Death, and the Girl He Loves - Darynda Jones Page 0,40

just came downstairs.”

“You did indeed,” he said before winking at me. For a potential boyfriend, he didn’t seem very concerned about my well-being.

In fact, he’d been pretty calm since I got back. Too calm, maybe. Like he knew something we didn’t.

“You okay, Pix?” Mac asked.

I gave him my attention, loving the sound of my nickname on his voice. “I’m okay. Thanks.”

Mac led me to a chair beside Jared. They’d been sitting at our tiny kitchen table. Mac was drinking coffee while Jared sipped on an orange soda. That would be my influence. I took the can from him and took a sip myself.

“So, what were you guys talking about?”

“You,” Jared said without missing a beat.

“Yes, Jared was just telling me how long you two have known each other.”

“A few months,” he said to Mac before challenging me with his eyes. I could hardly argue about what I’d just heard without giving away the fact that I was indeed eavesdropping.

“Yep.” I offered a congenial nod. “A few months.”

In all honesty, I could have named the exact days, hours, and minutes since our first meeting in the halls of Riley High, but that seemed unnecessary.

With my sudden appearance, the conversation took on a whole new direction. Clearly Mac didn’t want to question Jared’s intentions in front of me. But I sure wanted him to. What were his intentions? What would happen to him when we were all dead and buried? Could I still see him? Could we date in heaven?

So many questions, so little time.

Mac seemed hesitant to leave us alone, so after about half an hour of idle chitchat that included things like the forming of the earth and stars and that whole book of Revelations thing, my lids started to droop.

“Bedtime,” Jared said to me.

I snapped back to attention. “I’m fine.”

“You’re falling asleep at the table.”

I rubbed my eyes. “No, I’m not.”

“You’re drooling,” he added.

My hand shot to my mouth before I could stop it. I pressed my lips together. “I am not. I’m perfectly awake.”

The skeptical grin he bestowed upon me was a thing of absolute beauty. I stilled and took it in before he said, “How about I take you upstairs.”

“Um,” Mac said, interrupting, “how about I take you upstairs?”

Jared laughed, the sound deep and husky. “Fair enough. Wait, what’s that?” he asked, pointing toward the back of the house.

Mac turned to look, just as I did, but as I did so, Jared turned and put his mouth on mine so quickly, so softly, the kiss was only a brush of our lips before he pulled back and refocused on the back of the house again.

“What?” Mac asked.

My chest filled with such joy, such elation, that containing it when Mac turned back to us was like trying to block out the sun. But I did my best. I frowned and said, “I don’t see anything, either.” I even furrowed my brows as I looked past them. “Then again, I’m not a supernatural being.”

* * *

I kissed Mac good night for the second time that night, closed the door to my bedroom, turned, and ran right into Jared. When I sucked in a startled breath, he covered my mouth with his hand and put an index finger over his lips to quiet me, gesturing with a nod of his head toward a departing Mac.

After waiting a moment for my paternal grandfather to get down the stairs, I pulled his hand from my mouth and looked up at the handsome boy standing before me. He did that. Appeared out of nowhere. I liked that about him.

He grinned and slid a lock of my hair through his fingers.

“You seem so different,” I said. “So, I don’t know, at ease with all this.”

He rubbed the lock of hair over his mouth. “I’ve learned what it’s like to live without you these past weeks. It’s not a lesson I wish to repeat.”

“Me neither, I can assure you, but that still doesn’t explain why you suddenly seem to be taking all this really well.”

“Humans are unpredictable,” he said, walking backwards toward my bed and pulling me with him.

“I could’ve told you that.”

“All this time I was worried about how we were going to do this. What was going to happen to the world? How could we possibly win?”

“I’ve had similar thoughts. Quite a few, in fact.”

“But that’s just it. I don’t have to worry about it. Humans are unpredictable. Prophecies are not. So even though you believe with all your heart you’re going to