Storm (Ashes & Embers 1)

“You can’t wait to get away from me, can you?”

“I’ve had about enough and would like to just get back to my life, as I’m sure you would, too.”

“I dunno. I’m kind of getting used to having you around. You’re like a little spastic kitten. One minute you’re cuddling and purring, and the next, the claws are out, and you’re pouncing in five directions.”

Well, there’s an analogy I’ll never forget.

He grabs a handful of my hair and gently pulls me back to his face. “You can scratch me if you want,” he whispers.

I yank his hand out of my hair. “Storm, cut it out. Stop touching me and saying things like that.”

“You’re hard not to touch. Sorry.” He gets up and goes into the bathroom and shuts the door.

I wonder if that was some strange compliment. Somehow, he’s made me feel guilty for not letting him touch me. What kind of crap-twist is that? Screw this crazy with him. No wonder he doesn’t have any real girlfriends. They would have to be insane to deal with him.

I go get my bag and take it into the main bathroom and put some makeup and clothes on. I still only have the one pair of stupid shoes, of course. Back out in the living room, I find my cell phone plugged into the wall next to the couch. Storm must have done that for me last night because I totally forgot to do it. There are still zero bars.

Storm comes into the room wearing jeans, a black t-shirt and barefoot. There is something about a barefoot man in jeans that’s so sexy. At least to me. He whistles for Niko, who comes running, and Storm lets him out the door to go do his business.

“The cafe in town has those lattes you like so much. Once you’re ready, I’ll take you.”

“Thank God. I need a coffee badly. I’m ready when you are.”

“Great, once Niko comes back in, we can go.”

He sits on the chair across the room and pulls on socks and his work boots. An odd feeling starts to wash over me as I watch him, his arms flexing as he ties his boots, his hair hanging down over his face. I’m going to miss him.

He looks up and catches my eyes, but I quickly look away. He shakes his head, visibly annoyed, and stands up.

“Just say it,” he says, his face turned away from me as he slides open the glass door that leads to the deck and whistles for Niko.

“Say what?”

Niko comes bounding in, paws covered in snow and runs directly over to me to kiss my face. I pet his big fuzzy head and plant a kiss between his ears. “I’m going to miss you, buddy,” I tell him.

“He’s going to miss you, too.”

I look up at Storm, who’s watching me pet his dog, and I know what he’s saying, and what he wants me to say. But I won’t say it, and I can see he’s mad. I will not fall into his trap. He thrives on this cat and mouse game of making women want him so he can play with them. I will not be one of his toys or allow myself to think that the few glimpses of possible sincerity meant anything.

“Let’s go.” He picks up my bag and I follow him down the hall to a door leading to the garage. A big truck, an older corvette, and about six motorcycles are parked in there. The walls are covered in tools. I fight the urge to ask him if this is all his. He opens the passenger side of the truck for me, and I get in and wait for him to come around and get in.

“Let’s not crash, okay?” I joke trying to lighten the mood that’s coming off him.

He grins over at me as he pushes a button to open the electric garage door and starts to back up. “If we do, I’m throwing you over my shoulder and carrying you back here. Our backseat days are over.”

Now that it’s daytime and the snow has stopped, I can see how far up into the woods we are. There are maybe three houses on the street where Storm’s house is, and then we turn onto the road where we were stuck. We drive about five miles and we come to a very small town. It’s adorable and quaint, with a few small mom and pop shops that I just love, an auto garage, a diner-cafe, the hotel, which is more like a little bed and breakfast it seems, and a very small grocery store. Storm stops at the garage first to check on our cars, which have both been towed here already. Mine doesn’t look too bad from the outside, the front looks dented a bit, but Storm’s truck is all smashed up in the front. Seeing the damage makes me realize how lucky we are we didn’t get hurt.

“Wait here in the truck and I’ll go talk to Seth. He’s the mechanic.”

I nod okay and watch him go inside. After a few minutes, I get bored and open the glove compartment. Condoms, a bunch of guitar picks, a fork, gum, a tiny Maglite. And a black bra. Size big. I slam the little door shut, disgusted. Who leaves their bra in some guy’s glove compartment? Did she leave the truck braless with those things bouncing around? What kind of woman does that? The kind he likes, obviously. I open my purse and take out my tiny size hand sanitizer and squirt it all over my hands. Who knows what the hell was crawling around in there.

He opens the truck door and jumps in, but does a double take at me. “Is that germ gel?” he asks.

“Yes.”

He looks at me like I’ve lost my head. “You have germ gel with you?”

“Thankfully, yes. Can we talk about my car, please? Can I drive it home?”

He starts up the truck. “No, it’s fucked up in the front. Seth has to order some parts. It will take a few days.”

“Well, shit. How much is that going to cost? Should I give him my insurance paperwork?”

He shakes his head as he backs out of the parking lot. “No, I told him I’d take care of it.”

“Why? You can’t do that.”

“Um, because I want to, and yes, I can. My front end is fucked. I was gonna just get rid of it, but it kind of has sentimental value now, sooo... I’m gonna let him fix it.”

“Sentimental value?”

“Yeah. We spent two days in there. How can I get rid of it?”

“You’re crazy, Storm, ya know that?”

He just laughs at me. I realize I totally forgot to call Michael because I was too busy hounding around in Storm’s truck. I pull my cell phone out of my purse and turn it on. A few emails and text messages come through. Finally! A connection.

I have six text messages from Amy. And two from Michael. Just two?

The first one: Did you get there okay?

And the second one, hours later: Call me when you have a connection.

Storm pulls into the cafe parking lot. “Hang on,” I say. “I’m going to call Michael while I have reception.”

I dial our house number, but there’s no answer. Hm. I disconnect and dial his cell.

“Hello?”

“Hey, hon, it’s me!”

“Jesus, Evelyn, what happened?”

“I got lost. And the snow got really bad and you know my car is awful in the snow, and I went off the road into a ditch. Some guy came along and tried to give me a ride, but then this crazy deer ran out in front of us and caused us to crash again. It was totally crazy, Michael. I was scared out of my mind. So we were stuck in his truck for like two days and thank God, he had blankets and some food in his truck. It was fucking awful.”

Storm rolls his eyes, and I smack his arm and make a face at him.

“Well, at least you’re okay. How’s your car?”

“It’s kind of smashed up. It’s at the garage here, but he needs a few days to fix it.”

“All right. So how are you getting home?”

“You have to come get me. I’ll tell you where I am. I was nowhere near the Falls Inn. The GPS got me lost.”

“Evelyn, I can’t come get you. I was called to go to a sales meeting. I had to go out of town. I’m in South Carolina. I flew in last night and I won’t be home until tomorrow night.”

“Are you kidding? How am I supposed to get home?”

“Can you call Amy?”

“Amy isn’t going to want to drive up here to get me, you know that. Her car doesn’t even have four-wheel drive and the roads are still kind of snowy and icy up here.”

“Well, get a cab. It will cost a fortune, but you don’t have a choice.”

“Is Halo okay? You just left him? Did you feed him?” I start to panic realizing he has left my poor cat alone.

I hear him sigh on the other end. “He’s fine, Evelyn. I gave him a ton of food and water before I left. He hid upstairs the entire weekend.”