The Bad Boy's Dance (27 page)

              Nothing.

              The sound of traffic from the phone was comforting as I ducked into the shadowed part of the hall. I opened the guest bedroom slowly, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness, searching for a shape amidst the shadows.

              After I’d checked every corner of the second floor, I exhaled with relief. “Everything’s okay, Asher. I overreacted. This house is old. Of course it’s going to make noises,” I told him.

              “I’m still staying with you while you’re alone. Always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to you, angel.”

              My heart swelled, and I laid my bat to the floor. “Thanks,” I murmured. I switched the subject before we addressed the pink elephant tap dancing across the phone line. “I’m hiding my food this time. Last time you raided my pantry, my Mom flipped out and made me eat vegetables for dinner for days.”

              He laughed. “Ooh, food hunt. Sounds like fun.”

              I felt up the wall for the light switch to the kitchen. I felt a cold breeze on my arms when I located it, causing bumps to rise on my flesh. Huh, I could’ve sworn Mom closed all the windows before she left.

              “I’m very good at hiding things,” I flipped the switch, flooding the kitchen with light. “I doubt you’ll-”
              The light illuminated a figure standing in the center of the kitchen. It caught his honey colored hair, shaggier around his head than the last time I’d seen it. He was taller, and thinner. His moss green eyes regarded me with removed curiosity as the phone slid from my hand, clattering to the floor.

              “No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “No, no, no. I’m dreaming. This can’t be real.”

              I heard Asher’s voice, impossibly small, shouting from the phone. My hands slid around my stomach, and I backed into the fridge to keep myself upright.

              The same moss green eyes that haunted my nightmares followed my every movement hungrily, and a wave of hysteria swept over my body. Cold sweat broke over my forehead, and a dull pain beat like a bass in my head.

              A cold smile spread over his face.

              “Hello again, Ivy,” Jared whispered.

        
 
Chapter Twenty-Five

             
 
It’s Armageddon!

“FLASH-BACK*

Jared twirled me across the dance floor. He wasn’t a great dancer, but he’d learned enough to make me proud at events like this. I felt so happy, coming to my first high school dance with a senior who’d told me he loved me the night before.

              “You’re an amazing dancer,” he murmured in my ear. I flushed with pleasure at the compliment. Jared didn’t give compliments freely, so I knew he meant it.

              “I have a great partner,” I replied, giggling when he swept aside a bang from my forehead.

              “Let’s not give our classmates a show, hmm?” Dana appeared at my elbow, Kyle in tow. I didn’t like how they eyeing Jared. They’d made their dislike of him very clear from the start, even though Jared had gone out of his way for them.

              “You guys are such buzz-kills,” I whined, trying to shoo them away.

              Jared placed a proprietary hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “Let them stay, darling. After all, we’re all friends, right?”

              At the time, I pretended not to see the malice flashing in his eyes,

****Flash-Back 2***

              “Calm down baby. Stay with me,” I begged, wiping away the blood seeping thickly from my nose. “Look at me!”

              His shoulder’s heaving, Jared glanced up, eyes hooded. He raised his hand, wiping a thumb under the steady trickle of blood from my nose and upper lip.

              “What did I do?” he moaned.

              He’d thrown me into the coffee table. The vase had fallen with me, and some of the glass had shattered into my face when I landed. My nose was numb. Maybe I hadn’t broken it this time.

              I placed my hands on his heaving shoulders and forced his chin up. Sweeping aside the strands of honey colored hair, my fingers left a bloody imprint on his forehead. I ignored it, staring into his moss green eyes intently. “It wasn’t you. You almost did it, Jar. You were almost there. We have to keep trying, until you can block out whatever it is that makes you want to hurt me.”

              Tears slid down his cheeks, dripping off his chin. “I can’t be saved, Ivy. Stop trying. I keep hurting you.”

              “You love me. I know you do. How can you want to hurt someone you love?”

              He reached out, picking up a shard of the broken glass. He closed his hand over it as I gasped. Blood trickled from his clenched fist onto the floor.

              Jared looked at our blood mixing on the floor with dazed eyes. He glanced back up at me, looking almost satisfied.

              “There,” he murmured. “If you bleed, I bleed.”

Present

              Jared leisurely circled my kitchen, fingers trailing over the marble counter. I spotted the open window to his right. I must have felt the breeze from there.

              “Aren’t you going to greet me? Run to me with open arms? Kiss me oh-so passionately?” he asked, stopping a foot away from me. His proximity sent my skin crawling, and the world tilted on its axis.

              I was less than twelve inches away from my worst nightmare.

             
Come on, Ivy!
My brain shouted.
Get out of here!

             
I started to creep backwards, but before I could make my escape, Jared’s hand shot forward, wrapping painfully around my wrist. He yanked me back forcefully and let go. I fell to the floor, sliding across the tile until I hit my head against the cabinet.

              Jared knelt, hoisting me to my feet by my upper arms. He shook me hard. “You don’t have a word to say to me?”

              The gleam I had prayed never to see again in my life was right there. The gleam of uncontrollable rage. Of a menace so potent that it overwhelms sensibility, rationality, morality...

              “Say something!” he shouted, his calm façade cracking. “A year and a half I’ve been in that institution, spending my pathetic existence dreaming about this moment; the moment where we’d meet again. In the institution
you
put me in.”

              He released me, and I slumped against the kitchen counter. “You betrayed me. I gave you everything I had,
everything.
And you used it against me. Why? I know you didn’t want to send me away, because you didn’t tell them what happened that night,” he sneered, and I blocked my mind from revisiting the memory.

             
He’s messing with your mind again, don’t you dare let him! He’s lying!

              The sound of a car door slamming snapped me from my internal hell. I had to keep it together. Jared was ruthless. I had no doubt he would hurt Asher if he thought I had even a sliver of affection for him.

              Jared gripped the nape of my neck, yanking my gaze to him. “I’ll be back, love,” he vowed, and I flinched as his breath blew over my face. Jared caressed my cheek, pulling at my neck when I tried to turn away. “You’re gonna hurt for what you did baby. But it’ll be the best thing for us, you’ll see. I have to make sure whatever it was that made you turn against me dies. I’ll kill it so that we can survive.”

              A whimper escaped my lips against my will at the cold calculation of his words. The scariest part was I knew he would do it.

              Pounding on the front door returned my terror for Asher to the forefront. Jared glanced at the door before lowering his gaze to me. “Until the restraining order issue is resolved, I strongly suggest you tell no one I’ve been here. It wouldn’t be good for their health. Is that clear, my darling?”

              I nodded.

              “Now go answer the door, and remember what I said. I’ll be back for you,” he murmured, trailing his lips along my hairline and stepping back.

              I ran to the door, and when I glanced to the kitchen, Jared was gone.

              Asher swept in the minute I opened the door, searching the premises for an intruder. For some reason, seeing him occupy the space Jared had a second ago made me laugh.

              And then I couldn’t seem to stop.

              He whirled around at the sound of my hysterical laughter. “Ivy?”

              I couldn’t stop laughing, until tears were streaming down my eyes and I was gasping for breath.

              Asher took a step towards me. I stumbled away. “I didn’t say a word, not a word. He always wants everything planned, scripted. It must have bothered him so much, that I didn’t say anything,” I panted, bringing my hands up to squeeze either side of my head as my headache pounded faster. Asher’s figure blurred as the pain increased.

              “Angel, you need to stay calm,” he said. “Everything’s okay.”

              My head cleared for a second, long enough for me to meet his cobalt gaze and shake my head. “It will never be okay.”

              I jolted straight up when I awoke, only to be restrained by a pair of arms. I flailed, struggling against the hold.

              “Stop! It’s me!” Asher’s voice halted my fight. I withered against his chest. We were in my bed, and I was on his lap, with my head resting on his collarbone.

              He let me breath for a few minutes before gently coaxing my face up. “What happened before I got to your house?”

              “
Until the restraining order issue is resolved, I strongly suggest you tell no one I’ve been here. It wouldn’t be good for their health.”

             
“N-nothing. I didn’t eat today, that’s all. Got a little whoozy. Sorry you came all the way over here for nothing,” I stammered, crawling off Asher’s lap and standing besides the bed. I grabbed the dresser quickly to steady myself.

              “Look at me,” he said gently. With great trepidation, I met his piercing cobalt gaze.  A tidal wave of emotion threatened to spill over, and I quickly looked away.

              Asher gathered my cold hands into his. “You can trust me, Ivy.”

              My hands shook in his hold. “It’s not about trust. Maybe I’m just trying to keep you safe,” I blurted, instantly regretting it when his eyes narrowed.

              “What do you mean? I don’t need to be kept safe.”

             
Don’t tell him.

              But if I didn’t tell him, the encounter would grow and grow in my mind until I exploded.

              “Do you want to know even if it puts your life at risk?” I asked steadily, perching on the desk chair to face him.

              Asher stretched, crossing one ankle over the other casually. “Of course. I’ve been looking for a new potential fatality to join the list.”

              Despite the leaden feeling weighing over my chest, I still managed to roll my eyes at him. He watched me, waiting for me to explain, but the words were stuck in my throat.

              Asher stood and walked over to me. He crouched and enfolded my hands with his. “I can take care of myself, angel. Tell me.”

              “Jared was here tonight,” I whispered.

              Asher stilled, and he didn’t say a word for a few minutes before standing and running his hands through his hair with a curse. I watched him pace for a few minutes before he returned to his previous stance.

              “Did he hurt you?” Asher asked with forced calm.

              Physically? Not really. Mentally was a different story though. But I wasn’t going to enlighten Asher to the dark place I’d worked to suppress in therapy for years. It was a black hole, and I wasn’t going to let him send me back there.

              “We have to go to the police. You’ve got a restraining order on him, he can’t do this,” Asher mumbled, mostly to himself.

              I grabbed his shoulders, startling him. “You can’t! His parents are important people. They got him out the first time, and they’ll make sure he stays out of jail at all cost so their reputation isn’t hurt. It’ll only make him angrier if I try.”

              “We can’t just do
nothing.
The psycho is stalking you. He’s not going to leave you alone.”

              True. But I would be damned if I dragged Asher into this mess any farther.