Chapter 18 #2
Krys scratched the back of his head. “Are you thirsty?”
“No, Dad. Can I go to bed?” Cleo slammed the door and locked it.
When she pulled back the drapes to check the window locks and saw him staring, she gave him the finger.
I laughed. “It’s nice to know she’s a normal teenager after all.”
Krys gave a lopsided grin while swaggering back to the room. “Sometimes I worry about that girl, but then I see her fire and know she’ll be fine.”
After closing the door, I turned the dead bolt while Krys briefly checked the window locks. “Of course she’ll be okay. She’ll be home with her mom.”
Krys held a bag of pretzels between his teeth while he fluffed his pillows. After picking his spot on the left, he leaned against the headboard and opened his snacks. I rounded to the other side and plopped down while he found a movie and then devoured his Shifter craving.
Instead of watching the movie, I stared at his bare feet and reflected on our previous conversations in the theater.
Why did I tell him all that stuff about ranking everyone’s feet? Now he thinks I have one of those foot fetishes. He does have nice feet, though.
He was so close I could feel his body heat over the crisp sheets. Krys chuckled at the comedy, and it warmed me. He had a great laugh, a deep rumbling sound like an erupting volcano.
Why am I so nervous? We’ve watched TV before.
Only, he was never in his underwear, and we were never in a motel room.
I wonder how soundproof the walls are. I should’ve packed a robe.
These jeans are squeezing my balls, but if I take my pants off now, he’ll send me to the bathroom.
Why does he smell so good coming out of a shift?
Nobody else smells that good. It’s not like he showered.
While Krys guzzled a bottle of water, I pretended to scratch my jaw against my right shoulder so I could watch the way his Adam’s apple undulated with each swallow.
Definitely the worst crush ever.
Darcy flew through the connecting door and blocked the TV, her eyes lit with amusement. “Whatcha doing in here? It got real quiet all of a sudden. Party time!” She laughed and crawled onto the bed with mischief dancing in her colorful eyes.
I gave her a venomous look and flicked my attention to the left, signaling for her to get back in Cleo’s room.
“Well, well. What do we have here? All snuggled up.” She sat between us on her knees. “Why don’t you kiss him? You know you want to.”
I tried to look beyond her, but ghosts weren’t transparent.
“Fleshwalkers are all the same,” she grumped.
“Life is short, and you’re too scared to seize the day.
” She waved her hand in front of my face and scowled.
“Do you really drink to drown out ghosts? Or do you hate yourself because of your father? He left you, and because he’s a Gravewalker, you probably hate that side of you.
You are what you are, Virgil Nightingale. ”
Don’t take the bait. Don’t take the bait.
“Stop ignoring me!” When she briefly closed her eyes, her scowl disappeared. “Not all ghosts are psycho. Okay, some are, but your ability to see us is a gift. I’d kill to be in your shoes.”
I gave a melodic sigh and continued looking past her.
Darcy jumped to Krys’s right side and then peered at me. “Do it. Kiss him.”
My stomach knotted, and I wasn’t sure if it was her or my nerves.
She flattened her hand on his chest. “Put your hand on his thigh and see what he does. His heart’s going faster than normal. I can feel it. Oh, just kiss him! Please?” She rolled through him and blocked the TV while kneeling. “Friends-to-lovers romance is my favorite trope!”
Krys chuckled at the movie.
When Darcy stroked his thigh, my blood boiled.
“It’s that slow build,” she said while sitting back on her ankles.
“The forbidden zone. You’ve thought about it, and they’ve thought about it…
but nobody talks about it. The tension builds until you get that one moment when your guards are down.
” She splayed her fingers. “Fireworks. Chemistry. Explosions. What’s the problem?
You already know each other’s bad habits and if you get along. Well, obviously you get along—”
“Will you shut up? Go away and stop talking!”
Darcy slid off the bed like syrup sliding off the edges of a stack of hot pancakes.
Krys gave me a calculated look. “Who are you talking to?”
“No one.”
He switched off the TV and twisted to give me his undivided attention. Instead of badgering me, his eyes trained on mine like a target, and that was a million times worse.
I smiled. “Take a picture. It’ll last longer.”
“Cut it out. What’s going on?”
I scratched my chest and decided it was only a matter of time before everyone found out.
“Remember back at the Rabbit Lounge when I said I wasn’t right for the pack?
It’s not because I see ghosts—it’s what happens when they come home with me.
When they stick to my life. I happen to have a very colorful ectoplasm glued to my ass right now, and she’s following me across the country. ”
Darcy’s head appeared at the foot of the bed. “I’m not slime! I’ve seen that Ghostbusters movie a dozen times, and I know what ectoplasm is. They got it all wrong. We’re not slimy!”
Krys’s voice softened. “Why didn’t you say something?”
I stroked the base of my throat. “I didn’t want to freak Cleo out by telling her there’s a dead woman in the back seat with her. Or deal with the looks, like the one you’re giving me now because you know there’s a ghosty in the room.”
He sat back against the headboard, our shoulders touching. “I don’t give a shit who’s in the room. I’ve been in places where I’m sure a lot of ghosts were hanging around watching. What I can’t see doesn’t bother me.”
“Must be nice.” I stared at our reflection in the black TV screen.
Krys heaved a sigh. “All this time, you were thinking about leaving the pack because of one ghost? Jesus. I would’ve understood if you told me.” He switched on the TV again and set the remote on the nightstand.
Now that he knew my secret, I gave Darcy a bye-bye wave.
She silently strolled to the sliding door. “Carpe diem, Virgil. Seize the day.”
Once she was gone, I gave Krys a flirtatious smile. “Now that we’ve gotten all our secrets out, do I still have to sleep in the bathroom?”
He stroked his goatee, eyes on the movie. “I guess if my wolf wanted to kill you, he would’ve done it by now.”
I laughed and rested my hand on his thigh. It was so instinctive that I didn’t realize I’d done it until it was too late.
Then I froze.
With anyone else, I had all the audacity in the world to flirt. Making a move on Krys filled me with nervous butterflies and fear of rejection. Not to mention I was crossing the friendship barrier.
Darcy’s words about seizing the day echoed in my head, so I played it cool like back at the theater. Only this time I made my attraction unquestionable by giving his thigh a deliberate squeeze.
Krys’s breath hitched.
When he didn’t knock my arm away or flee, I gathered my courage and faced him. Awareness burned in his eyes. Not disbelief or humor. Not even hesitation. Only yearning.
Sliding my hand around his neck, I pulled him in and planted a kiss on his mouth. The familiar scrape of his goatee against my chin and the taste of his lips dizzied my thoughts. I stroked his neck as the kiss took on a life of its own.
We had been here before. It was a million years ago. It was yesterday. It was a memory resurrected, and it felt more tangible than it had the first time.
My heart pounded against my chest as the kiss reached a scorching degree.
Fuck, he’s kissing me back.