Ruby Hill (Entangled Ever After) Read Online Free Page A

until he stepped through it. The sticky threads stuck to his face, his attempts to remove them only dragging long strands of broken web in ghostly trails with his every moment. Corbin swore under his breath. He hated spiders with an unholy passion. Imagined or not, he could practically feel dozens of tiny disgusting arachnid feet toeing his skin.
    He fought the sensation. Focused on the floor. On a body.
    Ashley.
    Cold seized him—air so cold he could see his breath. Terrible pain hit, exploding in his head and his gut. He pushed past it and dropped to his knees, a sense of déjà vu blistering him. He fought to keep from scooping her in his arms. Fought memories of this moment with Cash. Fought to swallow the poison climbing his throat. Ashley . He felt for a pulse, frantically looking for any sign of breath. She was pale. Too damn pale. But she had only been out of his sight for a minute.
    Heat pricked his eyes when he detected a heartbeat. In nearly the same instant, she opened her eyes.
    “Are you okay? What happened?” He had to force the words past the lump in his throat.
    She said nothing. Just poured over him with those blue eyes, their color nearly black in the dark.
    “You’re cold,” he said, rubbing his hands on her skin. “Freezing. Are you hurt?”
    She struggled to sit, so he helped her. Why wouldn’t she answer him?
    “If you’re okay, we need to get to a phone.” If not, he didn’t know what he’d do. Yell, maybe. Someone would hear. Not a bad idea, actually. He struggled with the idea of leaving her long enough to retrace his steps to the corridor, but she didn’t give him a chance.
    Ashley gripped him with one ice-cold hand. Kiss me .
    He hadn’t actually heard the words…at least not outside of his head. He felt them. Something in her eyes bewitched him, melding with euphoric relief. She was alive. She was alive, and they had a second chance. Captivated with a hope she might have forgiven him, he let himself lean closer, his eyes drifting closed.
    He expected the warmth of her kiss—not the blast of frigid air that slammed into him like a wall of ice water. His eyes flew open, only to discover the person in front of him wasn’t Ashley. Not anymore. Her face tipped, one side drooping slightly like a candle soft from the heat of its flame. He blinked—hard.
    Flat obsidian eyes stared back at him. Shit . Corbin scrambled backward into a pile of debris, plowing through it. He landed on his back, chest heaving.
    Poor light wasn’t to blame. The eyes were black, endless pools of evil. This was not Ashley .
    He scrambled to get his feet under him, unable to peel his eyes from this thing as its features staggered drunkenly then spilled down its skull like syrup over a stack of pancakes.
    It had touched him. He had touched it. This wasn’t possible.
    He didn’t believe in what was right in front of his eyes.
    White-hot pain grated his palm. He flexed his fingers, feeling the sticky heat of blood. Broken glass crunched underneath as he shifted. Unable to find his feet or his voice, he pushed away, hands and feet flailing as he sought purchase in the loose, unsteady pile of debris.
    Where the hell was Ashley? And what the hell —
    He watched, transfixed, as the thing disintegrated right before his eyes. Skin peeled away, leaving visible the pitted remnants of a skull. Hair detached in knots of streaked gray and fell to shoulder-like stumps. That was when he realized it wore a gown. Not the original jeans and tee he’d seen, but the uniform of a patient.
    Fuck, fuck, fuck . He pushed again, his hand closing on a piece of metal tubing. He gripped it—ready to fight, hoping for leverage—but the pipe was stuck.
    It didn’t matter.
    The thing faded. It wavered and compacted into a pinpoint of light that paused for only a second before shooting across the room and disappearing into the wall.
    It was gone.
    And so was Ashley.

Chapter Four
    Corbin was gone.
    Ashley pressed her fingertips to her