From Ashes (12 page)

I
STOPPED ON
the way to my room and turned slowly to look around. I don’t know what I heard but when I didn’t hear it again, I continued on in and shut the door before turning on the TV. Thank God Cassidy had gotten groceries before I’d come back. Even though I’d finished dinner with the guys only a few hours ago I was already starving and about to finish off an entire bag of chips. Another muffled sound from the front of my place had me muting the TV and grabbing my Sig. I crept down the hall and heard a loud thump against the door. Looking out the peephole showed nothing, but I wasn’t stupid enough to leave it at that. Before I could reach the blinds I heard sobs and a soft, melodic voice calling my name.

“Cass?” I asked even before I swung the door open to reveal her little body curled up in a ball at the base of the door. “Shit. Cassidy!” I put my Sig on a table near the door and went back to her.

“G-G-G-Gage?” she stuttered, and looked up at me as I scooped her into my arms.

She was fucking freezing. Her hair had literally frozen and even in the soft light from above my door I could see her face was blue. Why wasn’t she wearing a damn jacket or shoes?! Where the fuck was Tyler? I ran back to my bathroom with her in my arms and turned the hot water on as I sat her on the counter. Flipping the light on, I got my first good look at her and a string of expletives left my mouth. Her lips and the surrounding area were blue, as were the tips of her fingers. The rest of her was bright red and shaking uncontrollably. Her eyes fluttered as she tried to keep them open before she gave up, letting them close. Her lashes, eyebrows, and hair were all frozen and her damn socks were stuck to her feet. I tried to lift her shirt off her but it was stuck as well, causing her to cry out and start sobbing again.

I wanted to scream at her, ask her why she would go outside dressed like this when it was sleeting and at most twenty degrees outside, ask her where her damn boyfriend was and why she hadn’t called me. But I was so scared all I could do was whisper that she would be okay as I hugged her and tried to transfer some of my body heat. The shower was warmed up so I took off my sleep pants, leaving on my boxer-briefs, and took us both into the shower. She cried out again and I knew it must have been burning her, but she needed to heat up—like half an hour ago. I kept my arms around her and rubbed them vigorously up and down her body, and as her clothes loosened on her, I took those off and threw them onto the bathroom floor. She brought her hands up to my body and I flinched as the contrast between the hot water and her frozen fingers hit me. We were in a burning-hot shower, and she was making me freaking cold. My stomach dropped when her head fell hard to my chest and her body gave out.

“No, no, no. Wake up, Cassidy! Wake up!” I shouted, and sank down into the tub, glad I’d put the plug down so it would fill up while the shower ran. “Cassidy!” I grabbed her chin and brought her face up, cringing when I saw how blue her mouth and the surrounding area still were. “Wake up, darlin’!” I pressed my mouth to hers as if I were doing mouth-to-mouth and blew hot air onto her frozen face.

“G-G-G-Gage?”

“That’s right, Cass, wake up. Keep talking to me.” Her eyelids fluttered shut and I shook her body. “No, Cassidy! You can’t sleep right now. Stay awake, talk to me. Why were you outside?” I grabbed her fingers and blew more hot air on them before shoving them into the collecting water, turning the shower up even hotter, and grabbing her chin again.

“T-T-Ty.”

“Where was Ty, Cass?”

“K-k-kicked-d m-m-me out-t.”

My body stilled. “Dressed like this?”

She nodded even though I still gripped her chin.

“Why didn’t you call me, Cassidy?!” I shouted at her, and tried to calm myself when she recoiled from the sound.

“H-h-he locked-d m-me out. N-no ce-ce-ce—”

“Locked you out without your phone?”

She nodded again and I squeezed her body tighter to mine. “Jesus, Cassidy. I’ll kill him. I’ll fucking kill him.” I looked down to see her jaw slack and her eyes closed again. “No! Wake up, baby. You gotta stay awake. Come on, Cass.” I shook her again. “I need you to stay awake!”

“S-so c-cold.”

“I know, Cass. I know. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.”

“G-Gage?”

“Yeah, darlin’?”

“I’m t-tired.”

“I know.” I sighed in relief when I looked down to see only red on her beautiful face instead of blue. “You can’t go to sleep yet though.”

Cupping water in the hand that wasn’t holding her upper body, I let the water fall down her hair a few times before running my hands over it to make sure it was completely thawed out and warm. I kept her talking until her teeth stopped chattering and her body stopped shaking. It wasn’t until I had us out of the shower and was wrapping numerous towels around her that I realized I’d been in a shower with a naked Cassidy. But I could barely even think about that now, let alone then. I was terrified for her, and now I was shaking with built-up rage at my cousin. Her eyes closed again when I took her into my room to grab a shirt and sweats to dress her in.

“Cassidy, I need you to sit up and stay awake. I’m going to start a fire. I know you’re tired, but if you can stay up for another half hour, I’ll let you go to sleep then, okay?”

She nodded and sat up, wrapping her arms around herself in my baggy clothes.

“I’ll be right back, stay awake.”

I grabbed my phone and changed into clean boxers, jeans, and a hoodie before running into the living room and starting a fire.

“Adam. Hey, man, I’m sorry if I woke you, but can you do me a huge favor?”

“Uh, yeah.” He whispered to someone that it was me and asked, “What’s up?”

“Are you with Dana?”

“We were just watching a movie, what’s wrong?”

“I need someone to come watch Cassidy while I go beat the shit out of Tyler. But if you’re with Dana, I’ll call someone else.”

“No!” He sounded alarmed. “No, no, it’s fine. What happened to her?”

“I haven’t gotten the whole story, but he kicked her out of their place, locked her out in nothing but a tiny shirt and pants, without her phone or anything. I guess she walked all the way over here; she was blue and frozen when I opened my door.” The firewood had caught and I waited for it to stay burning before turning off the gas.

“Are you serious?” He spoke away from the phone and whispered for Dana to come with him. “We’re on our way. Do you need us to get her anything?”

“No. I just need someone to watch her, make sure she stays awake for a while. I had her in a hot shower for a while and she’s in some dry clothes now. I just got the fire started and I’m gonna make her some coffee.”

I heard him relaying the story to Dana. “Damn. Gage, that’s a good three-or-four-mile walk from their place. My car is saying it’s sixteen degrees and it is sleeting really bad.”

“I know,” I growled, and started the coffee. “She had to have left at the very least an hour and a half ago, and Tyler hasn’t called me once to tell me she’s gone. I swear to God, if he’s just sitting in that apartment when I get there . . .”

“Gage, maybe I should go with you to make sure you don’t kill him. Dana can stay with her.”

I wanted to say I’d deal with it alone, but I knew he was right. “Yeah, okay. How long until you’re here?”

“Less than five minutes.”

“ ’Kay, the door is unlocked. I’m gonna go check on her.”

“All right, see ya.”

“Darlin’, you still awake?” I asked as I walked into the room.

Cassidy had a few tears on her cheeks when she looked up at me, and my heart about broke.

“Come on, the fire is going and the coffee is probably ready by now.” I didn’t wait for her to try to get up; I wrapped the comforter around her, scooped her back into my arms, and carried her to the couch I’d pulled up in front of the fire, then sat her down. “You okay?”

She nodded and stared into the flames.

“I’m gonna get you coffee. Once you drink it you can lie down, all right?” When she simply nodded again, I walked into the kitchen and poured her a mug before putting some milk and sugar in there. “Here you go, Cass. Drink all of this.” The door opened and she jumped. When Dana and Adam walked in she looked back at me and grabbed the mug.

“Hey, sweetie,” Dana said softly, and sat next to her. “What happened that you’d do something as crazy as walking in this freezing weather?” she asked with a quiet laugh and nudge.

I was glad she was asking, because that was exactly what I wanted to know. I was afraid Cassidy was going to break down crying again, and I knew how much she hated for anyone to see her cry, but instead her eyes narrowed and she harshly whispered to Dana about Tyler walking out that morning and coming in late that night with some redhead whose name she couldn’t remember. Said he introduced Cassi as his sister and took the redhead into his room, and repeated what Tyler said when he came back into the kitchen. That was the last thing I heard before grabbing Adam’s arm and stalking out to my truck. I was going to kill the prick.

We were there in six minutes, and I didn’t even bother knocking when I saw his Jeep in the parking lot. I used my old key and charged in, my anger building when I heard some chick’s loud moans in the kitchen. Rounding the corner, I paused only momentarily when I saw Tyler screwing Cara on the kitchen counter before continuing toward him.

“What the hell, man? Get out!”

I didn’t say anything, just grabbed his shoulder and turned him as my fist connected with his nose.

“Gage!” Cara screeched, and tried to cover herself when she realized Adam was with me. “You had your chance with me, you passed it up!”

“This has nothing to do with you and me, Cara. I honestly couldn’t care less who you decide to sleep with. But he has a girlfriend and he could have killed her tonight because he was being stupid. Now get dressed and get out!” I grabbed Tyler’s arm and dragged him over to the couch, letting him fall onto it and throwing the blanket at him.

“Damn it, Gage! You broke my nose.”

“I want to break a lot more than that. But I’m going to give you a few minutes to explain yourself first. Where’s Cassidy?”

He looked at me incredulously. “How the hell am I supposed to know? I told her to leave and now she’s gone.”

“Your Jeep is here.”

“So?”

“Did you give her your keys?”

“No.” He picked up a pillow and held it to his face.

“How did you tell her to leave?”

“I walked her outside. Why do you care? What’s with all the questions?”

“You locked her out of the damn apartment without a way to go anywhere or call anyone! She was in her damn pajamas and, if you didn’t notice, it’s fucking freezing outside!”

“Wait—if you knew all this, why are you even asking me?”

“Because I was hoping what she told me wasn’t true! She walked to my place and by the time she got there she was blue and completely frozen! She could have died, you son of a bitch!”

“Shit, I didn’t even think—oh God, is she okay?” He stood up and I punched him again before he could go anywhere. Adam came up behind me and kept a firm hand on my shoulder.

“You are a worthless piece of shit. Do not come near Cassidy again, you hear me? I don’t know why she’s clung to you her whole life; all you’ve ever done is let her get hurt. I didn’t understand how you could let her get hurt in the past, and I sure as hell don’t understand why you would treat her like this just because she wouldn’t have sex with you. You don’t deserve her, and I’ll kill you if you hurt her again.”

“Can you just tell me if Cassi’s okay?”

“She’s fine. And she’ll be fine as long as she’s with me.”

“Whoa, wait!” We all turned to see Cara standing there with a disgusted look on her still-flushed face. “You’re dating your sister?!”

“She’s not his sister, and he’s not dating her anymore. He’s all yours.” I jerked my head in the direction of my old room and Adam followed me in there. I grabbed Cassidy’s bag from her closet and shoved as much of her clothes as possible into it, grabbed her phone and charger, and headed to the bathroom before throwing everything in there in another bag Adam was holding. When we walked back through the living room, Cara was on her knees in front of Tyler with a towel wiping the blood off his face and chest.

“Gage—”

I cut him a hard look and he stopped talking. “I’m serious. Stay. Away. From Cassidy.”

When we got back to my place, Dana jumped up and put her finger over her mouth before whispering, “She finished a second cup of coffee and just fell asleep like three minutes ago.”

“Did you put sugar in it?” The coffee was decaf; I wasn’t trying to make her stay up the entire night, but I wanted her to drink something hot and wanted the sugar in her system.

She nodded. “And milk.”

“Thanks, Dana, I appreciate it, and I’m sorry for interrupting your time together.”

“Don’t even worry about it. She’s one of my closest friends and takes care of you boys all the time. I owe her for keeping my guy fed.”

I grunted in agreement and couldn’t help but smile when I walked around to the front of the couch. She looked adorable. There was no other word for it. She was drowning in my sweatshirt; the hood was up over her head and her wavy hair spilled out the sides. Her cheeks were pink from the heat of the fire and she was still fully wrapped up in the comforter.

After a quick good-bye to Adam and Dana, I took both of her bags into the spare room before going back out to the living room and picking up the girl I love. When she was all settled in the guest bed, I pulled the hood of my sweatshirt off her head and brushed the hair from her face.
God, she’s beautiful. And she’s here.
She’d run to me. For the first time ever, she’d gone to someone other than Tyler. Granted, all this was his fault, but she’d gone somewhere else, and it’d been to me.

“I love you, Cassidy,” I whispered, and pressed my lips to her forehead before reluctantly leaving her to go back to my own room.

C
ASSIDY

T
HE SMELL OF
coffee woke me the next morning and I was briefly disoriented when I didn’t recognize the room I was in. When I started to get out of bed and fell back with a groan, the night before came rushing back to me and I wanted to die when I realized how Gage had taken care of me. And Tyler—what the hell? How could he do that to me? I’d never once kept my feelings for Gage a secret, and he knew I needed time to get used to us as a couple. I thought I’d progressed significantly, but apparently not enough. I couldn’t believe he’d just bring someone home like that though. It wasn’t like my Tyler at all, and I was surprised by how much it hurt. It wasn’t anything like when Gage broke my heart, but it still felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. Or maybe that was just a side effect to whatever was going on with the rest of my body. I tried to sit up again but didn’t make it far before my head hit the pillow.