Unrequited (18 page)

She had run away.

**

Ashton was driving. She didn’t know where she would go, but she knew she had to get far away from Belle Ridge. She needed time to think. The confusion of the past few years seemed like simpler times in light of the information she’d overheard.

Her parents would be worried. She'd have to call them soon and let them know she was all right, even if she wasn't all right.

She had come to a few realizations as she drove. Without a doubt, Will would have his reasons for not telling her everything he knew. It didn’t make her feel any less betrayed, but perhaps she would one day come to understand why he had done it. Ashton also knew her attraction to Griffin was probably due to the role he had in her change. Griffin was forever a part of her.

Ashton continued driving. She decided to continue on for a few more hours, find a hotel somewhere, and check in for a few days. With some time she could sort out her feelings, and how exactly to deal with them.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Will needed to talk to Ashton, to make her understand everything. He knew he wasn't the only one anxiously waiting for Ashton's return. Griffin was distraught when they discovered the empty Wallace house. In a way, Will felt sorry for Griffin. Hearing about the night Ashton was attacked had changed the way he saw the dark vampire, because Will knew he would have done exactly what Griffin had in the moment. He had only known Ashton for an instant when he knew he would do anything to protect and save her. How could he fault Griffin for feeling the same way?

Will gave Griffin a ride back to his house outside of town, and the air between them was different. The two men had called an unspoken truce of sorts. Will liked to believe it was because they both had Ashton's best interests at heart.

Griffin invited Will to come in and, reluctantly, Will agreed.

Will's first impression of Griffin's home was “typical.” This looked like the type of house a vampire would live in. Everything was dark wood and red velvet. There were tasseled drapes framing the entry way into the living area.

“Did you get your ideas of décor from a romance novel?” Will asked as he looked around at the various trinkets lining the overstuffed shelves.

Griffin raised an eyebrow. “It's not my fault that tastes have become so boring in the past dozen decades. I'm a man of refinement. I like my home to reflect as such.”

Will ignored the statement and continued looking around the room. The items were different than his own, but he recognized Griffin's attempts at tying his endless life together with mementos gathered over time. Will had been doing the same thing. A cabinet from this time period, a first edition book from that era, a painting personally commissioned from an artist who died of old age a lifetime ago.

Almost as if reading Will's thoughts, Griffin said, “You and I aren't so different.” He walked toward Will.“We are both part of a brotherhood, if you should want to see it that way. We both know loneliness. We both love Ashton. The way I see things, you and I could be friends instead of enemies. It could be nice to know another person who I won't outlive.”

Will was slightly taken aback. Griffin had displayed nothing but sneering animosity ever since he arrived in Belle Ridge, and now he wanted to be friends? It was almost laughable.

But Griffin wasn't laughing, and he looked very sincere. In that moment, Will was able to look past everything that had happened between them. He saw a sad and haunted man who was desperate for any sort of real connection in the world. Will realized how lucky he had been to have a friend like Henry and a family to depend on like the Wallace’s.

Will stopped wandering around the plush sitting room and sat on the edge of the couch. With his elbows resting on his knees and his hands clasped, he finally asked Griffin the question he had been holding in for weeks.

“Do you really love her?”

Griffin's shoulders and head dropped, and his words came out in a whisper. “More than you could know.”

Will rose from the couch and moved to stand in front of Griffin. “If you really love her, then you have to let her determine her true feelings without influence.”

That night, for the first time, they had a real conversation. Initially they discussed Ashton and her well-being, but soon the talk turned to their life experiences. Will began to feel a kinship with Griffin. While one man had spent the past centuries living the life of a hedonist, the other had pursued normalcy and knowledge, but both had invariably been alone.

***

Ashton didn’t know of these changes as she drove her car back into the Belle Ridge city limits. She knew she'd worried her parents, even after calling and telling them she was all right. The Wallace’s weren't dumb, and knew her sudden flight was of a romantic nature.

“Poor Griffin,” she said aloud as she turned onto the long dirt road leading home.

Her parents were going to place all the blame on him. They were completely blinded when it came to Will. He could do no wrong. She admitted to herself that he really never did anything wrong. Griffin, he had done something wrong: he'd changed her. She had thought about it endlessly during her time away.

“Why didn't I see it before?” The connection to Griffin was so inexplicably strong. She should have realized it had to do with another level of connection. Yet even with the knowledge that, as her creator, he had a special effect on her, Ashton couldn’t quite believe Griffin's actions were evil.

There was always gentleness with Griffin. She recognized he was a rather lonely man, and his way to hide that loneliness was by being a bit of a cad. She would always have a place in her heart for Griffin, and there was even a piece of her that was in love with him, but Will was the man she needed to be with.

After having some time to reflect, she knew Will was the only choice for her. She had known it years ago, and had foolishly let Griffin confuse her, but she wasn't confused any longer. The one thing she craved was a normal life, and Will was the man who could give that to her. They could travel and teach and make a nice little world for themselves. With Griffin she felt she would live life in the shadows, and she would never know what was real or illusion. Griffin was intriguing and mysterious, but he wasn't what she wanted or needed for the rest of eternity. Still, she cared for Griffin. Beneath the devil-may-care exterior was the heart of a man who had suffered a great deal. Ashton could never belittle him for that, and she could never cut him out of her life, even if Will might want her to.

Tonight she would finally speak from her heart, but before she could give her love to Will, she knew she must break the news to Griffin. She would go home, assure her parents she was all right, and then go see Griffin. The only thought that could help her through the next few heartbreaking hours was the knowledge she would end the night confessing her feelings to Will.

Finally.

***

“Griffin, you have been so important to me. You are the person who saved me, because I do realize the only way you could have bitten me that night was if you thought I was somehow dying. Am I right?” Ashton spoke, and her words released a small amount of the guilt he had been feeling.

“Sometimes I think you are the answer to everything I want in this infinite life, and I don't know how much of that is because of our connection, and how much of it is because you are truly such a good man.” Griffin tried to contain his emotions as she continued to speaking, because he knew she was moments away from completely devastating him.

“With Will, I feel something more. I feel safe and loved, and life makes sense with him. You know me, and you know all I have ever wanted was to find some type of normalcy in this world. Will gives me that. I love him, and I think I have loved him for a very long time.”

Griffin couldn’t speak. There weren't any words that fit this moment. He didn’t want to give her comfort by lying and saying it would be all right. He didn’t want to give her sorrow by truthfully telling her nothing else would ever matter in his life again.

Instead he just said, “Go…please go.”

Griffin was reeling. Ashton had been at his house for over an hour, and now she was gone and she had taken his heart with her. He knew she had loved Will before they had met. He knew there was a great possibility she would choose the teacher over himself. Nothing could have prepared him for the moment all of his assumptions had become reality.

She'd had tears in her eyes as she left, but Griffin could only concentrate on the hole he felt growing inside his chest. His worst fears had been realized. Slowly he climbed the stairs to his bedroom and didn’t plan on emerging for quite some time.

***

Ashton was grief-stricken when she left Griffin's house. It was true, she did love Griffin, but she loved Will more. She tried to focus on the happy future she and Will would have, starting tonight with her confession of love. She tried to tell herself that what she had done was the right thing. She tried to tell herself she wouldn’t be haunted by the look in Griffin's eyes as he told her to leave, but she knew the moment would stay with her for years to come.

She pulled into the driveway of Will's home and checked herself in the mirror. Her green eyes looked vibrant, no doubt due to the tears she had recently shed. It was clear she had been crying, but she didn’t want to delay speaking with Will for another moment. She had kept him waiting long enough.

Walking to the porch, Ashton felt a sense of calm. She knew she was finally doing what she should have done years before. Knocking on the door, she heard Will's voice call for her to come inside. As she opened the door, she saw him sitting on the couch. His handsome face turned to her. His eyes were half worry and half surprise, but he gave her a smile. A little nervous, she stepped inside.

“I wondered if you would ever come back,” Will said, his eyes never leaving Ashton's.

“I had some things to think over, and now I've thought them over, and I need to talk to you.” She moved toward the couch. Something seemed strange in Will's demeanor. Ashton couldn’t decide if he was hurt by her disappearance or if there was something else behind his seeming lack of interest in her arrival.

“Well, sit down, don't just stand there,” Will said and continued to stare at her.

Ashton took a seat, a seed of unease planted in her stomach. Something wasn't quite right.

“Will, are you upset with me? I'm sorry I ran off and worried you. I know it was childish, just as many of my actions have been immature and childish. I should have stayed and faced everything. That's why I am here. I’m ready to face you.” She took a deep breath, and delivered the news she had come to deliver.

“I love you, Will. You are the man I want to spend my life with. You are the only man I want.” Ashton was so relieved to have finally said the words she had toyed with for so long.

Will stared blankly at her. This was definitely not the reaction Ashton had expected. For a man so intent on winning her, he seemed very unenthusiastic now that he'd achieved his goal.

“Will, did you hear me?”

“I heard you, but I don't really know what you’re expecting me to say.”

Ashton felt as though she had been struck. This was not the Will she had known since she was nineteen. This was not the same man who had mentored her brother and helped her Dad do odd jobs around the house. This man seemed like a stranger. There was something icy in his demeanor.

“Will, are you angry with me?” She was grasping to find a reason for this change in him.

“To be angry would imply there was something I cared enough to be angry about.” He stood as he spoke the cruelest words Ashton had ever heard.

“Go home, Ashton. I'm late for an engagement.” He walked to the front door and opened it until she finally stood and passed through.

Ashton felt confused, lonely, and somewhat foolish. In the past hour she had been told to leave two houses, by two men who had loved her only a few days earlier. Sitting behind the wheel of her car, she stared at Will's house, unable to make herself back out of the driveway. Something had changed, and she knew there had to be more behind the change than just a change of heart.

Finally, she pulled out of the drive and drove home. She would have to put this puzzle together tomorrow, but tonight, she needed her family.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Will knew he'd been cruel to Ashton. He knew he was being unfair to her. He didn’t care. He felt like he was in a fog that allowed him to speak bluntly without feeling any sort of guilt. He'd felt this way since he had met
her
, three days earlier.

Will had spent a great deal of time at the Wallace house during Ashton's absence. He told them about the revelations with Griffin, and surprisingly, found himself defending Griffin against any false accusations. Sometimes he felt foolish by giving his competitor so much credit, but he also knew he wouldn’t be himself if he let the Wallace’s believe the worst in another person.

Tired of sitting and waiting, Will started taking long walks. He'd always loved spending time outdoors, and walking a long secluded road seemed like a good place to sort out his thoughts. During one of these walks, he felt something stir within himself. It was a feeling he had never felt before, as though he was being pulled. His pace quickened as he tried to locate the unnamed something he suddenly knew he had to find.

Fast and faster he walked, and for a moment he thought he heard his name on the wind.

“Will.”

It happened again, and again and the voice became louder and louder until he found himself face to face with a woman. She was beautiful with golden honey hair and a face fairer than any he had ever seen. There was something slightly wild in her expression, and her pink mouth slowly turned into a slight smile.