Out Of The Ashes Read Online Free Page A

for you around here somewhere, right? Or some other stand-in.”
     
    He closed his eyes briefly, and then glared at Gillian. “Nice, Gill. I’m not with Hannah, and you know it.”
     
    “Exactly,” she answered. “You just sleep with her because she’s available. But,” she placed an arm around my waist and pulled me closer. “Paige here isn’t. Go look for another notch for your bedpost tonight.”
     
    His blue eyes flashed angrily, but he stayed silent. Had I noticed how beautifully clear those baby blues were before? He threw one last, pleading glance at me. What did he want me to read in that look? Then he walked away, hands in the pockets of his perfect ass-framing jeans.
     
    I escaped after that, closing the bathroom door behind me with a sigh of relief. I wasn’t used to guys--any guy, much less one that looked like Clay--paying any sort of attention to me at all. And the way he’d zeroed in on me since the moment we ran into each other at the bookstore made me think he might be interested in me. And that thought was ridiculous. He was obviously a player. Someone I needed to stay away from because the last thing my broken body needed was a broken heart to go along with it.
     
    A knock sounded on the door, a quick tap-tap-tap.
     
    “Someone’s in here!” I shouted.
     
    The door shoved open. I gasped and opened my mouth to shout when a hand slapped onto my face, effectively shutting me up.
     
    My eyes widened when the redhead in the black dress appeared behind me in the mirror. One hand was still covering my mouth and she used the other to tug my short hair, yanking a scream from me when she pulled. Her heavy hand muffled the noise.
     
    “Shut up, bitch,” she hissed. “Do you know who I am?”
     
    The alcohol floating off her breath as she spoke upset my stomach. The room spun, threatening to pull my legs out from under me.
     
    She pulled my hair harder when I didn’t answer. “Do you?”
     
    I shook my head quickly, staring at her in the mirror with wide eyes.
     
    “I’m Clay Forbes’ fiancée. Got it? You stay away from him. If I catch you sniffing around my man again, I’m going to fuck you up. Nod if you understand.”
     
    I nodded, angry tears filling my eyes from the sting in my head.
     
    “Good.” She let go and the sudden absence of her overbearing hands and her liquored up scent was overwhelming and I couldn’t breathe properly, much less speak.
     
    She opened the bathroom door, throwing one last look at me over her shoulder and closed it behind her.
     
    I dropped down to the bathroom floor and sobbed silently into a towel I pulled off of the sink as I sank.
     

 
     
     
     
    Five

    Paige
     
    The first day of school was sunny and perfect. The birds sang in the trees and cars motored happily down the street beyond our apartment complex.
     
    The world was turning; everyone was going about their normal business.
     
    As if the most monumental day of my life wasn’t upon me.
     
    Life is funny that way. Big things can happen to you; tragedies can take your entire family away. But the rest of the world continues on as if nothing has happened.
     
    As I walked toward campus with Gillian, she noticed my pensive mood and she grabbed my hand, squeezing it tightly in hers.
     
    “You’re amazing, you know,” she said.
     
    “Am I? I don’t feel amazing. Most of the time I feel a little lost.”
     
    “I know,” she answered. “But you’re finding yourself. Slowly. I can see it happening every day. Little pieces of you come flying back, and my friend is being put back together again. It makes me so happy and hopeful for what comes next in your life.”
     
    “I’m never going to be that girl again, Gill. You know that, right? The girl that I was before the fire didn’t realize what an ugly place the world could be.”
     
    She nodded thoughtfully. “But this girl knows and is still a shiny bright spot in my world. That counts for something, Paige. You’re going