Immortals (Runes book 2) (23 page)

“Yeah, that was the first time I slept through the night without, uh, you know.” He glanced at Torin again. “Does he know?”

“Of course not.”

“Good.” He shoved his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. “The fewer people who know the better.”

“I was hoping you’d tell him.”

Eirik scowled. “Why?”

“Because I’ll have to explain why you sleep in my room. I’m assuming you plan on coming back.”

He grinned. “If we can fool your mother. She wasn’t too happy this morning and gave me a long lecture about proper behavior now that we’re older. What did you tell her?”

“That it was okay for you to stay over. She wasn’t happy with me either. Why didn’t you just tell her the truth?”

He shrugged. “I will when I’m ready.” His glance shifted to Torin again, but this time he nodded and said, “Hey.”

I glanced over my shoulder and smiled. Torin was coming toward us. He slipped his arms around my waist and pulled me against him. I liked that he couldn’t keep away from me. Or maybe he was jealous. I leaned against him and forced myself to focus on Eirik. “You want to hang out with us or are you going to Cora’s?”

“Cora and I are done.” He pushed against the Jeep and straightened his body. “See you two around.”

“What do you mean done?” I asked, my voice rising in shock.

“Nothing is going on between us.” He walked around the hood of his car and slipped behind the wheel.

“I’ll be right back.” I wiggled out of Torin’s arms, yanked open the passenger door, and slid inside.

Torin didn’t look happy. As I watched him walk away, I reached a decision. He was my boyfriend and shouldn’t come second to Eirik. He might not remember the past, but I’d put him through the same crap before, always putting Eirik’s feelings before his. I refused to do it again.

I waited until he was inside the house before I turned and faced Eirik. “Start talking.”

“Can we do it inside?” He indicated my house with a nod. “I need something to eat.”

“We can go to my place
after
we talk. Why are you pushing Cora away? She’s crazy about you, and you’re crazy about her.”

He threw me an unreadable glance. “Crazy is not how I would describe it.”

“Crazy, nuts… It doesn’t matter what you call it. You like her, and I’m not going to enable you.”

He snorted. “Enable me?”

“Yes, enable you. As long as you have me to hang out with, you don’t need to have someone special in your life. We did that for sixteen years, Eirik. We are best friends, and we’ll probably be…” I had no idea how long Valkyries and gods lived. “Forever.”

“But?”

“But I have Torin now, and he means a lot to me, too.”

A lost puppy expression settled on Eirik’s face. “Does that mean we’re not going to hang out anymore?”

 
He wasn’t being fair. “We will, just not all the time. I hurt Torin a lot when you and I were dating because I knew how he felt about me, but I was determined to make things work with you.”

A thoughtful expression entered his eyes. “You were?”

“Of course. I can’t put him through that again by hanging out with you all the time and keeping secrets from him. Not being honest with him will destroy our relationship just as it will destroy whatever you and Cora have.”

He was silent for a long time then he sighed. “I don’t want whatever is after me to hurt her.”

Oh, that was sweet. It also confirmed what I’d suspected all along. He was totally into her. “That makes sense, but you won’t let anything hurt her just like I won’t let anything hurt you and Torin won’t let anything happen to me. We are all connected whether we like it or not. We’re all in this together. If anything affects one of us, it affects all of us.”

Silence followed.

“Okay. I’ll take care of it,” he said. “I don’t like it, but I don’t see any way out.”

“Good. I hope she doesn’t freak out.”

“You think I’m going to tell Cora the truth about me?” He snorted, opened his door, and jumped down. “I’m going to talk to your boyfriend. And thanks for telling me you fought for us.”

He’d never stood a chance the moment I met Torin. I left the Jeep and followed Eirik as he strolled toward Torin’s front door. By the time I reached the steps leading to the porch, Torin stood the doorway. His eyes swung from Eirik to me, then to back to Eirik.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“She said no more secrets because she won’t enable me and she doesn’t want you hurt like before.” When Torin looked at me and lifted his eyebrows in question, Eirik added, “She explains it better. The bottom line is we need to talk.”

Torin stepped aside to let Eirik enter. They both turned as though to make sure I was following. I shook my head. “You two talk. I’m going to call Cora and have a little girl talk, so I’ll be at my house.”

I turned and hurried away before either of them could protest.

***

I texted Cora several times, but she didn’t return my texts. I still couldn’t believe Eirik had pushed her away. He could be so stubborn sometimes. I glanced outside, but there was no movement at Torin’s. Sighing, I sat at my desk and started on one of the homework packets the teachers had given me.

When I heard Eirik’s voice, I rushed to the window. He was crossing the lawn alone and talking to someone in my driveway. My parents were home already? I checked my watch. It was almost five. I tried to attract Eirik’s attention, but he didn’t look up.

The door opened downstairs, and Dad’s voice drifted upstairs, mingling with Eirik’s.
 
Dad must be home early to start on dinner. I’d noticed the leg of lamb and chicken breasts he’d left in the fridge. Once again, I checked Torin’s bedroom window. He wasn’t there. I wished he could embrace modern technology and just buy a cell phone.

Sighing, I left my bedroom and started downstairs.

“You know our rules, son. In this house, if you want to eat, you cook. So grab an apron,” I heard Dad say and grinned. Eirik had just been roped into helping Dad cook. It wasn’t the first time either.

Dad had taught him everything, from shaving to changing a tire, making a mean burger to mixing a dirty martini. Whatever that meant. Did he know about Eirik’s true identity? Somehow I doubted that it would matter. Eirik was like a son to my father.

I watched them from the bottom of the stairs, where I had a clear view of the kitchen. Dad had a barbecue apron with “Super Dad” written across the chest. Below it was “Tristan, King of the Grill.” It was last year’s Father’s Day gift from me. I’d bought it at an online site, where you personalized apparel. Eirik’s said “Real Men Grill.”

Hoping they didn’t hear me, I retraced my footsteps and checked my phone again when I reached my room. There was still no message from Cora. I grabbed my keys and went back downstairs, making as much noise as I could.

“Where are you going?” Dad called out.

“To Cora’s.” I joined them in the kitchen. Eirik was washing baby red potatoes while Dad shoved garlic into the leg of lamb. “She’s not answering my calls, and I’m kind of worried about her.” I shot Eirik a mean look.

He made a face and dangled an apron my way.

“You’re not going to help us cook?” Dad asked.

“Uh, I wasn’t planning to. I’ll only be in your way.”

“Okay, go. Dinner is at seven, so be back to set the table.”

“Thanks, Dad.” I stuck my tongue out at Eirik and ran out the door. I was backing out of our driveway when Torin stepped outside and waved me over. I slowed down and turned into their driveway. I pushed down my window. “How did it go with Eirik?”

“Good. We’ll need to come up with a plan to stop whatever is messing with his head.” He reached inside the car and tucked my hair behind my ear. “Where are you going?”

“To see Cora. I’m worried about her.”

“You know you can’t force two people to be together unless they both want to.”

I snorted. “Watch me.”

He chuckled. “You’re stubborn.”

“No, I’m right. The two of them belong together.”

“Is this a guilt thing? Because we’re together and Eirik has no one?”

“Eirik has me, you, Andris, my parents, and his parents. I’m not sure about Ingrid cause she hates me, and Lavania is an unknown entity. I told him that if one of us is not okay, we’re all not okay. Just as we will all work together to stop the shadow from hurting him, we will get him and Cora back together.”

Torin shook his head and rubbed his finger across my lower lip. “You should come with a warning label, Freckles.”

My lip tingled, and I found myself licking it. “And what label is that?”

“Snarky, bossy, pain-in-the-butt.” He stepped back. “See you at seven. Oh, Ingrid doesn’t hate you. She just happens to be in love with someone who’s in love with someone else, too.”

Too? Did he believe Eirik was in love with me? Not wanting to argue with him, I ignored his statement. “Could you buy a cell phone?”

He cocked his eyebrows. “Why?”

“I want to be able to text or call you instead of always looking out the window to see if you’re in your room.”

He grinned. “We don’t need modern technology to communicate, Freckles. If you need me, I’ll know it.”

Nice.
“Really? How?”

He touched his chest. “Right here. Your essence knows mine, just like mine knows yours. We can still communicate when all our other senses fail. I can hear you if you don’t speak. Sense your presence without seeing you. Feel you without touching you.” He winked and sauntered away.

14.
 
THE DARKNESS INSIDE

With Torin’s words ringing in my ears, I grinned like an idiot until I turned into the narrow road leading to Cora’s home. Her family lived ten minutes outside town on a farm that once belonged to her paternal grandparents. Her parents, both retired elementary school teachers, had home-schooled her until her grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. When Cora and I met in junior high, she’d just started public school.

The patio door opened before I parked, and Cora’s mother stepped out. She wore her standard farm outfit, dungarees and galoshes. I’d never seen her in anything but dungarees, even at Farmers’ Market where she sold the organic produce they grew, including different types of apples. Like Cora, she had blonde hair, except hers was sprinkled with gray.

“Hey, Mrs. Jemison,” I said.

“Hello, dear.” We hugged. Her clothed smelled of spices. She baked apple desserts, which she supplied to some stores in Kayville. “We haven’t seen you around lately.”

 
“I was away for a few weeks, and when I came back, I had to catch up on schoolwork.” There was an awkward pause as she studied me intently like she expected me to say more. “I know I should have called first, but, uh, is Cora home?”

“She’s in her room. She was helping Jeff with his research earlier, but she’s probably updating her video blog right now.” She chuckled. “Go on inside. I’m sure she’d love company.”

Cora was a serious vlogger, although her subjects were usually guys from school. I entered their house, expecting to see her father in the alcove off their living room, tapping away on his keyboard. The chair was empty. He was a novelist and kept weird hours.

I headed upstairs.

Cora’s laughter filtered into the hallway. She sounded way too chipper for someone broken up about a guy.

“I’m in the middle of something, Mom,” she yelled when I knocked.

I opened the door anyway and popped my head inside her room. She was painting her toenails while talking on the phone. She must have just left the shower because she wore a robe and a towel wrapped around her head. Seeing it was me, and not her mother, she grinned and waved me over.

“Okay, six thirty,” she said into the phone then rolled her eyes. “Fine. Tell him it’s a date.” She dropped her phone on the bed and scooted to the edge. “Hey, Ms. Popular. I love your hair. If you go back to wearing it in a ponytail, I’ll so disown you.”

I snickered. She spent way too much time on her hair. I only did mine for Torin. “Ms. Popular?”

“You’re trending among our friends on every social network right now, Raine. I was just about to call you.” She stood, hobbled to where I stood because of the toe-spacers, and hugged me. “Phew, Kicker can sure talk a girl’s ear off. She kept me on the phone for, like, forever wanting to know about you and Torin. When did you meet? Was this your first date? Blah blah this and blah blah that. FYI,” she added, pointing at me, “I’m milking your fame for my vblog.”

Somehow I’d expected her to be heartbroken. You know, wearing the standard wrinkled sweatpants and matching shirt, hair unwashed. Instead she was making a date. A date! That bugged me. No, it more than bugged me. I was outraged on Eirik’s behalf.

“Trending?” I asked.

“See my laptop.” She waved toward her desk. “Torin has already been voted the best kisser and loving boyfriend
evah
. Everyone who posted a picture of the two of you tagged me. Your fame is already rubbing off on me,” she added, grinning.

Yeah, right. She’d always been popular because of her vlog. Besides, guys found her hot. I walked to her desk and touched the screen of her laptop. She had logged in at a popular social network site, but her page had pictures of Torin and me walking hand-in-hand inside the Creperie. The two of us talking to Andris. Several even captured the wicked gleam in Torin’s eyes as he’d glanced at me before telling everyone who could hear that we had plans for the evening. I scrolled down. Majority of the photographs were of us kissing. One even had the caption “Hot! Hot! Hot!” The comments under it sent blood rushing to my cheeks.

“People need to get a life,” I mumbled.

“Why, when we are living vicariously through you? You just moved from being the most hated girl at school to the most envied.” Cora pointed at her laptop. “You and Torin are officially the hottest couple now. If you click on the second tab, you’ll see how many comments I’ve received since posting on my vlog, uh,” she looked at her watch, “an hour ago.”

I didn’t bother to check. Her gushiness was over the top. Was focusing on us her way of dealing with her failing relationship with Eirik?

“Cora, I wanted to talk about Eirik,” I said.

“Funny, I don’t want to.” She snapped shut her laptop, determination gleaming in her eyes. She thrust her right hand toward me. “Can you repair my pinky?”

 
The bright red nail polish was pretty, but it made her skin look even paler. Cora often wore dark colors when she was in the dumps. The red was too bright. I took the nail polish remover and cotton balls, sat on her bed, and removed the damage she’d done.

“So what plans do you and Torin have tonight?” she asked.

“We’re having dinner.”

“At home or somewhere romantic.”

I didn’t want to discuss my relationship. “At home. Eirik told me what he did.”

Cora glared. “Stop talking about him already, sheesh.”

“I can’t.”

“Argh, I hate you. We tried. It bombed. End of story. I’ve moved on.” She glowered defiantly as though daring me to say anything. I opened my mouth to argue, but then I noticed her chin tremble. She was taking this harder than she let on.

“Oh, Cora,” I said and sighed.

“What do you think of my nails?” she asked. Her eyes were overly bright.

“It is a pretty color,” I said, focusing on repairing her nail.

“It matches the top I plan to wear tonight. I have a hot date.”

“Who with?”

“Jaden Granger. It’s a double date with Kicker and her boyfriend.”

Jaden Granger? Gross. What was wrong with her? She hated Jaden. On the other hand, she’d flirted with him last night. Eirik was going to lose it when he found out.
Serves him right.
He deserved a kick in the rear. Cora was not the kind of girl you messed with. She made you pay. Hanging out with them was going to be a nightmare.

“I wish you wouldn’t give up on Eirik so fast,” I said.

“I didn’t give up on him, Raine, because I never had him to begin with,” she said calmly, too calmly, then reached down and touched her toes. “These are dry.”

“What makes you think you never had him?”

She closed her eyes. “I swear you’re like a dog with a bone. Why do I think I never had him? Because Eirik is still into you. He’s never gotten over you. He was a mess the two weeks you were gone. I tried to be there for him, but I wasn’t enough. Seeing you with Torin must be killing him because he’s gotten worse. Now if you don’t mind, I need to blow-dry my hair and fix this,” she indicated her face and crossed her eyes dramatically, “before I leave for my date.” She disappeared into her bathroom.

Her pinky nail was going to get smudged again. Shaking my head, I went through her stash of nail polish until I found an emerald-green one that matched the top I planned to wear tonight. If I didn’t know about Eirik’s night terrors, I would have believed everything she’d said about his feelings for me.

Cora was still blow-drying her hair when I finished doing my nails, so I plotted my next move. When she walked back into her bedroom, I had a plan. Her hair looked amazing. It fell in gentle waves around her shoulders. I’d never seen her use a curling iron. She often preferred using her home salon, which was at the corner of her room. It had a professional hooded dryer and a chair.

“I thought you left,” she said.

“Why?” I blew on my nails.

“Because of what I said.”

I chuckled. “Please. If Eirik were in love with me, which he wasn’t even when we dated, he wouldn’t be so chummy with Torin now. Didn’t you ever wonder why Eirik never liked any of the guys you dated? Or how he’d be mean to you whenever you gushed over some guy? The constant bickering between the two of you? And even though you’ll deny it, you were hurt when he and I started dating.” Cora made a face, but I just ignored her. “The signs were there, but I was too dense to figure it out. Things clicked during the meet when I saw the way he looked at you while you were flirting with some guy by the pool. Eirik likes you, Cora. A lot. I think something is bothering him.”

She grew still, her eyes fixed on my face. “What?”

“I don’t know,” I lied smoothly. “Until he confides in us… in you, date whoever you like and make him see what he’s missing. You have my total support.”

She scowled.

“In fact, I’ll make sure I tell him you’re on a date tonight,” I laid it on thick. “Where are you guys going?”

“Dinner somewhere then the movies. We haven’t decided which movie yet.”

“Text me when you know for sure. Maybe Torin and I can join you guys.”

“Okay,” she mumbled with less enthusiasm, and I knew my plan was already working. If she was into Eirik, as I suspected, she wouldn’t want to see him suffer.

Pretending not to notice her reaction, I blew on my nails. She pulled on jeggings, dropped her robe, and added a red dress top that hugged her chest and flared around her hips. By the time she finished with her makeup, she looked stunning.

“Jaden is not going to take his eyes off you,” I said.

“That’s the idea.” Once again, her smile seemed forced.

Smiling, I gave her a hug and headed downstairs. Her mother wasn’t in the house though the scent of freshly baked pies filled the air. She usually supplied local stores with baked apple desserts.

***

Eirik’s Jeep was gone from the curb. Dad sat at the kitchen table alone, his feet up and a drink in his hand. He hadn’t changed out of his cooking clothes. From his position, he had a clear view of Torin’s house, including the driveway. Had he seen Torin and me earlier? Probably.

“Something smells good,” I said, peeking inside the oven. The roast sat on a bed of crisp-looking vegetables. Beside it was a large oval bowl of scalloped potatoes, my favorite, while a tray of baby red potatoes was on the bottom rack. “
And
looks good.”

“Try the soup and tell me what you think,” he said.

I got a spoon from a drawer, lifted the lid off the pan on the stovetop, and scooped some of his famous onion soup—another one of my favorites. I gave him two thumbs up and went to the fridge to get bottled water. A tray of deviled eggs covered with plastic wrap was in the middle rack. Wow, he had gone all out.

“Set the table for ten and call us when our guests start to arrive,” he said, slowly getting up. He stretched and groaned.

“Ten?”

“Your mother paid Eirik’s parents a visit earlier today. They will be joining us.”

Dinner just lost its appeal. I must have made a face because Dad chuckled, but he didn’t say anything. I hated dinners with Eirik’s parents even though having them over was now something of a family tradition. At least tonight, Torin would be here.

I set the table and hurried upstairs to change. Mom often insisted we dress up for dinner. The emerald top was flattering, and I loved that it matched my nail polish. I traded my jeans for black tights and a black skirt, then added ankle-length, heeled boots. Mascara and plum lip-gloss and I was ready. My hair was still perfect from earlier.

Downstairs, Eirik arrived just as I cleared the stairs. He was dressed for the occasion and looked good. If Cora could see him now…

“You look amazing,” he said, giving me a hug.

“So do you. Where are your parents?”

“They’ll be here. You know how they are. When you say seven, they’ll arrive at seven on the dot, not a second early or late.” He tugged the collar of his shirt. “Why do we still have to dress up for these stupid dinners?”

“Tradition.” When we were young, we’d eat quickly then sneak away while our parents lingered at the table. “Maybe we could tell them we’re going to the movies after dinner and make a quick getaway.”

“I don’t feel like watching anything,” he muttered and wandered aimlessly around the formal dining room we rarely used except for these occasions. “How was Cora?”