Ashes Of A Mate

Chapter5

Drunk On Memories

Lexi grunted in frustration and let go of the arrow in her bow.

It flew straight to the target, hitting it right in the centre.

She was becoming increasingly bored of the easy spot. She needed to keep her mind occupied, or it wandered to the fire every time.

She reached for the spot on her face and dug her index into the space between her teeth.

Somehow she found herself doing that a lot since she returned to the living.

“Bullseye!”, Nat exclaimed behind her.

She turned around and stared at her, startled by her presence.

“Nobody told me that you came around.”

Nat frowned at her slightly as she walked to retrieve her arrow for her.

“Since when do I need to announce my presence in your house?”

She handed her the arrow by grudgingly, obviously offended by the distance that was suggested in her statement.

Lexi sighed wearily and rubbed her temples. Since the day she returned to her life five years before her mate murdered her, she had been distant with everyone and there was no denying it.

It was not that she did not want to talk to everyone and be friends with Nat. In fact, she wanted nothing more than to spend as much time with her best friend as possible since she had literally faced death and believed she was never going to see them again.

However, she had thought all about it. She had five whole years in her memory that everyone else was yet to experience, and she was not ready to be the one to take away their new experiences from them, but she also did not know how to hold a conversation about anything else, so she mostly kept to herself.

As she opened her eyes to try explaining herself to Nat, she met a huge smirk on the Nat's face.

“We should totally get drunk!”

She stared at her in confusion.

“Nat, I'm sorry but I don't really want to go out, and I especially do not want to be wasted around a bunch of strangers tonight.”

Nat's smirk simply grew wider, as did Lexi’s confusion.

“Who said anything about going out?”

Lexi quietly returned her bow and arrow to give her full attention to Nat.

“My brother has a cellar full of the best drink you'll ever taste in his pad, and he's away on some diplomatic mission so the place is ours!”

Nat squealed and held up a single, shiny key that Lexi guessed was to unlock Alpha Jace’s apartment.

She forced an uneasy smile and swallowed nervously.

***

“This was such a bad idea.”

Nat giggled loudly and kicked her feet in the air as she watched Lexi struggle to get off the bed and find her balance.

They were fully wasted and almost passed out in Alpha Jace’s bachelor's pad.

“Just lay back down and let yourself be”, Nat advised.

Lexi turned and squinted her eyes at her. Both their faces were entirely flushed and red because of the blood rush from the alcohol.

“But I need to pee.” She pouted as she staggered her way to the toilet.

She wasn't sure, but she thought she heard Nat told her to be careful as she found her way into the toilet and closed the door behind her.

She tried not to close her eyes often because every time she so much as blinked, there was suddenly a roaring fire before her, threatening to drag her back to the world that held nothing more for her.

Lexi did her business as hurriedly as she could and scurried out of the bathroom.

“Are you okay?”

Nat stared at her with worry in her slender, drunken eyes.

She staggered terribly, trying to grab onto anything to make sure she could find her way back to the bed, but it was futile.

She eventually slipped and fell to the ground, causing her to hit the back of her head on the wall.

Nat quickly jerked up and looked down at her from the bed.

“Lexi, are you good? Do you need water?”

Instead of responding, Lexi began to cry loudly as she took her hand to the back of her head.

She scrubbed at the back of her head frantically and pulled her hand from behind her to show it to Nat.

“Look, Nat. It's bleeding again.”

Nat stared at her clean palm in extreme confusion.

Lexi was frustrated at the lack of a reaction.

She touched her bleeding cheek and traced a pattern on the floor with the blood from it.

“My face is bleeding too. Help me, Nat”, she cried out, looking up at her friend.

Nat only shook her head in confusion and climbed down from the bed.

“Lexi, you're not bleeding anywhere.”

Lexi shook her head frantically covered her eyes with her palms.

“No, no, no. He's going to burn me alive!”

Drunken on memories.

Nat held her hands and shook her vehemently, trying to snap her out of the seemingly painful trance that she was caught in.

“No one else is in here, Lexi. You're safe with me, I promise!”

Nat tried to wrap her arms around Lexi to comfort her, but Lexi shook so much, so hard that she ended up pushing her away each time.

She continued to press down on her eyes with her palms like she hoped that they were going to burst eventually.

All Lexi could see was raging fire, whether her eyes were open or close.

She pressed her palms to her eyes to keep them shut. At least that way, she could tell herself that it wasn't real; she was just imagining it.

She heard the door fling open and the sound of heavy boots before a familiar scent filled her nostrils.

Gently, she tore her hands away from her face and beamed when she met the forest green eyes of her saviour.

“What took you so long?”

She cooed as he scooped her into his arms and took her away from the flames.