Ghostly (Darkly Devoted Book 1)

by Brooke Kennedy

  “I don’t believe in ghosts! They aren’t real!” I backed away from him until I bumped into my desk. It had worked once before; it had to do it again. “I don’t know who you are!”

  As the sobs finally erupted from my body, the room fell silent. My heart felt like it was ripped from my chest. I jerked the necklace off me and threw it across the room. Pain and sadness hit me as I fell to the floor and wept.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  I sat up, suddenly awake, alone in my bed. My heart ached as I reached out for Cade but found nothing. My eyes searched for him in the large empty space, but he wasn’t there.

  I lay back down and pulled the covers up to my chin. It was cold in my room, something that wasn’t unusual, but the reason for it was gone. I was by myself. As the loneliness came over me, I trembled, and the tears reemerged. I knew things would never work out with him. I knew better than to let Cade claim my heart like it was his own. But he had protected me and saved me. He’d been misunderstood and stuck in the house as a ghost. Or at least that’s what he made me believe. I wasn’t sure what to believe anymore.

  I dragged the covers over my head and cried. Cried for the shitty situation I was in. I cried for myself and my feelings. I cried for Cade, for the horrible life he’d led before me. I cried for making him leave and not knowing how to bring him back. I feared that maybe I could never bring him back.

  I heard my door creak open, but I didn’t care. I let the tears continued to roll down my face as I buried my head in the pillow. I didn’t care what happened to me. Let them kill me. Let them torture me. A small voice pulled me from my sorrow.

  “Sissy?”

  Dillon.

  I tried to pull myself together, wiping at my eyes and trying to dry my tears, but it was no use. They kept pouring down my face. I didn’t want him to see me like that. I had to pull myself together, so I could be there for him.

  “Sissy?” he asked again.

  I felt the weight of him crawling up onto the bed and sitting down beside me.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I don’t know sweetie,” I managed to say between sniffles.

  “Cade’s been in my room. He’s crying.”

  My heart lurched forward and pain shot through my chest. I couldn’t breathe. The air wouldn’t come.

  “He’s really sad.”

  “I’m sorry, Dillon.”

  “He won’t stop. I think something is really wrong with him.” He pulled the covers down from my face. “Why are you crying too? Did you fight?”

  He brushed my messy hair out of my face and smiled down at me. His blue eyes were worried, a look of someone much older staring down at me, concern etched in them.

  With a few deep breaths, I forced myself to calm down. Inside I still panicked, but it didn’t show on my face. I was able to sit up and pull him to me. “Everything’s going to be okay, Dillon. I promise.”

  “You should talk to him.”

  “I can’t, sweetie.”

  “But you should; you always make me feel better.”

  I shook my head. “Dillon, just close your eyes and pretend you don’t believe in him. He can go cry somewhere else so you can play.”

  “But I don’t want him to go away.”

  “Me either, honey, me either.”

  “So, we are going to have ourselves a movie night!” I picked Dillon up and twirled him around with a forced excitement.

  “Yay!” he shouted and smiled down at me with those big eyes.

  “What do you want to watch?”

  He put his little finger up to his lips, considering his options and making me smile. He was so silly. “Peter Pan!”

  “Okay, what else?”

  “Uuum….Iron Man!”

  “Alright, both good choices, little man.” I put him back on the floor and leaned down to meet him face to face. “I’m going to get us some popcorn okay? I will be right back.”

  “Okay, Sissy.”

  I smiled and ruffled his hair before going into the kitchen. I popped the bag into the microwave and leaned back against the counter. The fake smile dropped from my face. I didn’t have to fake it alone.

  Alone at last. My brother had barely left my side all day. I’d promised him a movie night if he would give me some privacy. He pulled his toys into my room and played quietly in the floor.

  The one person I wanted to see, I hadn’t seen. I whispered his name in the darkness of the basement, but he never showed. I was scared I’d done something permanent, something irreversible. He had mentioned ghosts fading, and I was afraid I had forced him into that state.

  Things seemed different without him around. Empty. Silent. I missed him, even though I didn’t want to. I wasn’t sure I could ever truly forgive him, but if I couldn’t find him to talk about what happened I would never know.

  “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it,” I mumbled to myself, pulling the popcorn out of the microwave and opening it. I poured it into a big bowl and added some extra butter.

  “Family movie night?” Cade’s voice rang out in the small space.

  I froze at the sound of his voice. Relief flew through me. He wasn’t gone for good. My breath caught in my throat when I turned around and my eyes found him. He leaned against the island in the center of the kitchen, carefree and sexy.

  “Yeah.”

  His eyes ran over my body hungrily, making me blush and turn back to my bowl. That would be what he thought about when he reappeared. I picked it up and twirled back around. Cade was right there in front of me, and I almost ran him over.

  “Shit!” I yelped, almost dropping the contents of my hand.

  “Watch out, killer.” He laughed.

  “I have a date with a precious little boy. I can’t talk right now.”

  “Think I could crash it?”

  I couldn’t tell him no; it was almost impossible to even think straight when he ran a soft finger down my cheek. I closed my eyes and relished in the feel of him close to me. I felt complete again, like a magnet pulled me closer to him as if he was the missing puzzle piece in my life.

  “Sure, Cade. We do need to talk okay?”

  “Great!” He reached out to touch my neck. “Where’s your necklace?”

  My eyes dropped. “I kinda threw it across the room last night.”

  “You have to wear that, Briar. It’s the only way I know to keep you safe. I will go get it, and a few other things that I need. I will be right back.” He disappeared, ignoring the part where I said we needed to talk. It was important that we did, but he was gone, vanishing into thin air and pretending that nothing had ever happened.

  I’m never going to get used to that.

  I retrieved two bottles of water out of the refrigerator and skipped into the living room. My excitement quickly faded into fear as I took in the scene before me. A tall man I’d never seen before stood in the living room. He held my little brother by the hair. Tears streamed down Dillon’s face.

  “Sissy!” He held his small arms out toward me.

  The man jerked him back by his hair.

  “Please don’t hurt him,” I begged and dropped the bowl in my hands. It hit the floor with a slap and the popcorn flew throughout the room. The water bottles bounced away from me and rolled into unknown corners of the room. I put up my hands in front of me. “I will give you anything you need. Please, just let him go.”

  The man cocked his head to the side and ran his gaze down my body. He smiled. “I think we could arrange something.”

  He took a few steps towards me and drug Dillon with him. My brother screamed in pain.

  “I will do anything you want, just let him go.”

  The man laughed and let go of Dillon. His small form ran to me and wrapped himself around my leg. He cried into my shorts. I moved a hand down to cover his eyes while I scowled at the man in front of me.

  “What do you want with us?”

  The man laughed again. I backed away from him and wished my dad would get home from work ea
rly. I wished Cade would show up and save me like he’d always promised he would.

  He reached into the pocket of his brown trench coat and retrieved a gun, flipping the hammer back and pointing it towards me. “You will do as I say, or I will kill you both.”

  Fear gripped me. I didn’t want him to hurt Dillon. Flashbacks to the school shooting echoed in my mind, and I pushed them back. “This is between you and me. This has nothing to do with him okay?”

  “He can leave if you stay willingly.”

  I nodded and bent down to look at my brother in the face. “Dillon. I need you to go to your room okay?”

  He reached up a small hand to wipe the tears streaming from my eyes. “Sissy, please don’t cry. I don’t want to go.”

  “You will!” the stranger boomed.

  I jerked Dillon to me as my eyes slammed close. When no bullets few through the room, I pulled back and looked at my brother.

  “Just go, okay? I love you Dillon, please remember that.”

  He shook his head and buried his face in my shoulder. “No, Sissy. No. Cade will save us.”

  “I hope so, sweetie.” I ran my hand through his hair and planted a kiss on his head. I pulled him off me as I stood up. “Go on.”

  The tears continued to run down his precious face, burning the image of his fear into my brain. He turned away from me and ran down the hallway.

  My throat ran dry as I turned to face the man. “What do you want?”

  “First, I’m going to have my way with you. Then, I’m going to kill you and your pathetic excuse for a brother. When your dad gets home I will kill him too. Maybe I will make you watch.”

  “Why are you doing this?” I asked.

  “Because this house wants you, and the house gets what the house wants.” He raised the gun to my face.

  “Please. I can give you anything you want. Just don’t hurt my brother.”

  He took a few steps toward me and grabbed me before pressing the hard metal of the gun into my stomach. “There’s no bargaining with this, little girl. You’re ours now. You and your power.”

  He ran a finger down the side of my face. I winced and tried to pull away from him. He held onto me tightly, and I couldn’t budge.

  With every ounce of strength I had, I screamed, “Cade!”

  As my voice reverberated off the walls, the stranger slammed his hand over my mouth to silence me. Tears rushed down my face. I couldn’t breathe with his nasty hand pressed against my mouth. I wanted him to stop. I wanted him to let me go, so I could tend to my brother.

  He ran his hand up my body and grabbed me by the root of the hair. I cried out in pain.

  Cade appeared behind him with a dozen purple roses in hand, confusion on his face. When he saw me, he dropped them to the ground, along with the necklace, and ran toward us.

  The man leaned in to whisper against my ear. “You’re ours, and your little boyfriend can’t save you now.”

  The sound of the gun going off was deafening. Pain ripped through me as I screamed. I had never felt such horrendous pain in my life.

  It fired a second time, then a third. My body went into shock and then became numb. He let go of me, and I had no choice but to fall to the ground. I gripped my stomach and felt the warmth under my fingertips as I doubled over. I looked up at the man and tried to form words, but liquid bubbled out of my mouth instead. It choked me.

  He laughed at me as he shoved the gun in his pocket.

  Cade grabbed the poker out of the roaring fireplace and stomped toward the man. Evil was written all over his face as he held the metal high.

  I shook my head, but it didn’t move much. The world began to spin in a blurry sequence in front of me. He’d never physically hurt anyone but himself, and I didn’t want him to do it now. Not over me. He’d worked too hard to fight off the insanity.

  Cade cried out as he ran the stranger through with the hard metal, the sharp end of it coming out of his throat as his eyes opened up in shock. He grabbed the man’s head and twisted it. The crunching of bones echoed through the room. The man fell to the floor, and Cade fell on top of him, pounding his face in a furry. His fist came back again and again as he screamed at the top of his lungs.

  I managed to muster up enough strength to whisper his name. “Cade…”

  His head snapped up and looked over at me. I saw understanding register in his face, intense fear replacing the anger. He crawled over to me just as I toppled over to the floor, but he caught me. Carefully he laid me down in his lap.

  “Briar, please don’t die on me, please.”

  He reached down to my stomach and put pressure on the open wound. “Shit. Shit. Shit!”

  I opened my mouth to try and give him words of encouragement as I saw the tears filling up his eyes. No matter how hard I tried, nothing would come out, only my labored breaths.

  I struggled to reach up and touch his face before I lost my energy. Everything was blurred. My vision threatened to leave me in darkness as my body grew limp.

  I felt Cade pull me to him and cradle my body. He rocked us back and forth. “It’s going to be okay, Briar, please just hold on. Don’t die, please.”

  “What the hell? Oh my God, Cade! Briar!” I heard my dad exclaim in the distance, followed by the slamming of a door.

  “Call the ambulance, hurry!” Cade screamed at him.

  “They are already on the way. Dillon called me.”

  “Hold on, Briar, please. Shit. Shit. Shit.” Cade laid his head on the top of mine.

  It felt like he was a million miles away, under water somewhere.

  “Where’s Dillon?” my father demanded.

  “He’s in his room. She saved him.” Cade gripped me tighter and ran his fingers through my hair.

  The room grew quiet as I heard my father’s footsteps running down the hall in the direction of my brother’s room.

  As long as he was okay.

  As long as he was alive.

  That’s what mattered most.

  “Briar!” Cade exclaimed. Tears soaked my hair as he rocked me back and forth. The sound of sirens echoed in the distance. “The ambulance is here, please hold on. You can’t be stuck here. What if you don’t stay? What if you disappear?”

  As the world spun again and started to fade to black, I knew there was one last thing I needed to say in case I didn’t make it. He needed to know and I’d never told him.

  “Cade, I love—” I tapped my fingers against his back, wanting it to be more of a grab, but failing as I dropped my hands down to the side. I lost control of my body; his voice continued to sound further and further away.

  “I know, I know, just rest please. Save your strength,” Cade begged.

  I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer.

  “No! Briar! No! Wake up! Breathe!”

  I heard the door slam open as I drifted off, closing my eyes and taking one final deep breath, the scent of Cade filling my nostrils as he called out, “She’s over here. Help, please!”

  He wouldn’t let me go. They fought him to get me, insisting that they could help, but he refused to let me go until I went limp in his arms. I could picture him in my head—fear on his face and tears streaming down his cheeks as he tried to help me fight. But I was so tired.

  Tired of fighting.

  Tired of holding on.

  Just so sleepy…

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  My eyes shot open to take in the darkness around me. Air rushed into my mouth as I tried to breathe. Cold air hastened painfully into my throat and burned my insides. It wasn’t right.

  I sat straight up and screamed. I couldn’t remember how I’d gotten there. My mind was foggy. My eyes had trouble focusing as I looked around. I could barely make out the hard, stone walls of the room.

  I was in the basement of the house, dark and damp. Fear gripped me as voices whispered to me in the darkness. They surrounded me.

  “Briar?” one of the voices whispered as a shadow appeared in the corner.


  I blinked several times and tried to make my eyes adjust to the dark.

  The figure approached me slowly. “Oh my God, Briar.”

  His dark eyes focused on me as he continued to step forward. Pink rimmed his eyes showed that he’d been crying furiously. He wore a gray shirt with a large dark stain on the front of it and jeans. He shoved his hands in his pockets as he stepped towards me, slowly, cautiously.

  Goosebumps took over my skin and I backed up, hitting the cold wall.

  “It’s okay.” His hands went up in a defense. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

  “What—what’s going on?”

  “You, uh, we um…damn it!” He ran both of his hands through his hair and knelt in front of me. When he looked back at me, tears filled up his eyes and spilled down his face. “I never wanted this to end this way, I’m so sorry, Briar. I’m just glad you’re here. I was so afraid I’d lost you.”

  I rubbed my eyes and tried to focus. “Cade.”

  “Yes.” He moved closer to me and straddled my waist. He ran his finger down my face, warm and soft against my skin. “Everything’s going to be okay. I love you.”

  I closed my eyes and let my body remember. The scent of him filled my nostrils and brought a thousand memories tumbling into my mind— everything from moving into the house to getting ready for movie night with my brother. I screamed as they took my breath away. The screams echoed against the confines of the basement. My hands gripped his arms as they continued to erupt from me. He pushed back against me and held on to me.

  “It’s okay, Briar. It’s okay.”

  My mind fought to sort through the thoughts. I tried to make my eyes focus on him, but he was blurry even though he was just a few inches away from me. “How’d I get down here?”

  Cade gripped my face in his hands and forced me to look at him. “I dunno. I found you down here.”

  My trembling hands ran over the fabric of his shirt where a dark circle resided. “Is that…mine…”

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you. I should have been there. This is all my fault.”

  “What are you talking about? Why are you so warm? I don’t understand.”