The Heart-Shaped Emblor (The Ewlishash Series) (2 page)

“Thanks for the coffee.” I held up the cup.

“You’re welcome.” She continued to speak as she walked down the hall. “I spoke with your mom earlier, and she wants you to deposit my rent check with Evan’s and Kyle’s.”

She probably told my mom I ran out of class too. I hoped that wasn’t the reason for Evan’s sudden interest in Jaden’s party, but I couldn’t be certain. My parents were renting rooms to my friends for very little in exchange for helping me with the Running Start program on campus. The arrangement benefited my friends, who got cheap rent, and my parents, who felt they needed a babysitter for me. It was annoying at times, but at least I got to stick with the college credit program. Had my parents made me move with them, I would have been stuck finishing out high school the old-fashioned way—something I had no interest in doing. I grabbed their checks from the counter, and headed downstairs to my room.

Knowing Cooper, if I wasn’t ready by the time he arrived it would put him in a sour mood the rest of the evening. With no idea what to wear, I spent the next hour digging through the closet to find something suitable for a high society kegger.

After finding the jeans and shirt Cooper bought me, I slipped them on, and made my way to the bathroom to straighten my hair. The only downfall of my recent stylish haircut was the fact I had to maintain it far more than I cared to.

I stared in the mirror, meeting my own eyes, and thoughts of my dark-haired dream friend returned. Part of me wondered whether to tell Jaden about what the ghost woman showed me, but I’d never spoken to her of my ghost-seeing abilities. What if they frightened her like my dreams once had? I couldn’t risk being on Jaden’s bad side. She had a reputation for socially destroying those she found in opposition.

More than ever I needed someone to talk to about my dreamtime friend. Why did he keep visiting my slumber? And why, in my heart, did I feel he could offer me something that Cooper couldn’t?

As I traced my lashes with Noir 1 mascara, I realized how devastatingly empty I was. I wanted to blame Cooper, my parents, my friends—but in truth, I was the reason for the void. I’d shied away from my abilities, and now that my parents weren’t around to keep me from exploring them, part of me wondered if shying away had been the right choice. I felt as though I’d fallen into a waking sleep, and my soul was paying the price.

Maybe the stranger the ghost woman showed me
was
real. Maybe he would enter my life, and bring balance into my chaotic supernatural world. Or maybe I was simply crazy.

“Aislinn?” Mel’s soft whisper startled me, and I dropped my mascara in the sink. I hadn’t heard her coming down the stairs.

“What is it?”

“I have to go to work, but I wanted to say one more thing before you head off to the party.” She looked at me apprehensively.

“What?”

“They aren’t good for you. Cooper and Jaden.”

I fished out my mascara and set it on the counter, trying to avoid responding. “I understand why you’d think that, it’s just…” I took a deep breath. “Part of me finally feels accepted. Can you understand that?”

“Of course, but accepted by whom, and into what?”

I pondered how to answer, but I didn’t really know myself. I could only shrug in response.

“My point exactly.” Mel’s mouth turned to a frown. “You’re such a kind person. I’m afraid they’re going to snuff the light right out of you, all the good things that make you who you are. Our worlds are at opposite ends of the spectrum. They’ll never have to work a day in their miserable lives, and we have to struggle to buy our books for class. Don’t get so caught up in that atmosphere that you forget who you are.”

“What if I want to forget? What if I want to be someone else?”

“If that’s what you want, then I’m sure you’re with the right guy.” Mel’s arms crossed, and I knew she didn’t believe me. I didn’t want to be someone else. I’d just grown too insecure to be myself.

“I need to finish getting ready.”

“Just one more thing.”

“Yes?” I leaned against the counter, peeling off pieces of the caulking around the sink.

“When Evan cheated on me, and I didn’t know what to do, what did you tell me when I wanted to stay with him?”

Damn… Mel was pulling out all the guns to prove her point. I knew very well what I told her, and I knew why she was bringing it up. My shoulders lowered.

“I told you that if you have to compromise yourself, then it isn’t love. What does that have to do with Cooper? We aren’t in love.”

“Every day that you’re with him, you compromise a part of yourself. I know you care about him, but you’re seeing what Cooper could be, not what he actually is. You’re always so sad, and you refuse to see it.”

I sighed, and twirled a piece of caulking in my fingers. “I’m not ready to give up on him yet. Can you accept that?”

She softened her expression. “I’ll try. On one condition…”

“What?”

“Stop letting him bring you down. Be yourself. Tell him how you feel, and wear what you want to.”

“Huh.” A laugh escaped me. That would be interesting. “I’ll try.”

“Thank you. I’m leaving for work, so I’ll see you tomorrow.” A brief smile crossed Mel’s face as she tossed me my favorite shirt.

I shook my head, but took the shirt. After putting on the rest of my makeup, I decided Mel was right, and slipped off the fancy top Cooper gave me. If I wanted to be comfortable, wearing my favorite shirt would help.

When I heard Cooper’s knock, my heart thudded. I took a deep breath, and headed for the front door. If I could face a ghost for the first time in my life, then I could surely face Cooper. He would be irritated I was wearing an old, worn out t-shirt, but he would have to deal with it.

UNEXPECTED GIFT

“
What took so long?” Cooper looked agitated as he ran his fingers through his hair.

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

“You’re wearing that?” He shook his head in disapproval. “Never mind, we need to hurry. Austin is already there.”

I stared at the walkway, unwilling to make eye contact. If I saw his hardened face, I’d be tempted to change, and that wasn’t going to happen.

Most of the way there, Cooper didn’t speak to me. He blasted the air-conditioning in his pristine yellow Hummer, sucking all that felt real out of me. He knew I hated the stale taste of the recycled air, which led me to believe he’d turned it on just to annoy me, to get revenge for wearing my old t-shirt when I was about to meet his pretentious friends. I leaned back into the leather seat, and stared out the window.

Leaves blew in swirling patterns across the street, visible only as they passed under the streetlamp. I shivered as I watched them move. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cooper turn off the air-conditioner.

“Thanks,” I muttered.

He nodded.

When we arrived at the party, Cooper pulled into the roundabout and right up to the front of the house. I’d been there before, but usually I parked in the guest area. I couldn’t help but look up, as the house now appeared more like a mansion. Jaden already had her own place when I began spending time with her, and this was the first time I’d entered her parents’ house in a long time.

Stone pillars lined the entryway, supporting the balcony above. Even the pebbles in the roundabout looked tediously placed by hand, each piece fitted perfectly into a grand puzzle of rockery. Fancy lamps and bushes shaped into large twists led the way toward the main entry into the mansion.

Evan and Hope were standing under the eave by the entry with several other people. Hope sipped at a drink, glancing around at all the strangers, and Evan flirted with a striking blonde in a skirt that showed too much of her tender areas. I wanted to go say hello, but Cooper’s needs came first. It was a big night for us—finally meeting one another’s closest friends—and the fact that he actually showed some concern for my discomfort moments ago, made me want to reciprocate.

Cooper hopped out of the Hummer and swung around to my door. I thought he was going to open it for me, but just as his hand hit the handle, some of his buddies shouted from the balcony. Instantly, a smile erupted on his face, and he let go. Cooper looked at me, shrugged, and headed toward his friends, leaving me in the vehicle. My heart sank.

I cracked the door open, but lingered there for a moment. Hope and Evan hadn’t seen what Cooper did. They were looking the other way. I was just about to hop out when I heard a snicker from behind me.

“What are you doing?” Jaden was standing right next to the Hummer, watching the whole embarrassing scene. Her smirk told me all I needed to know about where the snicker had come from. When I didn’t respond, Jaden softened her expression. “Come on. There’s something I wanted to show you.”

I slid from the oversized vehicle.

Jaden’s highlighted hair and perfectly painted nails reminded me of the lengths one had to go to in order to fit in with her social atmosphere. I looked at my plain nails, feeling under-decorated, and shoved my hands in my pockets.

She led me through a great room with sculptures by Adam Beane, and paintings by Ivan Aivazovsky. Not even the thumping beat of music or chatter of the partiers could pull me from my focus. Many of my favorite artists’ works adorned her parents’ house, and a pang of jealousy ripped through me like jagged shards of glass.

The only thing I didn’t care for was the sterile feeling their house evoked. Everything was white, even the silk couches and carpets. What wasn’t white was shiny and reflective. The whole downstairs had the feeling of a corporate office, not a home.

“So where are your parents this time?” I tried to engage Jaden as we walked upstairs. She seemed to be leading me to the third floor, a place normally off-limits.

“They’re in Morocco. They’re due back next week.”

Jaden didn’t seem concerned about breaking the third floor “off-limits” rule. She also had no respect for their white carpet. She spilled her bright red drink several times as we headed up. I had no idea why Jaden insisted on partying at her parents’ pad, always leaving things in a horrific state for the maid the next day, but she always did.

The moment we reached the top of the stairs, I could see a glass chandelier that looked custom made. It was enormous, and reminded me of the ocean. The high ceiling offered the perfect home for such a piece. Even with its considerable length, it still towered above our heads. I stood motionless, captivated by the masterpiece.

Jaden stopped when I got quiet, and turned to face me. “This isn’t what I wanted to show you, Aislinn.”

“Is that a Chihuly?”

“Yeah.” She shrugged as if it were no big deal. “Come on, but stay with me.” Jaden waved her arm for me to follow as she continued on to her parents’ wing.

We made it to a small area that looked like a reading room. The smell of old books wafted around me. Two gray ottomans sat next to each other with a vase on the table between them.

“Here.” She picked it up and handed it to me. “I think it’s raku fired. Do you agree?”

“Looks like it.” I took the vase in my hands, noticing the detail in the way the colors meshed together like they were fading into one another. “That’s awesome.”

“I thought you might like it. It’s similar to what you do, right?”

I nodded, keeping my eyes locked on the vase.

“A man from Venice made it.” Jaden turned her head back toward the stairs when we heard a thud. A drunken partier was stumbling up. “Damn it. Be right back.”

I waited, but Jaden didn’t return. A door was open to the right of the reading room, revealing an enormous bed on the back wall. I set the vase back down, and wandered into the bedroom. It had to be her parents’.

The bed was larger than king size. I sat on the navy-blue quilt and leaned back. Plush pillows surrounded my head, making me feel like I was falling through billowy clouds.

“Aislinn!” Jaden shouted from the doorway. “What are you doing?”

I jumped up and looked at Jaden. Her forehead was wrinkled, and her eyes slightly moist.

“Sorry, Jaden. I just wanted to look. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”

“Get out.” Jaden’s sharpness seemed to be an overreaction. It’s not as if she couldn’t trust me. I wasn’t a thief.

“I said I was sorry. What’s the big de--” I stopped short as an icy feeling consumed my toes. The sensation traveled up my body until it reached my lips, rendering me unable to speak.

“Aislinn?” Jaden’s voice turned frantic as my body sank deeper into the bed, my ability to move ceasing. “Aislinn! What’s the matter?”

My eyes rolled back in my head, and my body arched upward unnaturally. An unrecognizable feeling swept over me like waves of scraping knives. The pain was like nothing I’d ever felt. My heart hammered inside me.

Everything was blurry. I could make out a fuzzy figure nearby, and assumed it was Jaden, but then my eyes came into focus. A greasy-haired man hovered over me. My heart began to pound even faster as I struggled to move, but someone had tied my arms and legs to the bed.

“What are you doing?” I pleaded, but the voice was not my own.

I jerked, trying to fight him, but couldn’t move. Blood crusted my lips, leaving a foul taste of rust in my mouth. Nothing was making any sense. Where had the man even come from?

It was at that moment that I realized what was happening. Jaden’s overreaction to me entering the room, her bizarre behavior when it came to her parents’ house, and even her suicide attempt, all led to one conclusion. It snapped into my focus as clear as day. I was reliving Jaden’s memory, and the man hovering above me, was going to rape her, and therefore,
me
.

Panic set in, and I struggled to get away, a reaction that only seemed to excite the man more. I turned my head to the side, not wanting to look in his eyes while he took Jaden’s—my—innocence. Instead, I focused on the fancy handles of the dresser as tears gushed down my face, pooling beneath my head. The pain was searing through me like acid, and just when the thousands of screams shouting in my head were about to come out, everything faded to black.

Heat finally returned to my body as I pulled out of the illusion, and I no longer tasted blood. I could see Jaden on the other side of the room, but couldn’t speak yet. Tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to flood over.

I rolled off the bed as I tried to regain my composure. My legs were trembling, and I had to grab the bedrail for support.

“Jaden.” My words were weak, and my breathing labored. “I’m so sorry he raped you. I didn’t know.”

“Who told you?” She was hysterical, and ripped several chunks of hair from her scalp.

“No one. I saw it in my head. Like my dreams.”

“You’re lying. Liar!” She rushed toward me with clenched fists. “Get out, bitch!”

Jaden pushed me through the bedroom door, and I fumbled my way downstairs. I wanted to comfort her, but she had no interest in that. Frightened at what I’d experienced, I ran for the front door. My only desire was to get as far away as possible. A feat not so easily accomplished if I couldn’t find Cooper.

Once outside, I circled the front yard several times looking for him. I couldn’t find him, but I did spot Hope through a sea of people. On my way to her, I snatched a drink from the makeshift bar. I knew it was a bad idea, but I needed something to kill the ache in my heart. I chugged half the drink before taking a single step. The drink burned all the way down, making me gasp for air.

“Slow down there, Aislinn.” Hope held a serious expression as I approached.

“Hey, Hope.” I forced a smile, feeling so sick to my stomach that I could hardly focus.

“Austin and I were looking for you, but we couldn’t find you.” Hope blushed slightly when she said Austin’s name.

Austin reached out his hand for me. “I never got the chance to introduce myself. I’m Austin.”

As Cooper’s best friend and roommate, I assumed he would have been just as snobby as Cooper, if not worse. He hadn’t followed in his family’s footsteps of land acquisition, but he was still the wealthiest person in the surrounding area. I was surprised to find him so smitten with Hope, who I knew did not come from the proper bloodline.

“I’m Aislinn. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Now that we’ve met,” Austin turned toward me, “maybe you’ll take me up on one of my invites.”

“What invites?”

“Didn’t Cooper tell you?” He looked surprised.

“No. He was supposed to introduce me to all of his friends tonight, but that never happened. If you’ve invited me anywhere, please accept my apologies. I wasn’t aware.” I looked the other way, too frustrated to do anything else. “Speaking of Cooper, have you two seen him lately?”

“Yeah.” Hope narrowed her eyes, looking uneasy. “He just went that way.” She pointed toward the fountain. “We’ll walk with you.”

“It’s nice to see you here, Hope,” I said. “I’m just sorry I won’t be able to get to know you better tonight. Something’s come up, and I need to leave.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Hope replied, but she didn’t look upset. She seemed intently focused on Austin, and he seemed just as focused on her.

As we neared the fountain, both Hope and Austin stopped walking. I could feel their apprehension weighing me down, but I couldn’t see what they were looking at. Evan stood to my left, still flirting with the blonde, his eyes darting back and forth between the fountain and me.

“What is it?” I turned to Hope and Austin, but they didn’t need to answer. The moment I asked, some guys by the fountain shifted position, and I saw what they’d been looking at.

Cooper stood by the fountain with a group of people rooting him on. The remainder of my drink crashed to the ground as I saw a short-skirted girl jump onto Cooper and kiss him passionately. The highlighted hair and plaid miniskirt left no doubts as to her identity, Jaden.

I stared blankly as they kissed. Cooper didn’t push her away, instead, his hands wrapped around her butt. He didn’t intend to stop her; in fact, he seemed desperate for her touch.

Evan ran over to me, trying to pull me away before I made things worse. But his attempt was in vain. As Cooper turned toward me, my fists clenched. At least Jaden had a reason to do such a thing: she felt betrayed and hurt. But Cooper was a different story.

“Aislinn.” Evan pulled my face to his, trying to distract me. “Let’s just go.”

His words were nothing but gibberish in my ears, and I snapped. Before Evan could stop me, I charged Cooper. With one swoop, I managed to knock him to the ground, punches flying. It took both Austin and Evan to pull me off him.

Cooper got to his feet quickly, holding his chin. “What the hell, Aislinn? Are you psychotic? What’s your problem?”

“My problem, asshole, is you kissing someone else!”

“We were playing spin the bottle.” He held up an empty beer bottle.

“Spin the bottle? What are you, ten? If you want to kiss someone else, then man up and break up with me! Don’t go playing stupid juvenile games just to have an excuse to make out with another girl!”

Cooper stumbled backwards, still rubbing his chin. Jaden had already made her exit.

“Sorry. I didn’t think you’d be so mad. It’s just a game.” I had expected Cooper’s voice to be full of rage at my attack, but to my surprise, he fumbled for words. “I’m sorry. Now can we talk in private, please?”

I really needed time to think. Maybe chugging alcohol wasn’t the best idea.

“No, Cooper. I need to go home. We’ll talk about this tomorrow.”

“Okay.” He stumbled forward with a gentleness he didn’t normally possess for me. “I’ll take you home.”

“No.” Evan stepped between us. “You won’t. I’ll take her home.”

“I’m ready.” I turned to Evan, leaning into him for support. I let my hair fall in front of my face, trying to conceal any visible emotion.

Evan nodded and steadied me on the way to his car. He even helped me inside and buckled me in. My attack on Cooper must have concerned him. It wasn’t like me.