Unrequited (5 page)

“Ashton, this is my date, Jason, and that's Beau.” Aimee indicated the two unknown guys who had just entered the house with Jackson. Ashton recognized both of them from school, but hadn't met either of them before. As expected, several more pictures were taken before the trio of couples finally left for the dance.

There had been hardly any time to exchange of words at the house, but now Ashton was squeezed in next to Jackson in the back of a large SUV. She waited for the butterflies to return and take over her stomach, but they never arrived, and Ashton couldn’t help but feel like it was some sort of sign.

The engine started, and the group drove toward the school.

“You look really nice.” Jackson was staring at Ashton.

Ashton smiled and mumbled a quick “thank you.”

“Ashton looks like a movie star,” Aimee yelled from the front seat. “I know more than a few girls who are gonna just die when they see her.”

“What does she mean?” Ashton whispered to Sarah, who was sitting to the other side of her.

“Well, there are some girls who've had their eye on Jackson for like…ever, and they are probably gonna be a little jealous that you moved here and caught him so quickly. Plus, you're way prettier than they are, so…ya know…jealous.” Sarah squeezed Ashton's hand and went back to giggling at Beau.

Ashton wasn't out to “catch” anybody, and she certainly didn’t want to make anyone jealous. She didn’t want to draw any attention to herself at all. Still, Jackson did look awfully handsome in his dark blue shirt and black tie, and it was nice to spend a night away from her parents’ worried looks.

The group pulled into the school parking lot and everyone filed out of the SUV. They started to walk toward the door, and Jackson reached to hold Ashton's hand. The butterflies still didn’t appear.

“I should probably tell you, I don't really dance,” Ashton whispered to her date.

“I don't mind. I'm just glad you came.” Jackson squeezed her hand a little bit tighter, and they made their way to the gymnasium.

As they walked into the gym, Ashton felt as though she had transported back to before all the uncertainty had entered her life. She'd been to several school dances. She'd even been on the prom court during her junior year at Mount Clara. She loved dances, even if she rarely danced at them.

There were twinkling lights strung overhead, and music was playing loudly. She recognized the song as one she had danced to with her friends back in Mount Clara. The lighting was fairly dark, but Ashton could still make out the faces of several students she'd recently become friendly with. Jackson was chattering in her ear, and Aimee kept pointing out other girls and making comments on their outfits. She found herself laughing with the girls and finally feeling slightly excited by Jackson's attention. Something familiar started to creep over her, and Ashton realized it was a feeling of who she used to be. It felt good.

***

Will was standing in a corner with Valerie and a few other teachers. Chaperoning was just one of several extracurricular activities for a high school teacher. Will didn’t mind; he always thought dances were kind of fun. When he was a teenager, girls and boys didn’t have all the freedom these modern kids had. His rules of propriety were formed a long ago time, so it was very easy for him to break up couples who were getting a little too familiar with each other. He also loved to dance, and didn’t mind taking the female teachers for a few spins around the dance floor.

He knew the moment Ashton Wallace walked into the gym. He felt her the instant before he saw her, as though a slight breeze had washed over him and announced her arrival. She was stunning in a green dress that complemented her eyes and her stature. Her lovely brown hair was falling in waves down her back and, best of all, she had a smile on her face. Will had never seen her smile before, and the sight of it nearly stole his breath away.

Will wasn't the only one in the room who had taken notice. Some of the boys were looking at her with appreciation, and more than a few girls were staring at her with envy. As a teacher, he knew enough of high school politics to know that the fact Jackson Truitt was her date was definitely going to cause a stir. Jackson was considered the big catch at Belle Ridge. Ashton had walked into this dance with two strikes against her—she was pretty and she was on the arm of Jackson.

He continued to watch as she made her way across the room and took a seat on the edge of the partially pulled out set of bleachers. Jackson sat beside her and they seemed to be talking. A few girls approached the duo to say a few words, but then quickly departed. A moment later, another girl approached and tried to pull Jackson toward the dance floor. Jackson tried to refuse, but Ashton appeared to be waving him along. After a minute, Jackson relented and was off for a dance, and Ashton was alone.

Will recognized this as a chance to re-introduce himself to Ashton. Hopefully he could lay some groundwork and put Ashton at ease before going to meet her parents. He excused himself from the pool of teachers and walked toward the almost-empty bleachers.

The walk to Ashton was nerve-wracking. His heart, which rarely mattered to him anymore, was beating a bit faster. For a moment he worried she would figure him out, and be able to read his anxious thoughts before he even spoke a word. Will was afraid of scaring her away and losing a connection with the one person in the world who could possibly understand him. He also realized he didn’t actually know what to say to her once he reached her side. There didn’t seem like a convenient way to bring up the subject of vampires.

“How are you settling in to life at Belle Ridge?” he asked as he took a seat near Ashton.

***

Ashton turned to look at the man sitting beside her. She wanted him to leave and turned her body partially away, hoping it would signal him to depart. Try as she might to deny the reasons for her unease, she couldn’t. The first time she had been near him, she thought he was very familiar, even though she knew they had never met. Over the past few school days, she had become even more certain of her suspicions. He wasn't just a man who made her uncomfortable, or a stranger who made her feel awkward. Will Leighton was surely a vampire, and nothing good could come of any association with him.

“Just fine. I should go find my date,” Ashton answered and abruptly stood to leave. Before she could make an escape, a hand reached for hers and gently pulled her back to her seat.

“Please, don't go. It's important that we talk…and I think you know why.” He was staring at her with an intensity that pulled at her being. Ashton tore her hand away and started to stand again.

“I don't think it's appropriate for you to touch me, and there is nothing else that needs to be said between us.” She was pleading with him now, her voice a whisper, trying not to rouse the attention of anyone nearby. If she could prevent him from saying what she knew he was determined to say, she could somehow continue to pretend her life was just as it had always been. If she could keep him from uttering the one word she herself could barely speak, she could continue with this night the way she had intended to.

“I'm sorry. I just never thought I'd find another…I never thought someone like you would be in my life.” He sounded so hopeful that for a moment she wanted to give him whatever he was looking for. There was something in this stranger's beautiful eyes, and the distinct awareness she felt with him. There was something in his voice which drifted through her and circled her heart, softening that well-guarded vessel. She could feel it happening as surely as she could feel herself slipping into the fear of the unknown. Panic gripped Ashton once again, and she regained her cold composure.

“I'm not in your life, and I certainly haven't welcomed you into mine.” She could hear the bite in her own words, and she knew she was looking at him sharply, challenging him to continue this unwanted conversation. Ashton could feel him retreat slightly, but knew she had done nothing to lessen his determination.

“Go if you need to, but this isn't over, Ashton.” Will stood, turned his back to her, and made his way back to the chaperones on the other side of the room.

Her short-lived relapse into normalcy was over, and Ashton walked out of the dance without looking back.

Ashton calculated the walk from the school to her house should only take about half an hour. It had been rude to leave without saying a word to Jackson and her friends. Walking alone in the dark probably wasn't the best idea, and she knew running away from Will Leighton wasn't going to keep him from talking to her again.

At the very moment she conjured Will in her mind, a car pulled up alongside her.

“Get in. I'll take you home,” Will Leighton said through the rolled down window of his car's passenger-side door.

“If it's all the same to you, I’ll walk.” Ashton started walking again. She wished Will away, even though she knew he wasn't going to give up so easily. She heard the car stop, and the door open.

Ashton paused and turned to see Will walking toward her with a determined look on his face. Without a word, he took her by the arm and led her to the car. She thought about resisting or screaming, but thought better of it when she saw a flash of something in Will's eyes. It was a look she recognized. It was a look of dark possibility and danger she possessed as well. She had often felt a sort of darkness rising closer and closer to her outer self, and she didn’t want to know what would happen if the darkness ever prevailed. Tonight she wasn't going to test Will’s limits either.

Once inside the car, Ashton looked straight ahead. She refused to acknowledge the man driving the car.

Chapter Seven

Will took a few deep breaths. He knew he needed to calm down before he spoke and said something he would regret. His anger wasn't with Ashton's disappearance from the dance, but instead he was furious she would do such a foolish thing as walk alone at night. She was a young woman, and even with her special abilities, she was vulnerable. Her disregard for her own safety was astounding.

“Where’s your house?” he gently asked after several minutes of silence.

“There's a dirt road at the end of this street. My house is a little ways down that road.” She continued to stare straight ahead.

Will started driving again. The young woman next to him was going to be tough to deal with. Her actions tonight gave him little doubt of that. He glanced over at her and couldn’t help but notice the look in her eyes, the determined tilt of her chin, and the way she had her arms wrapped around herself. She was afraid.

Will reached the dark dirt road and pulled off to the side. Ashton turned swiftly to face him with wide eyes.

“What are you doing?” She looked like she might bolt at any moment.

“You don't have to be afraid, Ashton. You don't have anything to fear from me, ever. I just want to talk to you and get to know you. If you would let me, I could help you.” He watched her face change and become slightly more relaxed. He could see his words were finally getting through to her. Will stayed as far to his side of the car as he could. He didn’t want to startle her or make her feel any more threatened than she already did.

Several minutes passed. Ashton stared into Will's eyes. She seemed to be taking in every inch of his face. Her feelings were wrapping around him now, even though he had not been trying to read them. He could sense she was curious and scared and, most of all, sad. Will remained impassive as she looked down to his hands and slowly, unexpectedly, reached to touch one of them.

Will didn’t move or speak. He knew she was struggling to come to terms with his presence in her world. Her features, which moments before had been so carefully fixed to conceal all emotions, were now soft and vulnerable. Her eyes were silently searching for answers.

Her hand grazed his, and a shiver went up his arm. He wondered if she felt it too. Ashton continued to touch Will's hand, examining it, comparing it to her own until finally she clasped it between both of her own hands in an embrace.

“We're the same, aren't we?” she whispered, and Will wasn't sure if she was asking a question or stating what she had known all along. He watched her face. Her eyes remained fixed on his hand in hers. With his free hand, Will tilted her chin upward to meet his gaze.

“Yes, Ashton, we are the same.” He spoke quietly.

“Are there many like us?” She spoke a little louder, her words sounding sad and hollow.

“Until I met you, I thought I was the only one.” Will put his hand alongside her cheek and caressed it with his thumb. His goal was to provide some little comfort, but he saw a tear roll from her eye and slowly slide down her cheek.

It was strange, Will thought. He was elated someone else in the world could understand his plight. There was comfort in knowing he didn’t have to outlive every single person he ever knew. He didn’t have to be alone anymore. Yet, as much joy as he felt with this turn of events, Ashton was saddened by them. Will didn’t understand, but knew he would have to try.

“Please don't cry. Don't you see? We need each other. I've been hoping for someone like you for a very long time.” Will caught the single tear on his hand and let go of her face. He did need her. The feelings the past few days had awakened made that clear. More importantly, the pervasive feeling of loneliness had gone away, and he couldn’t bear the thought of it returning.

“How long? How old are you?” Ashton sniffed a little as she spoke, but he could tell she was trying to stay calm.

“Well, that question has more than one answer. I guess biologically I'm twenty-five, but technically I'm pretty old.” He smiled gently at her.

“How old are we talking? Like, burning of Atlanta old?” Will was pleased to see a glint of humor in her eyes as she asked, and knew she was done trying to avoid him, at least for the moment.

“I was well past middle-aged when that happened.” He eased his other hand from her grasp and pulled the car back onto the road. Ashton didn’t speak again, but Will could feel her eyes on him for the rest of the journey.