Chapter 31
Present Day
Nova: Ok. Rhea left.
I frown at a knock on the door as soon as my message shows delivered. I hop off my bed and head out of my room, glancing around to see if anyone non-living might be hovering.
Nothing. I haven’t seen a single ghost since I got home.
I crack open the door, peeking around it, then fling it open. “How did you get here so fast?” I exclaim, widening my eyes at Tilly.
She grins. “I waited in my car down the street. I saw Rhea leave.”
“That’s…” I search for the right word. “That’s creepy. You’re like a stalker.”
“Bitch, you live in a house with a fuckton of ghosts,” she replies, sweeping past me and inside. “I think your definition of creepy is skewed.”
I shut the door, leaning against it as I watch her scan the room. She even goes up on her tiptoes, trying to see inside the vent in the upper part of the wall. When she turns back to me, disappointed, I have to stifle a smile.
“They don’t hide in the vent,” I tell her, amused.
“How do you know?” she huffs. “Maybe they like the view from up there.”
I laugh, but it dies out as I realize I need to call them out of hiding. This is it. This is the moment of truth. If they don’t show, or if Tilly can’t see them, it may just prove that I’m certifiably insane.
Clearing my throat, my fingers pull at one another. “Guys?” I call. “Can you come here?”
Tilly and I glance around as the sound of the request turns to silence. None of the ghosts—including the ones I’ve slept with—appear. I give Tilly an apologetic look, taking a breath, intent on calling louder.
Tilly beats me to it.
“Hey, you pervy ghost motherfuckers!” she shouts. “Get out here so I can meet the guys who are giving my girl their bones! Ha, get it?” she adds under her breath, laughing. “Bones? Because they’re dead?”
“Tilly!” I hiss.
She doesn’t respond to me, going still. Her eyes roam the room as it the air turns decidedly colder before landing on me with a question in them. I nod, confirming that at least one of them is here. But why they’re hiding from me, I don’t know.
“Please,” I say quietly. “This is my friend.”
“Best friend,” Tilly amends loudly.
Theodore appears near me, his eyes narrowed on Tilly. “Why is she here, Nova?” he asks.
“One of them wants to know why you’re here,” I say to Tilly, eyeing him.
“Can he hear me?” she asks after studying the spot I indicate he’s standing. I nod when Theodore does. “I’m here because Nova is my friend and I want to make sure she’s safe here with you all.”
The grunt he makes proves he isn’t pleased with the question. “Why wouldn’t you be safe with us?”
“Because she’s an eighteen-year-old woman and you’re a fucking ghost,” Tilly answers when I relay what he asked. “Duh.”
He turns to face me, stepping closer. Studying me closely, his gaze softens from that steely look he always seems to hold. “Why did you tell her?”
“Because I needed someone to talk to,” I admit, hoping he’ll understand.
Theodore weighs that answer before giving a reluctant nod. Lifting his hand, he drags his fingers through my hair, tucking the strands behind my ear in one unfaltering movement that has me feeling extra warm and pretty.
“Holy shit,” Tilly breathes.
Theodore and I snap our attention to her, both of our eyes wide. Tilly’s own eyes are fixed on us, bouncing between me and him.
“You can—?”
“Yes, I can fucking see him!” she screeches, a million emotions flitting across her face—everything from excitement to fear to disbelief.
I exchange a look with Theodore. “How?”
He zeroes in on the hand still pressed behind my ear, along my jaw. With deliberation, he lifts his hand, letting his fingertips drag across my skin before they leave it.
“Wait,” Tilly says, whipping her head back and forth as her huge eyes scan the room. “Where’d he go?”
Theodore makes an interested humming noise, then touches me again, this time wrapping a hand around my dangling wrist. When Tilly acknowledges she can see him again, dang near having an existential crisis, he steps closer, making me look up at him.
“It’s you,” he murmurs. “You’re the reason she can see me.”
“But I’m not doing anything,” I argue, shaking my head.
“Dude. This is the older one, huh?” Tilly asked, moving closer. She walks around the back of Theodore like she’s inspecting a car. “Total silver fox, isn’t he? Like, yes, Zaddy. Damn. Good for you, Nova.”
I squeeze my eyes close at her commentary, the million or so smutty romance novels with silver foxes I’ve read running through my head. Probably not the time to picture Theodore as Axel from Latte Darling.
Before I can open my eyes, he tugs at my arm, forcing me to step closer. When I do open my eyes, he’s close enough that if he had breath, I’d feel it on my lips right now.
“Who are you?” he asks in a voice full of wonder.
His admiration is misplaced. I’m nothing. A weirdo who can see ghosts when no one else can—except when I touch them, apparently.
“I’m nobody,” I answer, trying to lower my eyes. The words echo the ones Dad used to shout at me while his blows connected with my body until I can hear his voice ringing in my ears.
You’re nobody! You’ll never be good for anything, you worthless little cunt! Not one person gives a shit about you! They know exactly who you are!
I jolt when two hands cup my face, forcing my chin to tip up. Theodore’s blue-gray eyes are blazing with a fierce gleam as they bore into mine.
“You are not nobody. Do you understand me, baby?”
“Oh, shiiiiit,” Tilly groans, and I can see her fanning herself out of the corner of my eye. “How does it feel to be God’s favorite, Nova?”
I can feel my face burning hot against Theodore’s palms, but he totally ignores Tilly. “Answer me,” he orders.
I panic because I can’t remember what I’m supposed to be answering, my thoughts caught up in the feel of his hands against me and the weight of his gaze. He grins, almost like he can read my mine.
“I know Dakota made you affirm something this morning, too.”
I’m fucking special.
“So now I want you to say out loud that you are somebody.”
I hesitate, but the words come to my lips easier than they did with Koda. “I am somebody.”
“Good girl.”
My knees knock together once at the sensually laced praise. Despite having gone for hours last night, my body sings with the need to be touched, pressing forward until the chill of Theodore’s body penetrates through my clothes.
“I hate to break this sexy little moment up,” Tilly chirps, “but I hadn’t pegged Nova as an exhibitionist, so you should probably stop while you’re ahead.” She claps her hands. “I want to meet the other ones!”
Theodore looks dissatisfied, but he rips his gaze off me, turning to Tilly. “They’re standing behind you.”
Sure enough. Tilly lets out a high-pitched yelp, leaping forward and away from Koda and Jimmy stationed behind her. As expected, her eyes roam over the spot she had been standing, a frown forming on her face.
“Nova, get quick making out with your silver fox boyfriend and come show me these ones.”
My face burns. “They’re not my boyfriends,” I mutter, avoiding meeting any of their gazes. I pull away from Theodore, noting how Tilly sucks in a breath, like she’s surprised by him becoming invisible once more. I step toward Jimmy and Koda, my steps faltering when both hold out a hand for me. They exchange a look, but neither drops their hand when they look back at me.
I swallow the lump of anxiety in my throat at the ravenous way Jimmy is staring at me. I may not be an exhibitionist, but by the way he’s gobbling up the sight of me, I feel like maybe I shouldn’t touch him or we will be the ones putting on a show.
But I do anyway, slipping each of my hands into theirs. It’s odd, the feeling I get when I touch both of them at the same time—just like when they pinned me between them after I first realized they were ghosts. Touching Jimmy feels like embracing an old friend you haven’t seen in such a long time. Every inch of skin that touches his seems to sigh in relief of meeting him again. Koda, however, feels sweet and fiery at the same time. Like something new and exciting and beloved.
I know Tilly can see them by the animated way she’s talking behind me, but I’m so frozen under the weight of their stares—Koda’s knowing and satisfied, and Jimmy’s hungry and tinged with desperation—that I don’t hear her most of what she says. Mostly chattering about already having seen Jimmy at the club.
Which makes sense because he was touching me while we danced. I wrack my brains, trying to remember if he kept a hand on me all the way back to the house that night. He did. I’m almost certain.
Lost in my own thoughts as I peer blankly at the wall behind Koda and Jimmy, I have fully blocked out Tilly’s monologue. I don’t realize it, though, until Koda’s gaze cuts toward her, his face drawing tight with wariness.
“You are him. Oh. My. God,” Tilly breathes, her eyes as big as saucers. “You’re Koda Parker from the Doctrine 27.”
“Oh, shit,” he mutters, making moves like he’s going to yank his hand away from me.
I hold fast, looking at my friend. “Who? What?”
“Koda Parker,” Tilly says again, her voice stronger. She still stares at him, but her words are directed at me. “He was the lead singer for the band Doctrine 27, and he disappeared like a year ago or so. The band fell apart afterward, but the last song they made before he disappeared went crazy.”
“It did?” Koda asks, his turn to sound breathless. “Fool’s Gold went viral?”
“You were in a band?” I ask, bewildered.
“Yes,” he and Tilly answer at the same time.
“How did you die?” Tilly asks eagerly, then physically recoils, paling beneath her already pale makeup. “Sorry,” she whispers. “That’s none of my business, unless you want to tell me.”
She sounds so hopeful at the end, her interest at its peak.
My teeth cut at my lip as I give her a quick shake of my head before I turn my attention back to Koda. “Maybe that’s what you needed,” I say softly, looking at Koda. “Maybe you needed to know your music was heard.”
He lowers his eyes, staring at our joined hands. “If it was, shouldn’t I start glowing and move on?”
The room falls quiet. Koda’s eyes stay on our hands, while everyone else fixes their attention on him. Waiting. Watching. Tilly scooches a little closer to me, curiosity lining her face. It’s only then that I realize Jimmy’s thumb is stroking the back of my hand in soothing sweeps, almost like he’s preparing to comfort me if Koda does indeed disappear.
But nothing happens and Koda looks relieved as he glances up, meeting my eyes, his fingers squeezing tighter, as if he never wants to let go.
“Does this mean,” he says, his voice unsteady, “that you really might be my unfinished business?”
I feel as if a rock drops into my gut. What if I am his unfinished business? What does that mean? How do we finish his business if I’m still alive? Or will he stay stuck here until I finally die, too?
“I think this is proof enough for you,” Theodore says briskly. “We all promised we’d let her try for each of us.”
Koda hasn’t taken his eyes from mine, a smile ghosting on his lips. “Hear that, little Nova?”
Tilly clears her throat. “Hear what?”
“Oh.” I glance over my shoulder at Theodore, across the room. “Theodore says that he thinks this is proof for Koda. About the unfinished business thing.”
“What about you?” Tilly asks, pointing at Jimmy. “What’s your unfinished business?”
“If it isn’t Nova,” he answers slowly, reluctantly, “then I think I’d have to say the fight I had with my buddy before I died.”
“A fight?” I ask, watching him. “About what?”
“About the girlfriend he’d stolen from me.”
His words are a sucker punch to the gut, and I fight the rising wave of jealousy that slams into me from nowhere.
Of course, he had a girlfriend, Nova. Of course he did.
I try to shake it off. “So you need to resolve the fight?”
Jimmy shakes his head. “No, I think I just need to tell him that I forgive him, no matter who was in the wrong.”
“Fair enough,” Tilly announces. “And what about Theodore?” She waves in the general direction that Theodore was standing before.
My lips quirk up when Theodore lays a hand on my shoulder, standing on the other side of me from her, and she jumps so hard her back pops.
“My dog,” he answers without apology, a bit of a smirk on his face. “I want to know if my dog was taken care of after I disappeared.”
“You know,” I say suddenly, “I have a question. How did all of you go missing and die without anyone looking for you?”
“I led a pretty solitary life,” Theodore admits.
Jimmy nods. “Me too.”
Koda is the only one who hesitates. “I had some issues with substances in the past,” he admits quietly. “I’m sure people thought I’d fallen off the wagon and no one thought to question my disappearance.”
I’m not wholly satisfied with those answers, frowning, but I don’t have time to think about it. A wail starts in the back of the house and, before I can process it, Andy pops into my sight behind Koda and Jimmy.
“Guess who’s awake?” he singsongs, then disappears again.