Velvet Fire - Ashby Crime Family Romance

“Okay, then. Sorry Oliver, I’m a little…” Fucked in the head wasn’t something I was ready to share with anyone, especially a stranger.

“Don’t worry about it, kid. You’ve been through a lot. It’s all right to be a little paranoid.”

“Try a lot.” Right now I would totally love to be only a little paranoid. It would be a welcome reprieve from the heart-racing double-time, the blood rushing through my ears, the way my leg wouldn’t stop shaking major paranoid rush taking over me.

“You want me to crank up the heat?”

“Sure.” My teeth chattered so bad I wasn’t sure I would ever feel warm again. “Thanks.”

He’d given me his coat as soon as he saw my dress torn to shreds. It was warm and smelled like a man with good taste, or more likely a man who had a woman with good taste.

I closed my eyes and tried to take a deep breath, but I couldn’t even get the air out of my lungs before the loudest sound I had ever heard in my life tore through the air and jostled the whole car. I choked on my breath and turned around, looking out the back window to see a giant ball of fire in the distance and then blackness.

“Breathe, Maisie!” Oliver’s voice sounded far away. Farther away than the front seat, but I couldn’t look away from the smoke, the fire. It looked like the whole block was burning.

“Breathe!”

A hand landed hard as fuck on my back, shocking and startling the fuck out of me. I tried to push away but hands gripped me. “Oliver! Help!”

“Maisie, breathe goddammit! Breathe!”

Oliver. It was Oliver’s voice and his hand pounding against my back.

“Shit. Fuck.” I turned to him. “Did you…” I pointed out the window.

“Yeah. Saw it, felt it, can feel the heat coming from it. We gotta go. You’re not going to stop breathing again, are you?”

“No. Promise.” I tried for a smile but my cheeks trembled from the effort. Something in my eyes must have assured Oliver that I would keep breathing because he slid behind the wheel and got us moving again.

Eventually we arrived at Ashby Manor where Bonnie and Sadie greeted me at the door.

“Oh my God, Maisie, are you all right?” Bonnie was a crying and blubbering mess as she flung herself at me, holding me tight enough to stop my breathing. Again. “I’m so happy to see you!”

I patted her back and closed my eyes, soaking up the warm touch for as long as I could stand it.

“I’m okay Bon. I’m here and I’m fine.” When she could bear it, Bonnie let me go, and I turned to Sadie, who’s cool eyes I remembered from last time. They had warmed considerably.

In a quaking voice, I managed, “Thank you for sending the car.”

“Not a problem,” she said and gave my shoulder a cursory pat before guiding me into the mansion’s main entrance this time.

“You’re important to my son, which means you are important to me.”

I heard the words she said, but they didn’t make any sense. Maybe it was just a mother’s desire to see her son settled that prompted her rosy vision because Virgil had given me no indication we were more than a casual thing. And just because thoughts of him were the only thing keeping me from breaking down, didn’t mean he felt the same way.

“Uhm, thank you.” It sounded lame, but I couldn’t come up with anything that sounded appropriate under the circumstances.

Sadie’s arms were strong for a small woman as she planted them in the middle of my back and guided me up the steps and into a room in the center of the wide hall, decorated in varying shades of gold. It was over the top but tasteful.

“Here we are. Do you need a doctor?” Her eyes missed nothing as she nodded to the ankle injury I’d been trying to hide.

I groaned and fell down on the bed, a sigh rushing out like it was being chased. “Nah, I think I just sprained it from jumping out of that window. Who knew the second story was that high up?”

“You jumped out of a window!” Bonnie’s screeching tears didn’t help my control, but I knew she was whatever word meant more than terrified as shit.

“Impressive.” Sadie’s lips quirked up into a smile along with one eyebrow. “Drink?”

I nodded at Sadie’s offer, hoping a stiff drink would warm up my body and stop my hands from shaking.

“I had to jump, Bonnie. It was the only way out and there was no way in hell I’d let him shoot me up again.”

A shiver ran down my spine just thinking of the weightlessness I’d felt, the euphoria. The lack of control. “No way in hell.”

Bonnie screeched again, repeating my words only at a much higher decibel.

“Bonnie,” Sadie snapped and it shut her right up, or at least turned her tears down to a muffle, then she turned to me.