Straight to Heaven by Michelle Scott Read Free Book Online

over to the computer and went back to researching a way to get Ari away from her mother.
    A small, instant-message window popped up on my computer screen. It was from Tommy.
    Lil – u there?
    My heart nearly stopped. Jasmine wasn’t the only one refusing to talk to me. Since he’d left the country, Tommy had been incommunicado as well. I’d called, texted, and e-mailed, but he never answered back. The silence was terrible. I had no idea where he was, or more importantly,
how
he was.
    As much as I wanted to talk to him, I was afraid. I drained my glass and then took a deep breath before gathering enough nerve to reply.
Hi
.
    I held my breath until, moments later, his response popped up.
How r u?
    I hesitated, then typed:
K – and u?
    Hot. Sick of Indian food. Earth-shattering diarrhea
.
    I smiled.
TMI
, I told him.
Besides, don’t you mean earth-shittering?
    He sent back a laughing smiley face.
    Where r u?
I asked.
    Aurangabad to see Ajanta caves
.
    Before I’d destroyed his belief in God, Tommy had talked endlessly about his pilgrimage, and the Ajanta caves in India had been one of his favorite topics. He had shown me pictures from the Internet of the massive statues and ancient paintings hidden away in that secret place. Knowing he had finally made it there lifted my spirits. If any sacred spot would help him rediscover his faith, certainly it was that one.
    I wrote:
How r the caves?
    To my surprise, he sent an emoticon that had its eyes squeezed shut and its tongue sticking out.
Pain in the ass to get there, and the weather sucks. Constant rain.
    But the caves themselves r awesome, right?
I typed.
    They r depressing. Just a wasted effort to impress the Great Nothingness
.
    My heart clenched. His pilgrimage hadn’t done a thing to restore his faith. The Tommy I’d first met would have been raving about the unity of human spirits and the rapture of touching the divine. He would have crawled over broken glass to get to those caves. Not any more.
    Tommy sent another message.
How r the girls?
    I was tempted to tell him the truth about Ariel moving in with her mother, but I didn’t want to worry him. After all, there wasn’t much he could do from the other side of the world. So I typed,
Girls r good
.
    And Jasmine?
    I hesitated. Finally, I typed,
Still upset.
    She won’t return my calls
, he said.
I keep dreaming that she’s in trouble. I’m really worried
.
    So that’s why he was finally speaking to me. Tommy had an uncanny connection to the supernatural world. For one thing, he could read auras. He’d also known that there had been something different about me after I’d become a succubus. It didn’t surprise me that he’d picked up on Jasmine’s psychic distress signals.
    For a moment, I thought about keeping Karl a secret. If Jasmine wasn’t speaking to Tommy, there wasn’t much he could do about the bad boyfriend. But it had been a hell of a day. Ariel, Grace, Jas…I was worried about all of them, and I desperately needed to share my burden. I bit my lip and typed:
J got back together with Karl
.
    There was a long, long pause. So long, in fact, that I was sure the Internet had cut out on Tommy’s end. Realizing that my glass was empty, I refilled it, gulping down the chardonnay like a sports drink after a hard workout. Still, no new message appeared on my computer. I swore to myself that, no matter what, I wouldn’t contact Tommy again. I would let him go and live his life in peace, just as he deserved. This time, I really meant it.
    Then my phone rang.
    Of course, I knew who it was. I picked it up on the second ring. “Tommy!” His name came out more like a sob.
    “Tell me what’s going on, Lil.”
    I began crying as I gave him the drunken version of my conversation with Jasmine. “Karl was at my dad’s house,” I said. “I tried to talk to Jas about it, but she hung up on me.”
    “Karl.” Tommy spoke the name like a curse word. “That bastard!”
    “Believe me, I know. I just wish I