Page 15 of All That Glitters
“I’m sorry I’m…late. There was a…meeting.” Her eyes locked on me and her steps faltered as much as her words had, but only slightly. The room could’ve been filled with people and no one else would’ve noticed her misstep, but I noticed. “Ashton.”
Her voice softened when she said my name and something deep inside me…shifted.
“Helen.”
“How are you?”
“Still an asshole,” Hale said, answering her question for me.
“Hale,” she scolded, getting closer to us.
“No. He’s right. I’m still an asshole. Probably more of one now.”
She was beautiful. Dark hair. A fading tan on her skin. Flowing linen pants and a black sweater.
Her make-up was minimal, but it always had been.
She’d never fussed over her looks or clothes or jewelry. She was shorter than me by a few inches, and she was always poised and put together. Professional. At least, she was now as one of the faces of Troye, LTD?
Was the woman I’d known before still buried beneath? The one who wore jeans and sneakers? The one who pulled her hair up in a messy bun or in a ragged ponytail? The one who didn’t mind dirt or grease or tire dust?
God… I wanted her. All for myself.
That was one feeling I hadn’t had in the months since the wreck. Want. Hunger for a woman. Desire for this woman. I remembered a moment in the car when I realized I might die. I remembered that one of the regrets I had was Helen. I’d never kissed her. I never had the nerve to jack up my friendship with her and Hale by taking things in a direction beyond friendship.
Vague memories filtered in of her visiting me in the hospital. Her voice soothing me when I’d become agitated. The slight, familiar weight of her hand. The feel of her hair brushing against my face when she kissed me on the forehead.
And the anger settled in my gut once again like the fiery stone it was.
“I simply meant how are you doing?”
“I’m…” I had no idea how to answer that. “I’m putting one foot in front of the other. Is that what you’d call fine? If so, then I’m fine.”
“Good. Would you like to sit?” She indicated the chair nearby. “A drink? Coffee? Something stronger?”
“No. To all of it.”
“Alright.”
For a moment, she looked lost and uncomfortable, but it was fleeting. She sat on the edge of the sofa and folded her hands in her lap.
She was off limits. Always had been.
She was Hale’s sister. His twin. And even though he and I weren’t exactly friends right now, the line was still there. One didn’t mess with the other’s sister.
Maybe.
Everything had changed.
And Hale was right. I was still alive.
But how alive was the old Ashton? I was beginning to think he was gone and I didn’t know if he’d be coming back again.
The wreck had left me breathing, but it had also left me with a desire to hurt, to cause pain, to pay like with like.
Repaying Hale with a wreck of his own was something that neither of us may come back from, but I could definitely hurt him, take from him.
My gaze drifted to Helen who was staring off at the other side of the room, the long column of her neck just begging for my teeth, my lips, my mark.
