“Can you hear me breathing?” he asked.
“I can barely hear anything over my own heartbeat,” I whispered.
“Can you hear my heart?”
“Yes.”
“Then focus on that. Can you hear how steady it is? Just listen to that and keep taking deep, even breaths. We’re almost there.”
“Okay,” I said as I exhaled. “I can do this. We’re almost there.”
“That’s right, Millie. Just keep breathing and I’ll get you somewhere safe.”
He continued to breathe loudly into the phone, and I squeezed my eyes shut, focusing on that alone.
“Are you doing okay?” he asked softly.
I nodded again. “Yeah, I’m okay. I’m just focusing on you.”
“That’s right. Just listen to me and we’ll get through this together.”
I smiled in the dark trunk, wishing I could have seen what color his eyes were in that moment.
“Millie?”
“Hmm?”
“What happened to you?”
I opened my eyes and frowned into the darkness. “With what?”
“I know I don’t have any right to ask this, but what happened to make you so afraid?”
I shuddered in the car, my breaths already more ragged.
“Never mind,” he said quickly. “Don’t worry about it. Just focus on my breathing again. In, out, in, out.”
I took a deep breath in and held it for as long as I could, eyes squeezed closed. As I let it out, I said, “My ex-husband locked me in a closet once.”
The line went silent. He wasn’t even breathing anymore.
“What?” he said. His voice was soft, but it didn’t fool me. There was a whole load of anger beneath it, and for some reason, that made it easier to keep talking.
“He was a drunk,” I continued. “And when he’d come home in a rage, I’d hide in my closet until he was done.” I pressed my lips together as I twisted the blanket in my hands. “One night he found me and told me I could stay there.” I swallowed hard. “He put a chair in front of the door and left.”
Ashton was back to breathing, but that was all I heard from his end. I matched my breaths to his, but my fingers were still busy picking at the blanket covering me.
“For how long?” he finally asked.
My stomach cramped instantly. “I don’t know,” I whispered. “It was a long time, though. At least a whole day.”
He was quiet for another long minute before he growled. “Millie.”
My lips twitched with a smile, my breaths still coming easy. I don’t know why, but hearing Ashton’s rage being aimed at my ex-husband made me feel better. Safer. Like Richard’s ghost was still haunting me, but now I had Ashton around to scare him off.
I wish he’d been there to protect me eighty years ago, but late was better than never.
“I’m so fucking sorry.” Ashton’s voice broke through my thoughts.
“It’s okay.”
“It’s fucking not okay, Millie. Not okay at all. If that son of a bitch wasn’t already dead, I’d kill him myself.”
I flattened the wrinkled blanket along my stomach. “You can take a piss on his grave,” I offered.
Ashton snorted. “You show me where it is, and I’ll do it.”
I giggled, the sound so foreign in this situation. How did Ashton do that? How did he have the power to make me feel better when nothing else would? How could he make me laugh while I was living my worst nightmare?
“I’m pulling in now,” he said into the phone and I breathed a sigh of relief.
We were there. It was almost over.
I felt the car come to a stop, and he turned the engine off. “I guess I’ll go inside and make a reservation? I don’t know how this works. Is there even someone working here during the day?”
I smiled again. “Yeah, they’ll have a claimed human working the desk to keep up appearances and to send away anyone who wanders in. Just tell them you’ve got me in the car and you shouldn’t have any issues.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back.”
“Hurry,” I whispered as the demons and shadows swirled around me again.
“I will,” he said before ending the call.
I turned on my phone’s flashlight and laid it next to me. It wouldn’t be long until I was out of here. I just needed to keep calm until Ashton came back.
Which was easier said than done.
It started with my heartbeat. It didn’t race at first, but as I listened to Ashton’s footsteps walk away from me, it only pumped harder.
What if something happened to him?
What if he didn’t come back?
What if I was stuck in here?
What if I ran out of air before he returned?
What if someone else opened the trunk, and I started burning in the sunlight?
What if, what if, what if?
They spun around my head, making me dizzy, which also made me think I was running out of oxygen. I held my hand over my heart as I gasped and strained to take in a deep breath, but couldn’t.
I ripped the blanket off me, barely noticing when my legs began to burn. The smoke rose from my skin, and the smell of burnt flesh hit my nose. It was thick and acrid and made it even harder to breathe.
I scratched at the trunk door, not caring that if I was successful, I’d be in full daylight. I just needed to get out of the trunk and breathe.
“Millie?”
My panic had been so loud I hadn’t heard him come back.
“Ashton! Get me out of here!” I gasped.
“There’s nowhere safe to open the trunk.”
“I don’t care. I have to get out!” I called, my lungs straining even harder for the oxygen I knew I was out of.
“Millie, you’ll burn.”
“I don’t care! Open the trunk!” I screamed.
He blew out a deep breath. “Cover yourself at least.”
I pulled the blanket up to my chin, but still couldn’t cover my face. A little beep sounded seconds before the trunk popped open and blinding sunlight streamed inside.
I screamed as the rays burned me, even through the blanket. The cries tore at my throat as I scurried further into the trunk and away from the sun.
“Millie, I can’t reach you,” Ashton grunted.
“It burns!” I cried, still frantically trying to get away from the light.
“Just… come… here,” he said between gritted teeth. Finally, his hands wrapped around my leg and he pulled me to the front of the trunk.
I screamed again as the sun hit me dead on and my skin began to burn. Ashton pulled the blanket tighter around me before he started running. Tears poured down my face and smoke billowed off my body as I cried and burned and begged for it to end.
“Make it stop,” I wailed.
“I’m trying, Millie. Just stay with me.”
I burrowed my head against his chest and continued to sob as the pain overtook the panic I’d been feeling. It was so awful, I barely noticed when it stopped.
“We’re inside now,” Ashton murmured against my head. “It’s okay. You’re safe.”
I slung my arms around his neck, the tears relentless. Ashton continued to carry me like I weighed nothing, all while whispering reassurances in my ear. I couldn’t make out what he was saying over my cries, but just the tone of his voice was enough to soothe me.
By the time he opened our hotel room door and carried me inside, I’d stopped bawling, but the tears were still streaming down my face. Ashton set me gently on the bed and opened the blanket still wrapped around me.
I screamed as my skin peeled away with the fabric.
“Son of a bitch,” he spat as he wrapped me back up.
All I could do was whimper. The pain was so unbearable I didn’t know how I was still conscious.
“What can I do?” Ashton asked as he kneeled in front of me. “How can I help?”
My fangs ached in my gums and I knew there was only one way I was healing from this. “Blood,�
�� I croaked.
He nodded his head fast before scooping me up and carrying me to the head of the bed. Ashton sat down with me in his lap and tucked my head against his neck.
“Here. Drink,” he said.
The rational part of me knew this would only complicate the convoluted relationship we had, but my survival instincts were louder. I needed this blood to heal, and he was offering it freely.
I gently slid my fangs into his neck and began drinking. His sharp gasp barely broke through the haze, just like I hardly felt his hands wrap around my waist.
As I drank, the pain slowly started to fade. It started deep inside me, repairing the worst of my injuries. Once it was done, it spread through my extremities, making my fingers and toes tingle as I healed.
When I’d had more than enough of his blood, I bit my tongue and sealed his wounds before pulling back. Ashton’s eyes were so blue as they met mine.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his hand reaching up to tuck some hair behind my ear.
I closed my eyes and nodded. “Much better.”
He chuckled as he moved me off his lap and onto the bed. The soft mattress enveloped me, and I snuggled into it. “You should get some rest,” he said as his weight left the bed.
I nodded, the heaviness of the daylight already pulling me under.
But just before I lost consciousness, I remembered I had something to tell Ashton. Something he should have known a long time ago, but after what happened today, it wouldn’t have been fair to keep it from him any longer. He deserved the truth at the very least.
“Ashton?” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.
I felt the bed dip as he leaned close to me. “Yeah?”
“I didn’t sleep with him. I didn’t even drink from him. I just glamoured him to think we did to make you jealous.” My eyes were too heavy to open, but that worked in my favor. I didn’t think I wanted to see the look on his face in that moment.
“Why would you do that?” he finally asked.
I sighed. “I wanted to change your mind about dating me.”
“Millie,” he said, exasperation clear in his voice. But that was the last thing I heard before the blackness pulled me under.
Chapter 14
Ashton
“Millie?”
Nothing.
According to Google, the sun set almost five minutes ago, but she still wasn’t awake. And I didn’t know how this shit worked.
I watched her smooth face, waiting for a twitch of an eyelid or the scrunch of her nose to indicate she was about to wake up, but there was nothing. She was still, and lifeless, and so beautiful I couldn’t stop looking at her.
I’d sat in the hotel room for hours, watching her sleep and making her promises she knew nothing about.
Promises like I wouldn’t leave her again until I knew for sure the danger had passed.
Like I wouldn’t ever let someone hurt her again like her ex-husband had.
Like planning to take a long-ass vacation with her as soon as the dust settled from this mess. I’d bring her to as many countries as I could, Greece first.
I didn’t know if she’d go for that last one, but I promised to at least try. She was worth it. And more importantly, she deserved it.
I was still watching her closely when her eyes popped wide open. I almost jumped at how abrupt the transition had been.
“Millie?”
She turned her head to me, her pink mouth pulling into a smile. “Hey.”
My hands reached out without my permission to brush the hair off her face. When I realized what I was doing, I pulled away and cleared my throat. “How are you feeling?”
She turned to stare up at the ceiling again as she moved her arms and legs. “I think I’m fully healed.”
That was a load I hadn’t realized was so heavy. I’d watched the angry red burns slowly fade as she slept, but there was no way for me to know if she’d been healing internally or not. Now, knowing she was okay, it felt like I could breathe again.
I laid down onto the pillow next to her and tried to prop my head up with my hand, but the sharp pain in my knuckles prevented that. I must have made a sound because Millie’s head whipped in my direction.
“What’s the matter?”
I shook out my hand. “Nothing. No big deal.”
She frowned as she reached for my fingers and pulled them toward her face. Millie twisted my hand back and forth, and I knew there was no way she missed the bloody and bruised knuckles.
“What is this?” she asked quietly.
I shrugged. “I punched something earlier. Don’t even remember what.”
She turned to me with a raised brow. “Do you punch a lot of things?”
“When I’m pissed off like I was today? Yeah.”
Her eyes darted away from mine and back to my injured hand. She ran her fingers along my knuckles, gently pressing here or there as I tried to not hiss in pain. Finally, she turned to me again. “I think it’s broken.”
“Yeah, I think so too. I’ll get it wrapped later or something.”
She looked back at my hand as she spoke. “I could heal you.”
My stomach flipped hard inside me. “You don’t have to do that,” I said, my voice deeper than it was a moment ago.
Millie’s big green eyes met mine, and they were so full of emotion they took my breath away. “Ashton, it’s the least I can do. Please, let me help you.”
I hesitated. Last time I drank from her ended in us banging on Hausle’s marble floor. I wasn’t sure we were back at that place. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted us to be back to that place.
But who the fuck was I kidding? I nodded. “Okay.”
She smiled and my stomach flipped back the other way. Millie brought her wrist to her mouth before holding it out to me. Twin rivers of blood were flowing down her pale arm as I pulled it to my mouth.
I met her eyes as I pressed my lips to the wounds and started sucking. Millie gasped, and I was instantly hard. I couldn’t look away as I drank her blood and felt it healing my hand. It tingled like it had fallen asleep, but I remembered that’s what it had been like last time she healed me, so I kept going.
If someone told me a couple weeks ago that I’d be happily drinking blood, I wouldn’t have believed them. But Millie’s blood was different. It was almost sweet.
When the pins and needles finally faded away, I pulled my mouth off her wrist and licked my lips. Millie’s wide eyes followed my tongue as I did, her gaze heating.
I cleared my throat and pulled a couple inches away so I could breathe again without her clouding my senses. But it wasn’t really working.
“Thanks,” I said.
She smiled as she laid there looking at me. “It was the least I could do.”
We were quiet as we stared at each other, that impossible connection between us only growing stronger and harder to ignore. But when her gaze shuttered, and she looked away, I knew I wasn’t going to like what came out of her mouth next.
“Are you upset with me?”
I frowned. “Why would I be upset?”
She glanced at me quickly before looking away again. “Because of the Jason thing. I lied just to make you jealous.”
I blew out a deep breath as I was confronted by that information for a second time. Honestly, I didn’t know what to think because I was feeling too many different things at once.
Relief that she hadn’t actually been sleeping with him.
Irritation that she’d led me to believe she was.
Happiness that I was still the last person to be inside her.
I didn’t know where that last possessive thought came from, but it was loud and overpowering in my head.
“I’m not upset,” I finally said.
The look in her eyes was skeptical. “Really?”
I shrugged. “Really. I am confused though. Why did you feel like you needed to do that? You already knew how badly I wanted you.”
Her eyes flashed. “Then why wa
s it so easy to turn me down?” she said, a defiant tilt to her chin.
I clenched my fists to stop myself from reaching out for her. “Because keeping you safe was more important. Because I was happy to wait for you.”
Millie’s cheeks flushed as she rolled away from me. “I don’t know how to do this,” she said so softly I barely heard her. “I don’t know how to go after someone I want. I don’t know how to be with a man in a healthy way. I don’t know anything about dating or hook-ups or even real relationships.”
She blew out a deep breath and closed her eyes. “The one and only relationship I’ve ever been in was a nightmare.” She pressed her lips together for a moment before speaking again. “All it ever taught me about the opposite sex was how to be wary.”
Millie turned her head to look at me, her expression apologetic. “So, I have no idea what to do with this,” she said, gesturing between us.
I took a moment to let all that sink in before scooting closer. “I’m not your ex-husband.”
“I know,” she said quietly.
“I’d never hurt you.”
She nodded. “I know that too.”
“Then let’s stop with the games, okay?”
Her green eyes seemed to take up half her face as she stared at me. “Okay,” she whispered. “No more games.” She picked up the edge of the blanket I’d thrown over her and pinched it between her fingers. “So, where does that leave us?”
There was so much hesitation in her voice. So much doubt. My knuckles ached with how hard I was clenching my fists, but I couldn’t touch her. Not yet.
“Exactly where we were before, but without the games. I can’t entertain anything with you until I know you’re safe.”
She studied her hands as she picked at the fabric. “But no one knows where we are. And this place is secure. Why can’t we be together here?”
Fuck, why did that hurt so bad? “Millie,” I said, my voice ragged.
I could feel my walls crumbling. My defenses absolutely useless against her. How the fuck was I supposed to keep turning her down when all I wanted to do was be with her? How the fuck was I supposed to tell her no when it hurt me just as much as it hurt her?
She took a shaky breath in and let it out before sitting up and scooting to the edge of the bed. “It’s okay,” she said, and I instantly knew she was lying.
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