Free Inbetween (Kissed by Death, #1) by Tara Fuller Page A

what to say to ease the pressure, make me smile, make me forget why we were fighting in the first place.
    “You’ll do that whether I’m there or not, and we both know it.”
    Cash smiled, but I could tell he wasn’t ready to let the rest go. He was waiting for me to snap again. I wanted to be mad at him for it, but if I was being honest, I was waiting for it, too.
    “Besides,” I said. “You’ll ditch me as soon as you find somebody to take home.”
    “I won’t.” He balanced an empty Dixie cup from my nightstand on top of my head like a little red top hat. “I’d never leave you alone. Promise.”
    “You don’t have to babysit me. I’m not going to do something stupid.”
    He knelt down in front of me. “I don’t want to babysit you. I want you to come have fun with me and forget about all of this crap for a little while.”
    I slapped the cup off of my head. “Fine. I’ll meet you there.”
    “Why don’t you just ride with me?”
    He knew I’d bail if I didn’t go with him. Any other day, I wouldn’t have been caught dead at one of these stupid bonfires. Especially after what happened today. God, I really wanted to bail, but the look on his face made my chest feel tight. I couldn’t let him think I was shutting him out. Besides, I was still about a gazillion pictures short for the yearbook.
    He lingered in front of my window, waiting.
    I pulled at a thread on my shirt, already feeling the fear wind like vines around my throat, and said, “Pick me up at seven.”

Chapter 6
    Finn
    I missed the feel of rain. It poured from the gray October sky in buckets, in such a hurry to get to the ground that it rushed right through me. If I were alive, I’d be drenched. Instead, I stood frustratingly dry, staring at the soft light coming from Emma’s window as the dimming sky turned everything around me into shadows.
    When I was alone like this, it was too easy for my mind to wander into territory that made what was in front of me that much harder to deal with. I closed my eyes and gave in, letting images of Allison swirl around in my head. It was useless to try to stop the memories of her. They always won, no matter how hard I tried to block them out.
    Allison leaned her head against my shoulder. “I wish I could have known you while we were both alive.”
    “Oh yeah?”
    “Yeah. Mama and Daddy would have loved you.” She laced her fingers through mine. “Daddy never liked my other boyfriends.”
    I laughed and pressed a kiss into her hair. “I don’t want to hear about your other boyfriends.”
    “Jealous?” I could hear the smile behind her words.
    I pulled her into my lap and tucked her hair behind her ear. Our skin turned to sparks when it touched. I brushed my lips against hers and said, “Very.”
    Allison kissed me back, then pulled away, her breath cool against my face. “Don’t ever leave me, Finn.” When I didn’t respond she frowned. “Say it. Say you won’t ever leave.”
    “I won’t ever leave you.”
    My chest ached with the memory and I cursed myself for letting it out. It only made being this close to Emma harder. I wanted to touch her like that again. I wanted to keep my promise. I wanted—
    “Why are you standing out here in the rain?”
    I didn’t turn around. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Maeve’s brilliant red hair flowing like a halo around her head. Instead, I stared at Emma’s window, waiting for the right moment to go back in.
    “She’s changing.” I folded my arms across my chest. After seventeen years of Maeve taunting and harassing me, and me not being able to do anything about it, I was exhausted. I was in no way, shape, or form in the mood for this.
    “And?”
    “And I’m giving her some privacy. I doubt she’d want me to see her without her clothes on. Some girls are funny that way.”
    Maeve laughed, maybe to be cruel, maybe just to make fun of the idiot standing in the rain. Hell, maybe she just truly thought it was funny. Either way I