The Bad Boy's Dance (48 page)

          “Guess not! Caleb took Phoebe to some isolated lake or something for a romantic picnic. Knowing him, he’ll probably fall in the water and take Phoebe with him.”

          Ivy laughed as she extracted the dress she’d prepared for the day from the closet. It was an emerald green color with a belt that cinched under her chest. It flowed to her knees, and as she dressed, she twirled in the dress. She tied her new pair of ankle boots, hoping fervently that she wouldn’t trip in the two inch heels.

          “What do you think I should do with my hair?” she asked, interrupting whatever Dana was ranting about.

          “Since he’s coming in like ten minutes, put it in a high ponytail and leave two curly strands in the front. Your hair is naturally wavy, so you’re good.”

          Ivy did as Dana advised and smiled at the result. She looked…pretty. She always felt intimidated when she stood beside Asher in public, because she was sure people wondered what a gorgeous guy like him was doing besides the girl that had Sharpie notes on her arm.

          But dressed like this….she might actually be on his level.

          “Makeup or no makeup?” she wondered.

          “No makeup,” Dana answered decidedly. “You look beautiful without it, and whenever you try to put it on it looks like Macy’s exploded on your face.”

          Ivy scowled, mostly because she wasn’t lying. A knock on the door interrupted her line of thought, and her nearly-forgotten panic returned with a vengeance.

          “Dana! Dana, he’s here!” she mumbled loudly. She hadn’t seen Asher in two months, and a mixture of anticipation and nerves were swirling in her tummy.

          “Good luck, Ives. Say hi to the jerk for me. Have fun!”

          “No, Dana, don’t-” but it was too late. Her traitorous best friend had hung up.

          Taking a fortifying breath, Ivy walked quickly to the front door and yanked it open, prepared to make a bad joke to break the ice.

          Her words died on her lips.

          Asher was dressed in a form-fitting black button down and it’s matching suit pants. His hair had grown a bit longer, and the tousled strands curled under his ears. He looked absolutely devastatingly beautiful.

          Cobalt eyes met hers.

          “You look…you look…” it was rare that Asher was at a loss for words, and Ivy laughed. Diving forward, she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her nose in his collar.

          Asher tightened his arms around her waist, lifting her until her feet hovered above the ground. He smelled so familiar, like leather and spice.

          “I’ve missed you so much, angel,” Asher murmured in her hair. Ivy’s heart clenched at hearing the endearment. It wasn’t like she and Asher didn’t talk and Skype almost every day, but there was just something about being in his arms, hearing his deep voice in person that nearly brought tears to her eyes.

          People in the hall were starting to stare, and she wouldn’t have cared if she wasn’t worried they’d probably tattle to the matron. More than a few girls were blatantly checking Asher out, and she wanted to bare her teeth and hiss at them.

          Extracting herself from his arms, she twined her fingers with him as she pulled him down the hall. Girls stared longingly at her boyfriend as they passed, and for a second, she was glad she hadn’t gone to visit Asher at Harvard. If she was this possessive from the girls at her school, she’d probably drop dead if she got a look at the girls he spent time with daily.

          At the threshold to the dorm hall, a girl stepped into their path. “Hey, I don’t think I’ve seen you around before. My name is Emily, I’m the head of the Welcoming Council at the school. Why don’t I show you around campus, huh?”

          Ivy’s jaw dropped. She knew Emily Warren, and she’d disliked the female from day one. She was even worse than Brenda. At least Brenda made it no secret that she hated Ivy and wanted to feed her to a hungry den of lions. Emily was all sugar to your face, until you pissed her off and she spray painted your clothes while you slept.

          “No. I don’t go here,” Asher drawled, clearly bored.

          “Oh, are you thinking of enrolling then? We have some really great programs here at South Dakota State.”

          At this, Asher’s lip began to curl into a sneer. “Is that so?”

          Ivy sighed as she watched the oblivious girl continue to flirt shamelessly with Asher on the pretense of ‘advertising the school’.

          “He goes to UCLA, Emily. So just stop,” Ivy snapped, unable to help herself.

          Emily grudgingly acknowledged her presence. “Hey, Ivy! You go to UCLA? Wow! That’s crazy! What’s it like over there?”

          Ignoring her, Asher bent his head, placing his lips near Ivy’s ear. His breath sent tingles down her spine. “Ivy, this girl isn’t your friend, or someone you like, right?”

          “Nope.”

          Straightening again, Asher leveled an icy look at Emily that would freeze over hell. “Why are you still here?”

          “E-excuse me?”

          “Why are you wasting the time I have with my girlfriend with your babble? Actually, I think you owe her an apology.”

          “You can’t be serious.”

          Asher tilted his head, narrowing his eyes impatiently.

          Emily turned to her with a barely concealed snarl. “So sorry I ‘wasted your time’, Ivy.”

          Ivy tightened her grasp on Asher’s hand and tugged him past the seething Emily. She wasn’t looking forward to the next few days with that unstable female, but it was worth it to see her mortified expression.

          “Are all the girls in your dorm like that?” Asher asked as he unlocked his sleek silver car. He held the door open for Ivy as she hopped in and rounded the car to the driver’s seat.

          “No, not all of them. Emily’s a special head-case. Anyway, it’s not like you’re unaware how attractive you are,” she teased.

          “Good point.”

          Ivy giggled, swatting at his shoulder as he drove. “Hey, do you see that?” she said suddenly, pointing at something.

          “Clearly I don’t.”

          “Well, smartass, it’s the drive-in theater you took me to. Remember the one where you forced me to watch 
Dirty Dancing
? I was so surprised to find out you were a Patrick Swayze fan-boy.”

          Asher shuddered dramatically. “Call me a fan-boy again and I’ll take you back to Eustace and Muriel’s house. It wasn’t too far from here either.”

          Ah, that sweet old couple who’d given them a room to sleep in for the night. “Where are you taking us, anyway?”

          “None of your business.”

          Ivy rolled her eyes. “And if I recall correctly, that’s also what you said last time we were here.”

          The dimpled grin Asher flashed her made staying in her seat and not crawling over the console and into his lap very difficult.

          To distract herself from her hormonal lust, she began to interrogate him as they drove. “So, how’s Dex?”

          Asher chuckled. “As nerdy as ever. Probably busy, though.”

          Ivy made a disbelieving noise in her throat. “With the Calculus-loving Swedish supermodel, of course.”

          “Of course.”

          They were bordered by woods on either side as they drove, and Ivy ignored the fissure of unease in her gut. Something always went wrong when they were near or in the woods.

          “How’re Dana and Caleb?” Asher inquired.

          “Freaking out. Kyle is taking Dana-cheeseballs!” The car lurched to the side as Asher cursed, yanking on the steering wheel. They veered sharply to the left, into the woods, and Asher swerved hard to avoid crashing into the trees.

          There was a screech and sputtering, and then everything was quiet.

          “The engine died,” Asher grunted, shooting out of the car to the front. Ivy sat there in shock, unable to believe that the woods had thwarted their plans again. She was a supporter of nature, she recycled and fed stray animals-so why were these accursed woods intent on destroying her and Asher’s plans every time they drove by?

          Ivy climbed out of the car, leaves crunching under her boots as she circled the vehicle. Asher had rolled the sleeves of his shirt to his elbows, and Ivy had to check to make sure drool wasn’t dripping at the sight of his strong, tan forearms.

          On the left side of the car, the last tire had gone flat, and from Asher’s frustrated curses, it was a huge problem. “Don’t you have a spare?” Ivy queried, squatting to poke at the shredded tire.

          “No, 
that
 was the spare,” he pointed to the flat. “And the engine died, so we would need a jump start.”

          “How much do you want to bet that our phones have no signal right now?” Ivy sighed.

          Asher helped Ivy to her feet, his brow furrowed. “This sucks.”

          She shrugged. “I’m not too upset.”

          “You’re happy we’re stranded in the woods again?”

          Ivy hooked her arm through his as they made their way back to the main road. “No, I’m happy I get to spend more time with you.”

          Asher’s cobalt eyes softened, and a smile curved his delicious lips. “Most girls wouldn’t want to spend their Valentine’s Day walking a deserted road.”

          Ivy widened her eyes dramatically. “What? How could girls not love walking with this lovely scenery surrounding them?” she gestured to the expanse of trees surrounding them.

          “They don’t know what they’re missing,” Asher declared. He halted, stopping Ivy with him. “Hop on.”

          “Er, what?”

          “Get on my back. You keep looking at your shoes, and I’m willing to bet Dex’s life savings that your feet hurt.”

          “Asher, you’re wearing clothes that cost more than my dorm. I’m not-hey! Put me down!” she protested as he grabbed her arms and yanked her onto his back.

          “Hurry or I’ll start running!”

          Ivy wrapped her legs around his waist quickly. “You’re an ass!”

          “So I was told, about an hour ago.”

          Ivy couldn’t object to being wrapped around him like a second skin. Asher walked easily, as if having an extra hundred something on him was no biggie. His muscles flexed under her palms, and her hormonal lust returned savagely.

          “Ivy, how long is it going to be like this?” Asher asked suddenly.

          “What do you mean?”

          “I mean, how long are we going to be so far apart? I’m tired of not being able to see you whenever I want. Phone calls aren’t enough for me. I want to be with you, angel.”

          “I want to be with you too, Asher. You have no idea how much I miss you. But what can we do? It’s the hand Fate dealt us.”

          “But don’t you ever get tired of it? Don’t you ever want 
more
?”

          Icy terror clenched Ivy’s heart in a vise grip as his words hit her. He couldn’t be…surely he wasn’t…did he want to break up with her?

          The sky was darkening overhead, the last reddish orange rays fading in the horizon. Soon the only illumination would be from the street lamps, and Ivy wasn’t even sure how far away from town they were.

          “I do want more,” Ivy agreed carefully. “But that’s kind of impossible since you live in California.”

          “I think there’s a way we could have more with such a huge distance between us.”

          Ivy slid off his back and crossed her arms over her chest tightly. She could already feel the pain beginning to slice in her chest. How could he break up with her after everything they’d been through? And on Valentine’s Day, too? Was there someone else? The thought made her nauseous

          “Ivy, what’s wrong?”

          “Hmm, maybe the fact that you’re telling me you want to see other people?”

          Asher stopped walking, turning to gape at her. “Are you shitting me?”

          Ivy placed her hands on her hips. “What else could what you’re saying mean? We can’t have more if we live thousands of miles away from each other, so clearly you’re tired of having to stay loyal to a girlfriend so far away. So go ahead, sow your wild oats, Asher! God forbid I keep you down!”

          Asher looked utterly confused and slightly angry. “What just happened?”

          A horn blaring interrupted Ivy’s inner turmoil and jolted them both. Asher quickly yanked Ivy behind him and reached down, un-strapping the gun from his calf.

          “Really? You still do that?” Ivy hissed.

          “Stay quiet!”

          A large truck pulled to a stop beside them, and a bearded man stuck his head from the window. “Hey, you guys need any help?”

          “We’re good-” Asher started, but Ivy interrupted him.

          “Actually, our car broke down. You wouldn’t happen to be driving towards town, would you?”

          “Guess it’s your lucky day, hun. I have a delivery to make near Darwin High. You know the place?”

          “Yes! You’ll give us a ride there?”

          The driver shrugged. “Why not? And son, you might want to out that away. There are plenty of police who ain’t gonna be happy about a college student with a gun.”

          “Cops around here are practically my best friends,” Asher said sarcastically, but he returned the gun to its hidden holster.

          Ivy stared at the high seat and at her boots. Preparing to make an ungraceful leap, Ivy was surprised to feel Asher’s hands on her waist as he hoisted her up. She slid into the seat as Asher climbed in gracefully.

          “Happy Valentine’s Day, kids. Y’all look like you were headed somewhere special.”

          Neither of them spoke.

          “Trouble in paradise, huh?”

          “Were you just waiting for a chance to dump me?” Ivy asked tightly. For some reason, it felt like she could speak freely in front of the truck driver. And she knew it would make Asher uncomfortable to talk about personal matters in front of a stranger.

          Asher clenched his jaw. “Ivy, you’ve got things all wrong. We’ll talk about this later, okay?”

          “I don’t see why we shouldn’t talk about it now. You keep secrets from me all the time, but I would’ve thought you’d at least be honest about wanting to see other people.”

          This spurred Asher into responding. “I don’t keep secrets from you!”

          “Really? Then how is it I still don’t know why you vandalized that strip mall? Or why you didn’t mention you were still seeing a parole officer when we started dating?”

          “You never asked!”

          “MY BAD!”

          “Would you calm the hell down? I vandalized the strip mall because my father had just been sentenced to fifteen years in prison, and I was 
pissed. 
 I was an angry teenage boy who didn’t give a fuck about how my actions affected others. I didn’t tell you I was seeing a parole officer because I was 
lucky 
that you wanted me, for some Goddamn reason. I wasn’t going to make you question it.”

          Ivy buried her face in her hands. “Asher, sometimes I legitimately wonder how you got into UCLA. You saw how messed up I was, and you thought I’d change my mind about you because you were seeing a parole officer? Seriously?” 

          The truck driver, who had been silent throughout the argument, interjected. “Actually, I think he has a point. Most guys don’t believe they deserve their girl.”

          “B-but, I’m no prize! He is! Jeez, he’s considerate, sweet, gorgeous, smart…who 
wouldn’t 
want him?”

          Ivy heaved a sigh and turned towards Asher. “To be honest, I can see why you want to see other people.”

          Asher, who’d had a small smile on his face as Ivy listed his attributes, scowled. He grabbed Ivy’s chin, forcing her to gaze into his stormy cobalt peepers. “I. Do Not. Want. To See. Other. People. Do you understand?”

          She stared at him, dumbstruck.

          They were pulled from their stupor as the truck driver stopped in front of their old high school. “This is my stop. Good luck, kids,” he said gruffly.

          Asher thanked him and opened the car door, jumping down. Ivy was preparing to follow when she felt a thick hand on her elbow. The truck driver watched her shrewdly. “Tell his mother first.”

          Ivy blinked. “Um, excuse me?”

          “Ivy, come on. Take my hand,” Asher said urgently. With another bewildered glance at the truck driver, she accepted Asher’s hand, allowing him to pull her to the ground.

          With a honk and a wave, the truck driver drove away. Asher flicked a strand of dark hair from his forehead. “What a strange dude.”

          Ivy couldn’t agree more.

          She turned to look at the school, the place that was throbbing with memories for her, Asher, and all their friends. It was where they’d met, where they’d fallen in love, where they’d both battled their demons to submission. It was where she’d shoved a red velvet cupcake into Brenda Curtis’s smug face, where she’d danced with Asher for the first time.

          And now Asher was picking the lock to the front entrance.

          “Hey! What are you doing?” she whispered, coming up behind him.

          “Breaking in.”

          “No, I thought you were making out with the door knob.”

          The entrance opened with a 
swish, 
and the next thing Ivy knew, they were standing in the halls of their old high school. They walked down the linoleum halls, the only sound the clicks of Ivy’s boots on the floor. Asher turned right with no warning, and Ivy followed him as he made his way through the school.

          When he stopped at a familiar door, Ivy bit her lip worriedly. Asher quickly picked the lock and pushed open the door to the dance class, where they’d had their first dance to a Britney Spears song. He flicked on the lights as he walked, stopping in the center of the studio. He held out a hand. “May I have this dance?”

          “There’s no music,” Ivy said nervously.

          Asher extracted a remote from his pocket and clicked on a button. Soft music began to play, and Ivy flushed as Asher took her hand, tugging her against his hard body.

              “Smooth,” Ivy chuckled, not the least bit surprised.

          They began to sway, and unable to help herself, Ivy rested her head on his shoulder. “I don’t want to see other people, Asher,” she whispered.

          “Good. You’re stuck with me, angel.”

          Ivy laughed, wrapping her arms around his waist. “Sounds good to me.”

          Asher drew small circles on her shoulder. “Do you love me?” he murmured.