Free Wraiths of Winter (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 3) by Joy Elbel Page A

way I feel about
you, either. Sometimes I don’t handle my emotions so well.
Sometimes I do and say stupid things to cover up how I really
feel.”
    What exactly was he trying to say here?
How did he
feel about me? It was so much easier to dismiss his sexual
innuendo than it was to ignore this outright pour of emotion.
    “I understand. Finding out about Lee must have been
a real shock.” Whatever feelings he had for me, well, I wasn’t
going to ask him about them. He couldn’t just hint around and
hope for me to come right out and ask him about it point
blank. I wouldn’t say a word until he spelled it out clearly for
me.
And what would my response be when he finally did? I
don’t know but I couldn’t help staring into his warm brown
eyes and wondering what he was feeling.
    “You’re the best, Ru. I’ve never met anyone else like
you,” Lucas said placing his hand on my shoulder and casually
giving it a squeeze.
    It was a little awkward but I didn’t pull away. Did he
do that as a show of affection meant to rival Zach’s from
earlier? I had no way of knowing—but I did know that at the
end of the day, I would have the most relaxed muscles of
anyone in Charlotte’s Grove. If only they could figure out a
way to release the tension piling up in my brain—now that would be freakin’ priceless.
    “When I confronted them, my parents admitted that I
was adopted,” Lucas said sadly as he removed his hand from
my shoulder. “All they could tell me was that I was adopted
out of Allegheny County.
They had no knowledge of Lee,
either.”
    My heart went out to him. It had to be tough to learn
something like that about yourself. “Well, at least now we
know where to start looking. I’m sure there must be a
website where we can request information or something.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” he replied quietly. “Do you have
time to help me start looking tonight?”
     
I checked my watch for the time. “No, not really.
Sorry. I have plans with Zach later. Tomorrow night maybe?”
    Lucas shook his head no. “Can’t this weekend—I’m
spending the next two days in Pittsburgh. There’s still some
stuff we need to clear out of the old house.”
    He fidgeted a bit in his seat like there was something
else he wanted to say but didn’t know how to say it. Finally,
he took a deep breath and just came out with it.
    “I don’t suppose there’s any way you could cancel
your plans for tonight, is there? I was hoping to get started as
soon as possible and I really don’t want to do this all by
myself.”
    He looked so sad, so alone that I almost said yes. But
Rachel was
desperate to find Crimson and
Zach would
probably break up with me if I cancelled plans with him to
spend time with Lucas. So I held firm and told him no.
“That’s totally out of the question. I really am sorry,
but I can’t. Next week sometime?”
    His disappointment was obvious and I instantly felt
like a terrible girl... friend . I felt like a terrible friend . Why did
I just look at him and think he was my boyfriend? Weird.
“Sure, next week then. I guess I’ll talk to you in
school.” Lucas turned the key and started the car.
    My cue to get out, I guess. Not that I wasn’t beyond ready for a little time to myself—more than just a little, as a
matter of fact. I closed the car door behind me but reopened
it quickly. On a scrap of paper, I scribbled my number and
handed it to him. “Here. Text me.”
He did the same and gave it to me with a smile. “Here.
You can call me. Pittsburgh gets lonely, you know.”
     
I nodded my head and went inside the house not sure
of what just happened between us.
    A few hours later, Zach and I pulled into the driveway
of the Sterling house. Rachel was already there impatiently
waiting for us.
    “I told you guys to meet me here at seven—I was
starting to think you backed out, Ruby,” Rachel said as we
walked through the front door.
    According to my watch, we were only five minutes
late.
Five