Blue Horizons (A Horizons Novel Book 1) (27 page)

Light floods the hallway, blinding me, and again, I close my eyes. I don’t want to see him. I don’t want to remember him. I don’t want to remember any more of this than I already will. But someone’s here, I know it! Someone’s turned the lights on. Keeping them closed, I wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Floating.

That’s what I feel like. His weight is no longer on top of me, and somewhere in the back of my head I hear men’s voices. The floor thumps with what feels like dancing, or scuffling, either way it’s the same as when Chris charged in after me.

Fear. It chokes me.

Not again!

Please don’t let him touch me again.

Screams.

Piercing.

Desperate.

Mine.

Hands land on my arms, and I jerk away.

“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” I hear through the thickness. It’s a woman. It’s my mother.

Crying.

Wailing.

Not mine.

Sirens.

Tired.

It’s like my body suddenly knows help has arrived and instantly my heart rate slows. The pounding of the beats dulls, and I drift in and out of consciousness. Everything hurts so much that nothing hurts at all.

Numbness.

Darkness.

AVERY IS WALKING toward me, her eyes so focused on mine that my heart rate speeds up. People are calling her name and taking her picture, but she isn’t focused on any of them—just me. Without thinking my feet start moving in her direction. She has this pull on me that I’ve never experienced before, and it’s like we are two parts of a magnet that are constantly searching for each other. There is no way I can’t not go to her. Emma’s head peeks around Avery to see where she’s headed, spots me pushing through the crowd, and her eyes slide past me to Clay. She lights up. A huge smile breaks out on her face, and just as quick as there was joy, her expression switches to one of something else: curiosity, regret . . . who knows?

I’d worried that Avery would be angry, but she doesn’t look like she is. She looks determined to get to me, and I’m so thankful for that. Once I explain everything to her, I know she’ll understand. She has to . . . her life is the same as mine, and rarely do people like us find real, genuine love. That’s what I have for her: love, in its purest form.

Keeping my eyes focused on hers, the closer we get, I can see the tension all over her face and my hands tighten into fists. She doesn’t like being this close to all of these people, and it’s sending up every protective flag I have, but she’s doing okay.

“Hang in there, baby, just another minute or so, I’m almost there,” I whisper to myself, moving over to a spot on the carpet between the stairs and the roped off area. Once she’s done and makes it to the back hallway, I’m taking her away from all of these people and this place. I need to be alone with her, just the two of us.

Somewhere in that minute, there’s a blur off to the side. The guy who’s been following them around comes up from behind her, grabs her arms, and starts pushing her. Immediately her face blanches, the panic sets in, and she closes her eyes tightly. With the force of him pushing her, she stumbles, releasing Emma’s hand, and lands on her knees. Instead of hitting the floor completely, he’s now wrapped his arms around her, crushed her back to him, and is attempting to pick her up and carry her out of the room.

Sweat breaks out across my forehead, under my hat, and every fight cell I have in me stands to attention just asking to be released.

A crowd instantly forms, the commotion around them intensifying, and people rush in front of me to see what’s happening.

In the back of my mind, I know this entire scene is happening very quickly. And unless you know her, no one has any idea what she’s experiencing right now, and all I see is red. What does this guy think he’s doing? I don’t know him, but I know I’m going to kill him.

“Move!” The tenor in my voice is loud, and that along with who I am has people scattering. Clay is right behind me, and I pray to God that he’s prepared to restrain me, because I’m not stopping until my hands are around that asshole’s neck!

As we approach the side door of the hall, the guy shoves Avery through and the girls quickly follow. Security stops Clay and I, and although they can see how angry I am, they won’t let me through. She needs me, I need to be there for her, and these guys won’t move.

“Sir, you need to back away from the door!” The two guys puff their chests as if this is going to intimidate me.

“Are you crazy? Get the hell out of my way before I remove you,” I snarl at them.

“Sir . . .” one yells, but is cut off because Emma pushes between the two of them and grabs my hand. I’m so worked up and about to lose my shit, I can’t even hear what she’s saying. Blood is roaring through my veins and ears.

As we push through into the hallway, my eyes zero in on Avery as she is frozen in fear and having a complete panic attack. She can’t breathe, she’s crying, and shaking all over.

“Let go of her right now!” I storm toward the guy. He still has his arms wrapped all the way around her from behind. Why isn’t he letting go?

“Who the hell are you? And no way! Something is wrong with her,” he snaps at me.

I look at Clay and he knows. He grabs Avery’s arm, yanks her forward, and the creepy guy let’s her go, not expecting the move to come from him. Immediately I slam my fist into his face, and he falls backward to the ground. I hear a few gasps, but I have no idea what direction they’re coming from; they seem to be coming from everywhere.

“I told you to let go of her! You don’t touch her, ever! Do you understand?” I point at him.

Leaving him on the floor, I turn around and see Emma trying to calm Avery down while Clay is still holding her. They don’t understand; she won’t calm down because she is being touched.

I glance at Emma and say, “I’m sorry” and then I shove her out of the way. More gasps come from around the room.

“Ash! What are you doing?” Emma grabs on to my arm and tries to pull me out of the way.

“Give her to me, Clay,” I say calmly, shaking Emma off.

“Ash, you need to leave her alone.” Emma sounds desperate, but I don’t even acknowledge her, my focus solely on the beautiful pained face of the girl standing in front of me. Clay gently hands her over and moves to stand next to Emma. Pulling on Avery’s elbow, I move her closer to the wall and away from prying eyes. Using my body as a shield, I block everyone out so she won’t see them when this is all over.

Placing her hand on my chest, I put one finger under her chin, and say, “Ava.” Remembering the name she gave me, and just me, her eyes fly open, and it’s green to blue. She’s still trembling from head to toe. I absolutely hate this haunted look in her eyes and I want to kill whoever put it there in the first place. I also now hate the color green.

“Ava,” I say again and wave two fingers back and forth between our eyes. I can see the recognition in her face and she understands what I’m doing. “Breathe with me.”

Tears drip down her cheeks leaving tracks in her makeup and as much as I want to kiss them away, I know right now I can’t touch her, at least not yet.

This breaks my heart. This panic attack is the worst one that I’ve seen yet.

As the seconds painstakingly tick by, the rise and fall of her chest slows, her face relaxes, the panic leaving, but the heartache of the situation remaining. Her fingers on my chest tighten around the lapel of my jacket as she leans into me and buries her face in my neck. Loosely, I wrap my arms around her, bringing her closer, and tuck my face into her hair. I don’t want her to feel trapped, but I so desperately need to hold her. She pulls her other arm in between us and snuggles in closer.

The trembling changes to shaking as more tears begin to fall. I can’t even imagine what it feels like to experience this, and for it to happen in front of a room full of people—this wrecks me. I want to hold her and protect her forever.

Moving my lips next to her ear, so only she can hear me, I whisper, “Listen, I’m gonna take my jacket off, wrap it around you, and then we’re leaving. I’m taking you home. Okay?”

She nods her head, sniffs, and then responds, “Okay.” Her voice is hoarse and it grates across my heart. Leaning back from her, I tilt her head up so I can look into those eyes of hers and smile. This terrible moment is passing and I already know she’s uncomfortable with the situation, but she is mine and I am hers. She needs to know this. Her hands move to wipe away the tears, while I pull my jacket off and wrap it around her shoulders.

“My girl,” I say, wrapping my hands around her head and tangling my fingers in her hair. She blinks three times, sniffs again, and then gives me a small one-sided smile. I return her smile with one of my own and lean down to kiss her forehead.

Together we turn around, but I keep her facing me so she doesn’t have to see all of the people in the hallway. I know how she feels about these moments and the less she remembers about it and who saw her like this . . . the better. Her eyes stay focused on mine.

There are at least fifteen to twenty people standing in the hall in complete silence, just staring at the two of us. Emma takes a step toward us and I instinctively tighten my grip on Avery and shake my head. Avery feels the nonverbal action and steps closer to me. Emma stops, and gives me a small reassuring smile. She understands. I don’t want anyone coming near her. I just want to get us out of this mess.

I look over at Mona, to the creepy guy standing next to her rubbing his jaw, and then back to Mona. My glare sharpens in on her and I say the only thing I can think about at this time.

“He’s fired. Immediately.”

Mona sucks in a huge gasp of air. Both of them begin to squirm and his face turns beet red.

“You can’t fire me. One, you don’t work for the label. Two, I don’t have any idea who you even are. Three, I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Emma turns around, stalks toward him, and slaps him directly across his face. Clay moves to stand behind her as this guy clutches his face in shock, and looks at her angrily.

“Let me tell you something, Scott! One, I told you on the stage that if you put your hands on her again you would have to deal with me. Two, you signed a contract and it explicitly states that under no circumstances are you to touch Avery Layne, ever! And three,” she looks back over at me and smiles, “If Will Ashton says you’re fired, then you’re fired!”

He pales as recognition sweeps in. “You’re Will Ashton?”

I raise my eyebrow at him.

Mona turns to face him and squares her shoulders. “I hired you as a favor to your mother, which I am regretting more by the second. You broke the contract, which is a physical assault on Ms. Layne, and as clearly you aren’t aware, Mr. Ashton here is a partner at the label, meaning you work for him, or should I say ‘did’?”

His eyes widen in disbelief as he looks at me, and mine narrow at him. Taking one more glance around the hall, I look down at Avery—it’s time to go.

“We’ll see you later,” I say to no one in particular, but to all of them as a whole.

On that note, I turn us around, take her hand, and begin walking toward the emergency exit. I pull my cell phone from the outside pocket and call my driver to come and get us at the northwest exit.

The air is cold tonight, but the sky is crystal clear. Even though we’re in the city, stars are shining through. Draping my arm over her shoulders to keep her close and warm, one of her arms wraps around my back and one settles on my stomach. I love it when she touches me.

Five minutes pass and the car pulls up in front of us. I open the door for her, she climbs in, and I slide in next to her, placing my hat on one knee. Neither of us has said a word yet, and as the car pulls away from the curb, I tell the driver to take us to my high-rise. She looks over at me and I watch her eyes as she scans my entire face. It feels like she is tracing me with her fingers. It feels intimate and I reach out to her again. She scoots up next to me as I tuck her in and she moves to hold my hand.

Looking down at our interlocked fingers, my thumb rubs over the back of her hand. I loved her hands before, but now I love them even more. What they are capable of doing, the music that they can create . . . I’m spellbound.