Settling Ashes: A New Adult/College Romance (The Ashes Series Book 2) (14 page)

“First of all, you loved Hannah, remember? When I started dating Paige and Hannah blabbed to you about it, you came rushing down here to yell at me. Now you’re saying you didn’t like her? And second of all, how the
hell
did you know that stuff about Paige and the fire? I didn’t tell you guys that.”

My father was looking incredulously at my mother. “You had his girlfriend checked out?”

“Of course I did,” she snapped. “Someone has to watch out for him, don’t they?”  She aimed her cool gaze at me. “And I thought I did like Hannah, but then I learned that she was losing her mind over you, and it wasn’t pretty. So, no, she wasn’t in my favor after all. And as for Paige…I will always check out your girlfriends, because finding the right girl cements the success of your future. And you haven’t done that yet, Clay. Not by a long shot.”

I sat back in my seat, staring at her. “My God, Mom! I’m a grown man. I’m not a little boy you can fuss over. You can’t pick my girlfriend for me. That’s for me to decide. Me!”

She just stared coolly at me, her hands folded on the table.

“Okay,” I said, shaking my head and moving to stand.

“Wait, Clay,” my father pleaded. “Just ignore your mother. We aren’t done talking to you yet.”

I fumed, tearing my gaze off of her to look at my dad. “What else?”

Then I remembered that Paige hadn’t texted me since I was waiting outside the restaurant for my parents. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked the screen, thinking I’d missed the ding during the conversation. I hadn’t.

I placed the phone on the table, watching it warily. If she didn’t text me in the next minute, I was going to text her and let her know how unhappy I was that she hadn’t honored our deal.

“Dechlan’s investigator found information on another possible witness that overheard some intel from possible suspects. This person isn’t willing to talk to the police. Dechlan’s going to arrange a meeting for some time in the next couple of days. It may be nothing. But it may be everything.”

I nodded absently, picking up my phone.

Clay: U ok? U forgot to text me. Almost done with dinner.

I looked up again. “Okay. That sounds really promising. Are we done here?”

My mother had a sullen look on her face. “Can’t we just have dinner now? You haven’t even eaten yet.”

The pleading in her voice was something I’d always had a hard time resisting. Even when she was being cold, or rude, or self-serving, she was still my mother.

I nodded curtly. “Dinner. And then I have to go.”

My father waved our waitress over so we could order, and I glared at my phone, willing it to ding. A wall of anxiety was building deep in my gut, and I wasn’t sure why. She was fine. She was at home, with the doors locked. Her apartment was close to campus. She was taking a bath, for God’s sake.

She was fine.

But I still wanted to see the proof of that in a text.

I ordered a chicken sandwich, and lifted my phone again to check it.

No text from Paige.

“Can you box that up for me, please?” I asked the waitress just before she turned to leave.

“Oh, dear Lord,” my mother snapped. “You can’t be away from her for one night?”

“No,” I said simply.

My dad smiled slightly. “If you need to go, son, then go. We can see you tomorrow.”

I stood. “Thanks, Dad.”

I bent to kiss my mom’s cheek, and I patted Dad’s shoulder. “See you guys later.”

As I reached the restaurant door, my phone rang. I paused, pulling up the screen in relief. The smile was wiped from my face when Gillian’s name popped up as an incoming call. The blood running through my veins turned to something cold, and I stopped dead.

“Gill?” I croaked.

“Get here,” her voice was riddled with a quiet panic. “It’s Paige.”

I sprinted to my new Land Rover faster than I’d ever run in my life.

Fourteen

Clay

When you love someone, there comes a time in your life when fear rules you. Fear of hurting them, fear of them hurting you. Fear of losing them. You’re afraid of all the bad things that could possibly happen to that person, or to you for loving that person as completely as you do.

So when the call from Gillian came, I fought like hell to stay in control of that fear.

I knew. I
knew
I shouldn’t have left her tonight. I’d ignored that ominous feeling deep in my gut, and now I was experiencing the tragic result of that mistake. Instead of listening to instinct, I took her reassurances that nothing bad would happen in such a short amount of time.

But don’t bad things always happen in a short amount of time?

The entire ten-minute drive from the restaurant to Paige and Gillian’s apartment, scenarios ran through my head about what condition I was going to find my girlfriend in. Or if I was going to find her at all.

I pulled up to the complex and jumped out of the car. I sprinted up the sidewalk to where Paige and Gillian’s door was standing wide open. I lurched inside and closed it behind me, panic rising in the form of bile from my throat.

“Paige!” I yelled. “Gill!”

“Back here, Clay,” Gillian called weakly.

I ran down the hallway until I reached Paige’s bathroom. She lay in Beau’s lap, her body wrapped loosely in a towel. Her eyes were open, but her skin was pale and a haunted expression took residence in her eyes.

“Oh, thank God,” I said in a choked voice.

The fact that she was in Beau’s lap didn’t make a difference; I was only happy that she was alive.

“What happened?” I asked, dropping to my knees beside her and stroking her face with my fingers.

Paige took a deep, shuddering breath. “Gill was right. Someone is trying to…trying to…” Her voice broke, and she struggled to continue.

I gently framed her face with my hands and leaned down until my forehead leaned against hers.

“Shhh,” I said. I looked at Beau, raising my brows.

He sighed. He was clearly shaken too, but he focused on me and tried to explain what he’d seen.

“I…” he began. “I was on the phone with her. I was just down the road and she told me she was alone. I was coming over anyway, but then before I hung up, I heard her scream.”

I sucked in a breath, imagining the terror he would have felt at hearing that. It was easy to envision, it was the same horror that would have enveloped me.

“So when I got here, Paige was under the water. Unconscious. They had given her something to knock her out, so she’d go under the water in the tub and…and
drown
.”

Gillian sobbed behind me, finally breaking down. I glanced at her.

“Gill,” I said. “It’s okay. Take this.”

I handed her my phone. “Call Drew.”

She looked at me, stricken, and then took the phone and pulled up Drew’s name. She mumbled into the phone behind us.

“Go on,” I said urgently to Beau.

“I gave her CPR until she was breathing again. She expelled the water, but she still wouldn’t wake up. Must have been the drug. She only came out of it a minute before you came in.”

I focused on Paige again, my hands still holding onto her cool cheeks. I stared into her eyes, glad that I was here and she was here and for the first time ever, thanking God that Beau had been here.

“Thank you, Beau,” I said softly, never taking my eyes from Paige’s. “Thank you for saving her life.”

Beau nodded. He squeezed her a little tighter.

“Did you guys call the paramedics?” I asked.

“Not yet,” Beau said. “I was only focused on getting here. Shit.”

“Please,” Paige said, her voice gravelly. “Please don’t. I can’t go back to that hospital.”

“Paige,” Gillian protested behind us. “You have to. We don’t know what kind of drug he gave you.”

“He?” I asked sharply, looking up at Gillian.

“I just assumed,” she said with a shrug.

“Paige, baby,” I said carefully, sliding my gaze back to hers. “Did you see who did this to you?”

The panic was gone now that she was here in my hands, and the rage building up inside me was threatening to boil my blood.

She shook her head. “Mask. Ski mask. I didn’t see his face.” She coughed wetly.

“But you know it was a guy?”

She nodded. “Yes. No. I don’t…” Her face took on a confused expression.

Paige began shivering in Beau’s arms. He looked at me, and I read the question in his eyes.

“Yeah,” I said without hesitation. “Go ahead.”

He picked her up without another word and carried her to her room, placing her gently on the bed. He bent down and pressed his lips to her forehead.

“I’m going to let your man get your dressed in something nice and warm, beautiful. I’ll be waiting right out in the living room, okay? I’m not leaving you tonight.”

She nodded, smiling at him gratefully. “You saved my life.”

“I’ll always be around if your life needs saving,” he promised huskily. Then he left the room.

I moved to the bed and unwrapped the damp towel from around her fragile frame. I dutifully went to her dresser and got her some underwear, her favorite pair of yoga pants, and a long-sleeved tee. I helped her put it all on, and then finally pulled her into my arms with a sigh.

“Paige?” I asked into her neck.

“Mmmm?” She wrapped her arms around me and as I lifted her she wrapped her legs around my waist.

“Please don’t ever instruct me to go anywhere without you again, okay?”

Her lips formed a smile against my skin. “That’s crazy, Clay.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “It is. And I’m going to be a little crazy until this person is caught.”

I carried her to the living room where Gillian huddled on the couch with a newly arrived Drew, and Beau sat on a barstool facing the room.

“Oh, man,” breathed Drew when he saw Paige.

Her skin was still very pale, and she was too weak to stand on her own. I pulled her down onto a beanbag with me, situating her in my lap.

“Are you okay, Paige?” Drew asked.

“I will be,” she answered tiredly.

“I’m taking you to get checked out tonight,” I told her. “No arguing. Gillian’s right. That drug could have lasting effects. We need to know what it was.”

Beau stood. “Then we’re all going.”

Gill and Drew nodded from the couch in agreement.

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s go.”

Everyone fit into the Land Rover, with Paige riding shotgun next to me.

“I love your new wheels,” she said, smiling at me. “Your dad went all out.”

“Yeah,” I said, grinning at her. “He usually does.”

“It’s no truck,” Beau grumbled from the backseat.

I glanced at him in the rearview, my grin growing wider. “Nope. Better.”

We argued about the pros and cons of trucks and SUV’s the rest of the way to the hospital.

We got Paige checked in, and then we were waiting again. At least this time, I got to wait in the room with her.

When the doctor came in and we explained what had happened, he told us that he had to inform the police, since a crime had been committed and Paige had been hurt by result. We agreed, and he completed his examination. He concluded that Paige seemed fine, but that they needed to test her blood to find out what type of drug had been used on her.

A nurse entered the room to draw her blood. Paige looked steadily at her arm the entire time, and I marveled at her bravery.

“That doesn’t freak you out?” I asked her with an eyebrow cocked.

“What? Drawing blood?” she shrugged. “It’s mine.”

“I know, Paige, but most people can’t look at their own blood any more than they can look at someone else’s.”

She shook her head. “After everything I’ve been through with doctors and hospitals, it takes a lot to make me squeamish.”

“Have I ever told you how kick-as you are?” I smiled at her.

“Nope.”

“You’re kick-ass, baby.”

She beamed at me. “I know.”

Paige

After hours in the ER, just waiting, they concluded that the drug I’d been injected with only had effects lasting long enough to knock me out. It was temporary, and was already almost flushed out of my system.

This news produced a very relieved Clay and Beau. Gillian, however, pulled me aside when we got back home.

“So are you willing to act, now that you know your life is in danger?” she hissed, closing her bedroom door behind us.

“What do you suggest I do?” I hissed back. “Buy a gun?”

She rolled her eyes. “No, Paige. I suggest you get the hell out of here and go live in Haygood with Beau.”

“You’re ready to get rid of me that easily?”

She shook her head, frustrated with my flippant attitude. “You almost died tonight, Paige. For the second time in a week! Easily? I don’t think so!”

I gripped her to me in a fierce hug. “I love you, Gill. You’ve always looked out for me, from day one. I know you’ve got my back. And Clay’s got my back. And Drew and Rob and Tima. And Beau, of course. So I don’t need to run. I can face this down and I can
win.
”

She stepped back and looked at me, open-mouthed. “I can’t believe you. You aren’t even scared. You’re like…getting off on this or something.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m not. This isn’t fun, or exciting. I just believe in us. This person who wants to keep Clay and I apart isn’t going to win. They just aren’t. I won’t let them.”

“Oh, God,” Gillian moaned. “I don’t have any good outfits for fighting. I’m going to have to go shopping.”

I giggled, hugging her again. “That’s my girl! I’m sure you’ll come up with something.”

We exited the room to find Clay and Beau sitting on the couch, not killing each other.

I narrowed my eyes at them. “You guys okay?”

“Yep,” Clay nodded. “Beau and I have come to an understanding, I think.”

They glanced at each other and nodded.

“Hey,” Beau said. “Can I get some blankets?”

I raised my eyebrows at him questioningly.

“It’s like 2AM, and I don’t feel like driving back to Haygood tonight. Plus, I don’t think I can leave you right now after what just happened. Just for my own piece of mind.”

He glanced at Clay again, who scrutinized him. Then he nodded and looked at me.

“Okay,” I said gratefully. “I’ll get some.”

I fixed Beau a bed on the couch, and said goodnight to both him and Gill. Then I pulled Clay to my room with me.

“So,” I said, closing the door behind us. “How was dinner with your parents?”

He shook his head. “Uh-uh. We aren’t talking about that tonight. I can’t think about anything else but the fact that I almost lost you, Paige. Again.”

I pushed him back so that he was sitting on the bed, and then I stood between his legs. I placed my hand on his shoulder and leaned forward to press my lips against his.

He surprised me by wrapping his arm around my back and pulling me closer, kissing me hard. When I pulled back for a breath, he leaned his forehead against mine.

“I can’t lose you,” he explained breathlessly. “I wouldn’t make it through that. So…I think I need to let you move to Haygood.”

“Clay--” I protested, but he silenced me with his lips.

I couldn’t argue with him when he was kissing me like that. His lips were warm and soft and they worked against mine until I opened my mouth to allow him inside. When I did, the passion of the moment took over us both, and I was suddenly on my back against the pillows, looking up at him.

“What if I can’t keep you safe here?” The agony in his eyes as he confessed his fear to me almost broke me. “Do you know what that would do to me, Paige?”

I sighed. “I don’t want to talk about this tonight. I need you, Clay. I was almost killed tonight, and now I need you all over me so that I’ll know I’m here and safe and alive.”

His eyes darkened and he couldn’t argue with my demand. He pulled his shirt off over his head, azure-blue eyes on me the entire time, and my heart fluttered in my chest with anticipation.

I sat up, allowing him to pull my shirt off. Then he methodically removed the rest, silently disrobing me with a mission in his eyes.

“I
will
make you safe,” he declared in a whisper against my mouth, when he was back on top of me, condom firmly in hand. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Paige.”

I nodded, arching against him to let him know what I really wanted. He took the hint, and plunged into me with a fury that made me cry out from the pleasurable pain of it.

“I love you,” he groaned, locking his eyes on mine. “I love you with everything I have inside me that’s able to love. And I won’t lose you.”