My head started to hurt as the reality of the past couple of weeks collapsed over me. I walked over to the bed and sunk down onto it, and Callista eventually made her way over and sat on the end of it.
“The same thing that happened with you. I met Gabriel, and suddenly, I was attached. That was all it took, that split second. At first, I thought maybe I could flip him, but…” The Varassos’ smiling faces flashed across my brain. “They’re a family. Arealone. It’s not about who has what power, and it’s not about how to move the pieces on the board. They’re husbands and wives. They’re mothers and fathers. They love each other, and for a split second, I thought…”
A laugh started small in my throat, but then grew and grew until it was manic, borderline hysterical. I looked at Callista, and tears were streaming down my face, but from joy or from pain, I didn’t know.
“I should have known that I’m not the kind of person someone loves,” I said at last.
Callista opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again. I imagined her saying it.I love you, Denise. But I knew that she wouldn’t. No one ever did.
“Yeah,” I said.
Callista stuck out her hand. “Denise, I just need to know that you still want to take your mom down. Please tell me that.”
A snort blew out of my nose. “She’s the source of all the pain I’ve ever felt.” I stared directly into Callista’s eyes so that she would know I was serious. “I want to watch that woman bleed out.”
Chapter Four:Ashton
“Where are we going?” Denise asked with a sing-song sweetness in her voice.
“California,” I replied. “We came here a few years ago and stayed in this penthouse right on the beach. It’s beautiful. You’re gonna love it.”
“How could I not with you there?”
The various landscapes that we passed as we drove toward the western seaboard were stunning backdrops to Denise. If I hadn’t been driving, I probably would have been snapping pictures in a continuous stream. The rolling bluffs as we traveled through Missouri, the high, spiked mountains and endless desert as we passed through Arizona, and finally, the sparkling ocean in San Diego, California, were each uniquely picturesque. The sunset somehow seemed endless, but I didn’t question it. Denise’s hair was back to her natural light brown color, and her blue eyes were shining in the dropping sunlight.
Beautiful.
We probably had some house or hotel to check into, but I didn’t think about that. Instead, I brought us to the beach. The sun stayed settled just above the horizon while we climbed out of my car and moved down to the warm sand. Denise picked a spot right near the water’s edge where she could slide her bare feet into the water, and she tilted her head back and let the wind whipping off the waves blow through her hair.
I sat down behind her and slid up until my legs were on either side of her. She leaned back against me and set her head on my chest. The smell of the sea mixed with Denise’s coconut shampoo wafted around me in the most delightful, relaxing smell.
How long we sat there was a mystery to me, but I wasn’t going to rush us away. It was something I’d long dreamed of, and I wanted to soak it up for as long as I could. I kissed Denise on the cheek, and she snuggled even further back into me, pulling my arms to wrap around her chest and hold her tight. I couldn’t think of a better place to be.
“Ashton?” Denise said.
“Hm?” I responded.
“Ashton,” she repeated.
“What?” I said.
“Ashton!”
Sharp pain in my side had me shooting awake with a groan. “Ah! Fuck!” I rolled to the side, tangling myself up in the blankets and sheets of my makeshift bed, wincing at the screaming pain in my waist. “Why did you do that?”
I looked up, and though the Denise hovering above me was just as beautiful as the one in my dreams, she wasn’t nearly as relaxed. “You wouldn’t wake up,” she barked. “We have to go.”
“Fine. Next time, just kiss me or something,” I joked.
“Oh, okay, you count on that,” she replied flatly.
She could act cool about it all she wanted, but last night, she was definitely giving methe eyes. If I wanted to take her last night, I probably could have, but I needed her to understand that I didn’t expect sex from her just because I yanked her out of my dad’s crosshairs. I wanted to have sex with Denise—I wanted a lot more than that—but it was important to me for Denise towantthose things. The last thing I wanted was for her to feel obligated to give me anything.
I sat up, scratching my head as I did. “I was having the most amazing dream.”
“Oh, yeah?” Denise replied. “What about?”
She was sitting back down on the bed cross-legged and was looking at me with genuine interest. So much had happened in the last few days that I’d nearly forgotten that Denise and I were actually friends. She’d come to my family for Callista, but we always got along. She was disturbed by the situation she’d found herself in, but maybe her night’s rest had reminded her too.
