Fighting Shadows (On the Ropes #2)(37)

That’s my brother.

And for the first time since the accident, thinking about Till actually stung.

Well, that’s not totally true. Thinking about Till used to do far more than sting. It used to devour me. However, this time, it stung in a different way.

The pain I felt was from guilt instead of resentment.

Even the idea of seeing Eliza didn’t send me into some sort of panic.

It was time.

I was finally going back.

And she was going with me.



When I arrived to pick Ash up, my mouth gaped open as she sauntered out of the house. She had always been a jeans-and-T-shirt kind of girl, but that day, she had clearly stepped it up a notch. She was wearing a short, red sundress that exposed a tasteful amount of cleavage. Well, tasteful in the sense that it guaranteed I would, in fact, be tasting it again that night—and hopefully other places as well. Instead of her usual flip-flops or flats, she was wearing tall, strappy wedge sandals that immediately hardened my cock. The front of her hair was twisted back, and bright-red lipstick painted her lips, making her look like she had stepped off the front of a 1950s pinup calendar.

She looked incredible.

And as a wide smile spread across her face, she made me feel incredible.

After a long stop at the toy store, where Ash had insisted on asking a mother carting around a toddler to help us shop for Blakely, we finally arrived at Till and Eliza’s house.

Ash’s eyes all but popped out of her head as we drove through the security gate. But the second I saw that house, my nerves hit in full force.

“C’mere,” I said to Ash as soon as I parked. Pulling her into a hard kiss she enthusiastically returned, I traced up her long legs and under the edge of her dress. “You look beautiful,” I murmured.

“So you’ve mentioned.” She giggled, and my nerves started to fade away.

“Just making sure you heard me.” I released her, and she grabbed a wipe from her purse and cleaned the lipstick from my mouth for approximately the twentieth time since I’d picked her up.

I took a deep breath, and with Ash at my side, we headed toward the party.

When we got to the backyard, I ran into a myriad of familiar faces.

“Did the world end and I somehow missed it?” Slate said dryly, walking over from where Erica was watching their kids in the bounce house.

“Hey,” I replied, embarrassed, remembering how I’d spoken to him that day in my apartment.

“I’m glad you came, son.” He squeezed my neck.

“Hey, listen, I’m really sorry about—” I started, but he interrupted me.

“Who’s this?” he asked, extending a hand over my shoulder.

“Oh sorry. This is my . . .” I stalled, trying to figure out what to call her. Oh, f*ck it. We all knew who she was. “This is my girlfriend, Ash. Ash, this is Slate Andrews. He owns On The Ropes with Till.” I looked up to find her staring down at me in absolute awe. I tossed her a puzzled expression, but she didn’t explain.

“Hi! So nice to meet you.” She took Slate’s hand.

Judging by the slight tip of his head, he had witnessed her strange reaction. Whatever. I could worry about that later, because suddenly, as if a ring announcer had just spouted my introduction to the entire party, dozens of eyes all flashed my way.

I could feel them watching me, but my attention was homed in on a pair of dark blues boring into mine from only a few feet away. Her eyes instantly pooled with tears, and an ache grew in my chest.

But it wasn’t my heart that hurt.

And it wasn’t agonizing.

It was just there.

Lingering.

Then, with my eyes still focused on the object of my obsession for most of my adolescence, Ash’s hand closed over mine, and I was hit by a sudden rush of that same ache ebbing from my body—freeing me.

Eliza warily approached, repeatedly glancing down to where Ash’s hand covered mine. She didn’t attempt to say anything as she stood there with tears streaming down her cheeks.

A small smile tipped my lips. “Stop crying. I promised I’d come back, didn’t I?”

And that was it. She launched herself forward, wrapping her arms around my neck. She held me for several seconds, half crying, half laughing. I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with the ease and relief I felt from her embrace.

Till appeared and attempted to peel Eliza off me, but she was crying so hard that it was almost comical. Well, that was until I saw the utter devastation covering Ash’s face.

Shit.





I had been wrong.

I couldn’t handle it at all.

I didn’t care that Flint had more than shown that I belonged to him, that he was proud to have me on his arm. And I didn’t care that he would never in a million years have Eliza as anything more than a sister-in-law. I knew how he felt, and that was more than enough to shatter whatever childish dreams I had invented and replayed every single minute of every single day.

Watching him breathe so deeply, as if he could inhale her. That was mine. And if I’d had to witness the branding blaze of his eyes when he opened them, I would have more than self-destructed.

Thankfully, Quarry chose that exact moment to offer me an escape.

“Ash!” he yelled from several yards away. He was waving his hands and pointing at the clown making balloon animals for the kids. “Told you!”