Ashes & Embers Series Collection (Books 1 to 4)

by Carian Cole

  I swallow hard over the lump in my throat. “You did this to us, Lukas, and I have no idea why! I will never marry another cheater,” I cry, shaking my head, my heart breaking. I can’t take my eyes off that smudge of lipstick on his face. Pink Explosion, it’s called, and it’s Macy’s favorite. “I can’t believe you did this to me. I trusted you!”

  Throwing the door open, I run towards my car.

  “Ivy!” He chases after me and catches up to me just as I slam my car door and lock it.

  “Ivy, please, you have to believe me.” He bangs on my window, but I speed out of his parking lot, sobbing uncontrollably, leaving him standing there, barefoot and shirtless.

  AS I DRIVE HOME I can’t get the sight of my daughter half-naked out of my mind, smirking at me like she won. Has she been after him this entire time, just pretending she was happy for me? Could she be that conniving? My cell phone starts to blow up in my purse with missed calls and texts from Lukas. I contemplate throwing it out the window at the intersection, but instead I turn it off, not wanting to hear or see another word from him right now. I can’t handle any more lies, deception, and broken promises.

  Everyone was right, after all. He played me for a fool.

  And my own daughter fell under his spell and betrayed me.

  I can’t trust anyone.

  Lukas was wrong. There is no happily ever after.

  CHAPTER 26

  LUKAS

  I RUN BACK into my house, slamming the door behind me, and fly up the stairs, taking them two at a time. I find her in the guest room, dressed and sitting on the bed.

  “What the fuck did you just do?” I yell in her face.

  She looks up at me, her eyes wide. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember what happened last night.” She stands up and grabs her leather bag and phone.

  “The hell you fucking don’t!”

  “Whatever, Lukas. Thanks for the ride.” She tries to push past me, but I grab her arm.

  “Where the fuck do you think you’re going? You’re gonna tell me what the hell you just did and why.”

  Fear settles in her eyes, and I loosen my grip on her arm, but don’t let her go.

  “Why did you take off your clothes and sneak over to my room? You set that whole thing up.”

  “Let me go,” she says, her voice shaking. “And stop yelling at me. You’re not my father.”

  “You’re fucking lucky I’m not. No daughter of mine would ever do something like that. Did your father put you up to this?”

  “No,” she says, looking down at her feet. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I can’t remember anything other than touching you.”

  Fury takes over, and I see red. “Why are you doing this, Macy? I thought we were friends. I thought you cared about your mother. Do you see what you just did?”

  “I do. I guess this just happened.” She shrugs.

  “This didn’t just happen. You did this shit on purpose, and I want you to tell me why right fucking now.”

  “Leave me alone! I just want to go home.” she yells back at me, and I remind myself that she’s only eighteen. She’s also obviously messed up or on something, but I need her to help me get Ivy to see that nothing happened between us.

  I take a deep breath and try to calm myself before I do or say something that I can’t fix. “Macy, please, just tell me what’s going on, all right? I promise I’ll calm down, and I won’t be mad at you anymore. Just tell the truth so I can fix this with your mother, okay?”

  “I don’t remember anything,” she says. “I remember that asshole leaving me at the party and you coming to get me, and us kissing.”

  I grab her shoulders and shake her. “I did not kiss you. You tried to kiss me. I pushed you away, and you know it. Why are you doing this?”

  Suddenly, Vandal is standing in the doorway, looking from Macy to me. “Dude, I’ve been ringing your bell for ten minutes and heard you screaming from the lot. What the fuck is going on?”

  I throw my hands up in the air. “I don’t know. She set me up to make it look like I slept with her, and Ivy believes her.”

  Vandal narrows his eyes at her. “The fuck did you do?”

  “I didn’t do anything.” She cowers away from him and looks toward the door. “Stop looking at me.”

  “You’re lying. It’s all over your face,” he accuses, towering over her, and she cringes back from his menacing look.

  “Leave me alone,” she says.

  He backs her into a corner, his six-foot-four frame building a wall in front of her. “If you did something to hurt my brother, I’ll make you regret it, little girl. Trust me.”

  “Vandal, she’s just a kid,” I remind him.

  He stares her down. “She’s eighteen, old enough to know better and old enough to deal with the repercussions of fucking with people’s lives.”

  She starts to shake at Vandal’s threat. “I just want to go home. I don’t remember what happened.”

  “I can make you remember.” He puts his hand to her throat, barely touching her, but I can see she’s petrified. And she should be. Vandal is a psychopath and not someone to be fucked with. I don’t think he’d really hurt her, but since Katie died, he’s been even more mentally unbalanced than usual.

  “Vandal . . .” I warn.

  “You wanna go a round with me?” he says to her, his voice dark and nasty, like I imagine Satan would probably sound like. “You want to play games? I’ll show you what that’s really like, baby, and you’ll need a wheelchair to get out of here.”

  Holy shit. My brother is off the rails. “Vandal, stop. Just call her a cab and get her out of here.”

  “No. She’s going to remember. Aren’t you, Macy?”

  She cringes against the wall, tears streaming down her face.

  “Talk. Now,” he commands, his huge frame towering over her. “You want to know what it’s like to fuck with a man? I’ll show you if you don’t fucking spill it right now.”

  “Vandal!” I yell, grabbing his shoulder. “Enough. Let her go. She’s family.”

  He glares at her. “Family doesn’t hurt each other.” He pulls out his wallet and throws a fifty at her. “Get the fuck out of here and get a cab.”

  I watch as she picks up the cash and runs downstairs, the door slamming, shaking the house as she leaves.

  Vandal turns to me, his eyes still dark and wild like an animal. “You look like shit, man. Did you—?”

  I stop him dead. “No. Absolutely not. She called me, drunk from a party. I went and got her, and brought her back here. She was acting weird and kept trying to touch me. I pushed her away and slept alone in my room. I would never touch her. She’s the daughter of the woman I love. She’s family to me. You’re a father, Van. Could you do something like that?”

  He stares out the window, his jaw muscles twitching. “I was a father. And I think I could pretty much do anything.”

  I grimace at my bad choice of words. “I’m sorry. I’m not thinking.”

  He crosses the room and slaps my back. “Don’t worry about it. What are you going to do now?”

  Good question. “Well, obviously, I have to somehow get her to admit that she set this up and get Ivy to believe me.” I pull all the sheets off the bed and throw them in a pile on the floor, wanting all traces of her gone. “She threw my ring at me, Van. It fucking gutted me.”

  He leans against the doorframe and crosses huge arms, his jet black hair flowing down his chest. His looks freak me out most of the time, so I can only imagine the fear Macy felt at being his target.

  “I think the jealous ex had something to do with this, fiddles.”

  Smirking at his sarcastic nickname, I nod in agreement. “I think so, too. That guy fucking hates me and can’t stand that we’re together. I think, when he found out we got engaged, it threw him over the edge.”

  “Want me to go talk to him?”

  Vandal’s method of talking scares me. “Not yet. I need to talk to Ivy, and Macy again when she cal
ms down.”

  He cracks his knuckles. “Just say the word, bro, and I’ll fuck his shit up.”

  “You really like to hurt people, don’t you?”

  An evil grin crosses his face. “Not all people, but yes, I enjoy a good amount of pain infliction in any form I can give it.”

  I’m glad that gene skipped me.

  After Vandal leaves, I take a quick shower and drive over to Ivy’s house, but I take another hit to the gut when I see Paul’s car in the driveway. Already, this asshole is here trying to move in on her. I can’t believe it.

  I bang on the door in a fury until she opens the door, teary-eyed and red-faced.

  “What are you doing here?” she asks, not letting me in.

  “What the hell is he doing here?” I shoot back.

  Paul appears behind Ivy in the doorway. “Where the hell is my daughter?” he demands.

  I can’t believe this shit. I’m engaged to her. I’ve fucked her on the kitchen table. Now, I’m standing outside their door like a stranger while they block the doorway. Together. “She left my house over an hour ago. My brother gave her money for a cab.”

  Paul pushes Ivy out of the way. “You slept with my daughter then sent her home in a fucking cab?”

  I lose my shit. “Can we all stop this charade? I didn’t sleep with her, and you fucking know it. What the hell is going on? I know you did this, Paul. You did something to Macy to make her lie like this about me.”

  Ivy ramps up, shock all over her face. “Lukas! He would never do anything like that to one of our kids!” she says, defending him. Him. Not me.

  “Neither would I! You know how much I love your kids.”

  Paul gets back in my face, and my fists clench, wanting to punch him right in his smug face. “Looks like you loved one a little too much. You’re not their father, and Macy is a pretty girl. You took advantage of her when she was vulnerable. You’re lucky I don’t call the cops,” Paul threatens.

  “No one is calling the cops!” Ivy cries, putting a hand on my chest and her other hand on his. “Lukas, please, just leave.”

  Leave. She wants me to leave. And he’s still here.

  I shake my head, my breathing heavy, feeling everything slip away from me. “I need to talk to you. Alone. Please, Ivy.”

  She peers up at Paul. “Give me a minute,” she says to him, and I don’t understand why he’s here, why she’s not telling him to leave. He sneers at me from behind her back and walks away, into her house. Their house.

  I try to put my arms around her, but she backs away from me and crosses her arms. “Ivy, I don’t know what’s going on here. I didn’t touch Macy in any way, other than to push her off me. Why are you believing all this crap? What is he doing to you? What kind of warped circle of hell is this?”

  Her eyes are red and puffy as she looks up at me. “Macy would never lie to me about something like this, Lukas. She knows how much I love you. I think she was drunk and maybe flirted with you, and you just got caught up in the moment.”

  Her words are like a knife in my chest, stopping my heart for a moment.

  “What? You think I’m that weak? I have women throwing themselves at me all the time, Ivy. Adult women, not drunk teenagers who have no idea what they’re doing. Do you honestly think I’d risk what we have for a quick fuck with a drunk kid, who’s also the daughter of my fiancée?”

  Tears stream down her face. “She was in your room. I saw her come out.”

  “She must have snuck in there when I went downstairs to answer the door. She was not in my room, not even for a second.”

  “But why would she do that? She’s never been a devious person, or a liar. Not ever.”

  My heart falls into my stomach. “And I am? You believe I could do that?”

  She shakes her head and puts her hand over my heart. “No, I’m having a hard time believing that, too. Unless this has all been an act, the past few months with you.”

  “For what? What would I gain from it?”

  “I don’t know,” she cries. “I don’t know what to believe.”

  I run my hand through my hair and do a quick circle, wishing she would let me inside, and that asshole would leave.

  I hold her face in my hands and force her to look at me. “Ivy, I think Paul put her up to this. He’s messing with your head, trying to break us up. He knew exactly what to do to make you doubt me. He knows how scared you are of getting hurt again, after what he did to you. He set this all up. I know it.”

  She shakes her head wildly back and forth. “He wouldn’t use one our kids to do that.”

  I put my arms around her, ignoring her protests and squirming. “I think he would. I think he did.” I kiss the top of her head and smooth her hair down. “Please, you have to trust me, Ivy. I love you. I love the kids. I would never hurt any of you. I don’t want to lose you.”

  Her face presses into my chest, and her arms finally circle my waist.

  “I love you, too. I just don’t know what to believe. This looks really bad. Even you have to admit that. I’m so confused.”

  I force her to look up at me. “Believe me. Please. You know my heart better than anyone.”

  Her big watery eyes stare up into mine, deep pools of sad blue, filled with doubt.

  She slowly pulls away, taking pieces of my heart with her. “Just give me some time to figure this out. I have to talk to Macy alone.”

  “Don’t make me leave. Get rid of him, and let’s figure this out together.”

  “He’s leaving soon. Lukas, just go home. Give me some time to think and straighten this out.”

  “I want you to put your ring back on. I have it with me.”

  She shakes her head and steps back away from me towards the door. “No.” She sniffles and wipes at her eyes, her makeup running down her cheeks. “I can’t do that, not until I figure this out. I’m sorry.”

  My vision blurs as stabbing pain fills my chest, squeezing my heart. “You don’t know what you’re doing, Ivy. You’re killing us. You’re killing me.”

  CHAPTER 27

  IVY

  A LIFETIME of days passes by. Days wasted, spent doubting myself, doubting my daughter, doubting Lukas. With every day that passes, I can feel the damage being done, not sure if I can fix it. Not sure if any of us can fix it.

  Lukas’s persistence to try to fix this mess puts his initial persistence of asking me out to shame. He calls every night and sends more text messages than I can count every day. He’s sent roses. He’s written letters. He’s sent poetry and drawings. I ignored it all, and then it stopped. I think a part of me died when I realized that he had finally given up. And if he is in fact telling the truth, then I deserve every bit of pain I feel for breaking the most precious heart in the world.

  I feel sick. Sick to my stomach. Sick in my head. Sick in my heart. Torn between two people I love more than anything and thought I could trust.

  With my own eyes, I saw my daughter walk out of my fiancée’s bedroom, naked, with nothing but a towel on. I cannot get that image out of my head. I just see it over and over and over again, unstopping. She didn’t deny they had been together. She asked him if he was coming back upstairs. Right in front of me.

  Macy may not be perfect, but she’s never been a liar, not even as a little girl. She would tell the truth and just deal with the repercussions of her actions, knowing she might get punished or grounded. But she still would admit whatever she had done.

  I know she was mad at me when I tried to keep her from going to the party with her new boyfriend. Any eighteen year old would be mad at their parent for not letting them go to a party and pulling the “my house rules” card. Did I push her too far? Could she have been mad enough that she would try to get back at me by fooling around with Lukas, or pretending that she did? I can’t even fathom my daughter doing that to me. And how did she know I would be there? That was a last minute decision on my part, to surprise Lukas with coffee. Did she think that quickly and set up a scheme that fast? I ca
n’t picture it her doing that. Not at all. Unless I just don’t know her as well as I think I do.

  But Lukas . . . my sweet Lukas with his dark, sensual side. Would he touch my daughter? I’ve known from the start that she had a crush on him. Did that ever go away? Or did I make it worse, having them spend time together, trying to integrate him into our family? Could that have fostered her feelings for him, and she just pretended to be okay with it all, just so she could get closer to him? Macy is beautiful, with a perfect body. Any man would be taken with her, and have a hard time saying no to her if she offered herself to him and made herself available. If she was drunk and flirting with him, was she able to press the right buttons to get him to go over the edge with her?

  Nausea overwhelms me as I try to force myself to envision that scenario—Lukas touching her, taking her into his bedroom, kissing her, and touching her. No. I can’t see it. Lukas doesn’t do quickies. Lukas is a lover in every sense of the word. He can’t do meaningless sex. Unless something has been building between them for a while now, and I was blind to it . . .

  Could he have grown bored with me? Maybe Macy, being young, sexy, and carefree was more appealing to him. Like Charlene was to Paul. Macy is so into the band; she would love that lifestyle with him, and fit into it as the young beautiful girlfriend of the rock star. Not like me, the older, boring mom that sits on the balcony with him and drinks lattes.

  You’re what I want. The stability and safety I need. The only one I would trust my heart with. You can make all my dreams come true.

  Those words he said when he put the ring on my finger echo over and over in my mind, acting as the north star of my lost heart and soul right now. He meant them with every part of himself. I know that without a doubt. I felt it straight into my bones. The little boy in the attic, playing with antiques, teaching himself beautiful music, believing he was protected by gargoyles, grew into a man who wanted one thing: someone to love him enough to never leave him.

  I am that person. He believes in that. He trusted in that. I promised that to him. And in return, he offered me everything I want and need, and then some. He gave me the fairytale I dreamed about.