Ghosted

Prologue

“But you don’t believe in ghosts?” Beau’s handsome face was serious. His blue eyes wide with surprise at the very idea.

They were in his bedroom, Beau’s bedroom, lying on Beau’s bed—a shelf of football trophies crowded onto the shelf overhead, game controllers within reach should anyone knock on the door. That was unlikely. The twins were in school and it would never occur to Mrs. Langham to question what Beau and Archie got up to behind closed doors. In fact, it would never occur to anyone that Heceta High Tigers quarterback Beau Langham wasn’t one-hundred-percent All-American heterosexual. Archie wasn’t sure if it had actually sunk in on Beau.

“ Me ?” Archie scoffed.

Beau grinned. “For a minute I was afraid crazy was contagious.”

“Get real.”

The truth was, Archie wasn’t totally convinced either way on the topic of the afterlife. There was a part of him that would have liked to believe there were a couple of kindly spirits somewhere still looking out for him, watching over him. He would never say that aloud. Beau would get that soft, sympathetic look and Archie couldn’t stand anyone feeling sorry for him. Particularly Beau, whose idea of tragedy would no doubt be losing a hometown game.

Anyway, he’d yet to see any sign of supernatural interest in him or his life. Granted the absence of proof was not proof of absence, as John would say.

But at seventeen, Beau was comfortably certain he knew all the answers. Maybe that came from being the son of the chief of police. Maybe it came from nothing ever going wrong for you.

After all, Archie’s guardian, John Perry was a doctor, which meant he had a background in science, and John believed whole-heartedly in the supernatural. They all did: John’s inner circle, the founding members of the Twinkleton Paranormal Society. Leo Baker was a chartered financial consultant and Priscilla Beckham was a lawyer. Okay, yes, Professor Azizi was pretty much a loon, but the others were as solid citizenry as it got, and they were all True Believers.

And yeah, it was pretty funny watching them fumble around with their IR cameras and thermometers, their EMF detectors. Like a geriatric Scooby Gang. But hell, they were still more interesting than just about anybody else in this town.

Present company excepted. As annoying as was Beau’s unshakeable confidence in, well, everything, Archie liked him. A lot.

“So, you’ll come?” he pressed.

“Yeah, if you want me there. Of course.” Beau kissed Archie, his mouth warm and tasting sweet from the Coca-Cola they’d shared. He was a very good kisser. His lips were soft but firm, not too wet, not too dry. He’d told Archie he’d had a lot of practice, and Archie believed him. They did other things besides kiss—they fooled around a lot that summer—but the kissing felt the most intimate. The kissing made it real. When Archie kissed Beau, he could almost believe he might stay in Twinkleton. Might go to Southwest Oregon with Beau year after next instead of San Diego State.

Almost.

He whispered, “I want you there.”

Beau smiled as though Archie had given him a great compliment. “I’ve never been to one of the ghost walks. It’ll be fun.”

“One way or the other,” Archie agreed slyly.

“Mmm. I like that .” Beau kissed him again.

He was such a nice guy. As nice as he was handsome, which made it all the more ridiculous that he thought he was going into law enforcement. He was smart enough. Probably. Hard to know because, used to getting by on looks, charm, and football, Beau rarely exerted himself academically. Archie had told him, but Beau just laughed. Okay, but never in a million years was Beau Langham going to be a cop. He was too kind, for one thing. Kind. Considerate. A good sport. All the things. Not ambitious. Not imaginative. Not…intellectually inclined. But all the other things.

The things that mattered in Twinkleton, no doubt.

Beau couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. He’d said so many times. He thought Archie was just talking when he said he was leaving, getting out of Oregon as soon as he could. But Archie meant it. He wasn’t unhappy here, all things considered, but there was a whole world out there, and he wanted to be in it, part of it. He was not content to be buried alive in Twinkleton.

Anyway, year after next was still a long way off. A lot could happen in a year. Archie had learned that the hard way.

He kissed Beau back.