Page 5

Ash

The night seems unusually calm, which is the opposite of how I feel at the moment.

Nova lifts herself from the hood of the car and comes to take her place next to me.

She gives me a sweet smile and takes the cigarette I offer without a word.

And what would we have to talk about, anyway?

This night has been a fever dream of madness and illusions.

Including my decision to do what I just did.

An act she seems to have enjoyed as much as I did.

I am ready to say something, anything. But when I part my lips to speak, my phone decides to ring instead.

I slide the button to answer the call and hit the speaker button, resting my phone on the hood between us.

“Speak.” I say, knowing well that Aaron is on the other line, ready to give a report on whatever is happening with the house.

“Things are not good here, Ash.” There goes my hope for our problems ending with the loss of our house. “You don’t say.”

Nova chimes in with a smirk. I give her a look before I take a deep breath and compose myself to respond to my friend. “Okay. Give me the report.” I say as I place the cigarette back on my lips. At this point, I will get cancer before I am thirty-five.

“They managed to save a good part of the house, but it seems that while we were busy with the fire starting in the living room, there was another one starting in the garage. It looked at first like it spread, but with how fast the cars burned and the damage that the garage had, they believe that there was a second source of fire going on at the same time.” That makes things more complicated.

“How big is the damage, Aaron?” I question without really wanting to know.

“Your bike, the two cars we had for sale, and my other car are all ruined.” He pauses. “The Corolla, too.”

My heart breaks at the sound of the damage, ignoring everything else he is saying. My mind drifts to the one car that symbolized our growth. Our power. The one thing that was left from our past. “The only one that survived is the car I had parked outside, and you are currently using.”

Nova's eyes get a glimpse of sadness as Aaron continues his report. “I had to borrow a car from Michael since I am guessing you will be busy for a while with Nova. Speaking of her, I took care of her little problem once the cops left. He won’t be coming near her again, and I am pretty sure he is leaving town as we speak. But that’s where it gets complicated. ”

He pauses, and it’s a pause I recognize.

It’s his ‘I have bad news’ pause, one he does when he has already delivered a good amount of bad news.

“Please tell me the asshole wasn’t the one to tip Chad’s people on where to find us.

” I say, shaking my head in disappointment.

Nova is already getting angry, it seems; looking at her, I can tell she is already planning at least five ways to kill her ex.

At this point, I might as well join her.

“I wish I could but he sadly did tip them. On the positive side we don’t need to search for the one that did?

” He chuckles, trying to hide his own feelings.

That’s Aaron, always making jokes in a failed attempt to hide the seriousness of the situation.

“Is that all?” I ask, ready to finish this call and get back to giving my full attention to Nova instead.

This madness can wait until tomorrow. “Actually, one more thing. So if you remember, I said that two of the cars we had for sale got ruined; that leaves one more. One that is clearly missing. So unless you decided to store it somewhere else, I think Chad has it.” And there goes my last hope of having a good night.

“Not for long. Let’s go, Nova; we have a job to do.

” I say and grab the phone, heading for the driver’s seat.

Aaron’s voice, still on the other line, comes in frantic.

“Ash, please tell me you are not planning to bring the girl with you to deal with a bunch of dangerous guys.” I don’t manage to respond as Nova with a mischievous look on her face grabs the phone bringing it close to her lips even though it’s on speaker and replies on my behalf.

“Oh, don’t worry about me, handsome.” She chuckles.

“I can handle myself.” Aaron’s laugh breaks the awkward silence.

“No beautiful, you are confused; I am worried about them, not you.” Aaron’s laugh echoes in the car louder than before.

“Good luck, you two.” I take the phone from Nova and slide the button to end the call.

I drop it on the back seat while I switch gears and start speeding toward the main road.

Nova moves her seat a little until she has enough room, then puts her feet up on the dashboard and a hand dangling outside of the window.

She connects her phone to the car’s Bluetooth, and a playlist soon starts playing.

If I didn’t know better, I would think we were going on a road trip, not on our way to mess up some people.

I chuckle. “ You are totally insane; you know that, right?” I question, even though it’s not really a question, and she gives me a toothy smile in return.

“What? Just because we are up to no good doesn’t mean we can’t have a good time, right?

” She smirks. I will admit that’s definitely a good way to look at the situation.

“After we finish I will let you fuck me on the back of the car we are going to get from them.” She adds casually with a grin, and now I am more invested in getting that car back than I was before.

“Well, since we are going to cause some chaos, how about we raise the heat a little.”

Her lips curl into a smile.

“Your jerk of a boyfriend has been begging for some trouble all night.” I add. This guy has caused me enough problems tonight, and even more problems for her. I would love nothing more than to ruin his pretty face for him.

“If we are adding people who wrong us into the mix, I would say my asshole of a boss that fired me today for punching the guy that grabbed my ass should be on the list.” She adds in return.

So that’s why she was in jail this morning.

That almost seems like it was so long ago.

Today’s has been a hell of a day. “How about we add the guy who grabbed your ass too?” I say with a smirk of my own.

If we're going to go on a rampage of crimes, we might as well punish that jerk too.

“Sounds perfect to me, lover boy.” She says, the little grin on her face growing wider.

I like this woman. She is witty, smart, and so very evil that I would gladly let her ruin me.

“Jesus Chris, Pinkie, if you keep going like that, you will make me fall in love with you.” She chuckles.

“Oh, come on, Ash, as if you are not already falling for me.” Like I said, smart and evil.