Ruby Hill (Entangled Ever After) by Ballance Sarah

Author:Ballance, Sarah [Ballance, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Ruby Hill, entangled publishing, romance series, ever after, Romance, Sarah Ballance, Ghosts, asylum, Short Stories
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Published: 2013-09-29T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

Ashley had walked out. Well-deserved hell existed in the irony, but there was a pit in his stomach anyway.

He hurried after her, doing a piss-poor job of dodging debris in the dark. Best he could tell, she was headed back toward the main entrance. Corbin stuck close. He’d get Joe on the phone, deliver Ashley to her team, and wait for the sun to come up. They’d be done.

How done?

Dammit. He wanted her in his life—not haunting his memories as she did now, but to make new ones. But he couldn’t look at her without remembering that night. And if the way she’d stormed away from him was any indication, he was one solution too late.

His mind shot back to the image of that…that apparition with Ashley’s face. He didn’t know if that was the right word or not, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to ask Ashley. Her kisses still haunted his lips with a physical ache. And now he’d pissed her off.

He trudged wordlessly behind her, occasionally catching up when she had to slow down to pick through rubble. They took a couple of turns off the main corridor. She had him well and truly lost, but she’d spared him the walk past the spot Cash died. He didn’t realize it until she stopped in front of a doorway and gestured farther down a hall largely clear of the abandonment coloring the rest of the asylum.

“My team is in there,” she said, pointing a thumb over her shoulder toward the door. “Someone ahead of our visit cleared this hallway of debris so we could get in and out without suing anyone. If you follow the clear path, you’ll find the main entrance. It’s not far.”

She sounded so damned dismissive. Like he was there to fix her plumbing or something. Last door on the right. Like they hadn’t shared a hundred sunsets or counted the same stars. Like she hadn’t drawn their initials in a heart on his truck window when they’d gotten them all fogged up. Like they’d never stayed up all night to watch the sun rise, the coffee cold, the sheets hot.

Like they’d never fallen in love.

“Okay,” he said.

When she turned away, he almost wished he had back the apparition. Nothing that thing could do would hurt as much as watching the real Ashley turn her back on him. But wasn’t that what he’d done to her?

The door shut with an institutional groan. The click that followed exuded finality.

Corbin turned his back to the wall and leaned heavily against it. Chipped paint fell and dusted his shoulders. Ruby Hill was too damned full of broken pieces.

Ashley understands me.

The words Cash had once spoken shot through Corbin, their presence dark. Ominous. At the time, he’d thought them an extension of Cash’s argument for investigating Ruby Hill, but now a colder, darker dread filled Corbin.

Ashley understands.

Corbin spun and tried the door Ashley had closed behind her. The knob didn’t turn. He knocked—politely, then with more force. “Ashley!”

Much to Corbin’s surprise, the door swung open.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.