Page 93 of All That Glitters
“Not since the wreck. And definitely not since you’ve been spending time with Ashton.” He took a breath, then pushed it out “He’s come between us.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Except it wasn’t. “He hasn’t come between us.” Except he had. “And it’s race season. You’ve been gone as much as I’ve been busy. You’ve been down in Daytona with the team. It’s always like this just before the season starts.”
“Yeah.”
There was distance. There was a wall forming between us and I hated it. I hated everything about…everything. We were all supposed to be adults. Mature adults, but none of us were acting like it.
“We’ve been over this. Just last night. You said you’d trust me. What do you want me to do? He was your friend. He was my friend, too. He asked for… He asked…” I didn’t know how I was going to get through the rest of whatever kind of conversation this was.
Hale hadn’t said anything wrong and he hadn’t said anything that wasn’t technically true, but —
“He asked what?”
“For help.” I kept the exasperation out of my voice, but just barely. “He asked for help. He trusted me,” I said again.
Nothing had worked out. I didn’t know what I expected, though. I was a means to an end. It sucked. It really, really sucked, but in a few short days, Ashton managed to do exactly what he’d set out to do. He’d driven a wedge between me and Hale. I’d told him as much at the cottage and I didn’t know how to fix it. I didn’t know how to pull the wedge out without there being a bloody mess to clean up.
Ashton was no closer to being in a car, or being on a race track… He hadn’t even tried after that first night.
I was a damn fool.
God. Had he really said we were done and then walked away? The numbness I’d felt when I left Crossline Racing had worn off and I wanted it back. I didn’t want to feel this pain that was centered in my chest and spreading throughout my body.
We would never be friends again. We would never talk unless it was short and impersonal.
He would always feel that I chose Hale over him, over myself, over any dream I ever had to race. And he would be right. Just like Hale.
Neither of them thought they had anything in common anymore, but they had that. They were both right about things in my life.
“Are you coming to the race next weekend?”
“Yes. I wouldn’t miss it. You know that. It’s my favorite.”
I went to every race. I’d never missed one and I didn’t plan to start just because everything was a fucking shit show. My words were pointed, almost annoyed, and I’m sure he picked up on it. More than sure from the wary, uncertain way he looked at me.
“Now, I am going to take a nap.” I stepped toward him, kissed him on the cheek and turned to leave the room.
I never made it.
“Ashton,” I said, more than a little breathlessly. “What are you doing here?”
“You left a few things behind when you left the meeting.” He never looked at Hale, he just stood toe to toe with me when I stopped moving.
“I… I didn’t leave anything behind.” The end of that sentence ended in a whisper as he held up a folder similar to the one Darien had presented him with earlier. No. No no no… Please…
“Oh, but you did.” He pressed it to my chest until I had no choice but to take it. His eyes were full of mischief and I was sure he could read the fear and trepidation in mine. “Please don’t,” I mouthed to which he responded by leaning in to kiss me, very gently, tenderly on the lips.
“What’s going on?” Hale asked. The wariness was gone and there in its place was an edge of anger. Why would neither of these men, whom I loved, listen to me? Why did they seem hell bent on destroying me? “What meeting, Helen?”
“It’s nothing, Hale.” My surprise at seeing Ashton was starting to wear off and my frustration was starting to kick in.
“It doesn’t look like nothing.”
“Because it isn’t,” Ashton tossed in. “It’s very definitely something.” His eyes flashed between me and over my shoulder toward Hale. “Do you want to tell him or shall I?”
“Please don’t.” I hated that tone. I hate that begging, pleading tone. At least in polite conversations. There were other times it was well and truly welcome, but this was not one of those and oh my god, now was not the time to be thinking about sex.
“Of course, I’ll be happy to tell him.”
