Seconds Before Sunrise (The Timely Death Trilogy) (19 page)

Thud-thump. Thud-thump. Thud-thump.
The heartbeat was unmistakable. It was his heartbeat − the dream boy’s − and he was here, with me, holding me, being with me. He wasn’t gone.

“I was afraid you’d never come back,” I whispered a
gainst his shirt, unable to move away from the familiar sound I yearned to hear.

“What?” Eric leaned back instead. “What did you just say?”

“Nothing, Shoman,” I muttered, wishing he would move back, but he was moving further away.

He stood up, and his hands shook when they grabbed mine. He pulled me to my feet. “I should probably get you home—” he started to speak, but I intervened.

I kissed him.

He pulled away.
“Jessica.” His expression was contorted with intensity. I could still taste him on my lips, but he was rambling. “Don’t,” he stuttered.

I didn’t listen.

I kissed him again. This time, he didn’t fight it. His hands fell to my hips, and his fingers dug through my rain-drenched clothes. He pulled me closer, and he kissed me in a way I had never been kissed before. It was careful, light and loving, and my heart synced with the sound of his. He was everything until thunder shattered between us.

I leapt back, and the rain poured as cold as snow. I hugged myself with shaky hands as Eri
c exhaled. His breath fogged out in front of him, mixing with mine.

He didn’t meet my eyes before he turned to his car. “I’ll drive you home,” he
said.

I took a step forward, but my knees w
ere shaking, and the clarity I had while kissing him dissipated. The drunkenness of my night returned with a vengeance, and Eric grabbed my arm to steady me.

“Thanks for the help,” I heard myself whisper. I hadn’t even thought of the words.

He glanced over his shoulder with pained eyes. “You’re welcome.”

Eric

“Jessica.” I raised my voice as I reached behind my seat and tapped her leg. With the rain pouring down, I didn’t want to take my eyes off of the road, but she had stopped responding. “Jessica. Wake up.”

A murmuring
broke through the screeching of my windshield wipers. She was hardly conscious, and I was in trouble.

“Jessica, I need to take you home.” I hoped the threatening tone would help her concentrate.

“No,” she begged. “Please. Anything but home.” She gurgled like she was going to throw up.

A
curse escaped me.

My presence would be impossible to explain. No one would believe it was a coincidence, but I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t take her home, and I wouldn’t leave her on the street. I had to take her to my house, but that meant I had to
tell Urte. I dialed him before I stopped myself.

“Are you okay?” His tone startled me.

“Uh—hey. I’m fine,” I said. “But I need your help.”

“Eric,” Urte sound
ed like my father. “What happened?”

“It’s a long story,” I said. “My father can’t know—”

His lecture began before he even knew the situation. He was programmed to expect the worst. Unfortunately, he was right this time.

“I didn’t do anything. I swear,” I rambled. “I just happened to be out and she—”

“She?” Now, he was really panicking. “You better not be talking about Jess.”

I sighed, and that was enough of an answer. He scorned me, and I tried to get a few words in whenever he paused. “Yes, Urte. I know,” I repeated. “Yes. Yes. She’s fine. Just listen to me.”

Urte was silent as I explained.

“She’s passed out in the backseat of my car,” I
said. “I know I’m not supposed to leave Hayworth. It was a coincidence. She was with another guy from school. I helped her out, okay? She was in trouble.”

My head was splitting as I squinted
through the darkness. I had never realized how dark the dark actually was until I was stuck as a human. But my emotions were the same. My blood was rushing with adrenaline, and it was taking everything in me not to drive to Robb’s house and wait for him to return. I wanted to kill him for touching Jessica.

“I didn’t do anything,” I repeated,
knowing I hadn’t been listening. “I can’t take her home.”

“Yes, you can
.”

“And how am I supposed to explain
to her parents why I was with her while she was drunk? They don’t even know who I am,” I pointed out. “She’s coming to my house. We’ll deal with everything else later.”

He was shouting, and I put my phone on my lap until he s
topped.

“You ar
en’t changing my mind,” I said.

“Then
, I’m sending help.” He hung up.

“Hey.”

A girl appeared in my backseat, and her white hair flashed in my rearview mirror. I nearly lost control of my vehicle. “Camille.”

She gripped the back of my chair, shifting herself beneath Jessica. “At least I didn’t transpor
t on top of her,” she said.

I gripped my wheel as I hit the highway. The car rumbled as it picked up speed.

Camille was Teresa as soon as she spoke again, “What the hell, Eric?”

“I already h
eard it from Urte.”

“What happened?” she asked, and I looked at her in the rearview mirror as she scrunched up her nose. “And what is that smell?”

“She’s drunk.”

Camille lifted Jessica’s feet into her lap.
“Jess drinks?”

“She doesn’t,” I said
. As far as I knew, Jessica avoided things like that, but I knew her friends didn’t. “She was with Robb McLain. Crystal wasn’t around, surprisingly.” I couldn’t bring myself to tell her what happened. “Jonathon wasn’t either.”

“He’s busy tonight.”

“Too busy to protect Jessica?”

“He’s not her babysitter,” Camille argued
. “Drinking doesn’t justify protection.”

“It should.
” I waited for the Hayworth exit to appear in the misty rain.

“This
isn’t your responsibility,” Camille said.

“She’ll always be my responsibility.”

“You’re being stubborn.” She glowered. “You should take her home and let her get in trouble like a typical teenager.”

“So her parents can figure something out?” The words formed on their own. “I think Jessica remembers me.”

“That’s ridiculous—”

“She kissed me, Camille.”

My guard didn’t speak again, even after I took the exit and drove through Hayworth. I recognized Camille’s silence as something from our childhood. Whenever we got into a debate, she accepted defeat with silence. The argument was over, but I wished I hadn’t been able to win this one.

I kept my mind as mute
as our conversation until I pulled into my driveway. The old car lunged as it crept up the hill. I shifted it into park. The rain was no longer pounding on the roof of the car, but the trees were swaying dangerously low.

“Let’s ge
t her inside,” Camille said.

I unbuckled my seatbelt and
stepped outside, joining Camille. I opened the door Jessica was leaned against and held her up, so she didn’t fall onto the pavement. My fingers tingled. Jessica had control over me, even when she was unconscious. I had to concentrate.

“I
can get her,” Camille offered.

I shook my head and
slipped my arm beneath her knees to pick her up. She curled against my chest, and her hand landed on my sternum. She grumbled as the hair fell out of her face, and I followed Camille to my house.

My guard opened the door, and we walked up the stairs. “Where are you p
utting her?” Camille asked.

I shifted my head toward my room. “I’ll stay on the couc
h downstairs,” I explained my decision before she could argue.

“I’m sure you could use your father’s bed,” Camille said, pushing open my bedroom door.

“And risk him wondering why things were moved around? No, thank you.”

“Good point,” Camille laughed, but I couldn’t bring myself to smile.

I laid Jessica on my bed and stepped back as quickly as I could. I didn’t want to touch her any longer than I had to. I expected Camille to say something – anything, really − but she walked toward Jessica instead. She grabbed the straps of Jessica’s dress and pulled them over her shoulders.

I
spun around, facing my back to them. “What—what are you doing?” I shut my eyes as the sound of Camille’s fingers grazing Jessica’s wet skin filled my ears. A thud landed near my feet, and I peeked. A black bra was on my foot.

“Please
, tell me you weren’t planning on leaving this girl in drenched clothes all night,” Camille said. “She’ll freeze.”

I ste
pped away from the undergarment. “But—”

“Honestly, Eric,” Camille teased. “She’s practically your wife.”

“Stop it.”

“Fine,” she sung. “Give me a shirt.”

I opened my dresser and pulled a clean shirt out. I tossed it over my shoulder, hoping Camille would catch it, and then grabbed a pair of boxer shorts. “You’ll probably need these, too.”

“Thanks.”

I locked my knees, glaring at my wall. I wouldn’t look. Not for a second. It would be too disrespectful to Jessica. Whether we were meant to be together or not, we weren’t now, and I wasn’t going to act like we were.

“Give me one more minute,” Camille
said, and the sounds of clothing moving ricocheted through me.

I had to distract myself.

I opened my drawer and picked up the black box my father gave me. I knew that my mother had given it to me for a reason, and the reasoning was starting to become clear, but I needed to do something before I actually used it.

“All done,” Camille announced, and I shoved the box in my pocket before my guard saw.

I turned around and shuddered at the sight of Jessica in my clothes, asleep on my bed. “Won’t she wonder how she was changed?”

Camille beamed. “Tell her you
did it.”

“What?
” My chest was tight.

“I’m sure she’l
l understand.” My guard collected the wet heap of clothes on the floor. “I’ll wash these and have them back before morning.”

“Thank you, Camille.”

She walked toward the exit, only lingering to put a hand on my shoulder. “And, Eric?” she started. “Don’t let this get to you too much.” Her words remained minutes after she left, and I sat next to Jessica, unable to move.

“Don’t let this get to me too much?” I repeated, laying
my head in my hands only to peek through my fingers.

Even with my t-shirt on, I could see her bruises, and I wondered why Camille hadn’t said anything. Then again, it was probably the reason she hadn’t said anyt
hing at all. My guard trusted me despite my flaws, and it was Camille’s trust that I valued the most in the Dark. The elders always assumed I did the worst. Camille knew I only did the worst when I was forced into it.

I sprang to my feet before I
dwelled in my emotions. I walked to my door, and then I returned to Jessica’s side, leaned down, and kissed her on the forehead. “Good night, Jessica,” I said, staying by her side before I disappeared like everyone else had that night.

Jessica

The afternoon light woke me up. It spewed through the slit of the black curtains and landed across my eyes. I squinted, groaned, and turned over. My eyes were stinging, and my head was consumed by a migraine stronger than any headache I ever had before. The taste in my mouth was worse, but my blankets smelt wonderful − they smelt like a boy.

My heart lunged into my thr
oat as I sprung up, glancing around the bedroom. It wasn’t mine. It wasn’t even in my house. But I recognized it − the stark cleanliness mixed with the strange creep of light coming from beneath the desk. I knew it was a nightlight. I had figured that out last semester.

I was in Eric Welborn’s room.

I leapt from the bed, and the cold carpet tickled my toes. I shivered, remembering the freezing rain I had been covered in. The entire night flashed through me like one of my detailed nightmares. I remembered Robb, and my neck burned.

I
covered my mouth. I didn’t need to deal with my emotions now. All I needed to do was get out of Eric’s house, and get out fast.

I
rushed to his door, grabbed the doorknob, and turned it. I listened for movements, but I heard nothing. The house seemed to be empty as I crept into the hallway.

“Don’t worry.
” Eric’s voice broke my confidence. “No one is home.”

I froze,
staring at only part of the kitchen I could see − the table.

“I p
romise,” he called out, and I tiptoed toward the table, half-expecting the entire family to be waiting for me, but he was telling the truth. He was the only one there, and he was boiling water on the stovetop with his back facing me.