Ghostly (Darkly Devoted Book 1) (9 page)

He pulled a book off his shelf and stopped me as I was about to leave. “Read to me?”

I couldn’t resist that sweet look so I obliged, tucking him into bed and curling up beside him to read until he fell asleep. I flipped on his nightlight as I left and went back into my room. Thankfully, the rest of the night was quiet, and I was able to sleep without any more ghost appearances. I hoped my dad found an answer fast, or we would end up having to move out.

Chapter Twelve

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Summers,” the man at my front door said as he stepped inside clad in his black priest outfit. I’d seen those movies; he was the one there to cleanse the house.
Like that ever worked.

“You think you can really get rid of the evil shit in this house?” I laughed.

My father took a hold of the door as he stepped up beside me. “Please excuse Briar; she isn’t used to new people.”

“I’m not used to
people
,” I clarified.

The man’s smile faltered as he looked back at me. I smirked, finding entertainment in his uncertainty. If he couldn’t take a little teasing, how in the world was he going to get rid of the ghosts? As he stepped further inside, his eyes grew wide but he held his composure.

“I do believe this place is dangerous…”

I rolled my eyes.

“No need to worry, child, I will rid your house of spirits.” He opened his small bag and placed it on a table. He reached inside and pulled out a small silver instrument. As he walked around the house, he shook it, causing water to spurt out of it. 

“Oh geez. Dad, this is ridiculous.”

“Briar!” He walked over to me and took me by the arm, pulling me into the other room. “I’m sorry, Father, we will be back.”

“Of course.”

He didn’t speak to me until we reached the kitchen. “Briar, what has gotten into you?”

“Nothing. I just thought you would take me seriously when I said the house was haunted.”

“That’s exactly what I’m doing. What’s gotten into you?”

I jerked my arm out of his grasp. “This place is
haunted.
A priest isn’t going to fix things.”

Without another word, I spun around, threw open the back door, and didn’t stop until I was halfway across the property. No one could see me from where I was. I fell to the ground, big tears falling down my cheeks as I buried my face in my hands.

I missed my mother.

My heart ached. She was my best friend, and I missed her. When she died, I’d lost a piece of myself. I dreaded the day my father would die. He was the only thing I had left. At that point, I would be all by myself. No one else in the universe would ever love or care about me like my parents did. Except maybe Dillon.

A rustling sound caused me to look up. I could see something in the distance, but I wasn’t sure what. I pulled myself up onto my knees and wiped my face, rubbing the tears on my legs. Someone was there; I could barely make out the figure of a woman.

“Hello?” I called out.

The figure froze and slowly turned back to look at me. Her hair was dark and curled, and she was dressed in clothing that looked like she’d been pulled out of the 1800s. In a flash, she was in front of me. Her mouth gaped open into a high-pitched scream. I covered my ears and closed my eyes, hoping she’d disappear. My hand grasped the necklace as I tried to convince myself she wasn’t real. She had to be another ghost.

The screaming stopped, and I looked up to find myself alone in the field.

“Any dark energy be gone. You are no longer welcome here!” The priest’s voice flowed outside.

With a frown, I slipped back into the house unnoticed. I didn’t want to be there when he got to the field. I just hoped my dad was right, and he would get rid of the spirits.

Chapter Thirteen

“Happy Halloween!” Meredith squealed as I walked into the sociology building. She had been waiting by the door for me to enter and attacked the second I did.

I smiled. “Thanks.”

“Those are nifty,” she said and reached up to flick the purple and black horns clipped into my hair. It was the one day out of the year I could dress any way I wanted to and get away with it. Even my dad hadn’t said a word about my black lipstick, dark eye shadow, short poofy black skirt, and tight purple shirt with a skull on it.

“You, uh, you look good,” Ryder said as he joined us. His eyes roamed over my body, stopping on my pale legs before continuing down to my favorite combat boots. He shifted his backpack on his shoulder and looked up to smile at me.

“I, um, thanks.” Compliments were hard for me to take and, well, the way he looked at me made me slightly uncomfortable. He liked me, a lot, but someone else was taking my heart away from him.

Meredith’s green eyes sparkled brightly as she looked at me. “So, we have some awesome ideas for your favorite day!”

“We were thinking ice cream actually,” Ryder said. He put his arm around me as we walked down the hallway.

I frowned. “That sounds fattening.”

“Like you have anything to worry about,” Meredith said sarcastically and motioned at my short, thin frame.

“Maybe not.” Truth was, I wanted to be home with my family…and Cade.

“Come on, let’s celebrate! Please?” Ryder said and beamed at me with those beautiful brown eyes. “And, I know how much you’ve wanted to get a new piercing.”

With that offering how could I say no?

After school, we stopped by Lovely Shadows to get my lip pierced. The hoop was pretty freaking awesome, and I didn’t even have to pay for it. Ryder did, and there was a twinkle of mischief in his eyes as he did so. I think he had other ideas for what he could do with that ring, and I had to fight back the blush that rose to my face.

My dad wasn’t going to be happy about it, but I was very excited. He had already shown his clear distaste over my nose ring when I’d gotten it done, but he would get over it.

After that, we picked up ice cream and toppings before going to Ryder’s house. I hadn’t been there, and I was surprised at how large and beautiful it was. Where mine was outdated, old, and freaky looking, his was white with columns that screamed perfect. It made me wonder what he saw in me and if we were anything alike.

“Is your aunt coming home tonight?” Meredith asked, pulling me from my thoughts as she unpacked our ice cream supplies.

“No, she’s on a business trip,” he said and reached into a cabinet to retrieve three bowls and spoons. He opened the cartons.

“You live with your aunt?” I asked, curious.

“Yeah, my parents died when I was really little. I don’t remember much about them.”

My heart broke for him, and I reached out to set my hand on his. I knew that pain; it was still fresh in my heart. “I’m sorry.” His free hand dropped the spoon on the counter at my touch, clearly surprised that I did so. The smile on his face when he turned to me showed that he liked my hand on his.

“It’s fine. I can’t imagine my life another way. My sister and I practically grew up here.”

Meredith came to stand beside us and knocked her hips against him, which made him topple over onto me. I instinctively grabbed onto his blue plaid button up to keep myself from falling. He reached out and pulled me to him. His long arms wrapped around me and we both paused for a moment. I took in the familiar scent of his cologne, musky and sexy, and felt his heart beating quickly in his chest. He mumbled a quick sorry and then stepped back from me. I saw the slight blush creep up into his cheeks and the devious smirk on Meredith’s face.

“I need to go use your bathroom,” she said and turned to leave the room.

She left us alone with awkward silence looming between us. We were alone in the kitchen,
actually
alone. Being there with him with no ghosts stalking me reminded me what it felt like to truly be alone. I hadn’t felt that way since moving into the house. I was never ever alone.

I tried to concentrate on the task at hand and forget about ghosts. I was alone with Ryder, something I had been dying to experience since the moment I laid eyes on him. Cade itched at the back of my mind, but there would be no reason not to see what things with Ryder could potentially be like. I had spent a lot more time with Cade anyway since he lived so close; maybe I wasn’t giving Ryder a fair chance.

As I reached over to the sprinkles he reached out at the same time and touched my hand. We both snatched our hands back.

“Sorry.” We both said it at the same time and then looked at each other.

Ryder looked down at me with some sort of indecision in his eyes. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair; the brown pieces flopped about his head. Then he reached for the sprinkles and handed them out to me without a word.

“Thanks,” I said and went back to decorating my ice cream with everything available. Meredith was taking a long time in the bathroom, and I suspected it was to give us some time alone. When I reached for the whipped cream, it happened again. Ryder’s fingers touched mine, and we both jerked back.

“You gotta stop touching me like that,” I whispered and looked up at him.

Ryder looked at me, eyes wide with shock at my words. “I, um, I didn’t.”

“Yes, yes you did,” I insisted and reached out to get the can of whipped cream. I tilted my head back and squirted the gooey substance into my mouth. I pulled my new lip ring into my mouth and raised my eyes. A lopsided grin was upon his face.

“Give me that.” He snatched it away from me and sprayed it into his mouth. He laughed as he pointed the end of the bottle at me. “Don’t move, Briar, or you’re going to get it.”

I feigned fear and stepped back, my back hitting the island in the center of the room. “What are you doing?”

He stepped toward me until he was directly in front of me and reached out to place his left hand on the counter behind me. I could feel the excitement growing in my stomach, surprised at the curiosity inside me. I wanted to know what it would be like to kiss him. He held the can out to my face and sprayed a line of it across my jaw.

“Damn,” he whispered and set the can on the counter. “I missed.”

“Did you?” I asked, my voice cracking as I spoke out of nervousness.

“Yeah, I think I did,” he said, his voice slightly lower than before as he lowered his face to mine. His lips trailed across my jaw, his tongue snaking out to capture the whipped cream. My hands reached out to curl into his shirt at the same time that his hands took a hold of my waist to pick me up and set me on the counter. When he looked back at me, there was a fire there I’d never seen before. It made me feel as if I was the only girl in the room.

I closed my eyes as he lowered his mouth, my fingers digging into his shirt as his lips brushed mine. My piercing ached as he closed the distance between us, but it was a welcomed pain.

“I found the alcohol!” Meredith’s voice rang out as she stepped into the room.

Ryder jumped back from me as if someone had jerked him away, and pink tint returned to his cheeks. My own were engulfed in redness as I hopped off the counter and sheepishly looked up at Meredith.

Her mouth was open in shock but curled into a smile; the bottle of vodka in her left hand teetered back and forth. “Oh, sorry to interrupt.”

“It’s fine,” I whispered.

“Time to party!” She ran over to us with the bottle in her hand.

Ryder shot an apologetic glance over to me and I nodded with acknowledgement. Our moment alone had quickly been replaced with Meredith’s party time spirit—and she had been the one to set us up.

Chapter Fourteen

When Ryder dropped me off at home that night, it was later than I’d anticipated, almost nine o’clock. Dillon was in bed and my dad was waiting on the couch by the door with that fatherly look on his face.

“Where have you been?”

“With Ryder,” I said. “Has Cade stopped by?” I was surprised at the small smile that tried to form on my face. I crossed my arms to try and hide it.

My dad sighed and rubbed his eyes with his hand. “No, that boy hasn’t been by. Look, I’m going to try and be supportive of you looking for a, um, a boyfriend. But that doesn’t mean you can run around with that boy all the time and late into the night. You’re still living in my house, and you will follow my rules until you move out.”

I nodded. That had been what he, my mom, and I had decided on before she died. “I know.”

He stepped closer to me, his hand going to my chin to tilt my face to look at him. “What is that?”

“A piercing, Dad,” I said sarcastically and pulled away.

He frowned. “Just don’t be going too crazy now, okay?”

“I, um, okay. No problem.” I wasn’t prepared for his acceptance.

“You must really like this Cade kid,” he said and paused to pat me on the back, “because you’re smiling for the first time in weeks. He has to be a lot better than whatever one has had you in this funk.”

Had I really been that down and out?

“He is, Dad. Cade is great.”

“You should invite him over when I’m around, so I can get to know him.”

That caught me off guard but I nodded. “Sure.”

“There is dinner in the refrigerator if you want some. I’m going to go lie down and watch a movie.”

“I think I am too,” I said and made my way to the bedroom. 

I slipped into my night shorts and tank top, pulling my long black hair up into a messy ponytail. I put on one of my favorite scary movies,
Halloween
, and curled up on the bed. It wasn’t long before my door creaked open, and Cade stepped inside. He held his finger to his lips as if to ask me to be quiet.

“Hey,” I whispered as my breath suddenly left me. He was dressed in a tight white shirt and ripped jeans with his combat boots. My body betrayed me, and my heart flipped. I couldn’t take my eyes off him as he closed the door behind him.

He leaned against it and looked at me excitedly. “I’ve been waiting for the light in your room to come on.”

I hit pause on my movie. It didn’t matter that I had seen it a thousand times; I didn’t want to miss a second. “How long have you been waiting out there?”

“I can see your room from my window.”

“That’s kinda creepy.”

“Maybe.” He pushed off the wall and walked toward the bed. “What did you do for Halloween?”

“Hung out with Meredith and Ryder.”

His smile faltered and then faded. “Did he…did he kiss you?”

“Maybe.”

A cold chill flittered through the room and my television flickered. “Damn ghosts,” I growled. Raising my voice, I demanded, “Do you have to do this shit today?”

“They don’t take days off. Especially on Halloween,” Cade said. There was no trace of humor in his voice. His eyes looked into mine as he frowned. “So,
did
he kiss you?”

My temper flared. “Listen, I don’t want to do this possessive crap tonight okay? I had a good time, ate a lot of ice cream, and got my new piercing. I don’t want any reminders of murderous ghosts in my house or this jealousy from you. So, if you will excuse me, I want to watch my movie in peace.”

“I can do that,” he relented as he sat down on the bed beside me. “But first…” He held out his closed hands and gave me a half smile.

“What’s that?” I asked, suddenly curious.

“I made something for you.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I did.”

I reached out to take the paper. It was folded all fancy, like one of those notes girls passed around in class back in high school. I cocked an eyebrow at him, and he shrugged. I didn’t know boys knew how to do that. With a sigh, I opened the crisp white paper, using my palm to push out the sharp folded edges. I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the edge of my lips as I read through the list of songs and artists. Some of them were my favorite and some of them I had never heard of. It was entitled, “My Briar Rose”.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“It’s a playlist.” His voice was excited, as if it was the best thing to happen all day.

“I can see that.”

“I made it just for you. It’s about us.”

As I read through the list, my heart fluttered. No one had ever put such thought into a gift for me before. I would have to make it into a playlist. It showed that he’d paid close attention to all the times we’d talked about music and what we each liked, all the times he rummaged through my phone and played ones he’d never heard before. As possessive and weird as he could act sometimes, he truly cared about me.

“Thank you. It means a lot,” I said. At that moment, I wondered why I had been trying to fool myself. Ryder was a good-looking guy, but my feelings for him were nowhere near what I felt for Cade. Never had I felt so comfortable around someone other than my family.

A big boyish grin took over his face as he slowly pulled me to him. “Happy Halloween, Briar.” He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me on the cheek. He lowered me to the bed and lay down beside me, propping himself up on his elbows, and pushing the hair from my face. When he pulled back from me, he smiled and motioned to the television. “You wanna finish your movie?”

“That would be great.” I hit the play button.

Cade reached out to run his thumb across my lips, brushing over the ring. “This is so hot by the way.”

My face burned as I turned back to watch the television. I hated how easily he was able to change my mood and make me forget about everything else in the world. It was as if I was out of control of my own body.

As we watched the movie, I felt him run his cold hand back and forth over my back. It was comforting and with each movement, I felt my heart flutter and my pulse speed up. He was absolutely charming, and his clothes hugged his body perfectly. I snuck a peek at him and let my eyes wander over his body. He was taller than me, just so that I had to stand on my tiptoes to kiss him, but not as tall as Ryder where he was almost a foot taller. It was nice; I felt like it brought us more on the same level. His shirt rode up his back, revealing pale skin. I could see each muscle defined perfectly; he was breathtaking and awakening feelings inside of me that had been dormant for a very long time.

“What?” he asked.

My head jerked up to see him smiling. He’d caught me staring.

“I was just, um…”

“Looking at my ass?”

“No….I hadn’t gotten that far.”

Cade laughed and turned onto his side, which caused that damned shirt of his to ride up even more and giving me a good view of his abs. I forced my eyes away from his body and to his face.

“I’m afraid I’ll hurt you if I kiss you…” He bit his lip.

“You won’t hurt me…”

He eyed me curiously for a moment, maybe to see if I would change my mind. I wanted him to kiss me, with or without the pain. When I didn’t say anything, he leaned into me and brushed his lips across mine. I closed my eyes and melted into him.

His hands trailed down my body and to my waist, pulling me closer to him. My hand moved around his neck to settle in his hair and play with it. He deepened the kiss and pressed himself to me; my breath hitched as a yelp of pain erupted from my mouth. With a growl, Cade gripped me tighter. The pain began to dull into something welcome and pleasurable. As if he knew my thoughts, he pushed me back onto the bed and dug his short nails into my skin.

My heart raced at every touch; my body yearned for him like it never had with anyone else before. But could I really follow through with it since I was so afraid of falling in love and yet so close?

“Maybe we shouldn’t…” I pulled back from him.

He paused. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

“It’s not that I don’t…I just don’t know what
this
is right now.”

“Let me love you, Briar, even if it’s just one night,” he whispered as he planted kisses along my hair.

“Love?”

“I love you; I thought it was obvious.”

It wasn’t obvious. Protective was more what I thought, and even overbearingly so for no reason.

“If we do this, it’s no promise that it means anything serious, okay? I’m not ready for that.” I saw the hurt in his eyes, but I also knew he wouldn’t pass up the opportunity. We both wanted it badly, and I cared about him. It was even possible I was falling in love with him. No matter how much I tried to fight it.

“Whatever you want, Briar, I will give it to you.”

When his lips found mine again, they were more ferocious, more desperate as they moved against mine. Pain shot through my lips, but I didn’t stop him. I wanted more. His hands trailed down my body, fingers running under my shirt and setting on my stomach as he pushed me into the bed and crawled on top of me. I gave him entrance to my mouth again, reveling in the feel of him pushing my legs apart with his and making a spot for himself.

I moved my hands into his hair, twirling my fingers into the blonde locks as he moved his kisses down my neck and to my collarbone. His lips swept over my skin, sending shivers down my spine as he claimed me as his and encouraged me to give in to what my body begged me to do. Cade was cold against my hot, hard against my soft. He was everything I wanted but nothing I needed. Each touch of the cool metal in his tongue sent me railing.

He lifted my shirt over my head, trailing his fingers softly against my body as he did so. His hands moved down to my shorts to slip them off. Dark eyes moved hungrily over my body, but still he kept himself in check. Cade took my hands in his and put them to his shirt. I lifted it and tossed it off to the side, my breath catching at the sight of him. He was beautiful, so innocent looking, but all man at the same time. A steel hoop hung from each of his nipples, making me bite my lip in anticipation. It reminded me that he was an enigma. He knew all about me, and I barely knew a thing about him. Every time we got closer, something else surprised me.

As he kicked off his pants, showing off the other more fun thing that was pierced and making my face turn an embarrassing shade of red, he reached down to pull a piece of foil out of his pants. I was glad he was prepared, but my heart began to pound, almost out of my chest. I was suddenly terrified but ready at the same time.

“Are you sure?” he asked as he crawled back up onto the bed with me.

I nodded. “Yes, please, I need you.”

He obliged without saying a word, being softer and easier with me than I ever thought he would be, taking his time to continue to scatter wet, cold kisses along my mouth, my face, my hair, my neck. Taking over my senses, pulling me down under him and making me lose myself in the sudden fog that rose over us and covered us in its darkness.