Second Snowfall (Elton Hall Chronicles Book 2)

  “Annabelle,” Jason chastised at me. “I don’t think this is the time to be bringing this up.”

  “Why not? Something could have happened to her. Something could still happen to her. What if someone else finds out? Clearly Chief Johnson knows something is up.”

  “I know,” Violet said softly. She looked up at me, tears filling her brown eyes. “I’m afraid to have that conversation with him. I don’t think my heart could take it.”

  Jason reached down and pulled her into a hug. “Vi, you don’t have to deal with this right now. Just relax and try to enjoy the time you guys have left.”

  “I love the two of you dearly, but I can’t keep talking about this. David has become so important to me and I know he’ll be leaving. We don’t have a plan. Maybe I should just end it with him. Save us a lot of heartache in the future.” Tears started streaming down her face and she took a couple deep breaths.

  “On top of that, I’m scared. What if Trent tries something? What if he and Finn are teaming up to screw with me”

  “I agree it sounds bad, but why does Trent care? It doesn’t make sense. It’s not like he and Finn were close or anything. I mean, did you notice anything?” I asked her.

  “No, I never saw anything between them. Maybe he has some blackmail on Trent or something. I don’t know. I just can’t keep doing this.”

  “So what can we do to help you?” I asked her gently. My heart broke to see her so defeated. This was Violet. Anything was possible with her. She always found a way, and that was one of the things I loved about her. Now, she was so deflated, and I couldn’t do anything to help her.

  “One of you needs to go talk to David. Jason, it’d be great if you did it so you could show him the pictures. And, Annabelle, I need to get to class. Why don’t we get our things? I know how you feel about being late.”

  “It doesn’t matter, Violet. I just—”

  “I know. I just can’t talk about it anymore.”

  We agreed and Jason stormed off to talk to Berneli. Violet turned and looked at me.

  “What?”

  “So, Jason showed you the computer stuff. It was lucky he figured all that out. Did you know he was working on it?”

  “No, he showed me for the first time today.” I thought back to being in the room with him and of when he kissed me. I was completely distracted that I tripped over a root.

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah, why?

  “Where did you just go? It seemed like you went far away. What’s going on?”

  “We don’t need to talk about this now.”

  “Just tell me what happened. I could use the distraction.”

  We started walking up to our rooms and I filled her in on the kiss.

  “I just feel so guilty. Kingsley deserves better than that. I can’t believe Jason made me cheat on Kingsley like that.”

  “Okay, let’s calm down for a second. Jason didn’t make you cheat. There is a split second before a kiss that you know it’s coming. If you really wanted to avoid it, you could have. Are you honestly telling me that for just one second you didn’t enjoy that kiss?”

  I opened my mouth to shut her down immediately but closed it again. I couldn’t lie to her.

  “Fine, I enjoyed it for a second but then I remembered Kingsley and Janice. I also enjoy kissing Kingsley and I hope Jason enjoys kissing Janice. It doesn’t mean I want to go out and buy his and hers towels with Jason. It just means I like kissing. Give me more of the drinks Christie makes and I may even kiss you.”

  “I think you’re focusing on the wrong thing. Jason was trying to show you that he has feelings for you.”

  “Right, and when I asked him if he still loved Janice, he said yes. It’s over. I’m not playing games with Jason anymore. I’m going to enjoy my time with Kingsley. It…it just doesn’t matter with Jason anymore. He made his choice.”

  “Why did you ask him if he loved her?”

  “Because I needed to know.”

  “Why?”

  “Because.”

  “Right, so I’ll just finish that since you’re too scared to say it. Because you wanted him to tell you that he didn’t love her. You wanted him to come out and tell you he was in love with you.”

  “But he didn’t.

  “I kinda think he did. I notice you didn’t talk about your feelings.”

  “All my feelings are with Kingsley. I stopped crushing on Jason when Kingsley and I got together.”

  “Then you wouldn’t be this upset.”

  Chapter 14

  I was sitting at the coffee stand, waiting for Christie, when Kingsley walked over to me.

  “Hey, babe,” he greeted, and leaned down to give me a kiss.

  “Hi,” I replied, smiling, hoping to push Jason from my mind.

  “I know you’re probably a little upset because of the other day, so I have a plan. Tomorrow night, pack an overnight bag and be ready at around five.”

  “You don’t have to keep surprising me. I promise you, buying me things and going over the top like this isn’t necessary. I just want to spend some time with you.” I reached out and took his hand.

  He kissed my hand and smiled at me. “I have money and it’s okay if I spend some of it on you. Just accept it and look beautiful tomorrow. Let me spoil you so you don’t have to worry about anything.”

  How could I say no to that? This was the Kingsley I was falling in love with. This considerate man who took the time to plan excursions with me, who wanted to be with me and only me, who wasn’t in love with another woman.

  “Sounds great. Is there anything specific I should wear?”

  “No, babe. Listen, you always look perfect, though maybe just don’t wear jeans. But even if you do, you’ll still look beautiful on my arm.”

  “Aww, you make me blush. You’re sweet.”

  He kissed me on the forehead and then smiled.

  “I have to go. I’m meeting up with Karen to talk about her cousin and the funeral.”

  “Do you want me to come with you to the funeral? I don’t mind,” I insisted.

  “No, no. I don’t want you to feel like you have to or anything like that. I don’t even know when it is or even if I’ll be going. You know, since I wasn’t family, I might not be able to go.” He got up and waved goodbye before I could say anything else.

  I stared at his back as he walked away and couldn’t sway the feeling that something about what he said wasn’t right. But I couldn’t focus on that. He’d given me no real reason to doubt him.

  With a sigh, I turned my head and looked out the window. What I saw completely distracted me from Kingsley.

  Christie was now Biker Chick Barbie. I watched as she climbed off of some guy’s bike and handed him the extra helmet she had been wearing. She shook her hair out and waved goodbye to him, giving a whole lot of shake to her walk as she headed into school.

  I waved as soon as she saw me. Christie held up a finger and went to order a coffee. While I waited, I texted Violet to see how she was doing.

  Armed with her drink, Christie sat down across from me. “So, what’s going on?” she asked, feigning innocence.

  “No, no, explain to me what you were doing climbing off some guy’s bike. Is Rob in town or something?”

  She turned red as her lipstick and smiled awkwardly. “Okay, so, it really isn’t that big of a deal. I was parking my car to go to my first class and it was, like, the day from hell. My bag ripped and my laptop fell out. It smashed and then I cut my hand trying to pick it up.” She held up her bandaged hand and grimaced a little.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah, I’ll live. It isn’t really deep. But anyway, I didn’t have anything to wrap it up with, and the rest of my stuff was still everywhere, so I just sat down on the ground for a minute, cringed, and then took my jacket off so I could wrap my hand and get all my things. As I was about to do that, Shane, the guy who tried to steal my coffee, walked up and handed me a white t-shirt. He was like, ‘It
would be a shame to ruin such a nice jacket.’ Then he wrapped my hand up tight and grabbed the rest of my things.”

  “Aww, how gentlemanly. Then what happened? I still don’t see how you ended up on the bike.”

  “Well, I thanked him, obviously, and started bitching about how shit everything was and then I decided I just didn’t want to go to class. I was over today. So he suggested we go for a ride. Shane told me that nothing relaxes you like taking a ride or driving fast. And I don’t know what happened, I just jumped on the bike. I held onto his waist and his abs were tight as anything and I don’t know. I felt a hum go through me as we flew down the road.”

  Christie was staring off as if she was still on the bike. I had never seen her like that. It was as if she were in a different world. One that left her without sarcasm or a witty retort. Instead, she looked happy.

  “And that’s it? He let you off the back of his bike and nothing came of it? Really?”

  “What do you want me to say? My boyfriend is down south, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to cheat on him with Shane. I just wanted to have some fun every now and then.”

  “Shouldn’t you and your boyfriend have fun?”

  She looked at me and was filled with sadness. “We have fun. It’s just more adult fun. To him, talking about the wedding and baby names is fun. And sure, thinking about that stuff is fun for a while. The problem is, it’s really close. Like, I won’t be able to drink at my bachelorette party soon.”

  I took what she said under consideration and thought about Kingsley. Maybe I was a little too hasty in thinking he was the one for me. I should probably ease off that a bit and just enjoy being with him. I should be a bit more like Violet and live day to day.

  “Well, you looked good on the back of that bike, very Sons of Anarchy Barbie. Did you decide to go to class after all?”

  “Oh, no, that class was over a while ago. I just wanted to meet up with you.”

  “Good, I could use a favor.”

  “What’s up?”

  “EET is having the karaoke competition tomorrow and I’m supposed to help and take attendance as to which volunteers show up. But…Kingsley invited me out tomorrow night, and after the fight the other day, I really want to spend some time with him.” I smiled and tried to give her my best begging eyes.

  “No problem. Will Violet be there?”

  “She should, since this is one of the events that she helped organize. Some things have happened with the guy who attacked her. He has someone leaving her creepy notes about watching her and stuff, so she may be a little upset about that.”

  “Oh god, yeah, I’ll be there. No stress. I mean, I hope she’s there, because that would mean everything is fine, but I can definitely help if it isn’t. Though, I might drag her there. She’s always going on about how she needs distractions. Watching someone sing a Britney Spears song would certainly fit the bill.”

  “Please make sure someone records it if you guys perform.”

  “Oh, hell yes. We’re going to need it for her wedding video one day.”

  “I like that twisted mind of yours.” We toasted to that and took a big sip of coffee.

  We talked a bit more about EET and then parted ways. I needed to get back to my room and pack for tomorrow. Plus, I wanted to check on Violet again.

  Turned out, she definitely didn’t need my help.

  “It all just became too much,” she told me on the phone. “I took a cab over to David’s and we’re just enjoying each other’s company.”

  “Ew, I know what that means.”

  “Shut up, that’s not what I meant.”

  “Yeah, it probably is exactly what you’re talking about, you nympho. Are you planning to go to EET tomorrow?”

  “So far. I mean, it would look bad if both David and I weren’t there, so we are definitely going to make an appearance.”

  “Great. Kingsley planned this whole thing for me so I won’t be able to go, but Christie is going to stop by to help.”

  “Aww, but what about our love song duet?”

  “I was never getting up there to sing anyway.”

  “Fine, but don’t get jealous when Christie’s and my relationship gets serious. Backstreet Boys ballads have a way of bringing people together.”

  “I’ll plan the wedding.”

  We said goodbye and then I tried to pack with the lack of direction from Kingsley. We definitely needed to talk about his inability to consider my packing problems. I overpacked on a good day, not knowing where we were going, what we were going to do, or anything else totally made it worse. All I knew was that we’d be spending the night.

  ***

  Kingsley sent me a text saying he would pick me up around four, so I had a lot of time to do some of my homework. At around noon, I grabbed some lunch and brought it back to my room so I could finish.

  I was wrapping my sandwich up in a to-go box when I heard someone call my name. Jason was standing there awkwardly.

  “Hey,” he mumbled, looking down at his feet.

  “Hi,” I replied, and focused on the fact that I couldn’t close the freaking box.

  He reached out and took it from me, closing it in one swift motion. “Look, I texted Violet to see where you were, and she told me you were in your dorm. I went there and, obviously, you weren’t home so I took a shot that you’d be in here. I want to talk about yesterday.”

  I almost instantly closed off and held my hand out, stopping him. “I get it. It was a mistake and it shouldn’t have happened. We don’t need to talk about it at all. I won’t tell Janice or anything, so let’s just try to be friends and move on.”

  “The truth is I can’t just be friends with you anymore. That’s not what I want. I decided.”

  I felt as if the wind had been knocked out of me. I needed him as a friend. God, I was such an idiot. I knew if something like this happened, it’d ruin our friendship. “You can’t just spring this on me in the cafeteria while you’re holding my takeout box.”

  “Why not? Do you want me to scream it to everyone in here? Should I take you to an expensive dinner and have them spell it out on a cake? Tell me what I need to do and I’ll do it. I want to be with just you, and not as friends.”

  He took the hand that wasn’t holding the food, and stroked the back of it with his thumb. “Come on, Annabelle, let’s give this a try.”

  “I’m with Kingsley. We’re going out tonight. What do you want me to do? Cancel with him and be with you?”

  “Yes, that’s exactly what I want you to do. I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me this isn’t what you want too. Come on, Annabelle. We’ve been dancing around this for months now. Let’s just be together.”

  “It doesn’t work like that for me. I don’t bounce around. I’m with Kingsley and I’m not trying to hurt him. He cares about me. You’ve been with Janice forever. This is probably just some phase you’re going through.”

  Jason let go of my hand and shoved his in his pocket. “Listen, I know this isn’t a phase. Violet even knows it’s not a phase. I’m sure she’s been nagging you about this as much, or even more, than she’s been bothering me. After the kiss, I thought about what I really wanted and it wasn’t Janice. To be honest, it hasn’t been Janice for a while.”

  I stared at him. This was what I wanted to hear the other day. I wanted him to tell me all these things but something was stopping me. I didn’t have a label to put on it just yet, but it didn’t feel right. Something about this seemed off. Maybe it was too late. I did have feelings for Kingsley.

  “Jason…”

  “Look, it took me some time to sort all of this out for myself. I want you to be happy, and if he is what makes you happy, then that’s fine. But my feelings for you aren’t just going away. I’ll be here when you realize we were made for each other. I don’t even care how long it takes.”

  I thought about Christie’s conversation earlier and my heart started to race. I didn’t want a soul mate just yet. It was all becoming too muc
h.

  “Jason, I can’t do this right now.” I started to walk away, attempting to control my body from shaking. Why was it when the girls in movies got the dramatic declaration they always seem so happy? What about the day after the declaration? And the day after that? What happened when Jason realized I wasn’t Janice? I’d lose one of my best friends. If Violet sided with him, I’d lose her too. No, I couldn’t do it.

  Jason grabbed my arm before I could make it out of the cafeteria.

  “What, Jason?” I asked him, completely deflated.

  “You forgot your food.” He handed me the box and grazed my fingers in the process. I felt a surge of something flow through me and I looked up into his eyes.

  I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out.

  “Shhh,” he said, putting his finger to his lips. “You don’t need to speak just yet. Think it all over. I’ll be here if you change your mind. Will I see you tonight at the karaoke party?”

  “Uh, no. I told you, I’m going out with Kingsley tonight.” I looked down and shifted my weight, a little embarrassed.

  “Right, sorry. Well, have fun. You know you can call me if you ever need anything.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” I nodded and then headed back to my room.

  ***

  I didn’t know what to say about Jason. I could barely concentrate on my homework. Eventually, I gave up and went to take a shower and get ready to see Kingsley. I grabbed my shower stuff and then looked out the window to think about what I was going to wear. A small smile spread across my face. The smallest flakes of snow were beginning to fall. I always felt good about snow. It was like a sign that I made the right decision to stick with Kingsley. I was reminded of our winter festival date and all the gushy feelings I had that day came rushing back to me. Then I thought of the blindfold. I grabbed one of my darker scarves and tossed it into my bag. Maybe this would help to excite things.

  I got out of the shower and got ready. Kingsley texted me saying he was running a little late. I sat on the bed and tried to wait. Waiting was awful. I didn’t want to sit and have time to think. Before I could help it, I was making a list of Jason’s flaws and Kingsley’s flaws. I couldn’t figure out why I started with the flaws. It may have had something to do with the fact that their attributes were almost constantly on my mind. Kingsley was so tender whenever he touched me and it felt so good. But then again, Jason’s eyes had the ability to stop me in my tracks. Kingsley was spontaneous and always up for an adventure, while Jason was sturdy and reliable.