Page 14 of The 13th Daughter (The Witches of New Salem #1)

Chapter Ten

I ran straight past my dad and up the stairs to the bathroom.

I jerked off the dress and the shoes – well, I was a bit more careful with the shoes.

After scrubbing my face and pulling on my pjs, I crawled into bed.

So I'd been just a way for him to prove himself?

How could he do that to me? Why would he do it?

I thought he'd felt the same way I did, but I'd been wrong.

All he'd managed to do was rip another hole into my already tattered heart.

Those beautiful gray eyes rose up to taunt me when I closed mine and I cursed.

Why did it hurt so much? I barely knew him.

But I did know him. My heart knew him. It loved him, traitorous fool that it was.

All I had been to Ethan was a means to an end – he'd managed the one thing no one else had ever been able to do.

So what if he was a great kisser and told me things that made me feel special and even understood the depth of the pain I felt for Emily.

So what? Who's to say it wasn't all an act?

Tears blurred my vision. Please, please don't have been an act.

"Here, move over." Kay pulled back the covers and piled junk food on the bed. She grabbed the remote and handed me a spoon. "I think I covered all the basics – chips, pop, ice cream, and chocolate."

I blinked at the mountain of junk food she'd brought up. I also saw that she had pulled on one of my longer nightshirts. It barely covered her. I smiled at how idiotic she looked.

"Do you want butter pecan or cookies and cream?" she asked, diving into the bed.

"Butter pecan," I told her through a hiccup.

"Good, cause you would have to fight me to the death for the cookies and cream," she smiled and flipped on the TV. "O-h-h, look it's John Carpenter's Halloween." She knew I was a sucker for horror movies.

"What did you tell Dad?" He'd seen us come in together. He must have put two and two together.

"That your date was an ass and you called me to come get you."

"He believed you?" I asked. "I didn't leave the house in a dress, MJ."

"Don't worry," she soothed. "We'll come up with something. Let's not worry about that right now, okay? Let's just eat ourselves to death on ice cream and chocolate."

"I can't believe I was so stupid." I shoveled a large spoonful of ice cream into my mouth.

"You weren't stupid," she said quietly. "I know you're pretty mad and you're hurt, but I honestly think Ethan cares about you. No matter what happened, I believe that."

"WHAT?" I exclaimed. "How can you say that, Makayla Joyce? Did you not hear the same thing I did? It was all about getting me to a stupid Coven meeting! He lied to me and he tricked me and..."

"Okay," she held up a hand to stop my tirade. "I agree, what he did was beyond sleazy, but still, CJ, you're all he ever talks about. That first meeting he came to, he didn't even ask a single question about the Coven. All he wanted to know about you."

"Only because he wanted to find out how to get me to go to a meeting and who knows me better than you?"

"Maybe," Kay agreed grudgingly, "but that doesn't explain the way he looks at you."

I groaned. She had to remind me of that didn't she?

Ethan looked at me like I was the center of his world.

His eyes saw only my face and then they would darken to molten steel that blazed with a heat and intensity that set my entire body flaming scarlet.

He could make my toes curl with just a glance.

"Look, I'm not saying forgive him or anything, at least not right now," she sighed. "Just hear him out when you're ready to talk, okay?"

Talk? I wanted to hit him until he hurt as much as I did right now. It felt like my insides had been put through a meat grinder. My skin felt raw and bloody, like I'd been dragged over asphalt. Talking was out of the question for a good long while.

"Sure," I nodded. "Let's just watch the movie, alright?"

"So how long are we going to be mad at them for?" she asked me through a mouthful of ice cream.

"Them?" I asked, confused.

"What, you think I'm going to talk to Billy as long as you're not talking to Ethan?" She looked affronted I'd even need to ask such a question. "No way. The assholes can suffer together."

I smiled. Bless the Fates, but I loved her. She would stay mad at Billy for as long as I wanted her to.

"Oh, look there goes Little Miss Stupid Ass to see what's in the laundry room," Kay muttered. "Really, why would you go out there? We'd never do anything so stupid."

"No, but we've watched way too many horror movies," I remarked dryly as we settled down to watch the John Carpenter Halloween marathon and gain about six pounds on ice cream and chocolate.

Kay's rambling shouts at the stupidity of the people in the movie faded as I thought back to another Saturday night.

I stormed up the stairs and threw myself on Emily's bed.

I wanted to die. Steven Jones had just asked me if I could get him a date with Kay.

He'd been flirting with me for over two weeks and it had all been to get me to talk to Kay for him.

I liked him. A lot. Why did this always happen to me?

Why couldn't the hot boy ever like me? Why did it always have to be about Makayla?

"Hey, little sis, what's wrong?" Emily asked me when she came in a bit later. "Mom said you came home crying."

"I hate her!" I raged into the tear sodden pillow.

"Who?" She stroked my hair with gentle hands.

"Makayla."

"Why do you hate your best friend?"

"Because every boy we know likes her and none of them like me."

"That's not true, CJ," she denied. "Plenty of boys like you. What about Steven? He's been flirting with you for weeks."

"So he could get me to talk to Kay for him!" I burst into tears again.

"Oh," she murmured. "Well, that just sucks."

"Ya think?"

"But it's not Kay's fault, CJ. She can't help it."

"I know, Em, but it's just not fair! Why can't the cute boy ever like me?"

"What about Allen Pike or Jeff Parker?" she asked. "They are both extremely cute and seem to worship the ground you walk on."

"Allen's boring and Jeff is...Jeff." I sat up and dried my eyes.

"Oh, so Neighbor Boy's not good enough?" she teased.

"No, that's not it. Jeff is just not boyfriend material. He's inconsiderate and thinks he's the hottest thing on the market. Plus he has wet, slobbery lips."

"And how do you know that?" Emily wiggled her eyebrows.

I squirmed. "I kissed him."

"You kissed Neighbor Boy?" she squealed. "When?"

"Right before school started, at the Labor Day bonfire by the lake."

"And why were you kissing Neighbor Boy if he's not boyfriend material?"

"I don't know, curiosity I guess. It is not something I will repeat again."

"That bad?" she laughed.

"No, I guess not, but his lips were just too...wet," I grimaced.

She wet her lips and smacked them together. "So not too bad a smoocher, just too slippery when wet and wild?"

"Emily!" I laughed at her lewd expression.

"There, see, you're laughing. The world's not over because of some idiot boy."

"What would I do without you?" I grinned and threw a pillow at her.

We'd ended up in a pillow fight that had us both in tears from laughing so hard.

She'd been right, though. The world wouldn't end because of an idiot boy.

It'd just hurt like hell. It was also the last time I'd ever let a boy make me cry.

I became the person who always got the boy's attention I wanted.

I never thought I'd be in that position again.

Ems had been right then and she was still right now. The world didn't end because of a jerk.

I was surprised to see that we had progressed to Halloween II and Michael was chasing Lori down the hospital corridor when I glanced at the TV.

Kay was sound asleep. I collected the empty ice cream containers and went to throw them in the garbage.

Everyone had already gone to bed so I didn't have to deal with the parents tonight.

Emily's door called to me on the way back up.

I found myself in there instead of my own bed.

I missed her so much. Kay was great, but she wasn't my sister.

I needed Emily, but since she wasn't here, her room would have to do.

No one had been in here in a long time. A coat of dust covered the furniture and her clothes still lay on the floor where she'd thrown them.

None of us had been able to pack up her room.

I suspected it would stay just as it was forever.

I opened her closet and took a deep breath.

Even now, three years later, a hint of her favorite jasmine perfume still clung to the clothes inside.

I ran my hands over them, relishing the feel of the soft cottons, cashmeres, and knits.

I spotted a box in the back corner. My mouth opened in surprise.

Her Jimmy Choos! Her six hundred dollar Jimmy Choos.

Emily had saved every penny to buy those shoes.

She'd wanted to wear them to the winter solstice ball.

The box came out easily and I opened it. The shoes weren't in the box.

But her diary was.

This could hold the answers I was looking for.

I opened the leather bound journal.