Haunted (31 page)

Let me know if anything changes between you and Sophie...

“I will,” I said softly. “And, Sean?”

“Yes?”

“Try not to do anything to piss them off,” I told him. “If they want you dead, they'll find a reason to justify it.”

He turned his Cheshire cat smile on me. I hadn't seen it for a long, long time.

“Who me? Wouldn't dream of it,” he mocked as he closed the door suddenly, leaving me alone yet again.

37

“So tell me one more time why Peyta couldn't have called me?” Ronnie asked, which was really just her polite way of demanding that I explain. I hadn't seen her since she returned to town and aside from one brief conversation that I ducked out of as quickly as possible while at the shop, I hadn't talked to her about the events that took place while she was gone. Peyta had told her the alibi we'd agreed upon, but Ronnie didn't seem to be buying it. I was afraid that would happen.

“I told you, she was sick. It was like mono or something. She slept constantly. I don't think she even bothered to check her phone and I certainly wasn't going to,” I explained. “If I've learned anything from the past week or so is that you do not mess with a teenage girl's phone. Period.”

She looked at me with the piercing eyes of a mother across a rack of vintage dresses. She was weighing the veracity of my story.

“I didn't want to worry you, so I didn't call. If it'd gotten any worse, I would have, but she kinda just came out of it suddenly. I figured no harm, no foul,” I offered, hoping it would placate her.

“Fine, but explain to me about this boyfriend scenario. I need de—”

“Oh, no you don't. I'm not stepping in that,” I said, raising my arms in surrender. “You and Peyta can sort that mess out.”

“But I just—”

“Nope, nyet, nein, no. You're on your own,” I insisted. She was visibly frustrated, but I was determined to stand strong on the issue; I had enough going on that I didn't need to add Ronnie's wrath into the mix. She skulked back towards the counter silently. “And don't even think of pulling that Glock out for intimidation. I unloaded it while you were gone anyways.”

“Guess it's a good thing I always have a clip on me then, isn't it?” she purred.

My adrenaline shot up for a split second until she turned to face me with a mile-wide smile.

“Why would you have that?” I asked hesitantly.

“It's for special occasions,” she replied with a wink.

“Have you ever had to use that thing?” I asked, unsure what her answer would be and whether or not I'd want to hear it.

“Not for a long time,” she said, expressionless. “Not since we've been here.”

“Well, let's not start today, okay?” I asked, nervously laughing.

“Then don't give me a reason to,” she replied. “Listen, Ruby, I like you. You're a good kid, but I know that you know something that you're not telling me; same goes for Cooper. I've spent the better part of the last two decades trying to keep Peyta safe and I won't hesitate to do what needs to be done to ensure that safety, friends or not.”

I stood speechless as I felt the color drain from my face. Ronnie wasn't speaking like your average overprotective mother; there was a dark history behind those words. I couldn't help but wonder if she'd somehow known the fate that awaited Peyta or if there was something far more sinister following her through her past. I'd learned a lot about social cues in the last year, enough to know that it wasn't the time to ask what she meant by that statement. It was time to try and change the subject.

“Understood,” I said, acknowledging her threat with a nod. “Now, on a lighter note, my closet has been lonely with you gone. It needs some new visitors. Got anyone in mind?”

The ferocity left her eyes slowly and a playful smile crept across her face.

“You know I do,” she said, headed towards the beaded entrance to the stock room. “Pick your poison: jeans or shoes?”

“There's no right choice to make there. You'd better do both just to be sure.”

“I'll bring everything to cover all our bases. Things were slow while I was gone.”

“Well, I can't have you going out of business, now can I?” I laughed.

“No, no you can't.”

“Good thing you know what I like.”

“I do, Ruby. I know that and so much more,” she implied as the playfulness disappeared again. “More than you could possibly imagine.”

I froze in place, unsure about what to do. Something was very different about Ronnie, and I didn't know how to proceed. I wanted to drop the whole conversation and leave, but even more than that, I wanted to know what the hell it was that she knew so much about.

“And what exactly would that be?” I asked, feigning confidence.

“Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me,” she informed me. “For now at least…Cooper's too.”

“And what secret would that be?”

“Oh, Ruby, don't play the dumb blond to me. It just doesn't suit you.”

The grumbling from my chest got louder before I realized it was me making that horrible sound.

“Tell Scarlet to pipe down in there; the same applies to her, too.”

Kill her now...

“How did you…,” I whispered. The words escaped slowly on exhalation with no inhalation to follow. I was too shocked to maintain even the most basic of functions. She emerged from the back room and threw a picture onto the counter of Cooper loading me into a Jeep, my body bloodied and limp. It was from Utah.

I paled as all the blood in my face abandoned it.

“Like I said, Ruby. I know more than you could ever imagine,” she said, moving closer. “If you ever put my child in harm's way again, I'll see to it that it's the last mistake you ever make.”

Breathe...BREATHE!

Scarlet mentally resuscitated me and I gasped for breath, bending over and grabbing me knees for stability. My stomach burned with the movement, but I was too numb to care.

“You might want to stand up. That's not going to do any good for your insides,” she said as she sauntered away. “I'll be right back with your new wardrobe.”

* * *

I went straight home after leaving Ronnie's with two full bags from her store – guilt purchases. I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around the one-hundred and eighty degree turn that had just taken place between us, let alone the why behind it.

She knew what I was. She knew what Cooper was, too. Did she know about Sean and the brothers? The entire PC? Werewolves in general?

As my mind darted down different paths of possibility I came to one inevitable conclusion. Everyone around me was coming up inhuman. I contemplated that thought as I put my new clothes and shoes away in my already cramped closet. Cooper was going to be losing about twenty square feet of his bedroom if I kept it up. My closet desperately needed an extension.

38

I sat on the couch alone, TV on but muted while Cooper slept silently in his room. The cause of his night terrors had finally been eradicated. I tried to focus on all the positives I had going for me in that moment, all the things I had to be grateful for. It wasn't that I was ungrateful, but I just couldn't seem to muster up the thanks that should be given; I was too exhausted both emotionally and physically.

I clicked off the television and headed down the hall to my room, but not before stopping outside Cooper's door to rest my ear to it; I wanted to relish in his new-found peace. My relishing was quickly interrupted by a voice on the other side of the door.

“If you were any louder I'd have heard you coming from Boston,” Cooper teased. “Just come in for God's sake. Your hovering by my door is mildly unnerving.”

“Well, since you asked so nicely,” I replied sarcastically before opening the door to his room. It was nearly pitch black except for some strands of light permeating the crack between the curtains, casting an angelic glow onto Cooper's face.

I managed to make my way to the edge of his bed without tripping or stubbing my toe on anything in the process. He feigned disappointment.

“What were you doing in the hall?” he asked, eyebrow cocked.

“Listening.”

“For what?”

“Silence,” I whispered. “It's been a long time since that's come from your room at night...at least when you occupied it.”

He reached out his hand to grab mine and pull me down to sit on the bed; he didn't let it go.

“It's been a long time for a lot of things, Ruby. I have so much to make up to you,” he said earnestly.

A tear I could no longer contain rolled down my cheek. I officially gave up on my “no crying policy” then and there. Why fight the inevitable?

“I missed you,” I whispered to my lap, unable to maintain eye contact. Vulnerability still made me uncomfortable.

“Ah, Rubes...,” he said, as he pulled me down to lay next to him, chest to chest, his arms encircling me. “I never meant to hurt you. I would give anything to change it all.”

“I know,” I told him. “I never gave up on you.”

He kissed my forehead then nestled my head under his chin.

“That's why I love you,” he said softly. “You're too dumb to know when to quit.”

I broke out into sobbing laughter, my emotions confused and overflowing. It was the release I'd needed for months but was never afforded. He cradled me while I let everything out.

“You're such an ass,” I choked out between my slowing outbursts. “But I love you, too.”

It felt good to say those words to him and mean it – it had been a long time. We laid together all night long, enjoying the return of a relationship past and the odd sense of normalcy it brought with it.

And we slept like the dead.

Epilogue

It wasn't long before trouble found me again, not that it had really ever granted me reprieve. Two weeks after Sean walked out of my apartment with that smile I'd grown to love and hate plastered across his face, he showed up again. He wasn't alone.

Another brother was found dead and as usual, I was the prime suspect. Sean managed to stave off the Elders, keeping them in Milan, but he knew it wasn't going to last for long. A visit from the “Daddies”, as I'd nicknamed them, was in order and heads were likely to roll when they did. I tried not to let it worry me, but I was beginning to feel like a dead man walking.

Peyta still hung out at the shop whenever she could. She'd become my little apprentice, trying to learn everything possible about redesigning jewelry, and I loved having her there. Ronnie, on the other hand, was far less enthused about the situation, but she allowed it for Peyta's sake, trying her best to keep up appearances.

My relationship with Ronnie had drastically changed, and she was wary of me to say the least. I thought maybe the fact that we saved Peyta's life would count for something, but it didn't seem to. Furthermore, I still had no idea how she knew what she knew, and as usual had nobody to ask.

Cooper didn't take long to fully bounce back to the charming comedian I'd known him to be. It seemed he had no residual dependency issues which he and I both were immensely thankful for; I didn't need a werewolf going through withdrawal on my plate, too. He was still helping at the shop with the bookkeeping, but also decided to take some classes at the University of New Hampshire, feeling the need to reinvent himself. I was totally on board.

We were working on getting back into a rhythm together, but I couldn't help feeling like something was a little off. He had an intensity to him I wasn't familiar with, and when he turned it on me, I felt like nothing else in the world existed to him. I wondered if he looked at anyone else that way.

I was still trying to adapt to hearing Scarlet in my mind, and tried to put it to good use by asking her what happened during the healing with Sophie. I really wanted some answers. With every effort I made, she gave the same infuriating, enigmatic response – an evil, guttural laugh followed by “She took Sean from you, so I took something from her”. I had a feeling that whatever it was she did, it was going to bite me in the ass.

I hoped upon hope that I was wrong.

A Note From The Author

If you are enjoying
The Caged Series
so far, then hold on tight because you're in for a wild ride with Ruby and the gang. There are currently seven novels planned with four already completed. If you want to continue to read about these characters, please take a moment to go online (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.) and leave a review to encourage others to take a chance on Ruby.

Your support is greatly appreciated; I couldn't do it without you!

For more on
The Caged Series
:

amberlynnnatusch.com

facebook.com/amberlynnnatusch

Amazon.com Author Page

So for those of you who took the time to read about me in the back of Caged, here's your second installment of random facts.

I'm petrified of clowns, open bodies of water, and New Hampshire's state motto (Live Free or Die...really?). I love to dance in public places not meant for dancing, and I'm obsessed with Neil Diamond.

I still own the teddy bear I loved as a child. I hate basements, and think that something nefarious might be living under my bed (and I'm not talking about evil dust bunnies, though I'm sure there are some there).