17. Teddy
SEVENTEEN
TEDDY
My boots crunch over broken glass and all manner of debris as I cross the threshold of the asylum and stand in the foyer. Hands in my pockets, I grin, tilting my head back to take in the high ceiling above me. Goosebumps litter my skin, the chill in here enough to make my breath cloud in front of my face.
So we will need a few sleeping bags. Check .
Like a giddy kid in a candy store, I explore every nook and cranny of this place for hours. I won’t make the bus ride to the circus with Eden, but I trust Cash will keep an eye on her, per our agreement. If I’m not back, he takes her downtown. That peace of mind gives me the freedom to conjure up some truly horrifying ideas of what I’d like to do to this space, were it to ever become mine.
Certain rooms are calm, others childlike, and some downright vile. At one point, the patter of little running feet can be heard above me. Though it is unnerving, the sound is innocent.
Just a little ghost excited for a friend. There’s a permanent smile stuck on my face, my heart racing and alive for the first time in so many years. Ironic, to feel this way amongst the dead, but I never claimed to be normal.
Eventually, I settle on the perfect room. Three floors up, facing the front gate, the windows busted out, which creates the perfect view of the mountains in the distance. Watching a sunrise from that vantage point?
Well, someone’s getting morning sex, that’s for damn sure.
I’ll have to have Cash help me bring up a mattress or some shit. And candles. Lots of candlelight to set the mood. Mind lost as I put together what I think will be a really fucking good night with Eden, I meander downstairs, aiming for the basement. Jogging down the ancient steps with the small beam of my flashlight flicking left and right, I see him at the last second, a grizzled man dressed in rags, his blue eyes pale, surprised. I should’ve known there’d be squatters here. I’ll have to clear the building on prom night, but Eden won’t have to worry; she’s far safer in this phantasmic building with me than anywhere else in the world.
“Fuck, sorry, man,” I say, skidding to a halt so I don’t smash into him.
But for the first time in my life, my heart stops from unrelenting fear alone. In the time it takes me to blink, the man is gone.
Somewhere upstairs, a woman screams.
I make it downtown with minutes to spare, grinning as I pull up to the sidewalk, Cash and Eden standing outside the door that leads into the circus. When Cash sees his car, his eyes widen, and his hands spear his hair, fingers tugging on the ends. Killing the engine, I get out and grin, winking at him as I toss him the keys. He purposely misses, letting them crash to the sidewalk with a metallic clank . Shoving my hands in my pockets, I rest my ass against the cherry red hood.
“You’re washing it,” he growls.
“I know,” I say, winking, unable to keep my eyes from assessing Eden. She stands in her uniform, her hair down and playing in the wind, arms crossed and cheeks pink. Her glare could melt the ice caps, and I have to wonder what they were chatting about as I pulled up. Quirking my brow at her, I say, “Yes, dear?”
“Where were you?” she demands icily. Her ire warms my cold heart, and I catch Cash’s coy smirk. She can play at being mad all she wants, but we both know she was concerned. I’d made sure Cash knew not to divulge my whereabouts.
“Were you worried about me, baby?”
Her eye twitches, and her alabaster cheeks turn as red as Cash’s Mustang. I have to bite my lip to prevent my smile from growing.
“I told her not to worry, but she wouldn’t leave me the fuck alone,” Cash jests, forgetting his muddy car for the time being. She glances between the two of us, stewing in her annoyance, that long, silky hair so shiny beneath the clouds. Imagining her exploring that place—St. Ignatius, I’d discovered—is fucking sexy as hell. To have no fear of the dead, to seek out refuge in what was once a place of nightmares? She’s damn near perfect.
“You asshole. I just asked where he was one time.”
Cash smirks at her, arms crossed. “Once every five minutes.”
She makes a disgusted sound, throwing her hands up and attempting to stomp past us, but my hand juts out, and I catch her bicep, spinning her toward me as I stand to my full height. Those alluring violet eyes clash with mine, and I melt beneath her enraged stare.
“Let go, asshole,” she growls through clenched teeth, a little black kitten ensnared by her wolf.
“Admit you were worried.”
She attempts to shake herself loose, a touch of worry appearing in the corners of her eyes when she realizes yet again how strong I am. In the wind, her scent wafts to me, something akin to lavender and rosemary and rain. Earthy. Witchy .
“Not worried. Annoyed you had Cash following me everywhere. He threw me over his shoulder and forced me to get on the bus with him,” she seethes, reddening even more in her embarrassment at the memory. Cash laughs, the sound deep and rich, and I catch his playful eyes over the top of her head.
“Thanks, man,” I say. He nods with a proud grin.
“Of course. Sorry about the whole skirt thing, Edie.”
She stamps her foot and tries to twist away from me again, to no avail. When my eyes catch hers, she’s fuming. “Everyone saw my ass when he tossed me around like a damn rag doll, and now he thinks it’s okay to call me Edie .”
“Duh. You’re Teddy’s. Which, by proxy, means I’m your new big brother.”
Warmth floods me. I knew Cash would relent once he spent a few minutes with her. But my eyes search hers, resignation swimming in the depths of those amethysts, her body relaxing in my grip.
“I’m not Teddy’s,” she says, with far less ire and conviction in her tone this time. Cash snorts, swiping his keys from the dirty concrete.
“Yeah,” he says, striding by us to the driver’s side door, casting a long glance at Eden. “Good luck with that, Edie. When he wants something…” he trails off, and her eyes flick between mine and my best friend’s.
“Then I get it,” I whisper, her body trembling at my words.
“Fine. Whatever. Can we go now?”
“Only if you promise to be my pickleball partner again tomorrow,” Cash quips. I snort.
“Damn. Bummed I missed that.”
She rolls her eyes, and my fingers begrudgingly loosen their grip on her skinny arm. I keep my hand there all the same, for feeling the warmth beneath her jacket after seeing that fucking ghost is helping to calm me. I’m not one to shy away from the dead, obviously, but…I’ve never experienced anything like that before. It’s chilling and confusing but also super fucking cool all at once. If we could ditch the circus tonight and go back out there, I would in a heartbeat.
Fuck, if we could live out there? My mind floods with the endless possibilities. I’d hunt her through those haunting halls, chase her through those wistful woods. The thought of catching her, both of us breathless as I forcefully take what’s mine, holding my knife to her slender throat as I fuck her?—
“See you two lovebirds tomorrow.”
Cash’s voice rips me from my dark fantasies, and Eden’s cheeks and neck pinken anew, her eyes narrowed as she searches my face.
As though she can read my mind and see all the dirty, kinky fantasies residing there.
“We’re not lovebirds,” she growls, finally wrenching herself free of me in my distracted state, my cock growing harder by the second. And in these atrocious khaki slacks we’re forced to wear, she will definitely notice my dick print if I don’t calm down. I’m allowed to be arrogant in that realm, at the very least.
I know I have a nice cock.
One that is now Eden’s alone.
She storms away, yanking open the metal door and disappearing into the void that is attempting to suck our lives dry like a vampire. I glance at Cash, and he must see the happiness morphing into fury on my face. His brows pull together, his lips pressed into a thin line.
“Where did those coordinates lead?” he asks, an attempt to distract me from my darkening thoughts.
My biting grin flourishes like the brandishing of a quill.
“To our future home,” I say with conviction. He grins.
“You’ve got it bad, Tedster.”
My smile fades, because he’s right. I do have it bad. I’ve never been obsessed with someone like this before. It’s entirely new and dangerous territory. I have no idea what I’m truly capable of, but I know in my bones I’d do fucking heinous things for her. To her.
I just hope that when this all ends, she’ll still be holding my hand amidst the flames of our lives.
Not a ghost haunting those halls and my soul for eternity.