Read Dirt (The Dirt Trilogy) for Free Online

informs.
“What do you know about my father and who would want to
hurt him? He’s harmless.”
“Not now, Ashe. There’s so much you don’t know.” That’s
obvious.
“If not now, then when?” Dad and I are in danger so you would
think I would have a right to know what’s going on.
“Be careful,” he says still unwilling to divulge information,
still moving my pulse in a race it cannot win.
Rowen stands up as I remain sitting, staring up at him. He
towers over me and I feel protected, but I don’t know why. Taking
my hand, he pulls me close to his chest. I stand up gazing into the
abyss of blue that has now swallowed my soul. His lips linger
without an invitation.
“Ummm, am I interrupting something? Excuse me?” I hear
Taylie’s chipper voice, somewhere in the background, breaking up
the moment. Apparently, she’s been trying to get our attention.
“Oh. Hey,” I mutter as I come out of a trance.
“We’ve got to go, Ashe. I’ve got to go to work.” She waves her
arm urging me toward the door.
“Oh, s...sure,” I stutter.
“I’ll walk you to your car.” His touch moves down as he
presses the palm of his hand in the small of my back leading me
away from the table. I sink into his hand and I’m now in unfamiliar
territory.
“What are you studying, Rowen?” Taylie asks still bubbling
over as we walk.
“Mythology.”
“Cool. So where are you from?”
“Hmmm…Hamilton.” He doesn’t seem too sure of his answer.
My mind races. I’m confused. The logical, reasonable Ashe
tries to convince me I shouldn’t trust him. But I do even though I
have no answers, no conclusions.
We arrive back at my car. I reach for the door handle, but
Rowen beats me to it. Smooth as silk and without arrogance, he
opens the door for me catching me off guard. His face brushes
against mine, shy of touching me as I get into the car.
He leans in. “Be careful,” he whispers.
Shutting the door, he steps back and watches us drive away.
Taylie is beside herself. “Details, details, details.”
“There’re no details,” I insist.
“Ashe, what happened? There’s something obviously going on
between the two of you.”
“I don’t know what to think about it all, Taylie. He knows
about the break-in. He says I have to be careful. For Dad to be
careful.”
“Okay, that’s kind of creepy.”
“You don’t think...” I pause for a moment doubting everything.
“He knows the Birches.” I remind myself.
“Well, that explains it.”
“Explains what?” I respond glancing away.
“How does he know about what happened the other night? The
Birches. They must have told him,” Taylie says.
Instead of an explanation, all of this raises more questions. My
mind drifts off, as Taylie babbles on and on about me and Rowen. It
all sounds like chatter in the background of a movie theater as my
mind is cluttered with thoughts of his identity. Thoughts of why I’m
so unbelievably attracted to him despite all of the unanswered
questions make my mind swim with waves of uncertainty. Nothing
about this whole situation makes sense. I should be terrified.

7
    On my way home after dropping Taylie off, I become worried
about Dad. Apparently, he and I both need to be careful. Something
or someone out there wants to hurt us. I want to get home to check
on Dad. Driving down Highway 93, puffy gray lines of smoke-like
clouds stream over the trees in the distance. The longer I drive, the
larger the billowing masses grow. The closer I am to home; the
growing darkness of massive clouds fills the sky. This has to be a
forest fire and it’s getting a little too close for comfort.
    As I approach our house my stomach sinks to the floorboard.
Smoke is pouring from our kitchen window. I bolt out of my car
and run through the front door. The heat forces its way through me
like a blade. The kitchen is engulfed in a sea of orange and red.
Flames dance around laughing in my face.
    “
Dad! Dad!” I run downstairs to the basement. I search the
entire house