Wraiths of Winter (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 3) (42 page)

“Morning?” all three of us shouted in unison.

 

“That’s what I said—morning.”

Zach verbalized our fears for all of us. “But morning
could be too late!” He pointed to the notecard now lying in an
evidence bag on the captain’s desk. “Tonight’s the night!
Can’t you at least lock him up for the night for questioning?”

“Sorry, but that’s not how it works. None of the girls
were abducted from their own homes so I’m sure if Miss
Matthews stays put, she’ll be safe. And with strong, young
bodyguards like you two, I don’t think she has anything to
worry about.”

Lucas
began
to
protest
but
Captain
Donaldson
stopped him. “I can have a squad car drive past her house
every hour but that’s it. See that she gets home safely and
stays home until morning.” And with that, we were
dismissed.

“Look, I don’t care what your Dad thinks of me, Ruby.
I’m not leaving your side tonight,” Zach announced the second
we walked out of the police station.

“Zach, you know that’s not even an option! Even if he
didn’t hate you, there’s no way he would let you spend the
night with me.”

“Then I’ll just sneak in after he’s gone to bed!”

 

“Are you crazy? Have you already forgotten what got
you banned in the first place?”

Lucas
shifted
around
awkwardly,
obviously
not
wanting to hear the details of what happened between Zach
and
me.
Zach
shot him
a territorial glance and
Lucas
retreated to his car where he proceeded to stare at us through
the windshield.

“Ruby, I can’t let you be alone tonight! If anything
happened to you, I don’t know what I’d do!” Zach said with
desperation in his voice. “You can stay at my house and have
a sleep over with Rachel—just like the first time I protected
you!”

“Do you think my dad is stupid? He would never fall
for that idea!”

 

“But if you just tell him what’s really going on—”

“He won’t believe me! He’ll think it’s some elaborate
plot we cooked up so that we could be together!
He already
thinks you sent me the lingerie, remember?”

“If I could only walk you in so that I know no one’s
there—”

 

“But you can’t! That job has to go to Lucas!”

Zach stomped his
foot angrily into the snow. “It
should be
my
job!
I
should be the one protecting you—like
always!”

“For better or worse, things have changed, Zach! You
can’t always be there for me!”

Zach put his arm around my waist and pulled me
close. “Just how much has changed, Ruby?” he whispered
pleadingly.

“Not everything, Zach. I promise,” I replied softly. I
placed my left hand on his cheek—the hand that carried his
ring with it. “I haven’t forgotten.”

Then, we kissed. It wasn’t just any kiss, either. It was
slow and smoldering, deep and delicious. It was the kind of
kiss that made the world disappear, made you forget about
everyone and everything else around you.
Made you forget
that there was another boy who loved you watching the
whole thing.

HONK! HONK, HONK, HONK!
I opened my eyes and saw Lucas furiously laying on
the horn. He stuck his head out the window and shouted.

 

“We really need to get her home now. Or rather,
I
need to get her home,” he said sarcastically.

Zach peeled himself away from me and approached
the car. “After tonight, I won’t need your help anymore and
neither will Ruby. Don’t forget that.” He smacked the top of
Lucas’s car with the palm of his hand then walked to his own
and stood there with his arms crossed over his chest until I
was safely inside Lucas’s car.

Lucas placed his hand on my leg. “Don’t worry, Ru—
nothing will happen to you. I’ll make sure of that.”

The warmth of his hand on my leg was heavenly. I’d
spent way too much time in the biting wind and my skin was
nearly frozen beneath my jeans. But although it felt good, I
had to stop him. I had to resist his advances. It took every
ounce of inner strength I had but I did it.
Slowly and with
much hesitation.

“Thanks, Lucas,” I said as I lifted his hand away and
placed it back into his own lap.

He smiled without missing a beat, flipped his hair out
of his eyes, and turned the key. He revved the engine a few
times—most likely as a taunt to Zach—and pulled out of the
parking lot. Zach followed closely behind us until we got to
the gates to Rosewood.
When Lucas pulled into the drive,
Zach sat idling on the main road until we were safely inside
the mansion then he
drove away.
With Zach
gone, the
romantic drama was over—at least for the night.
But of
course, there was more than one kind of drama in my life.
And the show was just about to begin.

33. No Silent Night

Lucas opened the door to the mansion slowly and
carefully. But as he flicked the light switch, the only thing that
met our eyes was the soft, warm glow of the chandelier. The
house was comforting and without a hint of any type of
intrusion. It was good to be home.

“I figure that it’s pretty much impossible to search
every inch of this house thoroughly so let’s head straight to
your room. After I’m sure it’s safe, then you can just lock the
door behind me, okay?”

“Okay,” I said with a nod. I followed closely behind
him as he led me to the attic. He made me stand just inside
the attic door as he checked my bedroom and bathroom for
any signs of danger. Lucas made me feel safe—just not as safe
as I felt when I was with Zach.
Zach was willing to die to
protect me. If it came down to that, would Lucas be willing to
do the same?
Unfortunately, there was only one way to find
out. But I wasn’t prepared to discover that answer tonight.

“All clear,” he announced as he returned to where I
stood. “How late do you think your parents will be out?”

“Probably not much longer—I know that Shelly has
Rachel coming in early to work. She’s trying to get the bed
and breakfast open by April and they’re running behind
schedule. Why do you ask?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Just wondering, that’s
all.”

 

“Oh.” I knew he couldn’t stay but it didn’t change the
fact that I wanted him to.

 

“Hey, text me when they go lights out, okay? I’ll do
one more drive by of the house before I settle in for the night.”

 

“Sure,” I replied. Just knowing that Lucas would check
on me one more time made me feel so much better.

 

He placed his hand on the door knob. “Lock up behind
me. And if you need me, please call.”

“I will.” I was trying to put on a brave face but the
thought of being alone frightened me.
What would I do if
Jackson decided to break in before Dad and Shelly got home?

Lucas waited on the other side of the door for the
sound of the lock clicking into place before walking away. I
sat down at the window to watch the tail lights of his car
retreating as he drove away. Now, I was truly alone.

There had to be some way to distract my thoughts, to
keep me from jumping at the slightest little noise. I sat down
on the futon and turned on the television. I flicked through
the channels until I found a movie that looked interesting.
About five minutes into what looked like a romance, I realized
I was wrong—it was actually a thriller about a girl being
stalked by a psycho. Just as the villain crept out of a darkened
closet, I clicked the button on the remote with an air of
authority and turned the TV off. Thanks a lot, Lifetime Movie
Network—I feel
so
much safer now!

Caffeine.
That was the answer.
Sleep is not your
friend when someone is trying to kill you—I had to fuel my
system up good for the long night ahead of me. With Coco
padding along behind me, I went to the mini fridge for a diet
soda. Just as I was about to open the can, I heard the first
noise.

WHACK!
Something smashed against the bottom of
the window by my desk and fell back down before I could see
what it was. Oh, my God! I got down on my hands and knees
to stay out of sight and crawled my way back toward the
futon for my phone.
All I had to do was call Lucas and he
would be here in a matter of minutes, right?
I stayed hidden
behind the futon and reached around for my only link to the
outside world.

WHACK!
This time the noise was louder and came
from the window near the kitchen behind me. OH MY GOD!
Hands shaking, I fumbled with the buttons on my phone until
I found Lucas’s number in my contacts.

I crouched down near the floor in terror as his phone
rang without answer and another missile smacked against the
side of the house. When his voicemail picked up, I ended the
call without even leaving a message. Zach would have
never
left me hanging like this!
Zach would have sat up all night
with his phone in his hand and been ready to run if I needed
him. And where were Dad and Shelly?
They never usually
stayed out this late when they both had to be up early!
I
wanted to call Zach but with my luck, my dad would get home
only seconds after he got here and start World War III when
he saw Zach’s car.

Instead, for the first time in a long time, I did the
smart thing—I dialed 911.
I explained the situation to the
dispatcher and she assured me that an officer was en route
and just five minutes away from the house. Just five minutes.
Five minutes is a long time when a killer is stalking you.
I
wanted to watch for the police car but with the lights on,
Jackson would be able to see every move I made. So I crawled
over to the light switch and turned it off. At least in complete
darkness, I would have the upper hand.

I snuck over to the window and peered through the
crack in the curtain. When I looked down, I couldn’t believe
what I was seeing. Instead of a crazed lunatic stalker, I saw
Lucas packing a snowball and winding up for the pitch.
I
threw open the window and called down to him.

“Lucas! What are you doing here?”

Lucas tossed the snowball down onto the ground and
yelled up to me. “Ru! Finally! I thought you were never going
to hear me! Come open the door for me!”

I slammed the window shut and tore off down the
stairs.
Breathless, I opened the door and flung my arms
around Lucas who stood freezing cold on the doorstep.

“Oh my God! What are you doing here?! I thought you
were Jackson! And why didn’t you answer when I called
you?”

“As I drove away from the house, I came up with the
perfect plan.
I figured out a way for you not to be alone
tonight. I parked my car at Silver Lake and walked back here.
I was going to call you but I forgot to charge my phone this
morning and the cold air sucked my battery dry. I knocked on
the door but you must not have heard me so I resorted to
throwing snowballs to get your attention. No arguments—I’m
staying with you tonight, Ru.”

Really!? I couldn’t hide my excitement over this news
but how did he hope to pull it off? Wouldn’t his parents be
wondering where he was? So I asked him all of the questions
that were running through my mind.

“Well, I’m eighteen now—my parents don’t ask
questions anymore. As long as I don’t skip school and don’t
get into any trouble, they stay off my back. I figured that as
long as my car wasn’t here, your parents would never have to
know that I was. It’s a big house—there’s plenty of room for
me to hide.”

The idea that he was technically considered an adult
now and could do whatever he wanted had never entered my
mind. Zach, on the other hand, still had a curfew his parent’s
strictly
enforced.
And
he
was
definitely right—with
no
vehicle out front, hiding him from Dad and Shelly would be
easy.
Hiding him from the police, though, was a different
story.

Two things
happened
simultaneously—my
phone
rang just as I watched two police cars cruise down the drive
toward the house.
I dragged Lucas inside the mansion and
slammed the door behind him.
With a look at my phone, I
saw that the call was from Zach.
I tossed my phone to Lucas
and steadied myself for the lies I was about to tell the police.

“Here—answer this!
Go up to my room and tell Zach
what’s going on. Stay up there until I’m done with the police.”

Lucas was barely out of sight up the stairs when a
heavy knock came at the door. My hand shook as I turned the
knob knowing who was on the other side.
I was the little girl
who cried wolf. What would happen if I really needed help
later and the police chose not to believe me?

The door swung open to reveal two stern looking
officers, neither of whom could have been more than past
their mid-twenties. If I hadn’t been so scared about lying to
them, I would have been mopping up the drool.
What girl
doesn’t love a hot man in uniform, right?

“Miss Matthews?” the one with light brown hair,
luscious blue-green eyes and a California sun kissed hotness
asked.

I nodded silently in response.
I figured the less I
spoke, the better.

“We’re responding to a call that someone was trying
to break into your house. Can we come in, please?” That was
the one with dark hair and a face that should only be reserved
for the most beautiful of sculptures, something straight out of
a Milan museum. For real, Charlotte’s Grove should be in the
record books for having the most attractive residents in such
a small area.