Page 62 of A Curse On Black Lake (Black Lake Gothic Cowboys #1)

Chapter forty-seven

Killian

She gapes at me.

It’s the truth. She’s the only one I want in my orbit. I’ve had no desire to be around anyone for a long time since Dad died. It was easier to keep everyone at arm’s length. But I want Eliana as close as possible.

“I’ve never seen a dead body before, not like that,” she says.

Okay then.

“It’s a hard thing to look at,” I mutter, having seen too many.

“Grams looked at peace. That poor woman had everything stolen from her.”

I run my hand through her hair again. “It might be one thing to process the death of people you love, but it’s different when you see death that’s unattached to you. Sometimes it can be difficult not to become jaded about it.”

“Is that what happened to you?”

“Among many things, yes. Seeing Dad decline, and die right in front of me, strangely shook me out of it. But you can still mourn for Hazel. She deserves to have someone do that for her,” I tell her.

“I’m sure she has family.”

“I think she has a sister in town. I don’t remember. Usually, a lot of these women are Jane Does. No one knows who they are, or that they’re even missing. That’s why I find it so strange that the perp went after a local woman.”

“Sometimes it feels like the entirety of Black Lake is being buried in this town. The population gets smaller, but the cemetery keeps getting bigger,” Eliana says.

I nod and kiss her nose.

We lay there in silence, and it feels like the ghosts of this town are surrounding us, the fog becoming so thick it’s almost impossible to see life in Black Lake.

“Are the Spirits quiet?” I ask her.

“They finally stopped screaming, so it doesn’t feel like my ears are bleeding.”

“Do you know why they do that?”

“Could be a lot of reasons. Sometimes they react to my own emotional turmoil. But other times it’s because they’re aware of something. They don’t give me details like that,” she says.

Eliana shifts her head and leans forward, brushing her lips against mine.

I slide my hand to her backside pulling her further into me.

She slides her leg between my thighs, and I kiss her again.

“I want you to know that I’m not kissing you because of everything that happened today.”

“It’s okay if you are,” I tell her.

She kisses me again, fisting my shirt in her small hand. “I don’t want you to think I’m using you,” she says.

I chuckle and knead the back of her neck. “You can use me however you want, little witch.”

The corner of her mouth tips up and drops in a breath. “I don’t want to weigh you down with my mess, and that seems to be all I’m doing. Especially with your own.”

“No, you’re not. You’re keeping me from being arrested. Though I think that problem could solve itself.”

“If we can figure out who is stalking me?” she asks.

“I believe so.”

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” she mumbles.

“We have to Eliana. We need a game plan. We can’t keep taking things as they come. He’s angry, and based on the state of your poor goat, I think I’m the cause of it,” I tell her.

She breaks eye contact because she knows I'm right.

“It’s all so heavy,” she whispers.

“That’s why I’m here to help you carry it.”

“You’re not an ox, Killian, you’re not meant to carry it all either.”

“So then let’s stop tryin’ to drag it with us.” I offer.

“I don’t know how to do that,” she says.

“We can figure it out together.”

Her eyes brighten, and she arches into me. I don’t think she realizes she’s doing it. “Do you mean that?”

“I don’t say things I don’t mean … most of the time.”

Eliana gives me a knowing look, and whispers, “Kiss me.”

I dip down, and she sighs into the way our mouths meld together, and I can’t help the groan that builds up my throat with the way her body melts into mine.

“Can you take me somewhere?” she asks as she twirls a piece of my hair around her finger.

“Where do you want to go?” I ask her.

“To the cemetery.”

I’m all too familiar with this cemetery, though many in Black Lake are. It’s massive for a reason, going back to the 1850s.

I automatically go to the left at the fork in the road.

“Grams is on the other side,” Eliana says.

“Sorry,” I mumble, and back up, going left instead.

“She’s up on the hill there,” Eliana says, pointing.

It’s dark now and somewhat hard to see what she’s pointing to. I drive a little farther.

“Here,” she says.

I park the truck, and Eliana hops out, going straight for her Grams’s grave. This is the only graveyard I’ve been around consistently, and the aboveground graves have always felt strange, as if nature knows that the dead should be back in the earth, to return to the place they belong.

Staying by the truck, I give Eliana the space she needs to visit her Grams. I know I should go visit my parents, but I’m angry.

I deserved to know the woman who gave birth to me, whether or not she was alive.

It doesn’t change the fact that they were my mom and dad, but I should’ve known.

I wonder where Victoria is? Why did she give me up?

Is she buried here? Has she been forgotten like the others I fought to find?

Unease rolls down my spine, and I check on Eliana. Her figure is shrouded in darkness, and it’s making me nervous. There’s someone out there who wants both of us dead. We’re sitting ducks out here.

Unable to take it anymore, I click on my flashlight and go up to find her. Out of the corner of my eye, I swear there’s a man across the way, but when I turn to look, it’s only tombstones, standing proudly on top of their stone sarcophagi.

She’s sitting next to the raised grave, drawing pictures in the dirt.

“Grams, this is Killian. Killian, Grams,” she says.

I automatically take my hat off and hold it over my heart. “Ma’am, it’s nice to meet you.”

“She would’ve loved you,” Eliana says quietly.

“I have a feeling I would’ve liked her too,” I tell her.

“I wanted you to meet her. I felt like it was time.”

My stomach twists. “Why is that?” I ask, knowing this was a big step for her.

“Because I’ve never introduced a man to my Grams,” she says.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I didn’t have many gentleman callers,” she says, chuckling dryly.

“So what made you want me to meet her? My charm and devilishly good looks?”

She doesn’t answer right away, and I think maybe I said the wrong thing. It’s too soon to joke.

“I’m sorry, I—”

“It’s not that. We need to go,” she says, getting to her feet.

“What? Why?” I ask her.

She remains focused on something behind me, and I turn around, expecting it to be the same man that’s been watching her, but it’s a woman, the long hair my only indicator. Another icy shiver runs down my spine.

“Do you remember when I told you that there are things you can’t kill with a gun? They prey on the vulnerable?”

“Yeah,” I drawl.

“They’re here a lot, but … there’s more. It’s like an imbalance. I can feel it, and we don’t want to be here to find out why.”

“Are the Spirits talking to you?” I ask her.

“They’re telling us to leave now,” she says as we hustle down the small hill.

We hop in the truck and the headlights come on, and we jump out of our skin, as a man dressed in a suit from many decades ago, crosses the small street and looks at us as blood stains his chin and neck, soaking into his shirt.

I glance down at his hand, and he’s carrying a bouquet of the Monitio Flos De Letum.

“Drive, don’t pay attention, just drive,” she says.

I force myself to put the truck into gear and put the pedal to the metal, maneuvering out of the cemetery, headed straight for home.

“Are we going to talk about that?” I ask her.

“There’s nothing to talk about. What you saw was what they wanted you to see,” she says.

“But he was carrying —”

“I know. I don’t get it. There’s probably nothing to get,” she says quickly, though I think I hear an edge of fear in her voice.

“Thank you,” she whispers.

“What for?” I ask.

“Bringing me. It was … It was really nice to have someone with me this time,” she says.

“I’m sorry the ghosts came out. I wish you had more time.”

“None of us has enough time, and what we do with the little we have is more important now than ever,” she says in a faraway voice. I glance at Eliana, her features sharply outlined by the bright moon, as she looks out her window.

When we get home, she heads upstairs, and a few minutes later I hear the shower running. Not sure what to make of tonight, I go down to check on the animals, and put the goats in one of the stalls for the night.

After that, I walk the perimeter of the house, and call for Tiny, since I know Eliana likes to have him around.

When we get inside, I check every door and window twice, and leave a couple of lights on downstairs.

I set a bowl of water out for Tiny, and he curls up on the rug in the living room, dismissing me.

My eyes get heavier with every stair I climb. It’s been a long day, and I almost fell asleep in the shower. When my head hits the pillow, and I’m nearly asleep until my bedroom door opens. I pop up, and Eliana stands there, shifting on her feet.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” I ask her, wide awake.

“Can I sleep in here?” she asks.

“Yeah, of course.” I pull back the covers for her.

She goes to the other side of the bed and crawls in.

Drawing the blanket over both of us, and we lay there without touching.

I have to fight myself tooth and nail not to pull her into my chest and never let her go.

Eliana quiets the madness in my mind. She is the cure to the sulky bastard I’ve been for a long time.

I lift my hand to reach for her then fist it, dropping it on the bed between us.

I don’t want to push her, so I close my eyes and get comfortable, then she shifts around in bed until she’s tucked into my side with an arm thrown across my ribs, and I fall asleep with a smile on my face.