Ever After

by Odessa Gillespie Black

  With my purse and wallet, I fled the room. I made it as far as the front door of the house when Cole stormed through the back entrance with Shelby and Kaitlyn in tow, scurrying after him like rock star groupies.

  “Allie.” Cole’s voice tugged at something deep inside me.

  I couldn’t let him have this hold on me anymore.

  Ignoring him, my feet carried me to the front door.

  Magically, it opened.

  Dalton stood on the other side and said with the most perfect timing, “We’re going to have the best time tonight. I can’t wait to show you the town.”

  He grinned, but the expression fell away.

  Cole was at my heels in seconds.

  Behind Dalton, outside on the paved drive, a brand new black Camaro with decals of claw marks up the sides waited for us, engine purring.

  The Camaro was Cole’s.

  Actually, Ava had purchased it for his use, but now that she was gone, I had say over who could drive it. And tonight it was Dalton.

  “Don’t mind them. You can drive.” I slammed the door shut on the threesome.

  Cole jerked it opened and followed me out.

  Shelby and Kaitlyn remained in the doorway, staring wide-eyed.

  “Allie, come on. This is ridiculous. We need to talk.” Cole scaled the steps after me.

  Dalton stood between me and the passenger side of the car.

  “I’m not talking to him. Please open my door.”

  He looked back and forth between Cole and me.

  “Dalton. The door.”

  Dalton’s eyes widened, but I nodded at the car like a woman of stature. Dalton opened the door. “Are you sure about this? He looks really mad.”

  I turned on Cole. “I’m not letting you ruin another moment of my life. You need to spend some quality time with your girlfriend before she gets really jealous and decides to kill me.”

  Cole cringed and shook his head. He bit the inside of his cheek.

  Sliding my sweater off, I revealed a low cut dress. With the sweater discarded into the small backseat, I pulled a bare leg in the passenger side of the sports car.

  Cole flinched, then trembled.

  Dalton started to shut the door.

  Cole put his hand out and intercepted, tossing Dalton a warning glance.

  Dalton stepped back.

  I pulled my door against Cole’s grip. “Dalton, go around and get in. He’s not going to stop us from leaving.”

  Dalton hopped in the driver’s seat.

  Cole leaned down into the car to talk over me. “If you so much as touch her…”

  “If you don’t let me go, I’ll have you removed from this property.” My tone was low and even.

  Cole directed a frantic, crazed look at Dalton and then slowly shook his head.

  I slammed the door.

  Cole jerked back just in time.

  “If you’d tell her the truth, it would stop a lot of this.” It sounded like Shelby behind Cole.

  “Let’s get out of here. I can’t handle another minute around him or them.” I pulled my seatbelt on.

  Dalton shoved the car into gear and pulled around the circular drive at a Grandma pace.

  Cole pulled his phone from his pocket.

  Shelby stepped up beside him.

  Cole put the phone to his ear and waited.

  After a few seconds, he slung the phone across the yard. As we rounded the tree lined drive to leave the estate, Cole retreated into the house. His waves of rage found me even after we left the confines of the property.

  I shuddered.

  “You know he’s probably going to kill me when we get back, right? You’re going to have to assure him I didn’t disrespect you in any way.” Dalton’s grip on the steering wheel loosened.

  “It’s not like you kissed me in front of him or something, or that he’d care if you had.” I relaxed in the cool leather seat.

  He shifted the car into the highest gear.

  The trees became sparser the farther away we drove, and I could finally breathe. Funny. When I’d first arrived, I’d felt like I had never really breathed until I’d been here. Now the place closed in on me.

  “He’s got a thing for you.” Dalton glanced out the rear view window.

  “He only needs me for personal reasons. There are no emotions involved.”

  “No. I’m a guy. I know when another guy is getting all bent outta shape. You got that boy twisted into a double pretzel.”

  “He’s got an effed up way of showing it.” I propped my elbow on the doorsill, staring out at the trees and forest life around us.

  Squirrels frolicked in the woods as carefree as the wind, and birds flew from the trees as we passed.

  “He’s a little awkward about stuff like that.”

  “Don’t defend him because of some guy code,” I said.

  “It’s not like that. I swear, he hasn’t had a girlfriend since I’ve known him. He’s been here since he was fifteen.” Dalton adjusted the air conditioning. “And if I were him, I’d be very concerned if you were driving off in a car with a guy like me. Just saying.”

  Despite the scene we’d just left, I grinned. “You’re that bad, huh?”

  “Well, I’m not exactly the monk of the property, like Saint Cole.”

  “Wait a minute. Not a single relationship since he was fifteen? Strapping good looks and a body that doesn’t quit. Not possible.”

  “Like I said, Cole’s not like that.”

  I covered my knees a little ashamed at the length of my skirt after hearing that. “I don’t want to talk about him. I just want the truth. Is it common knowledge that this house is haunted with a girl who thinks she’s his girlfriend?”

  He laughed. “Sure, everyone knows that. The Cole part is a coincidence, I think, but the rest everybody knows. Dead girl haunts old house. Classic story.”

  “Yeah, classic. Have you ever had the pleasure of meeting her?”

  “No. I’ve heard weird noises late at night and seen stuff move by itself, but the rest of it is the monkey on Cole’s back.” Dalton threw me a cute sidelong glance.

  “Monkey?” I shook my head.

  His sayings were so off the wall and countrified. He reminded me of my brother, minus the creepiness.

  “Yeah. It only ever bothers with Cole. I have seen him talking to her. Pretty crazy if you ask me. If I hadn’t seen it throw him backward a time or two, I’d have thought he was nuts, but I keep my mouth shut and mind my own business. I’m not allowed to tell outsiders this stuff, but you no longer qualify as an outsider considering you just inherited her.”

  “Why can’t you tell outsiders?” That was a strange thing to say.

  Dalton’s face wrinkled, and he gave me a quick look. “I’m not sure, now that you mention it. For some reason, it’s an overwhelming notion. It’s just a feeling that feels right?”

  That sentiment was all too familiar. Patchy spots in my memory had begun to plague me.

  “What sorts of things does Cole say to this ghost?”

  Dalton kept his eyes on the road. Which was probably a good thing since the speedometer read sixty mph, and we were in a forty-five. He smirked. “Thought you didn’t want to talk about him?”

  “I hate men.”

  “Okay. This one time, I heard her tell him she brought him to life each time to hear him scream in agony. How creepy is that? And another time, he was talking to the air, but he said he would never involve Annabeth. Annabeth is dead. She was—”

  “I know who she was.”

  “That’s pretty much it,” he said. Which helped me none.

  Dalton took me to a few shops in town on the coast. I window-shopped, and he gawked at a few of the shop clerks. He took me to dinner at a Mexican restaurant, and he gawked at the waitresses.

  “No wonder Cole was mad. I bet you got fifteen numbers tonight.” I laughed as we put my bags in the trunk and got back in the car
.

  “I gotta keep my pimp hand strong.” He overemphasized his joke with a thick southern drawl.

  Laughter was not something we had a lack of for the ride home.

  “So, when we get back, if you really want to light a fire under Cole’s ass, I could kiss you right in front of him. Because, I mean, that’s what going out with me was about, right? You wantin’ to make him jealous?” Dalton pulled us up to the spot-lit entrance of the house.

  My door almost came off the hinges. “Try it, and I’ll rip your leg off and beat you with it.”

  A hand reached into the car to assist me, but I hadn’t seen anyone lurking around the front of the house. Cole was either lightning fast or had waited in the bushes until we approached.

  In a trance at the sound of his voice, I almost took his hand, but stopped. Dalton’s face twisted with fear. Cole stepped back but not too far to let me pass. “Dalton, thank you for a lovely evening. Maybe we can do it again soon? And next time the mood at the end of the date might not be ruined.”

  “Do you need me for anything else, Miss Knowles?” The color had returned to Dalton’s face, but he was breathless.

  “No, thank you. Since Cole interrupted us, he can assist me into the house.”

  Dalton popped the trunk.

  “Keys.” Cole held out his hand.

  I nodded to Dalton.

  He dropped them in Cole’s hand and scurried to the safety of the entrance.

  Searching the car for my purse, a strange calm rested over me. My heart slowed, though it wanted to race against this strange urge.

  Maracas shook through the night as crickets sent out mating calls. Stars twinkled a mesmerizing light show, and the warm summer air nestled my arms. A floral scent of lavender wafted by.

  I stumbled in a dizzy turn toward Cole.

  He was so close our bodies collided. His arm scooped me up. He shut the door behind me. His eyes bore into mine. “Can we please talk now?”

  I turned my face. I needed to be furious. I stepped back, swimmy headed and too light on my feet.

  The car door and Cole had me pinned in. He took one of my elbows and then the other in a gentle grip.

  Something dug inside my brain, forcing me to meet his stare. “I’m done playing charades, Cole. A birthmark is all that holds you to me. You’re free now. You don’t have to act anymore.”

  “I don’t know what you think is going on right now, but you have this all wrong. I need you to leave this house, but I also need you to stay.” Cole’s gaze mesmerized me like a cobra, ready to strike. “It would take longer than a month to make you understand the whole truth, and even if we had that time, I can’t trust that you’d still want to be here if we did.”

  “That’s where you’ve messed up. You don’t trust me. And if you don’t trust me, you’ll lie to me. There’s no room in my life for a liar, Cole Kinsley. But wait, that’s not even your name, is it? I believe it’s your ancestor’s. Yours is probably some boring name like Jon Smith. You probably lied about your name and charmed an old woman to get a girl with a crescent moon birthmark to come out here and play guinea pig for you so you could get the family poltergeist off your back. I get selfish, but the least you could have done was ask for my help. You didn’t have to lead me on. I really thought we had something—”

  Cole jerked me against the hardness of his body, and his lips covered mine so intimately my breath got lost somewhere between my heart and my stomach.

  My legs turned to mush, and my arms dropped helplessly to my sides.

  He made me forget we existed as separate entities when he touched me. We were one inside our own universe. Our breathing synchronized, and our hearts beat together. My arms went around his neck at the same time his hands found my hair.

  He reached into my curls to pull me closer.

  My fingers slid up his neck, pulling him down to me.

  We fell back against the car, his raw masculinity sizzling on my taste buds.

  Cole scooped me up and planted me on the hood, but pulled back from me, a groan low in his throat.

  “Please don’t push me away. I miss you.” I lifted his chin.

  His eyes glowed with desire as he rushed at me.

  Hot coals of need sizzled in my stomach as the tip of his tongue caressed mine. Cole’s hands slid up my leg to my outer thigh just under the skirt, and he pulled me in closer. His hands explored my back, my stomach, and when his hand started up my shirt, he clenched his fist against my side.

  “Did I do something wrong?” Fear chilled my stomach.

  Cole shook his head, sliding his hands up both sides of my cheeks. He held my face and kissed my nose and cheeks. Then his lips were on my neck, then my collarbone. “Why can’t you hate me?”

  “Why won’t you let me love y—” I started to answer, but Cole’s hand slapped over my mouth so fast it possibly split my lip. I shoved him back, and in the same instance, he was eight feet away, his head pinched between both of his hands.

  The line of his body shifted in and out. Seconds were minutes as he lifted his head, his eyes an unnaturally bright green. He locked me into a gaze I no longer wanted to be in.

  I’d never been truly scared of him.

  Cole came at me at with inhuman speed. He tipped my chin, holding it with his thumb and forefinger. His eyes glowered fierce green in the moonlight.

  My whole body iced over with terror.

  “If you attempt to say those words to me again, I’ll wrap my hands around your throat and squeeze the life out of you.” Cole dropped my arms but didn’t break eye contact. His threat sank in.

  I choked on a sob I hadn’t meant to release.

  Cole turned and shuddered. He continued down the walk, past the house, and around the side into the darkness.

  Shaken, I barely made it to my room.

  There was no mistake. That was a death threat.

  Before he may have meant the ghost would hurt me if I remained close to him. This time, he meant what he said.

  I would have packed all my original belongings and flown home that night if I’d had the energy.

  * * * *

  The aggravatingly bright, sunny day infiltrated my room.

  The night before crept up on me.

  Cold fear sank to the pit of my stomach. Sometimes, I was sure he’d tried to scare me away from him, but last night, I was more than scared of Cole.

  It was time to go home.

  Chapter 12

  That morning, I peered over the banister railing.

  Cole held a door for someone to enter the kitchen. Before I could step back from his view, he saw me. He froze, caught in my stare.

  It reminded me so much of the dream I’d had before I’d ever received the godforsaken invitation to come to this place that I felt sick to my stomach.

  He could never measure up to my sweet dream guy.

  Cole’s gaze touched my skin. With the left over insane expression from the evening before, he was hard to read.

  I pursed my lips and crossed my arms. He’d have to look away first.

  Cole nodded once and continued into the kitchen.

  I could have throttled him and exploded into tears all in the same breath. After breakfast, I spent the day avoiding him as I planned my departure.

  I caught Thomas when I saw him ambling down the hall with a worried expression and paperwork in hand. “I’ll be making a trip home soon.”

  He almost dropped the papers.

  “I need to visit with my mother.” I needed to go back where I could breathe properly again.

  “After next week, I hope?” Thomas’s voice shook. He glanced around us and ushered me to a quiet corner.

  “No. Tonight.”

  Thomas’s eyes widened and his head lifted, making him look taller. “Well, I hope you’ve thought this through. There are things at stake here I don’t think you understand.”

  Shelby and Kaitlyn wandered through the living
room entrance. Shelby pointed to Thomas and me.

  “I don’t think I can handle any more injuries.”

  “Allie, so nice to see you up and”—Shelby paused and did an up and down inspection of me—“and looking absolutely gorgeous this morning.”

  “Wow, you do look amazing,” Kaitlyn sighed and looked toward the kitchen, then back to me.

  Thomas nodded. “We’ll talk later.”

  “That’s fine.” I was glad for his discretion.

  “Oh, no you are not.” Shelby crossed her arms and set her tongue against her cheek.

  Kaitlyn’s face drained of color.

  I walked ahead of them. There should have been laws set against mind-readers.

  “Let’s take this conversation to the library. And don’t bother with your little piece of crap radio. It doesn’t seem to work,” I thought to them.

  Both girls were quiet as we made our way to privacy.

  I shut and locked the library door.

  They both turned on me.

  “What’s going on?” they asked in sync.

  “You can’t leave yet,” Kaitlyn blasted.

  Hmm. They were frantic. Interesting.

  “I don’t want the money.” I turned from them nonchalantly. “It’s not worth the trouble.”

  One of them had gasped.

  I turned back to gauge the look on their faces.

  Kaitlyn’s jaw had to be out of socket, and Shelby drooped in defeat.

  “What you’re really saying is you don’t want Cole anymore.” Shelby poked a hand in her curvy hip.

  “I’m going to where my life isn’t threatened at almost every turn I take.” I leaned on the desk.

  “We told you we already have everything under control. You’re the one holding the wildcard here. You keep doing everything we tell you not to,” Kaitlyn said.

  “Obviously you haven’t spoken to Cole this morning. I’d say I have to worry more about being killed by him than some dumb ghost.” I shuddered at the memory.

  “You know.” Dread covered Shelby’s face.

  Kaitlyn’s eyes widened. She put her hand on her sister’s arm. “Stop running your mouth. If you used your brain for more than color coordinating your closet, then you’d know that Cole threatened to kill her last night. Not what you were thinking.”