Page 15 of Mask and the Magnolia
Choking on nothing but my own spit, I cough so hard I trip through the metal detectors and practically fall into the guard on the other side. “Jesus, Drix.”
He shrugs as he walks through behind Maddox. “Have you?”
“No,” I say as I pick up my bag from the conveyor belt. “Not that you should care.”
“Love to have you in the family, hate for it to be because you bonded to that asshole.”
“Thanks.”
Hendrix takes mine and his brother’s bags then points for us to walk a little in front of him. “Offer still stands.”
I smile to myself and it grows when I see Maddox do the same.
The twins are Evie’s first cousins but on her mother’s side, which is where the Ridge comes from in the asylum’s name. The Ridgeways were a silent partner that came in during the construction of the asylum, they kept it afloat during the depression, and they’ve worked alongside mine and Eve’s families ever since. They aren’t old money like ours but they have a lot of it, and Carter knew he was going to do more than have his generation of Ridgeway sign the needed documents. He knew he needed to lock them in for insurance purposes, which is why he mated Evie’s mom, Dolly. Her brother, Donovan, is the twins’ dad, and he’s one of the coolest rich guys I’ve ever met, and he runs the asylum when Carter is at the university. The twins have a huge family, one that’s ridiculously close. I’d take all three of their dads and both of their moms any day of the week, and I’d love to have the nine siblings they do because being alone sucks.
Unfortunately, that is never going to be an option.
For one, Donovan would sooner cut off a limb than essentially sell one of his children, and even if he was an asshole who would, he’s not a Blackhurst, so my father would never even consider it.
But, Hendrix convinced his dad to help him challenge my contract, and then offered himself in place of Camden. To bondwith me, to help me through my first heat after graduation, or any in between if I had to stop taking my suppressants.
If my father makes me stop taking them.
Hendrix essentially offered his future in order to save mine, and while I love him with my whole entire heart for it, I’m notinlove with him, and he isn’t in love with me.
Call me a romantic, but I don’t want that for either of us.
He’ll keep reminding me that he’s willing to give me an out, though, and after watching Maddox go into his first heat without any kind of support or help because they were backpacking through Europe when it hit out of nowhere, he definitely won’t let me go through the same there, either.
“If I can’t have both of you, I won’t take either,” I say with a grin because I don’t want to get emotional on my first day here. It’s already been a trying morning and if I think too hard about what he said, I’ll cry. Evie and the twins are the only unconditional people I have in my life. So, deflecting with humor it is because twin besties or not, Madds and Drix willnotbe with the same person at the same time.
Proven when Hendrix makes a gagging sound, and Maddox shudders as he says, “Twinning and winning, Maggie. We have the same DNA. Touching boners is where we draw the line, and there is a high probability of that happening if we fuck you at the same time. No shade, it’s just not our thing.”
“Exactly,” his brother grunts. “Love you but not enough for that to ever fucking happen.”
Giggling because I called it and love them, I make my way to the final security stop where we have our photos taken, then get our official badges that give us level three security clearance before we’re granted access to the main floor of Blackhurst Ridge.
Thisis how my father should have decorated the hospital.
Walking into the main lobby is like stepping back in time.
The outside of the asylum looks very much like a gothic cathedral; vaulted arches, stained glass, stone embellishments, dark wood, and carvings everywhere. It looks every bit like the French architecture Elijah Blackhurst was inspired by, and it makes knowing the history here even more intense.
But strolling through this floor toward the elevator, surrounded by a style that is a definite nod to the era when things took a turn for the better, it feels like two different buildings.
Marble floors with a large square pattern, the walls the same but a shade lighter, both a warm tan with deep brown swirls, the edges made of thick outlines in black. There are various columns along the walls, designating multiple hallways or staircases, the marble framing them colored a very earthy green. The furniture in the waiting area is strategically placed, almost set in a pattern, made up of dark leather couches and chairs, gold tables, coordinating lamps, artwork and plants for days. It’s open and spacious but warm and inviting at the same time, and while I wish my father would have followed suit, I know this was intentionally done to put anyone who visits at ease.
This place isnotwarm or inviting, and I know that without ever having been inside.
“Is it weird that I’m excited to see the transfers?”
I frown as we step inside the elevator then push the number for our floor. “Yes?”
“Well, I am.” Maddox pushes a hand back through his hair and checks his reflection in the mirrored wall.
To which his twin says, “Why? You looking through the lineup for an alpha to settle down with?”
The two go back and forth after that, razzing each other about everything they can before it’s time to be professional. There’s a lot of love there but sometimes these two act like children.
