After a second, he rips his eyes from mine and instead focuses on Harley over my shoulder.
His smile gets wider as he gives her the same treatment he gave me, only Harley isn’t currently hiding behind oversized clothes, her curves are on full display.
“Hey, baby,” he purrs, taking a step forward. “I don’t think we’ve met before.”
“I... uh... no,” Harley stutters.
I roll my eyes, turning toward her. She stares up at him like he’s an ice cream freaking sundae she wants to devour, and I just about manage not to groan.
“So, are you going to Ethan’s party on Saturday night?” he asks Harley, his voice all deep and sexy. Damn him.
Wait... how does he know about Ethan’s party.
“How do you—”
“I will be. You?”
“I am now.”
“Oh my God. Harley, will you get a grip, please?” I beg, reaching out, wrapping my hand around her upper arm and pulling her toward me.
“What? I just—”
I cut her words off with a look.
“I’m starved, do you mind?” Ashton asks, plucking one of the boxes from my hand and flipping it open before I find my voice.
“Yeah, actually, I do.”
“That’s a shame because I don’t really give a fuck.” He pulls a slice from the box and takes a massive bite before winking at Harley and disappearing around the corner.
“Well... safe to say that Instagram does him absolutely no justice,” Harley mutters, walking to the refrigerator and pulling it open. I half expect her to pull out the same bottle he was just drinking from. I’m about ready to kick her out when she pulls out three cans of soda and slides them over to us.
“Thanks,” I mutter, collecting the pizza box back up and walking toward the stairs. Part of me doesn’t want to follow him, but the other part screams that this is my house and that it’s my bedroom and he shouldn’t have the power to make me second guess my actions or where I want to hang out.
The second Harley and Poppy follow me inside, I kick the door shut. Hard.
I climb onto the bed and immediately open one of the boxes, diving straight into my first slice.
“I’m sorry, okay,” Harley mutters. “He just took me by surprise.”
“Yeah, whatever. Can we not talk about him?” I know Harley would never do anything to intentionally hurt me, and I know he’s mouth-wateringly hot, so I guess I can’t really blame her for losing her damn mind.
“So, Ethan’s party,” Poppy starts, but her face falls when she immediately realizes her mistake.
5
Ashton
I’m still smiling to myself hours later, long after Ruby’s friends have left, and the pounding bass of my music is the only thing I can hear.
The look on her face as I leaned into her friend was priceless. I couldn’t have planned a better first time to meet again if I tried.
She’s going to make this easier for me than I’d originally thought. After she disappeared last night, part of me wondered if she was over it. But it seems that is certainly not the case.
I blow out a stream of smoke and press my head farther into the pillow.
I might fucking hate this house, but I can’t deny that Dad’s home gym almost makes up for it. I spent all afternoon in there trying to outrun my demons. Pretty sure it did fuck-all for those, but my muscles are now aching nicely and reminding me that despite all the bullshit, I am alive.
My bedroom door swinging open makes me look up and when I find her standing there with her brows raised and her hands on her hips, I can’t help but prop myself up on my elbows to get a better look.
A smile tugs at the corner of my lips as I watch her silently fume. Although, if she were to say something then I’d be unlikely to hear it because of the music that’s rattling the walls right now.
My lips part as I watch her storm into the room and slam her hand down on the top of my speaker, silencing it in an instant.
“Problem?” I ask, my voice low.
She turns to me, her eyes narrowed in anger and her shoulders pulled tight with tension.
“You need to stay out of my bedroom and away from my friends,” she warns.
“And what if I can’t?” I ask, bringing my joint to my lips and taking a hit.
“What is your...” She shakes her head as if she can’t compute my words. She stares at me for a few seconds before her eyes betray her and drop down my bare chest all the way to my low-hanging sweatpants, but I don’t miss her lingering on the bruises that cover my ribs, the only evidence left from that night in Mom’s car.
By the time she makes it back up, I’ve got a shit-eating grin on my face and my blood is starting to boil from her attention.
“Listen...” she starts. “I’m really sorry about your mom and everything you’ve been through. But you don’t get to walk back in here like you own the place and do what you like. That is my bedroom, my space, my photos, my journal.” My lips twitch in amusement. “You have no right to march in and do what you like with it.”
Pushing so I’m sitting on the edge of my bed, I rake my eyes up the length of her body and run my thumb across my bottom lip.
“You mean, much like you’re doing to me right now. You didn’t even knock. I could have been doing... anything.” I tilt my head to the side and raise a brow.
“I did knock, asshole. Your music was just so loud that you couldn’t hear me.” Her face begins to turn red with anger, her tiny fists curling at her sides.
“Careful, little one,” I say, standing and taking a step toward her. “You look like you’re about ready to blow.”
“Ashton, I’m tired, I’m already bored with your bullshit, and I—” Her words are cut off by a gasp when I take her chin in my hand.
“And you, what?”
“I hate you,” she seethes, despite the fact my grip tightens, and her lips pop open.
“Huh, and here I was thinking I might get a free pass, you know, with the dead mom and all.” Her eyes narrow once more.
“Too soon?”
She might think I’m a cold-hearted bastard, but as the words pass my lips, my chest tightens to the point it’s almost crippling. Not that I’m going to let her see that. The only person in this world that knows I might have a weakness, is me.
“You’re a prick.”
“Oh.” I laugh. “I know, little one. Nothing you can say will be news to me. So, tell me, what did you really come in here for?” Tilting her face up to me, I lower down until our lips are a breath apart.
Her breathing falters with our distance and I fight the smile that wants to spread across my face knowing that she’s affected by me.
“I... I came to tell you to fuck off.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, maybe that’s what you think you came for. But deep down, we both know it’s not actually true, don’t we?”
“You’re insane.”
“Maybe,” I muse. “But I’m not the only one because while you stand there claiming to hate me, I know that you’re wet for me.”
“Fuck. You. Ashton.”
I squeeze her cheeks harder and they finally touch mine, but I don’t claim them. Instead, I brush mine across her cheek until they’re at her ear.
“Is that why you hate me, little one? Because you were so drunk that night that you don’t remember how it ended. You don’t know whether you let me fuck you or not?”
Her breathing becomes more labored with every word I say but her expression remains hard.
A smile begins to tug at her lips, but it doesn’t get much farther with my tight grip. “You think I’d have remembered if you did. Think you’re giving yourself a little too much credit there.”
A growl rumbles up my throat and my hand drops to hers as I push her back against the wall. She swallows nervously beneath my hold, her pulse thundering against my fingertips.
“Oh, little one, I can assure you that if I’d fucked you that night then you’d still be feeling it no
w.”
Her eyes hold mine, but she doesn’t react to my words.
“You’re all talk, Ash. You’re not man enough or you’d have done it.”
I smile at her, but there’s nothing happy about it as only evil intentions fill my mind.
“Ever heard of delayed gratification, little one? One thing I do have is patience and I’m more than happy to wait for the right time to ruin you for anyone else.”
I release her and take a step back.
I keep my eyes on her as she sucks in a few deep breaths, her chest heaving and her breasts catching my eye.
“Your friend was cute. Any chance I could get her number?” I ask.
“Stay away from my friends, Ashton. And don’t even think about turning up to Ethan’s on Saturday night.” She backs out of the room as she dishes out warnings that land on deaf ears. “This is my life. You don’t get to turn up and stomp all over it.”
I chuckle at her. “Watch me, little one.”
She storms to her room and slams her door, leaving mine wide open. I assume it’s to piss me off, but it has little effect.
Walking over, I close it before turning my music back on and falling down on my bed to finish off my joint in peace.
The next time I get a visitor, at least they have the decency to knock, although the second my dad pokes his head around the door, I soon realize that I’d much rather it be Ruby barging her way inside.
“How are you doing?” he asks, slipping farther into the room. His eyes land on me for a beat before they zero in on the ashtray beside my bed.
“Great.” I roll my eyes at him.
“Lisa and I would prefer if you didn’t smoke in the house.”
“Would you?” I ask, tipping my chin up at him.
“Yeah.” His lips part to say more. I know he wants to chew me out for smoking in the first place, but he wisely keeps his thoughts to himself.
“Did you want something?”
He stands awkwardly at the end of my bed looking like he has a million things he wants to say to me, but he seems to stumble over every single one of them. It’s been years since we’ve had any kind of real relationship, and I can’t see us fixing things any time soon. Too much has happened, too much betrayal and pain has happened.
“Uh... yeah... dinner is ready.”
“What is it?”
“I- I don’t know. Lisa cooked it. She’s a fantastic cook though.”
“I bet she is,” I mutter, swinging my legs off the bed. I really don’t want to go and have a family meal with them, but my empty stomach says other things.
“I’m just going to knock for Ruby. I’ll meet you downstairs in a few.”
I refrain from telling him that I’ll get her. If I get anywhere close to her room, there’s a chance I won’t let her down for dinner. Instead, I clean up and grab a shirt, waiting until they’ve both disappeared downstairs to join them.
As I walk into the dining room, they look like a picture-perfect family as they smile at each other and pass the dishes around.
“Wow, this is cozy,” I mutter, pulling the chair out beside Ruby and dropping down. She pauses, spooning some peas onto her plate, and I smile at her reaction to my closeness.
“Ashton, it’s so good to see you,” Lisa almost sings. “How are you doing?” Her eyes go all soft and sympathetic, and it makes anger bloom inside me.
“Yeah, you know,” I mutter. Like fuck does she know anything. She’s not had her life ripped away from her and landed in this hellhole.
“I know we said we wouldn’t talk about the future until...”
“The funeral. You can say the word.” I stab at a potato with my fork and shove the entire thing into my mouth.
“Okay... well... yes, the funeral. But I spoke to Principal Hartmann today about you starting at Rosewood High.”
My eyes shoot to my father’s but I don’t miss Ruby’s chin drop at his words.
“Not happening.”
“Ashton, be sensible here. You don’t have enough credits to graduate this year.”
“How do you know that?” I bark, my irritation levels rising faster than I can control.
“I called your old principal to update him on the situation and to ask him to prepare for your transfer.”
“I’m not going back to school.”
“Sorry, Son, but this isn’t up for discussion. If you’re living under this roof, then you’ll be continuing your education.”
“You’re fucking serious, aren’t you?”
“Ashton,” he admonishes as Lisa gasps at my language.
“I never wanted to live under this roof, or are you forgetting that?”
“You’re still a minor, Ashton. Do you need a reminder of that?”
“I know how fucking old I am,” I seethe.
“Then you know that you don’t really have a choice about this.”
I stand with such speed my chair goes crashing to the floor behind me.
I stare at my father, tension crackling between us.
He was my everything until the day he told me he was leaving, until the day I watched him rip my mother’s heart out and walk away from both of us like we meant nothing.
He might as well have handed over his right to be my father that day because it was the day I lost all respect I had for him.
“This is bullshit.” I storm from the room to the sound of Lisa trying to talk my dad down from following me. Maybe she’s not a total idiot after all.
I grab my jacket and keys from the table in the hallway and march from the house.
The vibrations of my bike beneath me help to calm me a little but one look up at the house and it hits me once more.
Mom’s gone and this is my life now.
Backing out of the driveway, I rev the engine and fly away from the house that holds everything I don’t want right now.
Family.
I ride around town for hours, taking in what I guess is to be my new home. I might not want to be here, but deep down, I know Dad’s right. I’ve certainly got nowhere else to go or any other family to rely on. All my grandparents have gone. Mom had a sister, but they’d not spoken for years. It’s basically Rosewood or nothing.
I pull up in a parking lot by the ocean and with my fake ID burning a hole in my wallet, I head to the store and attempt to buy myself a bottle of something that will numb the pain.
Thankfully, the girl behind the register didn’t bat an eyelid about serving me and in only minutes, I’m stepping down onto the beach. I walk along until I’m alone, then I twist the top off the bottle and tip it to my lips.
The vodka burns as it goes down, but it feels so fucking good. It’s a sign that things are going to get easier in the coming minutes.
I swallow down more as I stare up at the huge houses that look down at the beach. Dad and Lisa’s place is nice, but it’s nowhere near the size of those mansions.
My eyes search the balconies and windows to see who might live in the colossal homes, but I find nothing.
With a sigh, I turn back to the ocean and drop down to my ass.
I see no one the entire time I sit there hidden in the darkness and drowning in my misery.
6
Ruby
“I’m sorry,” Stephen says as the slam from the front door rattles the house.
“You don’t need to apologize for him, love. He’s hurting, it’s understandable.”
“It’s not an excuse to talk to us like that.”
Mom shrugs and smiles sweetly at him. “He’ll be okay,” she says, reaching out for Stephen’s hand. “Just give him some time. Everything about his life has changed in the blink of an eye. It’s going to take a while to adjust. Things might start to settle once we’ve got the funeral out of the way.”
I want to ask what she means by the we in that sentence, but I don’t get a chance because Mom turns her eyes on me.
“Do you have any parties this weekend? Maybe you should invite him, introduce him to your friends.”
“Um...”
“Introduce him to the team. He’s a brilliant quarterback, if the coach has half a brain then he’s going to want him.”
“Um... I really don’t think that is a good idea.”
“Why not? Making some friends might be just what he needs to feel at home here.”
Thoughts of him joining my circle of friends sends a bolt of panic up my spine. I can’t have him around me every second of the day. I just can’t.
I open my mouth to argue but I soon decide that it would be better if I just shut my mouth and agreed. I really don’t want Mom and Stephen digging into why I don’t like my stepbrother.
“I told Principal Hartmann that he’s likely to start the week after the funeral.”
“Don’t you think that’s a little soon? He has just lost his mom, Stephen.”
I know Mom’s just concerned, and as much as I’d love to put Stephen off the idea of sending Ashton to Rosewood as soon as possible, I know that I’m in no position to really have an opinion about this. I know Stephen lost both his parents young, I can only go on his experience and hope that he’s right.
“The distraction will be a good thing.”
The conversation turns to a golf trip that Stephen has coming up and I tune out as I push my dinner around my plate. I’m not really hungry after the pizza earlier but I didn’t have it in me to tell Mom after she’d already cooked. If I weren’t hiding in my room after my interaction with Ash, then I might have intercepted her before she started.
After a tense as fuck dinner, I excuse myself to my room for an early night hoping that I can make the most of Ashton being out and actually get some sleep.
It works because the next thing I know, my alarm is going off once again, and I actually feel like I’ve had a decent night’s sleep.
I push from my bed feeling more refreshed than I have in days and set about getting ready. Before I crashed last night, I’d messaged Harley asking if I could spend the weekend with her. It’s pretty standard that I get ready for a party at hers and now Poppy lives there too, it makes even more sense for me to join them.
FURY: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Rosewood High Book 6) Page 4