Coldhearted (9781311888433) Read online

  She tried to keep her face betrayal-free and smiled to alleviate any suspicions. “We’ll do something in the evening. What is there to do in Grimsby? I don’t really know that much about this place.”

  Just as Mason opened his mouth to speak, they had a visitor.

  “Small world, huh?” Russell said, appearing next to their table. He looked more casual and relaxed than usual, wearing dark blue jeans, and a “Keep Calm and Carry On” red T-shirt, under a black leather coat.

  “Hey, Mr. B,” Mason greeted, and shook Russell’s outstretched hand. He immediately warmed his hand, as if he’d just touched something cold.

  Russell nodded at Edie. “Edie, how are you?”

  “Good,” she said, and tried to smile, but she couldn’t.

  Russell’s face was masked in a dark shadow, but he wasn’t Russell Ballantine. He was Tristan Lockhart.

  Mason scanned the restaurant’s patrons. “You here alone?” he asked.

  Russell/Tristan stuffed his hands into his coat pockets. “Yeah, all alone,” he confirmed, and then he withdrew one hand to gesture at the kitchen in the back. “I’m getting something to go.” He flashed Mason a charming smile. “I’m just waiting. Mind if I sit?”

  He didn’t wait for either of them to answer, as he started moving toward Edie. She didn’t want to cause a scene, so she scooted over along her bench seat and gave Russell/Tristan plenty of room. Typical Tristan, he positioned himself right next to her.

  Russell/Tristan laid his right hand on the table. The left hand (that he’d already withdrawn from his coat pocket), he kept below near her thigh. He was within reach but stayed his hand, for now.

  “So,” he asked Mason, “classes going well?”

  Edie could tell that Mason felt uncomfortable, but like her, he didn’t want to cause a scene, either. “They are,” Mason replied, and left it at that.

  Russell/Tristan turned toward Edie. His face softened but he was just a wolf in sheep’s clothing. “And how are you doing, Edie, with everything?” He lifted his left hand and placed it gently on her shoulder. He was ice cold. “Has Grimsby grown on you?”

  Trying not to jerk away and make him mad, she gently removed her shoulder from his grasp. He returned his hand below the table without a fuss.

  “Uh, yeah, it’s good.” Edie turned her frown into a smile, thinking of Mason. “It’s great, actually.” She gestured at her boyfriend. “Now that we’re together, I finally feel happy.”

  Mason smiled and his cheeks flushed, a bit embarrassed and proud at the same time.

  Russell/Tristan was smiling too, but it was disingenuous. “I’m glad to hear it,” he lied. “You know, I loved a girl once, a long time ago.” His fake smile faded. “And I’d thought she loved me, but she was a deceitful, little bitch.”

  Edie and Mason exchanged a look of horror.

  Mason said, “Maybe you should go check on your carry-out, Mr. B.” Mason was trying to get rid of him, but it wasn’t working.

  The possessed man beside Edie gave Mason a lopsided smile. “I’ve ordered a lot. It’s not nearly ready.”

  “A lot?” Mason repeated with a raised eyebrow. “I thought you said you were alone.”

  “Well, here I am,” he said, gesturing at the crowded restaurant. “But not back at my place.” He winked at Edie. “She’s keeping the bed warm for me. The food’s for afterwards.” He turned toward Mason. “I always get so hungry after sex. Most guys sleep but not me. I’m always famished. What about you, Mason?”

  Mason looked horrified, again. “I don’t think this conversation is appropriate, Mr. B. Can’t you see why people suspect you of…of messing around with high school girls? Listen to how you sound.” He gestured at the limited space between Edie and Russell/Tristan. “Look at what you’re doing, your actions. Please, Mr. B, Edie’s been through enough. Just go, okay?”

  Russell/Tristan leaned forward, confrontational, but Mason didn’t flinch. “And what exactly has Edie been going through?”

  Mason knew about Tristan but Russell didn’t.

  “You know,” Mason said. “She’s dealing with the death of her parents, dealing with being in a new town, a place as alien to her as Mars.”

  “Are you saying she doesn’t belong in Grimsby?”

  Mason shook his head. “No, I’m not saying that. I mean, she can’t take the cold, but that’s just because she’s from the south. It’s different here.”

  “So what you’re saying is that she’s different?”

  Mason widened his eyes, frustrated. “No. I’m not saying that.” He gave Edie a soft, loving look. “Edie’s perfect. I-I never knew how great my life could be with her in it…and how awful it would be without her.”

  Edie wanted to be happy that she had someone as great as Mason in her life, but she couldn’t smile, not with Russell/Tristan beside her, giving her chills, and goading Mason.

  Russell/Tristan leaned back and smiled at Mason. “Aw, how sweet. Young love.” He turned toward Edie. “Take it from me, Edie: true love doesn’t exist. It’s all fantasy.”

  “Do I have to throw you out?” Mason threatened, standing up.

  Russell/Tristan turned his face slowly toward Mason’s and stared at him with cold, dark gray eyes. Edie had been worried before, but now she was positively petrified.

  “Mason, it’s not Russell,” Edie warned. “It’s Tristan, the ghost. He’s…possessing Russell somehow.”

  Mason slowly returned to his seat. “Russell?” he repeated to her. “When did you start calling Mr. B by his first name?” He sounded suspicious.

  “When we kissed,” Russell/Tristan said, smiling mischievously.

  Edie shook her head wildly. “No, he’s lying, Mason! He’s lying! It’s Tristan, remember?”

  Mason was speechless and gave Edie a look of disbelief.

  “You see?” Russell/Tristan said to Edie. “He doesn’t believe you. He’s learned. All girls are conniving bitches. The pretty ones, especially,” he added, and then trailed the tip of his cold finger down her cheek. “And you, Edie, are the prettiest one of all.”

  Mason squared his shoulders and clenched his jaw. He stood up with fists balled in anger. “Get out of him, Tristan, and stay the hell away from my girlfriend.” He added a few extra curses and threats for emphasis.

  “All right,” Russell/Tristan said, looking defeated, which Edie knew to be a farce.

  “Really?” Mason asked, thinking he’d won, and resumed his seat.

  Russell/Tristan nodded. “Really,” he confirmed, but then his lips began to spread wider and wider into a grin, until he broke into a fit of laughter, throwing his head back. “Oh, I couldn’t keep a straight face! Ha-ha!” He wiped his tears of psychotic joy away, and then shook his head. “No, I’m not going to stay away from Edie, Mason, but I will vacate Rusty’s body.”

  “How-how can you do that?” Edie asked. “I mean, why Russell, and not someone else?”

  Russell/Tristan raised an eyebrow. “You mean why won’t I possess Mason?” He gestured at him. “Well, for one, he’s a boy, so all his bits are underdeveloped.”

  “They are not,” Mason countered with a growl. “I’m seventeen.”

  Russell/Tristan chuckled. “My, my, you’re…testy.” He turned toward Edie and tugged on an unseen mask on Russell’s face. “He’s easy to control,” he divulged.

  “How?” Edie asked, curious.

  “Un-uh.” He wagged his finger at her. “I’m not telling.”

  “All right, I’ve had enough,” Mason said loudly but kept his seat. “If you don’t leave right now...” He left the threat hanging in the air.

  Russell/Tristan wasn’t afraid. He lifted up his arm, and then rested it on the back of the bench. His hand was inches away from Edie’s neck, and he began drumming his fingers against the leather.

  “Or you’ll what?”

  Mason didn’t move, defeated.

  Russell/Tristan halted his rhythmic motion but kept his hand near Edie. “That’s right
, little boy, you can’t do anything. Rusty’s the puppet and I’m the puppeteer. Make me mad and I’ll be forced to send him through the chipper.” Unlike Mason, he was very explicit in his threat.

  Mason was scared, but he tried not to let it show. “You wouldn’t do that. You wouldn’t have any more puppets to string along.”

  Russell/Tristan smiled maniacally. “Oh, there are always puppets, Mason.”

  “Please leave,” Edie begged, trying a different tactic. She grasped Russell’s cold, possessed hand. “Please, Tristan, please.”

  He squeezed her hand, not-so-gently, and then said, “Well, since you asked so nicely.”

  The man beside Edie blinked and the shadow disappeared from his face. Russell was back. He looked down at their joined hands. It took him awhile, but he eventually removed his hand from Edie’s. She was surprised at how long she’d held on, but didn’t have time to wonder what it meant.

  “Uh, what’s going on?” He looked up at Mason, and then at the crowded restaurant. “Is my order ready?”

  Mason leaned forward. “Mr. B? Are you all right? I mean, do you feel like yourself?”

  Russell furrowed his brow. “Who else would I be?”

  Mason gave Edie a look that said, “Should we tell him that he’s being possessed by a poltergeist?” Edie deftly shook her head. No. Not now and maybe not ever if she managed to get rid of Tristan, once and for all. Edie’s plan hinged on the Grimsby Sanatorium with Jules and her ghost hunters this Saturday. If everything worked out, and she got the answers that she needed, she’d be on her way to detaching Tristan Lockhart from her life, forever. If it didn’t work out…well, she’d have a ghost and no boyfriend because she was sure that Mason would break up with her for lying to him.

  Tristan will end up being right: girls are conniving bitches.

  Rebecca came with Edie and Mason’s orders. When she saw Russell, she said, “Oh, yours is almost ready.”

  “Big plans?” Mason asked Russell, after Rebecca had left.

  “Huh?” Russell asked, still confused. He’d slid further away from Edie but hadn’t left the table.

  “The carry-out,” Mason prompted. “Eating alone tonight or is it for two?”

  Russell scratched his head. “Uh, it’s just for me.”

  “But you ordered a lot,” Edie said. “I mean, that’s what you said…earlier.”

  Russell blinked and Edie thought that Tristan was returning, but she was wrong. His face was light and pure and confused. “Yeah, I divide it up, you know, for leftovers, later on in the week.”

  Mason nodded. “Sensible,” he agreed. “So…uh, it was nice seeing you, Mr. B. Keep calm and carry on.”

  Russell furrowed his brow. “Huh?”

  Edie tugged on Russell’s T-shirt and immediately regretted it. So she grabbed her knife and fork, and began cutting up her petite steak. It didn’t take long, and she was done before Russell spoke up again.

  “Oh, yeah,” Russell said, noticing what was written on his T-shirt. He shook his head. “Sorry, guys, but I’m just so confused right now. You probably think I’m on drugs or something.”

  “Or something,” Mason muttered, and then took a bite of his burger.

  “Here you go.” Rebecca was smiling as she approached with Russell’s carry-out, and then promptly left to attend to the next table.

  Russell stood and gathered up the heavy bag of food. “Well, uh, you two have fun.” He smiled warmly at Edie. “See you in class, Edie.”

  They waved goodbye. She watched him walk away, almost stumbling once, still slightly discombobulated from being possessed by a cold ghost, and then he was gone.

  “He likes you.”

  Edie turned back toward Mason who’d stopped eating, obviously distressed. “No, he doesn’t. Wait, who do you mean: Russell or Tristan?”

  Mason caught her mistake. “Russell,” he repeated in a tone.

  Edie swallowed, nervous, and then said, “He asked me to call him that, and I’ve just gotten into the habit of it.”

  His eyes narrowed. “What else have you gotten into the habit of?” he accused.

  He was talking about the kiss and insinuating it was still going on. Edie decided to fess up and set the record straight. “When he was at my house and we were talking, I thought everything going on with me was due to me being insane. I was afraid of it getting out. I told Russ—Mr. B not to say a word. Before he could even agree or disagree, I gave him a quick kiss…on his lips. I don’t know why I did it. In the moment, I felt like it was the right thing to do. That if I kissed him, he wouldn’t tell on me. It was a nothing kiss, really. Our lips barely touched. And we’ve never kissed since.” She hadn’t been looking up at him, but now she did. She couldn’t read his expression. “Do you want to break up with me?” Even though she didn’t love him, she couldn’t bear the thought of being without him.

  Maybe that’s the very definition of love and I’m too stupid to realize it.

  Mason didn’t immediately answer her. Instead he sighed, raking his fingers through his hair, and then sighed again. Finally, he reached across the table, motioning for Edie to join him. She did, bringing her hand to his, and they clasped.

  “No, I don’t want to break up with you. I don’t like that you did it, but you were going through a lot when you came here. You still are. I just…I don’t want Mr. B taking advantage of you.”

  Edie shook her head. “He’s not. You should’ve seen his face when I kissed him. He said coming to my house had been a mistake, and we’d only talk at school, for everyone to see. He doesn’t like me, Mason. Not in that way.”

  Mason brought Edie’s hand to his mouth and kissed it. “But how is he being possessed? Why haven’t I been possessed? Not that I want to, but…what’s Tristan’s game? What does he want?”

  Edie opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it, as she felt a cold, flat hand pressing against her chest, over her heart. Tristan took his fingers and traced the outline of a symbolic heart with an arrow going through it.

  He wants to kill me.

  Instead of voicing this certainty to Mason, she just shrugged in response to his earlier question, and suggested that they finish their meal.

  “You look cold,” he said, instead of agreeing to eat.

  She forced a smile. “I’m always cold.”

  “Is he here?”

  Her smile faded. “He’s always here.” She brought back her smile. “Don’t worry about him. Let’s eat,” she suggested again.

  They did, but neither of them enjoyed their meal, leaving food still on the plate. After Edie was done, she applied lip balm, really more to soothe her than for dryness, using the time to mentally fume over why Tristan had to go and screw everything up.

  Oh, yeah, he’s a poltergeist.

  Right on cue, everyone in the restaurant started screaming. Some were knocking their plates off the tables. Some were running out of the restaurant. Others were swatting at their bodies, as if they were being attacked by tiny creatures.

  “Oh, God,” Mason said loudly, and took Edie roughly by the arm. “They’re everywhere.”

  “What?” she asked, confused, and jerked out of his grasp.

  “You don’t see it?” He gestured wildly at their half-eaten plates.

  “What?” she repeated.

  “Bugs!” he yelled, as if she were hard of hearing.

  She was still confused. She didn’t see one bug. Yet…everyone else was screaming. And Mason was terrified. He’d reclaimed her arm and was now tugging at it, frantic.

  “I don’t see them,” she said, and managed to break free of him, again. She heard a chuckle in her ear, cold and calculating. “It’s Tristan,” she told Mason. “He’s just playing tricks. There are no bugs!”

  Edie kept on arguing with Mason, but then she was cut off when a woman came running past her, screaming, and knocked right into Edie. She fell backward and hit her head against a hard, wooden pillar.

  Mason rushed toward her. “Edie!” He fe
lt her head, found no blood, and then lifted her off the floor. “Edie, are you all right?”

  “I’m dizzy,” she said, blinking.

  “Here, sit down,” he said, positioning her back at their booth. “You wait here. I’m going to get everyone out safely.”

  “But-but there are no bugs,” she reminded him.

  He ignored her and took his arm, swiping their plates off the table and on the floor. Finally, he turned toward Edie, and said, “Tell that to everyone screaming their heads off.”

  Mason immediately left Edie. He started gathering people up off the floor, and then escorted them outside. Once in the cool nighttime air, the patrons stopped panicking, and seemed to gain mental clarity, as they made the journey to their cars, and drove safely away. Through the crowd, Edie noticed Russell. He said something to Mason, and then came inside the restaurant. He looked around in horror before finding her, seated and calm.

  “Edie!” He crouched at her feet. “What happened?”

  “What’re you doing here?”

  He hesitated, and then said, “I couldn’t find my wallet and thought I might have left it here.”

  Edie looked around, saw the black leather billfold on the floor, and bent to pick it up. Russell noticed and bent at the same time, retrieving it before she did. Their heads collided.

  “Ow,” she groaned, and then winced, already wounded from her earlier collision with the wooden pillar.

  Russell grimaced, rubbed his head, and then tossed his wallet aside. “Edie, are you okay?” His hand was searching her head, until he put pressure on her first wound. She cursed. “Sorry,” he apologized. “There’s a knot. What happened?”

  “Some woman went crazy and knocked me over.” Russell was massaging her wound. She was getting sleepy.

  “It seems everyone went crazy, except you. Mason’s freaked but he’s helping people outside. What happened here?”

  “Tristan tricked everyone into thinking bugs were in their food.”

  “Who’s Tristan?”

  Edie was about to say, “My ghost,” but became speechless when she felt cold fingers massaging her wound. Her eyes had been at half mast, but now they opened wide. Russell was grinning at her.