Fire and Ash (Immortal Touch) (29 page)

~*~*~*~

I just want you to know how sorry I am. From the bottom of my heart, I am. I’m so sorry.

Too little, too late, as they say.
Sami could forgive him, but there was no way she could ever come close to loving him again. The emotional words might have touched her heart, that was true, but they couldn’t undo the past. They couldn’t erase the lies and deceit. The broken promises.

Maybe he could use them to write another song.
Some bitter, seething anthem dedicated to his unforgiving bitch of an ex-girlfriend. The truth was, she’d only pushed him away so callously in order to protect him. Sometimes you had to hurt a person if you wanted to save them. Ash had looked as if he was two seconds away from tearing him apart. She couldn’t believe he’d been so pissed.

And after Rick’s abrupt departure,
he hadn’t said a word to her. Just stared at her for a minute, then turned around and left. She had no idea what he was thinking. Then again, she’d always had that problem, hadn’t she?

She was just stepping out of the shower when she
caught his reflection in the bathroom mirror, seated on the edge of her bed. Watching her. Waiting.

Wrapping a towel around herself, she padded cautiously into the
dark bedroom. “Ash?”

His cobalt eyes looked straight inside her. For a time he said nothing, just holding her in that intense gaze until she felt
uneasy. Then in a quiet voice he asked, “Did he touch you?”

“Of course not.
He only wanted to talk to me. To apologize. That’s all.”

“Then I assume he’s
completed his mission and has no reason to return.” His tone was stiff.

“No…he has no reason to.”

“Sami, I’m giving you this warning once and only once. Don’t ever lie to me. Just…don’t.”

“I
wouldn’t lie to you.” She sat next to him on the bed, and suddenly found it difficult to hold back a smile. “I never figured you for the jealous type.”

He looked startled for a fleeting moment, then annoyed. “
I don’t fit into any of your goddamn typecasts. Haven’t you figured that out by now?”

“Ash, I’m just teasing.”

“Yeah…you’re good at that, aren’t you?” He was already shedding his clothes, tossing the Panama Jack shirt to the floor and standing to undo his pants. She watched him in spellbound admiration. His body was a work of art, every curve and every muscle a thing of unadulterated beauty. He belonged in a museum. He’d be the most popular exhibit there. Hell, she’d be the first one standing in line for a ticket.

With a sudden and unexpected movement, he picked her up and tossed her effortlessly to the middle of the bed, jerking her towel away and covering her with his
heat. He wasted no time, entering her with a forceful thrust and never slowing down. He had boundless energy, incredible stamina, and when Sami dug her fingernails into his back in a paroxysm of ecstasy he whispered, “Harder, baby.”

She raked her
fingers down his back with somewhat more pressure, but he still wasn’t satisfied and demanded desperately, “
Harder!
”

Her
sharp nails dug in deeper, trailing scratches along his skin that even in her passion-fueled state she knew must be painful and he rammed into her violently and cried out, “Sami, don’t fucking insult me with your restraint! I want to feel you ripping me apart! Now
hurt me!
”

She gave it
everything she had then, gouging his flesh with all her strength to rend the beautiful angel wings and she could feel the wet blood on her hands, and as his deep voice cried out in delirious rapture, he found his release and she was right behind him.

In the quiet aftermath they lay together,
letting the air conditioning cool their damp, sweaty bodies. After a time, she slipped from his tight embrace and went into the bathroom to wash the blood from her hands. It was caked beneath her broken nails, thick and brown, and she had to scrub for some time to remove all traces. Her gaze kept straying to her own reflection, to the same eyes that had looked back at her for twenty-seven years and had recently become the eyes of a stranger. Some distorted person she didn’t recognize anymore.

Wetting a washcloth, she brought it in
to the bedroom and climbed onto the bed, urging Ash to turn over on his stomach. He complied with a drowsy groan, resting his head on his arms. She gently cleaned the blood from his back, erasing the tarnish from his graceful wings, and soon realized that something essential was missing.

There wasn’t a mark on him.
Anywhere.

“Ash…?” She ran her fingers along his skin, looking for
a scratch, a cut, any imperfection at all. There were none.

“Hm?”

“Where did the blood come from?”

“Where do you
think?”

“
But there’s…nothing here. There isn’t a single mark on you.”

He didn’t respond.

“Ash…who
are
you?” she asked softly, shaking her head. She’d always known he was different somehow, could feel that he came from someplace dark and alien, but this physical confirmation refuted everything she’d ever believed in. Everything she thought was real. Beneath her fingertips was something extraordinary. An undiscovered artifact. A man who was much more than just a man.

He
rolled over onto his back to fix his ethereal eyes on her, and she saw in the deep blue sea of them a locked trove of untouched secrets. And she wanted them, wanted to know them, wanted to experience them no matter how frightening they might be. Gaining access to the key that would unlock that reservoir had become her obsession. Her reason for living.

Disregarding her
confusion, he said simply, “If you’re steadfast enough to reach the end of the path you’ll find your answers there. Until then, let it go.”

“But you
haven’t…”

“
Sami.
Do. Not. Question. Me.” He meant it, she could see that, and any further interrogation would secure nothing but his pique. Giving in, she curled up next to him and sighed dreamily when he pulled her back into the fold of his arms. She could be patient. As long as he continued to torment her with the sweet sting of his caress…she could wait. She could wait as long as it took.

He nudged her legs apart with a rough kiss, then breathed
hungrily against her cheek, “For now, why don’t you show me just how badly you want to get there.”

She showed him
until the sun came up.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Pull over and let me drive, Imogen.”

Dane clutched the dashboard with white knuckles, glaring sidelong at her while trying to
suppress the nausea rising in his gut. Why had he ever let her talk him into this? And why had he been stupid enough to let her take the wheel? The girl drove like a bat out of hell. He hadn’t felt this queasy since riding the Tilt-a-Whirl at the county fair. His parents were right, he was convinced now - the girl was a menace to society.

“Why?” She turned her wide eyes to him without bothering to release her foot from the gas.

“
Keep your eyes on the road!
” They were never going to get her dad’s Camaro back in one piece. God, he was going to be grounded until he was a senior citizen. “Because you drive like a fucking maniac, that’s why!”

“I’m only doing seventy.”

“
Could you please stay in the right lane?!
”

“Would you relax - there’s nobody else out this time of night! I told you, this place is a ghost town.”
She relented however, slowing down to a more tolerable speed.

“Thank you!” He
released a sigh of relief, wondering if this was what every other hormone-driven teenage male had to put up with just to get a girl. Were all females this crazy? No…he couldn’t see Eva behaving like this. She had better sense.

“Got a lighter on you?”

He patted the pockets of his windbreaker, but all he found there was his compact insulin kit. “Nope. Can’t you use that one?” He pointed to the console cigarette lighter.

“Doesn’t work.”

“Good. You need both hands on the wheel anyhow.”

“This is fun
- I like driving!” Imogen grinned happily, like a little girl with a shiny new go-kart.

“Wish you were better at it.”

“Practice makes perfect.”

“
Agreed…but you probably shouldn’t be practicing at eighty miles an hour!”

“Seventy.”

“Whatever!” It was two in the morning and he was cranky. Right now he should be home in bed instead of barreling down back roads in a stolen car with a fifteen-year-old speed demon who obviously had a death wish. At what point had he lost control of his own life?

“We should find someplace
wide enough to do donuts,” she decided.

“No
, we shouldn’t!”

“God, Dane. You’re just no fun at all
anymore.”

“Imogen, were you dropped on your head as a baby
or what?” Dane’s attention fell on the dwindling gas gauge. “Isn’t your dad gonna notice if we bring it back with an empty tank?”

“So we’ll stop somewhere and put gas in it
, genius.”

“How are we supposed to do that? Nothing’s open at this hour,
genius!
”

“Oh. Um…I dunno
then.” She didn’t look too concerned about it.

“Let’s just head back. Okay?”
And if I get out of this without anyone finding out about it, I will never go anywhere with this nut job again - ever! This crazy bitch has seen the last of me! Stick a fork in me, I’m done, D-O-N-E, done…

“Oh, look…a puppy.”

They whizzed by the animal so fast he barely got a glimpse of it, so he turned to peer around the back of the seat at the diminishing form behind them. “Puppy, my ass. That looked like a full-grown wolf to me.” He grabbed the dashboard once again when she slammed on brakes to execute a clumsy U-turn. “What the hell are you doing now?”

“Turning around - duh!” She slammed the gas pedal against the floorboard, causing the tires to squeal and
blow clouds of dust in their wake.

“
Dammit, Imogen…slow down!”

The car picked up speed
while she ignored him, flying at breakneck speeds back in the direction of the shaggy gray wolf who stood on the shoulder of the road watching the approaching vehicle with fearless curiosity. A wild look entered the girl’s round, excited eyes. “
Ten points!
”

They were moving so fast
that all he had time to get out was, “
No! For God’s sake, don’t…
”

The wolf
bounded gracefully out of harm’s way, but Imogen had already lost control of the car and when the tires hit the uneven shoulder, the Camaro jerked to one side and began to flip. Dane felt his head slam against something, felt the sickening crack in his neck as his limp body was thrown violently from side to side like a tennis ball and the only thing he knew for sure was that he was in deep shit now.

And then…nothing.

~*~*~*~

“
NO!
”

Julian was jerked out of a sound sleep by the
sudden scream, and he blinked in bleary disorientation at the panicked form beside him. “Eva? What is it, love?”

She was already scrambling out of bed, almost tripping over the covers in her haste. “Get up
- get up, we have to go!” Her voice sounded delirious.

“
Darling, calm down! What’s the matter? Did you have a bad dream?” Was she even able to dream? What the bloody hell had happened to upset her so?

“No…get up, Julian
…you have to come with me - please!
Hurry!
” She was already halfway dressed, a frantic look in her frightened eyes.

Jumping out of bed, he
retrieved the pair of slacks he’d dropped on the floor earlier that evening and pulled them on in record time. He had no idea what was wrong, but he knew Eva well enough to determine that this was no joke. Shoving his feet into a pair of loafers, he grabbed a shirt and followed her downstairs.

“Do you have your cell phone?” she asked,
snatching the car keys from their hook by the door.

He reached into his pocket to check. “Yes, I have it.”

Without speaking, she tossed him the keys and headed quickly toward the garage. He said nothing until they were inside the Cherokee and backing into the driveway.

“What’s happened?” He looked over at her. She was trembling, and he
felt a protective urge to take her in his arms and comfort her. What had her so afraid?

“There was an accident.”

“What do you mean?”

“
It was Dane and Imogen. They were in an accident…it was bad, Jules…”