by Mary Frame
“Back off, hussy!”
“Miss Viola!” If I weren’t afraid of one or the both of us tumbling into the dark, churning water below, I might be laughing right now.
“Ruby, hang on! We’re coming!” Tabby’s voice is loud and panicked.
They’re getting closer.
Which is making Miss Viola move even faster.
Willing myself not to look down, I follow her.
I’ve almost reached her when Tabby starts yelling again.
“Oh my god, Ruby, don’t die!”
I roll my eyes.
“Stop being so dramatic,” Miss Viola calls back down to her, reading my thoughts.
But when Miss Viola waves her hands in the direction of the others, she loses her footing again and starts to tip.
“No!” My voice a near whisper, I reach for her.
I clasp her arm in mine and we wobble for a moment, teetering on the edge of the creaking board.
I plant my feet and bend my knees for stability. It takes a few long seconds, but I finally set us aright and let out a shaky laugh when we’re both standing securely.
“That was close,” Miss Viola says.
Then her eyes roll back in her head and she slouches against me.
Oh, shit. She’s fainted. I can’t hold on to her. She’s small but heavier than I expected. I tilt to the side.
We’re going to fall. I can’t avoid it, so I have to make a decision. There are only two directions to go, one is down onto the grassy embankment, and while that seems like it would be better than falling off the cliff, it’s hard and unyielding earth. One of us, at the very least, might not survive. Our other option is the churning black water. It’s not too far, really, maybe forty feet, like Jared told me once before.
He said when the tide was high it would be safe.
The board cracks underneath our combined weight. I pray to whoever is out there that the water is deep enough.
Then I throw our weight toward the cliff.
Someone’s yelling, but all I can hear is the wind in my ears as Miss Viola and I fall down the bluffs and into the freezing water.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
So the ocean is nothing like the pool.
My body gets a shocking jolt from the frigid water, forcing the air from my lungs.
I know nothing but cold and darkness and then my brain remembers swimming and my legs start kicking. I find myself above the churning waves, but Miss Viola is gone.
Dammit.
I flap around, getting hit in the face with water while trying to feel for Miss Viola.
“Miss Viola,” I gasp. “Miss Viola!”
“I’ve got you, child.” The voice is in my ear right as an arm comes around my neck. “Lay still.” She pulls me backward in the water.
Is she towing me to shore?
“Miss V, I can swim.” I pull away, but she’s strong for an old tiny lady and I end up swallowing a mouth full of salt water.
“It’s okay. Just lie back and let it happen,” she says.
Oh dear lord.
Then there’s a loud splash behind us and a yell.
“Ruby!”
It’s Jared.
He jumped in after us.
“Over here,” I call, still trying to escape from Miss Viola’s clutches.
Her fingers are like talons on my shoulder.
A couple of strokes and he’s there, water churning between us as we sway in the waves. In the brightness of the moon I can see his eyes, wide and worried.
“Are you all right?”
Miss Viola answers before I can. “I’m fine. Thanks for asking, Deputy.”
We ignore her.
“You jumped in after us,” I say.
“You’re okay,” he says, like he’s just now realizing that even though he’s been staring straight at me for the last twenty seconds.
“Why did you jump? What if it had been low tide?”
He doesn’t answer. His eyes are locked on me as he paddles less than a foot away.
“I’m swimming in. It’s cold out here, and I think you can take this one from here,” Miss Viola says.
She releases her hold around my neck and then she’s splashing away.
I don’t watch her, though. All I care about is the man in front of me. The man who jumped off a cliff after me.
I grab his face and kiss him, hard. The motion causes us both to slip underwater for a moment before Jared kicks us back up to the surface.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He grabs my arms and wraps them around his neck. “Hold that thought though, okay?” He pulls me onto his back and we follow Miss Viola back to the shore.
~*~
The beach is crowded with elderly people in fancy clothes.
There’s an ambulance and a fire truck, and even the mayor stopped by to hear the story.
Excitement like this doesn’t happen often in Castle Cove.
Miss V soaks it all in, gleefully embellishing the story and laughing about snowing all of us for so long. Mrs. Olsen is hurt, though. She really thought Miss V was her friend—even though she basically used her friend as a shopping cart every time they hung out—and can’t believe Miss Viola lied to her this whole time.
Once the EMT clears me of any injuries or hypothermia and Anderson takes my statement, I get to leave.
Jared wants to bring me back to his house, but I convince him to take me home. To Ruby’s.
I can’t keep living the lie. We have to prepare for tomorrow night and I can’t do that from Jared’s.
I’m glad that the mystery is solved and everyone is okay, but I’m worn out as all hell. I shower and fall into bed as the sun is coming up.
I sleep until noon, when Paige finally comes home and wakes me.
She’s heard all about my little dive off the bluffs, but I give her the firsthand version over eggs and pancakes.
Then we go over everything, one last time.
Her bag is already at the school, in her locker.
Naomi’s grandma is dropping them off at the dance.
The rest of the day is relatively quiet. I expected our last day in Castle Cove to be more . . . climactic.
Tabby stops by to check on me. She’s going on a date, an actual date with Ben. Apparently, he listened to my advice and wants to take her out somewhere special. He asked her out right before Jared realized I was missing, which made them realize Miss Viola was also missing and they came looking for us.
I’m happy. She’s happy. She deserves every bit of joy she can wring from this life, even if I won’t be around to witness it.
I wait for Jared to call or stop by. He doesn’t. I shouldn’t be bothered. It’s going to be hard enough to leave without having to see him one last time.
Paige leaves for Naomi’s after dinner and I’m home alone.
I set my alarm for nine, figuring I should try and nap. I need to get some sleep, knowing tonight will be a long night of driving.
But I can’t sleep.
I can’t stop thinking about everything. What if our parents still find us? What if the new car breaks down before we make it somewhere? What if, what if . . .
Judge Ramsey and his words about life run through my head.
I think about Jared’s lips on mine, the heat a contrast to the cold, salty ocean.
I’m never going to see him again.
At seven, I finally give up and get out of bed. If I were someone else, I would be on my date with Jared right now, but I blew him off. It’s for the best, but . . .
Going to him now, before I leave . . . it would be both amazing and destructive.
I still have plenty of time until I have to meet Paige, and I have to see him, one more time. Even if it ends up hurting me more in the long run. I deserve the pain.
My feet have a mind of their own. Not caring that I’m dressed in plain cotton PJ shorts and a tank top, I leave the house with our small bags and walk to the mechanic’s shop.
It’s part of our plan, anyway.
I’m supposed to pick up the car before meeting Paige at the rendezvous point. I’m just picking it up a little early.
It doesn’t take long to get to the car. It’s where the mechanic told me he would leave it, in the back, unlocked, the keys stashed in an envelope under the seat.
It turns over on the first try.
The car practically steers itself to Jared’s house.
I park behind the Jeep in the circular driveway and sit in the car for a few minutes. What the hell am I doing?
The lights are on inside, the soft glow beckoning me out of the car.
I jog up to the front door and knock gently.
The thudding of my heart in my ears is almost deafening.
What if he doesn’t answer?
What if he answers and then sends me away?
What if—
The door opens.
His hair is mussed, but his eyes are alert.
“Ruby,” he says.
I don’t want to hear him say that name, so I kiss him.
It’s not the most graceful of attempts. I step forward through the doorway and press my mouth against his, but I miss and catch the corner of his mouth. I pull back to correct the error, but before I can zero in on my target, he grabs my head and his lips crash into mine.
The tension in my body drains away as the heat in my stomach builds and spreads.
My hands run up, underneath his shirt, over the ridges of his stomach, pulling the fabric up and over his head before moving in to kiss him some more.
I can’t get enough. I want him everywhere. Over me, under me, around me . . . in me. Now.
His hands run down by back, warm and needy—mimicking my own thoughts—too much, not enough, he cups my rear in his hands, flexing and pulling me closer against him. Then we’re stumbling inside.
The door slams behind me and then he pushes me against it, his hands moving under the thin fabric of my top and yanking it over my head before we come together again. Mouths, tongues, hands everywhere. I can’t stop. I don’t want to stop. It’s the last time I’ll ever see him, and I need to make it count.
When my fingers start tugging the elastic band of his shorts, he pulls back and peers into my eyes.
“Are you sure?” The entryway is dark and his voice is deep and rough.
“Yes.” Is that me speaking, all breathy and low?
“It’s just, you’ve been pushing me away and—”
“Jared,” I say, my voice a little louder, “I’m sure. I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life. Now, less talking, more kissing.”
“Yes ma’am.” And then we don’t speak again. At least, not with words. His hands are reverent on me, gentle and searching. His shorts stay on, for now, while we tease and kiss in the foyer.
My body is heating while my heart is breaking. This is it. The last time I’ll see Jared, the last opportunity I’ll have to be with him. I’m grateful for knowing him and devastated all at once. I know he has to see my emotions in my eyes, sense it in my touch, because he groans and then moves his mouth to my neck and then lower. His finger slides under the collar of my tank top, pulling it down, exposing my breasts to both the stinging cool of the night air and the heat of his breath.
His lips meander farther downward, until he’s kneeling in front of me. His palms skim up my legs, gently sliding my shorts off and away and then his mouth covers me through the thin barrier of my cotton panties.
“Oh my god,” I gasp, my head falling back against the door.
The heat of his mouth on my most intimate place and the scratch of his stubble on my thighs nearly ends me right there, against the door.
I’ve never done this, never felt this, never want to feel it with anyone else, ever.
“Jared,” I moan when he pushes the fabric aside and slowly slides a finger inside me.
Between the glide of his lips and the pressure of his finger, I can’t possibly take any more without spontaneously combusting. Right before I explode, he stops.
“What are you doing?”
“We’re going to do this right.” He stands and picks me up, carrying me down the hallway toward his bedroom.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
I alternate watching the clock and watching Jared sleep. He’s on his stomach, naked, a sheet covering him up to the waist. My eyes trail over the muscles of his back and shoulders and settle on his face.
He’s so beautiful, outside and in. I can’t deny the heat his body ignites inside me, but it’s more than that. He cares about people. He gives without expecting anything in return. It’s like I’ve found a unicorn in a forest full of trolls, and now I have to leave him behind.
I gaze at him as long as I can, long enough to take the memory with me.
When I can’t possibly push it any longer, I get out of bed and get dressed. My clothes are strewn between the bedroom and the front door, and I pick the items up as I move through the house.
In the kitchen, I hesitate when I spot a pad of paper on the counter next to a pen.
I scrawl a quick message.
Gravy jumps up on the counter and sprawls down in front of my note, his torn ear twitching in my direction while his luminous eyes watch me.
He’s not hissing.
Why isn’t he hissing? He always either attacks or shrieks. There’s never anything in between.
He ducks his head, resting it on his outstretched paws, then he purrs—a few brief beats.
It’s like he’s saying goodbye.
My eyes water.
I will not cry over the damn devil cat.
As if he can read my mind, he swats me with a paw—claws retracted—and leaps off the counter, disappearing down the hall, tail flicking pretentiously behind him.
I sigh. Jared will take good care of him.
He’ll find my note. He’ll be a little confused about a seemingly unprompted apology. But then he’ll call the shop, or stop by, and I won’t be there. He’ll talk to Tabby and find out we left Gravy and then . . . the real Ruby will eventually return. Will he hate me? Will the lies taint the truth that lived between us?
Time is running out. It’s nearly ten.
I have to get Paige.
With one last glance around, I sneak out the front door, but I don’t make it to the car.
“Paige?” I’m frozen in the doorway.
She’s here. But she’s not supposed to be here, she’s supposed to be at the rendezvous point. My brain stutters to a stop, failing to work through the implications, but my wicked, traitorous eyes keep going, taking in every detail and presenting the scene to me with malicious glee.
She’s standing at the bottom of the short flight of steps that leads to the gravel drive, illuminated by the porch lights. She’s still in her new dress. Her eyes are red and mascara streaks down her face like charcoal tears.
And she’s not alone.
“You can have her back as soon as you fix our little problem.” Red-tipped nails grip Paige’s shoulder like talons. It’s a voice I recognize. A voice I’ve gone to great pains to never hear again.
Shock pulses through me.
They’re here.
At Jared’s.
He’s sleeping peacefully less than a hundred feet away.
Then Mother explains, “You see, you stole a bit of money from us and now you’re going to pay it back. With interest.”
Not quite the end . . .
Want more? Book three, Extraordinary World available 1/18/2018! Click here to download!
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Mary Frame is a full time mother and wife with a full time job. She has no idea how she manages to write novels, except that it involves copious amounts of wine. She doesn't enjoy writing about herself in third person, but she does enjoy reading, writing, dancing, and damaging the ear drums of her co-workers when she randomly
decides to sing to them.
She lives in Reno, Nevada with her husband, two children and a border collie named Stella.
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