Wraiths of Winter (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 3) (16 page)

Lucas drove a black, late seventies muscle car—totally
rebuilt and ready for action. It was the kind of car a hot boy
should
be driving. Zach’s Neon was okay but he would have
looked much better behind the wheel of a machine like this.
As I turned to throw my jacket in the backseat, I noticed how
roomy it was back there. More than enough room to…to…to
comfortably seat three.
Yeah, that was all I was thinking
about when I looked at his backseat.

From what I’d heard, the fastest
way to
get to
Pittsburgh was to take the interstate, so when Lucas cruised
right past the onramp without pause, I should have realized
the day was going to be anything but predictable. Buzzzz. My
phone vibrated loudly in my pocket. Well, at least one part of
it would be.

“Aren’t you going to answer that?” Lucas asked with a
sly sideways glance. “It’s probably your boyfriend.”

“Of course I’m answering it.” But slowly for some
reason. I usually picked up after the first buzz—it was now
up to three.

“Hello, Zach,” I said sweetly. I wasn’t trying to make
Lucas jealous—I wanted him to see that he didn’t stand a
chance with me. But jealousy seemed to be what I got. Lucas
checked the rearview, shifted the car into a higher gear and
rocketed into the passing lane.

“Hello, sweetie—is everything okay so far?” His voice
was edgy and raw.

So far? We weren’t even out of the county yet—what
did he think could have happened? “Yes,” I answered,
deliberately keeping
my
side of the conversation vague.
Lucas didn’t need to know what Zach was saying to me.

“Don’t forget—if anything goes wrong, I want you to
call me instantly.
And I would appreciate random updates,
too. The more I hear from you, the less I’ll worry.” Again,
Zach’s voice sounded strange and a bit sketchy.

“I will. Love you, Zach!” I purred.

 

“Love you, too, Ruby.” Click.

Something
about that whole conversation was
off.
Normally, Zach would have talked longer, given lengthier
warnings about the dangers of hanging out with Lucas.
He
was distracted by something—but by what?
I shoved my
phone into my purse. I would worry about Zach’s strange
behavior later.

Once I was done talking to Zach, Lucas eased his foot
off of the gas pedal. “So, is Boyfriend working today?”

Really, what was it with boys anyway? Why was it so
hard for him to call Zach by his name?
Zach did the same
thing when he thought Lee and I were still dating, too.
I was
tired of it and I let him know it. Again.

“His name is Zach. Just one little syllable—is that too
hard for you to remember?”

 

“Of course not. Is
Zach
working today?”

Though I didn’t appreciate the condescending tone, at
least he wasn’t just calling him “boyfriend”. “That’s better.
And yes, he’s working at the shelter today. Why do you ask?”

Lucas shrugged his shoulders. “No reason—just
making conversation, that’s all. It’ll be a really long day if we
don’t talk to each other at all.”

Oh.
With all of the warnings about being careful
around Lucas, I was starting to analyze his every word for
hidden meanings. My instincts were good. I needed to forget
about what everyone else said and trust my gut.

“You’re right—sorry.” Why did I always seem to mess
things up when I was with him? I extended the olive branch
and asked, “What do you want to talk about?”

Lucas eased back in his seat and smiled. “That’s much
better.
So tell me, how did you
and
Zach get together,
anyway?”

Of all the things he could possibly pick to discuss, he
picked
that
?
Politics, religion, sex—all much less delicate
subjects than the one he chose.
It was going to be hard to
explain my relationship with Zach while leaving out all of the
paranormal stuff. Select your words wisely, Ruby.

Our first meeting at the diner was easy enough to
explain so I told him the story and stopped there hoping that
would be enough to satiate him. Of course, it wasn’t.

“So why did you let him think that Lee was still alive?
And why did you run away from him that day?”

“I wasn’t ready to let go of Lee, I guess. And I ran
because I felt an instant connection with Zach and
I got
scared.” Okay, now
that
should be enough.

“That makes sense,” Lucas replied. “But you haven’t
really answered my original question. You told me how you
met but what I wanted to know was how you got together.”

Dammit!
What a bloodhound!
He was digging for
something specific but what?
Quickly, I ran through the
details of our meeting at the shelter and what happened at
Rosewood that night.

“A real white knight, this Zach,” Lucas said bitterly.
“So where did he take you on your first date?”

Really? There were easier questions on the SAT. Zach
and I never had an official first date—we just kind of
fell
into
our relationship.
The night at the drive in was the closest
thing we had to a first date so I told him that story as well.

“So I was just wondering—at what point did you tell
Zach that Lee was dead? You told him that you were seeing
someone—so when you went on your first date, did Zach
think you were still seeing Lee?”

I started to squirm in my seat. How could I explain it
all without telling him what was going on at Rosewood at the
time? I didn’t tell Zach the truth until much later, after the
haunting was in full swing. “The whole situation was kinda
complicated—there were other factors involved. Can we talk
about something else instead?”

Lucas agreed but with a victorious look on his face.
“Why don’t we listen to some music instead?” He pulled out a
CD and slid it in. “I hope you don’t mind Cold Eternal—
they’re sort of the only band I listen to.”

There was a point in time when listening to Cold
Eternal was too painful for me. Apparently, I was past that
point. As the first notes tinkled from the speakers, they made
me happy, made me feel like I used to feel when I listened to
them. It was like going back in a time machine to when my
life wasn’t so complicated—before Lee died, before my near
death experience. And long before I met Zach.

“They’re my favorite band, too,” I replied. Lucas
turned the volume up and we drove along just singing until
we were almost to Pittsburgh.
It was fun—uncomplicated
and carefree. Until I saw the bridge we were about to cross
over the Allegheny River.

‘Will you be my, be my eternal? Will you die, die to be
with me?’

In a panic, I jabbed at the buttons on the CD player to
make the music stop. But it didn’t.
My breathing became
shallow, my lungs heaved in short, quick bursts.

“Holy shit, Ru! What’s wrong? Do you have an inhaler
or something?” He kept one hand on the wheel but rubbed
my leg with the other.

I couldn’t answer him—I simply shook my head no.
Grabbing his hand, I squeezed it tightly, closed my eyes, and
tried to block out the lyrics as they bored into my brain.
I
tried to think about anything but that day on Destiny Bridge
but it just wasn’t possible.

I felt the car ease off the road to the right.
There
wasn’t any screaming so I cracked one eye open.
Overwhelming relief.
The bridge was behind us now and we
were parked along a street in the business district. Happy to
be alive, I flung my arms around Lucas and hugged him close.

“Ru! Your heart’s racing! Are you alright?” Lucas
held me as tightly as I held him.
He held me until I felt safe
again.
When I was finally able to speak, I explained why I
freaked out so bad.

“I’m so sorry,” he said stroking my hair soothingly. “I
should have realized what was wrong—I never should have
put you in this situation. Do you forgive me?”

“It’s not your fault, Lucas. There’s nothing to be
forgiven.” Suddenly, I was conscious of where I was and who
I was snuggled up to. I pulled back slowly because I didn’t
want to offend him. “Thanks, by the way,” I said smiling.

“You’re welcome, Ru. I don’t know if I can find
another way home that doesn’t involve a bridge but I will
certainly try.” The compassion in his eyes and in his voice
was touching, like he really cared about me.

“You don’t have to do that, Lucas—really, I’ll be okay.
It was just a combination of the music and seeing that bridge
that I wasn’t expecting. Now that I know it’s coming, I should
be okay the next time.”

“Alright—let’s go see what we can find out then,” he
said pointing to the large, brick building across the street.

We dodged multiple lanes of traffic to get to the other
side and climbed the steps to the Allegheny County Hall of
Records.
With a devilish grin, Lucas tugged on the glass door
to let me inside. Nothing. The door wouldn’t budge. He
moved to the door on the other side and pulled hard again.
Still nothing. It was locked.

Confused, Lucas led me around the building to find
another entrance but to no avail.
Every door was locked.
Once we were back where we started from, I figured out why.
A sign out front showed that they were closed on weekends.

“Man—you’ve gotta be kidding me!” he shouted,
slamming his fist against the glass. “We came all this way for
nothing!”

Bummer.
Of course I was disappointed too but I
couldn’t begin to imagine his frustration. The secrets about
his past probably lay within those walls and there wasn’t
anything we could do about it. Lucas sat down on the bench
outside and hung his head.

“It’s okay—we can come back some other day, Lucas.
At least next time we’ll know not to come on a weekend,” I
said in an effort to cheer him up. “Maybe we can come back
some day during Christmas break.”

He lifted his
head and
I saw that his
eyes
were
swimming with tears. “You’d really come back here with me?
I mean, I just figured that after what happened on the
bridge—and now this—that you wouldn’t want to ever see
this town again.”

“I’m not doing this for the great city of Pittsburgh—
I’m doing this for you.” As an afterthought, I added, “I’m doing
this for Lee.”

“You’re the best, Ru. Can I at least buy you lunch to
make up for ruining your day?”

Why not? It was just lunch, right? It wouldn’t be a
date—it would just be two friends eating burgers together.
Nothing weird about that. Even Zach couldn’t be upset by it.
After Garnet shared her eating disorder with me, he was more
than happy to watch me pig out.

I nodded my head in agreement. “Okay. I
am
pretty
hungry anyway. Where do you want to eat?” There weren’t
any restaurants in sight but I figured he would know where to
find one.

Lucas
jumped
up from
the
bench
with the
most
enthusiasm I’d seen from him all day. “I know the perfect
place—let’s go!”

We got in the car and drove further into the city.
It
wasn’t as big as Philadelphia but being in Pittsburgh
reminded me of Trinity. It seemed like years since I’d seen
buildings that tall and traffic that crazy. It felt more like the
good old days—the days I spent riding around with Lee.
We
used to visit museums and watch movies at the IMAX. The
best I had in Charlotte’s Grove was the haunted Bantam and
an old broken down drive in.

Traffic was bad and I was nearly starved by the time
we pulled into the shopping center parking lot just outside of
Monroeville.
There were several fast food options there so I
asked him which one was his favorite.
Not that I really
cared—anything that wasn’t still moving was fine by me.

“Oh, none of
them
—you haven’t eaten until you’ve
eaten
here
,” he said pointing to what looked like a really fancy
restaurant standing alone to the side of the shopping center.

I couldn’t believe it—D’avoir un Rêve made City Lights
look like the Chicken Shack.
It was, without a doubt, the
glitziest restaurant I’d ever seen in my entire life. It was the
kind of place only the elite ate at—not small town high school
kids who were only in the city for the afternoon. And not at
all what I had in mind when I agreed to let Lucas buy me
lunch.

Lucas
stepped up to the hostess
and
whispered
something in her ear.
She peered around him, shot me an
envious look and nodded. “Follow me.”

The hostess led us through the dining room to a quiet
table in the back. It was the only empty table there—how did
we get lucky enough to arrive at the perfect moment? I took
my seat and opened my menu the minute the hostess walked
away. French. Every single word of it was in French. Sure, I’d
been taking French since my freshman year but I that didn’t
mean I paid attention to it!
The
only
things
I could
understand were the prices and I prayed they were in francs
and not US dollars.

“Lucas! This place is
way
too expensive! There isn’t a
single thing on the menu under a hundred bucks! I can’t let
you pay for this!” I stared longingly at the plates on the table
closest to us. It all looked so delicious.

“I thought you said you were
hungry?
And you
definitely agreed to let me pay so just order what you want
and don’t worry about it,” he said, nonchalantly perusing the
menu like he ate at places like this every day of his life.

“Okay, money aside, I can’t read a single thing on this
menu. With my luck, I would end up ordering myself boiled
squid or something!”