Blood Rush (The Lost Witch Trilogy #2) (6 page)

Sarah felt confused, hurt and surprised as she moved slowly back from the doors. She hurried to the office and walked through the doors before Zane could walk in and see her spying on him. She ignored the secretary and peeked through the glass window as Zane and Charlie walked through the doors. Charlie had her hand on Zane’s arm for a moment before they separated and headed down different hallways. Sarah watched as Charlie looked back over her shoulder at Zane one last time. Sarah felt her heart stutter as she saw the expression on her face. She looked so satisfied, as if she had just gotten exactly what she wanted.

Sarah pushed through the office doors and hurried after Zane as the tardy bell sounded. Her class was down a different hallway, but she had to ask Zane what was going on. There had to be a logical explanation for the fact that he had blown off being with her for lunch and had gone somewhere with a girl that they had agreed just yesterday was possibly a witch, definitely psycho and no one they wanted to be around. Something was up.

“
Zane!”
she yelled out as he put his hand on the door knob. Zane glanced up, saw her and looked surprised. He looked at her for a moment as if he had forgotten who she was and then his eyes cleared and he grinned. He walked quickly towards her and pulled her in for a big hug.

“Wow, you look pretty today,” he said and leaned down as if to kiss her.

Sarah pulled back and Zane frowned at her in confusion. “What’s wrong? Are you mad at me?”

Sarah frowned at him and looked down at her feet. “What were you doing going to McDonald’s for lunch with Charlie?”

Zane blinked his eyes a couple times as if he couldn’t focus on the question. “Charlie?”

Sarah’s eyes narrowed as she stared up at him. “
Seriously
? You’re going to deny it?”

Zane frowned at her tone and looked away with a frown. “I’m not trying to deny anything Sarah. Yeah, um, I did have lunch with Charlie today. She’s actually really nice. I think we all kind of rushed to judgment yesterday. And there’s no way she’s a witch. You’re going to love her Sarah. I invited her to your dad’s house after school so we can hang out. You can come too. I mean, only if you want to though.”

Sarah’s mouth fell open and she shook her head, stunned speechless.

Zane looked at her expectantly and then looked confused at her reaction.

“Come on Sarah. If we’re going to live here, we need to make new friends. We’ll go crazy if we just hang out with our parents and grandparents as nice as they are. It’s called socializing. I’m giving Charlie a ride home after school. Meet me at my jeep if you want to join us,” he said with a smile. He reached out and grabbed a strand of red wavy hair between his two fingers, pulling it gently before turning and walking away from her.

Sarah swallowed a few times as the door shut behind him, leaving her completely alone in the deserted hallway.

She turned and walked slowly towards her classroom, knowing that her face was white and that she was breathing faster than normal. She glanced out the window longingly and wished with all her heart that she could just walk out of school and run somewhere, anywhere to get rid of this day. To get rid of these feelings. But instead she walked into her class room, five minutes late and apologized to her teacher. She was yelled at for a few minutes in front of everyone, but strangely wasn’t sent to the office. She made her way to the back of the class room and slumped down in a corner seat, letting her head fall into her hands. She immediately zoned out the lecture on triglycerides and ran over everything in her head over and over again.

Whichever way she looked at it, Zane was hanging out with Charlie after school. She had been invited to join them, but the invitation hadn’t seemed very sincere. Zane acted as if he was just being polite. As if he didn’t want her there intruding on his time with Charlie.

Sarah blinked and realized that a couple tears were leaking out of the sides of her eyes. She sniffed and wiped her face before anyone noticed. She stared out the window at the gray, depressing clouds and wondered what to do. Zane just wasn’t acting normal. She was going to join them whether or not Charlie or Zane wanted her there or not. Something was going on.

Chapter 6 - Kicked to the Curb

Sarah leaned up against the jeep with a bright friendly smile pasted on her face. Lash walked up to her and leaned on the jeep facing her.

“So what’s with your impression of a mannequin?” he asked with a half-smile.

Sarah let her face relax for a moment as she scanned the parking lot for Zane and Charlie.

“This is how I always look Lash. I’m just a really happy, confident kind of person,” she said looking and feeling miserable.

Sarah caught sight of Zane and Charlie and tried valiantly to smile again. It was hard though when she could tell Zane’s hand was on Charlie’s back. Her teeth started to grind together and her eyebrows came together, but her smile stayed in place.

Lash’s eyebrows rose and he turned to see what had caught her attention. “
Wow
.”

Sarah cleared her throat and tried to calm herself. “Yeah, wow is a good word for it,” she muttered.

Lash turned to face her again looking puzzled. “Something you forgot to mention to me Sarah? Like you and Zane breaking up?”

Sarah clenched her hands and looked at Lash miserably. “I’m not really sure what’s going on Lash.”

Lash slid off the jeep and moved to stand beside Sarah as Zane and Charlie reached them.

“Hey guys,” Zane said, smiling at them both.

Charlie walked more slowly towards them, her eyes glued to Sarah’s face. She had a small triumphant smile on her face. “Hi Sarah. I heard you got really mad at Zane because he took me out to lunch today. Sorry about that. We were going to invite you to join us, but I guess we forgot,” she said with a little laugh.

Sarah’s friendly smile faded into a scowl as she glared at Charlie. She couldn’t fake this. She just couldn’t. There was no way she could spend a whole afternoon in Charlie’s company trading insults. She would end up killing her or being killed.

Sarah ignored Charlie and looked up at Zane who was looking tense all of a sudden.

“Are we together or not Zane? Because if we are, I don’t want you around her. I don’t want you hanging out with her. I don’t want you associating with her. She’s a human virus.”

Zane blinked a few times and looked at his feet without saying anything. He looked like he was struggling with something. Sarah reached out and touched his arm, sending a warm flow of energy up his arm. Zane looked up and met her eyes and smiled at her. Sarah sighed in relief. Everything was fine. No way would Zane want to be with Charlie.

Charlie walked up to Zane and put her arm around his waist, looking up into his eyes.

“Zane, let’s get going. I think we both know you’ve wasted enough of your time on girls who are too possessive, too boring and let’s be honest, just too plain. Let’s get out of here and go have some fun.”

Sarah’s mouth fell open at the insult and the lack of response from Zane.

“Are you going to stand there and just let her say that crap to me?” she whispered.

Zane cleared his throat and shook his head. Charlie moved in front of Sarah, blocking her from Zane and took his face in both her hands, looking straight into his eyes.

“Zane, let’s go.
Now
.”

Zane took Charlie’s hands from his face and then slowly brought them to his lips, kissing her knuckles.

Sarah felt as if a knife had just pierced her heart, the pain was so intense. Zane took Charlie’s hand and walked her around the jeep and opened the door for her.

Sarah looked away, trying to breathe and realized that Lash was still standing beside her.

“Come on Sarah, let’s go,” he said quietly, putting his arm around her shoulders and leading her gently away from the bright silver jeep.

Sarah blinked a few times and focused on breathing as they walked out of the parking lot and down the side walk. Lash led her to a coffee shop and opened the door, pushing her inside. He walked her to a table and pulled out a chair for her. She sat down heavily, staring down at the table. She had just got dumped. Not just dumped, but dumped
hard
.

A few minutes later, Lash reappeared with donuts and hot chocolate.

“Here, drink something and eat a donut. You’ve had a shock,” he said kindly.

Sarah couldn’t look at Lash. He’d seen and heard everything. He’d been an eyewitness to her humiliation.

“I guess Zane was madder than I thought about catching us holding hands last night,” he said wonderingly.

Sarah raised her head to look at him. Lash looked surprised and happy.

“
What?
You think he dumped me just now because of
you
? Because he was jealous or something?” she asked hesitantly.

Lash nodded his head and then took a sip of his chocolate. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. Charlie is a witch, and I don’t mean the type you are. She’s flat out mean as a snake, cold and vicious. No one would willingly want to hang out with her. I mean, she’s cute and all, but who in their right mind would want that kind of drama? Nah, Zane’s just mad. He’s trying to pay you back or hurt you because he knows you have feelings for me,” he said and then looked at her, his blue eyes, shining brightly.

Sarah looked away, and bit her lip. She didn’t know what to believe or what to think. She just knew her heart was breaking and she hurt.

“I don’t know Lash. I think something else is going on. Zane’s known from the start that I care about you. He made his peace with that weeks ago.”

Lash snorted and shook his head, grabbing her hand in his. “Sarah, didn’t you see his face last night? He wanted to kill me. Or you. But he definitely wanted to kill one of us. I think he reached his breaking point and just broke. Don’t worry, he’ll cool down one of these days,” he said, letting her hand go.

Sarah picked up her hot chocolate and let the warmth seep into her hands, wishing for the warmth that only Zane could give her.

“You’re better off without him Sarah. A guy that gets mad at you and then tries to hurt you like that the next day is someone you do not need.”

Sarah sighed and ran her hands through her long red hair and wished she was back in Pennsylvania so she could go running through her woods. She had to work this out of her system or she was going to implode.

“Let’s not talk about it anymore Lash. I just . . . I just want to sit here with you for a moment, if that’s okay,” she said, her voice trembling only slightly.

Lash nodded and then stood up, pulling his chair next to hers. He sat down and put his arm around her shoulder. Sarah leaned her head against Lash’s chest and let him hold her like that until her heart slowed down and she was able to breathe again. Lash leaned his cheek against her head and even though Lash could never give her the warmth Zane could, she felt comforted.

“Thanks Lash. Thanks for being there for me today and for being a good friend,” she whispered, pulling away and looking up into his face.

Lash’s serious, blue eyes looked deep into hers as he shook his head. “I’m not your friend Sarah.”

Sarah pulled back further, feeling confused. “Why would you say that?”

Lash reached over and traced her lips with his finger. “Because you know what I feel for you goes way beyond friendship Sarah. I’m sorry you’re hurt and you’re sad, but I can’t lie and say that I’m not happy it happened. Now maybe you’ll make room in your heart for me,” he said quietly, tilting her face up with his hand. Their faces were so close together, all Lash would have to do is move an inch and he’d be kissing her.

Sarah cleared her throat and looked away. “Lash, you’re going to have to give me a second to catch my breath. Just fifteen minutes ago, I was dumped. You’re going to have to give me at least five minutes to process everything.”

Lash grinned in delight. “I can work with that schedule.”

Sarah surprised herself and laughed a little. “I was being sarcastic.”

Lash’s smile faded as he studied her face. “You’ve only been dating him for a little while. I understand you’re hurt and sad but it’s not like you were married for ten years with three kids. How long do you think you’ll need to process before you’re ready to let it go?”

Sarah sighed and picked up her hot chocolate and took a long sip, appreciating the heat and sugar.

“I don’t know. I know that it’s not fair to you either. Lash, you deserve more than to be some rebound. You’re not second choice or second best or anything. I think you should start dating. I saw you talking to a really cute girl at lunch. Maybe you should ask her out? Because honestly, I don’t know. And I don’t want to jump from Zane to you, just for the sake of being with someone.”

“I’m totally fine with you using me for revenge,” he said with a hopeful grin.

Sarah gave up and smiled as she shook her head at Lash. “That’s not fair to you. I don’t want to be with you and be thinking of him and what he’s doing and why did he dump me, blah, blah, blah,” she said miserably as Lash’s face grew harder and his eyes narrowed.

Lash sat up straighter and took a sip of his own hot chocolate. Even though he had pulled away from her, his arm was still around the back of her chair and he was playing with her hair. He looked back at her as he reached up and wrapped her hair around his hand and wrist. Sarah studied him quietly, not saying anything. Her hair was long enough that being wrapped around his hand didn’t pull on her or hurt.

“I’m not a rebound Sarah. He was just a mistake. This is you making things right. And when you’re with me, there’s no way you’ll be able to think about him. You’ll be way to busy being blissfully, completely happy,” he said, letting her hair slowly unwind from his hand.

Sarah shook her head as she smiled at his cockiness. “You’re something else Lash. Give me some time.
Please
.”

Lash glared at her for a moment but then relaxed and smiled. “What am I doing? You’re free and soon you’ll be mine. I can be patient. Come on, let’s walk over to your dad’s office and I’ll borrow his car and drive you home.”