Page 104 of Stone Cold Touch

The word sounded tortured and damn, that hurt deep. “I didn’t mean to and I know that’s no excuse.” It didn’t matter that Sucky and Inky had had something to do with it. Blaming them was pointless. “I didn’t kill her. She was okay, but I did it and I got...”

“High?”

My cheeks burned with humiliation. “Yes.”

“Let me get this straight. You left because you were upset over what happened last night with Maddox, who, by the way, is awake and has confirmed that you didn’t push him.” Before I could say that the confirmation probably did little to change what his father thought, he continued. “So you run off today with a demon and do exactly what my father was accusing you of doing?” He started to pace before me, agitated. “How in the Hell does that make any sense.”

I ran my hands through my hair. “It doesn’t, and I know I screwed up—”

“It’s because you were withhim.”

I shook my head, knowing he hadn’t even heard the worst part yet and I had to tell him. “It’s not because I was with him. He didn’t force me to do anything.”

Zayne opened his mouth and then pain flashed across his face. He took a step back and his skin lightened until he was standing before me in his human form. Wearing only low-slung leather pants, he looked no less intimidating.

But the look on his face, those piercing blue eyes, hit me in the chest. He thrust a finger through his loose hair and then dropped his hand. “What...what did you do?”

“I... I kissed Roth,” I said, forcing myself not to look away and to own up to what I’d done. “I was kind of out of it and—”

“Basically it’s like getting drunk and hooking up with someone?” He laughed, but there was no humor. “Is that supposed to make it better?”

“No. It’s not, but I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t been out of my head.” A little voice inside of me disagreed but I shut that bitch up right quick. “It was a mistake,” I whispered. “I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t change anything or make it better, but I’m so sorry.”

He gave a little shake of his head. “I don’t even know what to say, Layla. I know you.” He gripped my shoulders as he lowered his head. “Iknowyou, but sometimes, you are a complete stranger to me. You do things that will only hurt you in the end and you don’t even know why.”

“I just...” I squeezed my eyes shut. I just what? Did I know why I did the things I did sometimes? The answer seemed too simple. It was in my nature. That wasn’t an excuse. Not feeding wasn’t in my nature. But none of that mattered right now, because when I opened my eyes, I saw only Zayne’s hurt. “I’m sorry.”

His hands slid down my arms and then dropped away as he straightened. “When I said that we should give this—this between us—a chance, I didn’t think this would happen.”

My insides twisted into even more intricate, painful knots. This was it. Whatever was between us was over before it even got started. Maybe it was for the best. A relationship was impossible and it would drive a wedge between him and his father. Even though I told myself that, tears slipped down my throat, burning the back of my eyes.

“There’s no chance now, is there?” I asked, my voice cracking.

He didn’t answer for a long moment. “I really don’t know.”

My chin dropped as I drew in a ragged breath. It was better than I expected, but it did nothing to ease the guilt crawling over my skin.

After a few seconds, he said, “I covered for you.”

I lifted my head and when I saw that he was speaking the truth, I wanted to cut my tongue out of my mouth. “How?”

“Somehow I knew you were...okay,” he said, running the palm of his hand across his jaw. “Didn’t stop me from spending hours looking for you, but it wasn’t hard to cover for you.”

I felt about two feet tall.

“This afternoon we received word while you were out doing...doing whatever. Dean McDaniel passed away.”

My hand flew to my mouth and everything else was forgotten. “Oh my God.”

“You know what that means.”

Besides that a life had been taken too young? I lowered my hand. “It means that he’s become a wraith.”

25

Bad news traveled fast.

By the start of school the following morning, it seemed that everyone had heard of Dean’s passing. While he hadn’t been popular and most people had only become of aware of him after he’d gotten into the fight in bio, there was a pall over the crowded halls. No one smiled or laughed. The low thrum of excitement over the approaching Thanksgiving break was muted. Dean’s death affected all of us. Perhaps it served as a painful, dreaded reminder that even the young could perish at a moment’s notice.

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