When Ashes Fall

by Marni Mann

  Once I finished, she reached into her purse that was wrapped diagonally across her body, and she removed her cell. “Don’t move,” she said with a grin, giving the order right back to me.

  With my fingers still close to hers, she tapped the screen. When she finally pulled away, I watched her hit it several more times before a notification suddenly came across my phone.

  It showed Alix had tagged me in a picture.

  I opened the app and saw a photo of our hands with an S in the middle of hers. The sun was shining over us.

  Underneath every shot she’d ever posted was a sun emoji.

  Except for this one.

  It had a red heart.

  Our eyes locked.

  She didn’t need to say anything.

  The picture had done the talking for her.

  So had the tag and the symbol she’d used.

  Today was a sunny day.

  This fucking girl.

  “Fuck this cake.” My hands gripped her cheeks, and I slammed our mouths together, my tongue gliding in until I felt hers. “I need you right now.”

  My fingers lowered to her ass, and I pushed her closer to me until her legs wrapped around my waist. Once I had all of her weight, I walked us out of the kitchen.

  “It was going to be chocolate, wasn’t it?” she asked, her words vibrating across my lips.

  I nipped her bottom one, sucking it into my mouth. “Do you really think I’d torture you with strawberry?”

  Her laugh was different.

  This time, it ended in a moan.

  Forty-Four

  Alix

  Present Day

  Me: I just got home from work.

  Smith: Glad you got there safely. What time are you coming over?

  Me: Probably around six. I’m going to throw some food down my throat, nap, then I’ll be over.

  Smith: Cake?

  Me: It’s like you’re a mind reader or something.

  Smith: I can’t imagine how I came up with that.

  Me: I bought a slice of strawberry. It’s in my freezer. You’re starting to wear off on me.

  Smith: Bring it tonight. I’ll eat it off you.

  Me: I’m taking it out right now.

  Smith: See you soon, baby.

  Me: We’re still on for tomorrow night?

  Rose: Duh.

  Rose: Wait, were you about to cancel on me? Because I haven’t seen you in FIVE FUCKING DAYS.

  Me: I’m not canceling. I’m just confirming. That way, when Smith tries to hold me hostage tomorrow night, I can tell him you have dibs.

  Rose: That man really needs to learn how to share, and he also needs to stop making you so insanely happy. The amount you’ve been smiling lately is just disgusting.

  Me: The nerve of him.

  Rose: Seriously, I could not be happier for you right now. And I also miss you so incredibly much, it hurts.

  Me: But you’re getting me tomorrow night.

  Rose: I cannot wait.

  Rose: Hey, are you going over to Smith’s tonight?

  Me: I’m just getting dressed, and I’m going to head there in a few minutes. Why?

  Rose: Alix … it’s about to rain.

  I glanced up from the screen of my phone and rushed over to one of the windows.

  I flipped open the blinds.

  There was a dark sky above.

  The leaves on the trees were blowing from the wind.

  I looked at the street.

  I could see the drops starting to make a puddle.

  It wasn’t coming down too hard.

  That meant I had time.

  I grabbed a sweater that had a hood and threw it on over my head. Leggings were yanked up my legs. My feet slid into sneakers, and I hurried down the stairs.

  I lifted my purse off one of the barstools and took my keys out of the bowl in the entryway.

  I walked out the front door.

  Four steps left.

  Three.

  That was when I heard the noise.

  The cracking.

  The craaack that closed the back of my throat, preventing me from taking a breath.

  The sound moved through my body like a vibration.

  It felt as though my ears had exploded.

  A headache stabbed through my skull.

  My chest tightened.

  My stomach ached.

  I reached to my side, feeling all around for the banister. Once my fingers found it, I clung to the long pole, squeezing it with everything I had.

  I tucked myself into a ball.

  The coldness of the metal pressed into my face.

  Rain splattered against my forehead.

  It hit my cheeks.

  It dusted my eyelashes.

  I couldn’t move.

  I could only wait.

  Bracing myself for the image that was about to plow through my mind.

  The one that had started it all.

  The one that had come with the same sound.

  The one that would begin this ride.

  And then I saw it.

  The silence.

  The darkness.

  The craaack.

  My purse fell from my arm.

  My heart stopped.

  And I no longer felt the rain.

  Forty-Five

  Smith

  Present Day

  I looked down at my phone and saw that it was six forty.

  The last time I’d checked was just two minutes ago.

  And then a minute before that.

  Alix was late, and I knew it had everything to do with the weather.

  It was fucking pouring outside. Thunder was blowing up the sky, and lightning was slashing across it.

  I knew it was also the reason she hadn’t responded to my texts or answered my calls.

  The same thing had happened during the last storm.

  It wasn’t a coincidence.

  I waited five minutes and called her again.

  It rang four times, and then it went to voice mail.

  I ran my hand through my hair, pacing my kitchen, trying to come up with a plan.

  I couldn’t go to her place.

  I didn’t know where she lived besides that it was somewhere in the Back Bay. That was the only thing she’d ever mentioned about her living situation. Whenever we hung out, she always came here. She never even invited me over.

  I didn’t push for it.

  I didn’t push her about anything.

  And, because I hadn’t, I had no control over what was happening tonight. No way to get in touch with her.

  No way to help.

  My gut told me she needed it, and I couldn’t do a goddamn thing besides wait for her to call me back.

  I pounded my fist against the countertop, causing my phone to jump. As it landed, a notification came across the screen that someone had liked the last photo I’d posted.

  The same one Alix had liked.

  An idea came to me.

  I opened the app and went to the search bar where I typed in Rose’s name. When her profile came up, I started a private message.

  I hated that I had to reach out to Alix’s best friend.

  It wasn’t my style at all.

  But I had no other choice.

  Me: It’s Smith. Do you have a second to talk?

  She replied almost immediately with her phone number.

  I called, hearing her say, “Hey, Smith,” after the first ring.

  Rose had sounded so confident at dinner. All I heard now was concern.

  “Sorry to reach out like this, but Alix was supposed to be here almost an hour ago. She’s not returning my calls or texts. I’m wondering if you’ve heard from her.”

  “I sent her a message over an hour ago, and she hasn’t written back.”

  I glanced out the window, seeing how hard it was still coming down. “Was that before the rain?”

  She sighed. “The text was about the rain.”

  “The thunder has been going off every f
ew minutes. I’m worried.”

  “I know.” She paused. “But we won’t hear from her until the storm is over.”

  Once the rain had started, I’d checked the weather.

  The forecast made me even more concerned.

  “It’s supposed to rain until late tomorrow morning,” I told her. “I can’t wait that long to see if she’s all right. I have to go check on her.”

  “Will you text me when you get there?”

  I pressed my fingers into the side of my head, trying to ease the pounding. “That’s why I reached out. I don’t have her address.”

  “What do you mean?”

  My hand dropped from my face, and it pushed against the counter. “I’ve never been to her place, Rose.”

  “Wait a second. Let me get this straight. You two have been together nonstop, and during that time, you’ve never once been to her townhouse?”

  “No.”

  “Well, shit, I need to get to the bottom of that.” I heard her say something to someone in the background, and when she returned to the phone, she asked, “What if Alix doesn’t answer the door?”

  “I’ll break it down.”

  “Smith …”

  “There have been situations in my life that would have had a much better outcome had I arrived a few minutes earlier. Rose, I regret each one. I won’t take that chance again, especially not with Alix.”

  “Jesus,” she breathed into the phone. “I’ll text you her address, and I’ll meet you there in twenty minutes.”

  “See you then,” I said and hung up.

  I pulled the phone away from my face and looked at the screen. Rose’s text came instantly, and I checked out the address.

  All this fucking time, Alix had been living only eight blocks from me.

  Forty-Six

  Alix

  Present Day

  Cold was what I felt across my entire body.

  It went into my bones.

  It made me shiver.

  I was positive that was what I was doing.

  And walking.

  I was sure I was doing that, too.

  At least, it felt as though my feet were moving over the pavement.

  Like my sneakers were slipping a little from the wet tar.

  The wetness was from the rain.

  From the storm.

  From the—

  Craaack.

  It was splattering against my forehead.

  Hitting my cheeks.

  Dusting my eyelashes.

  It had to be.

  But I no longer felt it, so I wasn’t sure.

  I felt nothing.

  Except cold.

  Craaack.

  I clung to something.

  It was hard, solid, even more freezing than the banister at my townhouse.

  I had to hold on.

  Because, while the memory filled my eyes, I couldn’t be moving.

  I couldn’t be standing in the open air.

  I had to have something in my hands.

  Something touching me.

  Protecting me.

  And then it came.

  Fast.

  Hard.

  And so fucking clear.

  It was a snapshot.

  A view made of millions of pixels.

  I’d memorized them all.

  Each one came with pain, like shrapnel slicing through my skin.

  Just when I couldn’t take another piece of metal, I was released.

  Temporarily.

  But it was enough time that I could be freed.

  That I could feel the cold.

  That I could feel the sidewalk as I moved down it.

  But I couldn’t feel my feet.

  Or the rain on my forehead.

  Or cheeks.

  Or lashes.

  This was the ride.

  The one that wouldn’t let me off until the sky stopped screaming.

  I’d only ever experienced it inside my townhouse.

  But, now, I was out here.

  In the rain.

  In the storm.

  In the thunder.

  Craaack.

  Forty-Seven

  Dylan

  One Year Ago

  “Good morning,” I said, kissing my fiancée on the cheek as I set a cup of coffee in front of her.

  I’d just returned from the bagel shop where I’d gotten us both poppy seed bagels with vegetable cream cheese and large coffees. I’d hoped to get back just as she was finishing her run, but the city was so busy; it had taken me triple the amount of time it should have.

  “Morning,” she responded, yawning, setting down the tablet she’d been reading from. She placed it next to the note I’d left her, telling her I was headed out to grab breakfast and coffee.

  The screen of the tablet showed the home page of The Boston Globe. “Patriots’ Day Celebrations” was the headline.

  Alix had finished her forty-eight-hour shift at two this morning, and she’d been up before six. I’d tried to get her to stay in bed. But, with our wedding coming up in a month, she’d been logging extra miles on the days she didn’t have to work.

  She didn’t need to exercise more. She had one of the best bodies I’d ever seen.

  But running relieved her stress, and with the buildup of the holiday, the city had been crazier than normal.

  I set the bagel in front of her and took a seat on the other side of the table. “What do you want to do today?”

  “You’re not working?”

  I shook my head.

  This was my first day off in three weeks.

  I needed it.

  And Alix needed it, too.

  Now that I’d opened an office in London, I’d been working even more, flying back and forth several times a month. Our two-week honeymoon would be the longest I’d been away from the office in over a year.

  Fourteen days of Alix.

  No work.

  No interruptions.

  I couldn’t fucking wait.

  She lifted her coffee and held it to her lips. “Then, we certainly need to do something. I just don’t know what since it’s going to be pretty challenging to get around the city today.”

  I finished the first half of the bagel and wiped my mouth. “How about we go take a shower, head to the jewelers and pick up our wedding bands, and then we’ll grab lunch and eat it at the Public Garden?”

  She placed the coffee back on the table. “You never like to go to the park.”

  She was right.

  It wasn’t my favorite place.

  But it was hers.

  “It’s beautiful outside,” I said. “It’ll be a good spot to eat and relax before we get caught in all the crazy shit that’s happening around here today.”

  She smiled and took a bite. “I think that sounds like the perfect afternoon.” She glanced down at her hand. “I’m excited to see the way the bands came out.”

  Because Alix’s engagement ring was so unique and Haifa had designed it himself, the wedding band had to be custom-made as well. We’d gone through the same process with mine, adding some etching into the black ring along with several diamonds.

  “Four more weeks until you’re mine.”

  She set the rest of her bagel on the table and stood, holding her coffee. “I’m already yours.”

  “I love when you say that,” I growled.

  She gave me the sexiest fucking smile and started walking out of the kitchen.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To take a shower,” she said over her shoulder. “Come with me.”

  That was all I needed to hear.

  I followed her upstairs and stripped my clothes off in the closet, meeting her in the bathroom. She was already standing under the spray, water splashing against her face. With her back to me, I circled my hands around her waist.

  “God, you’re beautiful.” As I kissed her shoulder, my cock pressed into her ass, my fingers slowly sliding up until they were on her tits. “I want you to be my wife alre
ady.”

  She turned around, wrapping her arms around my neck, giving me a kiss. “In my eyes, I already am.”

  Forty-Eight

  Smith

  Present Day

  Rose was standing on the front steps when I arrived at Alix’s townhouse. She was holding an umbrella over her head, shifting her weight between both legs, her arm wrapped around her stomach like it was aching.

  Her body language told me whatever she was about to say wasn’t going to be good.

  And that was confirmed when I heard, “Alix isn’t answering.”

  I held the hood over my head as I hurried up the steps to join her by the door. There was a large panel of glass in the middle, and as I looked through it, I saw there weren’t any lights on.

  I banged on the wood and jiggled the handle.

  I didn’t expect Alix to appear or for the lock to click open.

  And it didn’t.

  “I’m trying not to panic,” she said. “But I found this.”

  I turned my head to look at her.

  She was holding Alix’s phone.

  “Where was it?” I asked.

  “On the ground, just to the side of the steps, hidden behind the bushes. And there’s more …” She lifted her arm, showing me the purse hanging from it. “I found this, too.”

  My eyes shifted from the phone to the bag. “What the fuck does this mean, Rose?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Alix wouldn’t leave those outside.” My heart was pounding so goddamn hard; I felt it in my ears. “Someone took her or she fell and was brought to the hospital or—”

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’ve been in this situation with her before, and once the rain stops, I always hear from her.”

  “You mean, you’ve found her purse and phone on the ground before with no sign of Alix anywhere?”

  “No. She usually just disappears and—”

  “Fuck this, Rose. I’m calling the police.”