Poisonous Pleasure (14 page)

“Jason, dude, I’ve been calling your house for days now. We heard what happened. Are you okay?” Another male voice boomed its way toward them. “Dude, have you been working out? You’re fucking huge.”

Marcella pushed Jason in enough for her to squeeze through. Everyone who remained in her hometown was sitting up in VIP. She instantly froze in fear, thinking of what the bouncer said. Smith party, shit! The name was so common, she didn’t even think they meant Harold Smith.

“Dom,” she yelled, moving out of the way so he could get through.

“Yeah, well I went out of town for awhile. Had to get over the initial shock of losing…her.” Jason walked forward, pulling Marcella with him. “But, this is my new girlfriend, Veronica.”

Everyone got really quiet as they took her in. The music seemed to increase in volume as everyone stared. Some of the guy’s mouths hung open. Trembling took over her body. Her old self would have never dressed this way. Growing up with the majority of these people, she felt like a complete outsider. How could she have changed so much in the short amount of time she’d been dead? She didn’t even recognize herself anymore.

“Nice to meet you,” Kyle said, slowly reaching out to shake her hand. The emotions he felt slammed into her. The need to step back away from his anger made her nervous, but she kept still. He turned back to her boyfriend. “Uh, Jason can I have a word with you?”

“No, I don’t want to talk about it. Leave it alone.”

Dom caught her attention. The way his eyes watched the guys talking to Jason wasn’t helping with her nerves. “Are you ready to leave? I don’t like this. It isn’t what I saw. That happened outside, but if you want to go, we can.”

“No, not yet. Let’s see if Jason can take care of it first.”

“Dude, Marcella hasn’t been dead but for a few weeks and you’re already seeing someone else? Where’s your respect? Marcella was…she was great, and now you come in with a fucking Barbie. Did the up and coming Draft go to your head or something? I don’t care how pretty or how much they look alike, she’ll never replace the real thing. Never!”

Kyle pushed his way past Jason and left the VIP. The hurt on her boyfriend’s face made her stomach flip. She never thought his friends would treat him this way. Sure, she had known Kyle since grade school, but they weren’t close. Come to think of it, he always bitched every time she went anywhere with them.

Other friends walked up to Jason, talking to him like nothing was wrong, but she could feel the tension in the room. The need to flee pulled at her.

“My girl’s here. I can feel her. Are you going to be all right without me?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Go ahead and go. See you when you get home.”

Dom smiled, bringing her hand up and flipping it over to nibble on her wrist. Feeling his teeth against her flesh made her shiver. The need to kiss him caused her to bite her lip. Pulling him forward while she sat down at a small table, she watched as he perfectly blocked their view from everyone. Marcella ran her tongue along the curve of his ear. “You tease me like that again and I might have to sink my fangs in you when you get to the house.”

Dominic’s face moved in inches from hers. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

“Please do. I’ll enjoy every minute of it. Now, go find your girl.”

The tip of his finger ran down her nose and then he turned to the group of guys. As he left, Jason immediately joined her side.

“This wasn’t a good idea.” He leaned over the small round table, closer to her so no one would hear him. “I look like the biggest asshole in the world. I’ve just basically spit on your grave. I doubt Kyle ever talks to me again. He loved you, you know. Once when he was drunk, he told me so.”

Marcella’s jaw dropped. “But he hated me. He always said mean things.”

“No, he hated seeing us together. That’s why he was always rude.”

“I had no idea. I always figured he thought you could do bet...” Marcy’s words died off the moment Kasey walked up the stairs. The amount of anger she felt left her shaking uncontrollably. The girl took one look at Jason smiled, and walked over to him.

“Sure didn’t expect to see you here. You look like you’re doing very well considering the news. I’m sorry, by the way. I tried calling, but your mother said you’d gone out of town.”

“Yeah, well I had to leave.” Jason fidgeted nervously under her lustful gaze.

The lights in the whole club began to flicker while Marcy fought to stay grounded to her seat. The need to snatch Kasey up by her fake hair extensions left her nails digging into the metal chair. Dominic rushed into the VIP room looking around nervously.

“Kasey, I would like you to meet my new girlfriend. This is Veronica.”

The brunette flashed her gaze toward Marcella, her eyes narrowing. “Girlfriend? You mean to tell me after all the fuss you made over your last one, you’ve already moved on?”

Kasey was about to say something else when the anger melted from her face and she slowly turned toward Dominic. It looked like she was in a trance. “I’ve been looking for you. Don’t you remember? We were supposed to meet here.”

Dom wrapped his arm around Kasey, stunning Marcy and feeding her rage. The girl looked up at his angelic face and smiled, completely mesmerized.

“Oh, I must have forgotten. I’m sorry, what’s your name again?”

“Dominic. We met at the mall the other day. You told me you would be here, remember?” He looked deeply into her eyes. Marcella knew he was planting the memories into her brain.

“Oh okay, that’s right. Well, let me introduce you to…them,” Kasey said with a snarl. “This is Jason, and that’s…oh excuse the rude manners, I forget her name.”

“Veronica,” Marcella said, giving her hand to Dom, but never taking her eyes off the nasty brunette.

“Nice to meet you, Veronica. I think we were just leaving, weren’t we, Kasey?”

“Oh don’t mind us, Jason and I were leaving, too. I suddenly feel sick to my stomach. Too many fake bitches in here if you ask me.” She stood taking Jason’s hand. They walked downstairs and headed through the front doors of the club at a fast walk. Marcella knew if she didn’t get away from Kasey fast, the girl wouldn’t stand a chance against her rising temper.

“Hey! Wait up!”

Marcella groaned at Kasey’s voice yelling toward them. She turned around seeing Dom standing with the girl. Marcy wasn’t about to make Dom’s prediction come true so she kept walking to the car. “Let’s go, Jason.”

Kasey yelled louder. “Veronica, wait! I need to warn you about something.”

Caught off guard by her words, Marcella stopped.

“No, no, let’s go,” Jason said. “If I would have known she would be here, we never would have come. I’m sorry about what might have happened with her. I know you’re still angry about that.”

“You didn’t do anything with her, Jason. I saw it in your memories. She undressed you, and when you pushed her away she got mad and left. You never cheated.”

“You could have told me that before,” he growled. “Well, see, she doesn’t have anything to tell you that could possible make you angry. You know the truth.”

The sounds of clicking on the sidewalk caused Marcella to turn around. Dom stood next to her as they came to a stop in front of them. He looked at her nervously, obviously not sure what was going to happen.

“Could we have some girl talk real quick? There’s just something I think you need to be warned about.”

A laugh came from Marcy’s throat. “Sure, there’s nothing you can tell me that I don’t already know. Jason, give me a minute, will you?”

Kasey pulled her to the side of the building. Her face turned from smiles to a look of sadness. Anger once again began to pump through Marcella. “Cut the bullshit and just tell me. I think I mentioned in the club how much I hate fake people. And you’re about as fake as they come.”

“Fine.” Her true viciousness seeped from her skin nearly causing Marcella to gag at the evil that lurked inside. The smell almost held a metallic fragrance, stunning her. Her collector was definitely growing stronger.

“Just so you know, my dad’s the fire chief of the town we live in. Jason’s girlfriend died a few weeks ago. Supposedly, the fire report shows every outlet in the bedroom she was sleeping in mysteriously blew up. I’ve seen them personally, so I know something happened. I’m betting she found out about Jason and me, and killed herself and her entire family.

“Just watch out with Jason. Don’t fall too hard or you might end up getting your heart broken and do something just as stupid. He’s not one to be faithful and I would hate to see another girl, or her family, die because a guy couldn’t keep his dick in his pants.”

Every ounce of blood froze in Marcella’s body. “You said the outlets in her room exploded?” The words barely came out as she fought to breathe.

“That’s right. They’re marking it down as some electrical issue only because they can’t figure out how she got them to blow up.”

“Thanks for the warning.” Completely disoriented, Marcella walked toward Jason in a daze. Dom immediately came to her.

“What did she tell you? I can’t read your emotions. They’re too,” he waved his hand around the air wildly.

“Nothing, I’ll tell you when you get home. Take care of her soul. It’s one that belongs just where it’s intended.”

“Gladly,” Dominic said under his breath.

“Tell me what she warned you about.” Jason wrapped his arm around her as they approached the car. Getting in, her hands were shaking so bad, Marcella could hardly turn over the key. The parking attendant waved her out of the parking lot and she was thankful the traffic wasn’t nearly as bad as she assumed. Before Marcella knew it, she was crossing the Harbor Bridge going eighty. The thought of manifesting herself directly to the guest bedroom entered her mind, but fear of Kasey’s words being the truth kept her from seeing what she could have possibly done right away. Instead, she felt content to drive at a fast speed until she reached the scene.

“So, are you going to tell me what she said or continue to scare me with your driving? You’re way too quiet.”

“I don’t think I can say it. You’ll see soon enough.”

“Marcy, please. I don’t like this.”

The Mercedes increased to one hundred and twenty once she hit the causeway. Silence filled the interior until she arrived in Ingleside and turned right, instead of left. Jason immediately leaned toward her.

“Where are we going? We live the other way.”

“There’s something I have to witness for myself. Once I do, depending on what I see, we’ll go home.”

“Can you at least give me a hint?”

“No, you’ll stop me.”

The car immediately slammed to a stop in the middle of the road. She flew forward and glared at him. “I can stop you now. Just tell me what this is about.”

There was no more time. Marcella vanished from the driver’s seat and appeared in the remnants of the guest bedroom. “Light.” The room instantly filled with a white glow. Walking to the far wall, Marcy pulled debris out of her way. There wasn’t much wall left, but a gaping hole filled the area where the outlet used to be. Running around the room, she noticed only one outlet remained, untouched by the fire. It was the same, a large hole.

“I killed them,” she whispered past the sob that threatened to escape. “Oh god, forgive me.” A ragged breath broke though her lips while she spun around the rubble surrounding her. Marcella felt lost, not at all in control of her body. She wanted to scream, to tear everything around her apart with her bare hands. Coherent thoughts wouldn’t come, just the whirling of growing anxiety and rage.

So many memories had been made around her. Looking at what was left of the house she’d grown up in, and knew she was the cause of its ruination made stars dance in front of her vision. Why had it come to this? What kind of monster was she?

“What are you doing here, Marcy? Tell me what this is all about?”

Her fingers buried in her hair, pulling as Marcy fought not to scream out loud. Uncontrollable tears began streaming down her face while she tried to think of something to say. There were no words….nothing.

“Marcella, talk to me, baby.” Jason rushed to her side, pulling her in his arms. “You have to tell me what’s wrong or I can’t fix it.”

Dominic materialized next to them in a fury. The red glowing of his eyes made the skin on his face almost see-through. “What the fuck did you do? Did you bring her here after I told you not to mention this again?”

“No, dammit! She came here by herself. I tried to stop her but when I did, she vanished. I went to three different places before I came here. She won’t tell me what’s going on. Whatever it is, Kasey’s to blame. This all began the moment she spoke with her.”

“Love, look at me,” Dom said smoothly. “You need to tell us. We can’t help you if we don’t know what’s wrong.”

“You can’t help me. No one can help me.” Marcella pulled out of Jason’s arms and walked to the wall. After a moment of hesitation, she pointed. “Tell me what you see.” The words were almost impossible to get out.

“A hole,” Jason said confused.

“And how did the hole get there?” Marcella looked at both of their puzzled faces. “I’ll tell you how it got there. Kasey’s father is fire chief, so what she told me makes complete sense. I know she’s not lying.” Taking a deep breath, she felt her air cut off from the sobs that broke through. “They’re ruling the fire an electrical problem or something like that, but only because they can’t figure out how the outlets exploded.”

The guys stiffened, but remained quiet. “They exploded because I caused them to. Before I fell asleep I questioned why I was alive. To me, in that moment, everything was messed up. I wanted to leave, run away, die! I’m a murderer. I killed my family! They didn’t deserve to die. They were good people. I’m not!”

Dominic and Jason both got to her at the exact same moment. “Marcy, baby, we don’t know that for sure. It could have been anything. Let’s go home and get out of here.”

Looking at Jason, she shook her head. “It wasn’t just anything. It was me. My mother…God, I can still feel her hands touching my face.” Marcella could hardly talk she was crying so hard. “Why didn’t I let her know I wasn’t sleeping? Why didn’t I tell her that I loved her before she left the room that night?”