21 Shades of Night, page 392
Carter
I groaned. Shortly after my grandfather began to show signs of improvement, I’d made myself a promise to sneak away to the city to see Ben and maybe get back to the bookstore. An invitation to another meeting from Carter had sealed the deal. I knew there was no way I’d be able to go, not after Harding’s news about Papa. I would be lucky if I saw Ben before Christmas. Anything with the ParaLine people was out of the question. I tapped out a reply:
Sorry. Won't be able to make it! Last minute plans. I’ve decided to stay home this weekend. Talk soon.
A.
Laura clicked in on tall heels just as I locked my phone for the night. “I hope you’re almost ready. We’re going to Poughkeepsie. It isn’t exactly the most interesting place to be, but I found a fusion restaurant with good reviews.”
Much to my surprise, the place was packed. We moved through the crowded lobby toward the bar and I felt a small thrill to be out for the night, far away from the thoughts that had been filling my mind in the past few weeks.
Laura ordered two glasses of wine from the bartender before turning on her bar stool to face me. “So, I think we need to have a little chat about something.”
Her eyes were glittering and I knew we weren’t going to have a serious conversation about job changes or crazy ex-boyfriends.
I rolled my eyes. “What might that be?”
“How long has it been since you ended things with Colin?”
"About two and a half months," I answered.
"So, why, after all that time, did he show up at your place in the middle of the night?"
This was the part I'd left out when we’d gone over everything: the why. "He thought–he thinks I'm sleeping with Ben." I looked down into my wine as I said it, hoping that she didn't notice the heat on my face in the dim bar.
Laura laughed heartily. "That's the most insane thing I've ever heard. How could he possibly think such a thing?"
I frowned, hurt by what her words implied. "Why is it so unlikely?"
Laura shrugged and took a sly slip of her wine, eyeballing a blond guy across the bar. "It just is. You're both too boring and, well, frankly, too uptight to be carrying on like that."
"What is that supposed to mean?" I tried to keep the edge out of my voice, but couldn’t tell how much I succeeded.
Laura waved her hand through the air, batting away the idea of such a tryst. "Oh, Allie. You're just too careful. I mean, I'm in full support of you dating and all...” She shrugged. "I was just saying. If you were dating Ben–it would complicate things. You don't like complicated–" she stopped and looked at me for a long moment. "Oh. Oh, Allie."
"What?"
"Are you sleeping with Ben?"
I moved to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear but dropped my hand down to the table and crossed my fingers together. "No, not sleeping with him. But some stuff happened. And, well, Colin walked in on us."
Her jaw dropped. "When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me?" Her voice was a little too high pitched, almost screechy.
I shrugged. "Calm down. It was right before my grandfather was in the hospital. I don't know. I wouldn't even know where to begin. I still don't." The scattered feelings that had haunted me for weeks were rushing forward again. I closed my eyes against them as I took a long drink of the cool white wine.
"Do you want to tell me about it?" Laura asked.
I shook my head. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to ruin the fun. It's just...it all feels so weird, and so messed up. We talk all the time, and there's definitely something there, but we can't... I don't know. It's bad timing."
"Maybe right now, it is. But it won’t be bad timing forever.”
"I don't know. Listen, do you mind if we leave it alone? I just want to have dinner and forget about the last twenty-four hours for a little while.”
"Then we’re going to need some help." Laura motioned to the bartender, a young man with an easy, wide grin. "Good evening, ladies. I'm Alex. I've taken over for Claire." He motioned to the tall redhead woman who had served our wine. "What can I get you?"
"We're hoping to ease our troubles. Any suggestions?" Laura asked, leaning in closer to him.
"I think I have something that should do the job.” He reached under the bar and set two martini glasses in front us. Grabbing several bottles of alcohol and a shaker, he proceeded to pour a blend of liquors that contained absolutely no mixers of any kind. I looked at Laura out of the corner of my eye and saw that she had her eyebrows raised. When he poured the drinks into the glasses, I was still skeptical that they would be even drinkable. "I call it the Slippery Succubus."
Laura took the first sip and gave him a million-dollar grin. "That's amazing."
Buffered, I took a sip of my own and sighed. "I'll have another, please."
Chapter 23
LATER, AS WE left one of the bars that Laura had chosen for "dessert," we began the futile search for a cab. Growing frustrated by the lack of readily available transport, I stopped on the street corner and turned to face Laura.
"Let’s just call for one," I said. We had wandered too far off the beaten path. Gone were the bars and restaurants. We were surrounded by dark, derelict buildings in a collapsing residential district. I wasn't spooked, but I was starting to feel dirty.
"My phone's dead," she answered, showing me the black screen.
I reached into my own bag and was dismayed to find myself empty-handed. "I can't believe it. I must have left mine at home.”
"You're not the girl I grew up with, Allie Stuart. How very careless of you," she said, winking.
"You're exactly the girl I grew up with. Why didn't you charge yours?"
Her smile was sheepish as we crossed the street, heading...west? I wasn't sure anymore. "I did. I've been, um, texting quite a bit tonight."
"Really? With whom?" I wondered how I could have missed this, but the bar had been crowded and we'd spent the night talking to various other patrons. At this point, the best I could hope for was that I hadn't done anything to embarrass myself.
"Seth," she said, looking off to the side, toward the empty street. Litter gathered in the gutters, the only sign that anyone ever spent any time in the area.
“How shocking.”
Laura nudged me with her shoulder. "I think I need to find someone else to occupy my time. He’s not as smart as he looks."
I laughed, looking around at the neighborhood where we found ourselves. The emptiness of the place was starting to get to me. There were other signs, as we walked, of inhabitants, but the street felt so quiet for a warm summer night. Absent were the people noises: televisions, chatter, and arguments. There weren't even any smells of car exhaust or burned food. "Do you know where we're at? How'd we even get here?"
"Of course. I think. There's another busy street a few blocks from here. Maybe we’ll find a cab there."
"What time is it?"
"I think around one," Laura answered.
We continued walking, but as we came to the next cross street, I stopped. "This is a dead end." Between two low brick buildings, the street narrowed to a single car-width and ended at a wall after a few hundred feet. Trash cans and discarded boxes cluttered both sides of the alley, hiding who knows what. I fought back the shudder that crawled down my spine. The sounds of the city had all but left us. The corridor was an urban desert, dark and lonely.
"This can't be right," Laura replied, turning to look for a street sign. "I think we need to head left."
I turned around, ignoring her, as I heard footsteps behind us. "We need to get out of here." I started back the way we had come, hoping to find a busier road. We needed to get back to civilization.
Laura grabbed my arm and I spun around to look at her. Her face was pale as she pointed. "Left."
We turned, and I saw lights ahead in the distance. I straightened my posture, cold practicality fighting through the haze of too many cocktails. We had a bit of ground to cover, but there were bars, restaurants, and lots of people ahead. Less than ten blocks, if my sense of distance was intact. I kept careful attention on the footsteps a hundred or so feet behind us, but I didn't dare turn to look.
I knew Laura had heard them, but we kept our silence. After another block or so, the footsteps disappeared. My shoulders relaxed some; we had overreacted. I fought the urge to giggle.
The noise was barely a noise - it was lighter than the lowest whisper. Was it fabric rustling? Another footstep?
My mind snapped away from it as a hand closed around the back of my neck. Someone yanked me backward and I grasped at the gloved hand over my mouth, trying to shout, cry out, anything that would draw attention to what was happening. The hand squeezed tighter, cutting off the scream that bubbled in my throat. My heels scraped across the concrete sidewalk, my whole body twisting to get away from my attacker. My backwards momentum was stopped only by the force of my head slamming into something.
A red glare erupted across my vision and I pushed my eyes open wider, trying desperately to see around the light. My gut told me to scream, but something was blocking my airway. The adrenaline pumping through my system whisked away the pain in my head and I blinked, trying to see where I was and what had happened. The dim street was gone, the end-goal of lights and clubs and people had disappeared. I saw the outline of buildings, closer than would be possible on a normal street. Another alleyway. My focus shifted as I felt Laura's weight against my side and a heavy arm across my throat. Tentatively, I tried to move away from the wall and met immediate resistance. The arm moved away from my throat to wrap around my chest, but I couldn't make anything else out. The red glare had died down and the pitch-black alley left me blind.
A low growl issued from the darkness, just a few feet from me. "Don't move. There's no need to make this any harder than it has to be."
I felt pressure from Laura's arm and in a flash, she had pushed herself away from the wall. I saw, as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, another long arm, fully covered by a black sleeve, wrapped around Laura's bare shoulders, pinning her back. The dark silhouette of a head moved toward her shoulder and I heard her scream.
Underneath the scream, there were the undeniable sounds of bones crunching. In the next instant, I felt a pressure against the side of my neck and heard another scream from Laura as the figure at her neck was thrown back.
There was nothing after that.
* * *
WHEN I CAME to, there were still arms around me, but I at least had a voice to match. Ben's disembodied voice floated above me as I struggled to open my eyes. My head was throbbing as Ben moved.
"Ben?" I managed to get his name out in a hoarse whisper.
He hushed me and pressed his lips to my temple. We were outside, and I recognized the shape of the building he was walking toward. Home. I was home. How long had I been unconscious? I tried to move my limbs, but my entire body felt like lead.
"Just stay still, Allie. I'll have you inside in a minute."
I slipped in and out as he carried me inside and tucked me into my own bed. There were footsteps downstairs, but I didn't know who else was in my house. I tried to ask, but my mouth wouldn't cooperate.
"I'll be right back, okay?" Ben tucked the covers around me again and gave me another kiss. His face was soft and concerned as his eyes raked over me.
I closed my eyes and nodded. The door of my bedroom clicked shut and I heard his footfalls on the stairs. There were muffled voices downstairs, it seemed like two others besides Ben. I concentrated on his voice, trying to pick out at least some of what was being said.
"–should have taken them both to the hospital... not equipped to deal with this."
"–and then what?... Be okay. Just let her rest, and give her the pain..."
Ben's voice didn't carry as well as the other one and I strained to hear more, but several seconds passed before I heard him speak again. "...about Laura?"
"Let me worry about her." The other voice was finally loud enough for me to recognize it as Harding.
There were more murmurs and then the back door slammed. I heard a car in the driveway and by the time Ben made it back upstairs with a few pills and a glass of water, I could feel the seeping edges of my consciousness slipping away. Every part of my body hurt. I took what he offered without another word and welcomed the darkness as it numbed my pain.
Chapter 24
THE NEXT TIME I awoke, my head was clear except for the nagging headache behind my eyes. As I started to sit up, I felt a strong set of arms pull me back to my bed.
"Stay here," Ben's voice whispered from the darkness. "It's too early to get up yet."
Overwhelming panic and confusion rushed through me. I vaguely remembered overhearing a conversation between Ben and Harding, but everything that happened between then and now was pretty fuzzy. I had to know what happened.
"What happened? How did we end up with Harding? Where's Laura?" I sat up too fast and was overwhelmed by the blood rushing from my head. In a daze, I allowed Ben to pull me back down against the pillows.
He kissed my forehead and rubbed his hand over my arm. "Calm down. There's plenty of time to figure out what happened. For now, though, I can tell you that Laura is safe and sound. Harding is taking care of her."
"What are you saying? You don't know what happened?"
He hushed me and planted more kisses over my face. "We'll talk in the morning.”
"I don't remember anything, Ben," I said, curling against him. I felt soothed as his warmth spread through me. "What day is it?"
"It's very, very early on Friday morning."
Friday? Was it really possible that I'd slept so long? "Are you angry with me or something?" I asked, tilting my head up, trying to find his face.
He moved closer, until there were only a few inches between us. In the low moonlight, streaming through the open window, I could make out the basic shapes of his face. The outlines of his eyes, nose...lips.
He shook his head. "I don’t have any reason to be angry. I'm just relieved that you're okay."
A sob rose in my throat. I was so relieved to see him and in the dim light filtering into my bedroom, I didn't care what had happened over the past few weeks. I couldn't chase away the fear that had embedded in my chest after whatever had happened in the alley, but knowing he was with me was a soothing balm over my wounds. There was safety here, in his arms. I tilted my chin further and hesitantly, touched my lips to his. Tears begin to slide from my eyes, but before I could wipe them away, Ben deepened the kiss. Distracted for the moment, I opened my lips against his and the mood shifted. In a moment, Ben had pulled me underneath him and I intertwined my legs with his.
As I felt his body move against mine, our clothes twisting a bit, I fought the urge to put a stop to what was happening between us. There were so many questions unanswered, so much we had to talk about. But maybe it didn't matter. Ignoring my need to talk too much, I continued kissing him, loving the feeling of his soft, gentle lips. Sighing against him, heat rushed over me, wherever our bodies touched. His hand slid against me, brushing over my breast, cupping it. I gasped as his thumb brushed my nipple and arched my hips into him. His weight over me was anchoring, pulling me back from the brink of panic. Every last worry, about Harding's little revelation, about what had happened to Laura, even about my grandfather, melted away as his lips peppered my neck and my face. How could anything that felt this amazing be bad?
I traced my nails up his spine and through the hair at the back of his neck before pulling his lips back to mine and crushing him against me. He moved when I did, our bodies melding together. Letting go of his hair, I pushed my hands under his shirt, craving the feeling of his skin anywhere I could reach it.
He pulled back. "We...can't do this. Not yet, not like this," he whispered.
I whimpered and shook my head. "Yes. We can."
He eased away from me, rearranging my shirt a little and brushing the hair back from my face. "You're killing me. You have no idea how much I've wanted this. No idea how long I've wanted you."
He gave me the most heart-rending, achingly tender kiss I've ever felt. If I never felt anything for the rest of my life, I didn't think I'd care so long as I could remember this.
I sighed against his lips. "Then why stop?"
"Because you're perfect. And this isn't."
"I'm so sorry," I said, resting my head against his chest, listening to the rapid beat of his heart.
"Don't be sorry. We'll talk in the morning." He pulled me against him as he resumed his place at my side. His fingers brushed through my hair and the fuzziness of sleep drifted behind my eyes. "Do you need anything?"
It was then that I realized how thirsty I was. "I could really use a glass of water," I said.
He chuckled and slid away from me, leaving a warm spot on the bed. I heard him fumble around on the nightstand before he handed me a cool glass of water. My lips were as dry as my voice and they were instantly soothed. I drank half the glass in a few gulps.
Taking the glass back, Ben kept me close to his chest as he put it on the stand.
I was asleep in minutes.
* * *
LATE MORNING WAS warm and sunny–a beautiful July day. My headache had blossomed and I searched for ibuprofen in the medicine cabinet, trying not to wince each time I moved. All of this pain had evaporated when I'd been with Ben, but an empty bed had left me achy. I heard noise in the kitchen below and wondered how many people were in the house. After brushing my teeth and cleaning myself up a bit, I shuffled down the stairs, my body weak after the encounter in the alley. All of the sleep had added to the bruised feelings in my muscles.
Thankfully, it seemed that Ben was the only other person in the house. He had arranged a plate of bagels and spread on the table and handed me a large mug of tea.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, his voice different from earlier that morning.
