Rush (2 page)

We ended up at Primo’s, a little Italian
place with great pizza and lasagna. It was packed, as usual for a Friday night.
Students loved it, partly for its cheap prices, so it was always busy even
though it really lacked in the decor. The place was like a time-warp with its
dark walls and floor and the fake black leather on its banquettes. It even had
plastic greenery in “planters” between each booth.

After the waitress had seated us and
taken our orders, Trent pulled a small, black velvet box from his jeans pocket
and handed it to me across the table top. I took it with some hesitation. It
looked an awful lot like a ring box.

“An anniversary present,” he said. We’d
been together for one year now.

“What is it?” Could it be an engagement
ring? Probably not. We hadn’t known each other long enough for that...or maybe
we had. The idea of marriage made me uneasy, though.

“Open it and find out.”

I opened the lid as carefully as if some
creature waited inside to bite me. This was shaping up to be the weirdest
college term ever, even surpassing my first. So far, nothing had gone as I’d
expected.

A set of pearl and garnet earrings
winked up at me from the black velvet. I gaped at the jewelry.

“They’re the real thing,” he said.

“They’re gorgeous.”

“You like?”

“I—yeah, of course. I love them. But,
Trent, they must be so expensive.”

He waved a negligent hand. “Don’t worry
about that. I can afford it.”

Maybe he could, but I couldn’t afford to
reciprocate. My parents made pretty good money, but nowhere near what his
parents did.

“I have a present for you, too,” I said,
hoping he wouldn’t be disappointed in the book I’d bought for him.

“You can give it to me when I take you
home.”

The waitress returned with our lasagna.
I dug in my fork as the savory smell of garlic, meat sauce and cheese filled my
nostrils. The earrings were lovely. I just wished I could give him something
equally expensive.

“About Max,” he said.

“We don’t have to talk about that if you
don’t want to.”

“I just want you to know he’s dangerous,
Caroline.”

I raised my eyebrows skeptically. “Dangerous?
He looked like a regular guy to me.”

“Well, he’s not. He’s a manipulator and
a liar, and he hates me. He’ll go after you, too, if you let him. So stay away
from him.”

“You realize you’ve just made me more
curious, don’t you?”

“I’m not kidding.” He looked so sober
that I couldn’t continue teasing him.

“Okay, fine. I wasn’t planning to hook
up with him or anything.”

“Like I said, he’s a manipulator. He’ll
probably try to get to you now that he knows about you.”

He sounded like a cartoon villain, or
one of those evil alternative universe characters who always seemed to show up
on TV sci-fi series. “Does he have a good twin in an alternate universe? One
with less facial hair, perhaps?”

He blinked at me, apparently baffled. “What?”

“Never mind.” Note to self: Trent doesn’t
get my sci-fi references. Most of my sorority sisters didn’t, either. “But you’ve
got to know you can’t kick him out of town. You don’t have that kind of power.”

“Maybe if I make him miserable enough,
he’ll leave.” Trent’s eyes glittered in the low light.

I thought about Max, unloved by his own
father, apparently alone in the world. What had he done that was so terrible?
Drugs? Well, yeah, there was the weed, but that didn’t seem like enough reason
to hate on him. Aunt Jo was a drug addict, and although we didn’t talk to her
anymore, we didn’t despise her.

Mom and Dad kicked her out of our house.
They moved and changed their phone number so she couldn’t contact us anymore.
Maybe we—they—did despise her. I’d never stopped loving her, but I didn’t tell
my parents that.

Still, I didn’t think drugs would be
enough reason for Max’s father to hate him. Violence? Had he killed someone?

Trent’s lurid hints had aroused my
curiosity and now I wouldn’t be able to let it go until I found out the truth.

***

After Primo’s, Trent took me back to my
dorm. On my floor, people were running in and out of their rooms, shouting in
the hall, slamming doors and generally making a huge amount of noise as they
moved in. We had some second and third year students, like me, so some of us
knew each other. The rest were freshmen.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see
a skinny brunette giving Trent a look up and down as we passed her, like I wasn’t
even there. We were holding hands and everything. You’d think she’d have better
taste than to mack on my boyfriend right in front of me. I glared at her and
she turned red.

My room wasn’t much of a haven from the
noise. The walls in the dorms seemed to be made of cardboard because sound went
right through them. But at least no-one was staring at us.

Trent flopped down on my bed and put his
hands behind his head, grinning at me. “Come here.”

“In a second. I want to give you your
present.”

I crouched down to pull the wrapped book
from under the bed. He sat up as I handed it to him. We hadn’t seen each other
all summer. He’d gone home to his parents’ house in Montana and I’d gone back
to Portland. It had been a long three months with only texting and phone calls
to keep us in touch.

He ripped the paper from the coffee
table book of football’s greatest...everything. “Wow. This is awesome. Thanks,
baby.”

I smiled, relieved that he seemed to
like it. My gift didn’t compare to real, precious jewelry. “You’re welcome.”

He set the book on my tiny nightstand
before reaching out and snagging my arm. “Now come here. I can’t wait anymore.”

I let him pull me down to the bed. He
rolled me beneath him as he captured my mouth in a hard kiss. His hands were
all over me, yanking at my clothes and squeezing me everywhere he could reach.
He must have missed me a lot more than I’d realized.

I went along with it with my usual good
cheer. It felt nice to have his warmth against me again, to have his arms
around me, even if I couldn’t get as enthused about it as he was.

Sex had never been a high priority for
me. To be honest, I could have lived without it. But it was important to Trent,
and I didn’t mind it, so when he reached inside my panties I gave a sigh of
pleasure.

He toyed with me until I was wet enough
for him. Then he lifted himself over me and fit his cock inside me. It slid in
without much resistance.

He groaned as he moved in me, an
expression of rapture on his face. I put my arms around him, savoring the
pleasure I could bring him. It was over soon anyway, when he shuddered and
moaned through his orgasm.

My mind wandered back to Max. That was
so wrong. The last thing I should be thinking of during sex with my boyfriend
was another guy. I couldn’t get that lazy, almost mocking smile of his out of
my head, though. It had the simultaneous affect of making me want to smack him
and wrap my arms and legs around him. Make him want me.

Why—how—did he do this to me? I’d only
been around him for a few minutes, and I was already fantasizing about him. I
hoped I’d never see him again, so this attraction I had for him would fade.

My foolish heart ached at the thought.
As Trent disengaged from me, I mourned the loss of a man I didn’t know. Didn’t
even want to know. Max was, for all the reasons Trent knew and a few he didn’t,
someone I needed to avoid.

Chapter 2

Max

I stared at my stepbrother’s retreating
back as he dragged his
girlfriend
behind him like he thought I was the
devil’s minion and I might pull them both down to hell with me. Okay, actually,
I stared at her ass. She had a seriously fine ass on her, tight and round and
just the way I liked them. Her hair, too, with its wild curls...it made me want
to bury my fingers in it. Preferably while I fucked her until she screamed.

My stepbro, it seemed, was the classic
college boy, all clean-cut and Boy Scout. Except for the part where he did
other people’s classwork for them. Wonder how he justified that? Not that I
gave a damn.

Miss Caroline Winters fit right in with
Trent’s boy-next-door persona, with her prissy cardigan sweater and tasteful
flat shoes, her natural make-up, her look of innocence. Not my type at all. My
type was the black-haired witch I’d left behind in Seattle. Selene and I had
been pretty hot together, but she wasn’t big on commitment.

Trent was probably about to warn his
girlfriend
what a degenerate, brother-murdering piece of shit I was. When we’d been in
high school—before I dropped out and ran away, that is—he’d made a hobby out of
scuttling any relationship I tried to establish with a girl. I’d lost at least
three potential girlfriends that way. Not to mention all the other bullying he’d
inflicted on me. Asshole.

“Dude, you didn’t tell me you and Trent
were related,” Talbot said, sitting down next to me again.

“I didn’t know you two were friends.”

“Seriously?”

If I had, I wouldn’t have shown up at
this shindig. My stepbrother had never brought anything but pain and contempt
into my life. Take tonight, for example—standing there ordering me to leave
town, like he thought he was fucking king of Avery’s Crossing or some shit.
Someone needed to take him down.

“Seriously,” I replied. “You never said
anything.”

He shrugged. “You have different last
names. I never even thought—”

“It’s no big deal.”

“Long as you don’t fight at my parties,”
he said, picking up the bong.

“We didn’t fight.” Much. No blows had
been exchanged, at least.

“He hates you.” Talbot blew out a stream
of smoke and handed me the bong.

“Yep.”

“How come?”

Jealousy. Resentment. Murder. “Lots of
things.”

“You gonna leave town?”

“Hell, no.”

He grinned. “This year should be
interesting.”

“Uh huh.” I took a long drag on the
weed.

“Saw you staring at Caroline. You like
her?”

Now it was my turn to shrug. “Don’t know
her. Nice ass, though.”

Talbot choked out a laugh. “I know,
right? I’d fuck her if I had half a chance.”

I shot him a glare. “She’s taken.”

Talbot’s eyes went round. Then he
laughed. “Yeah, by your stepbrother. Not you.”

“Whatever.”

What was wrong with me? I never got
possessive over a female, especially one who would never kiss me.

On the other hand, who said she wouldn’t?
What better way to get under Trent’s skin, to drive him abso-fucking-lutely
nuts, than to take his girlfriend away from him. I smiled to myself. Payback
is, in fact, a bitch.

The weather was already chilly at night,
but I could sense a more severe chill coming as I left Talbot’s apartment
complex. The trees rustled their leaves and whispered above me. I could almost
hear what they were saying. The spirits were active tonight, watching me,
calling my name just at the edge of my hearing.

It could be only the usual extra-intense
Halloween spookiness. Besides, I was too high to listen. The weed and the beer
I’d had would interfere with whatever message they were trying to send, so
there was no point in paying attention to their mutterings. Maybe tomorrow
night we’d have our chat.

***

The old Dutch Colonial style house where
I rented a one-bedroom apartment was absolutely silent, which was a little
weird considering it was Halloween. No-one had even put out a jack o’lantern.
Guess we weren’t getting any trick-or-treaters.

I opened my apartment door. Frederick
was standing in the middle of my living room. I jumped and banged my elbow on
the doorjamb.

“Jesus, Fred. You could give a guy some
warning.”

“My apologies. I didn’t mean to startle
you.”

I took off my jacket and hung it on the
nail some former tenant had left in the plaster next to the door. “Is
everything all right?”

“I just wanted to check in with you.”

He wore the same dark-brown sack suit
and derby hat as usual. The handlebar moustache that graced his upper lip
always made me think of this old-fashioned ice-cream parlor my parents had
taken me to once, when my mom was still alive. He looked like one of the line
drawings on their menu, come to life. Or afterlife, as it were.

“The annual Halloween visit?” I said.

He smiled wryly. “How are you doing,
Max? It’s been a while.”

“I’m fine. Settling in.”

“Do you like Avery’s Crossing?”

“Sure. It’s okay.” I’d liked it a lot
better before I’d run into Trent.

Fred pulled out my desk chair—my only
chair—and took a seat. I never understood why he did that. It’s not like he had
a real, physical body that needed rest. He was a ghost, for crying out loud.

I shrugged and dropped to the bare wood
floor, crossing my legs tailor-style. “What’s going on?”

Fred steepled his hands. “Perhaps you
might tell me.”

“Don’t play word games with me tonight.
I’m too tired and too high to follow.” I scrubbed my hands over my face. “Dude,
I just happened to run into my stepbrother and his girlfriend. This at a party
thrown by a guy I never met until today, who happens to be a buddy of Trent’s.
You know anything about that?”

He regarded me thoughtfully. “Not
really, no. Just that you came here to be near him.”

“Wrong.”

“You could have gone to school anywhere.
But you chose this place.” His dark eyes crinkled at the corners when he
smiled, just like he was a live person. “Did you really think it was
coincidence?”

“No. But I didn’t come here to see him.
I came because it’s a good school and because Brad and Marie are here.”

Fred laughed. “Does it make you feel
better to tell yourself that?”

“Yes.”

“You’re a smart fellow, Max. I don’t
think you’re fooling yourself as well as you think you are.”

Whatever the hell that meant.

“You like your stepbrother’s girlfriend.”

I sat down cross-legged on the bare
wooden floor. “She’s hot, but I wouldn’t say I like her. I don’t even know her.
I like Selene.”

“But you find Caroline attractive.”

“Yes. I do. What’s your point?”

He cocked his head. “I’m not sure.”

Right. Fred never did anything without a
reason. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. She’s his girl, not mine.”

“You’re an honorable man.”

I snorted. “No, I’m not.”

“I think you don’t give yourself enough
credit.” Fred smiled. “I know you quite well, after all.”

He could think what he liked. He didn’t
know my plans regarding Caroline, although he’d figure it out soon enough.

“Caroline isn’t the kind of woman I
usually go for,” I said. “She’s too much like Trent.”

“I thought you said you didn’t know her.”

“I don’t. But if she’s dating him, she
must be the type I can’t stand.”

“I see.”

“It’s weird, though, about the party.
What are the odds I’d run into a friend of Trent’s and get invited to his
party? You have anything to do with that?”

“Nothing at all. Pure coincidence.”

“Uh huh.”

“Truly.” He looked sincere. Could I
believe him? “I wouldn’t manipulate you like that.”

“I don’t believe in coincidence.
Something is going on.”

Fred nodded. “Spirits are stirring,
gathering around you.”

That went right along with all the
murmuring I’d heard on the way home. My blood was sluggish with alcohol and
pot, but I sat up a little straighter as some of the dreamy relaxation left me.

“Why?” I frowned. “What do they want?”

“I’m not sure. Perhaps you should talk
to your circle about it.”

“I’ll think about that.” My circle was a
group of people with whom I performed occult work—rituals, divinations, that
kind of thing. I wasn’t sure I wanted them in on the matter, given my plan to
seduce Caroline. They wouldn’t approve.

“Did you ever wonder,” Fred remarked, “why
Brad and Marie chose to move down here, knowing your stepbrother was enrolled
at Central Willamette State?”

“Nope,” I said flatly. “Marie inherited
some property. That’s why they came here.”

“Is it? She could have sold the farm.
Could have made a great deal of money on it, in fact, given the way property
values are going back up around here.”

“You into real estate, Fred? That’s a
funny hobby for a ghost.”

“Any hobby is a funny hobby for a ghost.
I’m merely pointing out the fact that Marie wasn’t required to move here.”

“Okay.” I shifted my weight on the hard
floor, looking for a position where my ankle bones weren’t grinding against the
wood. “She always liked it here; always wanted to live on her grandparents’
farm. She said so. That’s why they didn’t sell.”

“But you didn’t have to follow them.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Brad and
Marie are the closest thing I have to a family. No, I didn’t have to follow,
but the fact I did has nothing to do with Trent. Pure coincidence.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in
coincidence.”

I groaned. “Give it a rest, Fred. I didn’t
come here for Trent. Got it?”

“Sure, Max.” He smiled knowingly at me.

The problem with having a ghost for a
friend is they often think they know better than you do. They’ve passed on to
the Great Beyond, and that supposedly makes them wiser. Unfortunately, it seems
to make some of them busybodies who think it’s their job to monkey around in
the lives of those of us who are still mortal.

I loved Brad and Marie. They’d taken me
in at a time when I was perched on the edge of disaster, a runaway living on
the streets in Seattle, ready to spiral down into hard drugs and God knows what
else, maybe even sex for hire. People do desperate things when they’re cold and
starving.

They’d saved me, gotten me off the
streets and into a GED program. They’d taken me into their home, treated me
like a son. When they’d decided to move to Avery’s Crossing, Trent’s presence
there was the last thing on my mind. I wanted to be with my family, and the
graphic design business I’d started could be run anywhere since most of it took
place on-line. Moving here had been a no-brainer. The business program at
Central Willamette was a bonus.

“I passed through this town once, back
in 1853,” he said meditatively. “I was on my way to Montana.”

“Why go through Oregon?”

“Because I started out in California,
obviously.”

Oh. Right.

“The place has changed quite a bit since
I was here last,” he said. “Quite a bit.”

“The women wear shorter skirts.”

He laughed. “That they do.”

“Is it fun for you to watch them go by,
dressed the way they do?

Fred smiled, but instead of answering,
he countered with his own question. “So what are you going to do about
Caroline?”

“Do? I’m not going to do anything.”

He still gazed at me like he could read
my thoughts. I was pretty sure he couldn’t, but not absolutely positive.
Christ, I hoped he couldn’t. He was enough of a pain in the ass with his
know-it-all advice; if he could read my mind, he’d never stop telling me what
to do.

“She has feelings, too, you know,” he
said.

“Alert the media. They’ll want to hear
about that for sure.”

Fred sighed. “I can see you don’t want
my perspective.”

“Not right now.”

“All right. I’ll be on my way, then.” He
stood up and offered me his hand. “Good night, Max.”

We shook. His skin felt warm and alive,
and his fingers pressed into mine just like we were exchanging a real handshake.
A slick illusion, making him seem completely real. Like he wasn’t a ghost at
all.

“Night, Fred.” I smiled at him and he
vanished.

I stretched out on my back and stared up
at the ceiling. He was right, of course. Caroline had feelings, too, even if
she looked like every girl who’d ever snubbed me, every girl who’d ever been
too good for a juvenile delinquent like me, and I’d be a jerk to use her just
to get at Trent. But that wouldn’t stop me.