Settling Ashes: A New Adult/College Romance (The Ashes Series Book 2) (4 page)

Looking back at Gillian, I met her horrified gaze as she stared at me with wide eyes and both small hands covering her mouth. She looked like she’d seen a three-headed mutation.

“What?” I asked her, alarmed. “Gillian,
what?
”

“Holy shit,” she breathed. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before.”

“Think of what?” Tima asked. “You’re scaring us, Gill.”

I grabbed Gillian’s shoulders and stared hard into her eyes, shaking her a little.

“Gill! Do you know where Paige is?”

“No,” she whispered, eyes still wide and now blinking rapidly. “But I know who she’s with.”

Four

Paige

The morning after the movie, Monday morning, I awoke feeling changed. I laid in bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out what it was that was nagging at me. I watched the light in the room brighten as the sun rose outside the window.

Then I clasped my hands over my chest and sat up straight in bed. I clutched at my t-shirt, bunching it under my fingers.

My heart.

It wasn’t beating in pure agony this morning. My first thought was of Clay, as it normally was. But thinking of him didn’t cause a mountain of bile to rise in my throat. It didn’t coat my skin with a thin film of sweat. I didn’t immediately picture him sleeping so peacefully beside Hannah in her bed.

Instead, I thought about what we’d gone through together as a couple since we’d met. I thought about how he made me feel when we were together. I missed him fiercely, and wondered what he was doing at the moment. I was still more than angry, still more than hurt and afraid at what seeing him again may do to me.

But I was able to follow through with that process without completely crumbling into a mute zombie, or a blubbering mess.

I was a little less broken today.

It was minute, but true all the same. My chest didn’t throb as painfully as it had the day before. I stared down at myself, trying to imagine what had caused such a metamorphosis.

I thought about Clay, tentatively picturing his chiseled face in my mind. He kept his brown hair cut short. I tried to imagine what it would look like if he’d let it grow long while I was gone.

I’d never given him a chance to speak about what I’d seen the night before I’d left.

The night Hannah had been killed.

I was too distraught about what happened when Hannah had called me. She’d called from Clay’s phone, taunting me about the fact that she had my boyfriend in her bed. I’d told he she was a liar, and she’d challenged me to come to her house myself and prove it.

So I had. She had Clay’s phone, but I knew there had to be an explanation. Because Clay and I had been through a lot together since we’d met. A lot of it had been drama with Hannah. Like the time she’d rigged a cupcake to explode at the soccer banquet and ripped my dress to shreds as I’d tried to escape. My naked body was exposed to everyone present as I fled the ballroom with my dress hanging in tatters around me.

Or the time she’d told my entire group of friends in a diner that I had set the fire that killed my family.

Clay had always defended me with Hannah, had always tried to make sure that I was safe from her. But in the end, it wasn’t nearly enough. She’d still gotten to me, in the worst way possible. She might as well have physically ripped my heart out. It felt the same when I’d walked into her house to find her naked in bed with Clay. He’d been sleeping at the time, and hadn’t even seen me enter the room. But I know he’d heard all about it the next morning.

So now I wondered what he would have said, how he would have explained it away. And the fact that I could think about him for this long without falling into a heap meant I was beginning to heal.

Again.

I bounded into the living room and landed on the couch, on top of a very asleep Beau.

“Hey!” he protested, swiping at the air.

But then he wrapped an arm around me and squeezed me to his side as he sat up with bleary eyes. “That’s kind of an awesome way to wake up, actually.”

I slugged him in the arm. “Pay attention! I’ve had a revelation.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?”

“I have to go home.”

He leaned back on the couch and groaned. “Aw, Paige. I’ve actually dreaded the day you’d tell me that.”

I eyed him. “You have? Why?”

He deflected the question. “Why do you suddenly feel like you need to go back? Is this about the girl we saw at the theater last night?”

I hesitated, but decided to let him get away with the deflection “It is and it isn’t.”  I just woke up feeling like I needed to face my life again this morning. I’m done hiding, Beau.”

He leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Well, then, I guess I’m proud of you. You didn’t do anything wrong, so you don’t need to hide. If you’re’ going back, I support you completely.”

He stood up, stretching. His striped pajama pants hung low on his waist, and his perfectly aligned abdominal muscles flexed when he raised his arms over his head. “I guess I need to go get packed, then.”

“Packed?”

“Baby girl,” he said with a grin. “If you’re going back to Rutherford, then I’m going with you. Don’t think I feel like letting you walk away from me again.”

I chewed my bottom lip. “Beau, you don’t have to do that. I don’t want to disrupt your life here. You have a job—“

“Paige,” he interrupted. “You’ve made up your mind, right?”

“Right.”

“So have I,” he said. “If you’re going, I’m going. Luckily, Monday is my day off, so I can go with you and help you get settled. But Rutherford is only forty-five minutes away. I’m going with you. I’ll get a place, or I’ll drive over every day. I’m not leaving you again. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you walk back into Clay’s life again without a fight. I’m going.”

I sighed. There was no arguing with Beau when he was like this. He was similar to me that way. When he made his mind up, there was no point in trying to change it.

“Okay,” I said with a smile. Truthfully, I was grateful he was entering battle with me. I wasn’t sure how my friends and Clay were going to react to the fact that I’d taken off without a word. Beau would always have my back.

And the other truth was, I’d grown accustomed to having Beau in my life again this month. The fact that my heart was beginning to heal so quickly after being shattered so completely for the second time in my life was because of him.

“Let’s get packed.”

~**~

Beau’s truck pulled into Gillian’s apartment complex. My heart stuttered against my ribs. This morning, I’d been ready. I’d been ready to see my best friend again. I’d been ready to sleep in my own bed. I’d been ready to attend my classes, set foot on my beautiful, scenic college campus again.

And I’d been ready to face Clay.

But now, pulling into the parking lot, everything felt too real, too fast.  My chest tightened, and I struggled to breath around the pressure squeezing my lungs.

A warm touch enveloped my fingers, and I looked down to see Beau’s hand covering mine.

“Breathe, girl. It’s going to be okay. One step at a time, right? Gill loves you and misses you like crazy, I’m sure. Let’s go in and hug your best friend.”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, silently counting backward from ten.

“Okay. Let’s do this.”

Clay

I stomped my foot down on the gas pedal, wanting to get to Haygood as quickly as possible.

“So how do you know for sure this Beau guy lives in Haygood?” Drew asked, leaning forward from the backseat.

“Drew, what the hell are you eating back there?” Gillian asked in a voice made thin with disgust. “We didn’t even stop for food.”

“I found a candy bar under the seat,” Drew answered proudly.

“Oh, my God,” Gillian said, a choking sound gargling from her throat.

“What? It wasn’t opened.”

I glanced at Gill. “Focus.”

“Oh,” she said, tearing her eyes away from Drew. “Well, I talked to a girl we went to high school with. She said Beau moved to Haygood about six months ago for a job with the power company.”

“Did she give you his address?” I asked.

“No, she didn’t know it.”

I groaned in exasperation.

“So how are we supposed to find them?” Drew asked.

“We know where the power company is. Or, at least our GPS does. We should be able to find out something.”

I stomped harder on the gas.

My phone rang. I grabbed it out of the cup holder and answered.

“Hello?”

“Clay? Where are you?”

I cursed under my breath.

“What was that, Clay?” the smooth voice asked.

“I said,
hey Mom
,” I grumbled. “What’s up?”

“
What’s up
is that your father and I are standing on the doorstep at your apartment, and you are not here. Where are you?”

“Shit,” I cursed aloud this time.

“Clay Forbes!”

“Sorry, Mom,” I said tiredly. “I forgot you guys were coming. I…had some stuff to take care of today. Go to the hotel and I’ll see you guys tonight for dinner. Maybe. Okay?”

“Not okay, Clay Matthew. We have a lot to talk about. You’re in legal trouble, for God’s sake! We need to speak with your lawyer, and we need to—“

I heard my father interrupt her in the background.

“Good God, Maria, let the boy go. He’s busy. We’ll talk to him later.”

“But I—“

I clucked END, and placed the phone back in the cup holder.

“Your mom?” Drew asked sympathetically.

“Yeah, they’re at the apartment.”

“That’s right,” Drew mused. “I forgot they were coming today. What’s going on with your case?”

“We’re supposed to start talking about how we can find the real killer.”

Gillian stared at me. “That’s…creepy. You’re going to start looking for a murderer?”

“Well, yeah,” I answered. “Someone had to have killed Hannah. We know it wasn’t me. The police think it was, though, so they’re sure not looking.”

Gillian continued to look freaked out.

“Ugh.” She shuddered.

When we arrived in the tiny town of Haygood, Gillian used her cell phone to pull up a map that guided us to the power company headquarters. We all piled out of my car.

“I think you guys should let me go in alone,” Gill said.

“What? Hell no.” Drew shook his head firmly. “We all go.”

It actually sounded like a good plan to me, and I was about to say as much to Drew when Gillian interrupted me. No surprise there.

“Why? It’s not like there’s anything dangerous in there. Just a bunch of men who--” she unbuttoned the top two buttons on her fitted button-down shirt--“who would be more easily persuaded by a woman.”

“Gill!” Drew exclaimed.

I glanced from Gillian to him. His eyes were bugging. I didn’t know why he was so horrified. Gillian was a very capable girl.

“What? Don’t you agree with me, Clay?”

She narrowed her eyes at me, and it was crystal-clear that I’d better agree with her in this instance.

“Yes,” I said quickly. “We’ll be right out here if you need us.”

“Dude!” Drew gasped, looking scandalized.

“She’ll be fine, Drew.”

He leaned against the car, crossing his arms in front of his chest. He shook his head of shaggy brown hair agitatedly.

“Five minutes, that’s all you get. Then I’m coming in after you,” he told her.

“Fine. That’s all I need.” She turned and walked confidently up the sidewalk to the glass double doors, her heels clicking on the concrete as she went.

Drew glared at me the entire time we waited, which was approximately five minutes and thirty-eight seconds. When Gillian appeared again, he breathed a sigh of visible relief.

“What’s your deal?” I asked him curiously. It was no secret the two didn’t get along. Like, at all.

“It’s nothing,” he muttered.

Gillian approached the passenger side of the car, holding an index card.

“What’s that?” I asked her as she opened her door.

“Address,” she answered smugly.

I hopped in the car, and we were off again as she plugged the address into her GPS app.

When we pulled up to the complex, I sat back and breathed deeply.

“This is it,” I said low and determined. “This is Paige. She’s here. I’m going to be able to talk to her. Finally.”

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Gillian screeched.

I got out of the car, with Gill and Drew close on my heels.

The entire walk up to the second floor to the apartment where Paige had been staying for the past month, my thoughts were swirling hazily in my brain.

Would she shut the door in my face? Would she listen to me? Who was this Beau to her now? A month was a long time, and Paige was hurt. What if he had taken my place? He wanted to. I didn’t even know the guy, and I knew that much. You couldn’t spend time around Paige and not want her. She was utterly loveable. And terror washed through me as I approached the door to knock.

I raised my fist when the adjacent door suddenly opened and a woman in her thirties walked out, scrolling through a cell phone screen.

“Hello,” she said cautiously, looking at the three of us. “Can I help you?”

“Uh,” I hedged. “We’re actually looking for the guy who lives in this apartment. Do you know him?”

“Beau? Yeah I know him. Nice guy. Why you looking for him?”