Out Of The Ashes (19 page)

The hesitation in Clay’s eyes as he looked at me gave me hope. His expression was so tortured; I squeezed his hand to reassure him. I stood up and wrapped my arms around his waist.

“Please, Clay,” I pleaded. “I want to stay. I’m not afraid of Hannah.”

That was a lie, but I really didn’t want to leave. Tonight was so perfect.

His resolve crumbled. Chunks of it fall from his demeanor as he smiled down at me. “Alright. We stay. But if things start going south…”

“We’re out of here. I got it.” I stared up at him, hoping he could see in my eyes how grateful I was that we were staying.

He kissed my forehead. “I’m not letting her do anything else to you, Paige. I will protect you.”

“I know.”

We heard the DJ then, asking the room if we were ready to rock. We all answered in the affirmative, and a thunderous beat filled the space.

Clay glanced at me, his blue eyes glowing like topaz. “Do you want to dance?”

“Of course.”

He took my hand and led me out to the parquet dance floor. We danced to the popular pop track, and then another. Rob and Tima joined us on the next one, and on the song after that Drew and Gillian appeared reluctantly on the dance floor.

The slower strains of a ballad wafted through the space and Clay pulled me in close.

“This is heaven, I think,” I murmured.

He leaned down to kiss me sweetly.

“If we’re in heaven, I hope the big guy doesn’t send us back for another round,” he said. “I just want to stay here with you.”

I sighed, closing my eyes and laying my head on his shoulder.

I was thinking again about how perfect the night was when the lights flickered and the room was plunged into darkness.

Twenty-Seven

Paige

I’m not afraid of the dark, I never have been. Not even on the nights I spent alone in the cold white hospital room and the burn center that was always filled with the aroma of death. I actually welcomed the blackness, because it hid my ugly. But this dark was so sudden, so unexpected, that I felt a flutter of nerves deep in my belly.

A flicker of light grabbed my attention in a far corner of the room. Clay and Tima squeezed my hands tightly as it bobbed closer and closer to where we stood.

When it was about fifteen feet away, I was able to make out a server in a white shirt and black slacks carrying a platter with a candlelit cupcake sitting atop it.

I sighed with relief. Clay had obviously arranged a surprise. It wasn’t my birthday, but I’d take it.

“It’s okay,” I whispered to Tima. She let go of my hand, but Clay still held on tight. I looked at him expectantly. He began to pull me backward just as the cupcake exploded.

Screams erupted in the room, and total pandemonium ensued. Clay’s hand squeezed tight around mine, and then it was yanked away with a violent jerk.

“Clay!” I screamed.

“Paige!” Gillian yelled.

“Gillian!” Drew shouted.

“Where’s Tima?” Rob called.

The room was so full of screams and the sound of wood scraping against wood, that I was no longer able to pick out my friends’ voices in the chaos. I did the only thing I could; I made my way toward the exit with the sea of bodies moving in that direction.

I struggled to stay upright as people pushed, elbowed, and stepped on me in their mad dash for the exit, I cried out as my arm was jerked to the side and I stumbled. I fell to the ground, landing hard on my hands and knees. I tried to look up, but the room was still mostly dark and I couldn’t see a thing. Then I heard a ripping sound, so close it vibrated in my ears and I scrambled to my feet, continuing the trek out of the room.

When I broke through the double doors leading out of the ballroom I looked around wildly for my friends and Clay. Light was pouring through the floor-to-ceiling windows in the hallway from the streetlamps outside, and several official-looking people with flashlights ran into the ballroom.

When I finally burst outside, the fresh air was like cool water to a woman dying of thirst. I scanned the crowd, and spotted Gillian’s chestnut curls almost immediately. She had wide eyes trained on me, and I strained to hear what she was shouting through the chatter of voices nearby.

“Paige!” she screamed. “Your dress!”

I looked down, and the blood running through my veins turned icy-cold.

My dress was hanging in shredded tatters around my body. The material was cut from the low-dipped back to the hem. I gathered it around me quickly, wondering blindly what could have happened.

Clay reached me first, picking me up in his strong arms. It wasn’t quickly enough however, for the people close by to have seen all the important bits of my body. He cradled me against his chest, whispering urgently into my ear. I didn’t hear anything he was saying, the blood was rushing in my ears with a whoosh, and I could somehow hear my own heartbeat thumping in my head.

A high-pitched voice screeched nearby, and I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from.

“My dress! My dress!”

“I got you, baby,” Clay said firmly. “We’re getting in the limo now.”

And we were. He placed me onto the plush leather seat and climbed in after me. The driver, amazingly, shoved a blanket in after us and Clay covered me up, tucking the soft fleece just under my chin. I was numb as Tima, Rob, Drew, and Gillian tumbled in, Gillian slamming the door shut behind her.

The limo began to move just as police sirens and flashing lights engulfed the lodge. We were pulling safely away in silence.

“Paige, Paige look at me sweetheart,” Clay was saying. “Are you okay?”

I blinked twice, trying to clear my head enough to understand what he was saying.

“She’s in shock,” Gillian answered. “She needs something hot to drink when we get home.”

“What the hell happened to her, man?” Drew asked angrily. “How’d her dress get ripped?”

“A better question is how’d she get separated from us?” Tima asked.

“Damn it to hell,” Clay muttered. “Damn her!”

That woke up a little. “Damn who?”

“Are you okay?” he asked me, stroking the side of my face with his thumb as he looked deep into my eyes. His clear blue ones were framed with worry.

“I’m okay,” I fabricated, my voice cracking. “Did all of those people really just see me naked?”

“No one saw,” Gillian assured me. She should have known I’d see through her lie; I knew her better than anyone. “Clay covered you up really quickly.”

“You think Hannah did this?” I asked Clay.

“Yeah, I do,” he spat.

His voice was bitter with anger. “Only her mind would think of something this twisted.”

“If that’s true, then Paige can press charges,” Rob said reasonably.

“Not if there’s no proof,” said Tima. “We don’t have any proof that she did it. None of us saw her. I don’t even think I saw her at all tonight.”

“Because she was too busy putting her little plan into action!” Clay said scathingly.

“Did you see her, sweetie?” Gillian asked me.

I shook my head, trying hard to remember. “No. It was too dark. How did the explosion happen? Was it a bomb or something?”

I jumped when Clay’s fist connected with leather as he slammed it into the seat beside us. The broken expression on his face scared me.

“I’m so sorry Paige. I should never have let go of you. I had your hand…and then I didn’t anymore. I don’t know what happened!”

I stuck a hand out from beneath the blanket and stroked his leg. “It wasn’t your fault. I’m okay, Clay. I guess I was just in shock, like Gill said. But I’m not hurt. There’s really no harm done, except to my ego. God, I hope no one caught that on their cell phone.”

“Well, that blast couldn’t have been a bomb,” Drew said. “Not big enough. Maybe some kind of firecracker. Either way, the server carrying it has some major injuries. He could press charges too.”

“If anyone taped you, I’ll beat the shit out of them,” said Clay. “After I drop you off, I’m going to Hannah’s.”

“No, don’t,” I pleaded. “You’re too angry right now.”

He opened his mouth to protest.

“Plus,” I cut him off. “I don’t want you to leave me.”

I made the biggest wounded damsel face I could, and watched his anger crumble into dust.

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll stay with you.”

Clay

Sitting on my couch with Paige snugged up against me, I was trembling with the effort it was taking not to get up, grab my keys, and drive straight over to Hannah’s house. But then I gazed down at Paige, dressed in a pair of my boxers and a giant Browns t-shirt. And I just wanted her to stay in my arms where I could keep her safe.

The fact that she was experiencing more trauma in her life because of me nearly killed me. If I were a stronger man, I’d walk away from her for her own good. But I was weak, and I needed her. She made me better. I didn’t like the person I used to be before Paige. So I was damn sure going to fight to keep her.

“I’m so sorry, babe,” I murmured into her dark hair for the hundredth time.

“Stop apologizing!” she scolded. “It’s not your fault. I’m not that breakable, Clay. It might seem like it, but I’m not. I’ve already been through the worst that could possibly happen to me. Anything that happens after that is just a stone to hop over.”

I silently plotted all the ways I could pay Hannah back for this, and came up with nothing humiliating enough.

Paige turned in my arms, her jade eyes burning into mine. “Remember earlier? When I showed you what I was wearing under my dress?”

The memory was branded into my brain. How could I forget?

“Yeah,” I said, smiling for the first time since the formal’s blackout.

“Well, I’m wearing the exact same thing under these big ol’ shorts.”

I was immediately interested, all parts of my body attuning themselves to Paige. “Yeah?”

“Yep. And even though I’m okay, I think I just really need to feel your body close to mine. So close a sheet of paper couldn’t fit between us.”

I stood up, hauling Paige up with me and into my arms. I carried her to my room and tossed her onto the bed.

“Wow,” she gasped as she landed with a bounce. “That didn’t take much.”

“And it never will,” I growled as I pounced on her.

I rained kisses down her neck as I pulled up the hem of my too-big-for-her t-shirt. She lifted up so I could pull it off, and I attacked her abdomen with my tongue. I felt her gasp beneath me and that was the fuel I needed to slowly lick my way from her belly button to her perfect, round little breasts. I cupped them with my hands, marveling at how good their weight felt against my fingers.

“Are these mine?” I asked in awe.

“It’s all yours, Clay,” Paige breathed.

Hearing her say that in her sexy, breathy little voice made my hardness slam to attention even more.

“Dammit, babe,” I said roughly.

I devoured her hipbones with kisses as I pulled my boxers down over her thighs. “I can’t get enough of you.”

“Good,” she said. “Because I want every single bit of you, right here. Right now.”

I sat up to yank down my sweatpants, along with my boxer briefs, dropping them on the floor beside the bed.

“Your wish? My command,” I said, pulling a condom out of the nightstand.

“You promise?” she asked, a sly smile teasing her lips.

I answered her by grabbing her hips and rolling with her in my arms, until she was on top.

“Always,” I said. “Now, we’re going to try something new here. I want you to ease yourself down on me.”

She looked at me, unsure. “Really?”

“Yes,” I said in a strained voice, because the anticipation of being inside her was killing me.

“Won’t that hurt?”

“Paige, trust me. It will feel better than anything you can imagine.”

“Okay,” she murmured. She sat down, lowering herself painfully slow on top of me, and my world erupted in neon fireworks as I made love to the only girl I’d ever loved.

Twenty-Eight

Clay

I rolled over groggily the next morning as someone knocked lightly on my bedroom door. I glanced at the window; sunlight was streaming in through the blinds. A soft sigh beside me made me look down to see Paige tucked beneath my right arm. I leaned down and kissed the wisp of hair that was flung across her angelic face.

“What?” I called quietly to the knocker.

Whoever it was better have a damn good reason for interrupting my morning moments with Paige.

“Clay! You probably should come out here,” Drew instructed.

I groaned softly, easing Paige out from under my arm and climbing out of bed. As I pulled on some gray U of R sweats, I looked at her wistfully. I definitely didn’t want to leave her alone in my bed.

I opened the door to find Drew standing in the hallway, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.

“I’m interrupting something?” he asked.