Renegade (Heven and Hell #4)(21)
Author: Cambria Hebert

After a few minutes of nothing, my stomach growled and I gave up. I was hungry. I was sweaty. I had enough of weird occurrences for the day.

Thankfully my shower was uneventful.

When I stepped into my bedroom afterward, Kimber was there, and I figured my hopes for an entire uneventful evening just went up in flames.

She was perched on the end of my bed with one leg crossed over the other. She wore black leggings, an oversized pastel-pink sweater, pastel-pink Uggs with argyle patterned tall socks peeking out the tops, and to top it all off, a heather-grey ruffled scarf draped around her neck. I also noted her hair looked a lot shinier than it had for a long time.

“You came,” I said, suddenly feeling kind of frumpy in my sweats. At least I took the time to braid my hair so it fell over my left shoulder.

“Didn’t have anything better to do,” she said, all her attention on the phone in her hand.

I felt awkward and slightly uncomfortable. If someone told me a year ago that one day I wouldn’t know how to act around Kimber, I would’ve laughed. Things between us had always been fairly easy. Her room was my room and vice versa. But, here, now she seemed out of place. I was searching for something to talk about when she broke the silence.

“You hear about the bodies?”

My thoughts immediately went to the unliving passenger in my car. How did she know about that?

“Ummm, no,” I said, trying not to make it sound like a question.

She finally glanced up from her phone. “I see you still love your sweats,” she quipped, looking me over.

“And you’re still fashionable as ever.”

Her aura flared with pleasure and I hid my smile. “Yes, well. A girl must look her best,” she replied. “All the girls were talking about it at practice today,” she said, moving onto the topic. “Apparently the police have found a couple dead bodies over the last couple weeks, and the killings… They haven’t been clean.”

“Like they were tortured?” I asked, going across the room to turn my desk chair and sit down facing Kimber.

She shrugged. “Maybe. They haven’t released what’s been done, but it got out that it’s been pretty gruesome.”

“Well, I hope they figure out who’s doing it.”

“I guess hell isn’t the only place bad stuff happens,” she murmured, her aura going cloudy.

“You doing okay?” I asked, wondering what it was like to be trapped somewhere and have your soul leave your body.

She stiffened. “Of course. Don’t I look okay?”

“Yeah. You look great.”

She smiled.

“But I know all about masks, Kimber. I know how people can hide, and I think you hide behind your nice clothes, hair, and makeup.”

She stood up abruptly and looked at the door. I couldn’t help but notice that her aura never cleared.

“Look, I’m not trying to upset you. If you don’t want to talk, we won’t.” I got up and pushed the chair back beneath the desk. “Come on, let’s go eat. I’m starving.”

If Gran hadn’t been at the table, the entire meal would probably have consisted of Kimber and me glaring across the table at each other between bites of cheesy goodness. But thankfully she was there and the atmosphere around us seemed to relax.

Still, Kimber’s aura remained cloudy. In fact, as I chewed, I noted it seemed to be growing dark.

“Why do you keep staring at me?” she snapped, drawing my attention to her face.

“Sorry,” I replied and looked at Gran for some help. She seemed to want to know the answer as well, so I shoved another bite into my mouth so I didn’t have to reply. We finished the meal a few minutes later and I busied myself, making a plate for Sam and setting it inside the oven to help keep it warm. I glanced at the clock, wishing his shift was over already but knowing he still had a while.

Gran went from the room and Kimber’s phone went off and she picked it up after glancing at the screen and smiling. Pink bloomed around her and I knew it had to be my brother.

“Is that Cole?” I asked.

She nodded. “He just got home from football practice. I’m going to go see him later.”

“You’ve been spending a lot of time with him lately.”

Her eyes flashed to mine. “So?”

“So are you guys getting back together?” I asked, the words practically sticking in my throat. I knew they weren’t, but I wanted to see what she was thinking.

“Looks that way.” She said it in a way that dared me to challenge her.

It made me mad.

“You can’t seriously think my brother is going to take you back after everything you’ve done.”

She lifted a perfectly waxed brow. “You said it yourself. We’ve been spending a lot of time together.”

“Because he feels responsible for you!” I shot out.

A very long second stretched by and then she narrowed her eyes. Black bloomed around her head and reached out in long tendrils, curling through the other colors in her aura.

I gasped. “Kimber…”

She ignored me and advanced. “He might feel bad about everything I’ve been through, but even if I hadn’t been trapped in hell, he would’ve come back to me. He always does.”

Seriously? How self-absorbed could one person be? I shook my head.

“He loves me,” she added.

“He does not!” I burst out.

She jerked like I slapped her.

“What did you say?”

“I said he doesn’t love you anymore, and you need to stop taking advantage of the fact that he’s a nice guy.”

She laughed. Somewhere in the house a door slammed. “Kimber…” I said warily, very afraid that I knew what was going on.

“He does love me!” She argued. The curtains above the sink ruffled with a gust of air that seemed to come out of nowhere.

Kimber didn’t seem to notice any of this. She was so intent on making me believe something I never would. “Is that why you asked me to stay here?” she said, her eyes narrowing. “You don’t like the fact that we’re getting close again? Are you jealous, Heven? Did you want Cole all to yourself?” With every word she spoke, she stepped closer, until I was up against the counter and she stood directly in front of me. I wasn’t scared, but I didn’t like being this close. The black in her aura was still alive and it began snaking toward me.

“Are you feeling okay?” I asked.

She smiled. “Great. In fact, I haven’t felt this… alive in a long time.”