Into the Light (University of Isles #2)

7. Chapter 7

Chapter seven

When her voice came through the radio, I sensed trouble brewing. My instincts told me before I even laid eyes on her. As much as I held her responsible for Ash’s death, I also understood the deep pain she was going through. Our shared love for Ash was so fragile, and with that love came intense anger and frustration. We both carried the weight from questions about his death, and the idea that Ash might have taken his own life felt like a distant, implausible truth.

“Why are you here?” she asked as she settled into the chair.

She was undeniably beautiful, always capturing my attention, even though I had never had hers. Her affections had been reserved for my brother and best friend. It was hard not to notice she possessed a captivating figure, and in the past eight months, she had evolved her style, even though she was dressed casually tonight. Her hair was pulled up in a high ponytail, her lips full, and her eyes . . . God, they were fucking beautiful.

She’s not yours. His voice echoed in my head. The moment he found out I was the one working the door and she made out with me, he punched me square in the jaw.

“Are we going to have a problem with this, Rain?” Ash asked, squaring up to hit me once more.

I threw my hands up to shield my face. “No,” I muttered through clenched teeth, my eyes stinging from the previous punches.

He sneered at me, a malicious glint in his eye. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”

I nodded, cautiously confirming his statement before he landed another blow to my side.

“What the hell was that for?” I hissed, trying to control my anger.

“Don’t look at her again, Rain,” he growled, his voice dripping with possessiveness. “Don’t you dare kiss her. Keep your hands off her. She’s mine.”

I saluted him with mock obedience. “Roger that.”

Exiting the room, I couldn’t help but feel the weight of the sacrifice I was making. Despite the love I had for her, I owed it to Ash and his dad, considering all they had done for my mom. Even if it meant relinquishing the one girl who gave me the most earth-shattering kiss I’d ever had. The one girl whose taste on my lips could never be replaced. The one fucking girl whose body I’d never feel in my arms again. I was ready to let him have her.

Being here with her felt wrong, like I was betraying a promise to a dead man. It just didn’t sit right. I needed to address her questions, then get her out of here. Moreover, everyone downstairs seemed to harbor ill feelings toward her, blaming her in some twisted way for Ash’s death. Many believed she had tipped off her brother about Ash’s whereabouts that night.

“What do you mean?” I responded to her initial question, and she huffed, her lips curling in an unintentionally adorable pout.

“See! This is exactly what I mean.”

“Ember, I genuinely don’t understand your question.” I almost rolled my eyes because I had no idea what she was implying.

In an instant, I regretted barking at her because over the last eight months, all I’d been doing was yelling, being angry and pissed off at people. She was the last person I wanted to be mad at or upset with.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, hoping she didn’t hear me, but her long lashes fluttered in my direction, captivating me.

“Like, what are you doing as the leader of all this? You didn’t want this role, did you?”

I let out a short laugh. “No, I didn’t want it, but I didn’t have a choice when Ash died.”

“But you do have a choice. That’s what I’m trying to tell everyone—”

“No. You’re just being naive,” I snapped, regretting my tone when her lip quivered. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“It’s fine. Do you like being the President of the Den?”

“Hell no.” I despised it.

“Are you planning to work for Mr. Ortiz when you graduate next year?”

“Yeah, but I got held back, so I’ll be in Isles through the summer.”

“Why?”

“I failed the spring semester last year. After the incident, I never went to any of my finals.” I shrugged like it was no big deal, but her big doe eyes gave me some sympathy, and I held up a hand. “Stop. You, of all people, know what it’s like to have people feel sorry for you in this whole situation.”

She laughed . . . but not like a normal laugh, no, this one was manic and crazed. “You think I know what it’s like for people to feel bad for me?”

She stood, walked over to where I was sitting, then paused. “You have no idea what it feels like to have every single person blame me for someone’s . . . incident.” She couldn’t say “death.” “I am the single most hated person on this campus. No one, including you, felt sorry for me.”

She raised her hand, then my cheek stung, and my hand moved to my cheek.

“Did you just slap me?” I asked, looking down. What the fuck?

“Yeah. You’re being a . . . pendejo,” she quipped, her tone serious. I scanned her face to ensure she wasn’t joking.

Then, like a bolt of lightning, it all hit me at once, and I burst into laughter so hard that I had to clutch my stomach. “What did you just call me? Do you even know what that means?” I asked between fits of laughter. I couldn’t contain myself, and there she stood, arms crossed, a hint of cleavage peeking out from her top.

“What?” She exhaled in reply. “Santiago says it all the time to the grocery store clerk who always clucks her tongue at him.”

Santiago . . . her bodyguard. The one I had hired after Ash’s incident, but I made him tell her it was Ash who arranged for her protection before his death. What she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her. It had become necessary to ensure her safety, especially after everything that had transpired with Mr. Ortiz.

I pulled the waistband of her sweatpants so she was standing between my legs. With my other hand, I grabbed her jaw and pulled her so our mouths were a whisper apart.

“Call me that again, Em, and I am going to show you what an asshole I can really be,” I hissed in her mouth. Fuck, I was so close to her thick, plush lips I could practically taste them.

She pulled away, then opened her bag and threw the camera in my face.

“If you want to act like one, Rain, then here.” There was her lower lip again, quivering.

“Why are you here, Ember? Why does any of this matter to you? Can’t you move on?” I barked out, clutching the camera and standing so I had her cornered against my bookshelves. The inner anger demon I kept trying to bury, suddenly awakened, and I wanted to fucking rage and punch something. Instead, I pushed her away. Whenever people got too close, like Ember or Pico, I was best at getting them to leave me be.

When Ash died, when my mother failed to protect me and married Mr. Ortiz, and when I was forced to do something I hated, I realized I had no say in the life I wanted to live. The quiet life where I got to write thrillers and horrors. That person wasn’t allowed to exist, so I let the rage consume me.

Aside from the thumping of the music downstairs, a light pattering of rain smacked the windows.

“I am trying, Rain, but I just don’t understand what happened. I don’t understand why he would leave. I th-thought he loved me . . .” Tears streamed down her face.

Fuck, I hated seeing her cry because it reminded me of my mom and all the years I watched her sit in her room and cry over my deadbeat dad. The dad hooking up with Ember’s mom because all he gave a shit about was getting ahead in the business and never enough about us.

I walked toward her, closing the distance between us, and I so badly wanted to reach out to her and pull her into my chest, but I couldn’t because his voice was in the back of my head. All I could think about was if she was thinking about him when I comforted her.

“He did love you, Em,” I said, hoping my words provided her the comfort she needed. “He loved you so much, but I told you he was complicated. Shit, I can’t even figure out half the shit that happened that night, and I promise you I’ve been trying for these last eight months.”

“Is he breathing down your neck?” she asked, her tears slowing. I could only assume she was talking about Mr. Ortiz.

“Yeah.”

“Are you okay?” she muttered, and, for some reason, those words hit me hard because they didn’t come with the same sorrow or sympathy other people had. Nor were they laced with a sad look or a let-me-fix-you vibe. No, it was a genuine question.

All I could think about was how much I would give to hold her, to touch her. How perfect she would feel in my arms while I glided my hands down her curves. God, I was betraying my best friend. These feelings were wrong and deceitful. I had to fucking stop. I needed to answer her question. The faster I did, the faster she’d get out of here.

“No,” I confessed after a pregnant pause. She offered me a tight-lipped nod.

“Me neither.” The words escaped her mouth as a sob rolled through.

“I know,” I said, then she closed the gap between us, grabbed my shirt, pulled me in, and cried into my chest, just as she had that night.

She cried for what felt like hours into my shirt. I let my arms fall onto her back, my hands resting between her sweatpants and the hem of her shirt, relishing in the warmth of her skin. It was like we were the perfect fit. I kept my arm on her lower back as my other hand cradled the back of her head while she sobbed into my chest. In reality, it had only been a few minutes before that feeling of cheating crept back into the forefront of my mind. Before all I could think about was my brother. Before . . .

“Ember, stop.” I pushed away from her, and even that movement killed me. “Thank you for the camera. You need to go. Santiago is downstairs in the back waiting for you.”

She balked. “You—You called him?”

“Yes.”

“Why? I am not a fucking child that needs to be walked home. You could have done it.” She threw her hands in the air. “See, Rain, this is the fucking problem I have with you. It’s a fucking headache being here. Aside from Marissa, I have no friends. The entirety of this campus hates me, so I can’t even take solace in the library like I used to. I have a bodyguard my dead ex-boyfriend hired, and . . . you know what? Forget I said anything.” She was pissed. She reached down, grabbed her backpack, and fumbled with the straps as she yelled at me. “I’ll just see you in class.”

Something was bothering her. Something more than what she was letting on. “Ember, I didn’t mean—”

“No, you made it pretty fucking clear.” She headed out to the door. “For the record, it’s not like I’m here trying to hit on you or anything, so don’t make this fucking weird. I’m just trying to figure out what happened to Ash, and fuck if I thought we were friends at one point, that maybe you’d like to team up together.”

“Please wait.” I tried, but she only held up a hand for me and glided down the stairs with her sunglasses on her head. I looked out the window, which overlooked the back of the house, and shrouded in the darkness, Santiago offered her a shoulder as she walked with him back toward her house.

“Fuck,” I screamed, banging my hands against the door. This wasn’t how this was all supposed to go down.