“Aww,” Lauren and Kendall sing in unison.
“I’m really sorry I acted like an imbecile. Do the two of you accept my apology?” I shrink a little when I ask.
“Of course!” Kendall lunges at me with a hug that feels like a balm over my judgmental soul. Kendall is Morgan’s flesh and blood, and she already feels every bit like family to me. At least with Kendall around I’ll always have a little piece of Morgan here.
My phone buzzes in my pocket and I fish it out. It’s a text from Morgan.
I’ve got a big surprise for you sweetheart. Meet me at the club.
“You mind catching a ride home with Lauren?” I ask Kendall and flash the text at the two of them.
“Not at all.” She presses out a sweet dimpled grin.
“Just so you know”—I secure my purse over my shoulder—“Morgan is more than enough for me. I could live happily on canned soup for the rest of my life just knowing I have his killer smile to come home to night after night.” I lower my lashes because that’s the very thing I don’t have.
“Go on, get out of here.” Lauren averts her gaze. “You’re going to make me all weepy-eyed and ruin my mascara.”
“I’m out of here.”
And unfortunately, tomorrow, so is Morgan.
Rock Bottom is dark and empty. The faint odor of something caustic overcomes my senses as soon as I step inside, and I can’t quite put my finger on what that stench is. Smells like industrial cleanser, or turpentine. Maybe that’s the surprise? Maybe Morgan painted a giant mural over the wall asking me to marry him. Now that would be the best surprise ever. Not that we’re even close to the matrimonial phase of our relationship. We’re more at the I hope to see you at Christmas phase, which is alarmingly close to the thanks for the hookup, see you around phase. Face it, we’re all but over. Summer and Morgan both came and went in a blur, and all I have to show for it are bad tan lines and heart-stopping memories.
“Morgan?” The sound of my voice echoes through the basement. It’s too dark to properly see anything down the hall. I bet he’s in that Poker Room with his clothes off just waiting to give me a special good-bye. Perv.
As I head in that direction, a smile twitches on my lips because I totally approve of the perv in him. I hope he’s buck naked just waiting for some much-needed oral attention. God knows I’m ready to give it. In fact, I say we cancel the going-away party, which was looking to be a downer anyway, and I hold him hostage with my body until he complies with my demands and stays in Carrington forever.
“Ally?” A man calls from behind me.
“Morgan?” I whisper. Funny, it didn’t sound like Morgan. In fact, it didn’t sound familiar. I spin on my heels and freeze.
A tall man with scraggly hair and a lewd smile stares back at me—Dell.
“Hey there, sweetie. Bet you’re real glad to see me.” The light catches his greasy locks, with their brown and blonde skunk highlights. His clothes are filthy with splotches of mud caked over his jeans. His face is slicked with sweat.
“Been working out?” I say, sidestepping my way toward the exit. I’ve never seen Dell at the club before. I doubt he’s got a membership to Cal’s health club. The only thing Dell does for his health is cardio by way of the smallest organ of his body, and according to Tess, small is the operative word.
“Do you like what you see?” He taps his stomach. The light shines down over him, revealing cherry-stained eyes. He’s stoned out of his mind, and this panics me. “I can give you a piece of this if you like.” He comes in close and touches his hand to my cheek.
“I have to go. Someone’s waiting for me.” I try to jet past him, and he catches me by the elbow.
“What’s your hurry?” A greasy smile slides up his cheek, and my heart starts in on a death rattle.
“Morgan?” I cry out, trying to break free from Dell’s hold. “What the hell are you doing here?” I pant. “Let go right fucking now. The club is opening in just a few minutes.”
“No, hon, it’s not.” He tightens his grip on the soft underbelly of my arm before relenting. “You see, I’ve been observing your little joint venture with that sleazebag boy toy of yours. Opens at ten, closes at three.” He glides into a malicious grin before his features harden without notice. “I should have never let you into my club. I should have thrown you and that trash sister of yours out a hell of a long time ago.”
I shoot an open-palmed slap across his face without thinking.
“The only piece of crap here is you.” I spit it out with venom. That’s one judgment I won’t be taking back anytime soon.
Dell brightens a unique shade of crimson. He seizes onto my arm with a vice grip.
“A fucking slap?” He spits in my face as he says it. “I guess that’s what I get for doing gutter trash like you a favor.” He jostles me to the center of the room and slams me against a supporting column that’s thick as a telephone pole.
I push past him harder than before and make it five feet out before he drags me back by the hair.
A harrowing scream rips from me—so loud and shrill, it catches even me by surprise.
“Shut up.” He knocks me into the pole head first, hard enough to send a vibration reeling through the metal.
Dell snatches up my wrists and shackles them around the beam as he secures me from behind.
“Shit!” I try to free myself but my hands are completely locked in this position.
“You took everything from me.” He produces a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket and proceeds to pluck one out.
Shit.
I tip my head back and scream like a maniac.
“Tess is gone.” He nods. “But you like that, don’t you?” He narrows in on me. “You took off with about six of my best girls. Steven up and left.” His eyes widen with surprise as if that one completely took him off guard. “You went and sucked my business dry until not even my regulars showed up anymore.” He casts a quick glance at the ground and a part of me actually feels sorry for him.
“Oh, don’t worry about the club,” I blurt in a panic. “Tonight’s the last night—in fact, we won’t open at all. If I knew what it was doing to your business I would never have let Morgan open the doors.” Great. Put this all off on your soon-to-be ex-boyfriend, who by the way…hey, where the hell is he? I parked right next to his truck in the lot.
“Oh, honey, I know you won’t be opening tonight or any other night.” He laughs nefariously, and a trail of shivers runs through me. “In fact, I’ve got this shithole covered with a touch of my affection to ensure it doesn’t open ever again.” He lights up his cigarette, and I watch mesmerized by the orange flicker emitting from the tip.
Oh God. My breathing grows erratic. A fevered sense of panic rips through me at whatever the hell he’s about to do. He’s probably going to burn his name into my forehead so I’ll never forget him. My body pulsates with fear. I pant up a storm as if I just ran a marathon, rendering myself dizzy, ready to pass out from the effort.
Dell takes a step forward and offers me a hit, and I’m quick to refuse the offer.
He blows a stream of smoke into my face, forcing me to turn away and choke from the disgusting fumes.
“Enjoy the rest of your life, sweetheart”—he heads toward the exit—“what little you have left.” He flicks his cigarette in the corner and a wall of flames erupts.
I let out a scream as a line of fire races around the room like inferno-inspired dominos. A soft explosion goes off as the fire expands to the carpeted portion of the basement in the distance. I watch in horror as the flames rush across the ceiling with their orange and blue tongues.
“No! Dell! Please…” My tears come fast and furious. “Cal!” I rub my arms up and down the pole until it feels as though my elbows are going to fall off and at this point I really wouldn’t mind. “Help!” I wail with everything in me until my b
ones reverberate from the effort. I give one deep guttural cry after another, primal and hasty.
The room fills with smoke, dense and smothering.
“I can’t breathe!” I choke on the words as they heave out of me. The thick plumes dance in my direction, taunting me with their necrotic fingers.
“Shit, shit, shit!” I engage in a series of guttural cries that no longer qualify as screams—then one final plea for mercy by way of the name of the one I love.
“Morgan!” I belt it out like a battle cry. His name quivers from my lips as the final memory I might ever have. The room sizzles. My flesh singes with heat. My lungs fill with smoke.
Can’t see.
Can’t breathe.
I slump forward as the world and everything in it burns to cinders.
Morgan
The smell of old cigarette butts overcomes my senses until the urge to vomit takes over. My name comes to me from deep within a dream as I struggle to wake up. My head feels heavy and granular, like a sandbag.
“Fuck,” I whisper. I give several long blinks. Something hard lies on the side of my face, and I reach up and grab it—my phone.
Dell’s face is imprinted in my mind—that lead pipe looming above, then nothing.
I groan as I try to sit up. Feels like he force-fed me my balls. That’s a hell of a parting gift from Carrington: impotence. Although I suppose it wasn’t from Carrington, it was from Dell, the-hound-from-hell who thought it was best to personally deliver his parting shot. Rock Bottom is not happening. Got the fucking memo.
“Morgan.”
There it is again, and for sure it wasn’t in my dreams. This was real and panicked and holy shit if it didn’t sound like Ally.
I try to get up and the room spins. The leg of the poker table sways before me, and I slap my hand to the top and use the surface to steady myself to my feet.
“Shit.” I stagger toward the door, slamming into it as if I were drunk off my ass. I try the handle and my hand bounces off from the shock of heat.
Another scream erupts from outside, and I twist the knob with my T-shirt, but it doesn’t budge. I give another hard yank, and the door swings wide as a vat of liquid spills into the room. Smells like paint thinner.
To the right a horrific glow catches my attention, and I bolt in that direction.
“Ally?” Smoke and fire—flames fanning out all over the place. It’s hotter than hell, and that’s exactly what this has become.
A weak cough emits from the middle of the room.
“Ally!” I shout, running blindly into the center. The smoke chokes me out and I fall to my knees, struggling to breathe; my head implodes on itself as the mother of all headaches hacks into my skull. “Al?” I cough as I lower myself further to the ground trying to gulp for air.
Fuck.
A pair of pink shoes catch my eye.
I rush over to the sandaled girl, not sure who I’ll find. I pull in close and grab her by the waist. I know this body, those long, blonde waves of hair—“Ally.”
“Morgan?” She rolls her head back over her shoulders, almost unresponsive, with her eyes glued shut. I try to pluck her loose but the bastard tied her to the post. I pull my keys from my pocket and start sawing the shit out of the zip ties holding her hostage.
Ally lets out a cry as she comes to.
“I’m sorry,” I pant over her as the plastic gives.
Ally collapses as I hoist her over my shoulders. Adrenaline pumps through me with the force of a nuclear detonation as I bounce to my feet.
The smoke chokes me as I try to navigate us toward the exit. The fire breathes over us like a solar flare. I stagger like a blind man, wondering which way to go.
Can’t fucking find the exit.
I pan the room, trying to get my bearings.
A plume of powder-like smoke shoots south of where I’m standing.
I’d swear on my life that’s not the way out, but I follow the direction of the tornado of smoke until I trip and fumble toward a beautiful glimmer of night sky. I hold my breath until my lungs burn from the effort, until they threaten to burst the pressure as I struggle to carry Ally all the way up the stairs. A burst of fresh Massachusetts air penetrates our lungs as we choke our way over to the grass just shy of the building.
Molly barrels out from the parking lot with her face locked in horror, her finger pointing hard at my legs.
“Your pants are on fire!” Her voice drills through the air like an alarm. “I’m going to get Cal.”
I land Ally on the grass and jump back to see my legs lit up in flames.
“Shit.” I wrestle off my jeans and stomp on them until there’s nothing but embers left.
A fire truck screams in the distance as I make my way to Ally. I sit next to her and pull her over into my lap. Her face and hair are covered with soot as she sputters a tiny cough into my chest.
“Are you okay?” I fold my arms over her, burying a kiss in her neck.
“I am now.” She cinches her grip around my waist. “I never want to let go of you.”
“Then don’t, because I’m sure as hell not letting go of you.”
“Morgan.” Ally looks up, her eyes crimson. “I’m so in love with you. I can’t do this without you.”
I plant a simple kiss over her lips. It’s this moment that solidifies everything I’m about to do next. There’s no way in hell I’m spending the next season of our lives clear on the opposite coast. I’ll go home and clear my shit out and come right back.
My stomach pinches with a genuine ache for all those years I spent playing the game I love.
I swallow hard and glance down at her. I’m not sure why it feels like it has to be Ally or baseball. I’m not even sure if Ally wants a long-distance relationship. But at the rate I’m going I’ll never find out. I’m not sure why I don’t have the balls to ask. Maybe I can just walk her into it. Start calling, texting, visiting, and if she doesn’t label me a stalker, we’re good to go.
“We’re going to figure this out.” I kiss her just over the ear. “I love you, Ally.” I trace out her features with my finger.
“I love you too, Morgan. Thank you for saving me.” She closes her eyes and rests her cheek over my chest. “You keep saving me.”
Nope. Can’t leave Ally. It’s becoming abundantly clear I love her more than baseball, more than my own life. I’ll wait tables if I have to, just to be near her.
A team of paramedics races in our direction, and I hold her a little bit tighter.
“You’re safe, babe. I’ll always keep you safe.”
Hours drag by as we give a lengthy police report and pay a visit to the hospital. Extensive X-rays prove I’m hardheaded, which for once is a good thing. I think. We’re both sent home with nothing more than minimal smoke inhalation.
We head back to the house and explain the shit out of ourselves to Lauren, Cal, Cruise, and Kendall before staggering to the room and all but nailing the door shut.
“Did Dell make you text me?” Ally looks up at me from our bed, naked on the crisp sheets. Her bare ass rides perfectly high as her back dips in provocatively. Her feet are hooked in the air at the ankles.
“He did it himself.” I run my hand over her shoulders and give a weak smile. My head still feels as if a tractor ran over it.
“I guess he was responsible for all that other bullshit as well. The black rose, the rat—the nasty text messages.”
“You got the love letters too, huh?”
She gives a dull laugh as I land beside her. “I guess we could have used a little more communication.”
I don’t say anything. All I can think about is the fact I’m loading up the truck and heading out west tomorrow to pack up my life, and now would be the perfect time to address the Oregon-shaped elephant in the room.
“Did you think it was Dell?” I
ask, running my hand up her thigh, nice and slow.
Ally swims up beside me and gives a series of gentle kisses.
“Not really.” She bites over her strawberry-stained lip and lands a vine-ripened kiss just shy of my mouth. “I thought it might be Blair, or Molly, or—even Rory.”
“Who’s Rory?”
“It’s a long story. He’s the reason I judged you so hard. I guess you could say I judged him in reverse and dove into that relationship because I knew it would piss Tess off.” She starts in slowly on how they met, how the asshole thought murder was a good way to spend his free time, and how now he’s doing time.
“Shit.” I pull her in close and blow a hot kiss over her temple. “I’m damn glad Ruby had you worshipping porcelain that night.” I close my eyes a moment and try to imagine this summer without her, the rest of my life without her, but I keep coming up with nothing. And there it is. Life without Ally would be an impossibility. I already know this.
“He can’t hurt you, Ally. I won’t let anybody ever hurt you.”
Ally pulls back and stares intently into my eyes. The moonlight illuminates the room in an entire nightscape of blues and purples. Ally is a goddess, a princess from some other world entirely. I don’t know how in the hell I got lucky enough to get in her way, but I’m sure glad I did.
I dip a kiss into the hollow of her neck and she rises to meet me, her chest filling with approval at the tiny gesture of my affection. My hand rides up her hip before gliding into the warm slick between her thighs.