Page 8 of Hooking a Firefly
A ringing bell snapped her back to reality.Her head hurt even more than it had.It took longer than it should for her to realize what the ringing bell was.Ashlyn rolled to her feet and went to her door.She opened it without checking to see who it was and frowned at her foolish mistake.If she had known, she’d have pretended to be gone.“What are you doing here?”
Harrison Thoreau flashed her one of his charming smiles.Her heart melted a little, but she wouldn’t cave.“Can I come inside?”
“No,” she said in a belligerent tone.“I’m not feeling well and I don’t want company.”
The pain was so back white spikes shot through her eyes, and she moaned.She wavered on her feet and would have fallen if not for Harrison.He caught her and lifted her into his arms.Ashlyn couldn’t help herself.His warmth and strength wrapped around her enticingly, and she snuggled against him.“You weren’t lying,” he said in a hoarse tone.“You must be sick for you to be this accepting of me.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”She did, but she had to pretend ignorance.
“Darling,” he said in a light tone.“You hate me and would never let me carry you anywhere if you were in your right mind.”He laid her down on the couch.“Tell me what is wrong?”
“Migraine,” she told him, then closed her eyes.
Why was he in her home?She’d been in the middle of another vision of her past before he had rung her doorbell.They were both somehow important, but she didn’t know how yet.She had thought the first one was a warning that she’d see Harrison soon, and perhaps it was.But what about the one from when she was ten?When she had wanted to make her visions go away forever?There was something from then.Maybe a vision she’d had as a child would help find the lost one now?
“How can I make it better?”
“Go away,” she said in a bitter tone.“I need peace and quiet.You give me neither.”
She didn’t open her eyes to look at him.It hurt too much to be near him and not be able to tell him how she felt.Ashlyn had to protect him.The vision she had… He could never know about it, and she would have to be strong.He meant too much to her to be anything less.
“I can go,” he said in a soft tone.“But can you tell me something before I do?”
She fluttered her eyelids open.“Depends on what you want me to say.”
There was such concern in his tone.Was it for her or for Jaylen Williams?Maybe it wasn’t either of them, but the missing little girl that put that look in his eyes.Ashlyn didn’t know what concerned him, and she wasn’t sure she ever did.That hurt a little too.She wished she could have become close enough to him to know his secrets.At least the secrets he willingly told her, not those from visions that she had no choice but to accept.
“Did you have a vision about Linc and Zoey?”
Definitely wasn’t concerned about her.That made her sad, but she kept it to herself.“No,” she told him.
“You’re not lying to me, are you?”
She let out an exasperated sigh.“I have no reason to lie to you.If I have a vision, I’ll tell Charles.”She purposely used Lieutenant Netom’s first name.“He’s the lead on the case and I have his direct contact.”Let Harrison make what he wanted to of that information.“I promise, I have had no visions that concern Zoey or her father.”
He blew out a breath.“All right.I’ll let you rest.”Harrison stared at her for several moments.“Are you sure you should be alone right now?”
Ashlyn groaned.“Go,” she demanded.“I am going to crawl into bed and sleep in total darkness.It will be the only thing that’ll help.I need space.”
He nodded, then left her alone.Her front door closed w
ith a soft click.She felt his absence immediately and wished she could call him back, but that would be a mistake.The reasons she had kept him at a distance were still valid.It didn’t matter what she truly wanted or how much she needed him.
