The Heart's Ashes (29 page)

“
A meeting?” her voice almost made her head fly off with
incredulity. “A meeting! While my best friend was
being—”

“
Em.” Mike wrapped her tighter. “Stop.”

“
But. But that isn’t fair. What good is a vampire boyfriend if
he can’t protect you?”

“
Em,” Mike said again.

I felt her
small sliver of hatred for David pass over the room then.

David looked
down.

“
It’s not his fault.” I said, defensive. “He had no idea Jason
was capable of tha—” I gasped my words to a stop.

Emily looked up, eyes wide, lips open. “Jason?
My
Jason?”

A great hole
tore into Mike’s world; he covered his mouth, wiping a hand over
his chin as he closed his eyes and turned his face away.

The heat of
rage boiled through him, floating easily past Emily, wrapping my
shoulders with a sudden rush of dread, fear and regret.

This was not
the way I wanted him to find that out.

I pulled the
bloodstained sheet closer and sat with my legs crossed under me.
“Yes, Em—the same Jason.”

“
You knew? All this time—” She stared at me, heartache behind
her tear-filled eyes. “You knew who it was, and you never told me?”
She looked at David then. “What happened to him? What made him hurt
so bad that he’d do that?”

“
Em?” Mike tried to turn her around.

“
No!” She shoved him off. “You don’t know him. He’s not
capable of that. He would never—”

“
He did, Em.” David nodded, his voice flooding with
sympathy.

“
But...no. No, you got it wrong, he isn’t like
that.”

“
I know, Emily. Okay, I know it’s hard to understand, but he
did, and that’s all there is to it.”

“
But, I—” She touched her cheek with the very tips of her
fingers. “I can see his face so clearly; see how he looked at me,
held me. He’d never,
never
do something as horrific as what was done to
you.”

I felt David
cringe beside me.

“
He snapped.” I shook my head to myself, going a little numb,
struggling to understand the two versions I knew of this guy. “When
he did that to me, Emily, it wasn’t the Jason you knew.”

“
How can you say that! How can you sit there, next to him—”
she stood, pointing at David, “and excuse this? Any of this. He
needs to leave. He needs to go and never come back!”

“
Emily, stop it, okay.”

“
No! You can’t just forgive him, Ara. He let you get hurt.
Don’t you see? Am I the only one that sees?”

I looked at
Mike, who had not made eye contact with me since the truth about
Jason slipped out. He sat tall, his arms crossed, his lips thin
over a tight jaw. The last time I saw him look that mad was the
night I showed up drunk at his house when I was seventeen.

“
It is what it is,” I finally said, aiming that at both of
them. “I love David, and you don’t have to want him
here.”

“
Fine.” She thrust her arms to her sides. “Then don’t ever
talk to me again. Any of you!”

“
Emily.” Mike chased her, stopping by my door to look at me.
“Ara. How could you keep this from me?”

“
I didn’t keep it from you, Mike. I just couldn’t tell
you.”

“
How does that make any sense? How does any of this—” He
paused when a shadow flashed past my door and bright, white light
filled the entranceway. “Emily, wait?”

She didn’t,
and an internal battle began to rage within Mike, his steps edging
between the two choices; scold his best friend, or chase after the
girl he loves. He breathed out hard and bolted from the
room—slamming the front door behind him.

David and I
looked at each other; he nodded. “She’ll be fine. She’s just in
shock. Mike will bring her back.”

“
Why didn’t you stop me? You must’ve known it was going to
slip out—about Jason?”

“
Yes. But she needed to know. Emily’s had Jason on her mind
all night.”

“
What? Why?”

David
hesitated, then slid closer to me. “She can’t understand why I came
back—but Jason never did.”

I looked at my
door. “Are you mad at Mike—” David’s eyes met mine when I turned
around, “—for telling her the truth about you?”

“
No.”

“
Why? He broke the rules, and look what’s happened because of
it.”

“
Technically, Ara,
we
broke the rules by being careless.” He smirked,
nodding at our bloody movie set. “Mike told her the truth because,
in his mind, secrets nearly destroyed you. He won’t let that happen
again. So I let him say it.”

Which I guess
is fair enough. I rubbed my face, releasing all the tension with a
quick huff. “I can’t believe she walked in on us.”

David laughed
and, sliding one hand around my back and the other under my legs,
swept me back into his arms. “Well, it could have been worse.”

“
How? How can it possibly have been worse?”

“
She could have seen
me
naked.”

“
Funny.”

As David’s
face hovered above mine, all his thoughts flooded his eyes—filling
them with an emerald-green stare of intense love and desire, mixed
with a glint of mischief. He shook his head.

“
What?” I asked, my cheeks turning hot with the thought of
what might be behind that smile.

“
I just can’t believe how beautiful you are. I’m so lucky that
you love me.”

I smiled and
took a shaky breath, blowing away the embarrassment of my
wake-up-call. “I enjoyed last night.”

“
Yeah? You didn’t last long after, though.”

“
I know.” I sat up and stuck my leg out from under the sheet,
rolling my thigh to look at the bite. “But look—I’m healing
fast.”

“
I know.” David sat up too and ran his finger over my small
bruise. “And your teeth, they—”

“
Broke the skin.”

“
How did it feel?”

“
Magical.”

“
Told ya vampirism isn’t all bad.” The sideways smirk he gave
made me want to bite him again.

“
Yeah, I kinda see what you mean now.”

“
I’ve never been bitten by a human before,” he said,
thoughtful. “I’ve heard of other vampires doing it; they starve
themselves for a few weeks, then take a victim, making it bite them
before they feed off then kill them. It’s called a Bane
Tryst.”

“
Really?”

“
Yeah, it’s like a sport—to see how long you can resist before
killing the human.”

“
Disturbing.”

He smiled at
that. “It’s not for everyone. Nobody told me how much it hurt
though.”

“
Hurt?”

“
Yeah.” He cupped his palm over his neck. “You may have a
soft, sexy little bite, but boy does it sting.”

“
So, you won’t let me do it again?”

His hand
dropped with his smile. “No, my love. It’s not safe for me to be
that hungry around you.”

“
What’s the worst that could happen?”

“
Uh, I kill you.”

I nearly burst
out laughing at the sarcasm in his tone. “You’d be doing me a
favour.”

“
Stop saying things like that.”

“
Why? Look at my life, David.” I motioned an open palm to the
end of my bed where, minutes ago, I destroyed my two best friends.
“Mike’s moved on, Emily hates me.”

“
Emily doesn’t hate you, and, I thought you wanted Mike to
move on.”

I swallowed my
own stupidity, then shrugged in response. He wouldn’t understand
the truth.

“
Ara, are you saying you haven’t moved past Mike—even
though
I’m
here?”

“
But you’re not back, are you?” I sat up, folding my arms
across my body to hold the sheet in place. “You’re leaving again,
David. You can’t expect me to just change my heart overnight
because you fly in for a few days. I love Mike. I’ve always loved
him.” I stopped when David’s soul seemed to slip out the proverbial
back door of his heart. His face actually even went a little white.
“I’m sorry. I know you didn’t want to hear that.”

Silence
hovered between us for a while.

“
But you do love me, right?” he said.

I scoffed
loudly, looking at him with utter disbelief. “Of course I do. But
I’m not going to give my heart to you fully just so you can snap it
in two again when you leave.”

“
What do you mean
you’re not going to
give your heart to me
?”

I held back
the knowing smile—the one that acknowledged my careful thinking
while he slept, unaware of my thoughts. “You’re here now, but my
life has to keep going on either way. If Eric calls me or Mike
wants to break up with Emily and take me on a date, I’m going.”

He sat up,
studying my face, leaning right around to look at me. “Are you
saying...I don’t get exclusive rights?”

My smile kept
trying to escape. “Yes.”

“
Ara.” David’s brow pulled at the centre of his pained gaze,
and the whole doe-eyed expression sat atop his parted lips. “Please
don’t be like that.”

“
Like what, David?” I pulled my hand away as he reached for
it. “I have to protect my heart. Don’t you know what leaving is
going to do to me?”

“
So, you’re protecting yourself by hurting me.”

“
Guess I’m taking a leaf out of your book.” The spite in my
tone was cringe-worthy, even for me.

“
I don’t agree with this.”

“
You don’t have to.”

“
Ara-Rose, I will be damned if I’m going to sit here and watch
you go out on a date with
de la
Rose
or any other man for that matter.” As
his voice became louder, my stubbornness retreated, but only enough
to make me want to fight even harder.

“
You don’t own me. I can do whatever I want.”

He nodded.
“You’re right. You can. Doesn’t mean I have to agree.”

“
Then stay for the rest of my life, and I’ll be with you, and
only you.”

“
So, that’s what this is really about.” He nodded, folding his
arms. “You’re trying to punish me into staying with
you.”

I
shrugged.

“
It won’t work.”

I smiled conceitedly. “Then you’ll just have to watch me go
on dates with
de la
Rose
.”

“
I’ll threaten him if he does.”

“
Then that would make you one of those controlling
types.”

He sat back against the bed-head, thinking. I could see the
thoughts wash over his face through the reflection across the room.
There was no way around this. He couldn’t be all noble
and
get the girl, unless
he promised to stay with me, he knew that. “Fine. Date Eric
then.”

“
I will,” I said, hurt by the opposite reaction I
sought.

“
Fine.”

“
Coffee’s nearly ready, David. You out of the
shower?”

No answer.

“
David?” I listened, calming only once I heard the taps—still
running.

With the
coffee tray in hand, I stopped by the biscuit barrel and added a
few choc tarts to the plate of cake. David would have no real
appreciation for such deliciousness, since his preference was in
those who could hold a conversation, so I added an extra few, just
in case he needed help to eat his share.

The front door
opened, filling the house with light. I paused by the hallstand,
waiting until Mike closed the door completely.

“
Everything okay with Emily?”

“
It’s been a long day, Ar.” He sauntered past and slumped on
the couch in the front room. “Just don’t ask.”

“
That good, huh?” I asked anyway, placing the tray on the
coffee table.

“
Uh!” he groaned aloud. “No. She’s gone to her mum’s. She
doesn’t wanna see me.”

“
Really? But...why? It’s not your fault.” The way he looked at
me as I sat next to the tray kind of said what he was thinking.
“I’m sorry, Mike. I shouldn’t have told her about
Jason.”

“
No—but you should have told
me
,” he said through softly clenched
teeth, his head rolled back.

“
I know.” I looked down.

“
How long?” He sat up a little. “When did you know it was
David’s brother?”

“
The moment he took me.”

“
So you lied to me?” He closed himself off again, shaking his
head as he rested it back against the couch. “All this time—you
lied.”

“
I had my own grief to deal with, Mike. I didn’t want to tell
you.” His anger was infecting me now. “You know, I came home to
tell you—last night, and—”

“
Oh, how convenient.” He sat up, glaring at me. “Last night,
huh?”

“
Yes. That’s why I opened your door. I never, in a million
years, expected to see you and Em playing nudie
Twister.”

“
So now it’s my fault that you didn’t tell me?”