Settling Ashes: A New Adult/College Romance (The Ashes Series Book 2) (16 page)

But as we rode from the restaurant to Matchstick’s, I kept glancing at her out of the corner of my eye, and I simply couldn’t keep my gaze locked on her face any longer.

Her outfit had blown me away when she walked into the living room at her apartment, and I’d been a good boy ever since, in order to convey the seriousness of my emotions for her.

Now my eyes traveled from her slim, bare legs up the corseted red dress she was wearing to her bare shoulders that were on display under her coat. I ogled her openly, and then I realized where we were going.

I had to physically force my foot up to keep it from slamming on the brakes.

“Paige,” I said, half panicking in my seat.

“Yeah?” She had been staring out the window in a reverie, but now she looked over at me and caught hold of my intense gaze. “What’s wrong?”

Her voice was alarmed, and I stroked her thigh to calm her. “Nothing. Or everything. I don’t think I can take you to Matchstick’s.”

“Clay,” she groaned. “You have to. Gillian will kill me. Tima, too.”

“Paige,” I said pointedly. “Look at what you’re wearing, baby.”

She did, glancing down at herself in confusion, and then her face took on a knowing smile. “You don’t want other guys looking at me like this. That’s sweet.”

The hell it was. It was purely animalistic, caveman in nature. It wasn’t sweet, and I knew it. It was possessive and psychotic, but that was how Paige made me feel.

I cringed. “Can we go home and change?”

“Nope. We don’t have time. Plus, we’re so close to Matchstick’s already. Just stay close to me, baby. I only have eyes for you.”

I took a deep breath. “If anyone tries to touch you…”

“They won’t,” she interjected. “There’s not a guy on this campus right now who isn’t terrified of you.”

She smiled, and I took her hand in mine and brought it to my lips.

“Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

When we walked into the bar, our crew was waiting for us on barstools. Gillian and Tima leapt off of theirs and crowded around Paige. Tima was giving her serious props for her dress.

“Girl, you look
hot
,” she said admiringly, looking Paige over. “Gill is really rubbing off on you.”

I saw the blush creep into Paige’s cheeks, and I looked over at Drew and Rob. Their eyes were also on her dress.

“Hey,” I said sharply to them. “Eyes off my girl.”

Rob slid his gaze over to mine and laughed. “Come on, man. You know all we’re doing is looking. There ain’t gonna be a man in this place that can keep his eyes off of that.”

“I know,” I grumbled. “That’s what I’m afraid of. I might have to really earn my murder charge tonight.”

Beau and I had formed a truce since he’d saved Paige’s life, but that didn’t mean I was ecstatic to see him when he walked through the door.

“Beau!” Gillian screamed, and ran over to hug him.

Drew looked miffed. “What’s he doing here?”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s friends with Gill and Paige from high school remember? I’m sure Gill invited him. She seems to think he’s a part of all this.”

“He is,” Gillian said, coming up and towing Beau by the arm. “Get a beer, Beau.”

He nodded at us, grinning about our long faces at the sight of him, and headed over to the bar. He stopped in his tracks when he caught sight of Paige, and the animal in me growled and went to stand next to her.

“Paige,” he choked out. “What are you wearing?”

She looked down again. “It’s a dress, Beau. You’ve seen them before, right?”

“Not like that,” he replied, his voice faint. “And not on you.”

“Weren’t you going to the bar?” I asked him pointedly.

He glanced at me, and then went to get his beer. He leaned against the bar, though, openly eyeing Paige.

I walked over to him. “What the hell? Can you try to keep your eyes off of her tonight?”

He shook his head, letting his gaze drop off of Paige and glanced at me. “I can try, dude. But you’re the one who brought her here looking like that. What did you think was going to happen?”

I sighed, hanging my head and taking a deep breath. “This.”

He laughed, slapping me hard on the back. “Don’t worry. I got your back. They touch, they die.”

I nodded, perking up a little. “Damn right.”

I walked over and put my arm around a giggling Paige, who now had a pink-tinted drink in her hand. I raised my eyebrows. She shrugged.

“Y’all want to go dance?” she asked the group. We all headed up the wooden staircase in the corner to the second floor of the bar, which served as a nightclub.

The pulsating music hit me before we reached the top, and I guided Paige into the dark room with my hands grasped firmly around her waist. I loved grabbing her waist, the way my hands could encircle her so completely. Her slender frame fit perfectly with every part of my large one.

She finished her drink, leaving it on the bar. The bartender nodded at me and cocked a brow, and I shook my head. I refused to consume even one drink when I was driving Paige around.

She pulled me to the dance floor, where the crowd moved to a fast dance track. As soon as we arrived in an open space, the beat changed, and the first strains of “Marry Me” by Jason Deruilo came over the speakers. I think a collective sigh rose from the females in the room, but my eyes were locked on Paige’s.

She wrapped her arms around my neck, and I locked mine around her waist, pulling her closer. I let the artist sing the exact words I wanted to say to her, and she knew I was feeling sentimental. She smiled at me as we danced, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.

“I love you,” I mouthed to her, knowing she wouldn’t be able to hear me over the noise.

She reached up onto her tiptoes and kissed me. I gripped her tighter and moved my lips against hers almost desperately. She tasted like peppermint and the fruitiness of her drink, and the combination was delicious. She pulled back before I had gotten enough of her, and I shook my head and smiled, pulling her back up for more.

Paige stumbled over what I assumed had to be someone else’s foot in the crowded room, and I lifted her, placing her feet onto mine. She smiled gratefully and we moved that way, with her dancing on my feet.

I glanced over her shoulder and caught sight of Drew at the bar, looking pissed. I tried to catch his eye and couldn’t. I looked down at Paige, about to ask her to walk with me over to check in with him, but I felt a tap on my shoulder before I could lean in to ask her.

“I’m cutting in,” Beau’s voice shouted in my ear.

Dammit. That was the last thing I wanted. But I did need to find out what had made Drew look so put out, and I knew Paige would be safe with Beau.

I put a finger under Paige’s chin and lifted it so she’d be looking at me.

“Do you want to dance with Beau for a minute?” I asked her, leaning in closer so she could hear me. “I need to check in with Drew.”

I thought I saw her wobble slightly, but with the sea of people dancing around us I thought I might have imagined it. She seemed fine when she smiled back at me.

The grateful look in her eyes let me know she was glad I was being reasonable about Beau. She shooed me away with a flick of her hands, and turned her gaze to Beau, who was standing next to me.

“Keep your hands where I can see them,” I warned him forcefully. He just grinned at me and raised his hands in the air.

I kissed Paige’s lips again, putting on a little show for him before I left. She closed her eyes and smiled dreamily. I stared at her for a second, my head cocked to the side.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Drew cocking his fist back; he hit the guy standing next to him squarely in the face.

I yelled at Beau to catch Paige as I gently pushed her in his direction, and I took off toward my best friend.

I reached Drew just as he was pulling back for another punch, and I grabbed his arms and pulled them up behind his back, looping my arms through his and locking them together.

“What happened?” I shouted.

Rob reached us then, too. He looked into Drew’s face and asked the same question.

“This
asshole
,” Drew yelled, glaring at the guy standing in front of us cradling his jaw in his hand. “Threw a drink on Gill!”

My mouth dropped and I snarled at the guy who was now taking a step toward Drew. Rob stepped In front of him.

Gillian was in hysterics next to us, the front of her completely soaked. Tima was there next to her, trying to calm her down.

“I did not!” the guy said angrily. “I
spilled
it. The bitch just got in my way!”

That did it for Drew. He wrenched his arms free and hurtled forward, shoving the guy in the chest so hard he smashed against the bar. The guy’s friends surged forward and the girls screamed. The bartenders were rushing toward us, and chaos was breaking loose all around the bar.

Without thinking, I grabbed Drew and towed him toward the stairs. I nodded to Rob, jerking my chin toward the girls and he grabbed both their elbows and followed behind me at a run. We entered the stairwell, shutting the door behind us just before the guy’s friends reached us.

I normally would never run from a fight, but everything in that room was about to fly off the handle. I needed to get Drew out before he lost his mind.

What the hell was going on with Drew, anyway? I respected Gillian as Paige’s friend just as much as he did, but throwing punches for her? I wasn’t even sure the guy did throw a drink on her on purpose. It was a crowded bar. It could easily have been an accident.

We reached the bottom of the stairwell, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I released Drew’s arms, and opened the door at the bottom.

Then the fire alarm bells blared in my ears, and a wave of panic unlike anything I’d ever known rolled through me as I thought of my girlfriend still upstairs.

Seventeen

Paige

My head was fuzzy. I was dancing with Beau, and I heard myself laughing and having a good time. But around the edges of my happiness lay a strange unease. I felt…off. My toes and fingers were tingling, and the music hit my ears through a long, far-off tunnel of sound.

I didn’t even know I was wobbling until Beau caught me in his arms. He held me against him, crouching slightly so our eyes were level.

“Paige, sweetheart,” he said, his voice filled with an urgency I couldn’t comprehend. “What’s wrong? Have you been drinking?”

I shook my head. “Yes. I mean, no.” Giggling, I pushed my hair off of my hot forehead.

He eyed me carefully, and steadied my face with his hands. “Yes? No? Which is it?”

I found the right motion for my head this time and nodded.

“Okay,” Beau said, smiling. “You’re a little tipsy, huh? Not like you, but okay.”

“I had one whole drink all to myself,” I slurred proudly.

Then the floor beneath me rolled, and I was thrown off course once more.

Beau caught me again. “Whoa. One drink? Paige, are you sure?”

I was tired of talking. So I began dancing some more, only I couldn’t hear the beat of the music properly. Or my body wouldn’t move correctly according to that beat. Suddenly, a blazing pain shot through my forehead, and I slapped a palm to it in agony.

“Ow,” I moaned. “My head hurts, Beau.”

His brow wrinkled in concern. “Okay, baby. Let’s get you out of here.”

He reached for me, and just as he did, someone in the crowd bumped him hard, causing him to stumble back.

And then the fire alarm began to screech.

I knew I was in trouble then, because the sound of a fire alarm should have sent a wave of panic coursing through my body that made it impossible to do anything but run for the exit.

Instead, I stared around me in a foggy haze.

“Beau?” I called, looking to the spot where he had been. But the crowd was pushing me forward as it surged toward the exit. And then I was lifted off my feet and there was a funny-smelling cloth over my nose and mouth.

Then…darkness.

~**~

I awoke somewhere dark.

So dark, and damp with the sounds of a dripping pipe emanating all around me. I was staring at a ceiling beamed with wood, and there was a single light bulb hanging from the center of the beams.

My vision went fuzzy, and then I passed out again.

~**~

The second time I awoke, it was with a startled gasp. I had no idea where I was or how I’d gotten there. I tried to sit up, struggling through the dull ache in my head, and looked around me. The surroundings hadn’t changed since the first time I woke, but now I was more alert.

Immediately, I knew what had happened. They’d taken me. The people who wanted me dead…they had me. So why wasn’t I dead yet?

My forehead wrinkled in concentration. I had been at Matchstick’s, dancing with Beau. Then the fire alarm had gone off and chaos had ensued. But before that…before that I’d been feeling sluggish and foggy.

They’d drugged my drink! I’d only had one drink tonight…was it still tonight? How much time had passed since I’d been here?

I looked around my prison again. Dark, dank, and damp…a basement? A cellar?

The floor was earthen. I could feel the texture of it when I swung my feet down. They’d taken my shoes; I was barefoot, but still wearing my red corset dress.

The softness underneath me was an air mattress, pushed up against a cinderblock wall. The cellar was chilly, but not as cold as it may have been if it weren’t for the kerosene heater situated across the room near a set of wooden stairs.

That was all there was…except for a lone toilet a few feet away from the bed. Gross.

Bile rose up in my throat, and my breath came fast and hard. I had been kidnapped. And someone wanted me dead. This was the worst possible thing that could have happened.

And I was all alone.

Hot tears blurred my vision, and I lay back down on the mattress and tried to count backwards from ten, slowly. It did nothing to calm the mounting fear that was quickly threatening to take over my consciousness completely.

What had I learned about situations like this? I always remembered seeing segments on talk shows where they invited someone in the criminology field to tell the audience what to do if they were taken. The first thing I was supposed to do was not allow myself to be taken to the second location.

I’d already blown that one.

I was also supposed to observe as many details about my surroundings as possible. I’d done that. The cellar was pretty bare; there wasn’t anything else to catalogue.

I was supposed to try and talk to my captor. Tell them anything and everything personal about myself in order to make myself a person to them, and not just a possession. I would try that, when I met my captor.

If
I met my captor. They could just leave me to die down here. With that thought, my nausea came to fruition, and I knelt in the dirt and vomited into the toilet. I heaved, and heaved, and heaved some more, until exhaustion became the only expression my body could possibly display and I passed out again on the air mattress.

~**~

The third time I woke, I began to wonder more intensely how much time had passed since I’d been taken from the club. I sat up, realizing for the first time that there were no windows, no way for me to know what time of day or night it was. I stood up and walked around the perimeter of the room, searching the brick walls for cracks or small panels or grates leading to the outside. I found a small grate in the wall near the floor, but it didn’t tell me anything about what time of day it was. Then I began to creep up the wooden steps, wondering what I’d find at the top.

At the top was a hatch instead of a door. This was definitely a storm cellar, and it was locked from the outside, so there was no way out.

I snuck dejectedly back down the stairs and sat once more on my bed, just staring around the room. I wasn’t sure how long I sat that way, because I had no way to pass the time. Hopelessness began to settle over me as I thought about my friends. About Clay.

They’d know by now what had happened. They’d k now that I was gone and they’d most likely assume I was dead, since that was all the person who took me had tried to do before now. They wouldn’t be looking for me. Unless they were looking for my body.

As I thought about how such a search would be affecting Clay, Beau, and Gillian, my heart cracked into pieces and I crumpled onto the bed in heaving sobs of devastation.

I lay there like that for a long time. Maybe hours, maybe more.

Until I heard a sound from the door at the top of the stairs.

A metallic-sounding lock slid back and the door was lifted open from the outside.

I sat bolt upright in the bed and stared at the stairs as light footsteps descended.  Two legs cloaked in black pants came into view, and then a torso also sheathed in black, complete with black-gloved hands. And then a blond head emerged, with a stylish, perky haircut.

“Oh, hey Paige,” she said. “I’m glad to see you’re awake. We can have a little chat before I have to dispose of you.”

I couldn’t keep the shock off of my face, but somehow I was able to keep my voice flat and calm so she wouldn’t hear the tremble that resulted from my immense surprise.

“Krista,” I said. “What did I ever do to you?”