Stay

by A. L. Jackson

  Strands of tiny twinkle lights glittered from above, pushing at the cloak of darkness draped across the balmy night. A cool breeze rustled through, drawn from the waters where we stood in the trellised rose gardens at the edge of the quiet river. Gas fire pits sparked and blazed from beds of colorful glass, their reflections projecting a glimmering dance along the streams of calming waves.

  Ash had one of those hulking arms wrapped around my waist like a permanent fixture, his grin so easy, shining full of that blinding light.

  Magnetic.

  I swore, he had every girl here wrapped around his finger.

  Including me.

  Like the fool I was, I played along. Standing there beside him felt far too real and way too nice. Leaning in closer, I set my palm right over his heart, loving the comfort of the steady thrum.

  “That’s right.” I stole a look at him before I glanced back at five pairs of star-struck eyes. I patted that strong chest. “This one is kind of hard to resist.”

  From across our little circle of old friends and acquaintances, Emily rolled her eyes and buried her knowing smile in her martini glass to keep from slipping up and throwing the game.

  I’d long since gotten over being angry with her for putting me on the spot that day in the shop. How could I regret it now? Not with him wrapped around me and me wrapped up in him, the night cool and calm.

  So what if I’d fessed up to her about this charade. Confided in her how this man twisted me into a million intricate knots I wasn’t sure could ever be undone.

  How he’d kissed me.

  Then done it again and again.

  How he made me feel something I hadn’t touched on in all my life.

  “Ugh. I’m so jealous,” Maddie almost whined, though it was done with a smile. “Your boyfriend is like…the hottest guy on earth. This is so not fair.”

  I could feel Ash trying to subdue his laughter. Leave it to Maddie to talk as if he weren’t standing right there. As if he weren’t made up of flesh and bone and blood, but rather a figment of that glamorous, untouchable world that seemed almost imaginary.

  “I would have to agree,” I said, maybe a bit too readily myself. This man was magnificent. A rare creature to be found.

  His arm tightened around the back of my waist, his fingers gripping my side, voice so smooth. “Ah, now that’s sweet, but y’all don’t have to go tryin’ to overinflate my ego. We all know who’s the lucky one around here, and that’d be me.”

  “Hmm.” Kimberly mulled as she frowned. “I would have bet my house ten years later it would have been you standing here with Bates. And now you’re standing there with some famous guy? It kind of blows my mind.” Kimberly almost scoffed it as she took a sip of her beer.

  Always so brash.

  Kayla smacked her in the arm. “Kimberly.”

  “What?” She looked unrepentant. I knew she had no clue it still felt like razors were scraping my skin every single time I heard his name.

  That mention of his name? It automatically had me back on guard.

  On high alert.

  The same way as I’d been when we first stepped through the doors.

  We’d been here for two hours. He hadn’t shown. In that time, I’d eased into the safety of the night.

  Maybe I should have taken that as my own warning. A sign to step away. To put some space between us.

  Instead, I sighed in comfort when Ash gave me a reassuring squeeze, as if he knew I might need my confidence restored. I sank deeper into his hold. A hold that felt as if it might mean something.

  He pressed a kiss to my neck.

  Chills scattered, free and fast.

  “No, honestly it’s fine.” It seemed crazy how true it sounded. “I got over him a long time ago.”

  I was over him.

  Maybe I wasn’t over what he’d done.

  But I was definitely over him.

  Ash nuzzled the side of my face, playing his part so damned well I could almost believe it.

  I hummed. “Believe me, I found something much better to take his place.”

  Ash nipped at the sensitive flesh of my ear.

  Desire.

  It rushed so real, a thunder pounding through my too-tight veins all too vivid. Tugging and pulling at my insides. Throbbing between my thighs.

  God, what was this man doing to me?

  Ash chuckled.

  Whatever it was? He knew exactly how to wield it. How to control it.

  That arrogant boy slanted a smirk at my friends. “Ahh…y’all are talking about the little cocksucker who thought he could possibly do better than my girl?”

  “Umm…” Kimberly stammered, their eyes wide as they looked at each other as if they had no idea how to answer him.

  Emily busted up laughing, finally breaking into the conversation. She laughed so hard she buckled at the waist. “Oh my God. If Willow ever decides she wants to get rid of you? Please. Come find me. I think I love you.”

  But it was all soft affection, and there was nothing serious about it except for her gratitude for what he’d done. An unexpected peace took hold of me that I hadn’t felt since I was just a little girl.

  Not since I’d sit with my momma and my sister and dream.

  Dream big and small and everything in between.

  “Sorry, love, but my heart’s already taken. But I’m sure we can set you up with one of these fine country boys. That one over there has been making googly eyes at you all night.”

  He pointed in the direction of Freddy, who was most definitely not making eyes at Em. Ash shot Emily a wink when he did. She just shook her head with an exasperated smile and took another sip of her drink.

  The night grew deeper, and we all chatted and laughed and sank into the warm comfort. Ash and I wandered the small gathering as if we were one. I caught up with a few people I hadn’t spoken to in years.

  Some I’d lost touch with after I’d lost Summer.

  Others had faded away with the years.

  Then there were the one’s who I’d shut out when I’d finally shut out the rest of the world.

  When I’d hidden away because it’d been so much easier than facing the day.

  And now Ash was making me stand out in his light.

  He doted on me, filling me with his praise and his words and steady belief. Like he promised, he never left my side.

  “I have to use the restroom,” I whispered in his ear.

  “Is that an invitation to follow you in, darlin’? Because if it is, I’m totally game.”

  A smirk took over the whole of that flirty mouth, the boy totally at ease, in his realm.

  “Don’t you wish.”

  “Uh…yes, darlin’, I definitely do wish.”

  And I was getting confused about the pretending. Especially when he guided me inside and started us down the hall, spun, and pressed me against the wall.

  He kissed me hard.

  Surprised, I whimpered, before I gave, clutched at the collar of his shirt.

  For the first time, he palmed my ass in one of those big hands.

  “Peaches,” he mumbled so low. He grew hard in his slacks, and that foreign feeling was back, rushing beneath the surface of my skin.

  Suddenly he jerked back and sent me a tummy-tilting grin, though he was panting for his own air. He pecked a close-mouthed kiss to my lips.

  “Go, before I follow you in there. And I know you don’t want that.”

  Searching for breath, I peeled myself from the wall and fumbled the rest of the way down the hall on my too-high heels, trying to straighten myself out as I went.

  I shivered, feeling the heat of his gaze eating me up the entire way.

  I pushed open the door and stepped into the restroom. I met my reflection—swollen, red lips, wild brown eyes, and pink, heated cheeks.

  I saw someone who was bold and brave.

  I’d forgotten what that girl looked like. The scary thing was I no longer could remember exactly when she’d gone missing.

&nbs
p; I used the restroom, washed my hands, applied a coat of sheer gloss. That smile was still firmly on my face when I tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear then eagerly stepped back out in the hall.

  I gasped out a shocked breath as I did, having to brace myself against the wall to keep myself from falling to the floor.

  Fear and hurt and rage slammed me like a rogue wave.

  Bates was there, at the end of the hall.

  Backed against the wall.

  Because Ash?

  Ash had him pinned to it.

  eighteen

  Ash

  I watched her flounder her way down the hall in those heels, those shorts so short and those legs so long I couldn’t look away. When the door closed behind her, I dragged a frustrated hand through the top of my hair and blew out a strained breath, choking back a chuckle.

  I could feel her wanting to peek back. Itching to look. To find what my expression would be.

  Knew if she did hers would be all wide eyes and confused smiles and affected blushes.

  God, I liked it.

  I tucked my hands in my pockets and rocked back on my heels to settle into waiting.

  That was when I felt it.

  An awareness that prickled across the back of my neck like nails scraping a chalk board. My gut churned with the instinct that warned things were about to take a sharp turn south.

  Slowly, I shifted to look over my shoulder.

  Every cell in my body froze.

  I never forgot a face.

  Except, he wasn’t looking at me. He was looking at where my Peaches had disappeared into the restroom. That was right before his jaw clenched tight and his glare slid to me. Like he were adding it up. Figuring it out.

  It hit me so fast I was certain my heart was pumping nothing but pure adrenaline. Crushing rage spun through me like a tornado, catching me up in its mind-rending rotation.

  Still, everything moved deathly slow. So goddamned slow as I turned the rest of the way around on my heels and faced the bastard.

  I saw it.

  The second he recognized me, he blanched and took one shocked step back.

  My hands clenched into fists at my sides. I did my best to stay cool. To keep calm because life goes on and all that shit. Because I was about two seconds from coming completely unhinged, and I doubted this was the best place in the world to enact revenge.

  I pressed a fist into my opposite palm. Exactly like I’d done that night. Unlike before, though, it wasn’t five to one. It was just him and me.

  He’d been the one to hop out alongside his buddy. The one who’d descended on me with fists and feet and fury. The one who’d delivered that last blow that’d knocked me unconscious.

  Like I said, I never forgot a face.

  Only tonight, he was wearing a suit like the asshole had just come from the office, tie loosened and jacket unbuttoned, all kinds of puffed-up ego and unwarranted pride.

  A gush of air pushed from his lungs before his face twisted in a sneer.

  That was all it took for my reserve to snap. I flew forward and had him by the collar before he could make sense of it.

  I slammed him up against the wall.

  He grunted with the impact. He struggled against my grip, flailing around like a little bitch as he grappled with my wrists. It was pathetic and completely pointless.

  He wasn’t going anywhere.

  “Well, what do you know? It’s a small fucking world, isn’t it? Remember me, asshole?” My words were delivered with bone-chilling calm and laced with the promise of my retribution.

  Could feel the fear radiating from him just as sure as I saw him trying to keep it under wraps.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” he strained, breaths short and rasping. “And what the hell are you doing with Willow? You piece of shit…what are you doing with her?”

  Confusion jarred me back an inch, before a slow, knowing dread leached into my skin. Into my consciousness. Into my reality.

  Bates.

  This prick was Bates.

  Of course he was. I really shouldn’t have been surprised. Once a scumbag, always a scumbag. And this one actually had the audacity to show up and act like he had a say in her life.

  I shot the asshole my cockiest grin, only imagining the scene he’d unwittingly walked in on between Willow and me a few seconds ago. All that “pretending” we were doing right in this very spot.

  Dude had impeccable timing, that was for sure.

  “What am I doing with Willow? Think the better question would be what am I not doin’ with her, now wouldn’t it?” I shrugged like any fool should have known. “Mostly living inside that tight, hot body every chance I get.”

  He thrashed all over the place, fighting with all his might to break loose. Pussy didn’t even move me back an inch.

  “She’s quite the wild one, isn’t she? Fucking insatiable. Woke me up three times last night because she just couldn’t get enough.” I frowned, all kinds of feigned enraptured confusion. “Or maybe it was four.”

  “Willow would never touch someone like you.” He said it like the thought was vile.

  Someone like me?

  Anger cinched down on every cell in my body.

  Yeah. I wanted to rip him to pieces. Tear him to shreds. Give him a little taste of what he and his friends had dished out that night. But seeking retribution for myself was not what I’d come here for tonight.

  I was here for her.

  Besides, I figured shoving my and Willow’s “relationship” in his face would be the exact kind of punishment he deserved—the kind of penalty that hit him where it counted most.

  Because this girl? This girl was obviously the ultimate prize, and tonight I was accomplishing exactly what I came here to do.

  Willow and I were showing this fucker up. Knocking him down about a hundred notches or two.

  I laughed a taunting, impetuous sound, laying it on thick. “You sure about that? Because you and I both know you were just standing right over there playing peeping Tom, getting an eyeful of what was about to come. Think it’d do you best to keep your eyes off my girl. Because next time you and I meet on a darkened street? I promise you, I won’t be alone.”

  “Willow’s not your girl,” he growled.

  I growled right back, tightened the collar of his shirt around his throat. “See, I’m pretty sure that’s where you’re wrong. Funny, isn’t it? How you and your boys hunting me down brought me and Willow together.”

  He all-out shook when I uttered what they’d done aloud.

  Maybe he saw it in my eyes. Payback was coming.

  I grinned up close to his face, and he tried to jerk away. The only thing he managed was to smack his head into the wall. I shifted, getting back in his line of sight. “Didn’t take me long to figure out the best way to repay her kindness, either. But you know, that sweet girl isn’t all that hard to please. Though, you might not know all that much about that, now would you? Satisfying her?”

  My voice dropped low, like I were sharing a dark secret. “She did tell me her past experiences were a little disappointing.”

  I wiggled my pinky finger in his face, my expression one of total mock sympathy.

  His face blistered with rage, so damned red I thought he might have an aneurysm right there on the spot. His teeth clenched so hard they had to be grinding to dust.

  “Fuck you,” he spat.

  Like a bomb had been detonated, I felt the hurt that suddenly came bounding down the hall.

  Willow.

  I was praying she’d be good with this. That she’d play along. Stand strong when I knew she would want to fall apart.

  I’d do my best to pick up the broken pieces later.

  I looked at this girl that literally knocked the breath from my lungs. The one who tied it up tight and sent my pulse into a scattered frenzy. It was this mixed-up battering that throbbed and vibrated, a cocktail of my rage and lust and this strange devotion I couldn’t shake.

  I pushed all
of that aside and sent her my biggest grin, begging her with my eyes to catch on to what was going down before I turned back to the bastard who was fighting my hold. “Nah. I think I’d rather fuck her.”

  Lifting his feet an inch from the ground, I rammed him against the wall. Not hard enough to hurt him. Just hard enough that I figured he’d be about ready to piss his pants.

  Without giving him time to recover, I let him go and took a step back. Caught totally off guard, he stumbled forward. He bent in two, inhaled a bunch of harsh, wheezing breaths into his lungs that were no doubt aching from fear and violence and jealousy.

  I stood there like the cocky bastard I could be. Smug look on my face while he leaned over, hands on his knees while he struggled to gather himself, his violent gaze glaring me down before he turned it on her.

  “Willow.” He said it like he owned her when he saw her slowly approaching.

  I knew it. Saw it all over his seedy expression.

  He thought he could snap his fingers and she’d come running.

  Hell no.

  “Hey there, darlin’.” I snagged her around the waist and pulled her into the safety of my side. A silent promise I would hold her up. “Looks like the dirtbag ex decided to show up after all.”

  I said it like he wasn’t standing right there.

  She smoothed herself out and lifted that courageous chin. “Well, I guess it’s perfect timing, since we were just leaving.”

  I shot the asshole the biggest, gloating smirk I could find. “See ya around, Bates. My girl and I have some business to attend to, don’t we, baby?”

  He stood there raging as I began to lead her out. Second we turned our backs on him, his low, grating voice pelted us from behind. “I came here to talk to you, Willow. I’ve been trying to get in touch with you.”

  She stopped but didn’t turn to him right away. She glanced at me for strength before she slowly turned to look at him over her shoulder. “Well, that’s too bad, Bates, because I have no interest in talking to you. Everything that needed said was said a long time ago. Believe me, I got your message—loud and clear. Signed and stamped. Set in stone. So you can drop the texts and messages, because I don’t have anything to say.”

  This fucker had been messaging her?