Pitch Black (Romantic Thriller, Completed)

Chapter 23

"Slowly, Tia."

Luke helped her into the back seat of the SUV he rarely drove while I stuffed her bag of medication into the footwell on the other side. The doctor had prescribed so many pills Tia would rattle if she jumped up and down, and she'd been discharged with a long list of dos and don'ts. No horse riding for at least six months.

On the way home, we stopped off at Woodley Hall, the house Luke grew up in and where Tia still lived with their mother. The country pile screamed old money.

"Nice," I said as we turned into the drive.

"It is now. It was in an awful state when our father died," Luke said. "We almost lost it after he ran out of money. I'm sure that's what caused his heart attack."

Tia gasped from the behind me. "We nearly lost our home?"

Luke nodded.

"I didn't know that."

"Well, you do now."

Luke had tried to shield her as she grew up, convinced he was doing the right thing. I wasn't so sure—the world might be full of shit, but living in a bubble was no better.

"I always knew he was an arsehole," Tia muttered.

"Tia, don't call him that. He was still our father."

"Some father. Did you know he cheated on Mum with the girl from the florist?"

Luke slammed the brakes on. "He what? What makes you think that?"

"Because I saw them when I was little. I was supposed to be asleep, but I woke up and saw them in one of the spare bedrooms, doing..." She closed her eyes and shuddered. "It."

"Fucking arsehole." Luke walloped his palm against the dashboard. "Shit."

Wow. This family was almost as dysfunctional as my own.

Luke's mother was reading a novel in the lounge when we arrived. When he'd called earlier to tell her Tia would be staying with us for a while, the news was met with a vague comment of, "I hope you both have a good time, darling," and that was that, almost as if Tia was popping over for a brief visit rather than moving out for weeks.

Even now, Mrs. Halston-Cain made the effort of raising her eyes from the book seem like a chore. When she saw me standing behind Luke, a slight look of puzzlement came over her face. I say slight because most of her facial features had been frozen in place by Botox.

"Who are you? Do I know you?"

"I'm Ashlyn. You saw me yesterday at the hospital." And ignored me completely.

"Ash is my girlfriend," Luke said.

"Oh. What happened to Caroline?"

"I broke up with Caroline three months ago."

"Such a shame. Caroline was a lovely girl. It would have been a wonderful family for you to marry into, what with her father being a banker and her mother being such an active member of the hospital fundraising committee. Girls like Caroline don't grow on trees, you know. Are you sure there's no chance of you getting back together?"

Hey, don't mind me, lady. I'm only standing right next to your son.

"Mother! Show some tact and don't be so rude to Ash."

"Sorry, darling," she said, when in reality she was anything but. "So, Ashlyn, what do your parents do?"

"My dad's an accountant, and my mum's a teacher."

Nice, normal professions, I thought, but still her face fell. I was tempted to tell her the truth, that my mother was a drugged-out hooker and my father was a sperm donor, just to see her reaction. But I couldn't do that to Luke.