Evanescent (3 page)

She lets out a little laugh with her chest
crushing against me until I feel every flawless curve.

“That’s what I like best about you, Coop.
You’re nothing but a perfect gentleman.” Her porcelain skin glows
under the dim light slicing through the pantry.

I don’t always plan on being a perfect
gentleman with Laken, but I don’t say it. And I don’t mind at all
if she heard.

Laken lays her cheek against my chest and
closes her eyes a moment. Her hand travels down my spine so
achingly slow it takes everything in me not to groan.

“We’d better get back out there,” she
whispers. “I have a feeling it’s time for me to start on that
‘homework.’”

I peer out the door and find the kitchen
empty, so I usher us back out to the party. I let Laken ditch into
the crowd a minute before making my way out the carnal gate.

Fallon has her top off and she’s dancing
full throttle in her black lace bra as if Flynn weren’t uploading
it to YouTube right this very minute.

“Coop!” Laken barrels through the crowd and
lunges into me.

“Hey!” I stumble backward before catching my
footing. “Can’t get enough, huh?” I grin as I catch her by the
waist.

Her face contorts in horror, her eyes wide
with fright.

“What the hell’s going on?” I pull her in
with total disregard as to who might be watching. “You look like
you just saw a ghost.”

“Laken!” Jen appears and spins her sister
out of my arms. “You are amazingly rude. Do you know that? I was
right in the middle of introducing you to your new house sister!
What’s the matter with you? It’s like your hormones are on
overdrive and you can’t control it for one freaking minute. And
with Cooper? Really? You have no shame, Laken.” Jen turns to me.
“No offense, Coop, but she has a boyfriend.”

“I’ve been told.” Twice tonight, to be
exact.

I look past Jen at an all too familiar
blonde with her hair curled under her ears and a crooked smile that
holds more than its fair share of secrets.

Shit.

She comes up on us, and Jen pulls her
in.

“Hattie, this is my sister Laken and her
friend,
Cooper Flanders. Cooper is Ephemeral’s star football
player.” She throws in the promo like she’s ready to auction me off
to the questionable girl standing before us—questionable because
I’m pretty damn sure she’s not human.

“Hattie Tobias.” Her eyes widen an eerie
shade of black, no pupil, just one dark unnatural circle. She
shakes Laken’s hand and nods over in my direction as if formal
introductions to the dead were a regular occurrence—and knowing
Ephemeral, they just might be.

Jen clears her throat. “It looks like I’m
going to score the den mother’s room in the basement.” She beams.
“It hasn’t been used in years, but rumor has it, its huge in
comparison to the rat-hole they have us trapped in. No offence to
Austen House.” She dips when she says it. “Anyway, she’ll be your
new roommate as soon I clean it out. In the meantime, she’s bunking
with Carter and Fallon.” Jen flips her blonde mane as if to
punctuate her point. But I can’t take my eyes off Hattie, haunting
us here, live and in the flesh.

Wesley struts up like he owns the place—like
he owns Laken and wraps an arm around her while pressing a kiss
against her cheek. He glares over at me a moment before spinning
her into him. “You ready to blow this Popsicle stand?”

“You bet.” Laken looks over at Hattie,
filled with suspicion.

Jen dissolves into the crowd, and an awkward
silence crops up in our circle.

Laken offers a forlorn smile before perking
to life again.

“Catch you later, Coop.” She pulls her cheek
back with a dissatisfied look as if she were speaking in
code—telling me she’d rather eat a plate full of greasy worms than
hang out with Wes Paxton. But I know that’s just wishful thinking.
Laken loves Wes—even if I wished she didn’t.

“Later man.” He socks me in the arm before
pulling me in. “There’s a bowlful of condoms under the bathroom
sink. Help yourself, bro.” He nods over to Hattie. “Have fun.”

Have fun.

I watch as Wes escorts Laken right out the
front door. You’d think he were rushing her out of a burning
building the way he manhandled her to the exit. He’s partially
right. Something is definitely burning between Laken and me, and
it’s very damn real.

“So what are you doing here, Hattie?” I ask
my long-dead friend. “And where’s your other half?”

“Other half?” She cuts her dark eyes over
the vicinity. Hattie takes in the modern day teen population as
they lose it to the music blaring over the speakers. You would
think an orgy were about to break out the way some of the girls
just went into full throttle stripper mode. “You want to know why
I’m here? Don’t you?” She gives a placid smile as if it were
rehearsed, as if she had only heard of the concept, and initiating
it took great effort.

“I’ll bite.” Not Hattie though. You couldn’t
pay me to touch my mouth to any part of her body or her evil twin
circa 1953. Wes can take his
bowlful of condoms
and shove
them up his ass.

“I’m here to do what you could never hope
to.”

“What’s that?”

“Find my family.”

Wesley

The stars cloak themselves with a thin veil
of fog as Laken and I drive the last leg to Charity Lake. I took my
own advice and armed myself with a handful of rubbers. Of course,
that was earlier before I ever mentioned it to Coop. Not that I
plan on needing a prophylactic defense strategy—quite the opposite.
I’m still committed to the fact she should at least be able to
remember my name, or that of her father, before we actually employ
the services of a penile missile shield. But lately, when I’m
around Laken, I want to go there. I’m weak, and if Laken is
willing, I don’t stand a chance.

My mind bounces back to Coop.

I tighten my hands around the wheel and
pretend it’s his neck.

As soon as I saw Laken run into his arms, I
wanted to head over and beat the living shit out of him.

Laken shifts her body into mine and I pony
up a little smile. Laken is a work of art. I can’t blame Coop for
admiring her God-given ability to outshine every girl in the room,
but it’s another thing to have her running to him like he’s some
savior in blue jeans.

“So anything exciting happen before I got
there?” I try to make it sound light, but really I want her to tell
me what sent her flying to Flanders like they were magnets you
couldn’t pull apart if you tried. And that’s exactly what I’m
afraid I’ll discover.

“There’s a new student.” Laken sits up, and
her sweater slips off her shoulder. She didn’t bring a jacket. I
promised to keep her plenty warm, but I like the direction her
clothes are headed.

“The blonde?” I try to sound casual. “Coop
looked like he was into her.”

Laken smirks into her reflection.

Shit. Laken’s the one that’s into him.

A hot stone settles in the pit of my
stomach.

I’d better cut Flanders out of the
conversation before he gets too far into her head. The only thing I
want her to focus on is us
,
as in Laken and me. Just the
thought sends a surge of adrenaline through my veins.

I park as close to the lake as possible and
reach for the blanket in the backseat. I come around and help her
out, slipping an arm around her waist. I’ve been preparing for an
emergency of the sexual variety with Laken ever since we exchanged
I love yous
. Speaking of which…

“How’s your memory?” I know for a fact it’s
still in the shitter because she couldn’t remember her own father’s
name at the meeting tonight.

“Crappy.” She gives my hand a squeeze. Her
honey-colored hair sweeps down her back in waves, soft as silk, and
it calls for me to bury myself in it.

My boxers tick to life, and I hope to God
Laken is up for letting me bury myself in places that are specific
to her anatomy.

“Is this our spot?” She dances us over to
where the willow trees meet up with the sand.

“Every spot on the planet is our spot.” I
press my lips over hers and keep them there until she pulls
away.

“Speaking of the planet and normal earthly
things…” She bites down on her lip as if unsure how to proceed.
“That was pretty wild tonight.”

The slaughter, she carried out, comes back
to me in snatches.

“You were pretty wild tonight.” I lie the
blanket down and pull her to the ground with me. Her hair whips
over my face in an erotic display of innocence—like a thousand
silken leashes. Laken can tether my body with her hair anytime
she’d like.

I have a feeling she’s about to turn this
into another slaughter, the one in which I let her sexually
decimate me. I give a lazy grin as I roll on top of her.

“Remind me to never get on your bad side,” I
say. “You swing a wicked sickle.”

“You couldn’t get on my bad side if you
tried, Wesley Parker.” She seals it with a kiss, her tongue roaming
sweetly over mine until she pulls back, embarrassed by her
gaff.

“I meant, Paxton.” She shakes her head in
frustration. “This crazy night has me all mixed up, sorry.” She
lets out a breath, and a river of fog escapes from her lips. “I
think I’m getting better though. I’ve had some memories of Jen and
me when we were little.”

“Was she pulling your hair?” I brush my lips
over her cheek. I’m not all that interested in dragging Jen into
our private time, but if it helps her remember, then I say bring
it.

“No, she was trying on clothes. We were
shopping at the mall.”

“Sounds exciting.” I get up on my elbow and
admire her like this, with the moon sprinkling down its ethereal
benediction over her. Laken is fluid and sparkling in this murky,
post midnight, world—a tonic of the gods, the finest champagne.

She interlaces our fingers and brings my
hand to her lips.

Laken’s coming back to me in pieces—she’s
just about there. I don’t see what’s stopping us from taking our
relationship to the next level.

Her mouth rounds out with surprise, and I
cover it with my own before another memory of Jen or, God forbid,
Fletch surfaces and deflates my budding hard-on. Fletch would have
my balls on a skewer if he knew the moves I was dying to try out
with his sister. But this isn’t just anybody’s sister, this is
Laken
—my Laken. The one I’ve wanted for as long as I can
remember. I’ve sunk us in a thousand indecent dreams, and now
tonight, after watching her swim through blood like some bona fide
Countenance princess, I’m ready and willing to make each one of
those fantasies come true.

Laken lets out a moan as my body writhes
over hers. The iced breeze is just enough to give me pause before
disrobing us both in a fury.

“It’s kind of cold, don’t you think?” She
blows the words into my ear, and my stomach clenches.

Shit.

“You’re right,” I say, doubling the blanket
over us, creating a tent that leaves us oven-hot in more ways than
one.

Laken pulls me in by the neck and delivers a
mind-blowing kiss that stretches out for mile after hypnotic mile.
She wants this, Laken wants me, and the idea sends my testosterone
rising. I run my hands up her sweater and glide past her sculpted
ribs, stopping just shy of her bra.

An image of Cooper bounces through her mind
and freezes me solid.

What the fuck?

“You okay?” I dot her nose with a kiss and
examine her through the filtered light.

Her lips twitch. “Of course I’m okay.” She
pulls me back down to a kiss. “I’m with
you
, so everything
is right in the world.”

God, I hope Coop is getting it on with
that girl.
The thought thumps through her head, and I don’t
mind one bit listening in.
The way he keeps hitting on me is
really starting to piss me off. I wish he could see me with Wes—see
how happy I am with him. I’d mention it to Wes, but I’m not in the
mood to ruin the moment with “Coop the Stalker.”

Coop the Stalker—a dull laugh rattles from
my chest.

Laken and I indulge in a heated liplock that
could set the world on fire. I wish it would. I wish the world
would burn to ashes if it meant Laken and I never had to let go of
one another.

I’m glad about Coop—glad that Laken isn’t
trying to procure him for herself. If she was, I might have to
arrange an accident for Flanders—one of the permanent variety.

My hands slip into her jeans. I round out to
the front and unhook her button. Her zipper slides down without any
effort as if I willed it to happen—as if
she
did.

“Um…” She scoots back letting me know I’ve
crossed a line. I’m pretty sure my dick can pack it up for the
night.

“I’m sorry.” I pick up her hand and bury a
kiss in her palm. It feels soft, foreign. I like the way it
conforms to my lips. It makes me curious as to what her other parts
might feel like—and what I wouldn’t do to find out. “You’re not
ready.”

“No, no.” She pulls me back down over her.
“I am ready.” It comes out a little too eager. “Just not tonight,
not like this.” She plucks at the sand with her fingers. “I want
our first time to be special. I want us to have all night with
nowhere to go.” She runs her thumb over my chin. “I want to wake up
next to you in the morning and do it all over again.”

My muscles seize. Everything in me aches to
have her.

“I love you, Laken Anderson.” I crash my
lips over hers and deliver a serious tongue-lashing born of love.
How I wouldn’t like to lash the rest of her, inch-by-inch, so
painfully slow I’d explode from the effort.

Cooper blinks through her mind again. She
envisions his lonely face, those drawn out eyes that have every
girl on campus dropping to their knees.

He’s in her head again.

Looks like I need to put an end to this
before he crawls down into her heart.