The Heart's Ashes
Page 67

“Mike—she’s gone.” I held my fingertips just above her skin, feeling the cool rise off her like energy. “She’s so cold—you need to let us take her.”
“You get away from her!” he barked, practically spitting in my face; “You did this. You did this...” his voice broke away.
“Mike?” I held the tears back. “Mike, please, I—”
“I said leave us!”
David took a quick step in and had me across the room before I realised I’d been lifted; he stood between Mike’s gaze and me; his body, his stance defensive. “Mike, don’t take this out on Ara.”
“She did this.” He released a hand from Emily only to thrust a finger of blame at me; I leaned around and when I met with the murderous hatred in his eyes, drew a breath, covering my mouth.
David pushed me back a little more, glaring down at Mike. “What was that?” he growled. “You’re gonna hurt Ara because of this?”
“Just get her out of here,” Mike sobbed, hiding his face in Emily’s neck. “I don’t wanna hurt her, you know I don’t, but I—” He looked at me again, and the truth was there, in his eyes. “I don’t wanna look at her!”
“Mike?” My voice quivered; I reached for him.
“I said go, Ara!” Mike snarled like a rabid dog.
“Right, that’s it.” David shoved me softly against the wall, shielding me completely. “One more thought like that and I’ll put you down, brother. That’s my girl you’re thinking of there.”
Mike looked up, and with loathing in his eyes, shook his head at me. “Just get her out of here.”
All breath stopped short of my lips, leaving me dizzy, light-headed, like my body was flooding with poison. My face crumpled tightly; “I really am sorry, Mike.”
“Ara.” David reached for me as I pushed past him. “Don’t run,” he called. “Ara?”
I have to run. I have to go. My best friend is dead, my other best friend, the very friend who loved me, now wants to kill me over the death of a girl he just fell for.
It made no sense, made our entire past, everything we suffered, everything we experienced, feel like nothing.
How could he be so cold?
“Ara!” David, still in Emily’s room, called again as I tugged the front door open and grabbed my car keys. “Ara, please. I can’t chase you—I need to…” A loud, grumbling sigh ended his sentence.
As the engine started, so too did the pouring rain. David appeared from nowhere and grabbed the front fender, lifting it slightly as I tried to reverse down the drive. The tyres squealed over the wet ground, but David held tight, staring me down, rain saturating his dark hair.
“Get off, David. I have to go. I can’t be here.”
“Ara, just wait. For two seconds.”
I looked into his caring eyes, then shoved the car into neutral, folding my arms.
“Thank you.” He rested the front wheels back on the ground again, appearing by my door with a curled finger tapping the window. “Unlock the door.”
I sat, sniffling. I didn’t want to open it, but knew he’d just break it and I’d have to get it fixed if I didn’t. Begrudgingly, I lifted the lock and David yanked the door open, falling to his knees beside the car. “Don’t leave, okay. Please, I need you here.”
The rain soaked the side of my leg and turned David into a dripping artwork. “Why do you need me?”
“Because I love you. You can’t drive like this—you’ll have an accident.”
“He hates me, David. It hurts. I can’t be here.”
“He’s in pain, Ara. He doesn’t mean it. I know he doesn’t. You—” he grabbed my hand, “you know he doesn’t.”
“No, David.” I wiped my nose. “That’s the problem—he did mean it.”
“Ara?” His hands shook so much I placed mine over his. “Please don’t run. Please? I need your help. I can’t bury her alone. She was my friend, too.”
My heart melted; I touched his face, wiping away the pain. He was always so calm. I didn’t think he cared about Emily like we did, but I’d never seen him shake before, never seen him let tears fall so easily. “I’m sorry, David.”
“No.” He pulled me from the car and hugged me right there, on the driveway, in the pouring rain. “You don’t need to be sorry—for anything—at all. This is all just a horrible, horrible mistake.”
“But I told her about Jas—”
“Yes, but you never meant any of this to happen.” He wrapped both hands along my cheeks, pressing his brow to mine. “She needed the truth. So did Mike.”
I nodded. “I know. But, I just...I don’t know how to do this. I’ve never had to bury a—what do we—?”
“Don’t worry about that part, sweetheart.” He brushed my hair from my face. “I’ll take care of that. I just need you to be there with me.”
“I can do that.” I sniffed, wiping my face with the backs of my hands.
“It’s going to be okay. Mike will—” David looked up then, toward the front door.
“What?” I looked, too.
“Stay here.” He turned away slowly.
“What is it?” I reached in and turned off the car, pulling the keys from the ignition. Then, I heard it, too—screaming. Mike!
David bolted ahead, leaving the front door open, but by the time I made it to the hall, he’d slammed Emily’s door shut—locking me out. “Let me in,” I yelled, slapping the wood. “David! Let me in!”
“Let me see,” I heard David say. “Shit. Just move. Move!”
“Mike? David?” I kicked at the door, shoving it with my shoulder. Damn it, David.
It flung open suddenly, leaving my fist falling through the absent air, landing hard on Mike’s chest as he folded forward, his bloodied face a mess, unrecognisable. He fell into my shoulder, limp, heavy; my knees buckled. “David.” Help me.
David appeared, pressed his palms to Mike’s chest and bumped me away with his hip. “Stand back, Ara,” he said, and with the ease of lifting a pillow, flipped the limp giant over his shoulder.
“What happened to him?” I asked. “Why’s his face bleeding?”