up and down her naked body and just as she can see his willpower start to crumble she turns and walks to the bathroom then closes and locks the door.

That was mean of her, she knows. But...once his game is done she will make it up to him. She hopes his fans know how important the game is to him and how badly he wants to win. Once out of the shower she unlocks the door and walks back into the bedroom. Austin is no longer in the room so Holi gets dressed and makes her way down to the kitchen expecting to see him making breakfast but unfortunately, she comes face to face with three people she was not expecting...she is only happy to see one.

She can't help folding herself into Ren's arms. She had not seen him since before she lost Mac and Bell, the way he is hugging her tight and rubbing her back in a soothing way tells Holi he has been through this himself, he knows,  "Holi," he whispers in her ear, "he will fix this for you. I know he will," Holi buries her face further into his chest. Ren trusts Austin with everything he has, blindly. Holi can't help but wonder what Ren's story is. What did Austin do to make Ren so loyal to him? Hopefully, Ren will tell her one day.