The Bad Boy's Dance (18 page)

              “Hey, Dana I’m sorry for how stupid-”

              “Forget it,” she interrupted. “You deserve a break. But there’s a problem.”

              “What?” I asked, bracing myself.

              “Your mom still thinks you’re staying with me, and my parents happened to mention to her earlier that we were going to visit Nana Saturday. When she called asking where you were, I panicked and told her you came with us.”

              “Oh no.”

              “Yup. There was no other option.”

              “Am I supposed to hide until you come home?”

              “Hold on, Dad!” Dana called. “What? Oh, yeah. I’m afraid you’re going to have to hide until eight.”

              I made a nonsensical garbled noise that Dana deciphered.

              “Sucks to suck. No one told you to get trashed, Paris Hilton. I have to go, Nana wants me to walk her. Good luck!”

              Then she hung up.

              I spent a good two minutes staring at the phone in disbelief. Where was I supposed to go where my Mom couldn’t find me? There were too many busybodies in this town that would eagerly relay to my mother where they had last seen me.

              “Problem?” Asher asked, not glancing up from his own phone.

              Studying him, I considered something. “What are you doing today?”

              He shrugged. “I cancelled my business to take care of you, so not much.”

              A pang of guilt made me frown. “I didn’t want you to cancel your plans. Dang it, Dana shouldn’t have called you.”

              He stood, brushing a lock of dark hair from his forehead. “Get over it. Besides, you were much more interesting than what I had planned today.”

A sly grin spread across my face, and he watched me warily. “What are you grinning at?” he demanded.

              “Remember that explanation you owed me? I do believe it was yesterday that you were supposed to spill, correct?”

              He groaned, throwing his hands to the heavens and stomping off. “Should’ve just left her in the trunk,” I heard him mumble.

              Tucking my phone in my pocket, I followed after him. I was getting that explanation if I had to bite him sixty million times. I’d been chased by a car, shot at, lost in the woods, stared at the barrel of a gun in a secluded warehouse, and spent the night with total and complete strangers.

              This had better be good.

Chapter Sixteen

            
 
Little Piece of Heaven

Asher was hiding.

              It’d been fifteen minutes since he’d walked off, presumably to grab a few things, but he hadn’t returned. His house was huge, yes, but it wasn’t the White House.

              Sighing, I headed to the kitchen to begin my search. Sometimes I wondered if the threatening, scary, criminally-inclined guy everyone feared was really just a petulant teenage boy with the maturity of a ten year old.

              “Come out, come out wherever you are!” I called, and received no response. Was he that unwilling to tell me what the events of the past two weeks were about?

              Wandering aimlessly, I found myself outside the bedroom I’d woken up in this morning. It was empty, but now that I wasn’t frazzled and unbearably hung-over, it was easy to spot Asher’s stamp on the room.

              Dark blue drapes hung over large windows, a furnished desk beneath it. There was an iPod on his dresser, and his sheets were unkempt from this morning. Other than that, his room was tidy and immaculate.

              “They always come back for more.”

              Rolling my eyes, I faced the hoodlum. “You couldn’t resist popping in for that little comment, could you?”

              He grinned wolfishly, and I back-tracked as he advanced on me. “H-hey, no distractions. You owe me a few explanations, Mister.”

              “Do I distract you?”

             
Only every second.

             
“Nope,” I replied, popping the ‘p’.

              “Hmm. I don’t believe you, angel.” Before he could move, I held up a hand.

              “No. You made me a promise. Are you going to keep it, or should I leave?”             

              His smile slipped, and he ran a hand through his hair. “Not here.”

              “Where, then?”

              Asher crooked his finger. “Come with me.”

              “Wow…” I breathed. “It’s beautiful.”

              The subject in question was a lake. Asher had driven us down to a lake nestled in the obscurity of the woods. The water glistened under the low sun, and a small gushing stream sheltered a flock of ducks.

              Asher was quiet. He hadn’t spoken a word since we’d left his house, and I was starting to get worried. Maybe I was being selfish. Everyone was entitled to their secrets. God knew I had a whole truckload of them.

              We watched the water flow gently, lapping at our feet. We were seated beneath a large willow tree, on a thick pasture of grass.

              “My father’s in jail.”

             
What?

             
Asher stared straight ahead. His posture would appear relaxed to a neutral observer, but I’d danced with him numerous times. I was getting to know his moods very well by the way he reacted, and his fisted hands and flinty gaze alluded to his dark mood.

              “When I was thirteen, the authorities arrested him for money laundering, business fraud, illegal transactions, and check bouncing. The men that were chasing me last week were just henchmen of some powerful people my father owes money. They weren’t going to kill me; where’s the profit in that? No, that was just a warning.”

              I was dumbstruck. Afraid of breaking the spell that was urging him to reveal a portion of his tightly knitted secrets, I waited silently.

              “My father owed Trevor Garibaldi the most money.”

              “And Derevko?” I blurted.

              He slid me a glance. “Didn’t hear anything, huh?” he sighed. “Yes. Trevor is a just a perky nuisance compared to Derevko.”

              “But, why are they after you? It’s not your debt to pay.”

              He leaned back, tucking his hands under his head. “We’re kin. That’s good enough for them. The only reason they haven’t seized my house is because it’s my mother’s. So is my car. And we can’t sell either of them because it’s almost as important to have social capital as it is to have money in these situations. Not to mention, bullet proof cars aren’t that easy to come by here.”

              My mouth flopped open, questions forming wildly. “But-but-you’re only eighteen! How can they expect you to repay the enormous sums- I’m assuming- of money your Dad owed?”

              The setting sun cast a honey glow across the water, tinting the atmosphere with the warm rays of the sun.

              “I’m nineteen, actually. And hey, if there’s a will, there’s a way,” he said nonchalantly. He was being evasive again.

              “Nineteen?” I repeated, surprised. “Did you get held back?”

              That seemed unlikely, what with his over-the-top transcript.

              His jaw clenched, and his eyes frosted. That’s when I knew Open Asher had reverted to Mr. Mysterious.

              “I had to repeat the sixth grade. After my Dad was arrested, I may or may not have gotten expelled for stabbing a bully with a pencil. Didn’t even break skin, the little shit. Is that enough of a confessional for you, Your Honor?” he drawled sarcastically.

              No. I still had sixty million plus questions swirling in my active mind, but I was certain he wouldn’t answer any of them tonight. So I shrugged. “I’m appeased.”

              I laid besides him, and we watched as the last streaks of the sun fad from the sky. The wind was starting to pick up, and the ducks were gliding noiselessly on the surface of the lake. The whole thing was peaceful. Funny how there was always a little bubble of peace no matter how much chaos surrounded it.

              “What about you?”

              Startled, I turned to find Asher studying me intently. “What do you mean?”

              “What’s your story? Knut almost had a coronary when she found out you were some dancing star or something. What changed that?”

             
A boy, one night, and a court room.

             
I bit my lip. “I’d rather not discuss it, if you don’t mind.”

              Asher was silent for a few minutes, and I wondered if maybe he was angry that I was being hypocritical by demanding information from him, but refusing to reveal it myself.

              “Huh,” he said. My eyes flashed to his. “I can practically see you shutting down.”

              It was impossible to look away from the cobalt spheres trapping me in their gaze. My heart rate picked up, and my breaths came in puffs.

              A loud techno beat snapped me from my trance. Fumbling to reach my phone, I pressed it to my ear quickly. “Hello?” I said, coughing to return circulation to my veins.

              “Why do you sound like you’ve been running?”

              Dana’s familiar voice helped alleviate the dreamlike state this hidden piece of heaven had me in. Freaking gorgeous lake and cute ducks.

              And the boy beside me, enhancing its loveliness.

              “Maybe you’ve been running so it sounds like I have?”

              She groaned. “Ivy, I am so not in the mood for your circular arguments today. We’re home, and I already called your folks to let them know. They took Spencer and Paul out for dinner, and they say that the nanny watching Jodi will leave once you get home.”

              Jodi was a heavy sleeper, so I wasn’t too worried I’d have to deal with an irate toddler. “Thanks, Dana. I owe you one.”

              “Well, I’m gonna cash it in when I force you to spill what the heck happened last night with that hunk of tall, dark, and handsome.”

              What was with her? One minute she’s pro-Asher, the next she was a Nazi to Asher’s Jew.

              “Right. I’ve gotta go, but I’ll see you Monday.”

              “Ciao!”

              Asher raised a brow at me.

              Coughing, I smiled sheepishly. “Are you willing to complete your Good Samaritan deeds and drop me off? I have no ride.”

              A devilish smirk appeared, and I frowned at him. “Don’t even say it.”

              “I’m always available for a ride.”

              “And he says it,” I sighed, standing.

              He followed suit, and we made our way to his car. Night had completely fallen, and I reminded Asher to switch on his headlights.

              He snickered. “I’m not as scatter-brained as you, Miss Safety Hazard.”

              “Oh flick off,” I snapped.

              He laughed heartily, and the sound had my lips curving up involuntarily. “Silver-tongued lass, aren’t you?”

              “Did you just seriously call me a lass.”

              “It appears that I did indeed.”

              “Sugar-britches, it’s not nice to call people ‘lasses’.”

              “What is it with you and these God-awful nicknames?” he groaned.

              “Did you prefer poopsie-bear?”

              We bickered the entire way to my house. The porch light was on, and the nanny, Mrs. Whitfield, rushed outside the minute she heard the car pull in. She stuck her head in through the window hurriedly. “Jodi’s asleep, and I locked the doors and windows. Good night, Ivy!”

              She booked it to her car and drove off.

              “How many siblings do you have?” Asher queried as we climbed from the car.

              “Three. Two older brothers, and a baby sister,” I replied distractedly.

              Asher noticed what I had, and he stiffened besides me. “Do you guys have an alarm system?” he murmured quietly.

              “Yes, but it only activates on the inside,” I whispered fearfully.

              The porch light cast a shadow of a person against the side of the house, a shadow that was slowly moving towards us.