“Not until I know what’s going on. Why are the cops chasing him? What’s he even doing here?”
“There isn’t time!” She glanced away, and my eyes followed hers. They were gaining on her cousin. “Please!”
“Ginny…” I pushed my lips into a firm line. Too many secrets, and I was getting tired of them. But it was Ginny, and I couldn’t say no. “Dammit! Fine. But then I want to know what’s going—”
“Come on.”
Her hand grabbed mine and tugged, pulling me after her into the dark. The police had chased Ben halfway up the long stretch of the back lawn, their lights still bobbing and crossing in the dark, but Ginny didn’t follow them. She crossed over the tree line to the left, ducking into the underbrush. I tripped in after her.
“Where are we going?”
“Shh!” She pulled up the Virginia Creeper that ran rampant throughout the south, uncovering a panel of some kind. She flipped a switch and yanked what turned out to be a handle, then turned and gave me a half-smile.
“Grandpa closed up all the property ruins.”
I peered into the dark hole she’d opened up. “Ginny…”
“It’s safe. Come on.”
I sighed and followed her down. Small emergency lights flickered through the old stone ruins, but that was all I had time to notice before Ginny started running again, and I had to scramble to catch up.
“Where are we going?”
“To the other end! Lord, I hope he remembers these are here…”
Ginny darted left through a crumbling doorway and took off across the uneven floor. I followed, shaking my head and wondering just what in hell we were doing down here. I almost missed it when she turned into an alcove and stopped. As it was, I ended up having to stutter to a halt and backtrack. I turned around just in time to see her punch a button and crack open another door.
The growl and bark of dogs came louder than I expected, and the shouting wasn’t far behind. Ginny leaned forward, clearly searching, while I fidgeted nervously behind her. I really didn’t like the situation. I knew it was her cousin and all, but the whole thing was just weird.
Ben was supposed to be in Afghanistan. What the hell was he doing here?
I thumped my fist against the crumbling brick wall beside me and waited impatiently as the dogs and shouts got closer. The whole time, Ginny stood with her nose pressed into the crack in the door, breathing hard and muttering to herself.
“Lord, I hate it under here,” she whispered.
I couldn’t blame her.
The noise shifted suddenly, taking on an echoing feel and startling me, and then Ginny shoved herself out the door. She tumbled back inside before I could move, tangled up in dog and person. She shoved the guy away and practically jumped to the control panel next to the door, slapping a button. The falling bolt thudded dully through the covered ruins, and then there was nothing but the sound of our guests panting.
I took the moment to get a look at Cousin Ben. His close-cropped hair was blonde and his eyes were blue, but he could have passed for Ginny’s brother. Aside from the dirt-smeared blonde fuzz that grew along a harder jawline and about six additional inches of height, he looked so much like her it was almost scary.
Ginny pushed away from the wall and pulled her cousin into a hug. “Dammit to hell, Ben. What happened?”
Ben slumped to the ground and shook his head. “Someone ratted me out. They swarmed the Jack Daw ruins, and I didn’t have a choice. I had to run.”
“But you haven’t done anything!”
“They aren’t interested in hearing that. They had a bloody knife with my fingerprints on it. Someone thinks I killed that Brandon kid in the pool house.”
“Did you?”
They both turned to look at me, Ginny looking horrified.
“Evan, honey of course he didn’t!”
“Then what’s he doing hidin’ in some ruins? He’s your cousin, why isn’t he stayin’ in the house?”
His sharp blue eyes narrowed on me. “Ginny, who is this guy?”
She sighed. “Ben, this is my… This is Evan. Evan, my cousin Ben.”
We stared at each other while I tried to pretend I didn’t notice that I’d been firmly shoved back to the position of distraction. “You still haven’t answered my question.”
Ben wiped a hand down his face. “It’s complicated.”
Not an answer I liked. I shook my head.
Ben still stared at me like I was the enemy, his jaw clenched. “Ginny, are you sure we can trust this guy?
Ginny looked up at me, and I had a sinking feeling of dread. Her response wasn’t immediate. It should have been immediate.
“…yeah.”
The grudging acknowledgement only made me feel worse. It felt like a punch to the gut. Ben’s glare didn’t help.
“I don’t like it.”
I was already feeling really uncharitable towards this guy, and he wasn’t helping. “You know what, considering we just saved your ass, I don’t give a shit what you like.”
“Give me one good reason I should trust you.”
“I don’t care if you trust me or not. I’m not here for you. I’m here for Ginny.”
Ben stood up taller and crossed his arms over his chest. “While we’re on the subject of Ginny, I don’t trust you with her either.”
“Fuck off, Ben. Ginny and I are none of your business.” Though, judging by her response to Ben’s question, I wasn’t sure there was any kind of Ginny-and-I anymore.
“Yeah, you are. Because everything I’ve been doing here has been to keep her safe. And if you’re just another asshole after her money, I’ll drop you right here.”
“Enough!”
Ginny slid between us before I’d done more than raise my fist. Her hand pushed hard against my chest.
“Evan. Sugar. Back off.”
I was still glaring at Ben.
“Evan.”
My eyes flicked to Ginny. She pushed again at my chest, and I took the hint. I wanted to lay Ben out flat. I wanted Ginny to let me in, to stand up for me. I wanted to go back to before all this happened, and erase it.
My body still ached from the interruption. It wasn’t helping my mood in the least.
I turned and walked away. As far as I could, back down the hall we came in. I didn’t even care where I ended up. I just needed to get away, and anywhere would do.
“Evan!”
I hadn’t heard her follow me.
I turned slowly, wondering what I should say. If I should say anything. I was angry and hurt. But I got it. Ben was her family. I wasn’t, and that was really all there was to it, no matter how much I wished otherwise.
“Evan, honey, wait up.”
I stopped and turned back to her. The words wouldn’t even form.
Ginny stepped closer. I swallowed and resisted the urge to step back. Her hand ran up my chest, and I knew it was supposed to be comforting. Instead, it just twisted the knife deeper. I thought about all the times I’d touched her. The way she’d smiled at me, the things I’d whispered to her. How much I’d told her.
And she still didn’t know. She didn’t understand.
Worse, I couldn’t bring myself to tell her.
“Evan? I’m sorry. He doesn’t know you. I do. I’d never believe anything like that.”
I waved her off. I needed to cool off, and I knew it. “Just go deal with whatever you need to do.”
Ginny fell into me and wrapped her arms around my chest.
Part of me wanted to shout and scream and push her away. The other part of me didn’t ever want to let her go.
“He didn’t do it, Evan. I know he didn’t.”
I closed my eyes and breathed. She needed me to believe her. But she didn’t offer any explanation. And I didn’t ask.
I took a deep breath and pushed her away. “Go finish talking to him. Or whatever you need to do.”
Ginny reached up and brushed her lips to the corner of my mouth, lingering for a moment. T
hen she turned and left.
I watched her go until she disappeared into the dim light. Then my feet carried me in the opposite direction. Away.
The cool brick at my back had long since grown uncomfortable. I’d lost track of how long I’d sat in my handpicked dead end, my thoughts spinning in never-ending circles. But it didn’t matter how many times or different ways I approached it.
It all added up to Ben. If he wasn’t behind everything, I didn’t know who could be. It didn’t matter that Ginny swore it wasn’t him. All the pieces fit. Her reluctance. Rafe’s stabbing. Ben’s protectiveness of her. The bits and pieces, snatches of conversation I’d heard.
It had to be Ben.
Except that Ginny trusted him. And I trusted Ginny. If it had been anyone else, I’d have been out the door and long gone. But even though she didn’t trust me enough to share what was going on, I trusted her.
It tore my heart out and I couldn’t figure out why, but I trusted her. And I needed her. I’d somehow let myself get in way too deep, and I hadn’t a clue how to get out. I didn’t know if I really wanted to get out.
“There you are, sugar.”
Ginny yawned and flopped down next to me, intertwining her fingers with mine. She didn’t say anything else, just laid her head on my shoulder.
“You get everything worked out?”
She yawned again and snuggled deeper into my side. “Yeah, hon. Thank you.”
“We should get you back inside, then.”
“Mmhmm.”
I stuffed my wounded pride away. She’d been through a lot. She didn’t trust easily. I knew all of that. And I clearly didn’t know what was going on here. She didn’t need my pride. She liked me, and that should be enough. I wasn’t family. I shouldn’t have assumed I was. It was my mistake. So I stood up and lifted Ginny into my arms. She smiled faintly and nuzzled into my neck.
It felt so good, holding her. I took a deep breath and let go of my anger. She’d tell me, eventually. And if she didn’t, she didn’t. I’d get over it.
“You’re going to have to help me out of here, you know.”
“Mmm. Oh, right.” She yawned again. “I forgot you wouldn’t know. Sometimes I feel like you’ve always been here, Evan.” She lifted her head slightly. “Go out there and turn left.”
I followed where she told me, feeling hopelessly lost. I was pretty sure we weren’t going back the way we came, and even more sure when I started climbing stairs. Especially when those stairs stopped being stone and turned into wood, and opened up into the secret passage where we’d first kissed on her birthday.
“The latch, Ginny.”
She sighed, more asleep than awake, then fiddled with the latch and let us out.
The house had grown dark and quiet again, with only the faint sounds of whispered conversation out front. I could hear Ms. Catherine and guessed there were probably one or two cops still talking with her. I also caught the faint whiff of cigarettes. I tiptoed us upstairs and back into her room, laying Ginny down gently on her bed. She mumbled something as I let her go, but I didn’t catch it. My fingers trailed down her face, pushing a stray bit of hair away, and that ghostly smile crept back onto her face. She murmured my name.
I wanted to stay. I wanted to hold her and forget tonight ever happened. The blue glow of her alarm clock caught my eye, distracting me for a moment.
1:33 a.m.
Small wonder I was so tired and indecisive. I scrubbed my face with my hands, pulled off my shirt and boots, and climbed in next to her. She immediately snuggled in close, and we drifted off to sleep in moments.
Chapter Sixteen
Ginny was gone early the next morning, dealing with Ben. I tried not to be annoyed. If he was trustworthy, he was the best person to keep an eye on her. But I wasn’t sure he was trustworthy.
Ginny was, though. Which pretty well left me shit out of luck.
So I did what any over-protective not-boyfriend would do. I sneaked into the secret passages.
It took some work. The only door I knew I could get into was under the main stairs, which was right-smack in the middle of, well, everything. So the timing to get in was tricky, but I figured it out.
The dimly lit wooden walls of the passage came with a flash of memory. The heat of kissing Ginny the first time washed over me, tempered by the memory of last night. I closed my eyes and thought, trying to remember where I’d come from. At one in the morning, I hadn’t been paying much attention to anything but Ginny’s half-asleep directions. That and trying not to trip over myself in the dark.
I took a chance and went left, which ended up being a good choice. It followed the line of the stairs and led up, not down.
The same close quarters that had been so nice on Ginny’s birthday just felt cramped now. I kicked myself for not making a point of checking these sooner. They wound around and up before splitting off again in several directions. I glanced around a bit and found a path that went up another floor.
I had no idea where I was in relation to the rest of the house. The passages twisted in and out, and I wasn’t really sure what I was looking for either. Some kind of clue that the mystery attacker had (or hadn’t) been in here. That this was or wasn’t how they’d gotten into my room, or Ginny’s.
I remembered Ginny saying that one or two of the staff knew about the passages, and they were clean enough that they must’ve. Which didn’t help me. No telltale dusty footprints or anything like that to give things away.
After stumbling around through what must’ve been half the house, I was beginning to think I was an idiot. Maybe the passages were just passages, something left over from the island’s history.
At least, until I turned another corner and found the first hint of something off; a corner of paper wedged half in and half out of the wall. I bent down for it, but it was stuck tight. I stared for a minute, then ran my hands up the wall, looking for the latch I knew had to be there. I scowled when I found it.
It opened into my closet.
Fuck me.
I bent down and grabbed the paper I’d been trying to get before. It was a picture of Ginny and I, asleep. My arm was wrapped around her stomach, fingers tucked under her shirt. I couldn’t see my face in the photo, but Ginny’s was plain. She looked calm, happy. Safe. Ironic, since the very fact that someone had taken the picture meant neither of us was.
Small fingers of fear trailed their way up my spine.
I stepped out of the passage, dropped the photo on my dresser, and went back in. The picture creeped me the fuck out, but it wasn’t enough. I kept going. Further down the passage and around a corner, where I was forced to stop.
The third floor passageways were a lot dimmer than the main floor ones, so it took me a few minutes to figure out just what I was looking at. What was blocking my way. After that, there wasn’t room for anything but shock and horror that I’d been right. And then there was only anger.
Red, blinding rage.
I waited for Ginny in her room, just a few feet away from where I’d crawled out of the wall. I paced, sat, thumped my head against my hands. The clock moved slower than cold molasses.
I thought the day would never end.
When she didn’t appear for dinner, I went looking, and found myself outside, pacing with irritation. I thought about going on a walk, but I had no desire to end up back by Jaime’s ruins with another storm blowing in. The fact that I hadn’t seen Ginny in hours bothered me. Ben could be behind it all. He knew the house, would know the passages. But Ginny said he’d been hiding in the Jack Daw ruins, which I knew were close but couldn’t have been connected, since they’d been an entirely different plantation. But what if she’d been wrong? What if he’d only pretended to hide there? Then again, who’d called the cops and told them where he’d been? I paced the oaks as darkness settled, hurried on by the ever-present storm clouds, and wished I had an outlet for everything that had built inside me. Wished I had answers. I’d never felt jealous of a storm before, but I ached for
some kind of release, the way the sky looked so heavy with need just before a storm, yearning to loose its rain and wind and lightning.
I was so caught up in my mad pacing that I didn’t see Ms. Catherine tucked behind the trunk of a tree until I caught the smell of her cigarettes on the wind.
“Oh, Evan, honey, I didn’t…” She stared at her half finished cigarette and back at me.
“It’s all right, Ms. Catherine. Ginny told me.” Really, her smoking was the least of my worries.
She grimaced and took a long drag, letting it out slowly. “I’ve been trying to quit for far too long. Past time I gave it up. It’s such an awful habit. But I just don’t seem to manage.” Her fingers tapped the cigarette, letting pale red embers drift into the storm-blown wind. “What brought you out here, sugar?”
“I was actually looking for Ginny. She wanted to talk to me earlier, but I haven’t been able to find her. So I thought I’d take a walk, see if she was out here.”
Ms. Catherine took another pull, blowing the smoke out away from me. “I’m afraid I haven’t seen her all day. If you do find her, let me know, would you, honey?”
“Yes ma’am.”
She nodded and put out the stub of her cigarette on a rock. “I’d better head in then. And thank you, Evan honey.”
Ms. Catherine walked past me and back into the light of Eyre House. Lightning broke itself across the sky as I headed back towards the huge oaks that surrounded the property. It wasn’t much longer before I saw Ginny come out of the woods on the far side. Rafe stepped out of the darkness next, like he’d been waiting for her. Ginny bristled. As far away as I was, I couldn’t hear them. But my fists clenched when I saw her stiffen, and I growled when he grabbed for her. Because there it was again, that sense of ownership that I’d noticed the first time I saw him. It rolled off him in waves. I wanted to hit him for it so badly I didn’t even notice my feet bringing me closer to them. Ginny yanked her hand away from his, her face angry, and then jabbed a finger into his chest. Repeatedly. I could feel the wildness of my grin when she did. There was no question she was telling him to fuck off.
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