Текст книги "From Ashes"
Автор книги: Molly McAdams
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Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 23 страниц)
“Cassidy, I need you to sit up and stay awake. I’m going to start a fire. I know you’re tired, but if you can stay up for another half hour, I’ll let you go to sleep then, okay?”
She nodded and sat up, wrapping her arms around herself in my baggy clothes.
“I’ll be right back, stay awake.”
I grabbed my phone and changed into clean boxers, jeans, and a hoodie before running into the living room and starting a fire.
“Adam. Hey, man, I’m sorry if I woke you, but can you do me a huge favor?”
“Uh, yeah.” He whispered to someone that it was me and asked, “What’s up?”
“Are you with Dana?”
“We were just watching a movie, what’s wrong?”
“I need someone to come watch Cassidy while I go beat the shit out of Tyler. But if you’re with Dana, I’ll call someone else.”
“No!” He sounded alarmed. “No, no, it’s fine. What happened to her?”
“I haven’t gotten the whole story, but he kicked her out of their place, locked her out in nothing but a tiny shirt and pants, without her phone or anything. I guess she walked all the way over here; she was blue and frozen when I opened my door.” The firewood had caught and I waited for it to stay burning before turning off the gas.
“Are you serious?” He spoke away from the phone and whispered for Dana to come with him. “We’re on our way. Do you need us to get her anything?”
“No. I just need someone to watch her, make sure she stays awake for a while. I had her in a hot shower for a while and she’s in some dry clothes now. I just got the fire started and I’m gonna make her some coffee.”
I heard him relaying the story to Dana. “Damn. Gage, that’s a good three-or-four-mile walk from their place. My car is saying it’s sixteen degrees and it is sleeting really bad.”
“I know,” I growled, and started the coffee. “She had to have left at the very least an hour and a half ago, and Tyler hasn’t called me once to tell me she’s gone. I swear to God, if he’s just sitting in that apartment when I get there . . .”
“Gage, maybe I should go with you to make sure you don’t kill him. Dana can stay with her.”
I wanted to say I’d deal with it alone, but I knew he was right. “Yeah, okay. How long until you’re here?”
“Less than five minutes.”
“ ’Kay, the door is unlocked. I’m gonna go check on her.”
“All right, see ya.”
“Darlin’, you still awake?” I asked as I walked into the room.
Cassidy had a few tears on her cheeks when she looked up at me, and my heart about broke.
“Come on, the fire is going and the coffee is probably ready by now.” I didn’t wait for her to try to get up; I wrapped the comforter around her, scooped her back into my arms, and carried her to the couch I’d pulled up in front of the fire, then sat her down. “You okay?”
She nodded and stared into the flames.
“I’m gonna get you coffee. Once you drink it you can lie down, all right?” When she simply nodded again, I walked into the kitchen and poured her a mug before putting some milk and sugar in there. “Here you go, Cass. Drink all of this.” The door opened and she jumped. When Dana and Adam walked in she looked back at me and grabbed the mug.
“Hey, sweetie,” Dana said softly, and sat next to her. “What happened that you’d do something as crazy as walking in this freezing weather?” she asked with a quiet laugh and nudge.
I was glad she was asking, because that was exactly what I wanted to know. I was afraid Cassidy was going to break down crying again, and I knew how much she hated for anyone to see her cry, but instead her eyes narrowed and she harshly whispered to Dana about Tyler walking out that morning and coming in late that night with some redhead whose name she couldn’t remember. Said he introduced Cassi as his sister and took the redhead into his room, and repeated what Tyler said when he came back into the kitchen. That was the last thing I heard before grabbing Adam’s arm and stalking out to my truck. I was going to kill the prick.
We were there in six minutes, and I didn’t even bother knocking when I saw his Jeep in the parking lot. I used my old key and charged in, my anger building when I heard some chick’s loud moans in the kitchen. Rounding the corner, I paused only momentarily when I saw Tyler screwing Cara on the kitchen counter before continuing toward him.
“What the hell, man? Get out!”
I didn’t say anything, just grabbed his shoulder and turned him as my fist connected with his nose.
“Gage!” Cara screeched, and tried to cover herself when she realized Adam was with me. “You had your chance with me, you passed it up!”
“This has nothing to do with you and me, Cara. I honestly couldn’t care less who you decide to sleep with. But he has a girlfriend and he could have killed her tonight because he was being stupid. Now get dressed and get out!” I grabbed Tyler’s arm and dragged him over to the couch, letting him fall onto it and throwing the blanket at him.
“Damn it, Gage! You broke my nose.”
“I want to break a lot more than that. But I’m going to give you a few minutes to explain yourself first. Where’s Cassidy?”
He looked at me incredulously. “How the hell am I supposed to know? I told her to leave and now she’s gone.”
“Your Jeep is here.”
“So?”
“Did you give her your keys?”
“No.” He picked up a pillow and held it to his face.
“How did you tell her to leave?”
“I walked her outside. Why do you care? What’s with all the questions?”
“You locked her out of the damn apartment without a way to go anywhere or call anyone! She was in her damn pajamas and, if you didn’t notice, it’s fucking freezing outside!”
“Wait—if you knew all this, why are you even asking me?”
“Because I was hoping what she told me wasn’t true! She walked to my place and by the time she got there she was blue and completely frozen! She could have died, you son of a bitch!”
“Shit, I didn’t even think—oh God, is she okay?” He stood up and I punched him again before he could go anywhere. Adam came up behind me and kept a firm hand on my shoulder.
“You are a worthless piece of shit. Do not come near Cassidy again, you hear me? I don’t know why she’s clung to you her whole life; all you’ve ever done is let her get hurt. I didn’t understand how you could let her get hurt in the past, and I sure as hell don’t understand why you would treat her like this just because she wouldn’t have sex with you. You don’t deserve her, and I’ll kill you if you hurt her again.”
“Can you just tell me if Cassi’s okay?”
“She’s fine. And she’ll be fine as long as she’s with me.”
“Whoa, wait!” We all turned to see Cara standing there with a disgusted look on her still-flushed face. “You’re dating your sister?!”
“She’s not his sister, and he’s not dating her anymore. He’s all yours.” I jerked my head in the direction of my old room and Adam followed me in there. I grabbed Cassidy’s bag from her closet and shoved as much of her clothes as possible into it, grabbed her phone and charger, and headed to the bathroom before throwing everything in there in another bag Adam was holding. When we walked back through the living room, Cara was on her knees in front of Tyler with a towel wiping the blood off his face and chest.
“Gage—”
I cut him a hard look and he stopped talking. “I’m serious. Stay. Away. From Cassidy.”
When we got back to my place, Dana jumped up and put her finger over her mouth before whispering, “She finished a second cup of coffee and just fell asleep like three minutes ago.”
“Did you put sugar in it?” The coffee was decaf; I wasn’t trying to make her stay up the entire night, but I wanted her to drink something hot and wanted the sugar in her system.
She nodded. “And milk.”
“Thanks, Dana, I appreciate it, and I’m sorry for interrupting your time together.”
“Don’t even worry about it. She’s one of my closest friends and takes care of you boys all the time. I owe her for keeping my guy fed.”
I grunted in agreement and couldn’t help but smile when I walked around to the front of the couch. She looked adorable. There was no other word for it. She was drowning in my sweatshirt; the hood was up over her head and her wavy hair spilled out the sides. Her cheeks were pink from the heat of the fire and she was still fully wrapped up in the comforter.
After a quick good-bye to Adam and Dana, I took both of her bags into the spare room before going back out to the living room and picking up the girl I love. When she was all settled in the guest bed, I pulled the hood of my sweatshirt off her head and brushed the hair from her face. God, she’s beautiful. And she’s here. She’d run to me. For the first time ever, she’d gone to someone other than Tyler. Granted, all this was his fault, but she’d gone somewhere else, and it’d been to me.
“I love you, Cassidy,” I whispered, and pressed my lips to her forehead before reluctantly leaving her to go back to my own room.
C ASSIDY
THE SMELL OF coffee woke me the next morning and I was briefly disoriented when I didn’t recognize the room I was in. When I started to get out of bed and fell back with a groan, the night before came rushing back to me and I wanted to die when I realized how Gage had taken care of me. And Tyler—what the hell? How could he do that to me? I’d never once kept my feelings for Gage a secret, and he knew I needed time to get used to us as a couple. I thought I’d progressed significantly, but apparently not enough. I couldn’t believe he’d just bring someone home like that though. It wasn’t like my Tyler at all, and I was surprised by how much it hurt. It wasn’t anything like when Gage broke my heart, but it still felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. Or maybe that was just a side effect to whatever was going on with the rest of my body. I tried to sit up again but didn’t make it far before my head hit the pillow.
There was a soft knock on the door and Gage poked his head in. “Mornin’, how are you feeling?”
“Like a truck ran over me.”
“What were you thinking, Cass?” His eyes narrowed as he sat on the end of the bed.
“Wait . . . you’re—are you mad at me?”
“Mad? Darlin’, I’m furious. You could have died! Does no one understand that? Because apparently Tyler didn’t get the memo either.”
My breath stuck in my throat. “You spoke to Tyler? When?”
“When I left you with Dana last night, I went to go talk to him.” His green eyes flashed and he looked away quickly before settling his narrowed gaze back on me.
“I don’t remember a lot of last night. Just coming here, and parts of the shower.”
His eyes softened for a second. “Cass—just tell me why you didn’t try to get someone to help you. Or ask someone to use their phone.”
“I don’t know anyone’s number; it’s all just saved in my phone. And it was really late, I didn’t think it’d be safe to hitchhike over here.”
“And walking over here in sleet wearing your pajamas is safe?”
“Seemed like it at the time,” I mumbled lamely as I finally managed to get off the bed and tried to ignore the way my entire body felt like it was two seconds from collapsing and never getting back up. “Sorry I bothered you, Gage. Thanks for taking care of me. I’ll see you later.”
“What? Where are you going?”
My eyes widened in surprise from the anger in his tone. “I’ll go to Jackie’s until I can get my own place.” I stopped walking and stood there still as stone when Gage’s sweatpants fell off me and straight to the floor. Let’s just add on one more thing to be humiliated about when it came to Gage. At least his sweatshirt was big enough that it still covered everything important. I flushed when I realized he’d already seen everything last night. “Can I please use your phone so I can call her? Or Ethan,” I asked through clenched teeth.
“Cassidy, why are you leaving?”
“Because I shouldn’t have come here in the first place! Obviously it was a bad idea.”
“I don’t want you to leave.” His voice softened drastically and he reached out to grab my hand to pull me back to the bed, coughing out a laugh when I tripped out of his sweatpants. “Sorry, that’s the warmest clothing I had for you last night.”
I just nodded and turned my head so he wouldn’t see my blush.
“Hey.” He put his fingers under my chin and turned my head so I was looking into his dark green eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m not mad at you; you just scared the crap out of me last night. I was seconds from calling an ambulance. I probably should have but I was too focused on warming you up.”
That just made my blush get about ten times worse. Oh my God, I can’t believe I was in a shower with Gage. Not that I was able to enjoy one second of it or even realize at the time what was really happening. “Gage,” I began after a few silent moments, “was she still there when you got there last night?” I almost told him not to answer that, but then his face morphed into one of pity and I no longer needed him to. “I’m kind of tired,” I said, quickly changing the subject, “is it okay if I go back to sleep for a bit before I call Jackie?”
“You can go back to sleep; you need to rest as much as possible after last night. But I want you to stay here, Cass. Adam and I brought most of your stuff over last night. You don’t have to, but you’re more than welcome to live here. As long as you want.”
Live with Gage again? But he hated having me with him last time. “I appreciate what you’re doing, Gage, but you don’t owe me anything. And I don’t want you to give me a place to stay because you feel sorry for me.”
“That’s not it at all. I want you here—honestly I’d rather have you here than anyone.”
I doubted that. But the idea of being this close to Gage again had my stomach fluttering. I realized I still hadn’t said anything when he stood up and walked over to me.
“Just think about it.” His raspy voice got even deeper. “But go back to sleep now, darlin’. I’m gonna go for my run. I’ll check on you when I get back.” His hand brushed across my forehead once I was under the comforter and he frowned. “Are you hot?”
“No, actually I’m still kind of cold. Can you throw me your sweats?”
Gage cursed under his breath and headed out the door, tossing me his sweats on his way out. Before I could try to pull them back on he’d returned with the comforter from his bed. “Here you go.” He brushed his hand across my forehead again and down my left cheek. “I’ll be back soon, okay?”
“Have fun,” I mumbled as I curled into a tight ball. I didn’t even have the strength to try to put the sweats back on.
G AGE
I HADN’T EVEN gotten down the driveway when I ran back inside and grabbed my keys. I couldn’t run. Not right now when I was worrying about her so much. As soon as I was in the truck, I called my mom. Yeah . . . I know. I was that desperate.
“Why doesn’t it surprise me that you’re already awake? It’s your last day before school starts back up; you should be sleeping in.”
“Hello to you too, Mama.”
“How’s my boy?”
“All right. Hey, Ma, I need your help on something. Cassidy’s burning up, and I don’t know what I should do. I’m on my way to get a thermometer, but is there anything I should buy . . . like food, drinks, or medicine?”
“Cassidy?” She couldn’t hide her surprise in that one word. “Shouldn’t Tyler be helping her if she isn’t feeling well?”
“Uh . . . long story short?”
“Sure.” She sighed, letting me know I’d have to give her the full version later.
“He brought home another girl and kicked Cassidy out last night.”
“He what?! Are you sure?”
“Ma, yes. I’m sure. I even asked him myself. But that’s not the worst part. He locked her out without her phone or keys or anything and she ended up walking to my place. It was sleeting really bad and she was in her pajamas; she didn’t have a jacket or anything.”
“Oh, that poor girl. Is she okay? You said she’s burning up?”
“Yeah.” I blew out a deep breath and tapped my thumb on the steering wheel furiously until the light turned green again. “She’s in sweats and I cranked the heater up really high last night. She said she’s cold but she’s bright red and really, really hot.”
“Just get the thermometer for now, and some NyQuil. Call me back after you’ve taken her temperature.”
“All right, thanks, Mama, love you.”
“I love you too. Bye-bye now.”
I ran into the drugstore and got the most expensive thermometer I could find and a few bottles of NyQuil before heading back to the house. I’d only been away from Cassidy for maybe twenty-five minutes, and there was no doubt she was worse than when I’d left. I could feel the heat emanating from her skin and she was shaking again.
“Cass, wake up, let’s take your temp.”
She groaned and pulled both comforters up to her cheeks.
I continued trying to wake her up while I tore open the box. She finally nodded when I showed her the thermometer and I slipped it into her mouth. While I waited, I touched her cheeks and forehead and had to stifle the urge to yell at the damn thing to hurry up. I’m pretty sure the people who made the thing laughed at being able to torture people with the wait. Not able to sit there doing nothing, I called Mama again and told her about the changes. If I’d thought she was hot earlier, she was on fire now. Finally the stupid torture device from hell beeped and I gently but swiftly took it from Cassidy’s mouth.
“Shit, that’s high,” I breathed.
“Gage Michael Carson!”
It took me a second to realize what happened. “Sorry, ma’am, but it says one-oh-five-point-two. What should I do?”
“Take her to the hospital right now. If she stays at that temperature for too long she can start having seizures or go into a coma.”
What?! “Okay, I’ll talk to you later.”
“Call me as soon as the doctor tells you anything, you hear me? I want to know immediately.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I hung up and scooped Cassidy in my arms; she’d already fallen back asleep and didn’t so much as move until after I already had her in the ER. And then it was only to start shaking uncontrollably, and I wished I would have thought to bring one of the comforters with me, or at the very least put the sweatpants back on her. I’d never had to take care of someone, and I felt like I was doing a fucking awesome job . . .
I LOOKED UP when I felt a hand on my back and smiled softly. “I really do appreciate you being here, Ma. I didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing.” I raked a hand through my hair and sighed when I looked back over to Cassidy, who was asleep in my bed. “Obviously.”
“Hush. You did everything you could.”
“If I would have just taken her as soon as she got here—”
“She would have had pneumonia either way, Gage. She was out in that weather without the right clothes and had wet hair. You can’t blame yourself. Tyler, on the other hand . . .”
“God, I want to punch him again.”
“For once,” she said with a sigh, “I wouldn’t try to stop you.”
Cassidy rolled over and I stopped breathing for a moment so I could listen to her soft, rhythmic breaths. She’d been back at my house for two days now after four days of monitoring in the hospital to make sure she was on the mend. Mama had left the cooking and cleaning at the ranch to my middle sister, Nikki, and had rushed to Austin as soon as I told her that the doctor said Cass had pneumonia. She refused to let me miss my classes, and if I couldn’t be sitting next to Cassidy, at least I felt better knowing Mama was there with her instead of Tyler. Who, by the way, had shown up at the hospital while I was in class and, after a verbal beating from my mom, left and had only tried to make contact by phone. Thankfully Cassidy hadn’t wanted to talk to him, not that I would have let him talk to her anyway.
Mama had been great though. She’d been cooking for us and taking care of Cass in a way only a mother could. I could see Cassidy didn’t handle being taken care of in that way very well at first, but with how weak she was, she didn’t have much of a choice and I knew she now loved having a mother figure looking after her for the first time in years. Mom was sleeping in the guest room, so naturally I put Cassidy in my room, and honestly I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Technically, I’d been sleeping on the bigger couch, but I always ended up sitting in a chair next to the bed so I could make sure her breathing stayed normal. Or at least, that’s what I’d been telling myself. Cassidy was the only one who believed that. That knowing smile Mama gave me every time she saw me in there let me know she wasn’t fooled; she knew I just wanted to be near her. There I went, being fucking creepy again.
“Come talk to me, Gage,” Mom whispered over her shoulder as she made her way out of my room.
I stood up and stretched before bending over the bed and pressing my lips to Cassidy’s forehead. She looked and felt so much better, I had no doubt she’d be trying to get out of the bed and back to work on Monday. I choked on a laugh on my way out to the kitchen, thinking about how cute Cassidy got when she tried to get her way, but there was no way in hell I was letting her out of that bed for at least another week. “Yes, ma’am?”
“I just wanted to see how you’re doing with all of this.”
“I’m fine.” My brow furrowed. “Why?”
“I meant, how are you with Cassidy being here? After they visited this summer, and over winter break, you were just so . . . I don’t know. Heartbroken? And now she’s here after there was trouble between her and Tyler. I just want to make sure you don’t get hurt again, son.”
“Yeah, I understand. I don’t know what to make of a lot of this. I was—am still messed up over the whole thing, but I can’t stop . . . I’m still in love with her.”
“I know you are.”
“I’ve tried getting over her, Mom”—Mama didn’t know exactly how I’d tried to get over Cassidy, but that was something that was better left unknown to anyone other than myself and the girls I had been with—“and I’ve tried to figure out why she would do certain things . . . there has to be something I’m missing. Cassidy’s not the type of girl to purposefully hurt someone, and if I didn’t know her as well as I do, I wouldn’t see that she was hurt too. For some reason, I found myself apologizing to her after I got back this summer. She was so mad that I left, and even though she tried to hide it, I knew she was upset. And then . . . I don’t know. Maybe I’m just making myself think all this is happenin’.”
“Well, I’m not so sure about that. You only have to be in the room with the two of you to know there’s something there. She looks at you like—well, anyway. Just be careful. Whether she’s doing it on purpose or not, you’ve been hurt by her too many times already.”
Not like I needed that reminder. But she was right. I knew if I kept reading too much into her running to me, something would bring me crashing back down to reality and I’d end up even more pissed off than the last few times that had happened.
She began to say something, then hesitated and opened the fridge and freezer to browse.
“Might as well just say it, Mama.”
“Are you sure it’s the best idea to have her living here with you? Don’t get me wrong, sweetheart, I absolutely adore that girl. But with all that’s happened, you really think you should be doing this?”
“Yes.” I didn’t even hesitate. “I’m sure and I do.”
“All right.” She raised her hands, palms facing me. “All right, I got you. Just making sure,” she added with a wink.
