by K.N. Lee
He glanced back at her, giving her a wink.
Asher broke her gaze as he stopped in front of her. He smiled and waved his hands before her eyes.
“Ready, babe?”
Cailyn nodded, but inside she shook with fear.
What she saw in Connor’s eyes made her blood turn cold with dread. There was a pain, lust, and cruelty in his eyes.
Only someone with her power would even notice, and it was something she couldn’t un-see.
Chapter 8
Fox’s Diner was packed that night.
Cailyn and Asher stepped inside the retro style diner with classic checkered floor tiles, red chairs, white tables and counter tops. The jukebox played popular hits from the fifties as cute high school girls and young women in matching pink dresses and checkered caps served customers.
The vibe was one of fun and friendliness until Cailyn showed up.
Cailyn breathed a sigh when all eyes seemed to turn to them despite the boisterous chatter that filled the air. It was as if the life had been sucked from the room when they recognized her. That was the bad part about knowing everyone. They knew all of your business. College kids, older adults, and even children stared at her as if she’d walked in there with horns on her head.
Elliot, Asher’s dad, stood behind the counter with a checkered apron over his black slacks and white collared shirt. She loved that place. Everything fit with the theme of a cool diner from the movies her father used to love.
Elliot motioned for them to come forward to two seats he’d saved for them at the bar area.
“Cailyn,” Elliot said with a bright smile. He came from behind the counter and gave her a warm hug.
For a man in his fifties, Elliot was unbelievably handsome. He had such a friendly face that Cailyn couldn’t help but smile back. With salt and pepper hair and blue eyes, he looked like Pierce Brosnan to her. She used to always call him James Bond when she was younger. Cailyn figured Asher had good genes and would be as attractive as he was now as they grew old together.
“Good to see you, sweetheart,” he said with a charming Southern accent. He nodded to Asher as he went back behind the counter. “Glad you could bring your girl in to see your old pa.”
“What are you talking about, Dad? You saw Cailyn almost every day when you were the groundskeeper at Alexander Hall,” Asher said rubbing Cailyn’s back.
Pulling two glasses from the shelf, Elliot set them under the soda tap.
“That was a long time ago. I started to forget what her beautiful face looked like.” Elliot gave Cailyn a wink.
Cailyn grinned. “Thanks, Mr. Fox. I’ve missed you too. Is Sue around?”
“Naw. She went home early. She can’t seem to get rid of this awful cough she’s been having. And her poor nose keeps running.”
“She okay?” Asher looked concerned. He sat beside Cailyn and reached for two menus from the menu holder. He handed Cailyn one. “I spoke to her yesterday, and she didn’t mention not feeling well.”
“She’s all right. Just those damned allergies.”
“Oh good,” Cailyn said. “We will visit her tomorrow. I’ll make her some soup.”
“She’d love that.” Elliot handed her a root beer float, her favorite.
“Thank you,” she said. “You remembered.”
Leaning on the counter top, Elliot put a straw in each glass. “How could I forget? You and Asher used to come in here in your school uniforms every day after school and order the same thing.”
Cailyn’s smile widened. Those memories were her favorite. She didn’t know how she would have survived growing up in Alexander Hall without Asher’s friendship and the kindness of her family.
“Good memory,” Cailyn said, taking a sip of the cold drink before her.
Elliot looked from Asher to Cailyn, his face becoming serious. “How are you holding up? I keep hearing so much about the whole Prince trial and his death today that I could barely focus on putting out orders for worrying about you. Tell me you’re ignoring all of that gossip going around.”
“I’m fine,” Cailyn said. She sat up straight. “It is just gossip after all. I just ignore it.”
“Good girl,” Elliot said.
Asher rubbed her back again, relaxing her. “She’s been pretty strong through it all.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” Elliot nodded. “So, what are you two having for dinner tonight?”
“We’re actually getting take out. We want to go to the lake for a bit to watch the sunset.”
“Now doesn’t that sound nice?” Elliot looked from Asher to Cailyn. “You know he gets his romantic side from me, right?”
Cailyn laughed. “I believe it. Sue’s a lucky woman, and I’m a lucky girl.”
He winked at her again. “Let me guess, a double cheeseburger with bacon and mushrooms and fries for Asher, and my famous fried chicken sandwich with tomato and avocado for the pretty lady.”
“Sounds about right,” Cailyn said. “I’ll take an order of sweet potato fries too.”
Her stomach grumbled. She couldn’t wait to get their food and leave. To eat her dinner in peace with the man she loved would be the perfect ending to her night.
Elliot tapped the counter twice. “Coming right up.”
Cailyn watched him head to the window into the kitchen and dictate their order to the diner’s cook.
“It’s packed in here tonight,” Asher said as he looked around.
“I noticed.” Cailyn focused her eyes on her root beer float. “That’s why I can’t wait to get out of here.”
“Who cares what anyone here thinks? Let them look at you. Let them talk. They’re just jealous and have boring lives.”
“I know. I’m trying to ignore it all.”
“Let’s think about something else,” he said, turning her bar stool toward him. He took her hands in his. “How about a spa day in the city?”
Cailyn gazed into his eyes, unable to stop smiling. Asher could do the impossible. He could make her forget her troubles whenever she was with him.
“That would be amazing.”
“Consider it done. I’ll schedule it,” he said.
Cailyn just smiled at him and returned to finishing her drink. She envied Asher for being human. Humans could live such carefree lives.
She had other plans.
Plans to leave Haven Cove before her nightmares became truth.
Chapter 9
The sunset sent an eerie orange and red haze across Haven Cove’s sky. Someone played their guitar around a campfire at the other end of the campgrounds.
Cailyn and Asher sat on a blanket on the soft grass before a fire pit. They ate burgers and fries from Fox’s Diner. They watched as the sun set over the lake’s still waters.
A young girl’s laughter made Cailyn smile as she glanced over her shoulder toward the family sitting around their campfire not too far away. Cailyn and Asher were comfortable with each other. The silence didn’t bother either of them. As children, their families would come out here on some summer weekends, and Cailyn and Asher would run and play in the woods that they looked upon at that moment.
Memories of her first time seeped into her mind, making her blush as she chewed her fries. It had happened in one of the cabins over the summer.
A soft breeze flew through, bringing the smell of pine along with it. She gave him a sidelong glance and he noticed. He reached over and gave her hand a squeeze.
She couldn’t lose him. Whatever Connor had in his mind worried her.
Her attraction to him worried her even more.
She sighed and closed her Styrofoam takeout box. “Thank you for this, Asher.”
His smile was contagious. “Of course, my love. Anything for you.”
She looked off to the forest. Sometimes she was drawn to it. She just wanted to run free like a child, with no worries or cares. It was as if something pulled her to it, and yet she resisted.
“You ever think about leaving Haven Cove?”
Ashe
r took a sip of his root beer and shrugged. “Sure. Sometimes. What about you?”
Cailyn nodded. “I love Haven Cove and all, but I wonder what it would be like to live somewhere else.”
“Like where?”
“Maybe New York or Paris. I don’t know. There are a million places I’d like to see.”
“So, you’re saying you want to leave now?”
Cailyn rubbed her brow. “Maybe.”
Asher set his drink down and reached for her hand.
She didn’t resist when he pulled her onto his lap. She straddled him and looked deep into his eyes. “Would you come with me if I left?”
“In a heartbeat,” he said.
A smile stretched across her lips as she searched the hazel depths of his eyes. She could see herself having kids with him. She could see a life with him—one where she could be her own person, and do what she wanted.
All she knew was that something deep down inside urged her to get away. She’d never felt the warning so strongly before.
Too many secrets were buried in that town—and her father’s secret haunted them all.
Asher brushed her hair from her face to get a good look at her. “I knew you wanted to see the world, but you’re making it sound as if you want to leave tonight.”
Cailyn wanted to tell him everything. Tears stung the back of her eyes. She fought to keep them at bay. She’d never been so afraid in her life.
“If I did, would you come?”
He searched her eyes, worry filling his own. “What’s wrong? Are you about to cry?”
She closed her eyes and leaned over to bury her face in his neck. “No, I just want to know if you will stay by my side. No matter what.”
“Yes, Cailyn. I will. You know that.”
Biting her lip, Cailyn tossed her head back and looked up at the moon.
“There are a few things I want to tell you.” She looked back down at him. “I’ll tell you everything if you come with me.”
“Everything?”
“Yes,” she said, nodding. “Everything.”
Asher pulled her into his chest and hugged her tight. She felt safe in his arms even though she knew he couldn’t protect her.
“Let’s make it happen.”
Chapter 10
She tried to drown out her thoughts by the music on the radio as Asher drove them to his condo building.
She got out and stretched.
“I’m not even tired,” Cailyn said as she followed Asher up to the front entrance of his building.
He pushed in his code and the double glass doors opened for them. Inside a doorman waited and nodded for them as he kept watch.
They got on the elevator and went up to the fourteenth floor to his condo. Inside she walked directly to his kitchen and pulled a bottle of wine from the rack.
Asher took off his shoes at the door and grinned as he walked over to her.
“Thirsty?”
She shook her head, cracking a sheepish grin.
“Stressed,” she said. “I need a shot really.”
He took the wine bottle from her hand and put it back on the rack. She stood there and watched as he went to his freezer and pulled out a bottle of tequila.
A grin stretched across Cailyn’s lips as she eyed the frosty bottle. “Yes. You read my mind.”
He chuckled and took two shot glasses from the cabinet beside his fridge. “I knew you’d appreciate it.”
She took her hair from its ponytail and pulled off her tie. She sat on the granite counter and watched him pour the shots.
Asher handed her a shot and stood between her legs as she sat on his countertop.
“We might as well celebrate, right?”
Cailyn nodded. “Absolutely. Who knows where we will end up on Monday?”
“Cheers to the unknown,” Asher said and they both clinked shot glasses and downed the contents.
“No limes,” Cailyn said. She wiped her mouth, grimacing. She held her shot glass out. “One more.”
Asher poured two more shots and they drank them both.
“So,” Asher said. “Tell me where we are skipping out on college to go.”
“I’m not exactly sure,” she said. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. “Carry me,” she said with a grin.
He shook his head. “You really are spoiled,” he said and he picked her up.
“Is something wrong with that?”
“Not at all,” he said and carried her up the metal stairs. His bedroom was in the loft that overlooked his living room and kitchen.
He sat her on his king-size sleigh bed, turned on his mounted flat screen, and handed her the controller to his video game system.
Cailyn grinned, pressing the buttons on the controller while he scrolled through the options of games that they could play.
“Stop that,” he said with a laugh. “You know you’re not doing anything yet.”
She giggled. “We are such nerds,” she said. “Sitting at home on a Saturday night, playing video games.”
“I’m okay with it,” he said with a smirk.
When he selected a fighting game, she got excited. Cailyn sat cross-legged while he laid down beside her.
“I can’t access my inheritance until I graduate. All I have is my credit card which Hunt pays for me.”
“You’re sure you want to give that up right now?”
“No. I don’t. We can finish school somewhere else. Only a few more credits and we are done.”
“I don’t think you thought this through. We have to apply to another college, transfer credits, and all kinds of stuff.”
Cailyn shrugged. “That’s what we will do.”
Asher stared at her, his brows furrowed. She wondered what he was thinking. For a moment she was worried.
“You’re lucky I love you.”
She snickered and dropped her controller. She jumped onto him, gripping his shoulders as she pressed into them. He let his controller fall, not caring that it fell off the bed.
She leaned down to kiss him on the lips, almost getting lost in the intensity once his tongue licked her lips, and went deeper to tangle with her own. Her hair fell over her face, seemingly shielding them both, and tickling her cheeks.
One kiss had him ready to rip her clothes off, but she sat back up, pulling her hair into a bun on top of her head.
“Good,” she said, a little breathless. “We can take off the rest of this semester.”
Asher sighed, trying to pull her back down for more.
She had an idea. “Wait. We can finish online! I don’t even really need to be present for my classes. They can be accessed online if need be.”
Asher gave her butt a squeeze, sending shivers along her entire body. Every touch excited her. This new chapter of her life; the one where she was a sexual being was new to her, and she couldn’t get enough.
At that moment, however, she couldn’t help but turn her focus to their future away from her family and their drama.
“I guess I can do that too.”
She bit her nails. “Good. We can really do this.”
Asher took her hand from her mouth. “Stop biting your nails.”
Cailyn rolled her eyes. “I’m thinking.”
He sat up on his elbows, his blond hair falling just above his eyebrows.
“Promise me that when we leave, you’ll tell me what you’ve been hiding. You already said that you would. Did you mean it?”
The tequila made its way into her bloodstream making her feel warm all over. She bit her lip as she looked away from his gaze.
“I promise,” she whispered.
“Good.” Asher took off his shirt and tossed it aside.
She ran her hands along his abs.
“But where will we go with no money?”
“There isn’t a problem,” he said. “I can cover what we need.”
Cailyn smiled up at him. “And, I thought I was the wealthy one in the relationship. I thought I was go
ing to take care of us.”
He stepped onto the floor and took off his pants. She got under the covers and he joined her.
“Well, I kinda earned my wealth over the years.”
Cailyn raised a brow. “And I didn’t? You try to grow up in a family like mine. I earned mine as well. They’re just holding my money hostage for now.”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” he said, pulling her into his embrace. He smoothed her hair and kissed the back of her neck. “You definitely deserve the very best. And I’m supposed to be the one taking care of us anyway. Not you.”
“God, you’re so good to me,” Cailyn said, her heart aching at the thought of ever losing him. She shoved the idea out of her mind. They would be together forever.
She’d fight for Asher. She’d kill for him if she had to.
Chapter 11
Morning brought such hope that when Cailyn got out of bed and made breakfast, she had a smile on her face.
It’s going to be all right, she thought as she flipped pancakes. She caught herself humming like her mother and shook her head, laughing. Soon Asher would wake up to breakfast in bed and they would head out to his parent’s house.
Cailyn’s smile faded when she got a text from Tessa.
Meet up for coffee later?
She looked at the question, her stomach sinking. She put the phone away and let out a long breath. Leaving Tessa behind was going to be more difficult than she thought. She didn’t even think saying goodbye to her family would be so hard.
She poured two cups of coffee and sipped hers while the bacon finished crisping in the oven. She’d learned that technique from Asher’s dad. Apparently it was how the restaurants did it. The smell was incredible, and yet she no longer had an appetite.
She sucked her teeth when Asher came down the hallway in nothing but a pair of black basketball shorts. He yawned, waving at her.
Cailyn quickly took out two plates from the cabinet.
“You weren’t supposed to wake up yet!”
He grinned at her, his eyes scanning the chopped fruit, pancakes, and coffee. “You made bacon too?”
