Surrender to Temptation Part VI: Tempted to Possess by Lauren Jameson Read Free Book Online

her.”
    The self-loathing in his voice shocked me to the core. I’d known he had issues, but this, the full extent of
this
had been hidden very, very well.
    “It was pretty clear that there was no love for anyone in that house. A shrink that I had . . . later . . . showed me that I made sure there was none for me anywhere else, either. I was a violent kid, angry, always starting fights at school. I smoked a lot of pot, drank whenever I felt like it, and kept to myself, to make sure that no one got close enough to hurt me again.”
    Apart from the drinking and the drugs, he could have been talking about himself now. I kept that thought to myself, not wanting to break the spell that had allowed him to say even this much.
    “Marie . . . was someone who slipped past all of that. She was exactly the kind of girl that I resented. She was a cheerleader, an honors student, on student council. She came from a loving, unbroken family. She had everything that I didn’t.” He laughed, and the sound wasn’t bitter as I’d expected. I tamped down hard on the surge of jealousy that I felt for this girl who had been in Zach’s life long ago.
    “We were partnered up in a biology class. I knew that she was flirting with me, but at first I thought she was just trying to piss off her parents, or was attracted to bad boys. Something, there had to be something, because I couldn’t understand why she would be interested in me.” The awe was clear in his voice. I felt myself shift uneasily, not comfortable with the story.
    What did you expect, Devon? That whatever was haunting him would turn out to be made of sunshine, puppy dogs, and rainbows? Of course there was someone else before you.
    “She wasn’t like that, didn’t have a pretentious bone in her body. She actually liked me. I liked her back. And that was it. Marie broke down my barriers with a smile and her sweet personality, and for the first time in my life, I knew what it was like to love, and even more, to be loved in return.”
    I hated her. I hated this long ago girl, whom I knew almost nothing about. I hated her because once Zach had loved her, and unlike with me, he had accepted her love in return.
    My fingernails bit into my palms until the sharp pain forced me to relax them.
    As though attuned to my distress, Zach rolled to his side, then placed my palm flat and open before him. He traced patterns on it with his finger, staring down at it in the dark, so that he didn’t have to look up.
    Didn’t have to look at me.
    “We dated for nearly two years. She straightened me out, set me on a better path. I pulled up my grades enough to start at a community college after graduation. She went to a much bigger school, but we still saw each other whenever we could.” I swallowed thickly, encouraging him with my silence to continue speaking.
    His tone had darkened, and I tensed. I knew that what came next would be the crux of his issues. I just wondered if he would be able to tell me.
    His breath hitched, and after a long pause he resumed his story. I exhaled in a rush that made me dizzy, relieved that he hadn’t stopped.
    “She was back home for a visit at Christmas, the first year we had both been away at school.” Zach’s voice went flat, tense. The finger tracing designs into my palm stabbed harder, and I winced but didn’t pull away.
    “We went to a party. Neither of us drank. She just didn’t like it, and I had drunk enough in my early teens for a lifetime.” Oh, no. I saw where the story was going, and my heart started to break.
    “We were on our way home from the party. My dad was away for the weekend, and we were excited to spend the night together.” I knew what was coming, and yet I couldn’t stop that frisson of jealousy.
    I was a horrible person. Even knowing that, I couldn’t help it.
    “You can guess the rest, I’m sure. It’s not a unique story. A drunk driver hit us head-on. I walked away with a few scratches. Marie was killed.” My