Phantoms of Fall (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 2)

by Joy Elbel

  “I don’t know—I’ve never seen him like this before.” Worry clouded her face making me feel even more helpless. If his twin sister didn’t have a clue, no one did. With one more promise to text her later, I left Rachel and walked to the car in a daze.

  4. Leaves Me Speechless

  We were barely outside of the gates to Cedar Lane when Zach snapped out of his rage. He pulled the car to the side of the road and threw his arms around me.

  “Oh, Ruby,” he whispered into my ear. “Ruby, are you okay?” I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to catch you before you fell in.”

  In all of the confusion, I almost forgot. I didn’t fall into the pool—I was pushed. “Misty pushed me in!” I blurted out. “That rotten bitch pushed me in!”

  “She did? Everyone said you lost your balance and fell. Are you sure that’s what happened?” Zach turned his eyes to mine and I saw doubt in them. I could tell him that I was being brutalized by a ghost and he would believe me 100%. But this, this he doubted?

  “Yes,” I said vehemently, “I bent over to pick up one of the soda cans and got too close to the pool. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I thought someone was helping me up. When I reached out, she shoved me in.” He had to believe me—he just had to.

  “I’m sorry—I didn’t know. I should have asked you what happened.” There was sorrow in his eyes as he realized that he abandoned me when I needed him the most.

  “That’s right—you should have!” I fought hard against the tears welling in my eyes but obviously not hard enough because they escaped leaving a trail down my face.

  “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” He repeated the phrase over and over again. “How can I make this up to you? Please tell me, I’ll do anything for you—anything!”

  What did I want him to do? What I most wanted was to turn back the hands of time to that afternoon, to the glorious day we spent at The Hideout talking and kissing. I knew that was impossible and I wasn’t sure it could ever be possible again. But at least we could try.

  “Take me home—I need to change my clothes—then take me to The Hideout. I want to be alone with you.” Bad things didn’t happen when we were alone. We never fought when we were alone.

  “Anything you want, Ruby, anything to make you happy.” He pulled the car back out onto the road and said nothing more.

  Once we got to The Hideout, I realized he was still wearing the same clothes he was wearing when he jumped into the pool to rescue me. “Zach, you should really go home and change first—you’re going to freeze.” While the days were still hot, the nights had started to take on the chill of fall.

  “I’m fine—I needed to cool off anyway,” he laughed awkwardly, like he wasn’t sure I would find his joke funny. I didn’t laugh. “Yeah…about that.…” I didn’t know where to start. I never had to have a conversation like that with anyone. I didn’t want to say the wrong thing. He behaved like a monster, but I still loved him. Some girls would have been impressed by a guy getting into fights over her, but not me. He had to know I wasn’t cool with his behavior. Not cool at all.

  “Go ahead—let me have it. Tell me what a jerk I am!

  Tell me I’m the worst boyfriend in the world. Just please, please give me a chance to make this up to you. I can’t live without you, Ruby.” The desperate pleading in his voice almost stopped me in my tracks, almost made me change my mind and tell him all was forgiven. But I had to stand my ground with him—this had to be the last time he lost all control like that.

  “Why didn’t you tell me it was a pool party? Why didn’t you tell me every other girl there would be in a swimsuit?” I could tell by his reaction that whatever he thought I was going to say, that certainly wasn’t it.

  “Chloe was dressed like you….” he answered quietly. “Zach, you know what I mean! Tell me why.” I was pretty sure I knew the answer already but I needed him to say it.

  “I didn’t tell you about the pool because I figured if you knew, you wouldn’t want to go. But I wanted everyone to see us together, so they would know you were mine. I never thought you would fall in, honest I didn’t.”

  “What about my second question?” I wasn’t going to go easy on him. He fell back onto the grass and stared at the sky. “I didn’t want the other guys to see you dressed like that. Ryan was all over you as it was—I can’t even imagine what would have happened if he’d seen you in a bikini.”

  Ryan was all over me? He offered a couple of crude comments but that was all. Zach was reading between the lines—lines I wasn’t even sure were there in the first place.

  “He wasn’t all over me. He never even touched me.” “But I knew what he was thinking. You’re too special to be treated like a piece of meat.”

  “And you’re not?” Misty wanted him as much if not more than Ryan wanted me.

  “What do you mean?” “Misty can say the same basic things to you and you expect me to just blow it off. She even touched you at Open House and I wasn’t supposed to be mad.” I could hear the anger growing in my voice. I was about to be handed the double standard—I could just feel it. I was prepared to hand it right back.

  “Yeah, but that’s different,” he said with confidence. “No, it’s the same thing! If I punched Misty in the teeth, you would wonder what was wrong with me! Why is it okay for you but not for me?”

  “Guys are different—they just are. I’m supposed to protect you.” I could see that line of questioning was going nowhere. “But you lost control Zach. You went too far! You sat there and promised me it would never happen again and then you went after him a few minutes later.” I couldn’t look him in the eyes when I said, “How can I trust you won’t do it again?”

  Zach sat up and reached for my hand. Placing it squarely over his heart, he said, “Feel that Ruby. The only thing in my heart is you. I’ll do anything for you, anything. All I want is for you to love me, to trust me. Give me another chance. Just don’t leave me now.” His face was painted with guilt as he begged and pleaded for me not to break up with him.

  “I never wanted to break up with you—I love you, Zach.” I was about to follow that with a “but”, but he didn’t give me a chance. The words were barely out of my mouth when he pulled me in for the most intense kiss we ever shared—and that was saying a lot. Needless to say, I forgot was I was going to say.

  I lost myself in him, wondering if this was it. Was this the night we would take the next step? We generated so much heat I was surprised that steam didn’t rise from his wet clothes. As he gently lowered me to the ground, my heart tripled in beats. This was it and I was ready.

  I held my breath as his lips left mine and started to trail their way down my neck. I forgot all about the party and how mad I was at him. All I wanted was for him to get closer to me than he’d ever been. But no sooner did he start than he was pulling me back up to sit beside him.

  “I need to get you home, Ruby. It’s getting late,” he said glancing at his watch. “If we head out right now, I’ll get you home just before curfew.”

  Screw curfew! I wanted to shout it right in his face and drag him back down to the ground. But I didn’t. I stood up and took his hand as we walked back to the car.

  Once we were back at Rosewood, he gave me a quick kiss as he headed to his own car. That was it? One quick kiss and he was gone? I turned to enter the house, frustrated and confused.

  “Hey, Ruby!” he called and I turned around anxiously, expecting him to sweep me off my feet with the mother of all kisses. “You forgot something.” He tossed me the keys to my car, winked, and drove away.

  Men! Did they ever make any sense?

  5. La La La…I can’t hear you!

  I got into bed but I was nowhere even close to sleep. It was such a strange night that I lay there and petted Coco as I tried to wrap my brain around everything that happened— Zach’s meltdown at the party, Misty pushing me into the pool, our steamy moments at The Hideout. One minute he was kissing me and working his way toward something more and the next he wa
s taking me home. He lost all control at the party but he had his hormones clearly in check when it came to me. I knew he loved me, why didn’t he want to do more than just kiss me?

  We needed to talk about it but I didn’t know how to approach the subject. I wanted him to know that I was ready—ready to lose my virginity to him. Zach was so romantic—I knew it would be the most perfect night of my life. But I didn’t want to make the first move because it just felt wrong. He should be the one to set the pace, right? He was a boy for crying out loud! Of course I wanted him to be respectful and slow down if I asked him to, but really shouldn’t he at least be trying to get more?

  He must be made of steel if he could resist the urge to go further. But I definitely wasn’t. No one ever made me as hot and crazy as he did. Things were so much easier over the summer because at least then I knew the reason why he wasn’t going for it. How much more of this could I take before I exploded? Where were the ghosts when I needed them? I should bite my tongue for even thinking such a thought. Still, in a lot of ways, things were easier when I was being haunted. We had something to focus on besides each other. But now Scarlet and Levi were gone and I knew they weren’t coming back. Ghosts were the last thing Zach and I would ever have to worry about.

  Sleep evaded me until late into the night so I wasn’t surprised to open my eyes and find that I slept way past noon. Zach would be busy for most of the afternoon but Rachel would be here soon. Today was her first day of working with Shelly to start making plans for how to decorate the spare rooms. Shelly hoped to have the murder mystery bed and breakfast up and running by spring and there was a lot of work to be done. But since it was Rachel’s first day, I figured I could squeeze in a little time to talk to her about last night.

  By the time I finished getting showered and dressed, Rachel was already hard at work. I found her and Shelly in one of the rooms discussing color schemes so I slipped away before they saw me. Shelly and Dad loved Zach—I couldn’t let them find out about his fits of rage at the party. The last thing I needed was for them to change their minds about him. So I sent Rachel a text telling her that we needed to talk. I forgot to text her last night so I knew she would be curious to see how things went. The minute Shelly left her alone, she replied for me to join her.

  “You didn’t text me last night—I was worried about you,” she scolded, “And Zach, too, of course. But when I got home around 12:30 he was already in bed sleeping so I figured everything must have turned out okay.”

  How could he possibly fall asleep that fast? I lay awake for hours in a hormone induced haze while he apparently slept like a baby. Maybe I just didn’t have the same effect on him that he had on me. Could that be why he wasn’t making any effort to sleep with me? I thought talking to Rachel would make me feel better, but suddenly my selfesteem was in the toilet.

  “Yeah, we talked about it a little. And then we kissed and made up.” Could Rachel hear the sadness in my voice? I certainly could.

  “Just kissed?” she teased, “You aren’t holding back any juicy details now, are you Ruby?” “No. No juicy details to withhold. All we did was kiss.” All we ever did was kiss. I almost asked for her opinion but I changed my mind—he was her brother after all. Being best friends with his sister used to work to my advantage but that wasn’t always true anymore. Sharing intimate details of our relationship—or lack thereof—didn’t seem appropriate now. It was okay when we couldn’t do anything but just plain weird now that he wouldn’t. Time to change the subject.

  “So I didn’t exactly fall into the pool last night—Misty pushed me in.” Rachel would forget all about my non-existent sex life after hearing that.

  “Shut up!! She didn’t! I knew she would be pissed about you and Zach but I never thought she would go that far!” Wallpaper samples fell from her hand and fluttered to the floor. “What are you going to do about her?”

  Good question. What was I going to do about Misty? What was I going to do about any of my problems? My senior year was going to suck big time.

  “I don’t know Rachel. Zach thinks I should just ignore her, but how can I? She wants to hook her talons into my man!” I thought about it for a minute and then added, “What would you do?”

  Rachel twirled her hair between her fingers and thought about it for a while. “I guess I would just show her how much you love each other, you know, pretend like she doesn’t exist. You do know my brother would never cheat on you or anything, right?”

  “Yeah, I know.” But it grinded every one of my gears to know that he’d gone further with Misty than he had with me. That was something Misty could never find out.

  “Cheer up, Ruby. Things will work out for you two, I just know it. Zach’s clearly head over heels for you and in the end, that’s all you really need.”

  She was right. We survived a wretched summer and came out of it stronger than ever. If I could handle a vengeful ghost, I could certainly handle a jealous harpy of a cheerleader.

  “Thanks, Rachel. I guess I better let you get back to work now.”

  “Okay,” she said as she gathered the samples from the floor, “If you need to talk, though, I’m here for you.” I smiled and nodded my head as I left the room. With several hours to wait until Zach would be done at the shelter, I needed something to do. But what? Reading was an option, so I picked up the next book in the Cinnamon Jones mystery series. Shelly was an excellent writer but after only three pages I put it back down. I was full of energy—simply fueled by anger toward Misty and pent-up frustration over my relationship with Zach. I needed to go for a walk.

  I had no idea where I was going, but I threw on some sneakers, grabbed my phone and walked out of the mansion. It wasn’t until I was half way there that I realized I was heading to the mausoleum. It didn’t hold the same terror for me that it used to, so when I got there I sat down on the steps fearlessly.

  Why did I come here? As I pondered that question, I felt the vibration of my phone in my pocket. Pulling it out, I saw that I had a new text from Zach.

  “Almost done—can I c u 2nite?” Quickly, I messaged him back. “Yes—wanna do s’thin special 2nite?” I hoped he would read between the lines and know what I meant by the word “special”. I leaned back against the steps and waited for his reply.

  “Everything we do together is special.” Dammit! The gentleman act was starting to wear a little thin. Did he have no hormones whatsoever? Or was I the abnormal one? My phone vibrated again. Maybe he finally got the hint I dropped. I checked the message excitedly.

  “Rita wants u 2 stop by. Says it’s important. Luv u!” Rita Darcangelo. She helped us deal with the spirits that were haunting Rosewood. Without her help, I would probably still be getting attacked by Scarlet—if I were still alive at all, that is. I owed her a lot, but what could she possibly want from me now? It couldn’t be money—when Dad learned of the assistance she gave me, he offered to pay her but she declined. The last time I saw her she was staring at the destruction Scarlet caused with a troubled look on her face. At the time, I figured she was just disappointed in me because she thought I disobeyed her instructions. She warned Zach and me that the energy we had together was nothing but fuel for the ghosts. No kissing and definitely no sex—those were the rules and we followed them. Maybe she just wanted to check up on me, see that everything was still good here. Yes, that had to be all it was.

  Since I still had time to kill, I decided to go put Rita’s mind at ease. I returned to the house, grabbed my keys, and let Shelly know where I was going. It was my first solo outing behind the wheel and I was a little nervous as I pulled out of the drive. But once I was cruising down the road, I was overcome with a sense of freedom. Nothing could stop me now. Nothing.

  Zach taught me well, but I was still relieved to find two open spots in front of Rita’s candle shop, Something Wick-ed. I pulled straight in instead of parallel parking and climbed out onto the sidewalk. I didn’t hesitate a second about coming to see her. Until now. Now I was inexplicably nervous—like
I was about to take a huge calculus test I didn’t study for. If she hadn’t been placing a “Help Wanted” sign in the window as I approached, I just might have run for it. But she saw me instantly and opened the door before I could even place my hand on the handle.

  “Ruby, you got my message! Thanks for coming.” She was as friendly as ever, however an air of concern seeped into her words. And concern from someone like Rita was, well, concerning me.

  There were no customers in the store and as I stepped inside, she turned the sign from “open” to “closed”. The trepidation I felt on the sidewalk just turned to full blown fear. According to the hours posted in the window, the shop should have been open for another two hours. What could she possibly want with me?

  “Let’s have a seat in my office. We need to talk.” We need to talk. The four most feared words in the English language. That was how you prefaced breakups or breaking the news about someone’s death. And since neither of those applied to Rita and me, I had no idea what she was about to lay on me. All I knew was that it couldn’t be something good.

  Rita sat down in her black leather office chair and I took a seat across the desk from her. There was still a cheerful smile on her face but I could sense something bad lurking behind it.

  “So Ruby, can we talk about what happened last week?” She leaned forward on the desk, chin propped on her hands. It suddenly felt like I was in a psychiatrist’s office, like she was about to silently scrutinize every one of my words and facial expressions.

  “Sure, but I think I already told you everything that happened that night. What else do you want to know?” I tried to remain calm but I could feel my defenses slowly building. She never made me feel anxious before—why now?

  “Did you see anything? At any point during the haunting did you actually see any of the ghosts?” The tone of her voice was intense and I didn’t know what to make of it.