Page 84 of Dead Serious: Case 3 Mr Bruce Reyes

“Is Dusty still here?” Danny glances around the room even though he can’t see her.

“Yeah.” I step into a pair of clean boxers, pulling them up, then nod towards the end of the bed. “She’s just there.”

“And you just wander around naked in front of her?” he asks, his voice coloured with curiosity rather than jealousy, while Dusty continues to pace agitatedly.

“I didn’t in the beginning, but she has a habit of just appearing and starting a full-blown conversation while I’m in the shower. In the end, I gave up on any sense of modesty around her. Besides”—I rummage around in the bag to see what other clothes are in there—“it’s not like she didn’t see my dick when she accidentally possessed my body.”

“What?” Danny’s eyes widen and I wince, realising what I’d just let slip.

“Um, it was an accident and it was only temporary.”

“How temporary?” His eyes narrow.

“Twenty-four hours… maybe forty-eight,” I hedge.

“Seriously?” He frowns. “When was this?”

Sighing, I drop the bag and move to sit on the edge of the bed beside him.

“When I was at the community centre and I was accidentally drugged,” I confess. “Dusty panicked, she thought I’d been poisoned given what had happened to Mrs Abernathy, so she possessed my body to get me out of the community centre and to the hospital.”

“So was it you in the hospital?” Danny asks. I can tell he’s trying to understand, but he scowls all the same.

“Um…” I glance over at Dusty, who looks as if she’s torn between impatience and sympathy.

“You might as well tell him the truth, boo,” she says. “You said no secrets, remember? He can handle it.”

I turn back to Danny and draw in a breath. “We didn’t realise it at the time until I kinda woke up. It turned out that, when she possessed my body, she accidentally pushed me out, so it was more like a body swap.”

“That’s why you were acting so weird and why you avoided me after you got out of the hospital,” Danny replies, and I can tell he’s not happy.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you the truth without sounding like a complete lunatic. You didn’t even know about the whole ghost thing at the time.”

“I knew something was wrong though,” he says quietly. “I knew it wasn’t you, but I didn’t understand how.”

“That’s why we avoided you. I knew I had to fix it, but then we accidentally got trapped together in my body. That’s when we went to Harrison. It was the first time I’d met him properly, but I knew he was a witch, and although I wasn’t sure I believed in that kind of thing at the time, I was desperate.”

“He was obviously able to help you,” Danny muses, his frown returning, “but I can’t imagine how. I mean, witchcraft isn’t really… real. I mean, I know you say it is, but how? How was he able to separate you and give you back your body? I don’t get it.”

I can tell he’s really struggling with this one. He’s been so good accepting all this ghost stuff, but I know he’s had trouble getting his head around the whole witchcraft slash magic thing. To tell the truth, I don’t really know much myself. All I know is what I’ve seen Harrison do.

“He did this weird magicky thing with his hands,” I say awkwardly. “Kinda like a defibrillator, shocked Dusty right out of my body. She got in loads of trouble for that.”

“Trouble?” Danny shakes his head in confusion. “With who?”

I point to the ceiling. “The higher powers, I guess? Dusty calls them the Upstairs Management, and they were really not happy about the whole thing. Apparently, accidental possession is frowned upon.”

He reaches up and rubs his forehead, and a wave of anxiety rolls in my stomach.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper heavily.

He blows out a resigned breath and then shakes his head. “Don’t be. Like you said, it was an accident and from the sounds of it, Dusty was just trying to protect you.”

“She was,” I agree. “But every time I tell you something else about my weird life, I feel like I’m pushing you too far.”

He’s quiet for a moment but then reaches out and takes my hand, twining his fingers with mine.

“You’re not,” he finally says. “There’s nothing you could tell me that would make me not want to be with you. It’s just… it’s a lot.”