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

Charlotte

Eight Months Later

“What the actual fuck, Maisie.” I’m quick to cover my eyes the instant I realize why my roommate is currently on her knees.

As if having to deal with Lyric and Kai and their inability to keep their hands off each other even when they’re out in public isn’t bad enough, now apparently, I have to worry about coming home to find my other roommate doing something that makes me want to scrub my eyeballs with a toothbrush.

“Fuck.” The guy with his hand currently tangled in Maisie’s hair groans, not letting my interruption keep him from finishing.

I recognize him but can’t place him, and right now, the last thing I want to do is look back at him to figure it out.

“By all means, keep going.” I huff, holding one hand over my face and the other out as I try to feel my way toward my bunk without running into anything or seeing any more of the dude’s nether region or what Maisie was doing with it.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a prude by any stretch of the imagination. I’m just not much for voyeurism and as such, I wish Maisie would at least be kind enough to put something on the door to let me know not to enter.

“You can take your hand off your face now.” Maisie chuckles, followed by the clear sound of a zipper being tugged up.

“Could you maybe do that somewhere else?” I ask, dropping my hand but still keeping my back to them just in case. Bending down, I pull my large duffel bag out from under my desk, already half packed.

It’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that freshman year is already over.

So much has happened in such a short time, and yet, it kinda feels like nothing has happened at all.

I’ve heard the expression blink and it’s over countless times in my life.

In fact, it’s one of my mother’s favorite things to say.

But this is the first time I actually feel it, like I turned around and the year had come to an end.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited to go home, to spend the summer with my family and old friends, but a part of me really does not want to leave.

So many memories happened in this room. I found my best friends in this room.

Two people I don’t know how I ever lived without.

Though if Maisie keeps this crap up, I might rethink rooming with her again next year.

I had hoped that all three of us would live together until graduation, but then Lyric had to go fall head over heels for the most unexpected person ever, and now I’m stuck with just Maisie since Lyric will be living off campus with Kai this fall.

Stuck with might be a bit harsh. Truth is, Maisie is like my spirit sister.

We’re so much alike in so many ways, you’d think we were actually sisters.

But with that comes the other side of having too much in common, which is to say we bicker a lot.

Lyric has always been the mediator between us, and without her, we’re likely to kill each other next year.

“It’s not my fault you aren’t getting any.” I can hear the smile in her voice, but it still grates on me just the same. “Last time I checked, that was your own doing.”

I spin around to give her a what-for, but my words die on my lips when she’s pulled into the guy’s chest and he swallows half of her face.

Looking up at the ceiling, I let out a heavy sigh.

“You’ll call me as soon as you’re home?” he grumbles, voice deep.

“I live like fifteen minutes away,” Maisie reminds him. “Maybe you should be the one to call me when you get home.”

“What time are you planning on leaving again?” I interrupt, letting my gaze drift back to the guy standing next to Maisie, still trying to place him.

“Soon. I’m just waiting on Kai. He’s going to give me a ride back to the house.”

“Is Lyric coming with him?”

“She better be. I told her I’d drive to North Carolina and kick her ass if she left without saying goodbye. River is supposed to be picking her up sometime this afternoon, though I’m not entirely sure on the time.”

“River?” The name catches in my throat, and just like every time I think about him, my heart kicks against my ribs like it’s trying to break free.

River Parker.

The man who has consumed my every waking thought for months. Gorgeous. Smart. Funny. He is quite literally the perfect man—with one glaring flaw. He’s Lyric’s older brother.

Now, normally, I wouldn’t care if a guy I liked was related to one of my friends, but in this case, I don’t know, it feels like a brick wall that I’m not sure I’ll ever be strong enough to scale.

Not to mention, he’s proven to be the only man I’ve ever pursued who’s not immediately tried to sleep with me, despite my best efforts.

“Yeah, her brother. Remember... The hot one.” Maisie grins.

Oh, I remember , I think but don’t say.

“I know who her brother is. I thought she was taking a bus,” I say instead.

“She was going to, but I guess River said he wanted to pick her up.”

“I see.” I swallow, the action more difficult than it should be given the giant lump that’s planted itself firmly in my throat. “Is he picking her up here?” I ask, almost hopeful.

“I’m not actually sure. I would assume so since most of her things are here.”

“I should go.” The dark-skinned man turns, and for the first time since River’s name was mentioned, I remember that Maisie and I are not alone. “You’ll call me later?” He pulls her close and kisses the side of her head.

“If you’re lucky.” She grins, giving him a soft shove toward the door.

It isn’t until he steps past me that I finally remember where I’ve seen him. He’s a football player. Tuck. Tucker. Something like that. Pretty sure I had a class with him last semester.

I wait until the door closes behind him before turning back to Maisie.

“How long are you gonna keep this up?” I ask her bluntly.

“Keep what up?” She pushes her long, dark hair over her shoulder, acting like she has no clue what I’m talking about.

Maisie is the definition of beauty. Slender, toned frame.

Flawless skin, a shade of brown so soft it merely kisses her skin, like a deep tan only richer.

Long, dark hair with big, beautiful curls—when she doesn’t straighten them out like today.

But it’s her eyes that are the most striking, a bright blue that seems to glow against her light brown skin.

It’s no wonder she has so many male friends .

Anyone who has eyeballs wants their shot with Maisie Rose.

“Don’t think I don’t see what you’re doing. First Adam. Then Ryan. Now him.” I gesture to the door behind me. “Seems like someone is making a habit of hooking up with football players, I don’t know, in hopes that it might make it back to a certain someone you’re hoping to make jealous?”

Maisie may or may not have hooked up with one Macallan Stewart—a sophomore, soon-to-be junior—on the football team a few months ago.

She’d never admit it, but I think she really liked him.

I still don’t know exactly what went down as she’s never given us full details, but it’s clear whatever it was, it was bad.

Bad enough that I’m pretty sure she’d run him over with a car if given the chance.

I guess hooking up with all his teammates is the next best thing.

“This has nothing to do with Mac.” She hisses, clearly offended by my insinuation, her pretty face turning sour. “Maybe you should worry about your own love life and stop meddling in mine. Or is Conner still not texting you back?”

I open my mouth, ready to correct her, only to snap it closed. It doesn’t matter how badly I want to tell her the truth. I know I can’t. At least not yet.

Lyric, nor Maisie, has any idea that River and I have been talking—mainly texting—since his visit during family weekend last fall.

Personally, I wanted to tell them right away, but River was adamant that he didn’t want his sister to know.

Not that there’s really all that much to know.

Talking is all we’ve ever done. Hell, I have only ever even been in the same room as the man once and that was the same weekend I met him.

I’ve never been the kind of woman who pines after someone, but with River, try as I may, I just can’t shake him.

And to make matters worse, I don’t even know if he feels the same way I feel about him, though I can’t say I fully understand my feelings for him given our current situation.

How do you know if your feelings are true when you’ve never been given a real opportunity to explore them?

All I know is that night, at the glow party, the night that Lyric left early with Maisie, well, it was one of the best nights of my life.

The way River looked at me as we danced.

The way his fingers bit into my hips. The gentle graze of his hand at the small of my back.

The way his breath tickled my ear as he told me how beautiful I was.

It was the most innocent thing in the world, and yet, it wound me so tightly that I was sure if he leaned in and kissed me, I would have shattered into a million pieces all over the ground.

He didn’t, in case you were wondering. But I went home that night feeling like there wasn’t an inch of my body he hadn’t touched.

I didn’t expect him to text me the next day, especially when he declined my obvious advances, making me feel a bit off-kilter as that had never happened to me before.

I certainly didn’t expect for him to keep texting me.

But the more he did, the more invested I became, to the point it was impossible to hide it from my friends any longer.

So I lied. Told them some bs story about how I was talking to Claire’s older brother, Conner.

She lives across the hall, and well, no one likes her, and since I had also met her brother at the glow party, I thought it was a safe tale to spin because not a chance either Maisie or Lyric was gonna go across the hall and ask her.