Storm Front (The Charistown Series) (Volume 2) (30 page)

“You don’t have to—” A wave of sadness passed over his face
and she quickly changed her response. “But thank you. Thanks for picking me up
tonight and thanks for taking care…umm, thanks for helping me out. I really
appreciate it.”

Ryan turned on his heel and headed out of the bathroom. “Not
a problem, Princess.”

Gripping the sides of the sink, Ashley lifted her gaze to
the mirror on top of the vanity. The person staring back at her made her want
to go back to the porcelain throne for another round of tequila shots in
reverse. Her hair was matted, her eyes glassy, her lips puffy and reddened, her
skin was two shades paler than dead. If that wasn’t enough, thanks to the vomit
fest, she had little purplish specks spotted under her eyes and at the top of
her cheekbones where the blood vessels had broken because of her retching. She
truly was a beauty queen. A Princess. The snort that escaped her as she grabbed
for her toothbrush certainly wasn’t princess-like, which seemed to fit the
situation perfectly.

Her physical appearance wasn’t the only thing to fuel her
wretchedly churning stomach. Sticking the toothbrush in her mouth, she glanced
up once again and all she could think to herself was how completely apropos her
crumbled image was and how it was an exact replication of how she felt on the
inside. She was slowly losing the ability to keep her mask on tightly and even
worse, she was losing the desire to do so.

After following up with some mouthwash and clicking off the
bathroom light, she padded barefoot to her bedroom and stumbled into bed,
fatigue overtaking her before she had the chance to dwell on things any
further.

Ryan headed upstairs with a plate of toast and a bottle of
water. He hadn’t meant to spend so much time away from Ashley, but when he’d
gone to lock up and switch off the lights he’d received a text from Janie,
checking on Ashley and apologizing again for bothering him on his night off.
He’d texted Janie back, which led to several texts back and forth between the
two of them while he made a snack for Ashley.

The house was eerily quiet as he walked up the stairs to her
room. Lying there, tucked into a ball on her side and sound asleep, was the
Ashley most people never got to see. Even after her battle with, and subsequent
defeat to the tequila, she was beautiful, and her body was flawless. Although
lying there like that she was vulnerable—she was the girl he’d met and fallen
in love with so many years before. Before life had become complicated and
flawed, she’d been the brave teenager who’d left him when she’d needed room to
breathe and grow. Now, she was a grown woman who was scared but strong, fearing
the journey forward but knowing in her heart that there was no going back. This
was Ashley—his Ashley—but she still wasn’t ready for him. She still claimed she
didn’t want him. He’d promised he wouldn’t push her so he would just have to
wait a little longer. Date a little more. Love her from afar and hope that she
changed her mind. Soon.

Ryan placed the dish on the night table next to her bed and
reached for the blanket at the foot of the bed, allowing his knuckle to gently
caress the outer side of her arm as he pulled it up to cover her shoulders.

“Sweet dreams, Princess,” he whispered softly into her ear,
placing a light kiss on her temple before turning to leave her room. He could
already hear the lyrics in his head as he pulled her door closed behind him. It
looked like it would be a long, but productive night.

Rainbow Brite

“GOOD GOD, GIRL, do you
ever
stop smiling?” Ashley asked, winking at Janie as she set down martinis for her
and Lyla. “I’m glad that boy finally got his shit together,” she added, quickly
taking a drink order before returning her attention to the girls. It was a Thursday
night in mid October and Ashley was tending the crowded bar with both Ryan and
Max.
Danny’s on Main
was a year-round hot spot in Charistown, but in the
fall, with the large windows open and the music playing, Thursday nights were
the busiest night of the week.

“No, she doesn’t stop smiling. And while it makes me want to
puke”—Lyla looked at her best friend lovingly—“I would kill anyone that tried
to wipe that happiness off her face.” As if on cue, Max, now Janie’s boyfriend
and self-appointed protector against-all-things-evil, walked past Ashley and
leaned over the bar to place a scorching kiss on Janie’s lips.

Ashley watched the embrace with a mixture of happiness and
weariness. She was genuinely thrilled that her two friends had finally found
their way together and appeared to work beautifully as a couple, but watching
them kiss as if the world ceased to exist made the small pocket of loneliness
in her gut feel a little deeper, and that was a bitter pill to swallow.

“Ahem, this is a bar, and might I add,
my
damn bar.
So either go get a room or get back to work, Max.” The gravelly voice snapped
Max and Janie back to earth and Janie’s cheeks flushed pink while Max grinned,
running his fingers through his spiky hair before returning to his bartending
duties. “Hey, Dolls,” Danny said with a smirk. Danny had taken to calling Lyla
and Janie “Danny’s Dolls” when they’d first become regulars. He’d said the two
ladies had wreaked havoc on the male customer’s libidos and their
relationships. The name eventually became a term of endearment between the
owner and the two women.

“I didn’t mean to get Max in trouble, Danny,” Janie said
sheepishly.

“You can’t get me in trouble, babe, this is my last week,
remember?” Max leaned his huge body over the bar and planted one more quick
kiss on Janie’s lips before returning to the throng of customers. After the
weekend he was going to be working full time at the
Gage Garage
,
co-owned and operated, with his best friend, Sebastian Gage.

“Sweetie, you know I’m just messing with you.” Danny smiled
warmly, “I love that you guys are together. The only people who are unhappy are
the ladies who have been vying for his attention for years, trying to win his
heart. Now that he’s off the market their dreams have been crushed.” Danny’s eyes
glittered with humor as he chuckled.

“Crushed, I say.” Lyla and Janie laughed at his sarcasm.

“Oh well, I can’t say I’m sorry about that,” Janie giggled.

Ashley meandered her way over toward the women with their
next round of drinks just in time to hear Lyla say, “Yeah, fuck those chicks.”

To which Ashley replied with a plastic smile, “No, that’s
Ryan’s job.”

She gave her friends their drinks before scurrying down to
the other end of the bar to help the middle-aged businessmen in the corner.
Even with the distance between them, she could still make out bits and pieces
of their conversation over the noise in the bar.

“Danny,” Janie pointed a serious stare at the man whom they
all saw as a father figure, “you have got to tell us what is up with the two of
them.”

“Yeah,” Lyla agreed, “we want to help Ashley, but we have no
idea about their history.” Danny looked at his two girls, and snickered. His
laugh held no humor at all.

“Do you two think I’m going to share Ashley and Ryan’s
personal history with you? Come on! I love you like daughters but of anyone,
you two should understand how important it is to keep your secrets and to share
them when you’re good and ready.” He looked pointedly at Lyla. “So, Ly, you
ready to show us your skeletons?” Lyla narrowed her eyes in agitation and
Ashley knew Danny was right. He knew Lyla wouldn’t be sharing anything about
her past anytime time soon.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Danny.” Ashley
watched as Lyla took a long sip of her martini and Janie tried to ignore the
verbal ping pong match between her best friend and her pseudo father. That was
one of the reasons why Ashley loved Danny the way she did. He was fiercely
loyal and he protected those he loved. He truly was her father in all the ways
that counted.

“Nothing to say, Ly? That’s what I thought.” Danny smirked,
“I need to run back to the office for a bit. I’ll be back in a few.”

Danny retreated and headed to his office but not before
Ashley heard Lyla’s loud voice shout, “Running away makes you look weak, Danny.
Just sayin’.”

“Drink your drink, girlie,” Danny remarked over his shoulder
through laughter.

After his office door was shut, Ashley let out a long exhale
from the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. Danny had kept her secrets
safe. Just another reason why she loved him so much. The night went by quickly.
Pretty soon it was one a.m. and the crowd had finally begun to thin out.
Disgust boiled through Ashley as she glared at the Goth girl hanging on Ryan’s
every word. Fuck that—she was hanging on Ryan, period, like he was some kind of
fucking jungle gym.

“Ashley.” Janie’s voice snapped her out of the semi-violent
daydreams she was having about a certain raven-haired, black-lipped monkey who
was pawing at
her
man.

Oh, God, he isn’t my man. What the hell? I’ve got to stop
feeling this way. I told him to move on. That’s what he’s doing.

“Earth to Ashley!”

“Sorry, chickies, I…I was just thinking about something.”

“Yeah, honey, we see exactly what you were thinking about.”
Lyla nodded her head in the direction of Ryan and the Goth girl. “Your lip was
doing this fucked-up, crazy, twitchy thing. It would have been bizarre if it
weren’t so entertaining.”

“Lyla,” Janie admonished her friend. “That was not at all
helpful.
True
, but not helpful.” Ashley watched as the two women shared
a look—a private look that clearly held a message. She wanted to know what that
message was and luckily for her, she didn’t have to wait long.

“Ashley, are you available on Saturday?” Lyla asked. “Janie
and I were thinking about doing pedicures and lunch and we want you to come
with us.”

Ashley still got excited when Lyla included her in their
plans. While Janie and Ashley had become pretty close rather quickly, Lyla was
still something of an enigma. Just when Ashley thought she had her pegged, Lyla
would do something that totally threw her off. It wasn’t that Ashley was
desperate for friends, she just valued Lyla’s brand of friendship. Open.
Honest. No bullshit.

“Man,” Ashley winced, “I wish I were. I’m actually busy on
both Saturday and Sunday for the next three weekends. It’s the annual Coat
Drive for the shelter I volunteer at, so between the extra people coming in and
out dropping off donations, and the needy coming in to get their winter coats
and gloves, the foot traffic nearly triples, sad to say.” Ashley saw her
compassion mirrored on her friends’ faces. Another reason why she loved and
respected them as much as she did.

“Oh, that’s right,” Janie acknowledged. “I’m actually signed
up to help next Sunday for a couple of hours.” Ashley nodded and gave her a
grateful smile.

“And I was told during the fundraising meeting that we
received a very generous donation from a ‘D. Dolls’.” Ashley shot a knowing
glance to Lyla.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she grinned.

“Really?” Janie and Ashley laughed simultaneously.

“Ly, D. Dolls? As in,
Danny’s Dolls
?” Giggles burst
from Janie’s mouth. “If you wanted to be anonymous, you should have picked a
better name. Like, Mike Smith—no one would have guessed that was you,” Janie
laughed hysterically.

“I know,” Lyla conceded, her lip furled and her arms crossed
over her chest. “I just wanted to see how long it would take, Rainbow Brite
over here”—Lyla gestured to the orange and red streaks in Ashley’s hair—“to
figure it out.”

“Hey, you,” Ashley threw a coaster, Frisbee style, at Lyla,
“don’t get all snappy at me just ‘cause a certain tall, dark, and broody guy
wasn’t here tonight.”

“I didn’t even notice Gage wasn’t here,” Lyla snapped back
too quickly, and then back peddled as she realized her mistake. “Whatever,
there are plenty of bikers on the road, I’m sure I can find one who would love
to give me a long hard ride.” She punctuated her statement with a wink that had
both Janie and Ashley giggling.

“Okay, if you girls are done, I’d like to kidnap this one
right here,” Max said, swooping Janie off her bar stool and throwing her over
his broad shoulder. She squealed and giggled but made no effort to escape the
man who had captured her heart. From over his shoulder she and the other two women
made spa plans for three weeks from then before Max and Janie left Danny’s as
they did most nights. Together.

IT WAS LATE and except for the soft
glow of the neon lights that hung on the walls, the bar was dark. Ashley closed
her eyes and took in the sounds and smells of
Danny’s
. She loved being
in the bar after closing—when everyone was gone and the place felt like her own
private heaven. After Janie and Max had made their grand exit, Lyla found
herself a “repeat offender”—a term she used for someone she had been with more
than once—and left right behind them. Ryan did his part of the clean up and
cashed-out quickly, leaving with Goth girl drooling right behind him. Lastly,
Danny and Julie had headed to their office to do the bookkeeping for the night.

Ashley walked out from behind the bar and sat on a stool,
remembering the first day she walked into
Danny’s
. It was the first day
she felt like she finally belonged. This place was home.

After a few moments of reflection, Ashley walked to the back
office to tell Danny and Julie that she was leaving. As she lifted her hand to
knock on their door soft moans drifted from the other side.
Nice
, she
smiled.
After nearly thirty years of marriage those two still have a passion
that most people never find, or never keep.

Sadness swept through her. She had felt that kind of passion
once. The corners of her eyes burned with the salty sadness that gathered as
she turned and left the bar and headed for the parking lot. She had known what
it was like to want nothing more than to breathe the same air of the person you
loved. She knew how it felt to have her whole body respond to another person’s
mere presence. To not even need to see them to know that they were in the same
room. She knew how it felt to have the gentlest lips press against hers. To
have those same lips turn hungry and needy, as if they could only be sated by
the taste of her mouth, her tongue, her taste.

Oh God, Ryan. If I could only turn back time,
she
thought to herself as she walked to her car. Images of her and Ryan tangled up
in each other’s arms filled her thoughts, only to be doused by the visions of
him leaving with another of his many girls.

She picked up her pace, nearly running to her car. She knew
Danny and Julie would be unhappy that she was walking alone in the dark but she
couldn’t bring herself to bother them while they were stealing tender moments
together. Of all people, she knew how quickly life could change. No one ever
knew if or when it would be their last time with the one they loved.