Cinder To Ash (Tainted Hearts Book 3)

by Summer, AJ

“Yeah, cheers,” I say, looking between him and his half open door down the hall. “Red, huh?” I smirk at him. If he’s banging Red, that’s good with me. Keeps the bastard away from Mia. He does this see-saw thing with his hand that looks very undecided before shaking his head.

  “Maybe. I better get this to her. You go sort out that stubborn girl of yours. Grovel if you have to. And take this.” He places the beers down and reaches back into the fridge. He plonks a bottle of silver tequila and a lime on the counter. Mia’s favorite. Grabbing the beers again he leaves the kitchen. When he gets to his door he gives me one last unreadable look.

  I go to the drawer where we keep the knives, and I’m quite happy to find everything the same way as when I left. Except now there’s just less stuff. I suppose Jenna and Aiden packed up their share already. When we moved in together all of us bought some stuff. The massive TV in the lounge used to be in the den at Lewis’s dad’s house, but when he moved in here he brought it with him. The rest of the stuff just sort of accumulated over the years.

  I slice the lime and place the wedges on a small plate, placing the two shot glasses on the same plate, then grab the tequila. I knock on her door and wait, when there’s no answer I knock again. This time a little bit louder. Just as I raise my fist to knock a third time the door opens slowly.

  Mia’s alluring chocolate eyes are red and puffy, but even now looking like she just cried up a thunder storm, she looks perfect. She sees the tequila under my arm and looks at the plate with the lime and the shot glasses. Her lip disappears between her teeth and her brow furrows. She looks absolutely undecided. With speed I never expected, she snatches both items from my hands and slams the door in my face. Well ... shit. I step forward and rest my head against her door because I don’t have a clue what to do now. I bang my fist against it. The wood creaks and shakes but never opens. Screw this. Since when have I ever been this afraid? I’m being a little pussy. An idea strikes. I’m pretty sure I can climb through her window.

  One time the girls locked us out when Lewis thought it would be a good idea to have a boys night. Night turned into morning and when the four of us eventually flagged down a cab it was well past 5 am. The girls were pissed! Oddly enough, none of us had keys to our own home. Fortunately, James, staying in the out room didn’t have a problem finding a place to sleep. Me, I wasn’t going to be happy with a blanket on the floor. So my drunk ass climbed a tree and literally fell through our bedroom window. I doubt she’ll happily watch me crash into her room again like that night. Tough shit. If she won’t open the door for me, I’ll find my own damn way in.

  Closing the front door behind me, I round the side of the house. The light in her room is still on and her window is open. I have to jump up to reach the lowest hanging branch; a branch that doesn’t really look like it’ll take all of my weight before it snaps. I pull myself up easily and jump to the next branch, a little higher up. All those push-ups are finally paying off. I have no idea how I did this drunk off my ass. I’m almost level with Mia’s window now, but I have to get onto the branch currently at my knees. I lift a foot onto it and grab the branch at my head. Shuffling foot by foot I walk along the branch until I get to her window. All I have to do is stretch my leg out and I’ll be half way inside.

  I step onto her window sill and lower myself down. My big body struggles to find a suitable angle to fit through the window, but on the second try I manage to fit. I have one arm and leg inside when my head comes through and I see her door is open. I’m sweating like a damn bush bear in a circus and she’s opened the damn door. She’s sitting on her bed with the tequila in front of her. I know she’s heard me, it’s a miracle she didn’t beat me to death. She doesn’t acknowledge my presence when I step inside her room. I take a step forward, but stop cold when she finally speaks.

  “That’s the second time you’ve done that. Trespassing is an offense. I could have you locked up.” She looks up at me and the eyes meeting mine are cold and dead. She’s not joking. I shrug.

  “So phone the cops, see how many I put on their ass before they even touch me. Nothing is going to keep me away from you.”

  Her bottom lip starts to tremble and it breaks my fucking heart. I can’t get to her fast enough. Almost knocking the tequila off the bed, I kneel on the floor next to her. I cup her face and she flinches. She fucking flinches. I don’t move my hand and when she doesn’t move away I gently rub my thumb along the soft skin of her jaw. So beautiful.

  “You kept yourself away from me just fine,” she accuses with a hitch in her voice.

  “Never again Mew, I promise. Never again. Give me another chance? Please? We’ll start over … Go on a date with me. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go. Just name it.” I wasn’t planning on saying any of that. But what the hell, might as well start from scratch, right? I hold my breath while she stares at me wide-eyed and breathing hard. She shakes her head and my stomach freefalls into hell. I rise up on my knees and look her in the eye, my other hand now firmly holding her face in place. “How many chances have I had, Mew? How many times have I messed us up? Once.” I hold up a single finger. This is the first time I’ve hurt her like this. And by God it will be the last. She seems to think that over for a while, when she exhales a low long breath I sit back. A small smile forms on her lips.

  “You know what? That’s true. You were an extremely good boyfriend.” She laughs a little at the end. It makes me chuckle too.

  “The best,” I say, getting up off my knees. Damn this floor is hard.

  “Ok, Jase.” She look up at me with mischief dancing in those chocolate eyes of hers. “You can date me. You have seven days to fix us.” The last part comes out all serious and for the first time since I met Mia I’m nervous. Even when we just started seeing each other we didn’t do dates. We just knew we were perfect for each other. There was no dinner and movies. I took her to the lake once. That time she told me how her twin died. Shit, do I even know how to date a girl? I swallow hard and wipe my clammy hands on the legs of my jeans. I bend down and grab the shot glass from in front of her. This time she doesn’t flinch from my nearness. I toss the see-through liquid down my throat and grunt at the burn in my throat.

  “Seven days it is. Will the next seven do?” I ask.

  She looks at me like I’m stupid. Maybe I am. “Tomorrow is Wednesday.”

  “We can’t do a date on a Wednesday?” What am I missing?

  “I guess.” She shrugs but she doesn’t sound all that convinced. Do people not date during the week? Man I’m out of practice. Or truer to the point, dating practice has been nonexistent!

  “Great. I’ll pick you up at seven?” I’m so happy right now, it’s showing by the big smile on my face.

  “Sure,” she says on a nod. My smile must be infectious, because she’s grinning too. I walk to her door, eager to start planning our date tomorrow. Pity I live almost two hours away. It’s a good thing I haven’t started work yet, because my doctor wants me to remain on light duties for a couple more weeks. What kind of light duty am I suppose to do at the garage? The parlor would be the perfect place, but I couldn’t go there with Mia working there. Maybe I can give Alec a call now that everyone knows I’m back on my feet?

  “Bye Jase!” Mia calls, laughing at me.

  Oh shit! I swing around before I step out the door. I forgot to say goodbye. Deciding to play it cool, I throw her my sexiest smirk before I turn back around and jog down the steps. It’s no goodnight kiss but the look on her face just now? Totally worth it. With added swagger, I whistle all the way to my truck.

  Sitting around waiting for five o’clock is driving me up the wall! I got home just before midnight last night, was up again at the butt crack of dawn. Even the hour long run I took couldn’t get rid of all this pent up energy. I’ve even gotten touchy-feely with myself. Not the emotional kind, the physical hands on kind. I hardly ever jerk-off. Never had to. Mia was always more than willing to take care of me. Her mouth could make me lose my head within minutes.
Damn it! Now I’m thinking of her mouth. Maybe I should take another shower. A cold one.

  The clock on the wall is taunting me with its incessant ticking, each tick one more second closer to seeing her. It’s not fast enough. Bouncing my leg up and down, I twirl my cell phone in my hand. I could drive there now. I could drive very slowly, maybe go past the parlor? Would that be breaking the rules? She didn’t say anything about not seeing each other in between these so-called dates. I check the clock again. It’s almost three now. I grab my car keys and jacket and head out the door.

  My stereo’s blasting, the window is down and I’m driving. Slow. As. Fuck! Even though the traffic is nonexistent. A couple of minutes into my drive it occurs to me that showing up two hours early will make me look desperate. Don’t get me wrong, I’m desperate as fuck. But a guy has to have some dignity. Just because she pretty much has me by the balls doesn’t mean I have to show it. That thought makes me both cringe and grin. Yeah, I’m that desperate for her hands on me. Damn, kill me now. I’m done for. I need to get back to my original plan and marry that girl. The accident put me months behind schedule. We could’ve been married now, been on our honeymoon and had our own place. Instead I’m on my way to my first date with my girl. MY girl.

  I slow down and make a right to turn down the gravel road that leads to Bailey. The tires kick up a ton of dust and I have to roll up the window so I don’t choke. I click on the air conditioner and turn the volume up on the stereo. This road is dead. Nothing for miles but fields and dust. Reaching over for the soda laying on my passenger seat, the steering wheel surges to the left just a little bit. My stomach plummets and sweat beads on my neck. I jerk it back so hard that I almost run off the road. Calm the hell down. Fucking loose sand.

  I take a deep breath and focus on the road in front of me. After my scare my mouth is even drier than before I reached for the soda. I grab the bottle and twist off the cap while keeping one hand on the wheel. A damn dog, or whatever the hell it is, sprints across the road right in front of my truck. I slam on the brakes and curse when the soda spills over my jeans and seat. Crap, that’s going to leave a sticky mess. Making sure the furry critter doesn’t jump up out of nowhere again I check all my mirrors. Nothing. I pull off the road to search for some wipes in the cubby-hole. I find some that Rose put in there from the last time we bought take out and wipe off my hands, jeans and leather seats. I hope the soda doesn’t leave a smell. I don’t want to take the truck to the cleaners before my date tonight. Mia hasn’t seen my new one and I wonder if she’ll like it? She helped me pick out the old one. Jeez, we really did everything together.

  Checking for any traffic, I pull back onto the road. That was a pretty good day, the one when we bought my old pick up. After saving for so long, and not having to depend on that rusty old piece of shit truck Lewis used to drive, it was a perfect day. What made it even better was when Mia and I both saw the ONE at the same time. I don’t know who walked faster, me or her. When we finally got to the big shiny black beast we both just smiled and told the salesmen we’d take it. That night we drove it out to our lake, threw a blanket in the back and watched the stars twinkle in the black sky. With her snuggled up against my chest I felt like a king. Like I said, perfect. Mia was placing slow kisses on top of my shirt covered chest, her wandering hands were close to driving me nuts. When she placed her soft mouth on mine, I could feel her passion and the happiness of the moment flowing from her to me. The moment quickly escalated, and my girl can be pretty damn adventurous when she feels like it. When her fingers grabbed onto the button of my jeans I had to stop her. I could never risk anyone seeing her out there, ever. Maybe that’s my problem? Am I being too safe with Mia? Does she need more fun? More excitement?

  I exit the gravel road on a right turn and follow the road into Bailey’s city center. The tattoo parlor isn’t far from here. My previous thought makes me think that I might be onto something, but how do I take that risk? How do I expose my girl to something like that knowing that I’ll rip someone’s eyes from their sockets if they ever saw her gorgeous body naked? I don’t even think she’s ever even played strip poker or gone skinny dipping or anything like that. We skipped all those things while Lewis and James were having the time of their lives right under our noses. Though Aiden and Jenna did the same and they seem happier than ever. They didn’t need to have sex outdoors or go swimming naked in a lake. Shit, I need to get off of these thoughts about naked bodies, groping hands and soft lips. I shut the truck off and adjust myself through my jeans. The hard flesh beneath is sure to bruise behind my unforgiving zipper. It’s like Superman fighting damn kryptonite.

  From where I’m parked I have a clear view of the parlor. Livvy’s blue Mini is parked in front of the shop, with Alec’s truck in the alley on the side. I can’t see Mia through the glass but that could be because her station is hidden behind mine. Livvy’s bright purple hair bobs around behind the counter. I pull out my phone and dial the number for the parlor.

  “Alec’s Tattoo’s and Piercings. Livvy speaking,” she says in her usual chirpy voice.

  “Hi Liv,” I say, watching her face from my truck.

  “Uh, hi. How can I help you?” I chuckle at the adorable confused look on her face. The look transforms to pissed off the instant she hears me laugh. “Listen, if this is a prank call, I’ll shove my foot so far up your ass ...” Her threat makes me laugh harder. “Urgh!” she groans loudly. Mia appears next to her and holds her hand out for the phone.

  “Liv, it’s me,” I say quickly before she can hand the phone over.

  “Me who?” she counters, sounding annoyed.

  “Jase.” She drops the phone, but quickly scrambles to pick it up before Mia can get to it. She holds the receiver closed with one hand while keeping it far away from Mia. Her eyes are wide as she explains something to Mia. But I can’t hear what she is saying. Mia gives a bored shrug and walks back to her station.

  “Jase?” she whispers into the phone.

  “It’s me,” I reply, still watching the show from outside.

  “How are you?” she asks, sounding genuinely concerned. More guilt floods me and I can’t believe how stupid I was to walk away from all this. Well technically I was pushed but you get the idea.

  “Good.” I clear my throat because I sound like a pussy and try again. “I’m good.”

  A customer walks in and I can hear the jingle of the bell through my open window and down the line. “Is Alec in? I need to speak to him,” I say quickly when the guy approaches Livvy.

  “Yes, hold on. Mia, can you help him?” she asks, pointing the phone to the customer.

  “Sure,” I hear Mia saying over the line. My eyes follow Livvy’s purple head until she disappears through the back. Turning to watch Mia with this new customer, I hear Livvy give Alec the phone.

  “Alec,” he grunts. Everyone knows he’s a big softy, even though his gruff voice and big body will tell you otherwise.

  “Jase,” I grunt back.

  “Fuck you.” He grunts back.

  “Is that your way of saying you missed me?”

  Not one for being awkward, Alec cuts straight to the chase. “You are one dumb twat. Where are you?”

  “Right outside,” I say, getting out of my truck and locking the door.

  “What for? Are you afraid to come inside? Afraid I’ll bust your head in?” He chuckles.

  I’m more afraid of what Mia will do when she sees me. “I can take you,” I joke back.

  “Get in here then, let’s find out,” he says, ending the call.

  I push the door open and the jingle brings Mia’s head up and pulls Livvy’s attention to me. Alec steps out from the back and stands in the doorway. Even the guy on Mia’s table is watching me. His eyes dart between the four of us like a scared little rabbit. Run little rabbit. Mia’s finger squeezes the gun, and the guy darts up right.

  “Ow, shit!” he curses.

  “I’m so sorry, my finger slipped,” she explains, piling a bunc
h of tissues onto the guy’s arm. She pulls the tissue away and there’s barely a spot of color. Not even a drop of blood. The guy rubs at his arm and I can feel my eyebrow rise. Pussy. “Do you want to go run it under some cold water? You can use the tap in the bathroom at the back. Just through that door,” she instructs, moving her chair away from the table so he can get up.

  He doesn’t need cold water. He probably thinks he’ll get the job for free if he fakes injury. Cheap ass flake. But it removes the whiny bastard from the room and as soon as his back disappears through to the back room they’re all staring at me again. Livvy reacts first. She storms towards me with a look that says ‘I’m not sure if I want to punch you or hug you.’ I guess she goes with the punch because not even two seconds later the little fire cracker pulls her arm back and swings it at me. Only one woman has ever hit me. Twice. And that’s Mew. Not that she makes a habit out of it, and both times I really deserved it, doesn’t make me hate it less. A blink before her fist connects with my jaw I knock her arm away as softly as possible.

  “You butthole!” she yells, pulling her arm back ready for another try. This time Mia stops her.

  “Livvy, stop it.” She says it so calmly that I don’t think the purple haired vixen heard her as much as saw her when she moved in front of her. I can’t let her hit Mew, that’s out of the question, so I pull Mia back and earn a fairly decent punch to the top of my arm. At least it’s not my face.

  “Satisfied?” I ask Liv, while pulling Mia into my chest. My arm wraps around her back and pull her closer. Mia shrugs out of my hold and I’m not surprised.

  “Not really, I’d like to try again,” Livvy huffs.

  “Not gonna happen,” I say, looking at Mia to make sure she’s okay. She shrugs and gives me a shy smile. Maybe she’s happy that Livvy punched me on her behalf. That’s the third time I’ve taken a hit for her. These people all need some anger management. Or maybe that smile meant she’s embarrassed that for a split second her body accepted my touch so freely. We were meant to be together. It was written in the stars long before we were born. Our connection is something I will never doubt.