Page 69 of Deadly Blooms (Psychic Unraveled #1)

“Ha! Little do you know.” She narrowed her focus on me, her eyes squinting from the mischievousness found in her grin. “I was higher than a kite when we ran into each other.”

“You’re such a liar! ” I folded my arms over my stomach. “There’s no way.”

“Yep.” She seemed almost proud of her ability to hide her intoxication. “Been at it since I was twelve.”

“Don’t get too full of yourself. You’re not that good.”

“No?” Katie spun me around and started working my hair into some chaotic double-braided updo, jabbing bobby pins like she was solving a puzzle only she could see. “Then why didn’t you know?”

“I don’t know, I just never pictured you as the type.”

“The type?” Her voice sliced sharp, full of disgust. “You know marijuana is used for more than getting high, right?” Her fingers tapped my shoulders—a silent command to face her again.

“So I’ve read.”

Katie’s shoulders stiffened. The warmth drained from her face, leaving behind something blank and brittle.

Shit. I really pissed her off.

My mouth opened, but the words didn’t line up—they just tangled. There was a heaviness inside, and the only thing I could do was chew the side of my cheek.

I’d really hurt her. First, backhanded remarks about what she felt with Uncle Silas, now being overly judgmental about her use of weed.

I inhaled deeply and puffed out my cheeks, holding the breath like it’d buy me time—but it didn’t.

“Katie, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be so judgmental of you all the time. Maybe that’s why I’ve never been able to hold on to a friendship—even a really good one.” My words hovered in the room.

Katie turned back to the closet, her head hanging low. There was something wounded in her eyes—quiet, careful. Like she was deciding whether I was still safe.

She approached, forcing herself to lock eyes with me, a small smile tugged at her lips.

“It’s fine. I’d rather be stoned, in love with a ghost and oblivious—even if it meant being judged by my best friend.” She elbowed me in the ribs, a little too hard to be entirely playful.

I let out breathy laugh. “Okay—let’s make a pact. From here on out, we’re the only ones allowed to judge each other. Especially when it comes to our supernatural sex lives and extracurricular plant addictions.”

Katie snorted and dropped a pair of dangly earrings into my hand.

Thank God she wasn’t the type to hold a grudge. I was the asshole here, no question. It was something I was trying to work on—being softer, less reactive—but damn, I really lucked out when I crashed my cart into her.

A knock at the door jolted me upright.

Graham and Derek.

“Oooo-eee,” Graham whistled as he stepped in. “Would you look at these two fine specimens of the female race?” He wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me close, his grip firm and familiar. “You ready?”

My pulse fluttered, warmth spreading under my skin at the memory of what we did before he left. Being in his arms again felt… right. Like safety I didn’t know I’d been craving.

I nodded, sliding my hand into his back pocket and giving a sly squeeze. “Why don’t you go start the truck? I’ll be right down. I just need to ask Katie something real quick.”

“Don’t be long,” he murmured, brushing a kiss over my temple before heading down the stairs.

The second I heard the front door click shut, I grabbed Derek by the collar and shoved him gently but firmly against the wall.

“What the hell are you two doing up there?” I hissed. “What’s going on with Graham? He’s hiding something and I do not like it.” I jabbed my finger just beneath his collarbone, sharp and unrelenting. “He’s acting like a fucking ray of sunshine and I don’t like it.”

Derek cleared his throat. “I—I don’t know what you mean.”

“The fuck you don’t, Derek,” Katie fired back, arms crossed like she was ready to tag me in for round two.

My glare sharpened. “So now I’m not allowed to know certain parts of the case? And when Graham mentioned he missed something about Colorado—then brushed it off like it was nothing—what the hell am I supposed to think?”

Derek pasted on a diplomatic smile that only pissed me off more. “Look, nothing’s going on with the case. You’ll just have to trust him to tell you when he’s ready. Same with the Colorado stuff—he’s got baggage, yeah, but it’s his to unpack. If you care about him, let him be the one to tell you.”

Oh, perfect. That didn’t sound suspicious at all .

With my luck, I’d fall hard for the guy and find out he’s got a wife and two kids back in Colorado and a goddamn dog named Lucky who missed him every night.

I grabbed my jean jacket and purse in a stormy swirl and stalked out the door without another word.

The ride to Portia’s party was short, but it felt like hours. I couldn’t stop obsessing over the fact that Graham was hiding something. If this— whatever this was— was going to be a relationship, it couldn’t start on secrets.

What was I even saying? The man hadn’t even kissed me. Maybe all he cared about was his dick meeting my pussy.

Well played, Karma. Well played.

“You okay? You’ve been really quiet.”

His voice was soft, careful—like he already knew the answer.

“Oh, yeah. Just a little nervous, that’s all.” Lie. I twirled the necklace around my fingers—the one he gave me. Or… I thought he gave me.

“You look really nice.” Graham offered a smile, the kind meant to shift the air, to distract me while he reached over and squeezed my thigh.

“Thanks,” I said, glancing down at the floral skirt. “Oh—I never thanked you.”

“For what?”

“The skirt. The necklace. You left them on the vanity, with a note— For tonight. Remember?”

His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “What are you talking about?”

I blinked, the back of my neck prickling. “You… didn’t… leave them?”

“No.” He frowned. “I’ve never seen them before.”

My stomach dropped. “Then where the fuck did they come from?”

“Katie, maybe?”

“No—she thought you left them.”

“Derek?” His voice faltered.

“Why would he leave me a skirt and necklace? That’s just— weird.”

I clamped my hands in my lap, watching a flock of geese cut across the almost-full moon. The sky was drained to a dusty, bruised pink, the harbor below us glowing like liquid glass as we passed over the bridge into Crescent Cove.

The silence stretched, dense and uneasy.

Something wasn’t adding up.

Either someone or something was messing with me…