It was brilliant, the kind thing I would have suggested if my life wasn’t so effed up. “That sounds good.”
“So can we hitch a ride to Drew’s party?”
“We?”
“Naya, Sondra, and me. Naya’s brother was going to give us his Jeep, but he and his friends went to Portland after school and won’t be back until later tonight. He’ll give us a ride home afterwards. We just need a ride there.”
I shrugged. “Okay. Where do I pick you up?”
She laughed. “My house.”
“The address, Kicker?” I asked when she started to walk away. She always forgot I couldn’t “remember” some of these mundane things.
After practice, the entire swim team piled up in their cars and drove to Kayville Medical Center. Even Doc, our coach, came with us. The nurses didn’t seem surprised to see us. Our team had a reputation for keeping vigils at the hospital.
Raine’s expression made my calling the three girls bitches worthwhile. She fought tears and mouthed, “Thank you.”
Her mother was more vocal. While she voiced her thanks and told us how wonderful and supportive we were, I pulled Raine aside.
“Did you do this?” she whispered as we hugged.
“No. Kicker, Naya, and Sondra came up with it. It’s their way of apologizing for the way they treated you after the accident. Dubbing you a witch was stupid. Defacing your locker was unforgiveable.”
“You know about that?” Raine asked, eyes wary.
“Yep. Kicker told me.”
“Then she called us bitches for not sticking by you,” Kicker said, having moved closer to us without me being aware.
Raine laughed, glanced at me, and cocked her eyebrows. “You did not.”
I shrugged.
“I’ve missed your craziness, Cora.” She hugged me again.
“Me too. Missed my crazy side, that is. How’s your dad doing?”
“Didn’t you hear what her mother said?” Kicker said, butting in again. “He came out of the coma this afternoon.”
It was another hour before we left the hospital. I noticed a few more ghosts than usual. Once again, I found myself going over what had happened the last time I saw Echo as I drove along Orchard Grove. As if I couldn’t help myself, I tried to remove the runes on my parents’ truck again, even used my nails. Why had Echo drawn them? Assuming he was the one who had done it.
“You’re still trying to find a dent on that old thing?” Mom called out. She was walking toward me from the barn.
I smiled and waited for her.
“Your father has come up with a new theory. It was an air pocket shot by a high-velocity air shooter that caused the accident. The air flattened the vines and yanked the trees from the ground. He plans to test his theory with a modified leaf blower.”
“So who created the high-velocity air thingamajigger?” I asked.
“The military of course.” She shook her head. “That imagination of his never ceases to amaze me.”
“Or his fans,” I said.
Mom chuckled and looped an arm through mine. She was carrying a basket of eggs on her other arm. “How was practice?”
“Good. The team decided to stop by the hospital after practice to visit Raine’s dad and be there for her. We found out her father came out of the coma this afternoon.”
“That’s wonderful. I know Svana will be relieved.”
“Will she?” I asked before I could stop myself and cringed when Mom stopped and studied me with narrowed eyes.
“You don’t think she’s grieving?” she asked.
I shrugged. “She’s always so upbeat, and that didn’t change when he was missing or when we saw her at the hospital.”
“Oh, honey.” She palmed my face. “There are so many faces of grief. Svana Cooper is the most amazing woman I know. She knows she must stay strong for Raine. That’s what parents do. If she cried or doubted he was alive when his plane crashed, she did it privately. Anyway, I’m happy the team went to support Raine. That’s one thing I’ve always liked about your swim team.”
“Good, because a bunch of us have been invited to a party tonight. Can I go?”
She pushed open the door and walked ahead of me. “I guess if you’re going to parties things are back to normal.”
“So I can go?”
She pressed her lips to my temple in a gentle kiss. “When does it start?”
“Seven, but I’m picking up a bunch of girls who are driverless.”
“Who is driverless?” Dad asked, coming downstairs.
“Swim friends going to a party,” Mom said. “Be home by twelve.”
“Mom,” I protested.
“Ease back into your social life, muffin,” Dad said. “We don’t want you doing too much too soon. Twelve is reasonable. Unless you prefer eleven-fifty-nine… forty-five…”
“Hardy har har,” I said and punched his arm as I passed him at the foot of the stairs.
“Make sure you eat something before you leave,” Mom called after me.
She said the same thing every time before I left for a party, even though I never ate anything. Excitement and nervous energy tended to mess my appetite. I hoped Raine would be there. I hadn’t dared to ask her anything when we were at the hospital, but Torin was the QB. No team party happened without the quarterback.
I didn’t expect Echo to be in my room, yet I felt his presence the moment I opened the door. His intoxicating, masculine scent was unmistakable. My heart pounding, I looked around.
The room was empty.
Damn it. I missed him.
My dresser was exactly the way I’d left it this morning, a total mess, but my bed looked rumpled and there was an indentation on my pillow. He’d lain on my bed. Then I saw the glove. Right there in the middle of the bed. Had he left it behind or forgotten it?
Anger surged through me. “Stay in Hel, Echo.”
I marched to the bed, grabbed his glove, plumped my pillow, and straightened my bed. I was not playing his stupid games anymore, and I had a party to go to, where there were going to be normal guys.
In the bathroom, I threw the glove in garbage, stripped, and got in the shower.
An hour later, my nails and my hair were done. I stepped from under the hair dryer and removed the curlers. I had lost weight while at PMI, so most of my favorite pants were a little loose. I decided on a mid-thigh stretchy skirt. The top was just the right length and displayed my cleavage to the max. I studied my reflection then sat in front of my dresser to apply makeup and brush my hair.
Happy with the results, I slipped on ankle boots, grabbed a jacket, and left the room. Two steps and I whipped around, went back to the bathroom, and fished Echo’s glove from the garbage. On a whim, I slipped it on.
It was made of soft leather and hugged my hand. Smiling, I headed downstairs.
***
I drove slower than usual on Orchard Grove, but nothing weird happened. Kicker lived on the other end of the town. I noticed a few souls wandering around. As usual, they stopped whatever they were doing and stared after me. Seriously, I didn’t understand their attraction to me. I now carried a fire poker in my car, just in case I had to disperse a few.
Naya and Sondra were at Kicker’s when I arrived. They must not have gone to their homes after swim practice. Worse, they weren’t ready. Their level of excitement surprised me. Being invited to Drew’s party was a shortcut up the social ladder, where jocks and cheerleaders reigned supreme.
“You look amazing,” Kicker said. She pointed at Echo’s glove. “I love that. Where did you get it?”
I didn’t get a chance to respond.
“How do you make your hair look like that?” Naya asked.
“Curlers.” I just wanted us to leave, but they needed help with their makeup. And their hair. Naya’s hair was naturally curly, but she’d blow-dried it. I knew the kind of girls who attended Drew’s parties. Catty with each other, but downright cruel to girls they believed were socially beneath them.
“I can finish applying yours if you like,” I offered, picking up the makeup case on the dresser.
Kicker glanced at the other two and giggled. “I was done, but if you can make me look like her,” she grabbed a magazine and showed me a picture of an actress with her coloring and hair color, “I will love you forever.”
Forever. Echo had jokingly asked me to be his forever. Annoyed that I was thinking of him I again, I ground my teeth and answered Kicker. “Okay.”
She sat and tilted her head back. I studied her face.
“FYI, you are more beautiful than Jen,” I said, inclining my head toward the magazine.
Kicker grinned. I gave her pointers as I applied the makeup. When I finished, Naya and Sondra wanted theirs redone, too. I ended up curling their hair with a hot iron. I hated hot irons and the damage they did to hair. I mentioned that and explained how I always used curlers and a hooded dryer. From their expressions, I might have just converted them.
While they dressed, I texted Raine. “Are you going to Drew’s party?”
“Wanted to, but don’t feel up to it,” Raine texted back. “Torin will stop by. Have fun.”
“When is your dad coming home?”
“Tomorrow. We’re turning the den into his bedroom.”
“Need help? I might need a place to go if the party blows.”
“Drew’s parties never do, but feel free to stop by. I’ll be home. Got Torin and Andris doing the heavy lifting right now. I heard you and Andris hit it off.”
“He’s an ass.”
Instead of a text response, my phone went off. I brought to my ear. “Hey.”
“I was laughing so hard the guys wanted to know who I was texting,” Raine said. “Andris says hi.”
“He’s still an ass.”
“I know. Where are you?”
“At Kicker’s. They… she, Naya, and Sondra are getting ready.” I looked up to find the girls watching me. “Just a sec.” I cocked my brow at Kicker.
“We’re ready,” she said.
“Oh, good.” I got up and started out of the room, the phone back on my ear. I wish Raine were with me. She, Eirik, and I often did things together. “Can I ask you something?”
“Shoot,” Raine said.
“Have you heard from Eirik since his family moved?”
There was silence on the line.
I unlocked my car and slid behind the wheel. Still no response. “Raine?”
“A few times.”
She sounded funny. “Where is he?”
“He, uh, moved up north,” she said vaguely.
“North where? Seattle? Canada?”
She laughed. “I wish. Listen, Cora. Eirik is coming back. He said he’ll explain everything when he does.”
I frowned. “Explain what?”
“Why his family left. You were all he could think about before he left.”
I laughed. “He had a funny way of showing it. One, he left without saying goodbye. Two, he didn’t visit me—” I stopped when I remembered I wasn’t alone and there was just so much I could reveal to anyone. “Forget about him. I mean, we were just friends. You were the one dating him.”
“Biggest mistake. He was crazy about you,” Raine said.
“Sure he was. I gotta go.”
“Cora,” she said.
“Seriously, let’s never discuss him.” Thinking about him still hurt. Getting pissed with myself, I turned the key and pulled out of Kicker’s driveway.
“Eirik never said goodbye?” Naya asked.
“Naya! Remember what I told you?” Kicker asked.
Naya frowned, then her mouth formed an O. “Oh, yeah. The concussion!”
“You and Eirik did everything together, Cora,” Kicker said.
“We did?” I asked.
“You’d come to the pool to watch him swim and leave together before you decided to rejoin the team. We thought you rejoined because of him. At least that’s what we concluded.” She turned and glanced back at the other two. “Right?”
How had I juggled three boyfriends—Eirik, Drew, and Echo? I must have been the most unfeeling astral projection in the world. I kept my mouth shut for the rest of the drive.
The driveway to the Cavanaugh’s home was lined with cars, the clunky pickups from kids from across the railway track and the expensive foreign models favored by his closest friends—sons and daughters of vineyard owners and other upper elite Kayvillians. The place was packed, and people were still arriving. The party was on the pool deck, and people were dancing to the music blaring from speakers on the large wooden porch. The benefit of living in a huge vineyard was no angry neighbors ordering you to lower the volume. Drew’s parents were often out of town at wine shows, and his sister never seemed to be around whenever Drew threw a party.
Some people sat around on pool chairs and lounges while others played in the swimming pool, but majority stood around the wide porch in groups, talking or swaying to music while sipping fruit punch. Knowing Drew, the punch was mixed with some of his family’s favorite brews.
“Cora!” he called out.
I waved. He was holding court away from the dancers on the right end of the pool. He gave me a once over and grinned with appreciation. Most of the people around him were jocks, cheerleaders, or members of the drill team. My vlog had given me a free pass into their inner circle, even though I wasn’t really “one of them”.
Fulton, a blond wide receiver who could pass for a surfer dude, jumped up and offered me the lounge next to Drew.
“Thanks, Fulton.”
“Want something to drink?” he asked, his eyes on my cleavage.
“Sure.” As he took off, my eyes met Leigh Haggerty’s. Her fake smile didn’t fool me. She’d been after Drew for, like, forever. She was seated on a deck chair behind him, stroking his hair. He didn’t seem to mind. Another girl, Pia Gunter, sat on the lounge on his other side, scratching the skin under his cast with a cast scratcher. She was in my English class and was a total airhead.
“Did you bring them?” Leigh asked, nodding at Kicker and the other girls. I almost laughed at the annoyance in her voice. The swimmers were talking to some jocks and were, therefore, considered a threat.
“Yes. Why?” I cocked my eyebrows, daring her to say something mean about my teammates.
“They shouldn’t be flirting with Rand. He is Kenzie’s boyfriend,” Leigh said.
“Hmm, maybe Rand shouldn’t flirt with them since he’s the one with a girlfriend,” I said. Guys were so easy. Fix your hair a bit, slap on makeup, and they acted like they’d never seen you before.
“I’ve never seen them before,” Pia said with a bored air.
She never noticed anyone who wasn’t in her circle of friends. This party was going to get boring fast. I glanced at Drew and found him studying me. He smiled. I smiled back. One hour, then I was leaving.
“Is Torin coming tonight?” someone asked, and just like that, the conversation switched to tomorrow’s game and the Skyhawks—because it was a football party.
“I recorded their last three games,” Drew said. “It’s on DVR, so if you guys want to watch…” There was mass exodus of most players from around us and the ones in the pool followed. A few clingy girlfriends went with them.
I sipped my drink and nibbled on a slice of pizza. The music was loud, the drinks and food plenty. This was what I needed. Normalcy. Hanging out with people my age. Indulging in a little underage drinking. No more thoughts about Echo or Eirik, souls or reapers. I didn’t even care that a few gate crashed the party and kept staring at me. I wasn’t dealing with souls or the supernatural world. Tonight, I was just a teenager trying to have fun.
Drew’s arm came to rest on the top of my lounge, and he gently stroked my shoulder. His touch was pleasant. There was no zing or the urgent need to touch him back. No charged moment when our eyes met. He was a handsome guy, and I might even let him kiss me again tonight.
&nbs
p; I was laughing at something someone said when there was a reduction in the noise level. The people on the porch seemed to lose interest in dancing. The ones in the pool stared and whispered. A sliver of awareness scuttled under my skin.
Echo. Somehow, I knew it was him before I turned.
“Who is that?” Leigh asked with awe.
He stood at the entrance of the back door, hands in the front pockets of his pants, his piercing eyes scanning the crowd. I could feel his impatience. He didn’t return smiles or nods.
He found me, and a lazy grin lifted one corner of his lips. My heartbeat shot up, a mixture of excitement and anticipation shooting through me. His wolf eyes held me captive, his bone-melting smile making my insides gooey. He started forward, his walk lazy.
“He’s coming this way,” Pia whispered excitedly.
He looked amazing. His duster was unbuttoned and revealed jeans and a gray T-shirt. It was the first time I’d ever seen him dress so casually, and he looked hot. The pants hugged his powerful thighs, and his shirt hinted at the masculine body underneath it. I wanted to yank off the duster and feast on him. Stand up, run to him, and touch his face. His shaggy hair had that messy look he pulled off so seamlessly, and he’d shaved. Another first. No guy at the party could touch him on hotness.
“Who is he?” one of the girls asked.
Every mother’s worst nightmare.
Ignoring everyone, he offered me his hand. The left one with the other glove. “Dance with me, doll-face.”
My anger with him for disappearing melted away. One second I was on the lounge; the next I was walking beside him, my gloved right hand in his. Since when had I become this easy? Probably since I’d met the gorgeous reaper.
Echo slipped an arm around my waist and pulled me close. I trembled when the full length of his hard body pressed against mine. He interlaced our fingers, his eyes not leaving mine.
“I’m happy you wore the glove tonight,” he whispered in a husky voice.
“You knew about the party?”
“Yes. Did you miss me?”
I had. “No. Where have you been?”
“I missed you, too.” He pressed his cheek against mine.
He was warm, which either meant he hadn’t come from Hel or someone had warmed him. I hated the feeling that washed over me. Jealousy was ugly. I refused to let it consume me the way it had when Raine was dating Eirik.
Runes #03 - Grimnirs Page 10