Blaze: A Small Town, Nerdy Girl, Opposites Attract, Protector Romance (Ghost Ops Book 1)

Chapter 22

When Blaze steppedout of his truck onto the pavement, Colleen Wright was waiting for him. Her gray hair was streaked with red, pulled back into a thick bun at her nape. She wore a flowing purple caftan with a diaphanous purple layer that floated behind her when she walked. A cigarette hung from her mouth and a large necklace in the shape of an eye perched on her ample bosom. The pupil nestled in a sea of white, painted blue with a black iris.

Creepy.

“What have you done to Melvin?” she demanded as she strode toward him.

“Ma’am, I have done nothing to Melvin. I haven’t heard a peep out of him.”

She stopped in front of him and popped her hands on her hips. “How would you know? He’s not going to talk to you.”

Blaze didn’t have an answer for that. “Did he say something to you?”

“He didn’t have to. Something’s not right in the Sutton building, which means he’s not right. His spirit is troubled.”

Blaze would have shivered if he believed in that kind of shit, which he did not. “Did you see something? Someone sneaking in or out?”

Colleen looked affronted. “Indeed not, young man.” She tapped her fist to her chest. “I feel it in here. Melvin is unsettled, and so am I. That’s a bad thing. You need to be careful.”

Blaze wanted to walk away from her woo-woo silliness, but he had to know. “Why is it bad?”

The woman huffed. “It’s bad because it is! Don’t upset him further!”

On that note, she spun on her heel and stalked back toward her shop. Blaze shook his head as he turned and headed for the back of the building. He took his phone out to text Emma that he was there. She texted back that she’d be out in a minute.

He waited on the back stairs until she emerged from the office. She hurried toward him, glancing over her shoulder as she went. She still wore her white lab coat over a pair of gray slacks and a maroon turtleneck sweater. Her hair was in a high ponytail and her glasses perched on her cute nose, making her look nerdy and hot at the same time.

“Quick, get upstairs,” she shout-whispered.

He went up and waited for her just out of sight of the back door, amused at her insistence. She hurried up the stairs, her face red. He couldn’t help but grin as she approached. He wanted to swing her around in his arms and kiss her. He refrained, but barely.

“What’s up, Doc?”

She stopped and glared. He thought it was cute.

“You have no idea the trouble you’re in if Ellen Sutton gets wind of this. My mama is the sort of woman who could maneuver you into jumping out of an airplane because it’s a pretty day and the sky is blue. Trust me on this.”

Blaze laughed softly. “Babe, I’ve jumped out of planes. I’ll be fine.”

“You aren’t taking me seriously, Blaze. Southern mamas with wedding fever are especially diabolical. Swear to God.”

“Why does yours have wedding fever?”

She waved her hands around as if it were obvious. “Because I’m in my midthirties and single. Because I just left a busy job in a big city and moved home. Because she wants me to be happy. Because my eggs are aging as we speak. I don’t know all her reasons, but I’m telling you, if she even thinks we’re dating, she’ll start her campaign for a wedding. And since I told my daddy I had a date, and somebody with a big mouth told her I kissed you, that ship is about to launch.”

She put her hands on her temples and shook her head. “It just popped out. I should have thought of something else. But I couldn’t say I couldn’t go to dinner because you’re sticking to me like glue. Then she’d have wanted to know why.”

“And you don’t want to tell them about Simon.”

“Not if I don’t have to. My mother had a heart attack last year. And though everyone says her heart is fine and she’s fit as a fiddle, I’d prefer not to add the stress of knowing about Simon if it’s not necessary.”

“Got it.”

“You aren’t mad about the date thing?”

He snorted. “No. Considering Colleen Wright just accosted me about upsetting Melvin, I’d say things are already weird around here. If your mother decides I’m the guy you need to marry, I’ll deal.”

He walked into his apartment with Emma grumbling behind him. “You say that now, but you won’t be so nonchalant about it when it happens. This is a disaster.”

Blaze laughed as he put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. “I can handle it, Emma. Promise I’ve been through worse. Besides, I think you need to give your mother some credit. She’s not going to want you to marry a guy she thinks you just started going out with.”

“You don’t know that. She already thinks you’re hot, and she knows you’re single. If she thinks I’m dating you, she’s going to start grilling you. Then what? I can’t ask you to lie and say we really are dating if we’re not.”

“Promise I can handle it, and I won’t lie. We’re adults, Emma. If we date or not, we don’t have to tell anyone the details. I don’t, anyway.”

She nodded, her brows drawing together. “What does Colleen think is wrong with Melvin?”

“You believe in Melvin the ghost?”

“Not really, but she does. Sutton’s Creek is a hotbed of paranormal activity according to her. Oh, and alien sightings. There’s a particular field over toward the river where the UFOs hover about once a month or so. She takes pictures of white lights, blurry of course. Did I mention she uses a flip phone for this alien investigation?”

Blaze snorted. “Of course she does. I have no idea what’s wrong with Melvin other than she says he’s unsettled and that’s a bad thing.”

Emma frowned. “Maybe she saw Simon sneaking in.”

“I asked. She said she hasn’t seen anyone, just that Melvin communicated his displeasure to her.”

“It’d be nice if Melvin would tell her where Simon’s staying. Though I don’t know what good it would do. The Sutton’s Creek PD won’t arrest him for a vague text or a note shoved under a door.”

“No, they won’t. But knowing where he is would be a good thing.”

The only intel they’d been able to uncover on Simon Marsh was that his car had left his building’s parking garage the day Emma left town and then returned a day later. It hadn’t moved since. Which meant he’d probably rented a car, though a search of his credit cards hadn’t returned any rentals.

In fact, his credit and bank cards hadn’t been used in weeks. His bank account had a couple thousand in it, which wouldn’t even cover the rent for his apartment. If he had other accounts, Seth hadn’t found them yet.

Emma’s shoulders slumped. “What can you do really? There’s no proof he picked the lock to my apartment, no witnesses that saw him coming or going. He could waltz down Main Street and, so long as he doesn’t do anything illegal, I’ll just have to live with him being around. He could move to Sutton’s Creek, set up his business here. He could go to the Dawg every night and stare at me from across the room. I can’t stop him. Neither can you.”

What she said was true, but Blaze wasn’t going to let that happen. He had five other guys with him, and they all knew how to conduct covert ops. If they needed to run an abusive asshole out of town, they could do it.

“Let me worry about that.”

She studied him, her head cocked to the side. “I feel like I should ask for details. But I also feel like I don’t want to know.”

“You don’t. Get changed and I’ll take you to dinner somewhere that isn’t Sutton’s Creek. Then we can swing by One Shot and try some pistols.”

Her face paled. “Pistols? I don’t know, Blaze.”

“We’re just going to try them. You don’t have to carry one. Nothing but a little target practice. If you don’t have fun, we’ll stop.”

She chewed her lip. “I get to choose the food, right?”

“That’s the deal.”

“Okay then. But it’s my turn to buy.”

“If that’s what you want.”

She smiled. The warmth of it slid into the dark corners of his mind, chased all the shadows away. He could get addicted to that smile if he wasn’t careful.

And he had to be careful. Emma Sutton wasn’t for him. Even if he’d been free to start a relationship, she deserved better. He had too many secrets, too much darkness.

She was still smiling as she walked backward toward the hallway and the room she was staying in. He marveled that she could go from hopeless to happy in the space of a few heartbeats. It was a sign of her resilience, something he admired about her.

“Let me change into something more casual, and I’ll be right out. I’m starved!”

“Me too.”

Except he wasn’t talking about food.