Wraiths of Winter (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 3) (21 page)

“Sounds like a plan. So are you up for another trip to
Pittsburgh this week?”

Was I? No, I wasn’t. As much as I thought Zach
needed to stop worrying about Lucas, he was having a tough
enough week already. Zach needed to know that I was here
for him anytime he needed me and not hundreds of miles
away. “It’s a bad week for me—maybe some other time.”

Lucas took the news well and promised to see me at
the party. As soon as I hung up with him, Zach called.

“Ruby, it was really nice of you to throw together this
party,” he said excitedly. “It makes me think of Grandma
Mason—but in a good way.”

What? Did she like to get hammered and belt out Auld
Lang Syne? “How’s that?” I asked respectfully.

“New Year’s Eve was her favorite holiday. She always
said that the person you were with when the clock struck
midnight was going to be the most important person in your
life for the next twelve months. No matter what, she swore it
worked every year. This year, I want that person to be you.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” I’d never
celebrated New Year’s Eve with anyone other than my dad
and Shelly but I always wanted to. “I’ve never had a New
Year’s kiss—hint, hint!”

I could picture his face as he laughed—the way his
eyes crinkled at the sides, his lip as it curled ever so slightly to
the left. Zach was always gorgeous but there was something
special about the way he looked when he laughed.
But it
wasn’t there for just any dumb joke—that look was only there
when I was the one he found amusing.

“Geez, Ruby—it’s not like you have to twist my arm or
anything! Any moments you’ve never shared with anyone
else are moments I want you to share with me.”

“In that case, I’ve never had an Easter kiss or a St.
Patrick’s Day kiss. You know, come to think of it, I’ve never
had a Valentine’s Day kiss either.”

“What? I find that one hard to believe. You must have
been dating Lee for at least one Valentine’s Day.”

“I have the Valentine’s Day curse—no matter what,
Lee and I always ended up fighting on that day even before we
were officially dating. I’m warning you now—don’t count on
that being a romantic day.”

He laughed again. “I’m going to take that as a
challenge. Just you wait, Ruby, I’ll end that curse for you!”

There was
something
I
wanted to ask him
and
something I should have told him but the conversation was
going so well that I didn’t want to spoil it. One thing stood out
to me, though.
Aside from asking me to support him at the
funeral, I noticed that Zach hadn’t shared his feelings with me
concerning his grandmother’s death. Why? I would have
thought mine would be the first shoulder he would have
wanted to cry on. I knew he was upset—why didn’t he want
to talk to me about it? And the thing I should have told him
was that I’d invited Lucas to the party, too.

When New Year’s Eve arrived, I wished I had. I
decided to call Zach that day to prepare him but kept finding
reasons to procrastinate.
I had to go pick up the karaoke
machine Shelly rented for the night, I had to do laundry
because my favorite jeans were dirty. Hell, I even changed the
litter in Coco’s litter box when it didn’t need changed—
anything to put off the inevitable.

When I saw Zach’s smiling face at the door, I knew I’d
made a big mistake. Lucas would be here at any moment and
Zach was still clueless. I invited him up to my room so I could
tell him before it was completely too late.

“Zach,” I said in my sweetest voice, “There’s
something about tonight that I haven’t told you yet.”

The
instant smile on his
face
made me
feel
even
worse. I don’t know what he was thinking but it clearly
wasn’t anything to do with what I was about to lay on him.
After five more seconds of procrastination, I finally spit it out.

“I invited Lucas to the party—he’ll be here any minute
now.” I knew Zach would never hit me but my first instinct
was to duck anyway.

Smile erased. “What? When did you invite him? More
importantly,
why
did you invite him?”

I launched into the details, explaining
that it was
really only for Chloe’s sake but I could see that he wasn’t
buying it.

“I thought tonight was going to be
our
night, Ruby!
Our
chance to start the year off right. Do you know how big of
a slap in the face this is to me?”

I did
now
. I guess he took his grandmother’s view of
the holiday more seriously than I realized. “I’m so sorry, Zach,
but I can’t un-invite him now! It’s still our night—you’ll still
be the one kissing me at midnight.”

Zach was
about to burst into tears or screams—I
couldn’t tell which. Honestly, maybe even both. Before he did
though, I excused myself to use the restroom. I didn’t even
need to go—I just wanted to give him time to cool down. So I
sat down on the closed lid of the toilet for an appropriate
amount of time and then flushed just in case he was paying
attention.
I went back to the living room positive that my
plan worked. Until I saw what was in his hands, that is.

My ruby red hockey skates were staring me in the face
the second I walked through the doorway.

 

“Where did you get these?” Zach asked, suspicion
thick in his voice.

Busted. I didn’t tell him about Lucas’s Christmas
present because I knew how it would make him feel.
If I
didn’t come clean about it now, though, Lucas might talk
about it in front of Zach and make me look like even more of a
liar. So one more time, I told the truth and defended Lucas
both in the same breath.

“He’s trying to buy you, Ruby! It’s obvious to
everyone but you! First that fancy French restaurant and now
these,” he said shaking the skates in midair. “Hell, in two
weeks he’s spent more money on you than I have since we
met! I thought you wanted love but if money’s really what
you’re after, then you’re better off with him!”

“Zach, no! It’s not like that at all!” I pleaded
defensively. Then it hit me—I never told Zach where Lucas
and I ate while we were in Pittsburgh. How did he find out? I
switched gears and ran an offensive play.

“Wait a second—how do you know about the French
restaurant?” I had a hunch and I went with it. “You followed
us that day, didn’t you?”

For once, I turned the tables on him. Now Zach was
the one with a little bit of explaining to do. I folded my arms
across my chest and glared at him.

“Look, Ruby,” he stammered, “It’s not what you’re
thinking—I didn’t follow you because I didn’t trust you. I just
wanted to make sure that you were okay.”

Even
homicidal
stalkers
had
good
intentions
sometimes
, didn’t they? He was
not
getting off the hook that
easy. “You can’t watch everything I do for the rest of my life,
Zach! You have to learn to trust my decisions!”

There was a rebuttal brewing in his head and I could
almost see it
developing
word by
word.
But
something
changed his mind.
He counted down backwards from ten
then apologized.

“You’re right, Ruby. I have to give you your space. I
have to let you make the right choices for the right reasons.
Even if it’s not the right choice for me.”

“What do you mean by that? What choices do you
think I need to make?” I asked the question but I already
knew the answer—the choice between being with Zach or
being with Lucas.

“Never mind that now,” Zach said calmly. “I still want
you to be with me at midnight. Can we call a truce?”

Gladly. Fighting in private was bad enough—I knew
for a
fact
that I didn’t want to do it with all of our friends and
family watching. “Truce.” I took the skates, tossed them into
my bedroom and closed the door. “I still want that midnight
kiss, by the way.”

He gave a weak smile which was more than I expected
and followed me downstairs. Lucas was walking in the door
as we got to the second floor landing so I reached for Zach’s
hand to display where my loyalties lay. It didn’t go unnoticed
by either of them. Zach gave my hand a squeeze and Lucas
averted his eyes.

I did my best to make Zach the center of my attention.
I held onto him
lovingly
when he
reminisced about his
grandmother’s view on New Year’s. I looked at no one but
him when I sang karaoke. I told him he sounded great when
he sang to me even though it was a big, fat lie—anything to
make him feel special. I was doing a pretty good job of it, too.
He didn’t seem nearly as tense or unhappy. Things were
going well until Lucas took the microphone.

The song he picked was from the eighties and dorky at
best but, oh, that voice! His voice was naturally deep—deeper
than Zach’s by far—and when he sang he sounded sexy as
hell. I didn’t know the song well but I knew enough of the
lyrics to get the message.
The song was about being in love
with someone just out of your reach and he was singing it to
me.

Though the
room
was
still full of
laughter and
festivity, I could hear only him.
Every smooth note, every
soulful word cut through straight to my heart. I couldn’t take
my eyes off of him. And the way he looked at me—I knew I
wasn’t just imagining the emotion behind those lyrics. Lucas
was in love with me.

Zach cleared his throat and woke me from my trance.
Did he notice my reaction?
Did he make the connection
between the song and what Lucas was trying to say to me?
What was I thinking? Zach wasn’t stupid—he probably
caught on long before I did. Oh God, what am I going to do?

With only fifteen minutes until midnight, Dad turned
on the TV so we could watch the countdown in Times Square.
Thank you, Dad! I needed something harmless to focus on,
something other than Lucas.

It was the distraction I badly needed.
With the new
year merely minutes away, it all seemed like it was going to
be okay. Maybe his grandmother was right. Maybe this one
night could set the tone for the months to come. Maybe things
between Zach and I would find a way to work themselves out.
Maybe…I was wrong.

It all started with the ring of a phone.
The ringtone
was unmistakable—the theme song to Monday Night Football.
Boone was the one with the call. He answered it while joking
that his brother must be too drunk to realize it wasn’t quite
midnight yet.
After the word
hello,
though, everything
changed. Something was dreadfully wrong.

He put down his phone and stood up. “I have to go
guys. The police got a search warrant for our house. I don’t
know what they found but Drake’s on his way to jail.” Boone
swallowed hard and his whole body quivered. “For murder.”

The
room
was
silent except for the sounds
of
celebration pulsing
from
the surround sound.
Once the
countdown began, so did the chaos. After Boone’s words sunk
in, everyone pitched in with words of support. Rachel started
to cry.

CRASH!
Something heavy smashed to the rosewood
floor behind me. The remnants of a lead crystal vase lay in
jagged pieces on the floor beside Lucas.

“TEN! NINE! EIGHT!”

Lucas bent down to clean up the mess. “I’m so sorry—
I’m such a klutz. I bumped into the table and it toppled over.
I tried to catch it but I was too late. Can you help me out here,
Ru?”

“SEVEN! SIX! FIVE!”

“Don’t worry about it—I’ll get the trash can.” No
sooner were the words out of my mouth than I saw a thick
line of blood roll down his palm.

“FOUR! THREE! TWO!”

 

“Dammit! Can you get me some towels first?” Lucas
asked while trying to keep the blood from hitting the floor.

I grabbed a pile of napkins and knelt down beside him.
As I wrapped them around the gash, my hand touched his. He
was on fire.

“ONE—HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

Our eyes met and I felt dizzy as though I were the one
losing gallons of blood. “Happy New Year, Ru,” Lucas
whispered.

“Yeah, Happy New Year, Ruby.” Zach stood above us,
even more solemn than he was at the funeral home.

I dropped Lucas’s hand and scooted away from him.
“I have to get the trash can,” I mumbled and hurried away. I
needed that trash can, alright. Where else could I dispose of
the splintered remains of my relationship with Zach?

16. Ghost of a Chance

The rest of the party was a bust—obviously. Boone
and Rachel left to see if there was anything they could do to
help Drake, and Garrett and Diane went with them.
Rita
clearly hadn’t consumed alcohol anytime in this millennium
so Andy offered to give her a ride. Chloe had to be home by
one, so Lucas drove her home and Chelsea back to her dorm.
Dad dragged a drunken Shelly up the stairs with the empty
wine bottle still clutched in her hand. That left me and Zach
alone in the living room.

Remnants of the party lay scattered about the room
but there wasn’t a hint of our earlier happiness still lingering.
We sat silent—so silent that I could make out the faint ticking
of the grandfather clock down the hall.
What could I say? I
knew how he felt about the magical moment the clock rang in
the New Year. I knew exactly what he was thinking. It wasn’t
my fault that I was with Lucas at that very second. He was a
guest in my home—I couldn’t very well let him bleed to death
while I kissed Zach, now could I?

Zach sat on the edge of the couch, a Siberian tiger
ready to pounce.
His left leg bounced up and down in a
nervous rhythm and his eyes remained fixed on the far wall. I
sat a few feet away from him growing more apprehensive
with each passing second. After what seemed like an eternity,
he spoke three small words but they blasted into me like
bullets from a revolver.