Page 4 of The 13th Daughter (The Witches of New Salem #1)

"No, it's okay," I said in a rush, afraid he'd leave. "I was about to head home anyway. I just wanted to talk to her for a bit." Brilliant, CJ, I groaned as the words came out. Now he probably thinks you're even weirder for talking to a headstone.

He nodded as if that made perfect sense. He came over and sat down across from me, our knees just centimeters apart. He looked into my eyes, searching. I had the distinct feeling he could look into my soul with those piercing gray eyes. I shivered in response.

"You were close?" he asked me.

I smiled. "That's putting it mildly. We were inseparable."

He took my hands into his own. I marveled at how dainty they looked wrapped in his larger ones.

"You still miss her don't you?" he whispered.

"Every minute of every day."

"I know how much it hurts to lose someone you love," he told me. "It never really goes away. You just learn to live with it."

I looked up into his smoky gray eyes and my breath caught. They were full of a sadness I knew intimately, a wound so deep, time would never touch it. This boy, this stranger, understood my pain better than anyone I'd ever met. Better than Kay. How could that be?

"So, what are you doing here?" I asked him softly. I couldn't take my eyes away from his face. He was staring at me with such a tender expression that I had the sudden urge to cry. His eyes told me he felt my pain and was sorry for it.

"I was taking a shortcut and saw you sitting up here," he told me, shifting our conversation to something lighter. "The opportunity to talk to you alone was too good to pass up."

"Were you heading over to the Hall?" I asked him, feeling suddenly shy, a first for me. His thumbs started to stroke my hands.

"Yeah," he nodded and leaned closer. "So tell me, Cassie, were you up here confessing your undying love for me?"

"Certainly not," I replied tartly. "How can I confess my undying love for you when I don't even know you?"

"That's easily fixed." He stood and pulled me to my feet. "Come with me tonight. We can get to know each other better."

I sighed. He had to put it like that didn't he? "Do you really believe in all that?"

He shrugged.

"I can't," I told him. I'd debated about it, but in the end, I just couldn't. I'd promised Emily I'd stay away from the Coven and I wouldn't break my word to her.

"Sure you can," he smiled. "It's as easy as putting one foot in front of the other."

"I have stuff to do." I tried to pull my hands out of his, but he pulled me closer instead.

"Like what?" he purred.

My mind went completely blank staring into his eyes. "Stuff."

"You already said that, Cassie Jayne Bishop," he whispered, leaning even closer. "What kind of stuff?"

"I...I have to wash my hair!" I blurted and then died of embarrassment. Wash my hair? That had to be the lamest excuse ever. Could I be any dorkier? What was wrong with me?

He laughed outright and the sound vibrated through me. "So washing your hair is more important than getting to know me?"

"Yes...NO!" Crap. He had me tongue-tied. Dammit! No one had ever managed to do that to me before.

"No?" He arched a brow suggestively. "Then come to the Hall with me."

I really, really, really wanted to, but I just couldn't. "No."

"Why not?" He looked genuinely confused. "It's who you are."

"No, it's not." I shook my head and tried again to pull away from him. His touching me was not helping me to resist the urge to give in and go. "I don't believe in any of that."

He frowned, puzzled. "Don't your parents..."

"Mom goes to Coven meetings religiously," I cut him off. "Dad hasn't gone since the day we got the news about Emily. I never wanted to go."

I saw him struggle with a question in his eyes, but he forced himself to ask it. "And your sister?"

"She was the Junior Coven leader and she loved it. I don't. End of story."

"You're serious, aren't you? You really don't believe in any of it?"

"No, I don't." Why did I have to live in a town where everyone believed in witchcraft? I hated having to try and explain to people why I didn't share their beliefs. There were days I wished I lived in a nice, normal, average town, a town where there wasn't a Coven.

He sighed. "Come on, I'll walk you home." He let go of one of my hands, grabbed my bookbag, and started down the hill.

Dad was probably good and drunk by now. I did not want him to see that. In my panic, my words came out harsher than I'd intended. "No, that's okay. You'll be late for the meeting. I can get home myself."

"You're mad at me again," he grinned ruefully. "But it makes you look cute as hell."

Mad? Hell no, I just didn't want him t see the drunken mess waiting for me at home.

He frowned. "What are you thinking?"

"Nothing."

"Did you know your bottom lip quivers when you lie?" His free hand came up and he traced the outline of my lips with a finger.

"It does not," I whispered, my senses on overload.

"Tell me what you're thinking, Cassie," he urged me.

"Honestly, I figured you were more interested in Kay." I moved the conversation to something safer than him walking me home. "You were asking a lot of questions about her last night."

"I don't particularly like stick thin drunken girls. I much prefer redheads with a little bit of a curve to them."

WOW. My mouth fell open. He saw his opportunity and took it.

His lips came down and I gasped at the softness as they brushed over mine. It was quick and left me breathless. The boy sure knew how to kiss. I wanted to kiss him again.

"Sure you won't change your mind and come tonight?" he asked, looking down at me out of his too bright eyes.

I started to nod yes and caught myself. "No, I'm sorry."

He sighed again. "Let's get you home."

"Really, I can take myself home. It's not even dark yet." I actually managed to pull my hand free. It protested the loss of his, but I ignored the need to touch him. "You really will be late. Kay gets pissed when people are late to her ceremonies."

"Kay?" he frowned.

"She's the Junior Coven leader," I explained. "So you should go on. I can find my way home."

He nodded and gave me a wicked smile. "Can I take you out for a bite to eat tomorrow after school?"

My eyes went round. Did he just ask me on a date?

"Umm..."

"No?" he cocked his head.

"Sure." I took a shaky breath. His eyes swirled with laughter. Did he have to look so yummy? He robbed me of speech when he looked at me like that.

"Good." He leaned down and gave me another quick kiss before handing me my bookbag. "It's a date, Cassie Jayne Bishop."

I stared, dumb-founded, as he walked away.

A date. I'd just agreed to go out with the most gorgeous boy I'd ever met. And I'd let him kiss me? I never kissed a guy until at least the third date. Something was definitely wrong with me. Or I really, really, liked him.

The wind picked up and howled around me, mirroring the confusion I felt inside.

"I know, right?" I said to the wind. I could still feel his kiss.

Sighing, I picked up my bookbag and headed home, my dad forgotten, as I thought about what to wear.