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WHEN ASHES FALL 1
OneAlixPresent Day“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?” I said into the headset as I stared at the computer screen.While I waited for a response, I sucked in a deep breath and rested my fingers on the keyboard, my thumb gently tapping the space bar but not hard enough to actually press it down. My body tensed. The tips of my toes ground into the bottom of my shoes.It was a ritual.One I repeated every time I answered a call.“I’m at the Public Garden,” the woman said. “And a man just fell off one of the benches. He’s on the ground, screaming. You can probably hear him in the background. It looks like he hurt his arm or something.”Once I processed her description, my chest loosened.The air I’d been holding in slowly made its way through my lips.The tapping stopped.“What’s your name?” I asked.“Why do you need that?”“It’s for our records and also so I know what to call you.”“I’m not comfortable with giving you my last name, but my first name is Rachel.”“Rachel,” I repeated
WHEN ASHES FALL 2
Always.And, according to her, today was one.“To moments,” I repeated.She took a drink from her glass, and then she crossed her arms over the table and leaned in closer. “Tell me all about your day. I want to hear every detail.”I had known this question was coming. That was partly why I’d wanted to cancel. “I woke up, went for a run, and went to work, and now, I’m meeting you. There’s not much else to tell.”“Alix …”She didn’t say my name in a reprimanding way.She said it as though she were encouraging me to talk about it. Because Rose forever assumed I needed to get something off my chest.“Work was fine,” I said. “The entire shift was rather uneventful, honestly, and for the most part, it was a shockingly safe day in Boston.”Her face began to relax.I certainly hadn’t missed how tense it looked.“And it was a sunny day,” she said.I nodded. “I’m thankful for that.” I took another sip, hoping I’d satisfied her enough that she would change the topic.“I have news.”Relieved that
WHEN ASHES FALL 3
I got up from the table and moved around to her chair. I put my hand on her shoulder and said, “Stay. Enjoy yourself. Eat your meal … and mine. If you want. It was nice meeting you …” I stopped and cleared my throat, trying to remember her name. It didn’t come to me, and I had nothing left to say, so I walked away.But I didn’t leave the restaurant.I went to Alix’s table, stood right at her side, and put my back toward my date. “Excuse me,” I said.Rose was already looking at me.Not Alix.I had to wait for her to slowly turn to me, her gaze gradually lifting until it reached my face. “Hi.”“I want to give you something.”She smiled out of nervousness. “Okay.”“Give me your hand.”“She’s not giving you anything until I know what this is about,” Rose said.The dynamics of their friendship were defined in that moment.So were their personalities.I glanced at Rose. “What I’m about to give her isn’t going to hurt her.”“I don’t know that.”I reached into my back pocket again, took out m
WHEN ASHES FALL 4
“I’ve missed you.”He was here.With me.That was the only thing I wanted.“I can’t stop thinking about you,” he added.That made me shiver.Even harder.I felt movement, and the blanket shifted. Then, suddenly, he was on top of me.His smell.His touch.His presence.I loved all of it.While I stayed on my stomach, his mouth traveled down my back, peppering my spine with kisses. It forced my lips to spread almost as wide as my legs.“You’re so fucking beautiful, Alix.”Oh God.My arm shot out from under the pillow, and it feathered down the front of me until two of my fingertips were pressed against my clit. “I want you,” I moaned.My hips shifted higher to give him more access, his tip easily finding my wetness.He growled in my ear, and then I heard, “You’re going to get all of me.”I swallowed.And then I gasped as his long thickness thrust deep inside me.It was perfection.So was the sensation that consumed my entire body, the tingles that spread to each of my limbs.Emotion bur
WHEN ASHES FALL 5
“Why do you say that?”I waved off my assistant as she popped her head in, and I swiveled the chair around to face the wall of windows. “Most people send a text the next day, two days max. Or they scrub off the ink with no intention of ever calling. But they don’t usually keep the number and wait three weeks to use it.”“I was moving. That’s why I didn’t phone you sooner.”I grabbed a stress ball off my desk. I threw it into the air, caught it, and tossed it right back up. “My best friend owns a moving company. I could have had you relocated and unpacked within a few hours.”“I wouldn’t have accepted your offer, Dylan. My roommates and I are more than capable of handling it.”I shifted in my seat as the ball went wide to the left, and I threw it high. “It sounds like you have more than one.”“I have three.”“Three?” I said, laughing.I hadn’t lived with that many people since college, and that was ten years ago.I wasn’t sure how old Alix was. I guessed mid-twenties, which meant she s
WHEN ASHES FALL 6
A few months later, I’d left, too.Just as I began to unzip that memory while Rose was telling me what their plans were for tonight, I heard a sound.It was one I couldn’t ignore.One I’d been tuned in to for years.It was the sound of someone who needed help.My feet stopped, and I scanned the area in front of me and on both sides until I found the source. There were two men just steps inside the mouth of the alley up ahead. One was sitting on the ground, hunched forward. The other was hovering over him, trying to evoke a response.It took less than a second to assess the situation.My heart began to race, my hands trembling to the point where I almost dropped the phone.The man kneeling was shaking the unconscious guy’s shoulders.There was still no reaction from him.My experience told me he would only get worse without a medical intervention.He needed an EMT, and then he needed to be brought to the hospital.It was a process I was quite familiar with.But, even if I wanted to hel
WHEN ASHES FALL 7
“And they’re showing you that he’s …” His voice trailed off, and he lifted his hand from Joe’s neck and ran it through his hair. “Jesus fucking Christ, Joe. Open your eyes and look at me, buddy.” When Joe didn’t respond, Smith put his hand on his friend’s chest and shook it. “Open your goddamn eyes. I know you can hear me right now.”I didn’t stop him because I didn’t think movement would hurt Joe’s condition.“What the fuck did you take?” He got closer to Joe’s face. “You didn’t have to do this. We would have figured it out. I would have helped you; you know that.”Just as Joe’s pulse slowed a little more, I heard the sound of the siren. By how loud it was, it couldn’t have been more than a few blocks away.“They’re almost here,” I said to Smith.My fingers stayed on Joe’s wrist, constantly monitoring his heart rate in case it lowered to where I needed to give him CPR. My eyes were glued to him, taking in the coloring of his skin, the movement in his face, every rise of his chest. An
WHEN ASHES FALL 8
EightAlixPresent DayWithin thirteen minutes of entering my townhouse, I was in bed. Naked. The blanket pulled up to my neck, a bottle of wine in my hand that I rested on top of the mattress.HGTV was playing on the television.Muted.Both bedside table lamps were on.In the last several seconds, I’d played and processed my encounter with Smith and Joe.I’d celebrated the moment internally.It was another milestone after all.And it had been a big one.Now, it was time to call Rose, whose panicked texts I still hadn’t replied to.I opened my call log, found her name, and pressed it.“Alix, are you okay?”I shouldn’t have waited so long to call.I should have phoned her when I’d gotten inside my townhouse.But I couldn’t have.My return couldn’t have gone in that order.I’d had to unlock the door first, then drop the keys and my bag, grab the wine, get undressed, and climb into bed.“Yes,” I promised. “I’m fine.”She sighed, and I could tell how relieved she was. “What the hell happe
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