Before I could decide how to respond, someone called my name, and I looked up to find Brant watching me. Yeah? Obviously Id missed a question.
I said, Wheres your boyfriend?
Umbathroom, I said, unwilling to admit that I wasnt sure.
Brant shook his head slowly. Hudsons falling down on the job. You wanna dance till he gets back? I wont bite. He held out one large brown hand for mine, and I took it.
Brant Williams was tall, and dark, and always smiling. He was the football teams kicker, a senior, and the friendliest jock Id ever met, not counting Nash. He was also the only other person in the house I would dance with, other than Emma.
I danced with Brant for two songs, glancing around for Nash the whole time. I was just starting to wonder if hed gotten sick when I spotted him across the room, standing with Sophie in an arched doorway leading to a dark hall. He brushed a strand of hair from her forehead, then leaned closer to be heard over the music.
My chest ached like I couldnt breathe.
When he saw me looking, he stepped away from Sophie and scowled at my partner, then waved me over. I thanked Brant for the dance, then made my way across the room, dread building inside me like heartburn. Nash had ditched me at a party, then showed up with Sophie. Deep down, Id known this day would come. Id figured hed eventually look elsewhere for what he hadnt had in the two and a half months wed been going out. But with Sophie? A flash of anger burned in my cheeks. He may as well have just spit in my face!
Please, please be imagining things, Kaylee.
I stopped five feet away, my heart bruising my chest with each labored beat. Yes, Sophie had a boyfriend, but that didnt mean she wouldnt try to take mine.
Nash took one look at my face, at my eyes, which were surely swirling with pain and anger I couldnt hide, then followed my gaze to Sophie. His eyes widened with comprehension. Then he smiled and grabbed my hand.
Sophie was just looking for Scott. Right? But then he tugged me down the dark hall before she could answer, leaving my cousin all alone in the crowd. We can talk in here, Nash whispered, pressing me into a closed door.
The full body contact was promising, but I couldnt banish doubt. Were you talking to her the whole time? I asked around the hitch in my breath as his cheek brushed mine.
I just went outside to cool off, and when I came back in, she cornered me. Thats it. He fumbled for the handle near my hip, and the door swung open, revealing Scotts dads posh office.
Swear?
Do I really need to? Nash stepped back so I could see his eyes in the dim light of the desk lamp, and I saw the truth swirling in them. He didnt want Sophie, no matter what she might do that I hadnt.
I felt myself flush. Sorry. I just thought
Nash closed the door and cut my apology off with a kiss. He tasted good. Like mint. We wound up on Mr. Carters burgundy leather couch, and I had just enough time to think that psychiatrists made waaaay too much money before Nashs mouth found mine again, and thinking became impossible.
You know Im not interested in Sophie, he whispered. I wouldnt do that to you or Scott. He leaned down and kissed me again. Theres only you, Kaylee.
My entire body tingled in wave after wave of warm, exhilarating shivers, and I let my lips trail over the rough stubble on his chin, delighting in the coarse texture.
Oh, blah, blah, blah, a jaded voice said, drenching our privacy with a cold dose of sarcasm. You love him, he loves you, and were all one big, happy, sloppy, dorky family.
Damn it, Tod! Nash stiffened. I closed my eyes and sighed. The couch creaked beneath us as we sat up to see Nashs undead brotherfully corporeal for oncesitting backward in Mr. Carters desk chair, arms crossed over the top as he watched us in boredom barely softened by the slight upturn of his cherubic lips. If you dont quit it with the Peeping Tom routine, Im going to tell your boss you get off watching other people make out.
He knows, Tod and I said in unison. I straightened my shirt, scowling at the intruder, though my irritation was already fading.
Unlike Nash, I had trouble staying mad at Tod lately because I considered his recent reappearance a good sign. We hadnt seen him for nearly a month after his ex-girlfriend died in Octoberwithout her soul. And when I say wed not seen him, I mean that literally. As a grim reaper, Tod could choose when and where he wanted to be seen, and by whom.
But now he was back, and up to his old tricks. Which seemed to consist entirely of preventing me and Nash from having any quality alone time. He was almost as bad as my dad.
Shouldnt you be at work? I ran one hand through my long brown hair to smooth it.
Tod shrugged. Im on my lunch break.
I lifted both brows. You dont eat.
He only shrugged again, and smiled.
Get out, Nash growled, tossing his head toward the door. Like Tod would actually have to use it. One of the other perks of being dead, technically speaking, was the ability to walk through things. Or simply disappear, then reappear somewhere else. Thats right. I got swirling eyes and the capacity to shatter windows with my bare voice. Tod got teleportation and invisibility.
The supernatural world is so far from fair.
Tod stood and kicked the chair aside, running one hand through short blond curls that not even the afterlife could tame. Im not here to watch you two, anyway.
Great. I scowled at the reaper, my eyes narrowed in true irritation now. I told you to stay away from her. Emma had met him once, briefly, and wed made the mistake of telling her what he really was. Hed been watching her covertly before, but after Addisons death and his obvious heartbreak, Id assumed that had stopped.
Tod mirrored his brother with his arms crossed over his chest. So you wont let me go near her, but youll let her get in the car with some drunk jock? That doesnt even kinda make sense.
Damn it. Nash was off the couch in an instant and I followed, whispering a thank-you to Tod as I passed him. But hed already blinked out of the office.
I trailed Nash down the hall and through the packed living room, accidentally bumping a beer from a cheerleaders hand on the way. We ran out the front door and I wished Id stopped to find my jacket when the frigid air raised goose bumps all over my skin.
We paused at the end of the walkway, and I spotted Emma near the mouth of the cul-de-sac, a brief glimpse of long blond hair. There. I pointed and we took off again. We got there just as Doug pulled his passengers side door open. He had Em pressed against the side of the car, his tongue in her mouth, his free hand up her shirt.
Emma was totally into it, and though I didnt think shed have gone so far in public if not for the beer, that was her business. But getting in the car with a drunk crossed the line from stupid into dangerous.
Em, I said as Nash slapped one hand on Dougs shoulder and pulled him backward.
What the hell, man! Doug slurred as his hand pulled free from Emmas bra hard enough that the elastic slapped her skin.
Kaylee! Emma smiled and fell against me, and I glared at Doug. She didnt know what she was doing, and he was being a complete asshole.
Em, you know how it goes. I wrapped one arm around her waist when she stumbled. Come together, stay together
leave together, she finished with a wide-eyed, pseudo-serious expression. But we didnt come together, Kay
I know, but the last part still applies.
Fuller, shes drunk. Nash angled him so that Doug fell into his own passengers seat. And so are you.
Noooo Emma giggled, blowing beer breath at me.
Hes not drinking, so he gets to drive.
Em, hes wasted, Nash insisted, then glanced at me and tossed his head toward the house. Take her back in.
I started walking Emma up the sidewalk, trying to keep her quiet as she told me how nice Doug was. She wasnt just drunk, she was gone. I should have watched her more closely.
A minute later, Nash caught up to us as I was lowering Emma onto the porch. Did you get his keys? I asked, and Nash frowned. Then, as he turned to head back toward Dougs car, an engine growled to life and a sick feeling settled into the pit of my stomach. Nash took off running and I leaned Emma against the top step. Tod? I called, glancing around the dark yard, grateful there was no one around to see me talking to myself.
What? the reaper said at my back, and I whirled around, wondering why he always appeared behind me.
Can you sit with her for a minute?
He scowled and glanced at Emma, who stared up at us, blinking her big blue eyes in intoxicated innocence. You told me to stay away from her.
Hey, I remember you, Emma slurred, loud enough to make me wince. Youre dead.
We both ignored Em. I know. Just watch her for a minute, and dont let her get into any cars. Please. Then I raced after Nash past the entrance to the cul-de-sac, confident Tod would watch Emma. That hed probably been doing it all night, though hed catch hell for missing work.
Ahead, streetlights shone on the glossy surface of Dougs car, gliding past like a slice of the night itself. Then, as I caught up to Nash, Doug leaned suddenly to one side, and his car lurched forward and to the right.
There was a loud pop, followed by the crunch of metal. Then the crash of something more substantial.
Shit! Nash took off running again and I followed as that sick feeling in my stomach enveloped the rest of me. Oh, no, Kaylee
I knew before I even saw it. The street was lined with expensive, highly insured cars belonging to people who could easily afford to replace them. But the drunk jock had hit mine. When I got closer, I saw that hed not only hit it, hed rammed it up onto the sidewalk and through a neighbors brick mailbox.
My car was crunched. The drivers side door was buckled. Bricks and chunks of mortar lay everywhere.
Behind us, Scotts front door squealed opened and voices erupted into the dark behind me. I glanced back to find Todnow fully corporealushering Emma away from the crowd pouring into the yard. When I was sure she was okay, I turned to my poor, dead car.
Until I noticed that Doug Fuller had yet to emerge from his.
Crap.
Help me with him, Nash called, and I rounded the car as he pulled open the completely unscathed drivers side door of the Mustang. Dougs head lolled on his shoulders, and he was mumbling drunk nonsense under his breath. with me. Somebody else in my car, dude