For Better or Hearse

Chapter Twenty-Four

F ucked. The only way to explain the vibe since they left for Maui. Their plane was delayed for three hours due to engine failure. At lunch, Tate ate a shrimp cocktail that absolutely decimated him with food poisoning. The Sunrise Above the Clouds tour Augustus had been planning was canceled thanks to the heavy rain. Sure, Ash could chalk all of it up to first world problems, but she also thinks it’s Maui problems.

To top it all off, there was a room mix-up, which means she’s on the lower level of suites. Away from the Whitfords. Augustus is pissed. He did all he could to move her, but because the resort is fully booked due to a wedding (of course it’s a wedding), there’s nothing they can do.

Being on her own down here only has Ash feeling more alone. Left behind.

As she walks down the hall to room 1313—even her room number feels like bad luck—she reads Tessie’s texts.

I have a voodoo doll with Jakob’s name on it.

I’m so proud of you, Ash.

Observe, do not absorb. Unless it’s Nathaniel’s righteous dick.

Her cousin’s warm, supportive words have Ash feeling like she can rally and get through the next five days.

Maybe.

Ash presses her key card against the reader, pushes the door open.

“Fuck,” she says, blinking.

Clearly, Augustus saved the best resort for last. The ocean-view guestroom is bright and airy. Gives coastal-chic vibes. Oversized leather armchairs, a plush J-shaped couch and a hot tub in the living room. The place is as luxurious as it gets.

Tessie would flip her shit if she saw this room.

Ash drags herself over to the balcony. Unlocks the sliding door and steps out. The sky is dark and ominous. Thick, tropical air, the scent of petrichor envelop her. Suddenly, it’s hard to breathe. She aches to crawl out of her skin. To teleport back to LA, to Tessie, to anywhere but here.

Despite how hard she’s worked to outrun them, move past them, the ghosts from her past have found her. And boo! is the whisper in her ear.

She and Jakob planned to honeymoon in Maui. It’s where she agonized over every detail. She’d joked to Tessie that it was the one thing she had actually planned in her life after Jakob tossed a hand up and said I don’t care where we go, babe, as long as I don’t miss football.

I hate him , she thinks. And I’m tired, so very fucking tired of thinking about him .

It’s not just the memory of her honeymoon, all those old feelings, wreaking havoc on her emotions. The end of the trip looms. The end of paradise. Of Nathaniel.

The thought is a sharp pain in her chest.

But that’s how it works, right? Those are the terms they’ve agreed on.

In life, everything ends. Especially love. It’s foolish trying to keep it.

Foolish trying to hold on to something she’ll only lose.

Because that’s what happens to her.

She loses.

Blinking tears from her eyes, she peers over the railing. The ocean is so close she could touch it. The fall is so far it’s dizzying. With a shaky hand on the railing, she forces herself to remember how to breathe. To remember what it feels like to kiss Nathaniel. Under the stars. In his bed .

She smiles beneath the dark curtain of her hair. Through the sheen of tears.

“Don’t jump. I’d miss you.”

She lifts her head at the sound of the deep, familiar voice.

Inside, her chest is a firefly.

The sight of Nathaniel on the neighboring balcony roots her. Oxygen returns to her lungs.

“What—what are you doing here?” She’s so surprised she doesn’t even have a barbed comeback.

“Traded rooms with your neighbors,” Nathaniel says evenly, hands in his pockets. “Knocked on their door and told them they were staying next to a burgeoning homicidal maniac, and they all but begged me to stay here instead.”

She fights to keep a cool exterior. Even though every emotion inside her is a powder keg.

A hand propped on her hip, she tilts her head. “They did, did they?”

Nathaniel rocks back on his heels. “Uh-huh.”

“Then get over here, asshole.”

With ease, he scales the small drop between their balconies. This tall, thoughtful billionaire, this very serious man who fears nothing. Not even her.

He comes toward her, the look on his face soft, hesitant. “I didn’t want you to be alone.”

“You did that?” she breathes. “For me?”

He smiles, the corners of his eyes creasing. “Of course I did.”

She doesn’t say anything. She can’t. Instead, she throws herself into his arms and shamelessly burrows into his hard frame. “Thank you,” she murmurs. His shirt smells like salt and sea. A hit of calm for every atom in her body.

He smooths a hand down her hair. Then, taking hold of her chin, tilts her face to his. Brow furrowed, he searches her eyes. “You okay, beauty?”

Her stomach somersaults at the endearment. The thorns around her heart pulse. “From Bigfoot to beauty. How’d I get there?”

Nathaniel’s mouth tips in a pleased grin. “Very easily, in fact.”

He slips his hands to her waist. As he anchors her to him, he says, “My grandfather isn’t here. We’re neighbors. I think you know what this means.”

“I finally get to throw you off the balcony with no witnesses.”

His chuckle is a husky, deep rumble that shakes her frame. “No.” Sobering, he regards her, gaze hopeful. Tentative. “Stay the night with me.”

“That’s dangerously close to feelings.”

Frowning, he runs his big hands up her arms. Her body heats at the contact. At the way he keeps her close, connected at all times.

“I don’t care. I want some time with you.” He says it so quietly that it’s nearly drowned out by the sound of the ocean.

A weak laugh pops out of her. “I’m sure you have better things to do than watch me sleep.”

He sweeps his thumb over her bottom lip. “On the contrary. I’m pretty sure it’s my ideal hobby.”

Ash draws a breath. He’s softer with her. All his barbs and taunts and evil eyes now come coated in a sheen of affection. He’s shown her a different side of him she never expected. So why can’t she do that with him? Let him in? Sleep over? Because it’s all too close. Too many feelings.

She wants the German shepherd back. Because the golden retriever she sees in his eyes frightens her.

She rests against him flush and lays her head on his chest. That’s when she realizes her hands are wrapped in the fabric of his shirt, like all she wants to do is become one with his body.

Shit. Maybe she hasn’t been as good at keeping her walls up as she thought. Keeping Nathaniel out. For once in a long time, it feels like someone sees her. Knows her for who she is.

Because he’s more than the fling from a few days ago.

After only a few days, Nathaniel’s a comfort. A need. That person who can get her through anything, especially Maui. Already, he’s holding her together, igniting dopamine levels so high they edge out her anxiety.

On a heavy sigh, Nathaniel adjusts her in his arms. They stay like that, taking in the tropical scenery. The lush mountains. The thunderous beach.

She can’t explain her many rioting feelings for him. So she doesn’t try. She just enjoys. For as long as she has him.

The bed frame creaks as Ash tiptoes out of bed. She pads, feet bare, across the cool marble floor. With a second look at Nathaniel, who sleeps face down, arms curled around his pillow, she slips into the bathroom and locks the door behind her.

She sits on the edge of the tub and dials.

“Hi,” she says into the phone. She cups her hand against the mouthpiece. “It’s me again. Third time calling, third time no answer. I promise I’m not stalking you…” She frowns. “Which I realize is something a stalker would say. Would you just…call me back?”

She hangs up and clutches the phone to her body as her guilty heart ricochets in her chest. Squeezing her eyes shut, she pushes to standing. Tiptoes back to Nathaniel. The room smells of sex and salt and sea.

“Ash,” he murmurs in his sleep. His muscular back rises and falls with the steady rhythm of his breath. He’s the most beautiful man she’s ever seen.

In the dark, she smiles. He could eat her name, swallow it down into that warm, chiseled, tender heart of his and hold it there. Keep her.

She kisses his back. His freckled shoulder blade.

After she gathers her things, she studies his handsome face, boyish in the moonlight. Touches his lips with trembling fingers. Touches her own.

You, me, she thinks.

If only it were that easy.