The Bad Boy's Dance (25 page)

              Asher’s voice was full of determination and anger.

              “He’ll have to get through me first.”

          
 
Chapter Twenty-Two

Should Have Castrated Him At Birth

“Are you sure you won’t veer off and burst into flames?”

              Asher dangled the keys from his fingers and smirked at me. “I’m not an invalid. I can get home in one piece.”

              “But is just stopped snowing an hour ago, the roads are going to be hard to maneuver, especially if you were bleeding to death less than twenty-four hours ago,” I insisted.

              Asher tightened his leather jacket on his shoulders and winked at me. “Careful angel, or I might just think you care.”

              What the-? In a space of a second, Asher had managed to piss me off
again.

              “You think I don’t care? Yeah, I bring in random people who’ve been wounded in a loan-shark assault and let them sleep in my house and raid my kitchen. Of course I care,” I huffed.

              Asher’s studied me for a minute, and his mouth curved up in a smile. “You actually mean that, don’t you?” he mused.

              I harrumphed.

              “Don’t worry, angel. It takes a lot more than some frozen water to hurt me,” he said confidently. “Go get some sleep. You need it.”

              I shifted on my feet. He was referring to the past hour I’d spent recovering from my panic attack, and the dark circles under my eyes from staying up late to bandage his wounds. “Sure. Don’t forget to turn your headlights on,” I said with a sly grin.

              Asher rolled his eyes. “We both know who the better driver is in this room.”

              I pushed him over the threshold. “What do you know, it’s me!”

              He grinned, and tipped an imaginary hat in my direction. “See you tomorrow.” With that he began trekking through the snow to his car.

              “Wait! You’re still not going to tell me where we’re going?”

              Asher glanced back at me. “Where’s the fun in that?”

              He drove off with a last honk of his horn before I could tell him off. Smiling absently, I locked the door and fell into an armchair.

              My cell ringtone started to play, and I tensed. Moving slowly, like it was a bomb on the verge of detonating, I checked the caller ID and gave a sigh of relief.

              “Hey Dana,” I greeted, resuming my position on the armchair.

              “Ives! I’m on the way to the mall. You should come. How was your lonely night without your best friend ever? Ugh, I’m annoyed right now.”

              Chuckling, I made myself comfortable. Dana could ramble for a while. “And why’s that?”

              “I’m stuck on the highway. Traffic isn’t moving because-wait for it- someone found an abandoned car and blood on the highway. It’s a crime scene now.”

              I sat up quickly. “Seriously?”

              “I don’t think it’ll last much longer, since it’s hardly a crime without a body. But this is cutting into my ice cream time which I do not appreciate.”

              I could barely hear her. “Dana, I’ll get back to you in a second, okay?”

              I hung up before she could reply. Rapidly scrolling for Asher’s number, I began to pace my living room. Asher picked up on the fifth ring. “I’m not dead yet, angel.”

              “There’s blood, and a car, a-and it’s a crime scene!” I shouted.

              “What? Slow down.”

              “The police found a car and blood on the highway. I’m guessing your blood is in there and the car is from one of the men. Asher, they’ll find out it was you!”

              “Calm down, Ivy. Everything is under control. I know what I’m doing,” Asher assured me patiently, completely undisturbed by the fact police were investigating a crime scene connected to him. “They won’t be able to get a conclusive reading because the blood samples will be too diluted. Trust me here.”

              “Just…be careful, okay? You’re too flipping arrogant for your own good,” I said, and hung up.

              My phone buzzed with a text.

             
Asher:
Hanging up on me is a serious no-no, angel.

             
Rolling my eyes, I didn’t bother answering and plugged my phone in the charger. The snow wasn’t too bad. Shrugging, I grabbed my keys and skipped to the car, leaving my phone behind. I’d had enough of that thing for a long while.

              Turning my radio on high, I headed to meet Dana at the mall. I didn’t like shopping too much, since my clothes weren’t usually more fabulous than a pair of jeans and an oversized sweater.

              I parked the car in the busy lot and weaved through the shoppers to find Dana where I’d expected to find her; situated in front of the Daily Freeze.

              “How can you even
consider
ice cream in this weather, you freak?” I laughed, sitting across from her. She peered up and gave me a vanilla grin.

              “Ives! You came! You can have my second order, this one was more filling than I thought,” Dana said, focused on fishing out the M&M in her caramel ice cream.

              Shrugging, I took the ice cream from the cashier, who looked like she had seen way too many teenagers on way too many snowy days.

              The ice cream was
delicious
. I dug in, chatting with Dana about how awesome it was we had a day off, and how much it sucked that we’d probably have to go to school tomorrow.

              After we polished off every last bite of the ice cream, we strolled around the mall, window- shopping and occasionally sniffing random products. Dana complained about Jason.

             
A lot.

             
“He STILL hasn’t bought tickets to Homecoming! I don’t know what he’s waiting for, divine intervention?” she vented, poking a mannequin angrily in the chest.

              “Maybe he’s, uh, nervous?” I tried. Honestly, I had no real advice when it came to the male psyche. My guesses were usually
way
off.

              “Enough of my problems, what’s your drama? How’re things with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome?” Dana winked, momentarily getting distracted by a churro stand nearby.

              Really, how she kept her great figure when she ate anything that didn’t move was a question for the Magic 8 ball. Maybe she and Spencer were part of a secret club that worked out in the dead of a night to burn off calories.

              “More like Tall, Dark, and Deadly,” I muttered.

              “Ooh, dish,” she said with exaggeration.

              “You know you sound like a bad eighties sitcom, right?” I checked.

              She gave me a blank look. “That’s the point. You suck at girl talk. I gave up on subtly fishing for information years ago.”

              That explained so much.

              “And don’t change the subject. I’m your best friend, and I’m starting to worry. What’s been going on with Asher Grayson?”

              I paused. I had to be careful not to tell her anything with Asher’s history. It hurt me to keep something from her, but they weren’t my secrets to tell.

              “He’s…been nice,” I said simply.

              She linked arms with me as we purchased an iced mocha. “Nice? Nice how?” she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

              “Get your mind out of the gutter,” I said, blushing.

              “You’re blushing! Don’t do this to me Ives, I’m going to be a fifty- year old cat woman with only these stories to keep my going,” she pleaded dramatically.

              “Fine!” I gave in. “He’s arrogant, frustrating, stubborn, too gorgeous for his own good, has no idea what personal space means, and wouldn’t know tact if it ran him over! Is that what you want to hear?”

              Dana stopped, pivoting to scrutinize me for a second before her eyes widened. “Ivy…do you
like
him?”

              “What? No! That’s ridiculous!”

              She pointed her finger in my face. “You’re cheeks are red! You’re lying!”

              “Shut up! No, I’m not!”

              Thankfully, Dana’s attention was diverted from me. “Do you see that?” she asked, pointing to a shadowed corner behind a donut shop.

              My gaze traced the path she was pointing at. “No…”

              She crept forward, transfixed on the mysterious object. I followed her curiously, starting to wonder if she had a bit too much sugar in her system.

              We stopped, hidden from sight. “Right there, near the doors…is that your brother?” Dana whispered.

              My brother? I squinted, making out two distinct shapes obscured by an awning. Just then, the moon shifted a little…

              Spencer! What was he doing?

              A girl’s giggle came from their direction. “Spencer, no! Someone might see us,” she cooed.

              That voice was oddly familiar. I didn’t have time to dwell on it, as Spencer answered. “Babe, you’re such a tease. C’mon, no one will notice. It’ll be fun, I promise.”

              Oh, God,
barf.
“Can we please
go
before she takes him up on his offer and I’m carted back in to Dr. Paxton? Although I might need a whole
new
level of therapy for that.”

              Grabbing Dana by the elbow, I dragged her away from the start of a rated X movie.

              “No offense or anything,” she started casually as we exited the warmth of the mall. “But your brother is a total slut.”

              I shuddered. “This is the second time in a week I’ve been subjected to his flings. Mom and Dad should’ve had him castrated.”

              Dana giggled and reached up to hug me. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

              I hugged her tightly. “See you.”

              We parted to our separate cars, and I turned the heat on immediately. I felt like such a terrible friend. Dana had no idea Jared was back, but I didn’t know how to tell her.

             
Hey, my psycho ex-boyfriend that was institutionalized somehow got released, and now he’s bent on revenge? Would you like sprinkles on your ice cream?

             
Yeah, that’d go over real well.

              My driveway was dark when I got home. Mom and Dad must be getting in late from L.A. Unlocking the front door, I let myself in and grabbed my phone and a box of chocolate blueberries before going to my room.

              I had a few missed calls from Mom and Dad, so I texted them that I’d been out with Dana.

              My phone buzzed with a text.

             
Asher:
Don’t forget to meet me after school tomorrow.

              Ivy:
Still think you should tell me where we’re going.

              Asher:
Be honest, you like the suspense

             
My mouth curved up in a smile.

             
Ivy:
Is everything with you suspenseful?

              Asher:
Can’t help being awesome.

              Asher:
And you know you love it

              Ivy:
K, I’m going to bed before you’re ego explodes.

              Ivy:
Goodnight Asher

              Asher:
Sweet dreams, angel

             
I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

         
 
Chapter

Twenty-Three

              Ditch, Dance, & Decide

The bell rang for lunch, and no one shot out of their seat faster than I did.

              I met Dana at the doors to the cafeteria. “Math was even more excruciating than usual today,” I complained, waving as Caleb came toward us, Kyle and Jason in tow.