Page 11 of Into The Darkness

He shrugged.

“Then, I’ll pass on that offer. Considering you managed to embarrass me, throw a few insults my way, and make the entire class your personal nap zone—with your impressively large frame invading my personal space like it was on a mission. I have zero intention of disclosing my last name to you.”

A sly twist of his lips revealed his amusement. “Impressive, huh? I must say, I appreciate the compliment,” he quipped, a spark of playfulness dancing in his eyes.

“Gah. You annoy me. I have a bus to catch,” I huffed. My feet somehow found their strength again, and I turned away and walked toward the bus stop, but the echo of boots hitting the pavement sounded behind me. Just as I picked up the pace, so did he. I didn’t dare give him the satisfaction of looking back, though, and kept moving forward, hoping he would get the hint.

It started to drizzle as I got in line for the bus that, thankfully, was boarding. I could have driven, but I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of finding a parking spot on campus.

Walking onto the gray bus, I snapped my head around as I felt his presence lingering.

“What are you fucking doing?” I wasn’t sure what had gotten into me. Six months ago, I wouldn’t have ever talked back to a guy, but something about Ash was infuriating.

Goddamn, though, why did he have to be so fucking intriguing and sexy? His green eyes were so vibrant I felt them in my soul as he looked at me and smirked. Were all men who were this mysterious also this freaking attractive?

“We are neighbors, so I need the same bus. You are in luck.”

“Ugh!” I threw my hands in the air, which only made him laugh.

As I realized every single seat was taken, I grabbed onto the handles on the ceiling of the bus. Ash, in his typical cockiness, reached for the handlebars right above my head.

I glared over my shoulder, an action that only elicited a subtle twitch of his lips. As the bus took off, my equilibrium faltered—or perhaps my feet betrayed me—and then I lurched forward, close to colliding with the backpack of the person in front of me, but his broad hands wrapped around my chest and squeezed me to his chest.

The sensation was a paradox of warmth and softness, a fleeting thought I swiftly dismissed as the material of his sweatshirt. I couldn’t help but recall the last time I had been this close to a man—my senior year when I shed the label of virginity.

Back then, I vehemently declared my disinterest in socializing with boys, but I was determined to enter college without that tag. Walsh’s drunken boasts about his sexual exploits during a holiday break had provoked me to prove a point, leading me to a chess club acquaintance with whom I’d orchestrated a mutual arrangement. Yet the experience had left me perplexed, for sex had seemed mundane, devoid of the life-altering significance others seemed to attribute to it. I could probably live my entire life without it because it was so boring.

However, the way Ash held me sent ripples of lust cascading through my body. His large hand rested beneath my breasts, his touch heightened by the snugness of my T-shirt and cardigan. The size disparity was impossible to ignore, a quiet reminder of the curves that distinguished me.

Into the shell of my ear, he whispered, “Careful, Ember, otherwise you might embarrass yourself again.” The way his voice tangled around me as if I was being wrapped in its web made my heart skip a few beats. Tingles could be felt all the way to my core. Something about him was so innately attractive, primal even.

“How?” I let out, in what sounded like a breathless moan. We were on a crowded bus, but it felt like we were the only two people there.

“I can feel how wet you are down there without even touching you,” he murmured.

What? How did he?

And there it was . . . a low chuckle, and I knew that my face was scrunched in confusion. He said that to get a rise out of me, and it worked. What was with this guy wanting to humiliate me constantly?

“You have the most innocent face,” he whispered in a commanding tone. My head was still turned around as his hand inched closer to my breasts.

“I-I do not.”

“Don’t let men like me around you, Ember Solis.” He winked, and my mouth dropped. How did he even know my full name . . .? He must’ve been lurking outside the classroom before his dramatic entrance.

So he knew my last name all along; another notch on the list of why this man was annoying and why I needed to separate myself from him.

The bus stopped abruptly, interrupting my thoughts. Ash released me, and I shimmied around people to get off the bus.

When I realized Ash hadn’t followed me, I spun around and locked eyes with him. I furrowed my brows, and he threw his hood over his brown curls. “Are you—”

“See you later, mi sol.” With that, I turned and hopped off the bus.

As the doors were shutting, he made a swift exit, leaving me rooted in place, a mixture of fascination and bewilderment swirling within me.

The torrential rain mirrored the tumult of emotions as I entered our apartment. Armed with the knowledge of his name, I felt as though I had another piece of the puzzle that Ash Ortiz formed but the persistent sense of intrigue still lingered.

Chapter four

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