Chapter 6

• I blinked my eyes open waiting for the pain to hit me. Nothing. I exhaled in relief. I never want to feel that kind of pain again. Getting killed by Sabrina would have been far less painful than that.
• I pushed myself up on my elbows scanning the room to see where I woke up this time. I was in my room—correction, our room. The ‘our’ before room sounded so sweet, so together. I smiled thinking of all the other things I could put our before.
• In the midst of my daydreaming, I noticed I was alone. That was unusual. My sisters’ never left me alone when I passed out. How long was I out for this time?
• I pulled the silk covers off me and got out of bed. Before I could touch the door handle, the door flew open startling me. Within a second I was off my feet and getting crushed between something. It took me a while to realize I was in Ash’s arms. The familiar musky woods scent gave him away.
• I hadn’t even seen him come through the door, let alone pick me up. He was whispering in my ear, his voice velvety and relieved. I never had the patience to learn a new language but if he was always going to insist on speaking to me in a foreign language, I had no other choice but to learn it. But his words didn’t even sound Spanish.
• I was willing to stay in his arms for as long as he wanted to keep me there, but I was getting lightheaded. His crushing arms were making it impossible to breathe easily and his hold was starting to really hurt.
• “Ash, I don’t want to alarm you or anything, but I need to breathe.” I choked out the words.
• “What? Oh.” He eased his grip but never let go. I pulled my arms up, stretching them before I knotted them behind his neck. He had one arm around my waist, supporting my dangling body against him; the other was on my neck, his fingers caressing my cheek.
• “Hi.” I smiled at him, looking into his hollow worried eyes. He looked anxious, his brow was creased and his lips were in a tight frown. He just looked at me, his eyes searching mine.
• “You know in human custom, when someone says hi, you say hi back.” I gave him a quick kiss and waited, hoping his mood would change. His frown eased up into a pressed line.
• “Is that a fact?”
• I could tell he was trying but his face remained fixed with all the worry and anxiety he was in.
• “When you go to Rome, you do as the Romans do. Let’s try this again, hi.”
• His grip tightened, his mood had moved from worried to annoyed. “How can you joke? Do you know you were passed out for five hours?”
• “How could I know, I was passed out, remember?” That joke wasn’t taken too well.
• “Merilee, this isn’t funny!”
• “Wow, you’ve never used my full name before. What changed since I went swimming in wonderland?” I wasn’t annoying him intentionally, but I just couldn’t stop myself.
• The worry in his eyes was replaced by fury. He let go of me, and I dropped to the ground flat on my feet. The slap of the wooden surface on my bare feet hurt but I didn’t dare show it. I stood on my tiptoes, letting the sting cool off. I preferred to have him angry than worried. He was overbearing and protective when he was worried.
• He walked away from me. He stopped, his back to me. He had one hand on his forehead, the other on his waist. “You are so annoyingly stubborn.” His voice was coated with irritation.
• I laughed. It was so unlike him to resign so fast. “Are you just figuring that out?”
• He turned around, his face livid. His body was tight and his fists clenched. His stern posture scared me a little. I stopped laughing and took a quick step back. I tripped on my feet and went down. Ash caught me before I hit the ground, pulling me steady on my feet, then he took three steps away from me.
• “Thanks,” I whispered.
• “Lee. Why are you taking this so lightly?” His expression was softer, restrained. He must have noticed he scared me. I moved closer to him wrapping my arms around his waist.
• “Because you’re worrying enough for the both of us, and anyway, I’m getting used to passing out.”
• He made a frustrated sound then reached for my hands to pull them off. I fastened a lock behind him.
• “You’ll have to break my arms if you want them off you.”
• He kept his hands on mine and did nothing. He looked at me, his face blank and his eyes impatient.
• “Ash, are you mad at me?”
• He kept silent, his expressions unchanged.
• “Are you giving me the silent treatment?”
• Nothing.
• “Okay, fine.” I let go of him and headed to the door. “There are five other people in this house I can talk to.” I walked out and headed downstairs. I didn’t look but I could feel him behind me, he was following me closely. I kept walking until I got to the outside patio at the back of the house, where the others were.
• Maria and Joe were on the swing. Billy and my dad were standing at one corner while Ann was on the other. Her face was red and I could practically see the steam come out of her ears, she was beyond furious.
• “What’s wrong?” I asked as I carefully stepped outside into the quiet war that was going on.