Out Of The Ashes

by Diana Gardin

  She told me via text earlier today that she’d be here. I got the feeling Gillian was dragging her to social events these days to get Paige out more. I’d thank Gillian for that later.

  Rob leaned back to shout near my ear. “Want to get a beer?”

  I nodded absently. He headed the rest of the way down the steps and I followed, stepping around college students packed like sardines on the cement basement floor. We made our way slowly to a corner of the room where the bar was manned by a fraternity brother we knew. He nodded in our direction and I held up two fingers. He tossed Rob and then me a beer and we popped the tops open in unison.

  I took a long swig of mine, my eyes still darting around the room in search of my conquest.

  A tall brunette appeared in front of me, her slick hair tossed over one shoulder. Keeping time to the rhythmic beat of the music, she leaned down and touched the floor, shaking her ample ass all over the front of my jeans.

  Usually, I’d stand there and let her grind against me, considering it foreplay for what would happen later that night in my bed or hers. Tonight was different. I was here for one reason only, and this wasn’t it.

  I stepped out from behind the girl, and she turned and eyed me with surprise. I recognized her from the campus party scene, but couldn’t place a name with her face. Mascara ran down her cheeks in sooty streaks, and she raised her eyebrows in question. I shook my head impatiently, and she shrugged and moved on to find a more willing statue for her rump shaking.

  Rob laughed next to me and I shot him a dark look.

  He leaned against the wall, looking comfortable, and I pointed toward the stairs. He nodded and I took off across the room, weaving around gyrating girls and the guys that stood behind them serving as motionless dance partners.

  Once I stepped into the only slightly fresher air of the main floor, I saw Drew standing in the kitchen jabbering with a familiar group of girls. I headed his way and stopped right beside him.

  “Hey dude,” he said. “What’s the status down there?”

  “Lame,” I answered. “As usual.”

  He nodded and pointed to the girls. “You know Jess, right?”

  The girl he introduced as Jess gave me a winning smile. “I know you. Clay Forbes, right? I’ve caught a few of your games. I love watching you play.”

  I only heard part of her gushing; I was inspecting the rooms I could view from the kitchen to see if I could catch a glimpse of Paige. When I glanced back at the group I was standing with, they were all staring at me expectantly.

  “What? Oh, thanks,” I muttered. I slid out of their circle and kept moving.

  I was on a mission and I wasn’t going to be distracted.

  ~**~

  Somehow, an hour and three beers later, I found myself back in the basement with Drew and Rob. Disappointed that Paige had obviously changed her mind about attending this party tonight.

  I leaned against the wall, disgruntled. What was it about Paige that had me spinning in circles? I was used to getting my own way. That was no surprise to anyone. I had always been able to snap my fingers and get what I wanted. Part of that came from having talent on the soccer field. Part of it came from being the youngest in my family and getting unlimited attention from my mother. Part of it was just my demanding personality.

  But with Paige, I watched every step. Not wanting to screw up or make her uncomfortable. I wanted to please her. I wanted to be good enough for her.

  The feeling was absolutely uncharacteristic and foreign in every way.

  I was still pondering my feelings for Paige when I spotted her dancing with one of the fraternity brothers in the center of the dance floor.

  Paige

  I didn’t know why Gillian insisted on bringing me to these things. I was acclimated to university life; classes were going well. I was making friends, especially with Tima and Maven. I was fine. So why did I have to attend sweaty, gross, pointless fraternity parties too?

  I danced next to Gillian, Tima, and Maven in a circle, surrounded by preppy fraternity guys. One of them was dancing behind me. I was just glad he was moving to the music instead of just standing there like a horny statue.

  I copied Tima’s moves. She was the best dancer in our group, and I always tried to emulate her motions when we danced. So I gyrated my hips and tossed my head about as the music swirled around us. I could see why she got so into it. I could almost get lost in the beat if I tried hard enough.

  Motion behind me caught my attention, and I figured Mr. Frat Boy was adding some new moves to his repertoire. So I amped up my skills as well, thrusting my hips backward until I felt his hands circling my waist, resting on my stomach with tingling pressure.

  “What are you doing?” a deep, husky voice whispered in my ear, grinding my hips to a screeching halt.

  I turned in the arms encircling my waist and came face-to-chest with a guy taller than the fraternity brother had been. I let my eyes travel up a very well muscled torso to the amazingly clear blue eyes of Clay Forbes.

  I stared open-mouthed as a smile tugged at the corner of his full lips.

  “I was dancing,” I finally answered. I was shouting to be heard over the music, but standing there with Clay? We were the only two people in the crowded basement. And that was ridiculous. Because this basement was full of people, including other eligible men. One of which I was dancing with when Clay walked up. A blaze of anger seared a trail down my body and I turned away from him and started to walk away.

  He reached out and caught my arm, stopping me. Heat sizzled under his hand and I looked down at my arm and then up at him. The fierce look in his eyes clenched and unclenched my stomach, which then exploded in butterflies. The reverberations ricocheted up and down my body.

  “I can see that,” he answered, raising a thick brow. “But why were you dancing with him, and not me?” He was still holding onto my arm.

  I narrowed my eyes. “Did you scare him away?”

  He shrugged and let go, cool as a breeze. “I told him to beat it. He knew he should listen.”

  Clay stepped in closer. “So will you?”

  “Will I what?”

  “Dance with me.”

  “What part of ‘this won’t work’ do you not understand?”

  He let his eyes slide up my exposed legs, past my leather mini, and up the halter-top I was wearing. “Those hips are working just fine.”

  I shook my head as my knees wobbled. “You know what I mean!”

  A hot blush crept into my cheeks as he smirked. A cute dimple appeared in his cheek, which only made me angrier. Why did he have to look so good? It would be a lot easier to stay away from him if he weren’t so….delicious.

  “If I dance with you, will you leave me alone and let me go back to dancing with whoever I want?”

  He reached out and laid those big hands on my hips. “Sure, Paige.”

  I turned around and began to move against him, gently but with some pressure on his pelvis. The beat was fast, and I moved in rhythm to it, shaking my hips and raising my arms in the air. His hands smoothed up my hips, skimming my sides, and up my arms as he grabbed my hands and interlocked his fingers with mine.

  I was already damp and flushed from the heat of the room, but it was nothing compared to the warmth radiating from Clay’s body as he moved in time with mine.

  We moved together to the music and each part of his body that collided with mine sent streaks of heat to my core. His hips moving behind mine, his fingers as they clutched my hands, and his chest as I leaned into him all worked together to intensify the moment. My blood began to boil, waking parts of me that were previously fast asleep.

  The beat shifted, and a slower drumbeat rolled through the room. Clay’s hands were firm on my hips and he rotated me around to face him as the song changed to a slow ballad.

  All around us, couples moved closer together, and Clay placed his hands at the small of my back and pulled me toward him. I gasped at the quickness of the move, and I looked up into hi
s eyes.

  He locked me there, frozen in a time where it was only us. I’d never been looked at like he was looking at me. I almost forgot about my imperfections with his eyes trained on mine like that. I was empowered, like a beautiful temptress. The feeling was brand new and foreign in my mind.

  I finally broke the connection and leaned my head forward onto his shoulder. He pulled me in even closer and we stood like that until the song was over.

  A hand grasped my shoulder some time later, and I looked around to see Gillian’s face close to mine. Her normally fluffy hair was plastered to her head, wispy tendrils flying away from her face wildly.

  “Are you ready to go home?” she shouted.

  I looked up at Clay.

  “Say no,” he mouthed.

  I looked back at Gillian and held up one finger. She nodded and pointed to the stairs. She was indicating that she’d wait for me up there. I nodded.

  When I looked back at Clay, he was eyeing me unhappily.

  He grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the stairs.

  When we reached the top, Gillian and the other girls were standing close to the back door, giggling amidst a group of frat boys. Clay veered me in the other direction, toward the front hall. When we finally reached a quiet corner near the front door, he guided me to a halt.

  “I need to see you again,” he said firmly.

  I stared at him in disbelief. I wasn’t sure what had happened tonight while we were dancing. One look at him told me he felt what I had, and that the connection between us was real and shared.

  I sighed. “That’s not a good idea.”

  As I was saying it, I hoped I was able to stay strong enough to refuse him. This attraction for Clay, no matter what he was telling me with those sexy baby blues, was one-sided. He was the campus flirt, right? He mowed through girls left and right. I wasn’t fooling myself into thinking I was anything special. That crazy electricity between us was him oozing sex and me not knowing how to deal with it.

  “I’m not so sure,” he answered. “Look, Paige—“

  I stiffened, not sure I wanted to hear what he had to say next, but loving the way my name sounded tumbling from his lips.

  He reached out and took my hand in his, as if to reassure me. He glanced down at our fingers, toying with our hands as he spoke.

  “I’m not sure what’s going on between us, Paige. It’s confusing the hell out of me. But I have been walking around this party all night searching for you. I’ve ignored every girl that’s tried to dance with me or talk to me, and that’s not something I do. So trust me when I say, I need to see you again. Just say yes.”

  I studied his eyes as they glittered in the darkness and tried to read his face. I had told him I’d be here, and he’d really been looking for me all night long? That seemed far-fetched. Especially for Clay Forbes.

  But my answer was predestined. I knew that even as I was searching my brain for a reason to say no.

  “Yes,” I replied.

  I might be a naïve idiot, but I did want to see Clay again. I wanted to find out more about this connection we had. I wanted to feel more of his hands on me the way they’d been tonight.

  Taking one look in his eyes, the same emotion reflected back at me. And the look sent tingles flying rampant across my heated skin. I wanted more of Clay Forbes. And it seemed, unbelievably, he wanted more of me, too.

  I was in trouble.

  Nine

  Clay

  Even though I wanted to become a part of Paige’s life, my life had to go on whether I was successful or not.

  The soccer season was in full swing now, and we had practices or games every day of the week. I wanted Paige to see me in action, so I invited her to a game. Thinking about the electricity I’d felt when I touched her and danced with her at the Kappa Sig party had me waking up in the middle of the night with a need to adjust my pants.

  “Dude, is she bringing Gillian with her?” Drew asked as we suited up in the locker room.

  I laughed. “Give up on that now, Drew. You don’t stand a chance.”

  He frowned. “Of course I do. Gillian and I are already friends.”

  “In what universe are you and Gillian friends?”

  Confusion crossed his face and Rob snorted with laughter. We exited the locker room with the team and jogged onto the field to warm up.

  I looked up in the stands for Paige, but I didn’t spot her. Maybe she hadn’t arrived yet.

  As we warmed up, the other team took the field and started their ball work.

  I was always nervous at the start of a game, but today the adrenaline rushed through my veins in a heightened frenzy of excitement. Knowing Paige would be watching made me want to score all the goals, block all the other team’s attempts.

  I spotted Gillian first, edging along the bottom row of the stands. I looked beyond her and Paige filled my vision. When they found seats, and Paige’s eyes finally found mine, I tilted up the corner of my mouth and raised my hand in a wave.

  The smile that dawned across her face almost broke my heart and she pointed me out to Gillian. Pride made me want to thump my chest and shout to the masses. A girl, quite possibly the girl, was here to see me play.

  We finished our warm-up, and sent the captains to the center of the field for the coin toss. I called it and the ball was turned over to us for the kick-off.

  By halftime, my jersey was sticking to me, and I ran a hand over my hair to keep it from pasting to my forehead. It seemed like every player on the field today was playing for keeps. The game was more brutal than usual. Elbows were being thrown into ribs and faces, and the ball was nearly taking off our heads, flying through the air like a mace.

  I knew it wasn’t Paige’s first soccer game since she’d played growing up, but girls never played this brutally. She was getting an eyeful today. I looked up at her and saw her watching me as I sprayed water into my mouth from a sports bottle.

  She wasn’t my girlfriend or anything, but it just felt right, having her at my game. Like an empty place in the stands all these years had finally been filled.

  As the second half began, I tried to stay focused on the action around me. I played my position more intently. As a forward, I played closer to our opponent’s goal, and as my teammates drilled the ball in my direction I had an opportunity to nab it and shoot it into the goal.

  The ball zoomed toward me and I bent my knees to maneuver easily across my section of the field. As I pulled my right leg back, preparing to kick the ball toward the net, the toe of another player hooked behind my left leg and tugged sharply. As the ground rose to meet me, the excruciating twist in my ankle took my breath away.

  I cried out as I hit the ground because the pain was that damn bad.

  I rolled over on my side, pulling my knee up toward my chest while holding onto my screaming ankle.

  Paige

  As Clay slammed to the ground, I stood up and gasped. I was helpless as he writhed in what looked like utter agony on the ground. The vision of him in such pain sent a wake-up call to every nerve ending in my body. Gillian grasped my hand and covered her mouth with her other.

  The entire crowd was on its feet, booing the opposing player who had caused Clay’s fall. He was handed a red card by the referee, but by that point, Clay’s entire team was out on the field crowded around him.

  We watched, speechless, as the athletic trainers attended to his leg. I held my breath as I waited for him to get up.

  Walk away from this, Clay.

  Then two of his teammates, who I recognized as his roommates from their party, reached down and pulled him to his feet. The crowd cheered wildly. He gave a shaky wave as they helped him hobble to the locker room.

  Now that I knew he’d be okay, the rage bubbled up inside me like a volcano about to erupt.

  “That asshole!” I cried out angrily. “He did it on purpose! I want to go down there right now and claw his face off to show him how much pain Clay is in!”

  “Easy, tiger,” Gil
lian said from beside me. She patted my back reassuringly. “Clay is going to be okay, but I’m not sure you will. Calm down. When the game is over, we’ll check on him.”

  I tried taking deep breaths to calm myself down. Seeing Clay hurt like that did things to me that I didn’t want to analyze.

  I was clearly starting to care about him way too much. It wasn’t fair to him, because he had no idea what a mess I was. And I wasn’t able to share it with him.