Shades of Darkness (Redemption Series)

by Price, Melynda

  The warrior in him wanted to go find Mitch and kill him. But he couldn’t—wouldn’t. Angels were forbidden to harm humans unless they were putting another human’s life at risk. “I wouldn’t know,” he replied, tempering his response.

  “How can you not know? I thought you knew everything about me?” she accused.

  He didn’t understand why she was getting so upset, but at the moment, he couldn’t compartmentalize his own emotions long enough to sort out hers. “There are certain…details of your life I’ve chosen not to be privy to.”

  “Well, maybe you should have.”

  “What?” he snapped, impulsively spinning around to face her. Who the hell knows what she saw in his eyes, but surprise registered in those tear-filled emeralds, so it must have been good.

  “I never slept with Mitch. I just…couldn’t. And I never did anything like this with him, either!” She swept her arm down her sheet-clad body and across the bed of tangled covers. “And you’re an asshole for assuming otherwise!”

  His moment of joyous relief was immediately quelled by the guilt and shame she hurled at him. He jacked his hand into his hair and let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “Olivia, I’m sorry.”

  As if his feet had a will of their own, he moved toward her. To do what, he wasn’t sure—to comfort her, to hold her, to climb back under the covers with her and revel in the knowledge that this female was truly his and his alone—untouched by any other man. Already, the jealousy poisoning his veins was starting to ebb, clearing his mind to process more rationally.

  But before he could reach her, Olivia’s hand flew up like a traffic cop, while the other clutched the white sheet to her breasts. “Stop!”

  A tear spilled down her cheek, hitting him in the gut like a sucker punch, sending his feet to a grinding halt. Her tear landed on the sheet, leaving a single sheer spot over her breast.

  “Just stop. I don’t want your apology. One minute ago you were in a big rush to leave me, so just go. Do whatever it is you have to do. I don’t want to talk to you right now.” With a brisk tug of the bed sheet, she jerked it free of the mattress and climbed off the bed.

  Wrapping it around her backside like a toga, she turned away and marched into the bathroom without so much as a backward glance.

  Aw hell… He really was an asshole.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Mitch woke up to an intense pounding in his head. “Go away!” he yelled at the relentless, repetitious banging. Groaning, he grabbed a second pillow and stuffed it over his face, trying to block out the resonating pain. After several more minutes of the obnoxious, persistent thudding, a high-pitched ringing joined the mix.

  “Son of a bitch!” He yanked the pillow off his head and whipped it across the room. Squinting against the bright sunlight, he sat up and checked the alarm clock beside his bed—9 a.m. The pounding continued and the chime of the doorbell echoed throughout the house again. Mitch reached up and covered his ears, trying to block out the incessant noise and to keep his brain from leaking out. Damn, this was one nasty hangover.

  Bang, bang, bang…ding-dong, ding-dong… “All right, all right,” he crabbed, throwing the covers aside and climbing out of bed. Mitch scrubbed his face with his hands as he dragged ass down the hall, trying to wake up before descending the stairs. The loud banging still hadn’t ceased when he reached the front door and wrenched it open, pulling it away from the fist persistently pounding away.

  “Can I help you?” Mitch snapped, glaring up at the guy filling his doorway. He met the piercing violet glare with false bravado. It was a bit difficult not to feel conspicuous, standing there half-dressed, wearing only the jeans he’d been too intoxicated to remove last night.

  The stranger still hadn’t answered him, and with the mood Mitch was in, he certainly didn’t have time for this shit. “Look, I’m not interested in buying any Girl Scout cookies, but I do appreciate you testing the functionality of my doorbell and the sturdiness of my front door. Thank you, really. Now I can take that off my list of things to do today.” He took a step back and was about to slam the door in the guy’s face, when he finally spoke, halting Mitch mid-swing.

  “Does Olivia know you’re such a dick?”

  There were two reasons Mitch resisted the impulse to punch this guy in the face. First: The stranger had nearly four inches and seventy-five pounds on him and was built like a brick shithouse. The guy definitely looked like he could give as good as he got, and Mitch’s head was already throbbing. Second: He wanted to know who the hell this guy was and how he knew Olivia. It was a fairly reasonable assumption that the guy probably wasn’t going to be so forthcoming on the intel with Mitch’s fist slamming into his face.

  “How do you know Olivia?” Mitch demanded.

  The guy’s brow arched arrogantly. “You really want to do this out here? I suggest you let me inside.” He didn’t wait for Mitch to step aside or even invite him in, for that matter.

  He could either get the hell out of the way or he was getting mowed down. The guy shoulder-checked him as he walked by, a completely unnecessary douche bag move. He already ached from head to toe because of the beating Jack Daniel’s had given him last night. The last thing he needed was this asshole pissing on his turf.

  “I think you and I need to have a little talk.”

  “Yeah, I’d say. You can start by telling me who in the hell you are,” Mitch growled, slamming the door shut behind him.

  “I’m Liam’s friend, and I’m the guy that’s going to give you some advice that’s going to save your life.”

  Mitch looked at “Liam’s friend” in stunned silence. He didn’t much like the guy before, and sure as hell didn’t like the bastard now. “You’ll have to excuse me if this revelation doesn’t exactly fill me with warm fuzzies,” Mitch grumbled, walking into the kitchen, giving the guy his own shoulder-check as he walked past him. He could give as good as he got, too. No way in hell he was gonna cow to Liam’s friend. Damn, he needed a cup of coffee—bad.

  “You’ll have to excuse my manners if I don’t offer you a cup of coffee,” he grumbled, pulling a mug out of the cupboard. Thank God for small favors…the pot was still hot from the 7 a.m. automatic brew. “But you won’t be staying long enough to finish it. So, tell me, why are you here?” Mitch turned, giving him a point blank glare. “Keeping tabs on me for Liam, are ya? Trying to keep me out of his way, perhaps?”

  Balen snorted. “As if you’re any competition for him. Olivia is alive because of Liam, you damn fool! Can’t you see beyond yourself long enough to realize that? I’m telling you, Mitch, don’t go after her. It will end badly if you do.”

  Mitch stilled, setting his coffee on the counter and slowly turning to face his uninvited guest. “You know where she is, don’t you?”

  “Don’t leave with those two you met at the bar last night,” Liam’s friend warned, ignoring Mitch’s question. “They aren’t who you think they are.”

  “I don’t give a shit who or what they are. All I care about is getting Olivia back!”

  That arrogant brow cocked up over jade green eyes, throwing off sparks of amethyst. Aaaand that was Mitch’s first clue the guy glaring at him from across the room wasn’t human. “It didn’t look like that was all you cared about last night,” he growled, taking an I’m-going-to-beat-your-ass-in-about-two-seconds step toward him.

  Shit…

  “Who in the hell do you think you’re kidding? FYI, it’s pretty hard to play the jilted fiancé when you’re trying to get in her best friend’s pants.” The guy stopped his predatory descent inches from Mitch’s face, pinning him against the counter. “And by the way,” he growled, “keep your hands off Ashley or next time I’ll throw you out the damn window.”

  Abruptly, his uninvited guest turned and stalked away. A moment later, the front door slammed shut with a window-rattling bang.

  Shit! Mitch groaned, jacking his fingers through his hair, heaving a deep sigh. Did Ashley say something to hi
m? She must have. How else would he know? She must be so pissed off right now. The deets on what went down between them last night were foggy, but he remembered enough to know he’d made a huge mistake. He’d been reluctant to take “no” for an answer, and in his alcohol-sodden perception of reality, he’d believed she’d been into it, too, but was grappling with feelings of guilt he’d been confident she would overcome with a little persistent persuasion. He’d made an absolute ass of himself and the entire left side of his body felt like he’d been hit by a Mack truck.

  Feeling like a complete asshole, he pitched his coffee into the sink and went upstairs to shower. He needed to get cleaned up so he at least looked halfway presentable when he went over and apologized to Ashley for being such a douche. Then he’d come home and pack for his road trip.

  ***

  Ashley grabbed her iPod off the counter and stuck the buds in her ears, stretching a few times to limber up before her morning run. Her ponytail bobbed as she jogged down the stairs, pausing as she pulled the door closed behind her. She turned abruptly, ready to take off, and nearly tripped over Mitch sitting on her front step.

  She let out a surprised yelp and leapt to the side, pulling an impressive Matrix move to keep from crashing into him. Reaching up, she yanked My Humps out of her ears and draped the cords around her neck. “Jeez, Mitch, you sacred the crap out of me! What are you doing?”

  “Hey, Ash, you got a minute?”

  “Not really. How long have you been sitting out here?” She didn’t particularly want to deal with him this morning. She had quite enough last night, thank you very much. When he glanced up at her, the sun caught the dark shadowing around his left eye, and she winced. He looked like hell. Serves him right, but then a twinge of pity softened her heart. “I was just about to go meet Nate for a run in the park. You wanna come?”

  Mitch shook his head and then winced as if the slightest movement pained him. Grabbing the railing, he used it to slowly leverage himself up. The guy looked absolutely miserable. “I don’t think so. I’m still pretty hung over, Ash.”

  Okay, so clearly it took a great amount of suffering on his part to get here, looking and obviously feeling like shit, so maybe she should just give him five minutes and hear what he had to say. She sighed, crossed her arms over her chest, and leaned against the opposite railing he clung to. “What’s on your mind, Mitch?”

  He met her guarded stare, and it surprised her to see the sincerity reflecting back at her. “I’m sorry about last night, Ash.”

  “You remember that, huh?”

  “Yeah, I feel it, too.” He reached up and rubbed his shoulder gingerly.

  She exhaled loudly, feeling a small measure of sympathy for the guy. “I was hoping you wouldn’t. You were pretty wasted, Mitch.”

  “Did I…” He paused to run his hand through his hair, “hurt you last night?”

  She shook her head. “You just scared me, is all…when you wouldn’t stop.”

  “Aw shit,” he growled in disgust, scrubbing his face with his hands as if that would erase the memory. “I hope you know I wouldn’t have... I never would have forced—”

  “I know,” she interrupted, not wanting to hear him say the words—even though she wasn’t so sure he wouldn’t have. For the most part, he was sober now and she knew it was hard for him to be here, having this conversation with her. No doubt, he hated himself like hell for what happened.

  “It’s this shit with Olivia. It’s got me all fucked up. I can’t keep doing this, just sitting here. The waiting’s killing me. I’m hurting myself. I’m hurting my friends… It’s gotta stop. Oh yeah, and I had a visitor this morning.”

  “Really? Who?”

  Mitch arched his brow as if she should know. She shrugged to say “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

  “He didn’t tell me his name, said he was a friend of Liam’s.”

  Ashley felt all the color drain from her face. A wave of dizziness washed over her and she reached out, grabbing onto the railing at her back to steady herself. “What… What did he say to you?” she whispered breathlessly. Oh Lord, she needed to sit down.

  Mitch gave her a concerned scowl. “You all right? You don’t look so good.”

  “Yes, I’m fine. What did he say to you, Mitch?”

  “Well, he knew about last night. I thought maybe you’d said something to him. He was pretty pissed.”

  Ashley covered her mouth with her hands, shaking her head in denial. “I didn’t say anything to anyone. Was he…tall, muscular, blond—very handsome?”

  “I’m a guy, Ash. I don’t know about the handsome part. But he was tall, big, and blond. By the way he was acting, I thought maybe he was an old boyfriend or something.”

  “He’s not my boyfriend, Mitch. That’s my guardian.”

  “You’re what?”

  “My guardian. His name is Balen—”

  “You mean you’ve got one, too?”

  “He’s Liam’s best friend. What did he say to you? You’re sure he knows about last night?” It was a stupid question. Of course he knew. She hadn’t tossed Mitch across the bedroom like a rag doll, and that black eye he was sporting had come from someone.

  “Oh, he knows. He told me not to follow Olivia and to keep my hands off you, or the next time I was going ‘out the damn window,’” Mitch repeated, holding his hands in the air and gesturing the quotation of Balen’s exact words.

  “Shit… He must be pretty upset if he just showed up on your front step like that. Why would he tell you not to follow Olivia?” she asked as an afterthought. “What are you planning to do, Mitch?”

  He shrugged a shoulder. “I met a couple of guys at Waterworks last night. They said they knew Olivia, where she was, and they agreed to take me to her.”

  “You’re not actually considering going, are you?” Alarms went off in her head like the bells of Notre Dame. This was bad… This was really, really bad.

  “Oh, I’m gonna go,” Mitch replied determinedly. “That’s the other reason I came by. Other than to apologize for being such a douche bag, I wanted to let you know I was going to be out of town for a few days.”

  “You can’t go, Mitch! You don’t know the first thing about those guys. If Balen’s warning you about them, then that means they’re probably not guys, they’re demons! Think about it! How would they know who Liam was or where Olivia is? Why would they even care? What would they have to gain by offering to take you to her? It’s a trap. Surely you can see that!” With each passing second, her voice escalated to shrill. He winced as if it was painful to stand here listening to her shriek at him.

  “I don’t care, Ashley. I can take care of myself. Olivia is what matters, and I need to get her back!”

  Ashley reached out and took his hand, imploring him to listen to her. “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. Mitch, you’re making a deal with the devil here. Don’t go.”

  “Honestly, Ashley, these guys didn’t look half as nasty as your ‘guardian.’ I think I’ll take my chances with them.” He pulled his hand out of hers and turned to leave.

  Clearly, his mind was already made up. “When are you leaving?” she called after him.

  “I don’t know yet. As soon as they come to get me, I guess.”

  “All right then, I’m coming with you.”

  He spun around and pinned her with a surprised glare. “The hell you are! You said it yourself, it’s not safe, and I don’t remember inviting you.”

  “I don’t remember asking. You’re not going with them alone and that’s that. Give me thirty minutes and I’ll meet you at your house.” Before he could protest, she turned and ran back into the apartment.

  After calling Nate and cancelling their run, she pulled her duffle bags out from under the bed. Jerking the top drawer open, she grabbed a couple bras and matching panties before moving to her closet. With any luck, they wouldn’t be gone longer than three or four days.

  Packing her bags, she refused t
o acknowledge the little voice in her head screaming “What in the hell are you doing? This is crazy!” She knew it was stupid—and dangerous, but the way she figured, this was the only way to keep Mitch alive. She might be pissed that in a drunken lapse in judgment, he’d put moves on her. But he was still her friend, still her best friend’s fiancé, and she didn’t want to see him get killed over this.

  “I know what you’re doing, Ashley, and I don’t appreciate it.” The rich, smooth voice held a crisp tone of irritation.

  Startled, she screamed, spinning around to face the voice. Her heart stuttered. Her breath seized up in her lungs as she momentarily forgot how to breathe. Her knees buckled and she took a step back, banging into the dresser behind her. Ashley reached out to clutch the wood top for balance.

  Standing across the room with arms crossed over his chest, his gorgeous face pinched into a censorious scowl, was Balen. He looked exactly as she remembered him—tall, heavily muscled, strong square jaw, and a Nordic nose that now flared in anger. Dark violet eyes reflected sparks of amethyst and jade as they bore into her. His ash blond hair was a little longer than before. She liked it this way. It gave him a slightly wild, sexy as hell, disheveled look. He still had that matching tuft of hair veeing below his bottom lip—lips that were naturally full and temptingly kissable, but were now compressed into a thin, hard line of disapproval.

  As she stood there staring at him in utter shock, his image blurred as tears filled her eyes. When they rolled down her cheeks, the furrow of skin between his brows softened. His imposing stance relaxed and with a defeated exhalation, he uncrossed his arms and held them out to her. “Come here,” he said, sounding defeated and a bit broken.

  Without hesitation, she bolted across the bedroom and leapt into his arms. Crashing into him was like hitting a brick wall, except this wall hugged her back—hard. Her feet dangled in the air as he lifted her up. She clung to him in a death-tight grip and buried her face into the side of his neck, sobbing. She couldn’t tell if they were tears of heartache or tears of joy—probably both. “I missed you so much!” she cried.