Gage’s eyes held hers. “Better take your time, Bro.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
How many times and how many ways had he pictured this playing out? A hundred? More? He loved how Jess’s hair hung loose to just below her shoulders, the way the lighting in the hallway gave her a warm, seductive glow. He loved how long her legs looked and the way her denim shorts rested low on her hips, baring a little midriff. Her ivory shirt draped just right over her breasts, and Gage couldn’t help but notice her nipples beneath the fabric. She wasn’t wearing a bra. The sight was enough to drive him out of his mind. But nothing sent him over the edge like the way Jess was looking at him.
Undress me, her eyes, not to mention two very attentive body parts, said. Like the way I want to undress you. Now.
And if that didn’t get him moving in all the right directions, nothing ever would. He closed in, pushing her against the wall with the length of his body, making sure she had no doubt of the effect she had on him. His mouth found hers and she greedily kissed him back, a soft groan escaping her mouth as her hands traveled across his abs and back. He reached down to cup her perfect ass in his hands, pulling her even more tightly to him.
Jess responded by pressing her breasts against him.
The girl was torture. And yet, he wanted to be sure, wanted her to be sure. Normally, he wouldn’t have cared, but Jess… Jess was different.
He kissed her ear, her neck. “Are you...”
Jess grinned up at him, then she wrapped her arms around his neck and lifted her legs gracefully around his waist, positioning herself against the front of his shorts.
“Shut up,” she said breathlessly. She kissed him harder, more intently, biting lightly at his bottom lip.
God, how he needed her. The feel of her against him was enough to make him want to groan out loud. He turned and carried her back into his room. Jess untangled herself from him, setting her feet down on the floor. Gage closed the door behind them as Jess tugged forcefully at the band of his shorts, pulling him to her once more.
She leaned into the wall as Gage pressed himself against her, harder than ever this time, kissing her and letting his hands travel down her shirt, reaching underneath it and up to her breasts. He took them in is hands, his thumbs brushing her hardened nipples.
Jess pushed him away, and he was about to complain until she tugged her shirt over her head, tossing it to the floor. He grinned, taking in the sight of her. She came to him again, running her hands through his hair, down his shoulders and arms, then slowly over his chest and abs before traveling further south. His heart thudded hard as first her lips and then her wet, warm tongue brushed his chest. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes as a low growl escaped him. Damn, the girl was on fire, and Gage was more than enjoying the heat.
He fumbled with the button on Jess’s shorts, and finally managed to unzip them. She helped him slide them over her hips and then stepped out of them, wearing nothing but pink cotton panties.
Gage walked her backward to the bed, his eyes holding hers as he pushed her onto it, then eased himself on top of her. Jess wrapped her long legs around him once more and arched her hips.
“I’ve been waiting for this, Jess.”
Jess smiled at the low rasp of his voice as he said her name. She wanted to spin him up, tease him as much as he’d teased her, not just now, but over the past week and even before, when thoughts of him had begun to invade her dreams.
His mouth was warm, delicious and kissably soft while the feel of his body against hers sent waves of heated desire through her midsection…and lower. The heat of his breath against her neck, the touch of his hands as he explored her body, was almost too much.
Jess had been daydreaming of this, but never had she expected it to feel as good as it did at this very moment. And oh, God, if she thought Gage could do wonders with his hands, his mouth and tongue were even better. She reached down to his shorts, sliding them over his hips, taking in the sight of him. Was there anything about him that wasn’t sexy as hell? Suddenly, she didn’t want to tease anymore, didn’t want him teasing her, either. Yet, that’s what he did as he tossed his shorts from the bed and positioned himself between her legs, pressing hard against her panties as he went back to kissing her. She struggled against him, thinking that he was going to make her beg. He kissed her throat, her chest, her stomach as he slid off her underwear.
Omigod! He’s amazing!
“Gage...”
He looked at her and he was wearing that damned cocky grin of his. Then her breath caught as his eyes held hers and the grin faded from his face.
In that moment, nothing else mattered. Not the house, the ghosts, the experiment. Just his groan of pleasure as he entered her for the first time.
Telling Bryan they’d needed more time had been a good move. Jess couldn’t help but stare into Gage’s eyes, hoping this night would never end. After their first frenzied rush, Gage had made sure to take things more slowly the second time, his touches soft and tender, fueling her need for him and sending chills along her skin at the same time. Nothing could have been sweeter, more passionate.
And oh! What moves the boy had.
He paused, pushing up off her a little. His eyes were closed and jaw set as he attempted to adjust his breathing. The feel of him inside her and the small beads of sweat on his skin only ignited her further. She wrapped her hands around his hips, urging him on until they were both over the edge in ecstasy.
He kissed the tip of her nose before rolling off her. He might not be long-term boyfriend material, but Gage was a god in his own right, and certainly in Jess’s mind.
After a few minutes, he tucked an arm under her and stared into her eyes. “So, we live about an hour and a half away from each other. That’s not so bad.” That devastating grin that turned her inside out spread slowly over his face again. “That is, if you ever needed anything.”
Jess laughed and gave him a playful shove. Gage not only knew the right moves, he knew the right words. That was a dangerous combination. Too dangerous, actually. She’d dated his type before. The after burn had turned her off from dating for a while. Still, her hand rested against his chest, wishing that there might be a time when all this was done and she could make such a call.
“Careful,” he said, still grinning, gorgeous hazel eyes flashing. “Bryan’s due back any minute.”
“You’re incorrigible,” Jess said, grinning back. She ran a finger along his abs. The house wasn’t the only thing around here that was addictive. “Yeah, I’d like us to stay in touch.”
“You know it’s inevitable.”
Jess laughed. “What’s inevitable?”
“Me,” he said simply. “I’m going to win your heart yet.”
“Uh-huh, right.” There was no way she was going to let him know that, in part, he already had.
He kissed her softly. When they broke apart, he brushed back a strand of her hair. There was tenderness in his eyes at first, and Jess thought she just might get lost in them. But Gage being Gage, that grin crept back and tenderness was replaced with mischief. And that she could always get lost in.
“We still have a couple of weeks.” He kissed a trail down her neck to her breasts.
Oh yeah, Jess thought. This experiment had just gotten a lot better.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Jess crept back into her room just before one o’clock. She’d expected Mrs. Hirsch to be standing outside Gage’s room, or at the very least, to catch her on her way back to her own, but she must have been elsewhere. It was odd not to have run into her, but Jess wasn’t complaining.
Allison was still awake, still reading her book.
“If we go to sleep now, we can still get a couple hours,” Jess said as she exchanged her shirt and shorts for a sleep shirt.
Allison looked at the clock and yawned. “Yeah, I suppose. Did you run into Mrs. Hirsch?”
“Never saw her. Found Bryan in the kitchen, though.” She didn’t mention the part a
bout Gage.
Allison frowned. “That’s weird she didn’t run into you guys. She’s been by here a few times. I can hear the floorboards creak in the hallway. For a while, she was up and down it so much I thought she was looking for you in one of the rooms again. I almost checked.”
Jess crawled into bed and fluffed her pillow. “Nope. She never found me.” Before Allison could ask why Mrs. Hirsch hadn’t found her, Jess turned out the light and rolled over. “Sleep quickly,” she said.
“Maybe it wasn’t her, then.”
“What?”
“Maybe it was one of them.”
Jess turned back over. “Them? You mean the girls?”
“No, it was only one set of footsteps and too heavy for a couple of girls.” Allison adjusted her own pillow. “Anyway, they’re gone now. See you in a couple of hours.”
Great. Even when Allison wasn’t really trying to creep her out, she was creeping her out. Jess looked at the dresser where a large bath towel covered the mirror.
Don’t think about it. Gage’s mirror was covered, too.
Jess lay on her side, listening to the sound of crickets and bullfrogs, which were in full chorus, and trying not to think about any of the other sounds that might be one of the resident ghosts. Or Riley. What if he found a way out of the mirrors like Allison said?
What if he hadn’t needed them all along?
Stop thinking about it. You’ll never get any sleep.
But exhaustion and thoughts of Gage won out and Jess drifted into perfect, dreamless sleep.
Until she felt a cold hand on her arm. She jerked, wondering if it was three o’clock already and Allison was shaking her awake. Sensing someone standing beside the bed, she bolted upright. The twins. They’d startled her so badly she couldn’t even scream. God she hated when ghosts snuck up on her. They were like cats, mostly quiet and stealthy.
“Shhh!” Gracie whispered. “We don’t have long.”
Jess tried to collect her thoughts. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest. She looked at the nightstand clock. Two thirty. “What are you doing here? What’s wrong?”
“We want to show you something.” Emma stuck out her hand as though she expected Jess to take it.
Jess glanced over at Allison, who was still asleep.
“I don’t think—”
“It’s important!” Gracie whispered. Her face wrinkled in concern “Please, Jess. Please!”
Reluctantly, Jess got out of bed and threw on her shorts under her sleep tee. She reached out to take Emma’s hand in hers, knowing very well that it’d slip through her grasp.
But it didn’t. Not entirely. While she couldn’t say that she was holding Emma’s hand, Emma’s hand was definitely holding onto Jess’s. There wasn’t the feeling of Emma’s skin on hers, just a cold something in her palm. Allison’s warning that the house and its occupants were getting stronger was an understatement.
Emma smiled up at her, and Jess tried not to show her nervousness. She’d never been able to touch a ghost before, and one had never touched her—not even Grams. Jess had thought about it, and often wondered what it’d be like. It was like touching death itself.
Emma tugged at her, sending biting cold into her hand. What would Allison think when she found Jess already gone? She allowed Emma to lead her out of the room as they followed Gracie down the hall. The girls walked ahead, going down the stairs and vanishing through the front door. Jess held her breath, then unlocked the door and opened it slowly, hoping it wouldn’t creak.
Stepping out into the night, she closed the door carefully behind her. The girls stood waiting, the moonlight shining through them. Their expressions were pinched, as though worried. Despite the warm air, Jess shivered.
Gracie turned and walked down the steps and her sister followed. Jess followed, too. “Where are we going?” she asked.
“You have to see,” Gracie replied without stopping.
Jess quickened her step. She wondered if Bryan and Gage were already out here and something had happened. “Wait! See what?”
“What he did,” Emma replied, her tone sullen.
“What who did?”
“Don’t worry, it’s none of your friends,” Gracie called back to her. Her words might have reassured her if Jess didn’t hear such sadness in them. Why would they want to show her something that clearly upset them so much?
Jess followed them across the moonlit lawn to the rear of the house, toward the little fenced-off cemetery where Gracie and Emma were buried. Jess expected them to stop there, but the girls walked past it, straight to the edge of the woods. There, they stopped and turned to face Jess.
“Why are we out here?” Jess asked.
The girls exchanged expressionless glances. “We told you,” they said in unison. “To see.”
Jess looked around. There wasn’t anyone else out here. Everything looked just as it had in the daylight—quiet and undisturbed. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You will,” Emma said.
“In there,” Gracie added. She pointed to the dense line of trees bordering the back lawn.
“In there?” Surely the girls didn’t wake her in the middle of the night to go wandering off into the woods.
The girls nodded.
Jess eyed them cautiously. She didn’t like the idea at all. “Girls? What happened in there?” It was almost a rhetorical question because Jess felt certain she knew exactly what had happened. Riley had killed them.
“We died in there,” Emma said, confirming Jess’s suspicions.
Jess glanced at the woods. It seemed even darker now, like it could swallow her whole if she stepped inside. “Well, then, it doesn’t sound like a good idea for me to go there.”
“You have to see what happened,” Emma said. “We’ll be with you, Jess. Please?”
“Don’t worry.” Gracie placed her hand in Jess’s, sending another shiver up her arm.
“You said you’d help us. We just need to show you what happened,” Emma pleaded.
“When you see, you’ll understand,” Gracie pressed. “We can’t be at peace until you see what needs to be done. We’ve been separate all these years. He separated us.”
Separated?
Jess looked into Emma’s pleading eyes. Trust them? Or turn and run? The others would be out here soon and wonder where she was. On the other hand, if the girls could revisit the place they’d died, revisit what horror had fallen on them, then Jess could try to find her strength and go with them. Maybe the act of finally showing someone what had happened would bring them peace. Maybe it’d be a step in helping to send them on, freeing them of Riley and Siler House.
She had no idea if this was true or not, but maybe all the girls needed was for someone to understand the horror of what had been done to them—why their lives had been taken at such a young age. She’d never crossed over a ghost before. But, she’d read and heard of stories where ghosts just needed a form of closure before they let go of the past. Siler House had sat empty for so long that the girls had no one to tell.
Until now.
They continued to wait patiently. Emma’s lips were pursed together, her forehead wrinkled with worry in anticipation of Jess’s answer. “Please, Jess. Please. We can’t truly be together until you see.”
Standing on the edge of the woods was like standing on the edge of another world. Trees stood like some spectral army against a backdrop of black. Stepping inside meant wearing the darkness like a cloak. It would envelope her, making her invisible to Gage and the others who expected to find her on the back lawn.
Turn back.
Emma took Jess’s hand into both of hers and tugged.
“How far?” Jess asked.
“Not far. You’ll be back before Allison and the others come looking for you,” Gracie said.
“Okay,” Jess said, not feeling that it was okay at all.
The girls smiled and led Jess into the woods.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
True to the
ir word, the girls hadn’t ventured too far into the woods before coming to a complete stop. The bright moon shone through the treetops, allowing Jess better visibility.
“Is this where you died?” Jess asked, unable to keep the slight tremor from her voice. There wasn’t anything unusual about the area they’d stopped in. Just a bunch of trees with woodland debris at their bases.
The girls exchanged another glance.
“This is where it happened,” Gracie said. “Are you ready to see?”
Jess didn’t answer. Her heart raced and her mouth had gone dry. She wasn’t ready, but what could she say?
“You have to touch the earth,” Emma explained. “You have to touch the spot where it happened. You’ll see it then.”
“And you’ll see it when.” Gracie added.
Jess shook her head. “I don’t think that’s all it takes.” Her reply was more of an excuse to turn around and go back than anything else. She wondered what might be underneath the decaying leaves. Crawly bugs, snakes and the like were the least of her worries.
“But it is enough,” Gracie’s form flickered in the moonlight. “For you.” As Emma let go of Jess, the cold chill slid up from her hand to her entire body, freezing her into place.
“You’ve always been able to see things, Jess. See us. Ghosts. But you don’t know how to channel it. Yet. Touching the area our bodies were in will help. You’ll be closer to us and you’ll see through to the other side,” Gracie explained. “You’ll be able to see things in our world.”
Emma nodded. “It’s what you’d call the veil.”
Jess frowned, but the girls’ expressions remained emotionless. What if by helping the girls, Jess could make it easier to find her father on the other side?
Be careful what you let in, Jess.
But this wasn’t a portal or some veil. She wasn’t letting something or someone else in. She was just looking through it to some other side.
The Haunting Season Page 17