Wraiths of Winter (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 3) (5 page)

My dream that night was disturbing.
No, not in the
usual death and paranormal attacks kind of way—those I
could have forgotten about by the time breakfast was over.
This dream was unsettling for another reason. I dreamed that
Lucas got his wish.
And he was right—there wasn’t a single
drop of chocolate left.

4. Oops…I Shouldn’t Have Said
That

I knew what I forgot to do the second I slid into Zach’s
car and saw his face. He looked even sadder than he did when
I last saw him.

“Zach, I’m so sorry I forgot to call you back last night!
I meant to but it was such a long traumatic day that I went to
bed right after Lucas left.” I clicked my seat belt into place
and it was a good thing I did, too.

Suddenly,
Zach’s foot turned to lead as we sailed
toward the main road. “So Lucas was at your house last
night?”

Great. Open mouth, insert foot. That wasn’t exactly
how I planned to break the news to him. “Yeah, he stopped by
to apologize for scaring me yesterday.”

The Neon started to fishtail as Zach stomped on the
brake when we got to the end of the drive.
He countersteered quickly before we skidded into one of the oak trees. I
could tell he was still angry but he started to drive more
carefully once we were on the main road.

“He apologized before he left yesterday. He really
didn’t need to do it again, did he?” His words were colder
than the snow that was slowly creeping into my new gray
leather boots. My feet would be freezing all day, but at least
they would look good while doing it.

“Even if he didn’t have to, it’s a good thing he did. The
topic came up in conversation so I told him about Lee.”

“Conversation? So how long was he at your house?”
Zach gripped the steering
wheel
noticeably
knuckles growing increasingly white.
tighter, his

“A half hour maybe—an
hour tops.
We
started
playing a game of pool and I kinda didn’t pay attention to the
time.”

Zach reached over and turned down the volume on
the CD player. “You played pool with him? Since when do you
play pool?” Funny thing, his voice got louder when the music
got softer.

His anger was already hanging like frosty icicles in the
air and there was still more to tell him. “Lucas was teaching
me how to play—that’s when he asked why everyone reacted
so strangely when they saw him.”

Zach pulled into the school parking lot and turned off
the engine. He looked me in the eyes for the first time since
picking me up at the house. “Okay, you need to tell me exactly
what happened. Don’t leave anything out and
don’t
make me
dig for details. I don’t like this guy, I don’t trust him and I
wish you would have called me when he showed up.
You
shouldn’t be alone with him.”

“I wasn’t exactly alone with him—Dad and
Shelly
were downstairs the whole time.”

“Downstairs? The pool table isn’t on the second floor
so what was he doing upstairs?” Zach’s eyes seemed to
lighten as he got angrier.
By the time this conversation was
over, there wasn’t going to be a trace of blue left in them.

“After I told him who he looked like, he asked to see a
picture of Lee so we went up to my room.”

“Ruby!” Zach shouted as he flung his fist down hard on
the steering wheel. “You can’t just let some stranger waltz
around in your house! What if he’d tried to hurt you?”

Okay, so he had a right to be a little upset but he was
really making this a bigger deal than it actually was. “We
weren’t alone in the house for cryin’ out loud!”

Zach bit his lip and lowered his voice. “Fine. I’ll give
you
that
much.
Okay, so what, you grabbed the picture and
then what?”

So here came the hard part.
I knew how mad he
would be if I told him about Lucas being in my bedroom, on
my bed. But if I didn’t tell him and he heard it from Lucas
instead, then he probably
would
rip his head off.
And never
speak to me again. So I did something I wasn’t used to doing.
I bit the bullet and told him the truth.

“Well, I left him in the living room while I dug around
in my closet for the picture but when I turned back around,
there he was lying in my bed.” I left my seatbelt buckled in
case his anger was enough to shake the car into gear.

“HE WAS WHERE?” The car didn’t move but I could
swear I saw the windshield shake ever so slightly.

“You heard me!” I shouted back at him. “He looked at
everything in my room and guessed what we were going to do
in there. So I told him to get off of my bed and I left the room.”

The vein in his neck that always throbbed when his
anger was full throttle now had a partner in crime. I could see
another spot on his temple pulsing with the same dangerous
rhythm.

Zach rested his head against the steering wheel and
counted to ten in hushed tones. Calmly, he asked, “What did
you tell him about us?”

Looks like somebody’s anger management classes
worked. Now that he was calmer, I lowered my voice, too. “I
didn’t tell him anything. He guessed but I didn’t confirm. So
he followed me out to the living room and I showed him the
photo of Lee.
He told me his birthday and it was the same as
Lee’s. Then he asked what I knew about Lee’s family so I told
him Lee was adopted. He told me he would see me in school
and then he practically ran out of the house.”

“So that was it? That’s everything then?” Zach’s eyes
were back to their normal icy blue shade but they still looked
strange. He looked frightened and I knew exactly why. He
was afraid of losing me.

I figured that telling him about Lucas’s comment
about the chocolate and my subsequent dream were more
than he needed to know. I didn’t
actually
want to sleep with
Lucas but that was exactly what Zach would think. For Zach’s
sake, I didn’t want Lucas to end up like Ryan so I omitted that
part and nodded my head. “That’s everything.”

“Okay, so now what are you going to do?”

I didn’t think that far in advance. What
was
I going to
do? “I guess I just need to back off until he’s ready to talk
about it.”

“
And
?” Zach eyed me in anticipation of the correct
response. Luckily, I realized what he was looking for.

 

“And then I will come and get you before I talk to
him.”

Zach gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for telling
me the truth, Ruby. I’m trying really hard not to be a jealous
jerk here, but I refuse to stop worrying about you.
Even if I’d
met him before meeting you, I still wouldn’t trust this guy. I
don’t know what it is but there’s just something about him
that I don’t like.”

I was pretty sure that he was mistaken.
The only
reason he didn’t trust Lucas was because of jealousy and fear.
But since I knew that I would react the same way if the
situation were reversed, I didn’t challenge his
reasoning.
Some battles aren’t worth fighting and this was definitely one
of them.

“I trust your instincts, Zach. They haven’t failed me
yet.” I tossed it around in my brain for a second and then
added, “Actually, they’ve saved my life twice.”

Zach gave me a smile as we got out of the car so I
knew we were back to good. “I just don’t want to see that
number go to three, okay? You’re seriously pushing the limits
of my luck. Loving you is a dangerous job, you know?”

Sliding my arm around his waist, I gave him an extra
squeeze. “Not is,
was
.
Loving me
was
a dangerous job but
that part’s over now. And I don’t think it was luck—you’re my
hero, my man of steel.”

“I’m no hero. I’m just a guy who’s hopelessly in love.
And don’t forget, sweetie—even
Superman
has
his
weaknesses.” Zach guided me away from an icy spot on the
sidewalk and opened the door for me.

“Maybe. But from where I’m standing, you’re always
there when I need you the most. That’s what being a hero is
all about.”

There was a look of pride on his face as he responded,
“If that’s your definition, then I
am
a hero—
your
hero.” We
shared a quick kiss and headed to our lockers.

The atmosphere in the school felt so different when I
walked in. The air always felt slightly heavy in there to me
but I never realized that it was all connected to Garnet. Now
that
she
was
gone,
the
building
felt
lighter
and
less
oppressive. It felt good. Well, as good as high school
could
feel, anyway.

Rachel, on the other hand, would probably disagree
with
me.
The
first thing
I noticed when I walked into
homeroom was how thoroughly miserable she looked.
She
looked like
I
normally looked. She was always there for me
when I needed some cheering up, so I knew it was time to
return the favor.

I declined a trip to the library with Zach, telling him I
wanted to spend some time with his sister instead.

“Good because I think she could use it. She’s been
shutting herself off from everyone but Boone,” Zach
whispered to me so she couldn’t overhear us. “We’ve always
been so close but she barely wants to talk to me anymore.
Maybe you can break through to her.”

“I’ll certainly try,” I whispered back. “She’s done a lot
for me. I hope she lets me do the same for her.

After Zach left for the library, I slid into his seat and
tapped her on the shoulder. “Rachel? Can we talk for a
minute?”

She swiveled around slowly in her seat with all of the
enthusiasm of an extra in a zombie movie. “Yeah?”

 

“Have you heard anything more about Crimson?”

 

“Nothing,” she said sadly. “Still no sign of her but the
cops are breathing down Drake’s neck. I just feel so helpless.”

No one knew helpless better than I did but I had an
idea that I thought might help. “So let’s get out there and do
something to find her.”

She shook her head with an air of defeat. “Like what?
If the cops can’t find her, what kind of chance do
we
have?”

“We could make up some flyers and hang them
around town. You know, get her face out there in the hopes
that someone somewhere will have some information. There
could be someone out there right now who doesn’t even know
she’s missing—someone who may hold a clue.”

A spark of the old Rachel flashed in her eyes. “Do you
really think that it could help, that’s it’s not just a waste of
time?”

I piqued her interest, now all I needed to do was reel
her in. “Nothing you do to help someone else could ever be a
waste of time. C’mon, we can do it after right school—what
do you say?”

“I’m in—let’s do it!” For the first time in weeks, she
actually seemed like her endlessly perky self. “I have a really
good picture I took of her before the party. If I know Crimson,
she would be really pissed at me if I hung up a bad photo of
her!”

I was really proud of myself for finding a way to get
her out of her funk for at least one day and I knew it would
make Zach happy, too.
Sometimes in the midst of my own
drama, I forgot that he’d been through almost as much as I
had. I was going to take any opportunity I could find to do
something nice for him.

Morning classes went well and I all but forgot about
my dilemma with Lucas. So once I had my lunch, I sat down
alone at my usual table and cracked open the mystery novel I
borrowed from Shelly. I didn’t even get through the first page
when I suddenly realized that I wasn’t alone anymore. No one
ever sat with me at lunch unless you counted the times Garnet
sat there and stared at me.
There was only one person it
could
be. Lucas.

“You weren’t saving this seat for your boyfriend, were
you?” Lucas asked as he went ahead and sat down anyway.

 

“No,” I answered flatly. “I eat alone.”

 

“You
used
to eat alone,” he replied, stuffing an entire
taco into his mouth.

I closed my book and stared at the table.
I wanted to
say something to him but I didn’t know what. What do you
say to someone after you’ve told them their whole life has
been a lie? How do you act like nothing’s wrong after you’ve
detonated that kind of explosion? We stayed silent until after
our food was gone and then Lucas made the first move.

“I’m sorry if I was rude to you last night—running out
on you and all.”

 

“It’s okay. I understand why you did it.” I lifted my
eyes from the table to finally look at him.

He looked sincere. There was no trace of the cocky
attitude from the night before. “I’ve had some time to think
about it and I’ve made a decision. I want to know all about my
brother but I need your help with that. Will you help me?”

He placed his hand gently on mine.
When I looked
into his eyes, I didn’t see Lucas—I saw Lee.
It was the same
way Lee used to look at me when he talked about the family
he didn’t know. They were sad eyes, eyes that exposed a
gaping hole in his soul. A hole only
I
could fix. I was never
able to fill
in
the
blanks
for Lee,
but for Lucas, I
could.
Morally, I felt that it was my obligation to help him. It just
wouldn’t be right for me not to. He wasn’t the enemy Zach
tried to make him seem. He was lost but I could help him find
himself. In turn, helping him would help me, too. In the end, I
could put my past to rest and move on with my life.

A round of wild laughter from the next table broke the
spell he had over me.
Now full of guilt, I yanked my hand
away from his. “I’ll help you but I have a boyfriend—don’t
forget that.”