Phantoms of Fall (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 2) (3 page)

When I got dressed for the occasion I thought I looked
good. I was wearing a pair of denim shorts—emphasis on the
word
short
—and a red halter top with matching red sneaks.
If I’d known this was a pool party, I would have worn
something more appropriate. Even just a pair of cute sandals
would have made me feel better. Not that I would ever go
near the water, of course, but at least I would have fit in a
little better.

“I didn’t bring a swimsuit. You’ll have to make your
grand entrance alone.” I compared my outfit to hers yet again
and felt like even more of a dork.

“What? Why not? I knew you wouldn’t go in the pool,
of course, but I thought you would at least strut your stuff
with me!”

So Rachel, who always seemed so clueless, made the
connection that I was afraid of the water. What was Zach’s
problem? We were so close that it felt like he could read my
mind—and me his—so what went wrong tonight?

Maybe Rachel would know. “Zach didn’t tell me there
was a pool or what was considered appropriate attire.”

 

Her brow furrowed. “He didn’t? He’s been to Boone’s
party every single year, how could he forget?”

Exactly. He didn’t. But there had to be a reason why
he neglected to tell me and I needed to know that reason. We
needed to talk, but it would have to wait until after the party.
I resolved to regurgitate my confidence and go back out there
like nothing was wrong.
If Misty sensed that I was mad at
him, it would blow my whole plan and open a door for her
that I couldn’t afford to have opened.

Rachel grabbed one tray of food and I got the other
and followed her back out to the party, staying as far away
from the pool as possible. I scanned the crowd and caught
sight of Misty and her coven hovering near the far end of the
pool. She was wearing a hot pink one piece that might as well
have been a no piece. There were so many cutouts there was
barely any fabric there. A group of boys stood a few feet from
her, their tongues all but hanging out of their mouths.
A
pathetic cry for attention on her part, but at least Zach wasn’t
falling for it.

Instead, I found him sitting at a table talking to a girl
I’d never met before. She wasn’t in a swimsuit either so at
least I wasn’t the only one who was overdressed anymore. As
soon as he saw me, his face brightened and he motioned for
me to join them. He was acting like the incident with Boone
never happened so it made acting normal a whole lot easier
for me.

I put down the tray of food and went to join them. As I
pulled out the chair next to his, he grabbed me by the waist
and pulled me down onto his lap. That was more like it. I put
my arms around his shoulders and his hands came to rest on
my thighs. Misty instantly glared at me so I gave him a quick
kiss.

“Ruby, I want you to meet my friend Chloe Cosgrove.
She was my partner in chem lab last year—we almost blew up
the lab together. Chloe, this is my girlfriend Ruby Matthews.”

I sized her up instantly now that she was close enough
to scrutinize. She had long brown hair and a friendly smile.
She wasn’t a small girl, but she definitely wasn’t fat. She was
one of those girls with lots of curves and she totally knew how
to wear them.
Her outfit was similar to mine and I found
myself instantly at ease with her.
There were girls at this
party who wanted nothing more than to steal my boyfriend,
but I decided that Chloe was not one of them.

I listened
to
stories
about their
misadventures
in
chemistry from the year before and I all but forgot about
being mad at Zach.
Chloe was a lot of fun and when she said
she hoped we had some classes together this year, my feelings
about school started to be more positive.
One more friend
was a welcome addition.

As Zach started to tell another funny story, a voice
came from behind us, stopping him in mid-sentence.

 

“Don’t be greedy, Mason. You’ve had your turn—time
to let me have her for a while.”

The voice was vaguely familiar and I turned my head
to find the boy we talked to for a few minutes at Open House.
Ryan somebody or other.
He checked me out that day and
Zach made it pretty clear that I was his. But just like earlier,
Zach overreacted to his comment.

One minute I was happily snuggled in his lap and the
next I was falling out of it as he stood up to confront him. I
grabbed the edge of the table just in time to keep myself from
falling
straight onto
the concrete.
I stood
behind Zach
watching in disbelief as he ripped into him.

“Back off Fedderhoff! She’s mine and she wants
nothing to do with you!” Zach snarled. Zach stood only inches
from Ryan with his fists clenched at his side, shaking with
anger.

Ryan just laughed in his face. “Geez, Mason! What’s
your
problem? Are you afraid she’s too much woman for you
to handle? Afraid she just might want a real man like me?”
He turned as one of his friends called out, “Nice one, Ryan!”

Suddenly
there was
silence
across
the deck.
No
splashing from the pool, no giggling girls.
Someone even
turned the music off. Everyone was watching us, listening to
their argument.
I stood there in complete shock as I watched
Zach pull back his fist to take a swing at him.

It all happened so fast but in a surreal, slow motion
kind of way. Zach’s fist flew forward, Ryan high-fived one of
his buddies and didn’t see it coming. Just before his knuckles
would have smashed into Ryan’s jaw, Boone flew in from out
of nowhere and pushed Zach aside. His fist connected with
dead air and I could see a seething rage in his eyes.

Boone dragged Zach into the house as he struggled to
free himself.
What just happened?
I was dumbstruck as
Rachel took me by the shoulders and led me in after them
with Chloe not far behind us. I could hear Zach’s screams long
before I saw him.

“Get off! Let me go, Boone!” Zach yelled as Boone held
him pinned against the wall by his shoulders.

“Not until you calm down, man!” Boone screamed
back in his face. The more Zach struggled, the tighter Boone’s
grip on him became.
I stared into the face of the boy I loved
so much and I barely recognized him.

“Ruby!” he called my name desperately, but what
could I do? He was out of control. I wanted to wrap my arms
around him like always but frankly, I was frightened of him.

So I kept my distance, huddled between Rachel and
Chloe, and called to him, “Zach! Calm down!”

“Just tell him to let me go! I promise I’ll calm down!”
There was a desperate animalistic quality in his voice and in
his
eyes—like
he
was
terrified
of
something.
My
fear
subsided and I stepped forward.

“Let him go Boone—I’ll take it from here.” I stroked
the side of his face with the back of my hand and his rage
visibly subsided. Boone released his grip and took a step back
as Zach tumbled into my arms.

He held me with an iron grip, almost but not quite
tight enough to hurt.
Burying
his
face in
my
hair, he
whispered “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I replied, almost choking on the
words.
I loved him with
all of my heart, but I was not
impressed with what he just did.

When they saw that he wasn’t going to go after Ryan
again, everyone left us alone in the kitchen. Zach sat down at
the table and I joined him. Just as I opened my mouth to scold
him for his behavior, he beat me to it.

“I’m so sorry you had to see that, Ruby,” he said
burying his face in his hands. “I never wanted you to see me
like that.”

Placing my hand on his shoulder, I leaned in close.
“Why did you do that? Why did you get so mad at him?”

“I know what Ryan’s like—he’s had his hands down
more girls’ pants than I can even begin to count. I know
what’s going through his mind when he looks at you—it’s
written all over his face. I don’t want him fantasizing about
you like that.” His hands started to shake again as he spoke.

“But you can’t control his thoughts, Zach. He’s a jerk,
but that’s all there is to it. It’s not like he actually tried
anything with me.”

“I know! But the idea of you being with anyone else
makes me crazy!
I can’t lose you, Ruby!” When he lifted his
gorgeous blue eyes to meet mine, I saw something I never saw
in
them
before—vulnerability.
And my
heart
instantly
melted.

“You’ll never lose me, Zach. We’re meant to be
together, remember?” They weren’t just empty words either.
Lee told me from beyond the grave that Zach was my one true
love.
That was all the proof I needed.
But how could I
convince Zach of that?
Words escaped me so I kissed him
instead.

We kissed until I felt the anger inside of him gradually
give way to passion. When our lips finally parted, I asked him,
“Can you go back out there and pretend like this never
happened?”

He nodded confidently. “I can. I promise this will
never happen again,” he said, gently stroking my hair. So I
believed him.

As we stepped back out onto the deck, all eyes were
on us yet again. Ryan stood at the back of a group of guys,
staring as we walked back to the table where we were sitting.
The tension was palpable until Boone did a cannonball into
the pool sending the giggling girls into yet another wave of
laughter and taking the attention away from us.

Before we took our seats, Rachel called to Zach, “Hey
can you help me lift this?” She was struggling to move a large
cooler all by herself and having no luck.

“Sure. Coming with me?” he asked me, sounding more
like his usual self.

Rachel dropped the cooler and it fell with a loud bang.
“Now, Zach!” Cans of soda started rolling in every direction
and she scrambled to grab them all.

Zach looked at me and I pointed to Rachel. “Go help
her—I’ll gather up the cans.” As he turned his back on me to
help Rachel, I kneeled down to pick up a can of soda that came
to a halt at my feet. It was only when I started to stand up
that I realized how close I was to the edge of the water. My
heart began to pound wildly in my chest and a dizzying fear
crippled me. I was afraid to move for fear that I would fall in.
Then I felt a hand on my shoulder.
As I reached out for
whoever was about to help me, that hand shoved me roughly
and I toppled over into the water. As I hit the surface, I saw a
flash of hot pink from the corner of my eye.

Panic. Terror. Anger. I could only release one scream
before I started sinking
toward the bottom
of
the pool.
Flailing wildly, I tried to fight my way upward but my fear
worked against me.
It felt like hours that I struggled, the
water pushing against my chest and sealing me into a tomb of
claustrophobia.
But within seconds, Zach was beside me
lifting me to the surface. He got me to the side of the pool and
once my head was above water, I saw Rachel and Chloe with
outstretched arms ready to pull me out.
Someone in the
crowd yelled, “Wet tee shirt contest!” and a round of laughter
followed.

I collapsed on the concrete, shaking and crying with
fear. Chloe sat with me while Rachel ran to get me a towel.
Where was Zach?
He got out of the water right behind me so
why wasn’t he there holding me where I needed him to be?
Don’t get me wrong, I was grateful to have Chloe at my side
but she was no replacement for Zach.

And then I saw him.
Screaming at Ryan again and
looking like a man possessed.

“This is your
last
warning, Fedderhoff!
Stay the hell
away from Ruby!” He grabbed Ryan by the shoulders and
threw him into the pool.

The deck was consumed with commotion. Ryan’s
friends getting into Zach’s face, Rachel and Boone trying to
stop the soon-to-be fight, and Chloe ushering me into the
house. Why was he doing this? I needed him so badly to hold
me and make me feel safe again like he always did.
But
instead he was off in some sort of testosterone-fueled rage.
Where was the Zach who held me when I cried? Where was
the Zach I loved?

The
shouting
from
outside slowly
diminished and
Rachel appeared in the kitchen. “Zach’s waiting for you in the
car—you can go out through the front. Do me a favor, Ruby—
text me and let me know what’s going on.”

Following her to the front door, I stopped just before
stepping through it. “What’s wrong with him, Rachel?” I
begged for an answer but she didn’t have one to offer me.

“I don’t know—I’ve never seen him like this before.”
Worry clouded her face making me feel even more helpless. If
his twin sister didn’t have a clue, no one did. With one more
promise to text her later, I left Rachel and walked to the car in
a daze.

4. Leaves Me Speechless

We were barely outside of the gates to Cedar Lane
when Zach snapped out of his rage. He pulled the car to the
side of the road and threw his arms around me.

“Oh, Ruby,” he whispered into my ear. “Ruby, are you
okay?” I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to catch you before you fell
in.”

In all of the confusion, I almost forgot. I didn’t
fall
into
the pool—I was
pushed
. “Misty pushed me in!” I blurted out.
“That rotten bitch pushed me in!”

“She did?
Everyone said you lost your balance and
fell. Are you sure that’s what happened?” Zach turned his
eyes to mine and I saw doubt in them. I could tell him that I
was being brutalized by a ghost and he would believe me
100%. But this,
this
he doubted?