Chapter 37 Rule Nine Catherine - Watch for Ice
Rule Nine Catherine - Watch for Ice
Despite being a ghost, I was still out of strength. It had been a long time since I’d done anything so... vigorous.
Vera stared at me, her beautiful head cocked to the side and her brown brows furrowed in confusion.
“What do you mean, dead? You’re not, you’re...”
“Real? Real and dead are two different things.” I shoved my hands into my pockets, enjoying the warm, fuzzy fabric. It had also been a long time since I’d worn anything other than my wedding dress. I was a pitiful ghoul. Crying every night in the window of the newlywed suite.
“If you’re dead, then how could we...” She was so confused, and I wasn’t making it any better. I closed my eyes and snuggled deeper into the couch. The fabric smelled like her, a delicious concoction of pussy and sweet pea.
“Ghosts can do whatever we want, except leave, or age.” I sighed. “We can eat, we can change clothes, and we can fuck, Vera.”
“Prove it. Prove you’re dead.” She crossed her arms.
Popping one eye open, I glared at her. “Do you know how rude that is to ask?”
She shook her head in disbelief. “If you won’t show me, then I have to assume you’re screwing with me and you’ve been stalking us. You wanted me to betray Emmett. Or was that not the plan? Did you come here to steal him back?”
I laughed. “Hardly. You can have him. I thought I loved him. Maybe a part of me still does. He’s just as handsome as I remembered,” I admitted, sighing. “But I don’t want your man, Vera. Take him.”
“Why are you guys not together anymore?”
“Because I’m dead,” I repeated, louder this time.
“You’re not dead!” she cried out, her hands tightened into fists.
I gathered what strength I had left and closed my eyes. Slowly, I could feel myself beginning to disappear. Any other day, I could pop in and out at will, but I was tired and needed rest.
“Oh my god,” she whispered as I returned to a more human form, wearing my wedding dress again.
“Happy?” I smoothed out the gown.
“Your... your lips are blue.”
I nodded, smacking them together. “Yeah, probably. Drowning in ice-cold water will do that.”
“You drowned?” Quickly, Vera joined me on the couch. “How? When?”
“Yes. I was murdered, and it was the day we got married. Didn’t even make it twenty-four hours.”
“You were murdered?” she squeaked. “By who?”
Slowly, our gazes panned over to each other. Realization over my silence caused her eyes to widen and her face to pale.
“No, there’s no way.” She shook her head. “Emmett is a teddy bear. He wouldn’t hurt a fly. He saved me.”
“Well, he killed me, so…” I shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. I didn’t see it coming, either. I thought he loved me, but the next thing I know I’ve woken up in the honeymoon suite and he’s gone.”
“Gone?” she whispered.
I nodded solemnly. “Didn’t even say goodbye.”
I’d never told anyone my story. There were many, many souls here, trapped just like I was.
We were all bitter and sad and angry. Some were old, some were young, but knowing we were trapped made us all so alone.
Vera began to cry softly into her hands, and I put my hand on her back and rubbed it, comforting her.
As I sat there contemplating, I was brought back to my final moments of my heart beating.
“It’s not safe, I don’t think, Cath,” Emmett warned, as I slid my coat off and stepped out of the gazebo and onto the frozen lake. I was careful, making sure to test the ice before putting my full weight on it.
“It’s fine! That creepy bellhop said people skate down here all the time. Me in boots won’t do anything.”
“Cath, please,” Emmett begged.
I turned to see him standing on the edge, next to the tripod where his phone was resting. His dress shoes were firmly planted where the ice met the snow, refusing to join me.
“You’re a scaredy cat. Come on, you said you always wanted to go ice fishing.
Why don’t we go look for a spot?” I had no idea how ice fishing worked, but I wanted to break him out of his shell.
Emmett was so timid, so safe all the time.
“Come on!” I pushed. “If you do this, I’ll wear that thing my sister bought for me.
That red thing you saw in my suitcase?” I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively.
That got him moving. We had hardly even stopped to put our luggage down before coming out here.
He’d wanted to stay and enjoy a warm evening by the fire after dinner, but I’d been too nervous.
I wanted to distract him from the wedding night activities.
He was my first man.
I extended my arm, and slowly, he took it. We slipped and slid as we squeezed each other tight. Emmett wrapped his arms around me, and I shivered. The snow wasn’t terrible. He pulled me into his arms, and we began a slow, awkward dance.
“Now this feels like a first dance.” He chuckled. “Something private.”
“If only we had music.” I leaned my head into his chest.
“Hold on,” he said and turned to the shore. “Siri! Play my wedding playlist!”
His phone lit up and music played from it.
“Will that affect the recording?” I asked. He’d been trying to capture everything about today.
“Shouldn’t. My music plays while videos record. It’s fine. Dance with me, wife.”
I sighed with contentment and snuggled deeper into his chest. This had never been what I imagined my future to be.
A man, forever? Hell, a man at all? Emmett and I had been friends in high school, and he knew what I was.
He never tried to argue that, and I think that was what drew me to him in the first placeafter we graduated.
He loved me as I was.
“Do you see that?” Emmett said suddenly, his body stiffening. I turned to look at where he was pointing.
“No, what?”
“I think someone is out here with us. We should go.”
“What? That’s silly, it’s so dark.”
“No, Cath, I think someone is here.” The panic in his voice was chilling.
“Okay then, let’s go.”
We shuffled back to the shore, and as we touched the snow, I frowned and looked out onto the lake once more. There was no one out here. He was just scared.
“One more time, and then we’ll go.” I held up a finger.
“One more time what?” he asked, but I was already gone, dashing onto the ice. I don’t know what drove me to run out there. It was almost like I’d been called to it.
“Catherine! Please!” I could hear Emmett behind me.
“Oh, come on, I’m just having fun!” I giggled as I continued sliding around on the ice. “Look!” I paused and jumped. Once, twice, and three times. The ice shook, but it didn’t crack.
“Cathy!” he screamed.
He was on the ice with me, coming my way. I turned and kept moving, knowing he was gaining on me. And then—
My dress was yanked back.
“Hey!” I screamed as he stepped on my dress. I waved my hands in the air, trying to grab for something as I went down, but my fall was fast. I hit the ice chin first,and before I could do anything, there was a loud crack and I was tumbling headfirst into the water.
I shuddered, remembering just how cold and dark it was. He’d tripped me and then left me. I recalled looking up at the hole, waiting for a hand to burst through, but there was nothing. I sank hard and fast and never once did I see a shadow of someone coming to assist.
“If he killed you, then why would he come back here?”she asked, pulling me from my memories.
“I don’t know. The snow storm gave him no choice, I assume.” It was odd, still defending him, even after reliving what he’d done. He’d murdered me, and yet, here I was, giving him grace.
“Do you think he’s going to kill me, too?” Vera asked.
I looked at her. There had been no motivation, to my knowledge, as to why he’d done it. But we had enough similarities to put me on edge. Raising my shoulders, I told her the truth.
“I don’t know.”