Complications
Chapter twenty-two
Jake
I can't believe Alex's plan actually worked.
With Kayla gone, I feel like I can breathe again.
It's good to be able to move around without having to worry about being seen by the wrong people.
Alex and I have been staying in our physical form since she was arrested.
I can't remember the last time I even tried to get back to my ghost form.
I wonder if I still could, if I wanted to.
I look up at the house and assess it with a critical eye for the first time.
I have a list of things I want to do to spruce this place up, but I don't know where to start. As neglected as the yard is, the house itself is just as bad. The wood siding is rotted away in places, and the brown paint has largely flaked away. The roof looks original. So yeah, it’s a work in progress.
It's so quiet out here, and there’s not an animal in sight. They probably take one look at this place and run in terror. It truly does look haunted, so I guess Alex was onto something with his idea of turning that into a selling point.
A car pulls up and interrupts my planning. Thinking it’s a guest, I’m about to walk over and greet them when I see who gets out of the car. Big, tattooed, and mean looking. He looks like the rest of my father’s goons. I back away as he walks up to me, stopping just a few feet away. Too close.
“Who are you?” I ask.
“My name is Sergio. I work for your father. He wants you to come home. He’s asked me to come collect you.”
I stare at him, confused. "How does my father know I'm here?" I'm dead, I know he saw my body.
"Your father has eyes all over this place.
You walk around freely, and think you haven't been seen?
He wants to know what kind of games you are playing.
He is not taking kindly to being taken for a fool, not by you, and especially not when it costs him valuable employees.
" He takes another step towards me. “Time to go home.”
“Stay away from me!” I put my hands up as if that’ll ward him off, but he keeps coming until he's right in my face.
I push him back with all my strength. “Tell my father I’m not interested in coming home, and I don't want to see him. Please leave, or I'll call the cops. You’re trespassing.” I'm bluffing and he knows it.
He studies me for a minute, and I bristle. “You have cell phone on you?” he asks, looking me up and down.
I can feel the blood draining from my face as he watches me. “Leave. Now.” I’m debating whether or not I can reach the front door before he can catch me when he grabs onto my arm.
“Don’t touch me!” I yell, trying to pull out of his hold.
He drags me towards his car, my feet scraping along the gravel as I try to pull away from him. His grip is painful on my arm, and I stupidly wonder if ghosts can bruise.
“Your father wants to see you, knock some sense into you. He was willing to put up with your childish nonsense for a while, but it’s time to be a man and come home. You have responsibilities.”
Fuck. I still remember the last time my father tried to beat some sense into me. It’s not something I want to experience again.
There’s no way I’m letting this guy put me in his car.
I have no idea what’ll happen to me if I leave this property, and I don’t want to find out.
“I can’t leave the property, you fucking idiot!
” I use my free hand to hit him in the face.
Not expecting it, he stumbles a step and I yank out of his hold, putting distance between us.
I need to get to Alex, fast. I try to disappear into my ghost form, but nothing happens.
Fear creeps up my spine when I realize I’m stuck.
I can’t fight this guy, he outweighs me by at least fifty pounds of pure muscle.
“You are coming with me whether you like it or not, little boy. We can do this easy way, or hard way. Your choice. I like hard way, personally. You’re very pretty, like a woman.”
I make a run for the front door, panic flaring in my chest, but Sergio quickly catches up to me and wraps his arms around my waist, lifting me off the ground and dragging me back to the car.
“Get off me! Alex!” I scream and throw my head back.
I feel a satisfying crunch as my head makes contact with his nose, but his grip on me doesn’t loosen.
I throw my head back a second time, but before I can get him again, he wraps a hand in my hair and pulls my head back hard, stilling my movement.
“I really like hard way. But I will make you regret that. Is a long drive to your father’s house, and he never specified what condition you had to be in.”
I go limp as he drags me, trying to clear my mind and focus on disappearing.
In my sheer panic, I wasn’t able to do it.
If I remain stuck in my physical body, I’m a dead man.
Focus, Jake. I repeat that in my head, and he gets me to the car with no resistance.
As he reaches back to open the door, I let go of all of my energy.
I suddenly fall out of his grip, landing on my knees on the gravel.
“What the fuck?” he yells, confused. “Where did you go?”
He looks around for me, but he’s not going to find me. I need to get to Alex.
***
Alex
“Come on you piece of shit, work!” I slap the computer that has decided to freeze.
That little spinning wheel is mocking me.
“I have things to do!” Brandon really should be the one dealing with this, but he’s on break at the moment.
I let my head fall onto the reception desk with a thud. I need a vacation.
A loud shout coming from outside startles me out of my moping.
With a groan, I walk to the front door and look out to see what the commotion is, and what I see makes my blood boil.
There is a huge, tattooed guy out there standing over Jake, who is on the ground trying to get back onto his feet.
Oh, hell no. This is not happening. Not on my watch.
I don’t even think as I hurry out the door and run up to them.
“Hey, get away from him! Don’t touch him!” I yell, and the guy looks over at me with a sneer. Jake runs to my side, and I realize this guy can’t see him. I can tell when Jake reappears, because the guy looks directly at him.
“We were just talking, isn’t that right?” He asks Jake in a thick accent as he wipes blood off his nose. Russian. I gasp.
“Who the fuck are you?” I demand.
“None of your business, shrimp. Run along and find your parents.”
“Excuse me? I run this hotel! Sort of. Keep your hands off of my employee!” I straighten to my full height, trying to look intimidating. He looks down at me and crosses his thick arms across his chest.
“I’d like to file a complaint then. Your employee,” he pauses and looks Jake up and down before continuing, “Your employee came onto me. I had to put him in his place.”
Those words make Jake gasp and I look over to him as he freezes, eyes going distant. I need to shut this down fast.
“Shut the fuck up, bucko. Get off my property before I call the police. If I see you back here, I’ll kick your ass myself.”
“You think you could take me?” he taunts.
“I know that I have a large manager with an anger problem and a shotgun. He did time in prison and isn’t afraid of going back.” Lies. I’m all bluster, but I don’t know what else to do. I ran out here with no plan, I just knew I had to get to my man.
He eyes me for a minute, finally coming to the conclusion that I’m not fucking around here, and he's not going to easily win this round. Not against multiple people and the threat of deadly weapons. This dumbass thought my man would be alone. Easy prey. He’s dead wrong about that.
Jake’s not a fighter, but I’ll scrap when I need to.
He puts his hands up in mock surrender and looks at Jake. "I'll tell your father what we discussed. I'm sure it will go well for you. I’ll see you again, sweetheart, and we’ll finish what we started," he says with a wink.
“No the fuck you won’t! Over my dead body, freak!” I screech at him. He walks back to his car without a care in the world.
“What the fuck was that? Are you okay?” I ask Jake, worried.
He’s looking pale and hasn’t moved an inch, eyes zeroed in on the guy as he gets in his car.
“Do you know that guy?” He shakes his head.
I hover my hand over his arm, not touching him.
I don’t know if I have permission. “Please talk to me.”
He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. “He works for my father. Said his name was Sergio.”
“What did he want?”
“He told me he was here to take me home. He tried to drag me into his car when I refused. I broke his nose, I think.”
Good job, baby.
“He touched you. Did he hurt you?” If he did, I’m going to chase the Russian down and rip out his jugular with my teeth before bathing in his blood, size be damned. I’m running on pure rage at the moment.
“No, he didn’t hurt me. I, um, I’m going to take a break.”
“Okay. Whatever you need. Do you want me to come with you?”
He shakes his head. “I just want to be alone, if that’s okay? Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. Go rest, I’ll see you later. Are you sure you’re okay?”
He gives me a forced smile. “I’m okay.”
He walks into the house without another word, and I assume he’s heading to my room. I often find him in my bed when he’s not feeling safe, and that makes me feel a million miles tall, like I can protect him with my very essence.
I’m furious that these motherfuckers keep terrorizing my man.
I hope he’s telling me the truth when he says he’s not hurt.
I don’t think he’d lie to me, but I’ve seen that shame in his eyes more than once.
He doesn’t want me to look at him like he’s a victim.
I just need to have faith that he would trust me enough to tell me if something was wrong.