Ghostly (Darkly Devoted Book 1) (17 page)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Later on that night, I shut the door behind me so I could get dressed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cade lurk, but I pretended not to notice. I pulled out my black tank and matching red plaid boxers and slowly changed into them.

As I tugged the fabric down over my stomach, Cade appeared beside me. I never heard him move from his place in the darkness. He brushed my hair off to the side and placed his lips on my skin. His fingers settled on my waist as he led me backwards toward the bed.

“Are you tired?” he asked.

“No, not really, but there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“Anything.” Cade spun me in his arms, sat down on the edge of the bed, and pulled me to him.

I placed my hands on his shoulders. “So, I saw this guy in town who tried to convince me to leave the house.”

Cade paused and looked at me. “Who was it?”

“I don’t know. Meredith couldn’t see him. That’s weird, huh?”

His silence spoke more than I cared to admit.

I pressed on. “He said that if the house wants me, it will have me. What does that mean, Cade?”

“Can we talk about this later?” He ran his hands up and down my sides, not stopping until he slipped his hand underneath my shirt. He was trying to distract me.

“No, I want to talk about it now.”

“Please? That’s boring.”

“You said we could talk about anything.” I tried to pull away from him, but in a second he stood up and pulled me down with him onto the mattress. His hand trailed up my body and grasped my hair.

“Wouldn’t you rather do something else?”

“Tell me what you know about this house, because
now
I’m seeing people that others aren’t
outside
of the house. That’s gotta mean something.”

He kissed me urgently, not wasting any time before moving his tongue into my mouth. He tugged at my hair and a small cry came out of my mouth into his. “I can’t think straight with you making those noises. If you want me to answer your questions, you’re going have to shut up.”

“What noises?” I asked, running my lips across his face.

He let go of my hair and grabbed my waist with both hands, slamming me down on the bed and pulling me underneath him. A short string of obscenities flew from his mouth as he followed me down onto the bed and pressed himself against me. I pushed at his chest to give me some room, trying to clear my head as he ground his pelvis against me, his hand moving underneath my top to work its magic. He wouldn’t budge. Keeping my hands on his chest, I pushed my whole body towards him in an attempt to roll him over.

“Is that the way you want it?” He pushed on the bed and flipped us over so that I was on top of him.

“When we get done talking.”

“Stop thinking,” he hissed and kissed me again.

“Cade, we need to talk.”

“
Not
now. Kiss me,
” he demanded.

My body paused for a second, registering his words as they drifted into my ears, into my mind, and settling there. It was as if they flipped a switch in my brain and made me want him more. I lowered my lips onto his, kissing him passionately and trying to push the thoughts out of my mind. My hands flew to his shirt, unbuttoning and moving down to his jeans, undoing them as well. I moved my face down his body, planting kisses along it and pausing at the top of his jeans. Letting my eyes travel upwards, I saw him looking down at me, concern on his face.

“I don’t know how to tell you this, Briar…”

“What?”

“I think you’re seeing ghosts.”

“I know that, silly.”             

He shook his head, his messy hair shaking about with it. “But you shouldn’t be seeing them outside of the house unless—”

I put my finger over his mouth to shut him up. “I don’t care about that right now.” What was I thinking? Had I lost all reason? I needed answers, but I couldn’t stop kissing him.

Cade put his fingers on my shoulders and pushed me back. “Shit, Briar, stop.”

“Stop?”

“Yes.” He pushed again, that time he moved me off him. With a sigh, he ran his hands through his hair and then looked at me. “I’m sorry, so sorry.”

I felt a desperate need inside me to touch him, to kiss him. So I did, kissing his neck where I could reach and trying to move them up his neck as he pushed me off him.

“Stop, Cade, I just want to kiss you.”

“I know, I know. Just stop. I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing and kiss me.” Something was wrong, I couldn’t think straight.

“It’s not that I don’t want to. I just. I can’t. I messed up.”

I paused and lifted my face to look at him. “What do you mean you messed up?”

“You just need some distance and you’ll be fine.” He rolled away from me and off the bed.

When he leaned against the far wall, my mind began to clear. Anger rose in me. There was something he wasn’t telling me.

“What happened just now?” I demanded.

He ran his hands through his hair and the tears started forming in his eyes. “I didn’t mean to sway you. Shit, Briar, it just came out.”

I froze. He’d ordered me to kiss him, and I had. I’d lost all sense of reality and focused on him. He’d influenced my mind and made me do as he asked. I’d read about how ghosts could do that, possess others and make them do what they wanted. My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. Nausea rolled over me; I was going to throw up. He’d mind-fucked me.

“How dare you!” I exclaimed. I picked up a book from my table and hurled it at him. It smacked him with a thud and fell to the floor. “What the hell, Cade?”

“I didn’t mean to, I swear it. I’ve never done that before. I didn’t know I could—I—”

“Quit lying to me! I just started trusting you and you’re lying to me again! You can’t just control people. What kind of monster are you?”

He took a small step towards me. “I will tell you anything, just ask me. I’m so sorry. I love you.”

“Cade, we’ve talked about this! No more lies, remember?”

“Yeah I do…I just…I wanted to protect you. Ask me anything, I swear.”

“Okay, so you say I saw a ghost in town, but I shouldn’t be seeing them outside the house. Why?” I crossed my arms and waited.

Cade squinted his eyes closed and scrunched his face in pain, as if it physically hurt him to answer my question. “There’s something I’ve heard the ghosts whisper about…about a girl with the sight.”

“What sight?”

“I don’t know, Briar. The house does what it wants, picks who it wants, and takes them.”

My breath stopped, and my body froze. I’d asked him about that before, worried over it, but he had never told me the truth.

“You told me not to worry about that.” Accusation filled my words.

He shook his head. “You don’t have to. It won’t get you. I’m protecting you.”

“How can I believe you after everything?”

He lowered his eyes to the ground, his words full of hate. “Because this house is evil, Briar. It’s full of some otherworldly force that makes its inhabitants insane or something. I’ve made it clear that you are under my protection, that it could have anyone else. You gotta believe me. I didn’t even know if it would work, I mean, it’s an inanimate object, so how do you talk to it?”

I grabbed another book off my bedside table and threw it at him, hitting him harder that time before it fell to the floor. I’d given him everything, my trust, my love, my time, my body. All for nothing. The feelings I had for him smothered me, and I forgot to remind myself of who he really was: a murderer, a psychopath. He was a part of the house.

He ran over to me, bent down, and took my hand. “I’m begging you, please believe me.”

I jerked my hand back from him. “Don’t touch me.”

“Briar.”

“How can I trust you, Cade? How?”

“I don’t know,” he screamed, loud and vibrating through the room. “I was just trying to protect you! The less you know about this shit hole the better. It’s miserable here. It always has been, until I saw you. You’ve brought color to my dark world. You’re my beautiful briar rose. You’re lovely to look at, but there’s a fire inside you. If someone gets too close and treats you bad, you prick them with your thorns. I thought with me, you blossomed, and you loved me. Even though you won’t admit it.”

“You’re so full of shit!” I stood up and walked away from him. Anger seeped out of my skin. I needed time alone. I needed to think, and I couldn’t do that with him looking at me like a lost puppy.

He walked over to me and fell to his knees, grabbing my hand and rubbing his cheek along it. “Please, don’t hate me. I’ll do whatever you want me to do. Just please don’t leave me.”

I brought my hand up to the necklace he’d given me and held it tightly as I closed my eyes. “I don’t believe in ghosts.” I rubbed my eyes and fought back the stinging tears. “I don’t believe in you.”

“You can’t mean that, Briar. Please.”

“I don’t believe in ghosts! They aren’t real!” I backed away from him until I bumped into my desk. It had worked once before; it had to do it again. “I don’t know who you are!” 

As the sobs finally erupted from my body, the room fell silent. My heart felt like it was ripped from my chest. I jerked the necklace off me and threw it across the room. Pain and sadness hit me as I fell to the floor and wept.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I sat up, suddenly awake, alone in my bed. My heart ached as I reached out for Cade but found nothing. My eyes searched for him in the large empty space, but he wasn’t there.

I lay back down and pulled the covers up to my chin. It was cold in my room, something that wasn’t unusual, but the reason for it was gone. I was by myself. As the loneliness came over me, I trembled, and the tears reemerged. I knew things would never work out with him. I knew better than to let Cade claim my heart like it was his own. But he had protected me and saved me. He’d been misunderstood and stuck in the house as a ghost. Or at least that’s what he made me believe. I wasn’t sure what to believe anymore.

I dragged the covers over my head and cried. Cried for the shitty situation I was in. I cried for myself and my feelings. I cried for Cade, for the horrible life he’d led before me. I cried for making him leave and not knowing how to bring him back. I feared that maybe I could never bring him back.

I heard my door creak open, but I didn’t care. I let the tears continued to roll down my face as I buried my head in the pillow. I didn’t care what happened to me. Let them kill me. Let them torture me. A small voice pulled me from my sorrow.

“Sissy?”

Dillon.

I tried to pull myself together, wiping at my eyes and trying to dry my tears, but it was no use. They kept pouring down my face. I didn’t want him to see me like that. I had to pull myself together, so I could be there for him.

“Sissy?” he asked again.

I felt the weight of him crawling up onto the bed and sitting down beside me.

“Are you okay?”

“I don’t know sweetie,” I managed to say between sniffles.

“Cade’s been in my room. He’s crying.”

My heart lurched forward and pain shot through my chest. I couldn’t breathe. The air wouldn’t come.

“He’s really sad.”

“I’m sorry, Dillon.”

“He won’t stop. I think something is really wrong with him.” He pulled the covers down from my face. “Why are you crying too? Did you fight?”

He brushed my messy hair out of my face and smiled down at me. His blue eyes were worried, a look of someone much older staring down at me, concern etched in them.

With a few deep breaths, I forced myself to calm down. Inside I still panicked, but it didn’t show on my face. I was able to sit up and pull him to me. “Everything’s going to be okay, Dillon. I promise.”

“You should talk to him.”

“I can’t, sweetie.”

“But you should; you always make me feel better.”

I shook my head. “Dillon, just close your eyes and pretend you don’t believe in him. He can go cry somewhere else so you can play.”

“But I don’t want him to go away.”

“Me either, honey, me either.”

“So, we are going to have ourselves a movie night!” I picked Dillon up and twirled him around with a forced excitement.

“Yay!” he shouted and smiled down at me with those big eyes.

“What do you want to watch?”

He put his little finger up to his lips, considering his options and making me smile. He was so silly. “Peter Pan!”

“Okay, what else?”

“Uuum….Iron Man!”

“Alright, both good choices, little man.” I put him back on the floor and leaned down to meet him face to face. “I’m going to get us some popcorn okay? I will be right back.”

“Okay, Sissy.”

I smiled and ruffled his hair before going into the kitchen. I popped the bag into the microwave and leaned back against the counter. The fake smile dropped from my face. I didn’t have to fake it alone.

Alone at last.
My brother had barely left my side all day. I’d promised him a movie night if he would give me some privacy. He pulled his toys into my room and played quietly in the floor. 

The one person I wanted to see, I hadn’t seen. I whispered his name in the darkness of the basement, but he never showed. I was scared I’d done something permanent, something irreversible. He had mentioned ghosts fading, and I was afraid I had forced him into that state. 

Things seemed different without him around. Empty. Silent. I missed him, even though I didn’t want to. I wasn’t sure I could ever truly forgive him, but if I couldn’t find him to talk about what happened I would never know.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it,” I mumbled to myself, pulling the popcorn out of the microwave and opening it. I poured it into a big bowl and added some extra butter.

“Family movie night?” Cade’s voice rang out in the small space.

I froze at the sound of his voice. Relief flew through me. He wasn’t gone for good. My breath caught in my throat when I turned around and my eyes found him. He leaned against the island in the center of the kitchen, carefree and sexy.

“Yeah.”

His eyes ran over my body hungrily, making me blush and turn back to my bowl. That
would
be what he thought about when he reappeared. I picked it up and twirled back around. Cade was right there in front of me, and I almost ran him over.

“Shit!” I yelped, almost dropping the contents of my hand.

“Watch out, killer.” He laughed.

“I have a date with a precious little boy. I can’t talk right now.”

“Think I could crash it?”

I couldn’t tell him no; it was almost impossible to even think straight when he ran a soft finger down my cheek. I closed my eyes and relished in the feel of him close to me. I felt complete again, like a magnet pulled me closer to him as if he was the missing puzzle piece in my life.

“Sure, Cade. We do need to talk okay?”

“Great!” He reached out to touch my neck. “Where’s your necklace?”

My eyes dropped. “I kinda threw it across the room last night.”

“You have to wear that, Briar. It’s the only way I know to keep you safe. I will go get it, and a few other things that I need. I will be right back.” He disappeared, ignoring the part where I said we needed to talk. It was important that we did, but he was gone, vanishing into thin air and pretending that nothing had ever happened.

I’m never going to get used to that.

I retrieved two bottles of water out of the refrigerator and skipped into the living room. My excitement quickly faded into fear as I took in the scene before me. A tall man I’d never seen before stood in the living room. He held my little brother by the hair. Tears streamed down Dillon’s face.

“Sissy!” He held his small arms out toward me. 

The man jerked him back by his hair.

“Please don’t hurt him,” I begged and dropped the bowl in my hands. It hit the floor with a slap and the popcorn flew throughout the room. The water bottles bounced away from me and rolled into unknown corners of the room. I put up my hands in front of me. “I will give you anything you need. Please, just let him go.”

The man cocked his head to the side and ran his gaze down my body. He smiled. “I think we could arrange something.”

He took a few steps towards me and drug Dillon with him. My brother screamed in pain.

“I will do anything you want, just let him go.”

The man laughed and let go of Dillon. His small form ran to me and wrapped himself around my leg. He cried into my shorts. I moved a hand down to cover his eyes while I scowled at the man in front of me.

“What do you want with us?”

The man laughed again. I backed away from him and wished my dad would get home from work early. I wished Cade would show up and save me like he’d always promised he would.

He reached into the pocket of his brown trench coat and retrieved a gun, flipping the hammer back and pointing it towards me. “You will do as I say, or I will kill you both.”

Fear gripped me. I didn’t want him to hurt Dillon. Flashbacks to the school shooting echoed in my mind, and I pushed them back. “This is between you and me. This has nothing to do with him okay?”

“He can leave if you stay willingly.”

I nodded and bent down to look at my brother in the face. “Dillon. I need you to go to your room okay?”

He reached up a small hand to wipe the tears streaming from my eyes. “Sissy, please don’t cry. I don’t want to go.”

“You will!” the stranger boomed.

I jerked Dillon to me as my eyes slammed close. When no bullets few through the room, I pulled back and looked at my brother.

“Just go, okay? I love you Dillon, please remember that.”

He shook his head and buried his face in my shoulder. “No, Sissy. No. Cade will save us.”

“I hope so, sweetie.” I ran my hand through his hair and planted a kiss on his head. I pulled him off me as I stood up. “Go on.”

The tears continued to run down his precious face, burning the image of his fear into my brain. He turned away from me and ran down the hallway.

My throat ran dry as I turned to face the man. “What do you want?”

“First, I’m going to have my way with you. Then, I’m going to kill you and your pathetic excuse for a brother. When your dad gets home I will kill him too. Maybe I will make you watch.”

“Why are you doing this?” I asked.

“Because this house wants you, and the house gets what the house wants.” He raised the gun to my face.

“Please. I can give you anything you want. Just don’t hurt my brother.”

He took a few steps toward me and grabbed me before pressing the hard metal of the gun into my stomach. “There’s no bargaining with this, little girl. You’re ours now. You and your power.”

He ran a finger down the side of my face. I winced and tried to pull away from him. He held onto me tightly, and I couldn’t budge. 

With every ounce of strength I had, I screamed, “Cade!”

As my voice reverberated off the walls, the stranger slammed his hand over my mouth to silence me. Tears rushed down my face. I couldn’t breathe with his nasty hand pressed against my mouth. I wanted him to stop. I wanted him to let me go, so I could tend to my brother.

He ran his hand up my body and grabbed me by the root of the hair. I cried out in pain.

Cade appeared behind him with a dozen purple roses in hand, confusion on his face. When he saw me, he dropped them to the ground, along with the necklace, and ran toward us.

The man leaned in to whisper against my ear. “You’re ours, and your little boyfriend can’t save you now.”

The sound of the gun going off was deafening. Pain ripped through me as I screamed. I had never felt such horrendous pain in my life.

It fired a second time, then a third. My body went into shock and then became numb. He let go of me, and I had no choice but to fall to the ground. I gripped my stomach and felt the warmth under my fingertips as I doubled over. I looked up at the man and tried to form words, but liquid bubbled out of my mouth instead. It choked me.

He laughed at me as he shoved the gun in his pocket.

Cade grabbed the poker out of the roaring fireplace and stomped toward the man. Evil was written all over his face as he held the metal high.

I shook my head, but it didn’t move much. The world began to spin in a blurry sequence in front of me. He’d never physically hurt anyone but himself, and I didn’t want him to do it now. Not over me. He’d worked too hard to fight off the insanity.

Cade cried out as he ran the stranger through with the hard metal, the sharp end of it coming out of his throat as his eyes opened up in shock. He grabbed the man’s head and twisted it. The crunching of bones echoed through the room. The man fell to the floor, and Cade fell on top of him, pounding his face in a furry. His fist came back again and again as he screamed at the top of his lungs.

I managed to muster up enough strength to whisper his name. “Cade…”

His head snapped up and looked over at me. I saw understanding register in his face, intense fear replacing the anger. He crawled over to me just as I toppled over to the floor, but he caught me. Carefully he laid me down in his lap.

“Briar, please don’t die on me, please.”

He reached down to my stomach and put pressure on the open wound. “Shit. Shit. Shit!”

I opened my mouth to try and give him words of encouragement as I saw the tears filling up his eyes. No matter how hard I tried, nothing would come out, only my labored breaths.

I struggled to reach up and touch his face before I lost my energy. Everything was blurred. My vision threatened to leave me in darkness as my body grew limp.

I felt Cade pull me to him and cradle my body. He rocked us back and forth. “It’s going to be okay, Briar, please just hold on. Don’t die, please.”

“What the hell? Oh my God, Cade! Briar!” I heard my dad exclaim in the distance, followed by the slamming of a door.

“Call the ambulance, hurry!” Cade screamed at him.

“They are already on the way. Dillon called me.”

“Hold on, Briar, please. Shit. Shit. Shit.” Cade laid his head on the top of mine.