Ashlyn's Radio (28 page)

Ashlyn and Rachel looked at each other as Ashlyn’s voice trailed off.

“Run!” they cried in unison, each of them bounding toward the stairs. Ashlyn paused long enough to yank the light’s chain, then took the stairs two at a time behind Rachel. The newscast promptly ended and the song started again.

The girls burst through the basement door and into the kitchen, and headed toward the door leading outside.

“Wait!” With her hand clasping Rachel’s arm, Ashlyn jerked them both to a stop. “I’ll go outside, but you have to go back to my room.”

“Why?”

“Your face, Rach. If Maudette sees what’s happened to you, she’ll call the cops no matter what we say. I’ll tell her you’re sleeping over and we’ll keep you out of sight. But hurry up stairs.”

Ashlyn wasn’t really sure calling the cops on Arch Riley was such a bad idea, despite what Rachel said about her father being protected by the police. She prayed she wasn’t making yet another mistake. But if nothing else, Ashlyn’s sending Rachel upstairs to keep her out of Maudette’s sight would surely prove her loyalty to Rachel. Would prove she wouldn’t betray her. She had a feeling she was going to need that credibility with her friend.

Immediately, Rachel raced from the room and thumped up the stairs. Ashlyn practically hurled herself through the kitchen and out the door.

As she ran, she scanned the yard. Maudette’s Dogmobile wasn’t in it. With arms pumping and sock feet flying in a blur, she raced across the shadowed lawn. Night had almost fallen. Everyone in Prescott Junction would be home with the curtains drawn, soon tucked safely in their beds. And she’d be out in that kennel, she hoped, before Maudette arrived. As if urging her forward, the dogs frantically barked and jumped up on their fence — Lolly-Pup leading the charge.

But the sudden lights dashed all hope, as Maudette’s car pulled into the driveway.

Ashlyn froze in her steps, caught like the proverbial deer in the headlights, half way between the house and the kennels. She knew how she had to look: disheveled, unsettled, frightened. Caught.

I just ran out when I heard it…. What’s that ? I can’t hear a thing. Rachel Riley’s staying over. No, no, nothing’s wrong….

 Ashlyn had never been a good liar. And she just knew the guilt showed all over her face as Maudette stopped the truck in the driveway and stepped out in front of her.

“Ashlyn, what is it?” Maudette asked, concerned. “What’s wr—”

A trembling hand rose to Maudette’s mouth as she became suddenly aware. She heard it now too of course, the radio playing that song. Ashlyn couldn’t meet her stare. And her eyes shifted away as her grandmother asked, “Did you … did you go into the basement?”

The lies flew through her mind again, but none came out of her mouth. Nothing came out of her mouth.

Maudette’s eyes teared up. “I told you! I told you to stay away from that damned radio! You weren’t supposed to go near it, Ashlyn.” The old woman was yelling now, but Ashlyn knew it was more out of fear than anger. “I didn’t want you to know.”

“Well,” she defended. “The radio did!”

It was like a hard slap. Because as she said the words, Ashlyn suddenly knew the absolute truth in them. The radio’s message this day was for her. The news was meant for her. Not Maudette, or Leslie or any other in the Caverhill line of women who were cursed to hear the radio. It was for
her
.

And that’s when the music stopped, cutting out mid-
when she comes
, as though Ashlyn’s epiphany had been a power switch.

She stood there in the yard, her gaze locked with Maudette’s.

“Oh God.” Ashlyn felt the rawness of her throat now that she didn’t have to yell over the radio’s booming volume. “That song is for me. Those newscasts … the train. The conductor isn’t coming for anyone else. That ticket’s not for Rachel….”

Maudette cried, “Oh, Ashlyn, no!”

But it was too late.

Ashlyn knew. The fate the radio proclaimed wasn’t Rachel’s after all. It was hers.

The train ain’t gonna break, till she comes

Till she comes!

The train ain’t gonna break till she comes

Till she comes

Till it meets the end of the line,

There’ll always be another time.

She just has to get on board when it comes.

Lolly-Pup’s soft whining filled the autumn air.

A
SHLYN CHEWED HER LIP
as Caden pulled his parents’ big SUV over to the side of the road to pick her up. Almost before the wheels stopped rolling, she yanked the door open and climbed inside.

“You okay?” he asked, scanning her face with concerned eyes.

No wonder he was worried. Poor guy. He’d been off to Bangor with his mother yesterday so she could have minor elective surgery, and hadn’t returned until just now. The text messages she’d bombarded him with had grown progressively more agitated as she’d told him about everything — her daytime confrontation with the conductor yesterday, Rachel’s visit last evening, and the radio’s chilling warning. Even she had recognized her tenor was drifting towards manic, yet she hadn’t seemed to be able to reel herself in. And poor Caden had been stranded, unable to hurry his mother’s situation along.

“I’m great now,” she said, leaning across the console and kissing him passionately. He met her demand and gave it right back, clearly recognizing she needed action now, not talk. They were both breathing hard when she pulled back.

“Well,” he said, “I can see why you didn’t want me to pick you up at home.”

“Oh, that.” He’d been uneasy about her setting out on foot, as had Maudette, but she just couldn’t sit around one more minute. She raked her hair back from her face. “I just needed to get away. Ever since the radio did its thing last night, Maudette has been hovering close enough to smother me. I finally rebelled and told her I was going for a walk.”

He glanced down the road toward Maudette’s house as Ashlyn clipped her seatbelt. “You sure she’s not following you?” he asked, only half joking.

Ashlyn laughed. “No, she’s not following.”

“She’s just worried about you,” he said, taking her left hand in his. “I’m worried about you, too.”

She looked up at the sound of another vehicle approaching. It passed slowly, the sole occupant giving them a close look over. Ashlyn was sorely tempted to lay another lip-lock on Caden just for their benefit, but restrained herself. “Hey, maybe we should get outta here. I have it on good authority there’s an abandoned gravel pit off Dugan Road.”

His eyebrows shot up.

“Relax, Caden. I’m not going to ravish you. Much. Probably.”

He laughed and put the SUV in gear. Eight minutes later, on the rocky floor of a long-idle gravel pit, he put the vehicle back in park again and killed the engine. They sat there a moment listening to the tick-tick-tick of the cooling engine.

Ashlyn glanced around. Alders and other scrub brush had largely reclaimed the space, but the use to which the pit was put these days was clearly evident. From where they sat, she spied two beer bottles, an empty Southern Comfort bottle, a Dr. Pepper can, and an empty Camels pack. Lord knew what else lay strewn in the bushes and between the rocks.

“God, what a mess,” she said.

“Yeah. But I’m thinking people don’t come here for the scenery.” He glanced at her, his eyes at half-mast, sleepy, sexy. “Or were you thinking maybe we should take a walk?”

“Okay, I lied,” she confessed. “I did persuade you to bring me here so I could ravish you.”

“Really? I’m shocked!”

She grinned, popped her seatbelt, leaned over the console and grabbed him by the shirt. He met her mouth hungrily. Before long, they were running their hands over each other. Ashlyn broke away, panting.

“Let’s get in the back seat,” she said.

The dazed look in his eyes seemed to clear. “Uh, Ash … I don’t know. That’s probably not a good idea.”

“Are you kidding?” She placed the flat of her hand against his chest, which she’d bared a moment ago by opening his shirt. His heart thudded fast and strong beneath her spread fingers. “It’s the best idea I ever had.”

He closed his hand over hers, pinning it there before it could roam lower. The boy must be psychic.

“I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just gonna come out with it,” he said, and Ashlyn felt his already pounding heart accelerate beneath her hand. “I’ve never done this before.”

“In a car?”

“In an … ever.”

She blinked, processing the information. “You’re a
virgin
?”

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” he said, even as he dipped his head.

She snorted. “I should hope not. I am too. I was just … surprised.”

“Wait … you’re a virgin too?”

She grinned, eyeing him with wicked intent. “For the moment.”

Then she pulled her hand free of his. Before he could stop her, she drew her feet up under her and scrambled between the bucket seats into the back seat.

“Ashlyn!”

“I know. I’m a bad girl. Maybe you should come back here and punish me?”

The sound he made was half laughter, half exasperation. “Ashlyn, this is so not a good idea. You’re only seventeen. We shouldn’t be doing anything like that until we’re at least eighteen.”

“You’re already eighteen,” she observed.

“But you’re not.”

“I will be soon enough. Besides, seventeen is the tipping point. By then, fifty percent of American teenagers have had sex at least once.”

“Well, if you’re going to be with me, you’re going to fall on the other side of that….” He tipped his head. “Wait a minute, American teens? How do you know that? You’re Canadian.”

“Yeah, but the Internet’s not. Google it yourself and see what answer you get.”

“You
Googled
the average age for losing one’s virginity?” He lifted an eyebrow. “Concerned you’re falling behind?”

She shrugged. “Sex ed course last year. And if you’re interested, the Canadian average is 16.5 years. Now come on back here.”

“Ashlyn….”

“Okay, then, forget about sex. We don’t have to have to go that far. I just need to feel you, Caden. Your hands on me, your skin on mine, your weight against me. Please?”

A strange sound came out of him. Then he opened the door and bailed out of the SUV.

Oh, Ashlyn, you idiot.
She lifted her hands to cover the hot embarrassment flaring in her face.
You pressured him too hard and now he can’t even sit in the same car with you!

Then the back door opened and she dropped her hands.

“Move over,” he said, in a voice that had grown deliciously husky.

She scrambled to make room. He slipped into the car, closing the door behind him. But now that he was here, exactly where she wanted him, she found herself hesitating.

“Caden, if you don’t want to do this—”

“Baby, I want to do this more than I’ve ever wanted to do anything in my life. Swear to God. But we have to be so careful, Ash. We can’t get too carried away.”

“Oh, thank you!”

“Come here, then.” He helped settle her sideways on his lap, supporting her back with one arm while his other hand rested on her hip, and kissed her.

It was enough for a while, those sensual, drugging kisses. She could almost forget about that evil conductor when she was in Caden’s arms. Forget the radio and its terrifying message. Forget her mother’s problems and her father’s fate. Forget this ever-present, stomach-churning conviction that she was going to have to board that train….

Ashlyn curled one arm around his neck and hung on to his shirtfront with her other hand as they traded kisses. But soon her hand wasn’t content to sit there anymore. She let it roam his chest and flat, muscled abdomen, which produced a distinct, thrilling reaction. Then his free hand returned the favor, and she thought she’d die from the sweet, desperate yearning his touch evoked.

Without a conscious plan, she pulled back, but only so she could change her position so she was straddling his knees, facing him. The position had the advantage of freeing their hands completely. In seconds, he had her shirt unbuttoned.

“God, Ash, you are so beautiful.”

She felt beautiful, with his eyes on her. “Then touch me.”

He did, through the light material of her bra. Ashlyn arched her back, feeling her toes curl in her runners.

Suddenly, she had to know what it would feel like to be held against him like this, semi-bare skin to bare skin. She grabbed at his wrists.

“Sorry.” He pulled his hands away quickly, obviously thinking he’d been too aggressive.

“No, it’s not that. I just want to be chest to chest.”

He groaned. “You’re going to kill me, baby.” Despite his words, he shifted so he half lay on the split bench seat.

She didn’t need any encouragement to follow him down. And the contact! The shock of it made them both gasp. Quite involuntarily, she slid against him, then did it again. It was so good. So good with Caden. He was so clean and strong and kind and sexy and she was pretty sure she was in love with him. And oh, God, maybe this would be their only time. Maybe the conductor would take her before….