Veiled Existence Read online

  “No th—” Before Ice could finish, the cup was thrust into his hand.

  Doug grasped the guy’s shoulder. “Gingey here is one of my roommates.” He inclined his head to Ice. “Danny’s roommate, Ice.”

  “Ice. So much cooler than Gingey.” The redhead grinned, shaking his head, and then turned to Danny. “Happy Birthday little Oates. Congrats on being old enough to vote and fight in a war, but not drink legally.” He held up his cup.

  Danny raised his cup in salute and they laughed.

  Looking around the room, Ice determined that he would be better off if he carried the beer around with him. Everyone had either a blue cup or some other kind of beverage. Having the cup in his hand would spare him repetitive explanations.

  As more guests trickled in, the room was soon clogged with kids so Danny topped off his beer and they escaped to the living room. Following closely, Ice nearly splashed his drink down his roommate’s back when Danny came to an abrupt halt just inside the arched doorway.

  “Sweet mother…” Danny said out of the side of his mouth. “Who is that?”

  The television was off and music pulsed beneath the animated babble. Tracing Danny’s gaze across the room, Ice instantly identified the object of his roommate’s fascination: a blonde with pouty red lips, mysterious eyes and a body with curves in all the right places. She wore tight black pants, tall boots and a v-neck sweater that revealed just enough to make every guy in the room want to see more.

  Despite the small flock of admirers surrounding her, the girl turned her attention toward the doorway. Her brows rose slightly and then her full lips curled provocatively.

  Embarrassed, Ice turned his head as if searching the room and elbowed his roommate who seemed rooted in place. “Dude, you’re staring.”

  Danny shrugged off his stupor and glanced over his shoulder at Ice, a gleam in his eye. “I think we should go introduce ourselves.” Before Ice could object, the other boy started across the room.

  Ice frowned, wondering if Danny and Isabelle had an open sort of relationship. Or perhaps Danny simply didn’t take it seriously. Whatever his roommate’s ethics might be, Ice chose not to follow and took a step backward, closer to the wall. Scanning for either an open seat or a familiar face, he finally spied a guy—Blake, he was pretty sure—whom he’d met at orientation. Blake was chatting with a guy and girl. Ice caught his eye as he edged toward them, nodding a greeting.

  Blake gestured toward Ice. “How about you? Do you know who that girl is?”

  “Nope. Sorry.” Ice saw that Danny had joined the group of guys attending the blonde. “That’s my roommate about to introduce himself, though.” They watched as Danny spoke to the girl. She responded and then stretched her neck, looking over his shoulder. Her eyes tightened briefly and she looked past Danny to search the room.

  The girl next to Ice snickered. “Ooo, denied.”

  Ice’s own amusement faded when the girl’s gaze paused at their group. The other guy standing with them dropped his chin, feigning interest in his plastic cup. “She’s looking at us,” he muttered.

  Blake bumped Ice’s arm with his elbow. “Sure you don’t know her? Because I’m pretty sure she’s looking at you.”

  Uncomfortable, Ice shifted so he’d have to actually turn his head to look in the blonde’s direction. Until Blake voiced Ice’s own observations out loud, he’d been able to convince himself that the girl was studying the entire group—she could’ve been looking at any one of them. But even without looking at her, Ice could feel the weight of her stare pressing on him. “No. I’m positive I don’t know her,” he stated.

  “Looks like she wants to know you.”

  Unnerved, Ice forced a laugh. “Too bad. I’m taken.” His mouth had gone dry, so he took a drink of his beer. Though sour and barely above room temperature, the bubbles soothed his parched throat. He took another, smaller, sip. “Think I’ll go top this off.” He stepped away before anyone noticed his beer was nearly full.

  Once in the hallway, Ice paused to suck in a breath. When someone exited the room behind him, he jumped, exhaling heavily when he recognized one of the guys who’d been playing pool earlier. His inner alarm system was on high alert. He wasn’t sure if this foreboding feeling had been building since his conversation with Nik or if something new tripped his circuits, but he was as skittish as a horse hearing a wolf howl.

  He headed back to the kitchen, hoping to replace his beer with water or a soda. Working his way around the crowd loitering near the keg, he eventually made it to the functional area of the room and sought out the sink behind kids lining the counter tops.

  Excusing himself as he slid sideways between two people, Ice dumped the beer down the drain. At an awkward angle, he needed his other hand to operate the faucet and didn’t want to jostle the girl standing there or elbow her in the head accidentally. Then a hand appeared from the other side of the girl and reached to turn on the water. “You look like you could use some help,” a female voice said.

  “Thanks.” Ice quickly rinsed the cup and filled it with water. The arm pulled the handle down to turn the water off. Extracting himself from the cramped position, he gulped down some of the water, nearly choking when his eyes came up over the rim of the cup to find he was face to face with the girl who’d been holding court in the living room.

  He instantly knew that she was the source of his trepidation.

  Her eyes were an unusual shade of brown—unless it was the fluorescent light that gave them a maroon cast—and although Ice’s body pumped adrenaline into his system, urging him to flee, the direct stare held him prisoner. “Not fond of beer?” Her pouty candy apple lips were only two feet from him, but the words seemed to come from far away.

  How had she gotten here? This part of the kitchen was a dead end and it’d taken quite an effort for Ice to work his way to the sink.

  “I’m driving.” Ice’s brain supplied the answer and his mouth delivered it, without conscious thought or effort.

  “Very responsible of you.” She blinked, and Ice at once felt like he could breathe.

  He pulled air into his lungs and forced his lips to bend upwards, maintaining a casual demeanor while his brain launched an air raid siren in his head. “Well, that, and I’m underage.”

  She laughed, her hair catching the light as she tossed it away from her face. “I think you’re in the majority here.” Her voice had an interesting lilt to it, not enough that he could pinpoint the accent, but enough to make her even more mysterious—another reason for guys to hang on her every word. A graceful, alabaster hand extended toward him. “I’m Elletre.”

  Again, his body seemed to act on its own and he had his hand wrapped around hers before his screaming instincts could stop him. “I’m Ice.”

  “Cool name! Native American, I’m assuming.”

  Ice spouted out the explanation of his name as his mind argued with itself. What was his problem? She was just a girl. Why was his heart pounding in terror?

  Then an arm encircled his shoulders and Ice nearly jumped out of his skin.

  “Hey! I see you met my girl, Ultra!”

  Ice was so relieved to see Danny he wrapped an arm across his roommate’s back and left it there. “Danny! Here for a refill? Looks like you’re enjoying your birthday party. Hey, where’s Doug? I want to ask him something.” He was babbling, but he could tell by Danny’s bloodshot eyes and skunky smell that his roommate was now both high and drunk.

  “I dunno. But Ultra’s here!” Danny raised his nearly empty cup.

  “It’s Elletre.” She laughed, the carefree sound a contradiction to the hard glint in her eyes.

  A shiver crawled up Ice’s spine and he tightened his hold on his roommate. He tried to look apologetic as he said, “I better take care of this guy.” He turned Danny around before she could reply and propelled him forward. “Birthday boy coming through! Out of
the way!”

  He pushed Danny out of the kitchen, backing him against the wall in the hallway. “Listen, I gotta get out of here. Where’s the back door? Or side door?” Ice swung his head left and right, watching both ends of the passage.

  “I thought you wanted to talk to Doug.” Danny lifted his cup and drained it of beer. “Uh-oh. Looks like I’m empty.” He tried to push off the wall, but Ice held him in place.

  “Danny. The back door?”

  His roommate gestured to the room with the pool table. “That way or through the kitchen. C’mon. I’ll show you.”

  Ice swiveled his head side to side once more. No sign of Elletre. He let Danny go. “I’ll find it.” Taut nerves made a smile nearly impossible. “Happy Birthday, man.”

  “Thanks.” Danny looked into his empty cup. “I need more beer.”

  As Danny lurched toward the kitchen, Ice dodged in the opposite direction. The pool table required space around it for moving pool cues, so getting through the room was fairly easy. The opening at the back let out into a short passageway. To the left was the kitchen, to the right three steps descended to an outside door. Back pressed to the wall, Ice side-stepped toward the kitchen, staying well back from the doorway. Leaning forward, he peeked into the room to confirm that Elletre was still there. Her bright hair provided a conspicuous beacon, but he wasn’t going to breathe easy yet.

  Heart pounding, Ice dashed for the outer door. He slowed enough to open and close it quietly, though the noise of the party should have been enough to cover his exit. Keys in hand, he hustled down the block and around the corner. When he pressed the unlock button on the key fob, the flash of his Jeep lights sent a welcome flood of relief.

  He rounded the front bumper to the driver’s side, pulling his phone from his pocket.

  “Leaving so soon?” A feminine voice purred.

  Acidic dread burned in Ice’s stomach as Elletre pushed off the side of his Jeep, her lips curled into a smirk.

  Ah crap. He was screwed.

  Consciousness slowly crept in and then Jeni’s eyes flew open.

  Ice was meeting the boat today!

  She pushed up to her elbows and checked the time on her phone. Twenty minutes after seven. Her alarm would’ve woken her in ten minutes.

  She double checked her messages in case Ice texted when he left and the alert didn’t wake her up, but there weren’t any text messages from him. Since he’d planned an early start, he probably didn’t want to wake her. Slipping off the top bunk, Jeni raked the window curtain aside letting the lavender morning light illuminate the contents of her suitcase. Selecting the royal blue tank top and black waffled Henley that she’d packed especially for today, she headed into the bathroom. A fluttery warmth had taken up residence in her middle.

  One of the things she looked forward to the most was that Ice could stop worrying about her once they were together. She was tired of arguing.

  Even when she’d abandoned her genealogy search, they hadn’t argued. The discussion was certainly emotional, but ultimately, they’d agreed to disagree about the correct course of action.

  Jeni and Ice’s first actual fight had been over this trip.

  She saw it as an opportunity to see each other since the boat stopped in Minneapolis. Ice saw it as a potential dangerous situation. “Don’t forget Jeni, you bled in the Mississippi River,” he’d said.

  “How do you even know if that matters?” she’d retorted. “The statue was the link to the monster.”

  “Not entirely. The link remained after the statue disappeared.”

  “Well I’m not going to be in the water, anyway. Besides, what am I going to tell my parents? After this nightmare thing, my mom would send me to a shrink for sure. Good luck seeing me then.”

  Without a ready answer to her question, Ice didn’t respond.

  “Come on, Ice,” Jeni pleaded. “It would be so nice to be on vacation together.” Talking dates and boy drama with Carolyn felt one-sided when she had next to nothing of her own to add to the conversation. And it seemed like everywhere she went this summer, Jeni had run into couples, holding hands, laughing conspiratorially, kissing, hugging…

  Eventually, Ice had given in, arranging to join the cruise after orientation.

  Turning her face into the hot spray of water, Jeni’s mouth stretched into a wide grin. Finally, today, she and Ice could join the ranks of happy couples hanging out together.

  When she emerged from the bathroom in a billow of steam and fruity scents, Jeni found Carolyn awake and studying the brochure of things to see and do in La Crosse. She looked up at Jeni with a broad smile. “Hey, bet you’re walking on a cloud this morning.”

  Jeni rose up on her toes, the grin still plastered on her face. ”I might be.”

  “What do you think you guys are gonna do today?”

  Pulling her hair brush through the last of her wet tangles, Jeni said, “I don’t know. What sounded interesting to you?” She unwound the cord from her flat iron.

  “Grandad Bluff Park seems pretty cool.”

  “Is that where you can see like three states from the overlook?”

  “Yeah, and there are hiking trails, too.” Carolyn climbed off the bed and began rummaging through her suitcase. “Are you all set in the bathroom?”

  “Yeah, go ahead.” Jeni squatted, stabbing the flat iron plug into an outlet under the small desk. While she waited for the iron to heat, she grabbed a pair of jeans off the top of her suitcase and dug out clean socks.

  Once dressed, she reached for her phone. What if Ice overslept?

  Her thumbs hovered over the keyboard and then she set the phone aside, reluctant to send a message while he was driving. Calling him just seemed paranoid. She refused to be that girl.

  The flat iron beeped to announce it was up to temperature and Jeni picked it up, steam rising as she ran it over her damp hair. Maybe he’d check in when he made a pit stop. If she hadn’t heard from him by nine or nine thirty, she’d call and see where he was at. Taking extra care with her make-up, Jeni managed to kill most of the time it took for Carolyn to get ready.

  Discussions over breakfast came to the consensus that parents of toddlers were taking their kids to the children’s museum. Jeni’s grandma, mom and dad, and Tyler’s parents planned to stay in town to see some historic buildings and a vintage car museum, which left Jeni, Ice, Carolyn, Tyler and Aunt Jessie who wanted to check out Grandad Bluff.

  The first shuttle to the park would leave at ten o’clock. At nine fifteen, Jeni called Ice. If he’d left around seven, he should be getting close. When she didn’t get an answer, she assumed he couldn’t reach his phone or hadn’t gotten to it before voicemail kicked in. She went to brush her teeth, anticipating a return call.

  Then she flossed.

  And brushed her hair.

  When ten minutes had passed, she called again.

  And got his voice mail. Again.

  She pushed down the panicky feeling expanding inside her ribcage. He was driving. Maybe he was watching for an exit sign and didn’t want to miss it.

  Ready to go, Carolyn sat on the bed, her jacket nearby. “Maybe his phone went flying onto the floor of the passenger side. That’s happened to me more than once. He’s probably almost here and doesn’t want to waste any time trying to get to it.”

  As the clock rounded close to ten, Jeni tried another call. She almost hated to, not wanting to hear the recorded mail message again. Maybe he accidentally turned his phone off. Or the battery died and the phone shut down. Her gut rejected every possible explanation that sifted through her brain.

  When her text alert chimed, Jeni jumped with a small gasp but it was only Aunt Jessie wondering if the girls wanted to meet her and Tyler at the gangway. “Aunt Jessie,” she answered Carolyn’s raised eyebrows as she typed a response. “We might as well go meet them and I can let them know wh
at’s going on.”

  Jeni could no longer talk herself out of worrying. Ice should’ve arrived by now. If he’d left late, he would’ve let her know. If there was a traffic jam, he would’ve called. Images of his Jeep crushed beyond recognition flashed in her head and she desperately shut them down.

  After filling Aunt Jessie and Tyler in on the situation, Jeni dialed Ice once more, cutting the call off as soon as she heard it switch to voice mail. When the shuttle arrived and passengers began boarding, Jeni took a step backward. “You guys go. I’ll wait for Ice and we’ll take the shuttle at noon.”

  Carolyn spoke up immediately. “I’ll wait with you.”

  “No. It’s all right. Go ahead.” She rejected the offer automatically, and then noticed the look on her friend’s face. Jeez, she was a selfish idiot—of course Carolyn didn’t want to hang out with just Tyler and Aunt Jessie.

  “I’m not sure your mom and dad would want me to leave you here alone,” Aunt Jessie said. “I guess I’m kinda the adult in charge here.” She considered her phone with pursed lips.

  Tyler snorted. “I think we’re all old enough to take care of ourselves.”

  “Besides,” Carolyn chimed in, “She won’t be alone. I’m staying with her.”

  Jeni shot her friend a grateful glance and a nod. “We promise to stay on the boat until Ice gets here.” She held up her phone. “I’ll check in with my mom and keep you posted.”

  Aunt Jessie eyed the waiting shuttle. “Okay.” She clicked a button on her phone. “My volume’s all the way up. Stay in touch.”

  Jeni nodded. “I will.”

  As the shuttle pulled away, Jeni turned to Carolyn. “Thanks for staying. I’m kind of freaking out.”

  Carolyn circled an arm around Jeni’s shoulders. “That’s what friends are for.”

  With murmured thanks, Jeni tried Ice’s number again, groaning at the recorded message and making a mental note that she needed to ask for his roommate’s phone number. Or his resident adviser’s. Someone—anyone—she could contact to avoid this happening again.