Elias (GRIT Sector 1) Page 5

  “Watch it.”

  He knew I was looking, the bastard.

  “You know what happens here, right?” I said, noting his gaze flick in my direction and dance over unspoken possibilities before he chose to ignore me again. “I say something like, ‘I know what you are’, to which you reply in a deep, haunted growl, ‘say it’.”

  “I’m not a vampire.”

  I rolled my eyes, but smiled. At least he was down with the times—no matter how dark they were, and how a fantasy story about a teenage vampire could seem so unimportant here.

  “But you are fucking hilarious, Elias.” I watched his grip tighten on the wheel. “Sorry, fudging hilarious.”

  “Don’t say my name again,” was all he said.

  “So why tell me?”

  “Excuse me sounded ridiculous.”

  Well, no bullshit from this one. No matter, I would continue to talk at him until I received some kind of reaction. In truth, I was nervous. He was taking me to Ashford House and I wasn’t sure I wanted to go. I wasn’t convinced the reception would be a welcoming one.

  “So why are we going to Ashford House? You realise it’s after curfew and we’ll both be in trouble if my father finds out you almost let me get killed.”

  Elias cleared his throat. “You have quite the imagination, Trixie.”

  “You have no idea,” I whispered his words back at him.

  It was meant to sound seductive, provocative—provoke a reaction from him besides determination and a one-track mind to deliver me to my parents.

  “You don’t think I’m going to take you to Richard like that, do you?” Not now I didn’t, but what the hell did ‘like that’ mean? “You can't be that stupid.”

  Twice. He’d called me stupid twice, and criticised how I looked. Charming. He was uptight and snappy, rude and cold, but I still didn’t think he was the idiot he was trying to play. He wasn’t fooling me.

  “No?”

  “No.”

  “So tell me, Elias, what exactly am I like?”

  “Annoying,” he rasped. Did he mean that? “Disrespectful. Hostile. And you stink.”

  “I stink?” I shrieked.

  I was wearing clean clothes and everything.

  “Of the champagne you spilt when the gun went off.”

  “Funny.”

  “You did say I was hilarious.”

  “I take it back.”

  Sighing, he repositioned his hands on the steering wheel as he turned onto a back road. There were no lights but the full beams from the tank. I turned in the seat to lean against the window and watch Elias. He pretended he didn’t notice, and his demeanour didn’t change. He didn’t sit straighter, drive more carefully, or look away from the road to glance in the mirrors.

  He was on first name terms with Richard. That didn’t happen often. He was always addressed as Mr Ashford or Commissioner Ashford…even to Trace and me he was Father. Never Dad or Daddy. Old-age formality was what the Ashford’s did best.

  “Will you do something for me, Trixie?” he asked, leaning over to reach behind my seat without even slowing down.

  “Sure.”

  He handed me a blanket.

  “Stop watching me and go to sleep.”

  “I’m not tired.”

  “Go to sleep.”

  “I have more questions.”

  “Stop talking.”

  “Elias…”

  “Stop saying my name.”

  “But…”

  “Just stop. Let me do my job and get away.”

  That hurt. He’d been trying since he met me and finally, he’d hurt me. He really did want to just get away from me. Refusing his blanket, I curled up on the seat and watched the man who’d kept me safe, when he’d sooner have said goodbye to my life and walked away.

  Just like them.

  She was infuriating. I wasn’t a man attracted to a challenge. I didn’t want a woman who would defy and disrespect. I knew she wanted me. I’d known it the second I’d laid eyes on her, when she’d convinced me to buy the painting I had already been intent on buying. I had thought she’d be different, that I could admire from afar and know she’d been raised right, as the Ashford she’d been chosen to be. But no, she had to go and hide in a fridge when all I’d done was clear the loft with a few persuasive words to Sebastian, so I could make my purchase….and spend forbidden time with her. I hadn’t expected her to be attracted to me. I hadn’t expected her to forgo the indifference her upbringing had bestowed upon her.

  And I hadn’t expected to feel my control slipping in response.

  She asked too many questions. She was too curious about things she had no right to know about.

  Except she did.

  I wasn’t supposed to be taking her to Ashford House. I was supposed to take her home, but I didn’t want to leave her. I told myself it was because she couldn’t keep herself safe, but it was because I wanted to be the one to do it.

  My rebellion, this phase I had to live through, could not include Trixie Ashford.

  And now I was stuck. I’d told her I was taking her to Ashford House—which I couldn’t do—and I couldn’t take her home either.

  I was just grateful I wasn’t low on petrol as I continued to drive through the night, in a big circle just inside the city walls, deciding what I should do with her.

  I saw her shiver as I took a turn and she slid away from me, so I pulled the blanket over her and prayed she’d snuggle closer.

  It was still dark when I woke up and rubbed my eyes, as my body juddered over some bumps beneath whatever was keeping me elevated.

  The car. The tank. Elias.

  I sat up, pulling the blanket around me, glad that he’d thrown it over me despite my refusal. The air was chilly, held a continent of frost and a shit-ton of tension.

  He didn’t want to be here.

  “I have a proposition for you,” Elias said, sensing my consciousness, but refusing to look at me.

  “Do you? And why would I be interested in that?”

  “Because it’s for your own good.”

  The tyres of the tank crunched over gravel as Elias pulled over on the side of the road and wrenched up the handbrake. He still didn’t look at me; he kept his eyes straight ahead with his hands gripping the wheel tightly.

  “It is? Okay, I’m all ears. What’s it worth?”

  “What’s it worth?”

  He sounded hurt, but I had to not care. I had to remember that he’d wanted to upset me since he met me, and he’d succeeded. I shouldn’t have been nice to him; given half the chance he’d run and leave me to the dogs.

  I wasn’t the type of girl who needed gratification. I wasn’t the type of person to put a price on my word—it was, after all, all we had. Elias was fascinating. He was sharp and he was aloof, but I didn’t believe it for a second. Sure, I believed that he wanted to get away from me and this deal he wanted to make was only going to benefit him, but I didn’t believe he was as empty as he tried to seem. Whatever the reason for wanting to come to an arrangement, I would say yes. If only to spend a little while longer with him to try and figure him out.

  “Okay,” I whispered. “Lay it on the table.”

  He glanced over at me, killing the engine and taking a deep breath concealed by his powerful chest. When he turned to me and our eyes connected, I was lost. We’d taken a wrong turn somewhere because I was trapped in the depth of his irises, of the rich and invigorating man beneath them, and I saw no way out. Hooking his thumb under his chin, he tugged on the mask and pulled it off, revealing himself to me for the first time.

  He took my breath away. I’d read about it in stories from the outside world where true happiness and comfort existed, but I’d never felt the discomfort of being dazzled by the surface of another human being, and even more beguiled by whatever they hid inside. Elias was a beautiful man, and if my instincts told me anything, it was that he was not a security man. He was destined for greater things and I knew he was already aware of that. I d
idn’t know why Trace—or Richard—had sent him to look after me, but he wasn’t the protection employed by the Ashford’s.

  “I can't take you to Ashford House.”

  “Why not?”

  He hesitated, his tongue sneaking out to trace his bottom lip. I watched as if in slow motion, that tiny human action reminding me that I had to stay in the here and now, I had to remember where I was; there was no margin for error—to lose focus on what was important.

  Staying alive.

  “Because I’m not supposed to be there.”

  “Why not?”

  “Will you make the deal or not?” he snapped. I edged back on the seat, pressing my back to the window. “Sometimes, Trixie, we don’t need all the answers.”

  “What if I do?”

  “Then you can get out now and I’ll deal with the consequences. I’m not telling you anything else.”

  I said nothing, staring into his eyes and trying to decide if he was joking, if his threat was as empty as the barren land outside the tank. I couldn’t decide. I had no idea if he would really leave me here, because I wanted answers to questions I had about my own family, because I was curious about the secrets kept from me, and suspicious that this outsider knew more than I did about the house I’d grown up in. Elias stared back, unfazed by my stubbornness and raised one eyebrow. He was testing me.

  “Unlock the doors.”

  I couldn’t not push him. Everything about him screamed to be pushed, to be challenged, to threaten his resolve. I didn’t want to get out of the tank, but I would…because I was stupid, because I had no regard for my own safety…because what was the point in living if you were controlled? If you complied so easily and so readily, without ever asking the most important question…why?

  Elias’ nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed. I didn’t care. If he was going to threaten to throw me out of the car when he’d come this close to being able to get away from me with permission, I’d make him make good on it.

  “Unlock the doors, Elias.”

  He tensed when I said his name. So subtly I doubt he thought I would notice, but I did. I’d already won.

  And then he slid his hand to the side of the door and flipped a switch. The cage across the window raised up to expose more of the darkness outside. The bolts gave way, and the catches across the door opened. Leaning over me, Elias grabbed the door handle and pushed gruffly, swinging the door up and exposing me to the frigid night air.

  “Good luck, Trixie Ashford.”

  He sat back and waited…for me to concede. He was waiting for me to beg to stay, but I couldn’t do that. I knew I should as I turned and looked at the woodland outside the tank, metres from the city walls. I couldn’t see beyond the running board as I glanced at the floor and breathed in the remains of Elias’ scent, before the smell of woodland and evil joined us. I took off my seatbelt and extended one leg out of the tank, pressing my foot tentatively to the forest floor beneath the car. I swear I heard him gasp, but he could have been laughing. He could have been praising the heavens that he’d been blessed with the stupid girl whose murder he would get to watch—to feel the satisfaction but maintain his innocence because his hands were clean. He’d said goodbye; there was nothing else to say; there was no reason or excuse for me to hesitate. Taking hold of the car door I pulled myself up and slid to the ground, glancing around me and hoping I’d be able to hear whatever was out here with enough time to run and break free. I didn’t look back at Elias. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

  I wouldn’t close the door either. If I was getting out and braving the world we’d been banned from exploring, I’d make him get out and close the door after me. I took my first step, hearing the crunch of leaves beneath my feet although I couldn’t feel a thing. I was numb from head to toe, waiting to be taken and shut off the pain so I could enjoy my final moments of life. How was it possible to be in this position as many times in twenty-four hours as I had?

  I took one step, then another, waiting for something to strike; I could hear the rustling in the trees and I swore I could hear voices—whispered laughter and hushed conversation about the girl who had invaded the darkness. I wanted so badly to look back over my shoulder at the tank; I wanted to see if Elias was still there, waiting for me to turn around and beg to be let in. I was close, but I wouldn’t give in. If this was my time, it was my time.

  Someone was following me. I could feel their presence. I couldn’t hear a thing; no footsteps or heavy breathing or disturbances other than what my feet were making as I continued taking step after step, each one faster than the last as the race to escape began.

  Hands on my shoulders. They weren’t friendly this time. They weren’t my brother’s hands and they weren’t the hands of someone who would save me. They spun me around quickly and my back hit a nearby tree trunk. I squeezed my eyes shut on impact and when I opened them again, it was to see Elias standing in front of me, his face inches from mine, his strong hands cupping my shoulder blades as his granite chest begged for breath and his eyes begged for…

  “Are you trying to get yourself killed?” he asked.

  A shiver rippled through me at the coldness in his voice. I squared my shoulders, pushing against his strength as much as I could, and gave back as good as I got.

  “You told me to get out of the car.”

  “No, I told you to stop asking questions.”

  “I’m not prepared to do that. I told you I’d make a deal with you, I just wanted to know why you were playing with my life.”

  “I’m not…” he trailed off, as a way to hold back whatever slither of humanity was trying to break free. He broke eye contact and looked at the ground between our feet. When he raised his head again and his eyes found mine, they were darker. They were almost black, visible even in the darkness of night…which didn’t seem to faze him like it terrified me. “You’re impossible.”

  “I’m impossible?” I screeched, conscious of how long we’d been standing here exposed. “You turn up at my showcase, terrify me and the guests, then send them packing, shove me in a fucking tank, threaten to take me to my parents’ estate and then decide not to, and I am the impossible one?” I shook out of his hold. Elias let me, burned by my words. Good. “I’m not a criminal, Elias, so stop treating me like one. You obviously know my family well which means you know you should grant me with a lot more respect than you do. I’m not a ragdoll. I'm not a weak little nobody you can boss around, so you know what? Fuck your deal…take me to Ashford House.”

  Elias cocked his head to one side, studying me with a small smirk playing on his lips.

  “There’s the Ashford I’ve been looking for,” he hummed as if in triumph. Had he been testing me? “I thought I’d picked up the wrong woman.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about and I don’t care. Take me home.”

  He edged closer, stealing my breath as his lips touched my ear and I was suffocated by his expensive worldly scent. He smelt like an African safari, an ancient pilgrimage, of culture, and knowledge and power.

  “Is that an order, Miss Ashford?”

  An order? What the fuck was this guy on? One minute he didn’t want me to even say his name and the next? He was an enigma—a complete and utter mystery and maybe that made me the idiot I’d tried to convince myself he was.

  “No.”

  He was testing me; of that I was sure. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. He wanted an Ashford, and I couldn’t be farther from the real Ashford’s who held more power than I could imagine. I was his Achilles heel, his challenge, and I wouldn’t let him play me with bullshit acceptance I’d craved my whole life from the people who adopted me.

  “No?”

  He was still dangerously close. I could have reached out and touched him if I wanted to. I could have turned my head and kissed him, before he’d even realised I’d moved. I wanted to kiss him, but I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to be closer to him, yet I wanted to run. I wanted to be further away from him t
han possible whilst in the confines of the city.

  “No.”

  I took my opportunity. I assumed he was vulnerable, captivated and dazed, and I shoved him away, taking off back in the direction of the tank. I hadn’t realised how far I’d come. How long had Elias risked my safety for? And why wasn’t he more concerned about his own when we were easy pickings to the evil who hid in the woodland? I could see the tank as I emerged from the thick foliage; he hadn’t even shut the door. Maybe he’d followed me the entire time. Maybe he hadn’t. I really didn’t care at this point. Elias could handle himself, I had no doubt of that. But if he refused to take me home, I’d take myself…and I’d leave him behind. I pulled the passenger door down into place as I ran past and to the driver’s side. I climbed in, turned the key in the ignition and punched the button on the dashboard, hoping the tank would quickly lock me in and keep me safe from the man who was supposed to protect me. No luck. The car sat silently, stationary and sedated. The engine hummed quietly, but I wasn’t gifted with the roar it had made when Elias had first turned it on outside the loft. The locks clicked, letting me know they were there, but they weren’t going to help me. I was stuck.

  And then I saw him coming towards me, the man who had filled me with more arousal than I’d ever felt in my life, more hatred than I ever thought possible, and more fear than I’d ever imagined when I thought of the underground…

  Trixie Ashford would bring me to my knees.

  I think I knew that before she’d breathed me in, before her pulse had spiked at our proximity, before she’d thought about kissing me, in the forest, against a tree, with danger lurking all around us.

  I’d heard them; I’d heard the whispers of confusion and wonder. We didn’t come out at night, and they couldn’t understand why we were here, and why I wasn’t radiating fear, like my companion before me.