Runes #03 - Grimnirs (12 page)

“He’s an ass.”

Instead of a text response, my phone went off. I brought to my ear. “Hey.”

“I was laughing so hard the guys wanted to know who I was texting,” Raine said. “Andris says hi.”

“He’s still an ass.”

“I know. Where are you?”

“At Kicker’s. They… she, Naya, and Sondra are getting ready.” I looked up to find the girls watching me. “Just a sec.” I cocked my brow at Kicker.

“We’re ready,” she said.

“Oh, good.” I got up and started out of the room, the phone back on my ear. I wish Raine were with me. She, Eirik, and I often did things together. “Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot,” Raine said.

“Have you heard from Eirik since his family moved?”

There was silence on the line.

I unlocked my car and slid behind the wheel. Still no response. “Raine?”

“A few times.”

She sounded funny. “Where is he?”

“He, uh, moved up north,” she said vaguely.

“North where? Seattle? Canada?”

She laughed. “I wish. Listen, Cora. Eirik is coming back. He said he’ll explain everything when he does.”

I frowned. “Explain what?”

“Why his family left. You were all he could think about before he left.”

I laughed. “He had a funny way of showing it. One, he left without saying goodbye. Two, he didn’t visit me—” I stopped when I remembered I wasn’t alone and there was just so much I could reveal to anyone. “Forget about him. I mean, we were just friends. You were the one dating him.”

“Biggest mistake. He was crazy about
you
,” Raine said.

“Sure he was. I gotta go.”

“Cora,” she said.

“Seriously, let’s
never
discuss him.” Thinking about him still hurt. Getting pissed with myself, I turned the key and pulled out of Kicker’s driveway.

“Eirik never said goodbye?” Naya asked.

“Naya! Remember what I told you?” Kicker asked.

Naya frowned, then her mouth formed an O. “Oh, yeah. The concussion!”

“You and Eirik did everything together, Cora,” Kicker said.

“We did?” I asked.

“You’d come to the pool to watch him swim and leave together before you decided to rejoin the team. We thought you rejoined because of him. At least that’s what we concluded.” She turned and glanced back at the other two. “Right?”

How had I juggled three boyfriends—Eirik, Drew, and Echo? I must have been the most unfeeling astral projection in the world. I kept my mouth shut for the rest of the drive.

The driveway to the Cavanaugh’s home was lined with cars, the clunky pickups from kids from across the railway track and the expensive foreign models favored by his closest friends—sons and daughters of vineyard owners and other upper elite Kayvillians. The place was packed, and people were still arriving. The party was on the pool deck, and people were dancing to the music blaring from speakers on the large wooden porch. The benefit of living in a huge vineyard was no angry neighbors ordering you to lower the volume. Drew’s parents were often out of town at wine shows, and his sister never seemed to be around whenever Drew threw a party.

Some people sat around on pool chairs and lounges while others played in the swimming pool, but majority stood around the wide porch in groups, talking or swaying to music while sipping fruit punch. Knowing Drew, the punch was mixed with some of his family’s favorite brews.

“Cora!” he called out.

I waved. He was holding court away from the dancers on the right end of the pool. He gave me a once over and grinned with appreciation. Most of the people around him were jocks, cheerleaders, or members of the drill team. My vlog had given me a free pass into their inner circle, even though I wasn’t really “one of them”.

Fulton, a blond wide receiver who could pass for a surfer dude, jumped up and offered me the lounge next to Drew.

“Thanks, Fulton.”

“Want something to drink?” he asked, his eyes on my cleavage.

“Sure.” As he took off, my eyes met Leigh Haggerty’s. Her fake smile didn’t fool me. She’d been after Drew for, like, forever. She was seated on a deck chair behind him, stroking his hair. He didn’t seem to mind. Another girl, Pia Gunter, sat on the lounge on his other side, scratching the skin under his cast with a cast scratcher. She was in my English class and was a total airhead.

“Did you bring
them
?” Leigh asked, nodding at Kicker and the other girls. I almost laughed at the annoyance in her voice. The swimmers were talking to some jocks and were, therefore, considered a threat.

“Yes. Why?” I cocked my eyebrows, daring her to say something mean about my teammates.

“They shouldn’t be flirting with Rand. He is Kenzie’s boyfriend,” Leigh said.

“Hmm, maybe Rand shouldn’t flirt with them since he’s the one with a girlfriend,” I said. Guys were so easy. Fix your hair a bit, slap on makeup, and they acted like they’d never seen you before.

“I’ve never seen them before,” Pia said with a bored air.

She never noticed anyone who wasn’t in her circle of friends. This party was going to get boring fast. I glanced at Drew and found him studying me. He smiled. I smiled back. One hour, then I was leaving.

“Is Torin coming tonight?” someone asked, and just like that, the conversation switched to tomorrow’s game and the Skyhawks—because it was a football party.

“I recorded their last three games,” Drew said. “It’s on DVR, so if you guys want to watch…” There was mass exodus of most players from around us and the ones in the pool followed. A few clingy girlfriends went with them.

I sipped my drink and nibbled on a slice of pizza. The music was loud, the drinks and food plenty. This was what I needed. Normalcy. Hanging out with people my age. Indulging in a little underage drinking. No more thoughts about Echo or Eirik, souls or reapers. I didn’t even care that a few gate crashed the party and kept staring at me. I wasn’t dealing with souls or the supernatural world. Tonight, I was just a teenager trying to have fun.

Drew’s arm came to rest on the top of my lounge, and he gently stroked my shoulder. His touch was pleasant. There was no zing or the urgent need to touch him back. No charged moment when our eyes met. He was a handsome guy, and I might even let him kiss me again tonight.

I was laughing at something someone said when there was a reduction in the noise level. The people on the porch seemed to lose interest in dancing. The ones in the pool stared and whispered. A sliver of awareness scuttled under my skin.

Echo. Somehow, I knew it was him before I turned.

“Who is that?” Leigh asked with awe.

He stood at the entrance of the back door, hands in the front pockets of his pants, his piercing eyes scanning the crowd. I could feel his impatience. He didn’t return smiles or nods.

He found me, and a lazy grin lifted one corner of his lips. My heartbeat shot up, a mixture of excitement and anticipation shooting through me. His wolf eyes held me captive, his bone-melting smile making my insides gooey. He started forward, his walk lazy.

“He’s coming this way,” Pia whispered excitedly.

He looked amazing. His duster was unbuttoned and revealed jeans and a gray T-shirt. It was the first time I’d ever seen him dress so casually, and he looked hot. The pants hugged his powerful thighs, and his shirt hinted at the masculine body underneath it. I wanted to yank off the duster and feast on him. Stand up, run to him, and touch his face. His shaggy hair had that messy look he pulled off so seamlessly, and he’d shaved. Another first. No guy at the party could touch him on hotness.

“Who is he?” one of the girls asked.

Every mother’s worst nightmare.

Ignoring everyone, he offered me his hand. The left one with the other glove. “Dance with me, doll-face.”

My anger with him for disappearing melted away. One second I was on the lounge; the next I was walking beside him, my gloved right hand in his. Since when had I become this easy? Probably since I’d met the gorgeous reaper.

Echo slipped an arm around my waist and pulled me close. I trembled when the full length of his hard body pressed against mine. He interlaced our fingers, his eyes not leaving mine.

“I’m happy you wore the glove tonight,” he whispered in a husky voice.

“You knew about the party?”

“Yes. Did you miss me?”

I had. “No. Where have you been?”

“I missed you, too.” He pressed his cheek against mine.

He was warm, which either meant he hadn’t come from Hel or someone had warmed him. I hated the feeling that washed over me. Jealousy was ugly. I refused to let it consume me the way it had when Raine was dating Eirik.

“Where were you? I thought Torin and the others hurt you. Then I was sure you were on the road uprooting trees and destroying grapes.”

He chuckled. The sexy sound rumbled through his chest and mine, doing things to me that defied description. I wanted to purr.

“I was watching out for you. Which one is Drew?” he asked, swinging me around so he could look at the group I’d been sitting with.

“Leave him alone, Echo.”

“Kiss me and I’ll play nice.” He dropped a kiss on my neck.

Heat shot through me, and a low moan of pleasure escaped my lips. Gah, I wanted to kiss him so badly. Devour him. “Behave!”

“I will once you tell me which one is Drew.”

“You don’t need to worry about him.”

“I’m not worried. I just want to tell him to forget about you in the nicest possible way.” He stepped away from me, and I knew he’d humiliate Drew in front of his friends and not care.

I grabbed his shirt and pulled him back. The T-shirt rode up and revealed his ridged abs and the intriguing line of hair disappearing under his waistband. I drooled a little. Okay, a lot. He chuckled, and my eyes flew to his. The smile disappeared from his face.

“A kiss it is,” he whispered, cupped my face, and lowered his head. “I need to kiss you.”

I expected him to take over my senses like before, bending me to his will. Instead, the kiss was gentle. He rubbed his lips across mine as though waiting for my permission to deepen it. I sighed and invited him to take more. He did, nibbling my upper lip then lower. I trembled, but frustration washed over me. He was holding back, while I wanted more. Needed him to make me remember what it felt like to be in his arms.

I reached up, grabbed his coat, and pulled him closer. At the same time, I flicked my tongue and tasted his lips. The dam broke. He groaned, angled his head, and took charge of the kiss. The earth fell from under me. I clung to his shoulders so sure I’d fall if he let me go.

Sensations crested and exploded through me. The music disappeared into the background. Where we were and who might be watching ceased to matter. All I cared about was Echo. His lips. His tongue. The feel of his body against mine.

He broke the kiss. More like yanked his mouth from mine and muttered, “Hel’s Mist.”

The smoldering look in his eyes had me wishing we were alone. I looped my hands around his neck and buried my face in his chest, my heart threatening to burst.

He moved his mouth to my ear. “Now he knows you’re not available,” he said in a husky voice, his arms tight around my waist.

Sanity was slowly returning. My body still hummed, and my lips tingled. “You’re a jerk.”

He chuckled. “I know, but you still want me.”

I did. Too much. “Shut up.”

“I’ll see you later tonight. Okay?”

Surely, I hadn’t heard him right. I leaned back, my eyes narrowing. “You are not leaving me here.”

He glanced at the other students and smirked. “I wanted to make sure you didn’t forget me. Now be a sweetheart and go have fun with your Mortal friends.”

“In your dreams, buster. You are not going anywhere until we talk.” We couldn’t do it in the middle of Drew’s deck with everyone watching. It was time to say my goodbyes. “I’ll be back.”

Echo pulled me back into his arms again and peered into my eyes. “I have to go, Cora.”

“Why?”

“I’m trying to stop Hel’s private army from finding you.” He winced as though he hadn’t meant to say that.

“Finding… What?”

He touched my cheek and chuckled. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to drop it on you like that. I meant to explain everything last time after your trip to the hospital, but a couple of my brethren were on your tail and had to be stopped. Now, give me a kiss before I leave.”

“You’re not doing that to me. Not again.”

“Doing what?”

“Leaving without an explanation. I was worried when you just disappeared.” I glanced around. We were the center of everyone’s attention. “Don’t move.”

“Cora—”

“Do. Not. Leave.” I marched to where Drew sat. “Sorry, I have to go. Something’s come up.”

Annoyance flashed in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but then he glanced behind me and clammed up, his jaw tense.

“See you around,” he said through clenched teeth. He looked pissed. I guess that meant this was the last party I’d be attending here. Oh, well.