Coldhearted (9781311888433) (22 page)

Edie chuckled again and flopped back on the
bed. “Who you gonna call?” she quipped. Then she bolted up. “Oh,
no!”

“
What?” Diana and Madelyn
asked in unison, concerned.

“
Mason wanted me to call him
if anything happened.” Edie looked at her two best friends. “What
should I do?”

“
If you call him, I’ll be
really, really nasty,” the ghost warned.

Edie blew out an exasperated breath. “Well,
that’s settled.” Diana and Madelyn looked at Edie, confused, again.
“The ghost said he’d go all ‘Boo!’ if I called Mason,” Edie
informed, flopping back down on the bed.

Diana and Madelyn took up positions beside
Edie, lying down, and then looped their arms around Edie’s.

Diana said, “Well, I don’t like giving in to
this ghost, but I don’t want Mason to get hurt, and that’s exactly
what will happen to him if he comes over.”

“
You think?” Edie
asked.

“
Oh, yeah,” Madelyn said.
“Didn’t you see what the ghost did to him at Di’s house? You see,
the ghost hates Mason—I’m sure he hates all of us—but he especially
hates Mason.”

“
Why?” Edie
asked.

Diana said, “Because the ghost wants you all
to himself and you’re with Mason. He’s jealous.”

Edie threw out her hands, which was tough,
because Diana and Madelyn were practically restraining her with
their concern. “But why me?”

“
Maybe he’s got a thing for
blondes?” Diana threw out, and then smiled. “No, it’s probably
because you’re so pretty. All the psychos love the pretty girls. At
least that’s what I see on those cable crime shows.”

“
Di, you and those shows!”
Madelyn admonished. “They’ll give you nightmares.”

“
And a poltergeist won’t?”
she countered, biting back.

“
No, he won’t,” Edie
assured, “’cause I made a deal with him, so you two sleep tight,
and don’t let the bed bugs bite.”

Diana reached over and turned off the
lamplight. They were veiled in darkness.

There was a long silence until Madelyn broke
it by saying, “If I say anything incriminating in my sleep,
remember I’m just sleeping. I have no awareness of anything that I
admit to.”

Edie could feel Diana turning over. “Anything
incriminating?” she repeated. “Maddie, what have you done?”

“
Nothing,” Madelyn denied
immediately. “I’m just saying.”

Diana resumed her earlier position, but just
when Edie closed her eyes, Diana opened her mouth. “I have been
known to latch on while I sleep…so…just warning you in
advance.”

Edie was confused. “Latch on?”

“
She’ll crush your bones,”
Madelyn warned. “That’s why she has the futon in her room. When we
were younger and used to have sleepovers, it was a way for me to
stay alive until the next morning,” she said dryly.

Edie saw a pillow fly across the bed. At
first, she assumed it’d been the ghost until Diana said in a tone,
“You were never in any danger, Maddie. Don’t scare Edie away.”

“
Don’t worry,” Edie said,
seeking to prevent a pillow fight. “Diana, latch on, and Madelyn,
divulge what you want. Your secrets are safe with me.”

****

Diana and Madelyn had fallen asleep in no
time, but Edie stayed frustratingly awake.

Diana had latched onto Edie, but she wasn’t
in any danger. Her bones stayed intact. Madelyn had mumbled
something about a guy named “Damian” and the words “kiss” and
“love.” Edie didn’t know anyone named “Damian” at school, so she
assumed that he was someone from Madelyn’s past. Even though
Madelyn was broadcasting her feelings, Edie felt it was wrong to
eavesdrop, and considering she couldn’t sleep, she slipped out of
bed, managing to detach herself from Diana.

After she’d taken care of business in the
bathroom, she remained standing before the mirror, scanning her
face. She wasn’t wearing any makeup, and she thought she looked
pale, but not dead, which was some relief. Her blonde hair was a
bit disheveled, but not a mess. Her blue eyes, like her mom’s, were
dimmer than normal. They’d always been lively, electrifying even.
Edie assumed that her change in eye color had to do with all the
stress in her life.

Yet even in such a sad state, Diana still
thought that Edie was pretty. Was that really the reason the ghost
wouldn’t leave her alone? She didn’t think that she was ugly, but
she knew for a fact that there were prettier girls out there than
her. Like Diana and Madelyn. They were very pretty. Why hasn’t he
latched onto them? Edie immediately shook her head, ashamed that
she’d even thought that. No, she didn’t want that for them. She
didn’t want her misery to befall anyone else.

“
Why me?” she asked herself
in the mirror, thinking that she had all the answers.

She gave no reply and Edie closed her eyes to
fight back the tears. When she opened them, she gasped in terror,
and then rounded, waiting for the intruder in her bathroom to lunge
and grab her. But no one was there. She was all alone.

She turned back toward the mirror and stifled
a scream, not wanting to wake Diana and Madelyn. He’d returned, but
then again, he’d never left to begin with.

“
Hello, Edie.” The ghost
smiled at her in the mirror. “I’m glad we can finally meet…face to
face, so to speak.”

He was right. They were each facing the
mirror, but he was inside the mirror, while at the same time,
standing right behind her, from the reflection. He was wearing a
white dress shirt, unbuttoned at the top with the sleeves rolled
up, and a pair of black pants. He looked like he’d been to a
business meeting and now wanted to relax. His hair was dark brown
and long, parted to the side, hanging past his ears. His eyes were
striking. They were dark blue like lapis lazuli. He was naturally
tan with a five o’clock shadow. Edie put his age around nineteen or
twenty. They weren’t that far apart in age, yet she felt like a
helpless, little girl, as they stood there in silence, staring at
each other.

“
Well?” he finally
continued. “What do you think, Edie?”

She swallowed, nervous. “About what?”

He smiled. “About me?”

“
You’re hideous,” she
lied.

He leaned forward and brushed his cold cheek
against Edie’s, staring at her in the mirror. “Tell the truth,
Edie, or else I’ll become very naughty.”

Edie bit her lip, and then said, “You’re all
right-looking, I guess. Not my type, though.” She gave him a
crooked smile. “I prefer guys who are alive, and oh, yeah, ones who
don’t get their jollies by scaring people.”

She waited for him to do something “naughty,”
but he just smiled at her. Although that gesture was naughty coming
from him.

“
I admit,” he said, “that I
tremendously enjoy scaring people, but it’s not just for kicks. I
have a plan.”

“
A plan for what, world
domination?” she asked sarcastically.

He tsked. “Don’t be ridiculous, Edie, and I’m
not telling, so there.”

She folded her arms over her chest. “Have you
always been a jackass, or did you turn into an arrogant son of a
bitch after you died?”

“
Ooh, language.” Yet he
didn’t seem offended and planted a cold kiss on her cheek. “I like
this side of you, Edie. As to your profanity-laced question, I’ve
never been anything but a gentleman when I was alive. I still
am.”

She blew out a breath of disbelief. “Now
who’s lying…what’s your name anyway?”

He smiled and stuck out his hand. “I’m
Tristan, Tristan Lockhart.” When Edie didn’t stick her hand out in
return, he said, “Edie, please.” It was more like a warning, an
order, even.

Edie found it weird, but she lifted her hand,
and then reached behind her to shake his, while still looking at
him in the mirror. His freezing hand gently clasped hers and he
planted a kiss. She jerked her hand back and stuck in under her
armpit to quickly warm it up.

“
I would say: ‘nice to meet
you, Tristan,’ but I won’t because it’s not nice. Why do you keep
bothering me, my friends? Why don’t you attach yourself to someone
else?”

“
I don’t want anyone else,”
Tristan said. “You released me and I’ll be forever
grateful.”

Edie squared her shoulders, trying to look
tough. “Don’t be. I didn’t do it on purpose. If I could, I’d find a
way to tear you from me, or put you back inside Lockhart
Manor.”

Tristan pressed his cold cheek against
Edie’s. “It’s too late for that, sweetheart. I’m yours and you’re
mine. Forever.”

Edie opened her mouth to protest, but her
voice was gone. Her sight went next, as Tristan shielded her eyes
with his hand, forcing her into darkness. Finally, she was
paralyzed, as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pressed his
chest against her back.

Tristan whispered in her ear, “Sleep, my
dear, sleep, and dream of me.”

He kissed her, leaving her lips shivering, as
she fulfilled his desire, and fell unconscious into his arms.

Chapter 16

Edie woke the next morning to discover that
she was in her bed with Diana and Madelyn, flanking her sides.

They looked peaceful and she didn’t wake
them. There was still some time before they had to get ready for
school, and she needed some time alone to process what’d happened
the night before.

Her ghost had a name: Tristan Lockhart.

He was wicked and gorgeous. And she’d dreamt
about him.

The dream had been “very, very naughty,” as
he liked to say.

They’d been in a room, in a house—presumably
Lockhart Manor—and they’d done things that even as Edie thought of
them now made her blush. She could lie and say it’d been rape, but
it hadn’t. Her actions had been entirely complicit. There’d been
only one instance when he’d done something that’d made her mad.
He’d been gently cupping her neck, and then in a flash, he’d
snapped her necklace off like it’d offended him. She’d slapped his
face and he’d growled, but somehow they’d gotten over that little
fight and continued their union.

Remembering what they’d done even in dream
form was enough to make Edie almost vomit, despite the charged
scenes of exquisite sensuality.

She felt something cold in her clenched fist
and opened her hand to reveal a piece of jewelry. It was her
necklace, broken, the chain snapped. She slid quietly out of bed
and looked at it under the lamplight. She needed a new chain and
didn’t have one. She didn’t know if the dream had been real, and
Tristan had torn it off, or if she’d torn it off. It was in her
hand, after all, and not discarded, as she assumed Tristan would’ve
done. She didn’t know why in the dream, he’d ripped it off her
neck. It was from her parents, not Mason, nor any other potential
mate. Tristan knew that. He’d been with her long enough to know
what that pendant meant to her and who’d given it to her.

“
Why?” she asked aloud, but
low, as not to wake her friends, who were dead—figuratively
speaking—to the world.

Tristan refused to answer.

“
What?” a familiar voice
said, sleepy-sounding from afar.

Edie turned to see Diana getting off the bed.
She yawned as she approached Edie.

“
What’s wrong?” she asked,
covering her mouth, afraid of possible morning breath.

“
I didn’t mean to wake you,”
Edie said.

Diana waved a dismissive hand. “I needed to
get up anyway.” She turned toward Madelyn, lying on her back, arms
splayed, mouth hanging open. “Hey, Maddie, get up!”

Madelyn jerked up, but still had her eyes
closed like a newborn kitten. “Wha?” When she forced them open, she
looked at Edie and Diana. “What day is it?”

“
A school day,” Diana
said.

Madelyn flopped back down on the bed and
moaned.

Diana turned back toward Edie, and then
noticed the broken necklace in her hand. “Oh, no, what happened? I
didn’t do that, did I?”

Madelyn said, “What’s going on?” She was
fully awake now and advanced toward Edie and Diana in no time.

Edie showed Maddie the necklace. “I don’t
know if it was me or Tristan.”

Diana and Maddie furrowed their brows.

Diana repeated, “Tristan?”

Oh, yeah, the news.

Edie sighed. “Yeah, the ghost, his name is
Tristan, Tristan Lockhart. He, uh, appeared to me last night.”

Madelyn gasped, then yawned, then gasped
again. “He appeared, like…manifested?” she asked, apparently
familiar with ghost terminology.

“
In the mirror,” Edie
informed.

“
What does he look like?”
Diana asked.

Edie told the truth. “Devilishly handsome,”
she replied.

Edie refrained from telling them about the
dream. It was just a dream…right?

“
So…what’d he say?” Madelyn
asked. “Was it something about trying to dissuade you from going to
that sanatorium this Saturday?”

Edie smacked a hand against her forehead.
“Ugh, I forgot to talk to him about it. It was…confusing…being
around him. Startling, you know? He’s so wicked, but at the same
time, incredibly charming.”

Edie shivered, cold. Diana and Madelyn hugged
her.

“
Don’t worry,” Diana
soothed.

“
We’ll get through this,”
Madelyn assured.

Edie thanked them, glad of their unwavering
friendship.

****

Diana was showering while Madelyn was
preparing a pot of coffee and buttery toast for breakfast. Edie was
alone in her bedroom and sat at her desk, staring at the broken
chain in her hand. There wasn’t anything that she could do about it
now, so she tucked it away into her jewelry box.