Ever: The Ever Trilogy, Book One (Volume 1) (35 page)

“So, I’m sitting there watching you for hours—which you have to understand is excruciating—and I finally decide Toby’s lost his mind, and it’s my job to fix that. It would have been fine. I would have had him focusing on me again in no time, if you hadn’t shown up at that party.”

Toby and Ariadne getting back together was not the important part of this story, nor was it the reason we were there talking to her. But I couldn’t help but take the bait. She’d gotten under my skin, and a girl can take only so much.

“You know, Ariadne, I’m pretty sure Toby finds you repulsive. Whether I’d been in the picture or not, you didn’t stand a chance at getting him back. That ship, as they say, has sailed. And sunk. And is currently rotting in the bottom of the metaphorical ocean.”

She didn’t move. Only her eyes showed she was listening; they narrowed into tiny slits. Then her mouth curved up into a sly smile.

“Had you been in his bedroom with us that morning before the library, Ever, I think you’d have seen that his
ship
was very much
not
at the bottom of the ocean. His
ship
was indeed sailing. Full mast.”

“Ugh! You are disgusting, Ariadne. And frankly, I’m not surprised that you have to use your
body
to get a guy to pay attention to you. Your personality is as appealing as a pile of dog shit. But really, we don’t have to listen to this, and you clearly aren’t planning on giving us any useful information. Come on, Ev.”

“Hmm. Seems I struck a nerve with our sweet, innocent Eleanor here.”

“Ever?”

The morning before the library.
As I was taking care of my mom. And my house. And my broken life. Toby and Ariadne were having sex in the very house next door.
Having sex.
And then he came back into my life. He apologized. He told me he loved me. He … .

Oh, god. I almost had sex with him. Just hours after he’d been with her!

”Hon, did you really think he hadn’t been with anyone else? I mean, you two
were
broken up. And we
do
have a history, so …” she paused, waiting for me to say something. “Oh. That’s sweet. You actually had thought that. Your naivety has no end, does it?”

“Ev, seriously, let’s just go. We don’t need to talk to Ariadne. She’s not giving us any information we don’t already know.”

Jessie’s hand was on my arm, and I looked at her standing next to me. She pleaded with her eyes, urging me to give up this silly quest for answers. She was right. Ariadne was just using this time to hurt us both. But if I wasn’t ready to go to Toby with my questions before, I was even less ready now.

I took a deep breath, steeling myself to continue, and sat down next to Ariadne on the couch. So what if she’d hooked up with Toby again? It wasn’t my business any longer. I’d decided the fate of my relationship with Toby, and he was no longer my concern. Setting that decision aside, I focused on the task at hand. I cleared my throat, preparing my voice
not
to crack and give away my distress, and continued. “You turned Frankie human. Tell me why.”

“You know why, Ever. Don’t be coy; it doesn’t suit you.”

“I want to hear
you
tell me why.”

“Well, I should think that it’s obvious, but whatever. It was your birthday, and I didn’t want to be the only one at the party without a gift. Seeing as how you have terrible choice in clothing
and
literature, I asked myself, ‘what would be the next best thing?’ Naturally, I came to Frankie. So, surprise!”

“You wanted Toby back, which clearly wasn’t going to happen unless you fought dirty. So you brought out the big guns. Because clearly, if Frankie were suddenly an option, I’d leave Toby and you’d have him back to yourself. What you failed to calculate is the fact that he finds you disgusting and desperate and whether or not I’m in the picture, you will still be the pathetic ex-girlfriend who whores herself out to get what she wants.”

I looked at Jessie and headed to the door.

“We’re done here, Ariadne. You win. Toby is no longer spoken for. But mark my words; he will never be yours. You lack the one thing needed to get him back … a
soul.
”

Ariadne’s laughter stopped me in my tracks, my hand frozen on the doorknob. Jessie practically ran into me.

“Soul.” She said the word slowly, tasting it, feeling it in her mouth as if it was new and foreign to her. “Your choice of words amuses me. I may not have Toby
yet
, but don’t think you’ve won.”

I wanted to laugh in her face, but I refrained. Must have been this new
adult
me, but it felt like a victory taking the moral high ground. I began to open the door.

“You didn’t really think I’d just give you something for nothing, did you? Like we’re such good friends?” The hardness in her voice pulled at me.

I turned and looked at her beautiful, ruthless face.

“Awww, you did! That’s just adorable.”

“You didn’t give me anything,” I said.
Oh, wait. Frankie
. “Well,
technically
you gave Frankie back his life … or a chance at a new one … but—”

“Exactly.”

She rose from the couch. Every step she took toward me was deliberate. Every word she spoke was as sharp as a knife to my soul. Her sexy pout was now a hard line.

“I can take that gift back any time I want.”

She was baiting me again. I didn’t want to stay, but I was unable to convince myself to open the door and leave. Something tugged at me, an unknown truth about to be revealed. So I waited. I tried to return her hard stare, tried to look as determined and ruthless as she was.

“Now that I have your attention, little girl, I’ll explain
one
thing. You came here for answers, and I’ll give you just this
one
. I gave Frankie his life back. I gave you a gift. But I am far from selfless, and my gift comes with a price. You’re just naïve enough to think that Toby is the price for my kindness. Guess again, hon.”

Jessie quickly sucked in a breath, bracing herself for what we were about to hear.

I knew we should leave. Leaving would have protected us from the terrifying words I knew Ariadne was about to say. But again, my feet were reluctant to move. Jessie placed her hand on my arm and gave me a squeeze, knowing I was as afraid as she was.

“Here’s a lesson for you. Consider it my second gift. You don’t get something for nothing. Not in your world, and not in mine. You get to keep Frankie now. But what will you give me in return?” She paused, letting the words sink in and waiting for the information to click in my brain.

I sucked in a breath, knowing what she was going to say before she even said it.

“An eye for an eye, Eleanor.”

J
essie had always been the bubbly, confident one. The girl with the sharp wit and million-dollar smile, who shines like a hundred-watt light bulb. I’m somewhat of the opposite—not dark per se, but a little darker than Jessie. I’m a little more into black than most, a little quieter than some, and slightly prone to the occasional outburst of punching someone. Jessie has never hurt anyone with more than smiles and flattery.

So I’m sure anyone would understand why I was a bit surprised to find myself in my kitchen, sitting with her while she nursed her bruised hand.

“That bitch had it coming. I am
not
apologizing.”

“No one is asking you to, Jess. I’m just wondering if maybe we should have held off on the punching until she’d actually given us something to go on.”

“Eff that. She’s not going to give us any information, Ever. Come on.”

“Well, since we have absolutely no idea what any of this means or what will happen next, I think we need to go back over there.”

“What? Oh, Ever, you can’t be—she looked at me, realizing I was dead serious—”
No.
I’m not kidding, Ev. I won’t apologize to her.”

“Fine. Then I will apologize for you, and you can stay here.”

“Yeah right. Like I’m going to let you go back over there by yourself.” She removed the Ziploc baggie of ice and stretched her swollen hand, slowly moving each finger. “My hand hurts.”

“Huh. I can’t imagine why.”

“Oh, like you weren’t about to do the same thing. I saw your face.”

“Yeah, she’s lucky the guys came back when they did. Between the two of us crazy bitches, she wouldn’t have known what hit her.”

“Exactly. But now I’m the only one with a swollen hand. It’s throbbing like its having its own little heart attack. Is that normal?”

“Yeah. Sorry. But thanks for coming to my defense.”

“Please. It was nothing. Oh, hey, I forgot to ask you how your mom was this morning. She okay? We were all kind of um …
shocked
last night.”

Oh. My mom.

“Well, last night she was a mess. She took a few sleeping pills and curled up in the fetal position.”

“Oh, geez.”

“It gets better. This morning, she has absolutely no idea what’s going on and is acting like everything is completely
normal
. Like, I walk into the kitchen and they’re all sitting at the table. Frankie, who is very obviously no longer a ghost, my mom, who’s all smiles and sparkle, and … you’ll die … guess who else was there? Ariadne.”

“What?
How did you not tell me this sooner?”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry. So there they all sit, in
my
kitchen. She’s even sitting in my
dad’s
chair.”

Jessie’s mouth dropped open, rightly so.

“They’re all drinking coffee and talking about how Sharon’s flowers were trampled on by Bonnie’s dog. As if
that
has any importance compared to what’s going on in
our
own home. My mom’s just sitting there, happy as a clam.”

It sounded even more ridiculous saying it all out loud, but Jessie’s expression turned dark. She closed her eyes and shook her head.

“Oh, Ever. Your poor mom. I can’t even imagine what she’s going through. After your dad … and now this?”

“I know.”

“What are you going to do?” She looked at me expectantly.

I was unfairly irritated by her question, but I couldn’t help but feel annoyed. Why did everything have to fall on
my
shoulders? Why did I have to take care of my mom? Why did I have to find all the answers? Why
me
?

“What is it, Ever?

“Nothing, Jess. I’m just frustrated, that’s all. This whole thing is such a mess.”

“I know. So what now?”

“I don’t know, Jess. I don’t know.”

“Well, I for one could stand a little distraction. Let’s go out tonight.”

“Seriously? Our boyfriends—”

“Ex,” she clarified for me adamantly. “They are our
ex
-boyfriends.”

“Well, I haven’t
officially
broken things off with Toby.”

“Ev, I think it goes without saying, don’t you? I mean, after everything he’s caused!”

“Yes, Jess, but you get my point. We just found out that Toby and Greg are soul collectors, which in itself is a huge thing. On top of that, Frankie is no longer a ghost, and my mom has completely checked out of reality. Oh! And my soul is up for grabs or something. You think
now
is a good time to go out?”

“Actually, yes. I think it’s the
perfect
time to go out. First of all, you can’t change what Toby and Greg are. Or whatever the hell is going on there. You certainly can’t change what happened to Frankie … unless you kill him, of course, and I definitely don’t see you doing that. And third, you can’t help your mom face this stuff, Ever. She has to come to grips with it on her own.”

She had a point. But a night out? Seriously? It just didn’t seem like the right thing to do.

“Actually, I have an idea.”

Uh oh.

“When’s the last time Frankie went out, Ev?”

“Um. That’s kind of rhetorical.”

“Exactly. We’re taking Frankie out tonight. There’s a party in Costa Mesa.”

“Did I just hear you girls say you’re taking me out tonight?”

“Frankie! Yes!” Jessie’s eyes lit up as she turned to watch him come in from the garage, hands full of shopping bags. “Oh look, you went shopping! Perfect. Go get dressed and meet us back here at seven. Ev, I’m running home. See you guys in a few hours!”

“But—”

The look she gave me on her way out the door could have cut glass.

To say I was reluctant to go out for a night of fun amidst all the chaos of my life was putting it mildly. But when I saw Frankie’s face light up at the prospect, I couldn’t deny him. I was sure Jessie had known that would be the case.
Fine. I’ll play along.

But there was something I had to do first.

I told Frankie as little as possible, then headed outside. He could probably tell by my voice or the somber look on my face, where I was headed. He didn’t question me.

Thinking twice about knocking on the door and risking catching the wrath of Ariadne, I snuck around the side of the house. I was almost to Toby’s window when I heard his voice.

“Please, just let me try to fix things with her first.”