Authors: Carrie Ann Ryan
Rage
tore through her, and she forced herself not to use her magic. This time,
unlike with Abby, she controlled her magic and didn’t harm Stacey, though she
wanted to. The magic scraped at her skin, wanting to burst out, but cooled when
Jordan focused.
Matt
finally pushed Stacey off, and Jordan wanted to vomit. Really, Matt? Like five minutes
after they’d left each other happy, he kisses another woman? Okay, he was the
one who had been kissed, but he took a hell of a long time pushing her off him.
“Stacey,
stop,” Matt grumbled, and wiped his mouth with his forearm.
Score
.
“What?
Why can’t we profess our love?” Stacey whined.
“Jesus,
Stacey. I don’t understand you. We’re not together. We’ve never been together.
We’re not ever going to be together. So, stop rubbing yourself on me and
creating a scene. You’re only embarrassing yourself.”
Stacey
paled then straightened her shoulders. She snarled and pasted a look of revenge
on her face. “We’ll see, Matt. We’ll see.” She stormed out, and Matt finally looked
up to see Jordan.
“Jordan.”
She
stared into his eyes and squared her shoulders, ready to get whatever was going
to happen over with as quickly as possible. “Can we talk, Matt?”
Jordan
looked around at the people staring and whispering. Great, she was the center
of attention again.
He
nodded, a frown on his face. The play had started, so they crept out the side
door, not wanting to interrupt more than they already had. She followed him,
and he shut the door behind them.
“How
the hell could you let Stacey kiss you?”
Matt’s
face reddened, whether from anger or embarrassment she didn’t know. She was too
pissed off to care.
“Well?”
“I
can’t hit a woman. You know that.”
Jordan
growled. “So you just stand there and let her lay her pressed-on nails on you?”
“Jealous?”
The bastard grinned.
“Fuck
you, Matt. She
kissed
you and let her perky tits touch you. I hated it.
And you just
stood
there!”
“She
surprised me with the kiss. As for the pressing of body parts, it was either
stand there or choke her to death. I don’t want to go to prison.”
“Then
learn the fucking two-step and dance away.”
Matt
smiled. “Aww, baby, you care.”
“Of
course I fucking care. I love you, you bastard.”
He
threw back his head and laughed. “God, I love you.”
“You
better.” She cracked a smile, and he kissed her softly, his lips tasting of the
coffee he’d drunk that morning.
“I’m
sorry I freaked out.”
Matt
sighed and pulled them to a chair. He sat down, and she got on his lap, ignoring
his erection.
“Tell
me why you left all those years ago, Jordan.”
She
froze. That hadn’t been what she’d expected.
“You
know why,” she said evenly. “I couldn’t take it anymore.”
He
shook his head. “I know that, but something had to have triggered it. Tell me.”
She
sat on his lap, her back ramrod straight, and her lungs feeling like they would
collapse. Could she tell him? After all these years, she didn’t know if she
could voice the words caught on her tongue like a heavy film.
“I
left because I didn’t feel safe.”
“What
happened, Jor?” He rubbed his hand down her spine, and she leaned against him,
taking in the comfort he offered.
She
took a deep breath. “The night that I was supposed to meet you for our date,
Prescott stopped me.”
Matt’s
hold tightened, but he didn’t say anything.
“He
told me he’d wanted me from the start, and he…” Her voice caught, and she bit
her lip so she wouldn’t vomit.
“Did
he touch you?” Matt growled, a promise of death on his tone.
“He
tried… He got real close. He had my pants around my ankles before I could fight
him off.”
Matt
cursed and hugged her tighter. “I’m going to kill him.”
“I
stopped him, Matt. But I had to use magic to do it. I didn’t hurt him, not
really, but I stunned him. If I had listened to my grandmother and actually
trained, it wouldn’t have gotten as far as it had.”
“Oh,
baby.” He cupped her face and kissed her. She let him comfort her, though
inside she wanted to shrivel up and die. No matter how hard she tried to be
strong, the feel of Prescott’s hands on her would never go away. It was as if
he’d imprinted on her. No amount of bleach or soap would wash it away.
“I
hurt him, Matt. At least I stunned him.”
“Good.”
“No,
it’s not good. Magic isn’t supposed to hurt. It’s supposed to be good. And I
used it to harm him.”
“You
did it to protect yourself.”
She
shook her head. “That doesn’t make it right.”
“You
didn’t have a choice, Jor. It’s not your fault.”
“I
don’t know why he isn’t scared of me. I would be.”
“Baby,
he probably is, that’s why he’s an ass. But you’re not to blame.”
“But
Prescott blamed me for leading him on. He told me I’d hexed him, at least
that’s what he says. I didn’t hex him, but he took my small burst of magic and
made sure I knew he could hurt me with his words and threats. He said he’d hurt
you and your bothers and find a way to make you guys pay for my mistake.”
Matt
cursed. “So you left to protect us?”
“I
left because I needed to. Yes, to protect you. And myself.”
“Jordan
Cross. I love you. I loved you then, and I love you even more now. You don’t
get to decide how to protect me as much as I don’t get to decide for you. We’re
a team. We need to decide together.”
“I
don’t know how to fix it. But I’m not sorry I did it. I mean, I’m not sorry I
saved myself. I had to, Matt. Thank you for saying that. It wasn’t my fault.”
“That’s
why we need to work together. We’ll figure out how to fix my problem and take
care of Prescott.”
“You
make it sound easy. Just talking about it doesn’t help anything.”
“But
not talking about things just buries them and makes it worse.”
She
smiled and kissed his cheek. “Look at you wanting to talk about your feelings.”
He
smiled wryly. “Just don’t tell my brothers.”
“I’ll
keep your sensitive side a secret. Just make sure you take care of yourself as
good as you’re trying to take care of me.”
He
kissed her, promises of hope and a future in his hold. “I promise.”
Jordan
just hoped she could rely on that. Because if she lost him because of who she
was, she might not be able to live with herself, nor would she want to.
Chapter 12
Matt
tugged Jordan closer as they walked down the path to the old Marlow place after
the play ended. The sun would be setting in about twenty minutes, and they
wanted to be securely inside before that happened. Kids started to come out of
their homes, dressed as superheroes and princesses, ready to start
trick-or-treating.
A
full moon on Halloween.
Just
what a ghost like him needed.
He
hated when the two of them fell on the same day because, more often than not, a
group of kids would gain some courage and find a way to break in. Then Matt
would have to hide. On occasion, he’d make a noise and try to spook them away.
As
long as people thought the place was haunted, they usually left him alone.
Until
Prescott had decided to be an ass about it and decided he wanted to tear the
house down.
His
jaw clenched at the thought of the rat bastard. He’d tried to rape Jordan, and
Matt was going to kill him.
Slowly.
“Stop
growling. You’re scaring the children.” Jordan elbowed his side, and he kissed
the top of her head.
“It’s
Halloween. They’re supposed to be scared.”
“Yeah,
but not by a guy walking around in plain clothes.”
“Serves
them right.” He grinned, and she just shook her head.
“You’re
impossible.”
“Yeah,
but you still love me.”
“I
have no idea why.”
“I think
it has something to do with tables.”
She
blushed and looked around, though no one was paying them any attention. “Matt…”
“What
can I say? I’ll never be able to sit down and think about dinner the same way
again.”
“I
swear I can’t take you anywhere.”
“And
yet, all I want to do is take you.”
She
rolled her eyes as they walked inside. “All you think about is sex.”
“Not
true. I also think about sports, ghosts, witches, and whether or not Montana
will ever have a pro-baseball team. But yes, sex is about ninety percent of my
overall thinking.”
“Only
ninety?”
“Some
days are tougher than others.” He pulled her close, loving the feel of her in
his arms.
“Yeah,
sure.” She pulled his head down, and their lips met. Gods, he loved the taste
of her, like sweet berries and lilac.
He
deepened the kiss, their bodies entwining as he lifted her off the floor so she
could wrap her legs around his waist. He kneaded her ass as he walked to the
wall. She arched against him, her core rubbing his cock through their jeans.
He
pulled back and rested his forehead on hers. “We need to stop. The sun is about
to go down, and I don’t want to drop you. Plus, I don’t think we want to try
and make love when I’m a ghost. That might be a little too weird.”
She
smiled and kissed his brow while lowering her legs. “We could always try it.”
He laughed.
“That’s why I love you.”
“Because,
apparently, I have an odd kink?”
“Of
course.” A sharp pang shot through him, and he bent over.
“Matt?”
He
let out a breath. “It’s okay; I’m just changing.”
“You
never told me it would hurt
this
much.” She knelt before him and rubbed
his arms.
Pain
rocketed through him, and he closed his eyes. He felt his body grow heavy then
light as a feather. He could feel Jordan’s hand on his arm, centering him. Then
gradually, her touch faded. He felt his body shift, and he floated toward that
cool almost nothingness that had stalked him for all these years.
He
opened his eyes and met Jordan’s gaze to see tears running down her cheeks.
“We’ll
fix this, Matt.”
“I
know, baby.” He was just humoring her. He didn’t believe it for one second.
He’d been like this for eleven years, and he didn’t think that would change.
“You’re
so cold,” she whispered. “At least the air around you since I can’t actually
feel you. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.”
He
smiled wryly. “I don’t want you to have to.”
“So,
what would you like to do this Halloween? Scare children?”
He
laughed, letting her change the subject. “Not tonight. Let another haunted
house do the scaring.”
Her
eyes brightened. “Really? There’s another haunted house in Holiday?”
He
let out a breath. “You’re lucky you’re pretty.”
She
growled. “You’re lucky I can’t touch you, or I’d kick you in the nuts for
that.”
“Wanna
play chess?”
Jordan
sighed. “Fine, but don’t think you’re off the hook.”
“Oh,
I wouldn’t expect you to ever let me off the hook.”
They
played a few games as the night wore on and the sounds of children quieted as
they went home for the night. He beat her a few times, but she got better as
they practiced.
Jordan
paused while she was about to take his queen and looked around. “Do you smell
smoke?”
Matt
froze, focusing so he could use his senses. He could easily see and hear, but tasting
and smell took a bit longer. The acrid smell of smoke burned his cool nostrils.
He could hear the crackling of sparks as the flames grew near, though he
couldn’t see them.
“Fuck,
I think there’s a fire. We need to get out of here.”
Jordan
looked at him, fear in her gaze.
“I
know, baby.”
“But,
Matt, you can’t leave. If the place burns…”
She didn’t
finish, but he knew what she was going to say. If the place burned to the ground,
he’d be lost forever.
“I
have to get you out of here.”
“Not
without you,” Jordan said, her tone filled with determination, though her voice
quavered with fear.
“Please,
Jordan.” He felt the door and coolness greeted his touch, and he cursed. He
didn’t know whether it was from himself or the door.