Cradle Broken Glass

Chapter Forty Nine

The sun shining in from the blind woke Layla up from her dream. She blinked her eyes open, exhausted from the night before. She remembered the party going on until the early hours, with everyone going home at about 4. She turned to her side to find Eddie sprawled out on the bed next to her, his hair taking up most of the pillow, while his mouth hung open. She moved over closer to him, and began to run her fingers up and down his naked chest, slowly drawing patterns onto his skin absentmindedly. She was so focused on her task that she didn't even realise that Eddie had woken up and was staring at her.

"Morning." He said with a groggy voice and she jumped slightly.

"For fucks sake Eddie, you scared the shit out of me." She said and hit him lightly on his arm while he laughed.

"God, I feel like shit." He said as he rubbed his eyes. She didn't want to lecture him on the fact that he was hungover, so she decided to brush it off.

"How about I make us some breakfast. Pancakes with cinnamon apples. And some aspirin for you on the side." She suggested as she started to get out of bed, throwing Eddie's 'The Cramps' t-shirt on, and a pair of his boxers.

"Or you could take those back off and make me a different kind of meal." He said as he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Layla grabbed a pillow from the bed and threw it at his head.

"Dork." She laughed out, before making her way to the kitchen. Eddie followed soon after, clad only in a pair of boxer shorts. She started making breakfast, after giving Eddie some aspirin as he laid down on the couch. She was nearly done when she wondered where Jeff was. Usually when she started cooking he would be up in a flash after smelling food. But even with her famous cinnamon apples on the stove, he hadn't come out of his room yet, nor woken up it seemed.

"Hey babe, do you know where Jeff went last night. Did he come back?" She asked Eddie, who was laying on the couch with his arm thrown across his eyes to shield the light coming from the window.

"No idea, last thing I remember was speaking to him in the kitchen." He said, which wasn't any help since that had happened hours before she had last seen him. She put the pancakes and apples on a plate and gave them to Eddie, leaving the rest of the food on simmer as she went to search for the missing Montana boy.

She stopped outside his room, and heard nothing. She knocked and got no reply. Deciding to be nosy, she gently opened the door and peeked her head inside the dark room. She could see the outline of a body under the covers on the bed and breathed a sigh of relief. She turned to leave the room when movement caught her eye. The body on the bed turned over and settled. Layla looked closer and realised that Jeff wasn't the only one in the bed. There were two people.

She moved closer to the bed, and saw Jeff's head poking out from under the quilts. There were clothes strewn all over the floor, which she had to step over to get a better view of who was laying next to him. But when she did, Layla clasped one of her hands around her mouth in shock, her eyes wide as she saw the girl laying next to him.

Ash.

She tiptoed back out of the room and gently close the door, the grin on her face making her cheeks ache the more she tried to stop. She made her way back to the kitchen and got her own food, joining Eddie on the couch.

"I found him." She said.

"Is he in his room?" Eddie asked, and she nodded, smiling like she was crazy. He gave her a questioning look.

"What?"

"He's not alone." Layla said mysteriously.

"Is Stone with him?" He said confused, and Layla started laughing.

"Noooo. It's a female. And neither of them are wearing any clothes." He made a puzzled face, the two lines between his eyebrows forming as he thought about who it could be, before realisation came over him.

"Wait, Ash!?" Layla nodded her head fervently and the both of them began laughing.

"Geez, I'm proud of him. He finally grew some balls." Eddie said, and Layla agreed with him.

They sat there eating their breakfast and watching TV. It was peaceful until she heard a door open down the hallway. Her and Eddie turned around, listening in, and hearing hushed voices as Jeff and Ash tiptoed to the backdoor, completely out of sight. They heard the door open and close, and Jeff exhale a large breath before they heard footsteps make their way into the living room and kitchen area. Layla and Eddie spun their heads back around to focus on watching TV, pretending to not have been spying.

"Morning everyone." Jeff greeted as he sat down on the sofa across from them, a massive grin plastered on his face.

"Morning. Did you have a good night?" Eddie asked, and Layla had to stop herself from laughing at the way that Eddie said it, knowing that Jeff had a better night than what he would ever admit. Jeff sat there with a dreamy expression, clearly not ready to tell anyone what had happened between him and Ash just yet.

"It was great. Fucking great." He replied, in a world of his own. Layla couldn't help but think that he was a goner.