Gargoyle: A Reawakening (Briarcliff Series, #2) (7 page)

“
Ohmigod
yes
!” she practically yelled and then
tried to pull back some of her over the top enthusiasm. She didn’t
want him to think she was a complete weirdo, since he probably
already thought she was a borderline one from her gargoyle
fascination.

Barnaby smiled wider, making the corners of
his eyes crinkle. “Sure no problem, but… do you mind if I borrow
your wheels again?”

“
Oh sure—no problem,” she
said. Hell, he fixed her window. “Of course you can,” she reassured
him.

“
Sweet,” he said, sounding
relieved.

She glanced down at herself almost
forgetting that she needed to shower and change. “Hey,” she said
and touched his arm.

His eyes flickered down to
her hand. “Ah…” her mind went blank for a sec. And then she
remembered what she wanted to say. “Can you…” she pulled back her
hand. “ I mean, would you
mind,
dropping me at my place instead and then you can
fill me in later?” she asked, suddenly feeling like a giant user
even though he was using her car. Truth was she hated driving down
the mountain, or up the mountain. And she definitely didn’t want to
talk to Barnaby’s mother. She kind of freaked Evie out. Especially
since she was sure his mom knew she was eavesdropping the other day
at the coffee house when she was talking to Kingston’s mom. She
made a face and plucked at her dirty clothes. “I
really
need to shower
and change for tonight.”

“
I think you look great.”
He stepped on a leaf, crushing it underfoot and then flicked his
gaze away from her, like he couldn’t believe he had just said
that.

His face looked a little red. Evie felt like
hers was on fire. “Aw, thanks, you’re so nice,” she said in a pitch
too high, trying ease the awkwardness.

“
Okay, give me a minute so
I can drop this off,” he said, angling his head to the cart behind
him. “And then we can take off, ‘kay?”

“
Yeah, okay. I gotta let
Moriah know I’m leaving anyway so she doesn’t have heart failure,”
she said, giving him another small smile. “I’ll meet you back here
in a few?”

“
Sure.” He gave her another
lopsided grin. “See you in a couple.”

“
See you.” She watched him
walk away. He stopped and fist-bumped one of the guys. The
freaky-cool girl slid over to Barnaby and wrapped her arms around
his neck, giving him a big boob-squishing hug. He easily lifted her
off the ground and swung her around, making the muscles in his arms
bulge.

Evie gawked at him.
Wow.
He was strong and
kind-of hot. How did she never notice before? She pulled her eyes
away, not sure, where that had come from. “
I need a drink.
” Apparently being
sober wasn’t working out too well for her today. She walked away to
find Moriah.

MEMORIES

SATURDAY * 4:17 PM

The stone façade of the mansion was rough
under his hands as he clung to its side. Four- legged beasts hung
above, their massive bodies frozen in time. They were much bigger
now than he remembered. “Oh come on,” he groaned angrily. “Really?”
he asked, looking up, seeking answers.

None came.

He didn’t know what he
expected.

Sighing heavily, he climbed higher until he
was almost at the top. Full-bellied clouds pressed down upon his
head. If he lifted out his hand, he could touch them. It would be
pointless. They were just another illusion, to taunt, to
torment.

Penance was a bitch…

…
and then there was the
girl named Evie. As soon as an image of her face formed in his
mind, it felt like a ton of bricks dropped from the heavens on top
of his head, breaking his grip.

“
Oh
Hell
!” Frantically he tried to grab hold
of anything to slow his descent but his hands kept coming up empty.
Stones ripped away at the skin on his hands, arms, and stomach as
he continued to slide at an alarming rate.

He may be a lot of things but indestructible
was not one of them. He could manage fifty feet in this state on a
good day but he was already weakened from his fight last night—but
a straight drop from eighty…well…that was pushing his luck. His
body continued to slide, ripping off more pieces of his flesh, the
ground quickly coming into focus. Using every bit of his strength,
he tried to alter, but his body merely rippled. His shirt slid up
higher and more of his skin ripped off as he continued to plummet.
He couldn’t stop. He couldn’t alter. He was done for.

“
Oomph
,” he groaned. Something broke
his fall. Limply he hung in the air, his arms, and feet dangling.
He was only twenty or so feet from the ground now. Slowly he slid
over the edge of the outcropping and then dropped the rest of the
way to the ground, making the slightest thud as he
landed.

Straightening, he looked
upward. Noting it was nothing short of a miracle that the almost
nonexistent railing from the balcony had somehow saved him….or…he
looked up. “Thanks…
I
guess
.”

Wincing, he lifted his shirt to inspect the
damage. The shirt was in pretty good shape, his stomach, not so
much. A bloody rash covered most of it. He released the shirt and
turned over his hands, they too were in bad shape, along with his
forearms.

“
Damn
! Back to the pit,” he grumbled.
He had already been there most of the day thanks to his unexpected
encounter with one of
them.
He raked his hand through his hair in aggravation
and turned, disappearing into the shadows of the mansion once
again.

PREOCCUPIED

SATURDAY * 5:33 PM

The ride back to town was uneventful.
Barnaby promised he would be back within the hour, which didn’t
leave much time to get ready. Once he dropped her off, she hit the
stairs to her apartment, running. As soon as she banged through the
door, she ripped off her clothes and jumped in the shower.

It took two applications
and a complete comb through with conditioner in her hair to get all
the tangles out. “Clocks ticking,” she reminded herself, trying to
move out from under the warm spray of the shower soothing her
aching—everything. Grudgingly she reached over and turned off the
faucet. The water spit for a few seconds more before it finally
released down into the tub. The plastic fish curtain stuck to her
hand as she pushed it aside and grabbed her
Balboa
Island, “Jaws” towel
off the rack. It wasn’t
really
jaws, it was just a big ass shark hidden in the
waves about to chomp a surfer in half. It was still her favorite.
No matter how many times it went through the washer and dryer it
stayed soft while the rest of her towels felt like cardboard. It
was one of those unsolved mysteries.

After she toweled off she gave herself a
once over, inspecting her body for damage. A pretty nasty purple
bruise was on her right side and on her right knee. She lifted her
foot up and placed it on the rim of the tub. There were more
bruises around her ankle; these were darker, almost black in color.
Surprisingly, none of them hurt too badly. Tightening her towel
more firmly under her arms, she walked over to the sink and wiped
the fog off the mirror with the palm of her hand.

Perfect
.

The right side of her face was riddled with
color—purple, red, yellow, black, even a hint of green. It looked
like she’d fallen asleep on a pile of jellybeans.

“
Evie
takes a licking and keeps on ticking
,” she
muttered out in a deep announcer voice and then laughed. Things had
to be pretty- bad for her to start quoting a damn
battery
commercial. This was probably the first signs of
starvation—ignorant commercial imitation.

Her phone buzzed.

She slid across the damp tiles out of the
bathroom, dashed across her room, and grabbed up her phone.

: LEAVING IN A FEW

“
Shit
!” She threw her phone on her
bed and went to find her clothes. She told Barnaby to give her a
heads up before he left his house so she would be ready. Of course
she wasn’t. Not even close.

Somehow, someway, she
dried her hair, slapped on her makeup, and got dressed—in record
time. She decided to wear a similar jean skirt. This one had some
painted graffiti on it, compliments of
moi
, which made it look way cooler
than the “plainy Jane” one she was wearing earlier. Heck, she was
wearing her art of course it was cool. She decided to stick with
the “Bs.” Basic black make her boobs look bigger than they actually
are, baby-doll t-shirt and tossed her Zombie killing hoodie beside
her monster tote to take with her when she left. She’d be a walking
conundrum with her “Zombie Killing” hoodie and her
“
Z
ombie
g
r
ee
n”
pinky
finger, from her bubble gum ring. Oh well, she could care less. She
liked them both.

Standing in the center of
her room, she chewed on her thumbnail, debating whether to wear her
chucks or her lace up boots. She couldn’t decide, so she went over
to see if she had any food to eat—fast. The light crackled inside
her retro aqua fridge as she opened the door. It reminded her of a
gas station bathroom light with the crackling, popping sound and
the low funky hum. A lone box of dried up Chinese takeout rice sat
beside a bottle of peach, green tea
Snapple
on the wire shelf. “
No food for
you
” she told her growling stomach like
“
the soup
Na
z
i”
f
r
om an old rerun
of a “
S
e
inf
e
ld” episode
.

“
Oh
well,” she breathed. Hopefully Barnaby wouldn’t mind stopping to
get a burger. Grabbing the bottle off the shelf, she kicked the
door shut and twisted off the lid. The metal lid made a popping
sound. She lifted the bottle and took a hefty swallow. That’s what
she loved about Snapple. The snappy little pop the lid made and
well, the taste.
Hmm,
she wondered if that is why they called it Snapple…. or not.
Setting the bottle down on her nightstand, she picked up her phone,
checking for a text from Barnaby. There was still no word. It would
seem his
few
were
apparently in hours, not minutes.

For some reason, the lack
of inactivity and indecisiveness over her shoes made her think of
Colton. Probably because she was wondering if they would look
lame—he was a
lame ass
. Yep. It made perfect sense. That didn’t last long however,
her thoughts strayed to another guy. The one she met last night. He
was so…it was hard to put into words. Walking across the room, she
grabbed her sketchbook and pencils. Sitting on edge of her bed, she
glanced over her shoulder. The blankets and sheets tangled, torn to
shit. How did she miss that before? She knew she made it before she
left, which meant only one thing: Moriah had probably been rolling
in her bed with Kingston.
Gross.
Now she was going to have to change her sheets.
Of course, she didn’t have any clean ones. Oh well, it would just
have to wait. Besides, Barnaby would be here soon. Well, at least
she hoped he would show before the party ended and Christmas
arrived.