Beauty in the Ashes
Author: Micalea Smeltzer
Release Date: July 15, 2014
Some stories are a fairytale...but this isn't one.
Caelan Gregory’s life fell apart the night he went home and
opened the door to find his whole family murdered. Since then, his life has
held no meaning. He’s angry. He’s bitter. He’s barely human anymore. There’s
nothing left to remind him of the straight A student, and football quarterback
he once was…but he wasn’t a good person then, and he’s certainly not a good
person now. He’s retreated into a world where all that exists is numbness and
his passion for painting.
When Sutton Hale moves into the apartment across the hall from
Caelan she’s not prepared for her reaction to him. Something in his broken blue
eyes calls to her—after all she’s always had an irrational need to fix
everything.
But Caelan doesn’t do relationships or feelings. He does drugs
and alcohol. However, he can’t ignore his desire to get to know the
raven-haired woman across the hall.
Two broken souls trying to mend one another.
But not everything can be fixed.
In the end, Caelan and Sutton will have to learn that there is
beauty in the ashes.
UNEDITED AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE
prologue
Caelan
Life is like a flame.
It burns bright for a while, then it flickers and fades, until finally
one small breath extinguishes it and we're left with the ashes.
The house was quiet, but I still waited ten more minutes, making
sure I heard the sounds of my dad snoring.
I’d been grounded for a month the last time I got caught
sneaking out.
I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.
I crept over to my bedroom window, sliding it up as quietly as I
could. It squeaked and I halted my movements, holding my breath to make sure no
one in the house stirred.
I all but jumped out of my skin when the door to the bathroom
that connected my room to my sister’s opened.
“Cael, what are you doing?” She asked, standing there in pajama
shorts and a tank top. Her eyes were wide, reminding me of a doll.
“Isn’t it obvious?” I whispered, nodding at my half open window.
“Mom and dad are going to kill you if you get caught,” she
hissed, padding into my room like she owned the place. Nosy little sisters were
good for nothing. I missed the days when I could bribe her to keep quiet with
candy.
“I can’t miss this party, Cayla,” I groaned. “I’m the
quarterback. I have to be there,” I reasoned.
“I want to go,” she squared her shoulders defiantly.
“No,” I hissed through my teeth. No fucking way was I bringing
my sixteen-year-old sister to a senior party. It wasn’t because of her age that
I wanted her to stay behind, but the way I saw my friends looking at her. Cayla
was too sweet and innocent to get wrapped up in one of those fuckers. I’d kill
them if they touched my sister.
“Fine, then I’m going to wake up mom,” she turned on her heel to
stalk out of my room.
I reached out and grabbed her arm, my fingers digging into her
skin. “No,” I said sternly. “Don’t be a little tattle tale bitch.”
Her eyes widened at my harsh words. Yeah, Cayla and I bickered
like most siblings, but we also got along better than most too. She wasn’t used
to me being so rude.
“Let go of me,” she yanked her arm from my grasp. “You can be
such a dick, Caelan.” She headed back towards the bathroom and stopped in the
doorway. “I won’t say anything to mom and dad about this, but you owe me.”
“Deal,” I smiled.
She started to leave, but something in me made me say her name.
“Cayla?”
“Yeah?” She stopped, her blonde hair swishing around her
shoulders.
I swallowed thickly. “I love you, you know that, right?”
She rolled her clear blue eyes at me. Cayla and I looked a lot
alike—so much alike that many people believed we were twins.
“I see what you’re doing here, you still owe me dickwad.”
I chuckled. “Believe me, I know.”
I was surprised she hadn’t put up much fight. I think she knew
the real reason I didn’t want her to go and probably wanted to avoid me getting
in a fight—which would result in our parent’s finding out that we had both
snuck out.
“Have fun,” she smiled, closing the bathroom door.
“Night, Cayla-belle,” I said softly, so low that she couldn’t
hear me.
I eased the window the rest of the way up and crouched outside.
I waited a minute to make sure Cayla wasn’t going to reappear—or one of my
parents—then closed it.
I tiptoed down the eave of the roof, spotting the taillights of
Kyle’s car waiting down the street for me.
I lowered to my stomach, sliding over the edge and grabbing on.
I dropped down to the ground, careful to tuck my body so I didn’t injure
myself.
Getting down was the easy part of sneaking out. Getting back
up…now that was a different story.
I jogged down the street to Kyle’s white car.
“Dude, what the fuck took so long?” He asked when I finally slid
into the passenger seat.
“My sister caught me,” I muttered.
Kyle grinned and I didn’t like his smile one bit. “Why didn’t
you bring her? She’s hot, I’m sure someone could’ve had some fun with her.”
I glared at him, my fists clenched. “Don’t talk about my sister
like that.”
Kyle raised his hands in mock surrender, a smirk playing on his
thin lips. “It’s the truth. A lot of the guys would love to have a piece of—”
I punched the side of his face.
I didn’t care if he was my friend or not.
No one talked about my baby sister like that. Hopefully he’d
take this as a lesson and so would the other guys.
“Fuck, Caelan, did you really need to punch me?”
“Yeah, I really did. Maybe that will teach you that running your
mouth about my sister is a bad idea,” I retorted. “Would you want me making
comments about your sister?”
“My sister is fourteen,” he countered.
“Mine’s only sixteen,” I continued to pin him with a glare.
“Fine, whatever dude. She isn’t worth getting punch over for
no-fucking-reason,” he hissed.
He finally pulled away from the curb.
“Where’s this party at?” I asked.
After we’d won the football game, I’d had to head home for
dinner—my parents were really big on family time. Sometimes ‘family time’ could
be a major pain in the ass since it kept me from doing stuff with friends, but
when I heard some of them talk about how messed up their families were I was
silently thankful for my overbearing parents.
“The Cove,” he answered, winding around a turn too fast. I knew
better than to complain. He’d only speed up.
The Cove wasn’t really a cove at all. It was a rock formation
near the lake that provided great shelter from the surrounding neighborhoods.
As long as we kept the noise level reasonable, most people didn’t know we were
out there.
“Leah is going to be there,” Kyle said casually, watching me out
of the corner of his eye for a reaction.
I’d been going after Leah for a few weeks now. She always tried
to blow me off, but I could tell I was breaking down her walls. It wouldn’t be
long until I had her right where I wanted her. She was enjoying playing hard to
get, and I was enjoying the chase, but it ended tonight. I’d have her.
Kyle parked a block over from The Cove and we walked from that
point. People would get suspicious if a bunch of cars were parked too close.
“Cael?”
I turned at the sound of my name, my lips curling up as I
spotted Leah.
Her shiny red hair was curling down her back and her lips were
coated in some kind of shiny gloss that I was desperate to taste.
“I’ll see you later…I guess,” Kyle winked, heading on without
us.
“You know,” I told Leah, “you shouldn’t be standing out here all
by yourself where anyone could get you.”
“Oh,” she purred, striding forward, “is the big bad wolf going
to eat me?” She asked, purposely letting her breasts brush against my shoulder.
“Maybe,” I smirked, staring down at her.
“And maybe,” she stared brazenly up at me, “I want him too.”
Aw, hell.
I’d been waiting weeks for this moment, and I wasn’t going to
let it pass me by.
I reached out for her, my hands finding the curve of her butt,
and pressed my lips to hers.
She let out a soft little moan that stirred something inside me.
I pressed more firmly against her as her fingers pulled at my hair. I knew she
was a feisty little thing. I nipped at her bottom lip and then plunged my
tongue inside her mouth. I wanted her and I wanted her bad, but we were
standing on the street, and I did value my life, because if I got caught my dad
would be pissed enough to string me up by my balls and leave me to die, so I
broke away.
“That’s hardly over,” I warned her.
She giggled, reaching for my hand. “I hope not…and it certainly
doesn’t feel like it’s over,” she bit her lip, running her fingers over the
hard-on pressing against my jeans.
My breath hissed through my teeth as she felt me up. If I’d
driven I would’ve told her to forget about the stupid party and we would have
went back to my car to finish this.
I led her through the tall grass and around the large rocks
where the party was roaring. A small fire provided warmth—but wasn’t large
enough to attract unwanted attention. Someone played music from their iPod dock
and bodies swayed.
“Dance with me,” Leah pleaded, pulling me towards everyone else.
I wasn’t a dancer, but I agreed just for the pleasure of watching
her sexy little body move.
She grinded against me and I closed my eyes, tilting my head
back.
“If you keep doing that,” I warned her, grabbing her stomach and
rubbing my thumb against the underside of her breast, “I’m going to haul you
out of here and make you scream my name.”
She looked up at me, her brown eyes sparkling in the moonlight.
My throat tightened as her tongue flicked out to moisten her pouty lips. “I
wouldn’t complain.”
“Fuck,” I growled, my hands tightening against her.
I wanted her and I wanted her bad.
“Come on,” I pulled her away from everyone else and into the
tall grasses. I kept dragging her until we were far enough away that we
wouldn’t be found easily.
I sunk down on the ground, pulling her with me onto my lap.
“You’ve been teasing me for weeks,” I lifted her shirt off her
head. “This ends tonight.”
“Just make it good,” she challenged.
“Oh, trust me, baby, you don’t need to worry.”
⌘⌘⌘
When we returned—clothes and hair mused, but completely
satisfied—the party had grown even larger. It seemed like everyone in our
senior class was in attendance.
People wanted to talk and congratulate me on the game. I smiled
and nodded—but honestly, I didn’t really care. Football was fun, but it wasn’t
my whole life.
I sat down on the ground, beer in hand, with Leah between my
legs. Her head rested against my chest.
When the sun started to peek above the edge of the lake, we all
knew it was time to leave.
I said goodbye to Leah, giving her a long lingering kiss.
Tonight had been good and I wasn’t ready to let her walk away just yet.
“Come on, Lover Boy,” Kyle pried me away from her lips.
I laughed, calling to Leah, “See you later?”
She nodded, her cheeks flushed with happiness.
Kyle dropped me off at the same spot he’d been waiting for me
earlier.
I walked slowly towards my house, my head bowed.
When I finally looked up, ready to cut across the side yard to
the back, so I could get back to my room, I noticed that the front door was
slightly ajar.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
Oh, shit.
My parents had woken up and found me gone. I was in so much
trouble it wasn’t even funny.
I swallowed thickly, my heart pumping in my chest as I made my
way up the front steps into the house. There would be no point trying to sneak
in. I had been caught and I needed to face this.
When I pushed open the front door the rest of the way, I was
surprised to find the house in disarray. Drawers were open, lights smashed, and
our belongings strewn about everywhere.
“What. The. Hell,” I gasped.
My heart raced even faster.
Something bad had happened. It looked like someone had broken in
and tried to rob us.
I walked to the back of the house, to the kitchen, expecting to
find my mom and dad there calling for the police, but it was empty.
“Mom!” I called. “Dad!”
Silence greeted me.
Maybe they had run to the neighbors house? Or were at the police
station? Or—?
Something told me that neither of those things had happened.
Dread settled over me, sliding through my body like toxic
sludge.
I swallowed thickly, heading for the main staircase.
I took the steps slowly and when I came to a standstill.
Blood.
Blood everywhere.
My shoes were growing damp with it.
“Dad!” I dropped to my knees, not caring that his blood was now
soaking my jeans. “Dad!” I screamed again and again—willing him to answer. I
rolled him over, choking on a sob as his lifeless eyes met me. There was so
much blood. God, it was fucking everywhere, seeping out of a series of knife
wounds on his chest.
I released him, running for my parent’s room.
“No!” I yelled, when my eyes took in the sight of my mom lying
on a blood soaked mattress, her eyes focused on the ceiling. There were cuts
and slashes all over her. I couldn’t mistake the sound of her blood dripping
from the bed onto the hardwood floors.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
I ran to Cayla’s room next, praying that she had hidden and was
okay—or better yet, hoping I’d wake up and find this to all be a nightmare.
“Cayla!” I shouted, clutching my stomach as it heaved violently.
Like my mom, she was lying in her bed. Her eyes stared straight
at me—the color so light it was almost white. Her normally rosy complexion was
now a grayish blue color. Her throat had been slit open, the blood coating her,
the bed, and the floor. Her mouth was open in a never-ending silent scream.
I fell to the ground, sobbing hysterically.
“Cayla,” I cried, crawling on my hands and knees over to her
bed. “Cayla, please! You can’t die! Cayla!” I smacked her cheeks, shook her,
yelled at her, and none of it did any good.
She was gone.
They were all gone.
I pulled my phone out, fumbling to press the right buttons.
“911 what’s your emergency?”
“Help! You have to help me! They’re dead! They’re all dead!”
“Who’s dead, sir?” The calm voice asked me.
“My family! They’re dead! God, they’re all dead!”
“Sir, what’s your address?”
I couldn’t answer the woman. I had lost all capability of
speaking. A strange noise was escaping me—half crying, half screaming.
I shook Cayla some more, hoping in vain that what I was seeing
would disappear and she’d wake up and tell me I was crazy.
I’d rather be losing my mind than face this reality.
When I knew that Cayla wasn’t going to wake up I sat on the
floor beside her.
I rocked back and forth, sobbing, my blood-covered hands running
through my hair. I kept muttering under my breath, “This isn’t real, this isn’t
real, this isn’t real.”
That’s how the police found me.
Even five years later, I still felt like I was stuck in that
room, rocking back and forth beside Cayla.
Only now, I said, “This is real.”
I thought I was strong… But I wasn’t when it came to Evan Ashford.
Life was perfect. Paradise was found in the arms of a redeemed bad
boy. Evan Ashford’s cocky side didn’t stand a chance against true love. He
pursued me with an unbridled determination, a passion that couldn’t be denied,
winning me over. Our lives are now set… or should have been. But nothing stays
perfect forever and happiness comes with a price.
