Storm Front (The Charistown Series) (Volume 2)

by Lisa N. Paul

  That simple statement sparked a thousand thoughts through Ashley’s mind. Did he really mean that? Was this really happening? Could we be forever?

  The pause in her step with what must have been a deer in headlights look, had Ryan pulling Ashley close to him once again. “Ash, when I told you I loved you, I meant it. My decisions are our decisions. I promise, I won’t leave you out again.” He placed a quick kiss on her cheek and weaved through the throng of people until they found the Kynde’s and bid their goodnights. The next forty-eight hours were going to be busy and Ashley wanted to spend as much time with Ryan as she could before they had to say goodbye.

  Ashley lay sleeping on her bed. Her naked body, covered only partially by the white cotton bed linens, was relaxed and beautiful. Ryan loved how she fell asleep after he’d made her orgasm. Like everything else Ashley Kynde did, when she came apart with pleasure she did it with her whole being. It was the most amazing vision to witness and something he was sure he wouldn’t ever get tired of seeing.

  With just twelve hours left together before the band was to leave for over three months of small bar shows and opening acts at bigger venues, Ryan was trying to absorb every single detail of Ashley’s appearance. She still had to complete her senior year of high school and while she may be concerned with the women throwing themselves at him, he knew for a fact that there were several guys who had been waiting for he and Leo to graduate so they could finally hit on Ashley Kynde.

  A shiver of jealousy ran up his spine. Barring a few quick visits until early December, they would be doing the long distance thing. He was going to miss her. Hell, she was lying right in front of him and he already missed her.

  Careful not to wake her, Ryan slipped out of her bed and sat down at her pristine white desk. He felt an inane sense of happiness as he perused the many pictures that covered the corkboard hanging above her desk. Images of Ashley and Leo, he and Ashley, and those of the three of them at different times smiled back at him—each one sparking a memory of a time filled with happiness and love, times spent with the two of the most important people in his life.

  He stared at the Ashley in the photograph and then turned to the one sleeping peacefully on the bed. She was so feminine and proper, so fragile yet strong. There was so much substance and intelligence all wrapped up in the beautiful gift asleep before him on the bed.

  Her heart is stitched upon her sleeve for everyone to see…

  The lyrics practically begged to be written. This always happened after he and Ashley were together and they hadn’t even had sex yet. What would happen when they finally did? He would probably write an entire album. Maybe even two.

  She flutters through my life sprinkling the magic of her love,

  Her heart is stitched upon her sleeve for everyone to see,

  I revel in her openness, her calmness, her desire, yet—

  It’s her striking hazel eyes that slowly unravel every inch of me.

  Her hazel eyes glow fire green that shock and hold me tight,

  Golden hair has become my torch;

  My beacon in the night,

  She is my princess, my angel—where the fairytales began,

  But it’s those brilliant hazel eyes of hers—

  That makes me thank God that I’m her man.

  Tramps, Actually

  “LEO, CAN I ask you something?”

  Ashley sat crossed-legged on her brother’s bed, fiddling with her hair and worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. Leo zipped around his room, emptying his closet and various drawers of their contents and shoving the items—unfolded—into the duffle bags that lay open on the bed.

  The hair wound around her fingers bit into her skin, getting tighter and tighter until the tip of the digit was bright purple. “My packing method is making you physically ill, isn’t it Ash?” Leo didn’t wait for her response. With laughter in his tone he said, “No worries, just take everything out and feel free to fold it nicely and put it back it.”

  A large and mischievous grin crept over his lips, revealing his plan to have Ashley pack for him from the very beginning.

  “Nope, Leo, your method, as you call it, is just fine with me,” Ashley said through pursed lips. Organization was like breathing to Ashley. In contrast, to Leo chaos was art. However, Ashley knew that Leo counted on the fact that her need for things to be orderly always won out. As a result, his bags, his room, hell, his life, were always perfectly organized. He was forever claiming he didn’t know how he would get through each day without his little sis. Ashley’s teeth continued to maul her bottom lip. She couldn’t seem to stop the nervous twitch that had started earlier that morning when Ryan slipped out of her room to go home and finish his packing.

  “Ash.”

  Leo stopped moving around and sat on his bed, weaving his fingers through hers and bending his head until he was able to meet her eyes with his own. “Ashley Beth, what’s going on in that overactive mind of yours?”

  Unable to censor her thoughts, she just let them out. “There are so many beautiful girls out there, Leo. Hot girls. Easy girls. Tramps, actually…”

  Ashley’s lips pursed, her brows pulled together and she sighed in part confusion and part resignation. Her typically perfect posture faltered and her shoulders slumped.

  “Do you think…”—her voice faltered slightly—“do you think he’ll cheat on me? We’ve never… had sex, Leo. Never! Do you think…? Do you think Ryan will decide that there are better, prettier, sexier girls out there and forget about me? Or worse,” Ashley pulled in a deep breath and closed her eyes before continuing, “lie to me?”

  “Oh my God,” Leo exhaled, grunted and then he started to laugh.

  Laugh!

  “Leo!” Ashley shrilled, pushing against his chest with the palms of both hands. “Leo, this isn’t funny. I’m being serious here. I’m scared to death. I love him. I’m in love with him. Like, the kind of love that makes me think about forever.” She exhaled in frustration. Trying to explain her feelings was so much harder than it should be. “It’s the kind of love that makes me use the word ‘like’ in a sentence where it doesn’t belong just to drive the point home! I Iove love him, Leo! And I’m not naïve or stupid. I know how groupies are. I just don’t know if I can put my whole heart into this and then find out that I was a fool.”

  Leo’s wide smile softened to a warm grin as he leveled his gaze to hers and stared for the briefest of seconds. Appearing to find what he was looking for in her eyes, he asked a question that would resonate with her for years to come. “Ash, haven’t you already put your whole heart into this?”

  “Yeah, big brother, I guess I have. And it already hurts that he’s leaving. I would never dream of asking him to stay. I would never want that for you guys. I know Storm Front is your dream. But, I’m so scared.”

  Wrapping her in a tight hug, Leo stroked Ashley’s hair and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. He chuckled lightly. Ashley felt his grip loosen and she reluctantly pulled away from the comfort of his embrace.

  With complete sincerity in his eyes, a rarity for the fun-loving jovial one of the pair, he began to speak the words that would prove to be the balm to Ashley’s soul for the next few months. “Ash, you must not see what I see when I look at Ryan Baker. Because, what I see is a man who is completely and totally in love with you. He worships you. In fact, if you weren’t my sister, I would razz him for being completely pussy-whipped. But you are, so I can’t. And sis, if that isn’t comfort enough, if I ever saw him looking at another chick the way he looks at you, I would shove my drumsticks straight up his pretty-boy ass.”

  With his patented Leo Kynde wink, he gently placed his hands on her shoulders, pulling her forward and placed his forehead against hers. “He loves you. Ash. Trust me. Better yet, believe in him.”

  Deep and meaningful pep talks were not something people would usually associate with Leo, but as with everything between the siblings, he was able to tap into how she was feeling and say exactly the right t
hing to make her feel better. Despite the chill that had settled on her skin, she knew he was right. The realization was both calming and unsettling. How was she supposed to cope without Leo around to help her see clearly?

  His face searched hers for signs that his words penetrated. Meeting his gaze, she offered a wry smile before clipping him on the shoulder. “My God, Leo, is this what you’ve stooped to? Stealing advice from fortune cookies?”

  “Ssh, don’t tell anyone,” he grinned. “I prefer it when people underestimate me.”

  “No one underestimates you, Le,” she confirmed with a smile, placing a big wet kiss in the center of his head. She winked as she added, “at least no one that matters. Now go to Ulta and get your three-month supply of hair gel. We can’t have those locks going flat during one of your shows, can we?”

  With a look of concern that said he didn’t quite buy her light-hearted demeanor, Leo ran his fingers through his hair. Forcing herself to maintain her screwed on smile, she challenged him to question her further. After just a few short seconds, Leo exhaled once again running his fingers through his mussy hair. He peered at her from underneath his eyelashes before giving a swift shake of his head and leaving the bedroom. “He is so easy,” Ashley muttered, unpacking the disaster that was Leo’s bag and sorting everything into neat, perfect piles.

  Awful, Plastic Smile

  AS THE PRE-DAWN sky changed from black to shades of reds then burnt oranges and finally brilliant hues of golden yellows, Ashley helped her brother bring his duffle bags and milk crates filled with food to the driveway. Their parents had spent the night at a hotel in Miami following a fundraising gala, so they’d phoned in their goodbyes and good lucks the previous day. While Leo seemed to take their absence in stride, their indifference was like a knife to Ashley’s gut. So, to fix what she felt was broken in their family, she went into overdrive. She cooked all of Leo’s favorites for breakfast, and packed a cooler filled with sandwiches and snacks for all of the band members for lunch.

  She rushed back and forth from the house to the driveway dragging Leo’s boxes while he continued to break down his drum kit, getting it ready to store in the small tour bus that was scheduled to arrive in just a few minutes.

  A cold, familiar chill crept through Ashley’s veins. She knew this feeling. This was the sadness that had settled into her gut when the guys had been away this summer—the figurative cold teeth of complete and utter loneliness that had eaten away at her soul. While she was thrilled that her brother, Ryan and the other guys were getting the chance to live their dream, the dreaded state of invisible always threatened to choke her when they were gone.

  Sure, school would be starting in just a couple of days, but without her brother, who would she be? She’d always had a label: Leo’s sister, or Dr. Kynde’s daughter. Although known for her academic achievements, she didn’t relate to the other people in those groups. She thought of them as stuffy, boring, and two-dimensional, basically nerds.

  Without her brother and Ryan around she couldn’t even relate to the people who followed Storm Front because, well, Storm Front was no longer around. As Ashley stacked her brother’s things in the driveway, the weight of her impending solitude sat heavily on her shoulders.

  “Princess.”

  Ryan wrapped his strong arms around her waist, rotating her until her face was buried in his chest. He needed to hold her tighter, to make sure she knew he loved her beyond all reason.

  “Ashley, you looked so sad just now. It’s like your body was here, but your mind was miles away. You didn’t even hear me calling you. Talk to me, Princess.”

  The deep emotions unfolded like the plot of a play on Ashley’s face, but in true Ashley form, she tried to pull the curtains down before he could see the final act. Nope. No way was he going to allow her to hide behind the mask of perfection for one more minute. He was setting off in less than an hour and he couldn’t leave his girl with the lost and broken look that he had just seen on her face.

  Lacing his fingers through hers, he guided her to the back porch where—aside from the soft sounds of the birds waking from their slumber and the gentle lapping of the pool water—it was perfectly quiet.

  Stroking the backs of his fingers lightly down her jaw, he tipped her chin so her eyes were facing his. “Princess, please tell me what is going on in that beautiful mind of yours. I know you’re sad that we’re leaving—I hate leaving you too—but I can tell there’s more going on than just the physical distance. If we’re gonna make this work between us—”

  Ryan watched as Ashley’s eyes quickly rounded when the word if left his mouth and he quickly corrected himself. “I meant in order for us to make this work between us, baby, you have got to be open with me. Please, tell me what’s going on. Let me help to ease whatever is making you so damn sad.”

  The anxiety rolled off her in waves and for the first time in their relationship, Ryan was nervous. In that brief second a small flash of doubt sparked through his mind. What if she was choosing this moment to break things off with him?

  He had never, not for one second, given that any consideration at all. He’d always known that he was in love with Ashley Kynde and he’d assumed the feeling was mutual. After all, she told him and showed him often enough, but now he was leaving. What if the distance was enough to make her end things? A sick feeling began to churn through his gut. That feeling must have shown on his face because Ashley squeezed his hand tightly while stroking his cheek.

  “Does that make it easier for you?”

  Her voice startled him. Looking up he saw the sadness that had loomed in Ashley’s eyes replaced by ambiguity and fear. Ryan’s thoughts were buzzing like a fluorescent light bulb…just before it finally gave out. A single tear drifted slowly down her cheek and stopped at her upper lip. Wait. What happened? What had she just said to him?

  “Ashley, baby, I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you.” His tone was sharp but his eyes bled pain. “Is what easier for me? What are you saying?” A jab of panic struck his gut as he saw the crumbled look marring her beautiful face.

  Trying her best to keep her mask of perfection solidly in place, she simply stated, “I was saying, Ryan, that maybe it would be for the best if … well, if we broke up while you were gone.” Another traitorous tear escaped her stormy eyes. “I don’t want to hold you back, Ry…I don’t want to keep you from…living.” With those words, Ashley stood up from the cozy outdoor loveseat and began to walk away.

  “Princess. Do. Not. Take. Another. Step.” Ryan unfolded himself from the small sofa and took long strides to meet Ashley right where she stood.

  “Look at me, Ash, look me in the eyes.” The eyes are so often referred to as the window to the soul and while Ashley was one to keep her window covered with the loveliest curtains around, for him, the glass was always clear. His heart faltered in his chest as he felt—yes, actually felt—her pain…just from looking in her eyes. The sadness overtook him, making the air around them heavy and even harder to breathe. He could feel each pump of his heart as he waited on the answer to his next questions. “Is that what you want? You want to end this? End us?”

  Pulling in a deep breath, Ashley continued to stare, the tears had slowed but her cheeks bore a well worn path from the wet pain. “Do you want the truth, Ry?” Those words felt like a dull blade in his gut.

  “Yeah, Ash—the truth would work just fine.”

  “Ryan, the thought of you and Leo leaving for such a long time makes me ache deep down clear through to my bones. I love you both so much and your presence in my life brings me true happiness and joy that goes beyond what any words can say. But, Ryan, having you in my life—as my friend, my boyfriend, as my everything…well you touch my soul. Do I want to break up? Heck no! I love you. I want to be with you always, forever. But I understand that your life is about to change.”

  He watched as she rubbed the edge of her thumb deep into her sternum, he knew the words she was giving were to benefit him. Each syllable was cracking the vene
er she worked so hard to keep polished, but he let her continue. “I see the way the girls, heck, the women look at you, like they want to eat you alive. People tell me that women, groupies, will do anything to hook up with guys in a band, Ry…” Ashley let out a small humorless laugh that punched Ryan in the gut at the same time it eased the band around his lungs allowing him to breathe.

  “You are so much more than just a guy from a band. You are beautiful and sexy and…gah…everything! I just don’t want you to look back on this time and resent me for holding you back.”

  Ryan stared at the girl in front of him—only seventeen, but more of a woman then most women ever grew to be.

  “Princess, don’t you understand yet? You’re it for me. I know we’re young. I know my life is about to get crazy. But you…are…it. You are what most guys spend their whole lives trying to find. I just got lucky enough to find you at nineteen. And if you think I’m crazy or dumb enough to ever jeopardize that then maybe you aren’t as smart as we all think you are.”

  Ashley gazed into Ryan’s eyes filled with determination, love, and respect, eyes that were staring intently at her, begging her to believe in him…in them. All of her fears melted away like snow cones in August, as he continued.

  “I love you, Ashley, only you. You need to trust me and trust that I will take care of your heart even when I’m not physically with you. Can you do that for me?” She felt her smile stretch over her mouth as she nodded her agreement. This felt good. This feeling was the kind of good that pumped through her veins, the kind that would keep her warm while he was gone.

  “You know, you and Leo are a lot more like brothers than friends,” she mused just before his lips took hers in what began as a simple kiss, but quickly turned into a hungry passionate embrace.

  Ryan’s strong hand moved swiftly from the back of her head where he had been holding her close, down her neck and over her back. His fingers spread wide covering most of her narrow frame as his thumb caressed the exposed skin where her tank top had risen up. The raw groan that rumbled deep in his throat was swallowed whole by the deep penetrating kisses Ashley bestowed upon him. She couldn’t get enough of him. His scent, his tongue, his touch.