Page 19 of Cinder & Secrets (Ink & Ashes #2)

Charlotte

Sweat clings to my skin, droplets forming every few minutes to roll down my back before being absorbed into the thin material of my dress.

I don’t know how long we’ve been here.

An hour or five. The seconds bleed together, the buzz in my veins and the pulse of music in my ears my only real point of focus.

I catch sight of Maisie out of the corner of my eye, a smile on her face as she grinds her ass into the guy behind her, a blond with thick eyebrows and the slightest gap between his teeth, which I see when he smiles, saying something into Maisie’s ear.

Thank goodness Kai and Lyric left already because had they not, Kai would probably be wiping the floor with the very handsy fellow.

Not that he can really talk, given that he couldn’t keep his hands off Lyric all night.

I think it’s safe to say we all know why they left early, and it wasn’t because they weren’t enjoying themselves.

It’s because they were. Maybe a little too much, given the way they left in such a hurry.

Speaking of handy fellows, if Dean moves his hand any farther down my back, he’ll be palming my ass, and while a few months ago I would have welcomed the action, now the only thing keeping me from kneeing him the groin is the particular part I’m trying to play.

The one that says no man has the power to change me.

If only that were true.

Still, I cling to the lie. Let the warmth of the tequila I’ve been drinking all night dull my thoughts, my feelings, until I’m nothing more than flesh and blood. Unseeing. Unfeeling. Simply existing in this space between reality and delusion.

“You’re so hot.” Dean’s voice is too loud in my ear, his breath too warm, and I briefly wonder what I saw in him last year that spurred me to hook up with him not once, but on two different occasions.

“Glad to see your eyesight is on point,” I retort, my arms going around his neck as I continue to move my hips in time with the heavy beat of the song currently blaring from the speakers set up in the corner of the room.

“Why don’t we get out of here?” He husks, his hand sliding from my lower back to my hip. “Go somewhere more private.” His fingers bite into the skin as he squeezes.

“I think I’ll pass.” I press my hands to his chest in an effort to create space between us, but his hand on my hip holds strong.

“Really?” I can hear the smile on his lips seconds before his tongue darts out, licking the lobe of my ear. “You’ve never told me no before.”

“Guess there’s a first for everything.” I push harder against his chest, able to break free of his hold after some considerable effort.

He reaches for me again, but I’m already several steps back, retreating into the thick crowd of people that are packed into the room like sardines.

I take my first real breath in what feels like ages when I finally reach the front porch, the warm night air considerably cooler than the heat that blanketed the inside of the house.

I close my eyes and take another long pull in through my nose, trying to find my composure through the veil of Jose Cuervo.

Only instead, the entire world around me seems to tip and I end up having to grab the edge of the porch rail to steady myself.

Shit.

How much did I drink?

I try to count the shots Maisie kept handing me in my head, but I lose track pretty quickly. Either way, it’s apparent to me that I overdid it.

Making my way to the porch swing that sits unoccupied despite the various groups and couples crowded on the porch, looking for fresh air, no doubt, I plop down, the wood creaking beneath my weight.

Pulling my phone out of the front of my dress where it’s been tucked all night, I blow out a hard breath when I swipe my finger across the screen to see that River still hasn’t texted me back.

I’m seconds away from calling him when someone plops down next to me on the swing.

“I’m drunk,” Maisie announces, stretching her feet out in front of her.

“Me too.” I smile, though it feels disingenuous.

“I saw you dancing with Dean.” She gives me a toothy grin.

“We were just dancing. Speaking of which, why are you out here? You seemed to be quite enjoying yourself in there.”

“Meh.” She lifts a shoulder and drops it. “Is it weird that I’m kinda ready to go home?”

“No. I am too,” I admit.

“Too bad our ride left.”

“Yep.” I nod slowly. “We walking, or you want me to get an Uber?”

“Fuck it.” She pushes to her feet abruptly, causing the swing to sway back and forth. “Let’s walk.”

“You sure? It’s like a twenty-minute walk and we aren’t exactly wearing the right attire.” I glance down at her very high, very narrow heels.

“Who cares.” She lifts a foot, removing one shoe before balancing on the opposite foot to remove the other.

“You’re going to walk all the way back to our dorm barefoot?”

“Better than walking in these. I swear, they had to have gotten the design of these shoes from a torture dungeon because they have been murdering my feet all night.”

“You’re the one who wore them,” I needlessly point out.

“Beauty is pain,” she tells me. “Besides, you’re one to talk.” She looks down at my heels, which aren’t nearly as tall as hers but are definitely not the most comfortable things in the world.

“Fair.” I nod, slipping off my heels before leaning over to pick the shoes up off the porch. “Solidarity,” I tell Maisie as I stand.

She slips her arm through mine and together we make our way down the porch and through the front lawn before finally veering left when we reach the sidewalk. We only get about a hundred yards or so when a car slows next to us, the driver’s side window coming down.

“Are you fucking walking home?” A familiar voice fills my ears and for a brief moment, I think I’m hallucinating.

Only when I turn toward the car, my feet stumbling to a stop, it’s River freaking Parker staring back at me. And he looks pissed .

“What... What the hell are you doing here?” I stumble over my words, alcohol and shock colliding together like two battering rams striking with the same intensity.

“I’d say that’s irrelevant at the moment.” His gaze flashes to Maisie, registering her reaction to seeing him. He doesn’t know she knows. Or at least, he didn’t. Though given the smile she’s wearing as she looks between the two of us, I’d say he’s piecing it together pretty quickly.

“Uh-oh,” Maisie whispers so loudly she may as well have just spoken at normal volume. “I think we’re in trouble.”

“Get in the car.” He gives me a look that leaves no room for argument. “Both of you.”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Parker, sir.” Maisie giggles, tripping over her own two feet in her attempt to reach the vehicle.

River shakes his head, a small smile tipping the side of his mouth so briefly I start to wonder if I didn’t imagine it.

Maisie climbs into the back seat. I move to follow, but River stops me.

“You. In the front with me.”

“You didn’t tell me he was so bossy.” Maisie hiccups, covering her mouth with her hand, which only slightly muffles her laughter.

Well, if he wasn’t sure she knew yet, he sure as shit knows now.

“Thanks, Mais,” I mutter loudly before shutting the back door.

I stomp around the front of the car like a pouty child who’s been caught doing something they shouldn’t before tearing open the passenger door and climbing inside.

The familiar scent fills my senses as soon as the door closes, sealing me inside. I close my eyes for a brief moment and breathe in deeply.

The car smells like River’s cologne, the kind of smell that you want to snuggle into, the kind you can’t get enough of.

It isn’t until the car begins to move down the road that I chance a look at River, his profile only visible from the soft lights coming off the dashboard in front of him.

He’s so handsome my chest literally cracks open at the sight of him.

His hair messy like he’s run his hands through it a hundred times over.

His lips pursed in irritation. His eyes focused on the road, crinkling at the sides like he has to squint to see.

“Why are you here, River?” I finally ask to break the thick tension in the car. Tension so thick not even Maisie, as drunk as she is, dares to speak.

“Why? Let’s see. Maybe because I no more than pulled into my apartment complex and I got a picture of you, dressed in that.” He throws me a sideways glance, his heated gaze tracing the length of my dress before his eyes find the road once more.

“So? It was just a picture. It doesn’t explain why you drove nearly three hours when you were already home.”

“Doesn’t it?”

“I thought you’d like it,” I admit, my voice low.

“I did.” His nostrils flare, but he doesn’t look my way again. “Maybe that’s the problem.”

I open my mouth to speak about a hundred different times, only to end up snapping it closed, unsure of what to say.

It isn’t until we pull up outside of our dorm that River’s voice fills the car once more.

“Maisie, are you good to find your way to your room?” he asks, his eyes finding hers in the rearview mirror.

“Yep.” She nods, glancing my way as she pushes the door open. “Good luck,” she mouths before slipping out of the car and closing the door.

We both watch her cross the parking lot in silence, neither of us saying a single word until she disappears inside the building.

“You told her about us?” His voice is eerily hard.

“She put it together.”

“And you didn’t think that was information I should be made aware of?”

“It never came up.” It’s a lousy excuse, but it’s the best I have at the moment. “She won’t say anything,” I try to reassure him.

“Until she does,” he grumbles. “She knows everything?” He confirms.

“She does.”

He blows out a hard breath.

“Why are you really here, River, and don’t give me some bullshit excu—” My words die on my lips when River’s fingers close around the back of my neck and he pulls me to him, his mouth swallowing my gasp of surprise.

He kisses me frantically, deeply, thoroughly, until I swear the whole world has tipped sideways, casting me off balance.

When he finally pulls away, I’m breathless, my cheeks flushed, my lips swollen, my entire body aching in the best possible way.

“Tell me you’re mine,” he murmurs against my mouth, pressing his lips to mine again, a soft peck that I swear I feel all the way down to my toes.

“I’m yours.” My fingers find his hair, tangling in the soft strands.

I pull back abruptly when something I hadn’t considered before hits me like a slap across the face.

“Is that why you’re here? You saw that picture and thought what? That I was going to hook up with another guy?”

His gaze doesn’t meet mine, confirming my suspicion.

“Look at me,” I demand, not continuing until the dark green of his eyes comes into view.

“Do you really think so little of me? That I would no more than leave your bed and crawl into someone else’s?

” I ask, a little less offended than maybe I normally would be, thanks in large part to Jose, whose buzz is still swimming heavily in my veins.

“We never talked about...” He shakes his head. “We aren’t exclusive. You have every right to sleep with another man if you so choose.”

“And would you be upset if I did?”

“Would you be upset if I did?” He turns the question on me.

I consider it for a moment, how I would feel if he slept with someone else, and I can come up with only one word that would describe even a fraction of how that would make me feel.

“I would be devastated,” I admit, my words barely audible.

“Well, to answer your question, I wouldn’t exactly be happy about it either.”

“You just drove three hours worried that I was going to hook up with someone else. I think you’d be more than just unhappy about it,” I call him out, silently begging for a truth he’s been so hesitant to give.

“You’re right. I’d probably kill the motherfucker.” Anger flashes through his dark green eyes, but that isn’t all I see.

I smile, my hand sliding to the side of his face.

“I’m not going to sleep with anyone else. Not as long as we’re doing whatever it is we’re doing here. So long as you agree to the same.”

“Done,” he says without hesitation, widening my smile.

“Then it’s settled. So the next time I send you a picture of me in a dress like this.” I gesture down at myself. “Know that I’ll be taking it off later, alone, wishing it were you stripping me bare.”

“I shouldn’t have come all this way. I just... Fuck, I don’t know what came over me.” He shakes his head, causing his hair to fall across his forehead.

I reach up, pushing it back away from his face.

“Well, since you’re already here.” I trail my hand down his cheek, across his neck to his chest and then lower, not stopping until my fingers are playing at the buckle of his jeans. “No sense in wasting the trip.” I smile, popping open the button.

“You’re going to be the death of me, Charlotte O’Malley.” He hisses through his front teeth.

“And what a sweet death it will be.” I lean forward, pressing my lips to his once more.