Under My Skin

18 | protect the queen

Chapter Eighteen:

Ria sat cross-legged on the carpet, the last words from Rocco's call still echoing in her mind. She gripped the fluffy carpet between her fingers, desperate to make sense of what she had been told.

Her father may have died minutes away from their family home, and then his body had been moved?

If it were true, and his body had indeed been moved, this would likely be a murder case and not a tragic accidental hit-and-run. Ria inhaled a single shaky breath, feeling dejected by the new revelation bestowed upon her.

Ria didn't think she could bare another heartbreak. She questioned how her heart could still beat with the numerous attacks it'd taken. It had already broken once after her dad's death and a second following her mother's unexpected departure. And now, what little was left of it may break again.

Deeply lost in her thoughts, she barely heard the front door unlocking, indicating that Blaine and Benji had arrived at the flat. She didn't even hear the boys entering the room, the soft chattering lost in the background of her bleak thoughts.

The young boy entered the room, appearing less dishevelled than the last time she had met him. His hair was firmly combed back and set in place with a smidge of hair gel. Ben had more colour to his cheeks and a big toothy grin across his face, his front two incisors appearing slightly too large for his mouth.

"Ria, are you alright?" Blaine's voice awoke her from the trance she'd been in. She glanced up from the floor, plastering a small faux smile upon her face as she stood up, willing herself to hide her emotions.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I didn't get started on the packing yet," Ria pointed towards the wardrobe, her hand shaking ever so slightly, "Hey Ben, how are you?" She bent down as she spoke to the boy.

The boy beamed up at her but didn't speak. Instead, he hesitantly inched towards her, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. Ria noticed for the first time how short he was. Shorter than the average ten-year-old boy at four feet, two inches. His head reached just above her naval. "I wanted to thank you, Ria. For checking, I was okay." He whispered softly.

Ria thought her heart could've melted at the mere words, her previous woes falling to the back of her thoughts at that moment, "That's really okay, Ben." She softly returned the hug, "I'm just so glad you're okay now." She leaned up, looking up at Blaine, "I'm just going to get a glass of water, and I'll join you both in here."

Ria was sure that she looked a state. She hadn't been crying, but she was well aware of how poor she was at hiding her emotions - despite being a part of a profession that duly required that very skill. And, she was sure that Blaine had spotted the gloomy expression etched across her face.

She scurried into the kitchen, opened the tap, and splashed the water across her face, not caring that the concealer she had so carefully applied was being washed away.

"Are you sure you're okay, Ria? You're looking a bit peaky." Blaine called from behind her, appearing to have followed her as concern coloured his face.

"I already said I'm fine, didn't I?" She replied sharply.

"Okay but isn't being fine really bad on the female scale of feelings?" Blaine joked.

"What?" Ria responded; her nose crunched up in confusion at Blaine's question.

"Pretty sure the scale goes amazing, great, good, okay, terrible, dying inside, fine." He continued, waiting for a response that never came, "that was a joke, by the way. A bad joke, sorry."

"Right. A joke." Ria blinked, bemused by the boy, before sighing softly, "Listen, I'm sorry. It's just...I got some bad news, that's all."

"Oh? Do you want to talk about it?" He asked curiously, a wisp of bronze hair falling in front of his eyes as he spoke.