“You remember what we talked about at the reception, though, right?”
She nodded. “Of course,” she said, sticking her tongue out at me for a brief second. “We decided to be friends.”
Something about the way the word ‘friends’ rolled off her tongue made me think there was another hidden meaning in there somewhere, but I didn’t want to push it.
“Yeah. Well, seeing as friends go to parties together, do you wanna go to a party with me?”
“That sounds a bit like a date in sheep’s clothing,” she replied, arching a brow.
She was right, but I didn’t want to admit that, so I shook my head. “Nah, I just thought you might be interested in going. My friend Tom’s having a Halloween shindig. Anyway, it’s next week if you’re interested.”
“Tom as in the guy Liana is friends with as well? The guy who had the masquerade party where we…um…where we first met?”
Her face flushed at the reminder of our first encounter, and I tried to suppress a grin. “Yeah, him,” I replied. “Tom Ballanger.”
She chewed on her lower lip for a second, then nodded. “Sure, I’ll go. Liana will probably be going anyway. Do I need a costume?”
“Apparently.”
“Damn. I don’t have anything.”
“That’s okay, we can go shopping for one. Just promise me you won’t go as a slutty version of a cat or bunny. I won’t be able to tell you apart from all the other girls if you do,” I said with a grin.
She giggled. “I’ll go as a slutty aardvark instead.”
“Sounds good. Definitely more original. Anyway, wanna go shopping for it after breakfast? I’ve got the day off work today.”
“Sure,” she said. Her face suddenly broke into a wide smile. “This’ll actually be really cool. For some reason I always assumed only us Americans celebrated Halloween. I had no idea you guys do as well.”
“You probably assumed that all we do in Britain is have tea parties and sit around with the Queen eating scones, right?”
She snorted with laughter. “Something like that. Oh, and you’re also all on horseback polo teams. That seems really British to me for some reason.”
I chuckled. “Well, I was actually on the polo team in sixth form, although it was more of a drinking team with a polo problem.”
“Eh, still counts,” she said with a grin.
After we’d finished eating breakfast, Rayna turned and raced back up the stairs, seemingly as eager as me. I headed back up to my room to get dressed, and from her bedroom next door, I heard the shower running. Although I was still aware that it was wrong, I couldn’t help but imagine her naked body covered in soap suds, and my cock stirred in my pants.
Pushing the sexually frustrated thoughts of her nude body aside, I got dressed and then trudged downstairs to wait for her. When she finally came down, the same old frustration returned, because she looked fucking perfect. She was wearing a casual pale blue top which she’d teamed with black skinny jeans that hugged her curves perfectly, her face was makeup-free, and her hair hung naturally down past her shoulders, still damp. She was effortlessly beautiful, and my heart ached to look at her like that, knowing I couldn’t hold her or kiss her.
“Ready?” I asked, trying to act like she was just any old buddy of mine and not the sexiest damn thing I’d ever laid eyes on.
“Uh-huh. Slutty aardvark costumes, here we come.”
As we drove to the nearest shops, the conversation flowed easily between us, and it felt completely natural despite the underlying sexual tension. Having Rayna talking to me was like standing in the warm sunshine, and I didn’t want to put myself back in the shadows ever again.
After we arrived at the shops, we located a costume store, and as we wandered around checking out outfits, I listened to Rayna telling me about her life back home in California. The way she described it made it sound wonderful, and I could tell she missed it. I couldn’t blame her. London was a decent place, but it could also be pretty fucking dreary sometimes.
Just as Rayna jokingly picked up a ‘slutty nurse’ costume, I heard a familiar voice; one which made me cringe.
“Hey, Jace.”
Shit. Not him, not here.
I spun around to see Roy, and it suddenly hit me how terrible he really looked. In the dimly-lit pub the other week, it had been easy to miss the telltale signs—the spotty, pale skin, the hollowed cheeks, and the lank, greasy hair. He was so far gone into the world of dodgy shit, and as angry as I still was at him for the other week’s incident, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.
That didn’t mean I wanted him around me, however, especially now that I was here with Rayna.
“Err…hi, Roy.” I tried to hide Rayna a little bit behind me, wanting to stand in front of her as a protector just in case Roy said or did any shit, but she stepped forward anyway.
“How’s it going?” Roy asked. “And who’s this?”
“My stepsister,” I said through gritted teeth. “Anyway, we better get going—”
Rayna smiled and cut me off, clearly not noticing my haste to get away from Roy. “I’m Rayna,” she said, offering Roy a friendly hand.
“Well, hello there, Rayna,” he said, flashing her a grin. “I’m Roy. I went to school with Jace. He told me all about you; I was wondering when I’d finally meet you. So what are you guys up to right now?"
“Oh, we’re just shopping for Halloween costumes,” she said.
He looked at me for a second before turning his attention back to Rayna. “For Tom Ballanger’s party?”
“Yeah.”
Roy had never really been good friends with Tom back in school, so I had no idea how he knew about the upcoming party.
“Oh, that’s cool. I guess I’ll see you there, then! His sister invited me. Jace, you remember Marie…right?”
Shit. I’d forgotten Roy had always been close with Tom’s sister, and he winked at me, clearly trying to get a reaction out of me. I’d hooked up with Marie once, and he knew from our pub conversation that I liked Rayna, so he was obviously trying to make things as awkward as possible by bringing up my past hookups in front of her, just to be a dick.
All because I hadn’t given him money for blow, as if I fucking owed it to him or something. Prick.
I forced a half-smile as if I didn’t care, but inside I was seething. If I’d known Roy was going to be at the party, I wouldn’t have invited Rayna. I wouldn’t have even gone myself. I didn’t want her anywhere near a guy like him, but there was no way I could back out now that Rayna was so excited. Besides, I’d really been looking forward to having a fun night with her.
I was just going to have to keep an eye out for her, that was all.
“Well, we’d better get going now.” I started to steer Rayna away, wanting to spend as little time in Roy’s presence as possible. I was struggling to understand why we’d ever even been friends, and the more time I spent with him, the more intense this feeling became.
“Bye, guys,” Roy said, leering after us.
“He seems nice,” Rayna said once we were out of earshot. “Why were you so desperate to get away from him?”
I wanted to tell her the truth about him, but I couldn’t bring up the whole depressing drug money story; not out here in public. Plus, I didn’t want Roy to be responsible for ruining our day out, either. I wanted it to get back to the fun camaraderie we’d had earlier, so I simply shrugged and changed the subject.
“How about this bee costume?” I said, pointing at a rack nearby.
She snickered, the subject of Roy seemingly forgotten already, and I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. “A bee costume? Who makes these things?” she said.
“The same people who make the slutty cat costumes, I presume.”
“I suppose. What are you going to buy, anyway?” she asked.
“I have my costume already. I’m just gonna wear the same thing I wore last time I got invited to a Halloween party.”
“Are you going to tell me wha
t it is?”
“It’s a surprise.”
She stuck her tongue out at me. “Is the surprise that it’s totally lame?”
I held my hands up and grinned. “You got me. I’m going as Maverick from Top Gun.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Yup, totally lame.”
“Says the girl who wants to go as an aardvark...”
“Shut up,” she said, playfully elbowing me and giving me a cheeky smile. “Ooh, can you go and have a look at the hats and see if anything gives you any inspiration for me? I’m struggling now. I have to outdo your lameness somehow.”
“Of course.” I smiled before sauntering over to the accessories.
I looked around for a while and picked up odd bits and pieces, finding nothing that gave me any amazing ideas, but I suddenly spotted something else. It wouldn’t help with Rayna’s costume at all, but I was sure she’d think it was a cool jokey kinda thing all the same.
“Rayna, check this out!” I said, holding up the cardboard box I’d picked up. It was a Hasbro board game called Ouija Board—one of those silly supposedly supernatural things that kids used at slumber parties to pretend to summon spirits. I knew some people who were actually scared of the boards and thought they really worked, but if they did, then why on earth would Hasbro market it as a game? It was total bullshit, but it might be a fun thing to try out as a joke with Halloween coming up and all.
Rayna sidled up to me a moment later. “What is it?”
“It’s a Ouija board.”
“One of those spirit summoning things where they spell things out?” she asked, her eyebrows arched curiously.
“Yeah. Why don’t we get it for a laugh? Get in the spirit of Halloween and so on. Pun not intended.”
“I don’t know, those things kinda freak me out, Jace.”
“It’s not real. It’s just a mass-produced game. Anyway, even if it actually is real, we can use it to find that hallway ghost of yours back home.”
She smiled and playfully elbowed me again. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?” she said. “Fine, fine, we’ll get your silly board game. Maybe I can summon up a ghost to punch you for making fun of me.”
I grinned. “Fine by me.”
I went and paid for the game up at one of the counters, and when I returned to Rayna, I spotted a big red plastic shopping bag emblazoned with the store’s logo dangling from her arm. “Oh, you already found a costume? That was quick. What is it?” I asked.
She grinned and arched an eyebrow before echoing my earlier words. “It’s a surprise...”
Chapter 12
Rayna
Jace and I burst through the main door to the manor, laughing and chattering excitedly about our day out shopping. There was a completely different vibe between us compared to how things had been only days before, and I was glad for that—no more silence and awkward tiptoeing around. As much as I knew I wanted more than friendship from him, I had to say, I actually liked being friends with him. The fun-loving, easygoing atmosphere was much easier to deal with than the way I’d completely ignored him out of guilt and shame.
Even though paranormal stuff had been creeping me out lately—my manor ghost mystery was still unsolved—and I’d never been into the whole Ouija board thing, I was actually glad Jace had picked up that silly game, because it was a good excuse for us to spend more time together. It was pretty safe to assume that we were never going to be getting close enough to cross the line again—there were only so many times you could make that mistake—and as much as that was a hard pill to swallow, I was grateful that we could at least hang out.
I knew it couldn’t last forever, but I’d vowed to enjoy it while I could. We may have only known each other for a few weeks, but Jace had already had a deep impact on my life, and there would be a massive crater in my heart if he ever decided he no longer wanted my friendship.
I guess I really had a serious crush on him, but that would be over soon. As much as I felt for him now, crushes never lasted longer than a few months.
“Okay, it says on the back of the box that we need candles, so I’ll go and grab some, and you can set up the board on the table,” Jace said, turning to me as we entered the dining room.
“Sure.”
As I watched him leave, I felt a pang of guilt for lying to him. I’d told him I could handle the platonic friendship, and like I said earlier, I loved being friends with him, but I knew I was misleading him by acting as if it was all I wanted.
I began to set the game up, and as I did so, I tried to straighten out my head. This was the exact reason I hadn’t wanted to get emotionally involved with Jace. If this all somehow went to hell, it was going to be very difficult to deal with, and I only had myself to blame. I needed to shut these romantic feelings off. They were only going to get me hurt, and the sooner I accepted that, the better, but thinking those words and actually putting them into action were two very different things.
Jace returned and placed a few tea-light candles around the board, and when he lit them and drew the curtains, the whole room took on a decidedly creepy vibe.
“God, now I feel as if we’re in a horror movie,” I said, my gaze nervously shooting around. “Old manor? Check. Candles and scary spirit game? Check.”
“And a big scary monster named Jace? Check,” he said with a wink.
I laughed, and then I took on a more serious expression. “Do you really think it’s a good idea to mess around with this stuff?” I asked, my voice tinged with trepidation.
His face softened as he looked at me. “Look, to me this is all just a game. I think it’s fun, but if it’s really freaking you out, we can stop,” he said.
I chewed on my lip as I considered his words. The rational part of me was telling me that things like Ouija boards were total bullcrap; nothing more than a party trick to amuse kids going through their experimental phases and rebelling against their god-fearing parents, but at the same time, another part of me was telling me that it was a bad idea. What if ghosts were actually real? I’d never believed in them up until a few weeks ago, but after seeing that woman in the hallway the other month, I was no longer sure. It would be arrogant of me to say that I was so smart that I knew for an absolute fact there was no such thing as a spirit world. After all, no one could possibly know that.
I almost wanted to back out, but I was afraid that I’d look stupid. “No, never mind, I’m just being paranoid,” I said before taking a seat at the table.
Jace joined me. I was concentrating hard on trying to seem calm, but my body was betraying me, and my knees were trembling under the table. I hoped to god that Jace couldn’t feel my shaking legs, otherwise he’d probably think I was the biggest wimp in the history of the universe. It’s just a game! I reminded myself.
“We need to put our hands on top of the planchette,” Jace said, concentrating on the game instructions.
He rested his hands on top of mine on the little triangular piece, and he smiled at me. I tried to return the smile, but my face was frozen so much that I felt like my head had been dipped in a vat of Botox.
“Okay, so what do you want to say first?” Jace asked.
“Um…maybe just ask if there are any spirits out there?” I said. I was feeling incredibly stupid now, as if we were actually in some sort of lame eighties horror movie.
“Right.” Jace quickly changed his voice into a creepy silly tone. “Hello…is there anyone out there?”
We sat there for a few minutes, just staring at the board with nothing happening, and my heart was thumping so hard I wouldn’t have been surprised if it exploded right out of my chest and bounced off the walls.
Then the planchette started to slip under my hand, and I watched it slowly move to the box on the board which said ‘Yes’. I knew I hadn’t been moving the piece; my fingers were barely touching it.
“Was that you?” I asked. “That’s not funny if it was.”
“No!” Jace insisted, looking so sincere that I almost
believed him. “But the window over there is open. This planchette is quite light, maybe a breeze came through and sort of moved it a bit.”
“Um…okay, I guess it could’ve been that,” I mumbled, though I knew how unlikely it was. I slumped back into my seat and tentatively put my hand back on the piece, waiting to start again.
“Okay, is there a reason you’re here? Is there something you want from us?” Jace asked, looking up at the ceiling before returning his eyes to the board.
I really hoped he didn’t start asking for physical proof that there was someone or something here with us, because I’d probably pass out if chairs starting flying around the room.
Again, the pointer moved to ‘Yes’, then spelled out ‘Rayna’, and I gulped.
“You want Rayna to do something?” Jace asked.
Yes again.
“So what is it you want Rayna to do?” Jace continued.
The planchette started to move once more.
It hit the B and I began to feel a bit sick. I’d known this was a bad idea, and yet I’d stupidly gone along with it, just to try and impress Jace and make him think I was cool, rather than the wuss I so clearly was.
Then the pointer hit the letters L, O and W, and I narrowed my eyes. Surely it wasn’t actually saying….
Seconds later, my suspicions were confirmed, and the pointer moved to the letters J, A, C and E. I jumped up from my seat, anger coursing through my veins. Jace was just fucking with me and I’d allowed myself to get sucked in.
“Screw you, Jace. That’s not funny. Not at all!” I said, my voice heated. “I can’t believe how immature you are!”
I abruptly stood up and stalked out of the room, and I could hear him calling out from behind me as I headed up the staircase.
“It was just a joke! Oh come on, Rayna, I thought you’d think it was funny!”
Funny? No, he’d known I was a bit creeped out by the whole idea, but he’d gone along with it anyway. On top of that, he’d pushed the piece around and made the board spell out ‘BLOW JACE’ as if reminding me of our sexual history was a good idea.
The more I thought about it, the more confused I got over the whole thing. I didn’t know what made me angrier; the fact that he’d played such a stupid, immature prank on me, or the fact that it reminded me I could never have him.
Tease - A Stepbrother Sports Romance Page 29