Coldhearted (9781311888433) (24 page)

Mason cleared his throat. “Uh, why do you
ask?” He’d reclaimed functionality of his limbs and was now driving
within the lines of the lane.

“
Curious,” she
replied.

He decelerated, and then stopped at a red
light. “Uh, yes…as embarrassing as it is for a seventeen-year-old
American male to be a virgin…I am.”

“
It’s not embarrassing,”
she assured.

A little smile of appreciation formed on his
lips, but he said nothing. When the light turned green, he made a
left, and entered the parking lot of the movie theater. It was
empty. Edie kept waiting for tumbleweeds to appear.

“
Where’s everyone at?” she
asked.

Mason parked the truck and shut off the
engine. “It’s still early,” he replied. “Everyone goes to the
nighttime show.” He shrugged. “More romantic, I guess.” He turned
toward her. “Do you want to come back?”

Edie smiled, shaking her head. “No, I don’t
care for crowds. And it’s better this way. I’m afraid that with a
dark room, packed full of oblivious teens, Tristan would really
pull a number on them. Especially while watching a horror movie. No
matter how much comedic relief is packed in during the two
hours.”

Mason said nothing in response. He exited
the truck, came around to her side, and helped her down from the
cab. He caught her in his arms, as she landed on her feet.

“
Is he here? Can you…feel
him?” he asked.

“
He’s always near but today
he hasn’t bothered me at all. He hasn’t said one word.” Edie
shrugged, confused, but glad.

Mason’s frown punctured her happy bubble.
“Don’t let him fool you, Edie. He’s probably scheming something
diabolical.”

Edie sighed. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”
She kissed Mason on the lips. “Don’t worry about him. It’s just you
and me.”

Despite her kiss, Mason was still frowning.
“I really wish that were true, Edie.”

Edie noticed that Mason wasn’t holding her
as close to him as he once had. “Is-is this too much for you? Do
you…do you want to break up with me?”

Mason answered her with a kiss, hard and
fast, almost painful.

Edie was able to move her lips and smiled.
“I take it that’s a no?”

He smiled back and held her against his
chest. “That’s a hell no! I’m not leaving you. One, I can’t leave
you in the hands of that pervert, and two, I wouldn’t know what to
do without you. Edie, I’ve never felt this way about any girl. I
hate that you’re attached to a dead guy, but if that’s the only way
I can have you, then I’ll take it, paranormal activity and
all.”

It was the most romantic speech any guy had
ever said to her. And she had to ruin the moment by suggesting that
they get down and dirty to remedy their shared virginity.

“
I’ve never had sex,” she
said, and then quickly turned her face from his, embarrassed, her
cheeks red as tomatoes. “Sorry,” she apologized. “I don’t know why
I blurted that out.”

He kissed her hair. “It’s okay,” he said
softly. Edie was able to face him again. His warm, hazel eyes
looked...relieved? “I’m...I’m actually glad,” he continued. “When,
I mean, if, we were to share in the physical act of love, I’d feel
better knowing, you know, that it was both our first times. I know
that sounds stupid or—”

Edie cut him off with a kiss. “No,” she
assured. “That’s not stupid at all.” Even though she was glad that
Mason was a virgin, she wondered why he and Rochelle hadn’t...so
she asked, “Is that why Rochelle cheated on you with Quinn? Was it
because you wouldn’t have sex with her?”

Mason sighed and raked his fingers through
his hair, nervous. “Well, we were close, very close, let me tell
you, but it was always she who put a stop to it going any further.
I just thought she wasn’t ready, you know, and I respected that. I
had no idea she was sleeping with Quinn, and God knows who else.
She was afraid I’d found out she wasn’t a virgin, considering she
had been when we became an official couple. Aside from that, after
we broke up, I actually blamed myself, like something was wrong
with me, like I couldn’t excite a girl to do…other things.” He
couldn’t contain his blush and gave her a lopsided smile. “I got
over that real quick when just about every girl in Grimsby High
started flirting with me.”

“
Well, cowboy, why didn’t
you get back up on the saddle?”

He chuckled. “Why didn’t I lasso another
girl?” He shrugged, frowning. “I guess I wasn’t ready.” His frown
turned up into a smile. “Not until I met you.”

Edie smiled back. “What’s so special about
me?”

He kissed her cheek. “Oh, Edie, if I were to
start now, we’d never see the movie.” He held out his hand.
“Ready?”

Edie took his hand and held on tight, afraid
he’d be taken away from her.

“
Ready,” she
assured.

****

The movie theater was cold and dark, as Edie
had been expecting, but still, she was nervous. Tristan never gave
her a heads-up. He never said, “Oh, by the way, I’m about to go
crazy, just so you know.” It could be something small like causing
a light to flicker, or something really dangerous like causing
someone to crash her car. Edie began to wonder about other
poltergeists around the world, and if they, in fact, had been the
cause of accidents. If perhaps a ghost had been responsible for
killing her parents. She knew that it’d been the other guy; the man
who’d died too; he’d been on his phone and hadn’t seen the other
car…the car her parents had been in.

You’ve heard about it happening to other
people, but don’t think it’ll happen to you. And if you start to
think nothing bad will happen to you, then everything horrible will
come to you all at once—or someone horrible like Tristan
Lockhart.

Even though the knowledge of his existence
explained a lot of the unexplained in her life, it was still
bizarre to her that she had a ghost attachment. Before Lockhart
Manor, she hadn’t believed in ghosts, thinking they were fairy
tales like vampires and werewolves. Now she wondered if those
creatures existed too.

Edie shivered just thinking about it. The
cold theater didn’t help. And Tristan’s constant, albeit, unseen
presence, just added to the Arctic-like atmosphere.

“
Here,” Mason said, lifting
up the armrest between them. “Come closer.”

She did and was practically
sitting in his lap. He didn’t seem to mind. They were occupying two
seats at the back of the theater. It was a place lovers would sit,
not intending to pay attention to the screen at all. Considering
Mason had paid for the tickets, she wasn’t going to say, “I’d
rather kiss than watch the movie,” but if he wanted to explore her
mouth than the undoubtedly simplistic plot of
Boy Meets Ghoul
, then she wouldn’t
deny him.

The room got darker as the pre-movie trailers
started. Edie shivered from the blast of cold air rushing past her
face. She felt Mason shake beside her, cold too, and for him that
seemed like a first.

“
I knew he wouldn’t let us
enjoy this,” Mason muttered. “I know he’s saying something. What is
it?” he asked in a louder, irritated voice.

She shook her head. “Nothing,” she replied.
“I just think it’s the air conditioning, even though I don’t know
why they’d have it on, considering how cold it is outside. It’s
like eating ice cream during a snowstorm. You Grimsby folk are
weird,” she teased.

She felt Mason’s body shake with laughter. He
wrapped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her closer. “I have
to admit, I like when you get so cold.”

“
Oh? Why’s that?”

“
It gives me an excuse to
touch you.”

She looked up into his eyes, and saw his
smile and dimples fade. His lips were expectant. His eyes were
scanning her lips, targeting her mouth, waiting...

“
You don’t need an excuse to
touch me,” she said softly, extending an invitation.

His lips were almost on hers when a loud
creak echoed throughout the room. He grumbled and turned his face
away, staring. Edie followed his gaze to see that the door that led
to the outside of the theater had been opened. Sunlight had
entered, but now, it quickly vanished, as the door slammed shut. A
group of giggling girls, almost falling over each other, found
their way toward the back, where they saw Edie and Mason. They
gasped in fear and stomped back down the steps, escaping to a row
of seats near the screen and near the exit.

“
What was that about?” Edie
asked Mason, after the girls had (somewhat) settled
down.

“
Middle school girls, I’d
suspect. They look eleven, twelve. This movie’s PG-thirteen.
They’re sneaking in.”

“
It’s not really sneaking if
the door’s unlocked,” Edie pointed out.

She felt Mason’s shoulder shrug against hers.
“It’s an honor system thing. They keep it unlocked and you’re
supposed to pay for entrance.”

“
You think they’ll get
caught?”

“
Doubtful,” Mason said, “as
long as they keep quiet.”

On cue, the girls erupted into giggles.

“
Mission impossible,” Edie
quipped. “I hope I didn’t giggle like that when I was their
age.”

“
I’m sure you were perfect,”
Mason said.

“
I wore braces,” she
informed him. “For three years. Girls made fun of me, called me
‘metal mouth’.”

“
What’d the boys
do?”

“
They ignored
me.”

“
Impossible,” Mason said in
disbelief. He clasped her hand, interlacing his fingers with hers.
“I bet you were beating them off with a stick.”

She laughed without humor. “Oh, yeah, I
inflicted a lot of bruises and broken hearts,” she joked at the
silly notion.

He squeezed her hand. “If I’d gone to your
school, I would’ve asked you out.”

She gave him a light jab with her elbow
against his side. “Liar, lair, pants on fire,” she chanted.

“
If my pants were on fire,
I’d have ripped them off by now.” He grinned, exposing his dimples.
“And it’s true. I would’ve asked you out, braces and all.” He
kissed the top of her head. “Do you believe me?”

Edie sighed, content. “Yes, I do.” She
wrapped her arm around his chest and hooked one leg over his. “Do
you mind?” She rested her head against his chest and his rapidly
beating heart.

“
No,” he said in a husky
voice. “I don’t mind at all.”

****

It was two hours later and the movie was
over, but Edie couldn’t tell you what’d happened. Occasionally,
screams and the sounds of panting had traveled from the speakers to
her ears, but she’d tried to block most of it out, in the moment
with Mason, as he’d held her (and was still holding her)
lovingly.

She went to move when the credits started to
roll, but Mason kept his hold on her, refusing to let her go, so
she had to remain seated next to him.

“
Let the girls go first,” he
suggested quietly.

She nodded and relaxed against his chest, her
leg still hooked over his. She closed her eyes, blissfully content,
as she listened to the pop song playing while the credits rolled.
She felt warm, drowsy. She was seconds away from falling asleep
until a door slammed shut, jolting her back to a conscious
state.

“
Those girls don’t know how
to”—Edie paused, yawning—“sneak in and out of
someplace.”

“
Oh, you have experience,
Miss St. John?”

She turned to see Mason’s smile. “No,” she
refuted, and then shrugged. “It just makes sense, right? Like in
those cop shows when they arrive at a criminal’s hideout, hoping to
sneak in but they slam their car doors shut and apparently, the
criminal is totally surprised when the cops come busting through.”
She shook her head. “It ruins the fantasy.”

Mason gestured at the now blank screen. The
lights in the theater were still dimmed. “So…I take it during the
movie, it wasn’t the ghoul that was unbelievable. It was that scene
with the cops.”

“
What scene with the cops?”
she blurted out, and then grimaced. “I mean, oh, yeah…”

“
So…you weren’t paying
attention?” he said, but didn’t sound upset. He was smiling,
exposing his dimples.

She gave a shrug. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying
attention.”

“
What distracted
you?”

Blushing, she was sure that he could see her
rosy cheeks in the semi-dark.

“
It wasn’t a what,” she
replied cryptically.

“
It’s okay,” he said. “It
was difficult for me to pay attention too but I
managed.”

“
Yeah, I know since you paid
for the tickets and all, you felt obligated.” She felt bad that she
hadn’t paid more attention.

“
No, it’s not that,” he
refuted, and clasped her hand, massaging her skin with his thumb.
“If I hadn’t focused on the movie…Edie, I’m a gentleman, but with
you on me like you were—like you still are—well, let’s just say
those girls in the front row would’ve witnessed an R-rated show. If
you’d have consented, of course,” he added as an
afterthought.

She didn’t accuse him of advocating for
public indecency, yet she felt compelled to unhook her leg from his
and shifted away from him. “You would’ve tried with those girls
nearby?” she asked, stunned.

He’d been holding her hand (she’d been
allowing him that), but now he let go and held up his own in a
whoa-like motion. “I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, well, if we
would’ve been quiet about it…I’m not a pervert. It’s just
that…Edie…I want you so badly. And you have to understand it from
my angle: you—so beautiful and sweet and sexy and enchanting—were
literally on me. I don’t want to brag, but it took a lot of
willpower to not take you.” He sighed and raked his fingers through
his hair, nervous. “I’m not a rapist, Edie. I-I just want to be
with you in that way. You understand, right? Don’t you feel the
same way?”