Chapter Eleven
The Kitchen
Monday
Eleven A.M.
Because he needed a minute to make that call, Graham slipped away to regroup and prepare to tell Callen and Chris that he was going to invite a psychic to their home to stir up the hellscape.
How could this go wrong?
While it was early in the States, Callen had reassured him that they had wonky hours, his words, and to call whenever.
If he was asleep, his phone would be on ‘do not disturb’, and he wouldn’t be able to wake him.
So he made the call.
It was four in the morning where he was, and honestly, he wasn’t expecting the man to answer. Maybe that was just what he was hoping for, but unfortunately, like many things in his life, he didn’t get what he wanted.
“Yes, Graham?” came Callen’s whiskey warm voice over the phone, catching him off guard.
Well, so much for leaving a message and running for the hills.
“Sir, I apologize.”
Callen stopped him.
“I’m up working,” he said. “Elizabeth is off today, and she’s going to be at the office handling personnel issues now that we’re staying in Damascus, so I thought I’d get up to write. You’re not disturbing me. I do my best homicide in the dark.”
Uh, okay.
“We have an issue here.”
Oh, well, Callen was aware.
His wife was continually reminding him that his ass, albeit sexy, was grass if she had to deal with the woo-woo shit in a castle she didn’t want.
“What kind of a situation?” he asked, sipping his coffee as he waited for an update.
What Callen wanted to do was ask about the man’s well-being, but he needed to tread lightly. The last thing he wanted was for Graham to have to relive it, or feel like they were all talking about him behind his back.
They weren’t, but he had been updated when Gryphen and Ian flew out on his jet.
“We found a bunch of paintings and had an encounter with Duncan after the construction crews took down the wall.”
Oh, well, he was curious.
“How did that go?”
He wanted to laugh.
“About as well as you expect. The wall crashed, Duncan haunted, and now we have more questions than answers. D’Artangnan nearly drowned in the lake, we have the potential of bringing in a psychic to help us out, and we’re worried about bringing the hauntings to a new level.”
Callen was curious.
“Is Michael fine?” he asked.
The man had one answer for that.
He was as fine as he’d ever been, but they weren’t talking about the same kind of fine.
Now, were they?
“He’s good. We’re just worried about bringing a psychic in. We are having a difficult time talking with the dead. They point, and…”
Callen laughed.
“Oh, my wife is going to skin me, wear my tan, and bust my balls unmercifully over all of this,” he admitted.
“I’m sorry, Sir. Ian just believes if we ask to have the curse removed, then it might calm it down here.”
Callen blew it off.
“Just do it,” he said “If a psychic can help figure all of this out, we have to take the risk. We want peace there by the wedding. The President of the United States is on the guest list, and he’s already said he’s coming.
The Secret Service, along with the Archangels here will be all riled up. Just make it happen.”
Graham wanted to make sure.
“We can try other things…”
Callen stopped him.
“It’s okay. We’ll take this route, and if it’s already haunted, it can’t get worse.”
Graham hoped they weren’t the famous last words after all of this went down.
“Okay, Sir.”
Callen was curious.
“What was behind the wall?” he asked, knowing construction crews were taking it down today.
Graham told him everything, and the whole time, Callen listened, interested in what they’d found. When Graham had finished, Callen was curious.
“Anything that will help us out?”
He wasn’t sure.
“Gabby and Ian will likely dig into the note. They want to figure out who she was talking about when she addressed the man as ‘Father’. Oison didn’t seem like a loving man from what we’ve learned.”
Callen took a stab at it.
“Maybe she meant Duncan, since he took her in and helped her get away from Oison. She was young, right?”
He agreed there.
“Yeah, she was thirteen when Oison passed her off on him to be his wife.”
Callen trusted that they’d take care of it.
One way or another.
“Keep me updated,” he stated.
Oh, and since they’d finished talking about business, Callen was going to go there.
“How are you, Graham? I heard about last night.”
Oh, why wasn’t he shocked?
“I’m better,” he said.
Callen was to the point.
“If you can’t be there, Graham, or this gets to be too much weight on your shoulders, you only have to tell me. I can help you.”
Graham got worried.
No.
He was scared.
“You’re not going to fire me, are you?” he asked. “I swear I’m okay,” he stated.
Callen was to the point.
“We’re not firing you, Graham, but I’m worried that this place is bad for your mental health. You tried to end your life, and that scares me. I care about you. I want to help.”
He appreciated that.
“That was dumb of me, and I’m sorry I worried everyone. I’m not good with alcohol.”
Callen understood that.
Look at his father.
He was a notoriously bad drunk who made questionable choices when he was drinking.
“If you need me to help you, Graham, all you need to do is ask. You’re part of our family, and I am hoping you’ll straighten this all out, and stay on as caretaker. Ravensmire needs you, and we need you.”
That was incredibly kind.
“I appreciate all you’ve done, and that you sent Gryphen and Ian. I’m grateful to have met all of you.”
Callen went there.
“And Michael?” he asked.
There was a pause.
“How do you feel about that?”
Oh, how did he feel?
There was only one word.
Confused.
“It was good seeing him again,” he admitted. “I’m just on edge because I don’t know what he’s thinking most of the time.”
He didn’t give the man too much information. The last thing he wanted to do was bitch and moan to his boss.
His VERY generous boss.
Callen tried to help him out.
“Michael is an open book. With him, he’ll be one hundred percent honest if you’re one hundred percent honest. Tell him what you’re feeling, and he’ll do the same.”
He listened.
“He’s a good person, and we love him very much. There’s no doubt in our minds that it will work out. This is definitely going to be fine. The whole castle thing…that’s anyone’s game.”
He actually laughed.
“Thank you, Sir.”
“Again, it’s Callen.”
Yeah, well, old habits die hard.
“I appreciate you letting me call. Thank you, Sir, and we’ll work on this. The bones aren’t all collected yet.”
Callen gave up.
Some soldiers just had to call everyone sir and ma’am. He wouldn’t be able to change that.
“Call Tony when they are. The man is on standby, dying to get his hands on them. Oh, and if he says he can come there, tell him no. He’s not happy everyone is there without him.”
That was amusing as hell.
Oh, he could imagine Tony was perturbed that they were stuck dealing with all this nightmare, and he was ‘missing’ out.
He wasn’t.
“I will, Sir.”
Callen continued.
“Call me back if you need me. I’ll be working all day, and I’m not too busy to get an update about the castle, Graham. Oh, and if you need a friend…”
He got it.
“Thank you, Sir.”
With that, he hung up.
Well, it looked as if they were going to be getting a psychic, so he texted Finn to invite the one his sister, Maisie, had seen.
They got the green light.
As he was standing there in the kitchen, he was stalling. Honestly, he needed a few minutes away from everyone.
While he’d been making the call, everyone else was busy transporting the paintings and journals out of the corridor and crypt to the storage room.
He needed to think about what had been going on between him and D’Artangnan.
Because he needed to figure this out before he got his heart handed to him.
Again.
Maybe he was an idiot, but he wasn’t worried about the ghosts, or the situation going on in the castle, but instead, what was going on in his personal life.
He was confused.
D’Artangnan had been holding his hand, and the whole time they’d been going into the sealed-off hallway, he’d been right by his side.
Hell!
He’d saved him from being bitten.
Still, Graham was worried.
He didn’t want to get attached, but he knew he just needed to come right out and ask the man what his intentions were. Both Finn and Callen had given him that advice.
It had to be good, right?
Standing there, he psyched himself up, so that he’d be ready to talk to D’Artangnan.
He could do this.
All he had to do was be honest.
Finally, after catching his breath, and building up the nerve to take control of the situation going on between them, when he turned around, standing ten feet away was the Marine.
Watching him.
He jumped, and that wasn’t normal for him. He’d been Black Watch, and he had nerves of steel.
Until this man was around.
Now, he was off balance.
“You’re rattled,” Michael stated, reading the room. “Did I do something wrong?” he asked.
Truth be told, he wanted to make sure Graham was okay, and he’d been watching him from not far away. The whole time, he’d heard everything he’d said to Callen, and what the man had said to him.
And Callen was right.
He liked open and clear dialogue—especially if it was about him and Graham.
At his words, the man said nothing.
“Oh, shit,” Michael stated. “You’re going to tell me that you don’t want to rekindle this, aren’t you?” he asked. “That I lost my chance when I left and broke you.”
Wait.
What?
Graham blinked.
Was this hot, incredibly sexy man worried about him being rejected?
Really?
Graham had been waiting seven years to have a second chance, and there was no way he was not taking that opportunity. He’d lived without D’Artangnan, and it had been horrible.
Michael continued, trying to do whatever he could to find some way to find his way back to Graham.
He was in love with him still, and he wanted to start back where they’d left off.
Not the beginning.
Not at the end.
Where they were now.