Page 51 of Ghosted (The Ravenwood #1)

THIRTY-NINE

I’m working on autopilot, restocking the store.

They gave Richard nothing more than a slap on the wrist, as expected.

He’s going to have to do community service, but he didn’t even lose his license to practice law.

Jack’s P.I. confirmed our suspicion that Richard’s father is woven deep into the underbelly of the county.

Too many backs scratched and palms greased to let his precious son go to jail for intended sexual assault, let alone murder.

And the worst part is, at this rate, we may truly never know how he got away with it.

Dean even followed him home and watched over his shoulder for days at a time, scouting through his house when he was gone.

Richard’s done nothing out of the ordinary, other than working out more than any person needs to and watching more porn than any pair of eyes can take.

Clearly, his brush with the law scared him, because he’s hardly left his house other than to go to the gym.

Unless he plots another murder, we pretty much have our hands tied .

A tingle at the back of my mind catches my attention and makes me set down the armful of crystals I was arranging.

My hair stands on end and I turn, grateful that we haven’t opened yet.

“Hello?” I call out, coaxing whoever it is forward.

As they push closer, I realize their energy feels familiar.

“Ivan, I know it’s you, you can stop hiding,” I say tiredly.

With a burst of energy that makes my ears pop, Ivan is suddenly looming in front of me.

I sigh. “You can stop with the dramatics. I’ve got too much going on right now. Would you like for me to help you move on, or did you just come to bother me?”

He scowls and says, “You made my nephew angry.”

I laugh derisively. “Yeah, because you had no part in that.”

“Hey, I’ve never lied to him,” he states, thumbing his chest.

“Well, there are worse things than lying,” I say, going back to stocking our crystal display. Obsidian and Tiger’s Eye have been oddly popular lately. I arrange the crystals, taking pleasure in the menial task.

Ice-cold fingers wrap around my bicep and squeeze to the edge of pain, making me gasp. “Hey!” I exclaim, spinning around and shoving against his chest. He stumbles back, releasing me, eyes wide in shock. He doesn’t seem to like that the playing field is more even than he thought.

In a blink, a familiar, muscular back is in front of me, anger radiating off of him in waves. “Next time you put your hands on her, you’ll find yourself blasted so far into the black, you won’t be able to find your way back here,” Dean says through clenched teeth.

Ivan hacks a familiar smoker’s laugh/cough and says, “Whatever you say. Listen, we were just having a conversation.” He’s using a calm tone of voice, trying to smooth over his unprovoked actions.

“Yeah?” Dean asks. “Well then, you won’t mind if I’m here, right?”

Ivan raises his hands in surrender and says, “Not at all.” He turns his bloodshot eyes to me. “I want to talk to my nephew again. You’ll arrange that,” he orders imperiously.

I fold my arms over my chest and chew on my lip in thought.

I know Misha wants this closure. He deserves it, even if this jackass doesn’t.

“Okay. I’ll try. I need to talk to him first. If he doesn’t trust me, it won’t do either of you any good.

Give me some time and I’ll call you if and when we’re ready,” I say reluctantly.

“And don’t come anywhere near her until then,” Dean practically growls.

Ivan looks like he’s sucking on a sour lemon, but he nods once and then pops out of existence.

Before I can even process the movement, Dean is in front of me and dragging the V-neck of my oversized sweater down my arm, exposing it to the elbow. Red marks bloom over the pale skin on my upper bicep. Dean hisses in a breath and says darkly, “I’ll kill him.”

“He’s already dead,” I point out.

“I’ll kill him again,” Dean grits.

“So he can be double-dead?”

Dean mumbles something under his breath. Louder he says, “Why aren’t you freaking out?” He traces his fingers lightly over the livid skin, making me shiver.

“Oh, I am. I’m very freaked out. No ghost has ever done that before. To be honest, I’ve never really interacted with an angry spirit. Sure, some of them have been assholes, but they’ve never really taken it out on me because they’re so grateful that I’m trying to help them.”

I cup his jaw. Just having him here is grounding.

I don’t know what I’ll do when he’s gone.

He’s quickly become my person. Losing him will be like losing a kidney, only more vital.

Like losing my damned heart. The thought of revealing the tether is on the tip of my tongue.

But I push the selfish impulse down. I will find a way to get him to peace.

Even if it feels like stomping on my sad little heart.

He must feel the tremble in my body because he presses me close and says, “It’s okay. I’m here.”

I sigh into his chest, wondering how much longer that will be true.

“Is today Ghost Day or something?” I ask when Rebecca appears alongside me on my frigid walk around the park.

I needed to clear my head after Ivan, and my lunch break was the only time I could get away.

I already ate my soup, so now I’m meandering around the manmade lake.

Snow dusts the ground, and it’s yet to turn a dirty, grayish-brown like it usually does this early in the season.

I try to soak it in, knowing that the forecast calls for rain in the next few days, which will turn this all into a gross slush.

“Why do you say that?” she asks, keeping pace with me.

I look around furtively, grateful that we’re mostly alone. There are a few runners out, but they’re all far enough away that they shouldn’t overhear me talking to a ghost. “No reason, sorry. It’s just been a long day,” I reply, shoving my cold hands further in my pockets in search of warmth .

“Trouble in paradise,” she asserts, nodding sagely. Before I can correct her, she asks, “Where is lover boy anyway?”

“He’s off getting a little R and R,” I tell her. I go on to explain the situation with Richard, and that Dean has been spending a lot of time watching him. Apparently, it’s more draining than when he’s with me, so he’s needed more rest than usual.

“Ah,” she says, tucking her hands into her own pockets. “So you guys think he’s the killer?”

“At the very least, he’s the one who instigated it and drugged Dean. Whether or not he actually got his hands dirty, I’m not sure. At this point, we might never know.”

“Don’t be surprised if something comes out that confirms his guilt,” Rebecca says.

“It sounds like he was dumb enough to use the same type of drug on that poor girl and get caught, so I’m sure something else will slip.

And hopefully whatever comes out is too hard to brush off for those corrupt jerks down at the PD. ”

I sigh and say, “I hope so.”

We walk for a while in silence, and then she stops me with a staticky hand on my shoulder. I look down at it surprised and turn to her. “Rae, I think it’s time for me to move on,” she says, looking up at me.

“What?” I ask stupidly. For some reason, I had taken her presence for granted, thinking that she would be around for a while. To be honest, I was beginning to wonder if she’d ever tire of haunting her ex. “What about Kyle? Who’s going to make him miserable?”

She laughs a little. “I think he can manage that on his own. In fact, I know he can. He’s burning his own life to the ground without any help from me.

” She looks out over the lake, face more serene than I’ve ever seen it.

“I’m just ready to see what else is out there.

I don’t know how to explain it, but I feel like whatever was holding onto me here is letting go.

And every time I slip into the ether, I get pulled a little farther away. ”

“Are you scared?” I ask.

She smiles at me and shakes her head. “No. Wherever it’s leading feels like every positive emotion I’ve ever had. I swore I could taste my first birthday cake the other day. And then later, I felt warm sand under my feet and could hear the ocean. I just barely pulled myself back.”

“Why did you do that?” I ask. It seems like it would be hard to let go of.

Her wistful expression sharpens into something more mocking, and she raises a dark eyebrow. “To say goodbye to you, dummy.”

“Oh,” I say with a laugh. And then more seriously, once it hits me. “Oh.”

“Yeah,” she says, squeezing my shoulder before dropping her hand. She clears her throat and says, “So, yeah. Bye, I guess.”

“Bye, Rebecca. Thanks for being my friend, even with the whole Beetlejuice thing.”

Her face twists in disgust. “Ugh, thanks for reminding me.” I laugh and she says, “No, but seriously. Thank you for putting up with me and for helping me. You gave me a place to go when I felt lost. I wasn’t as scared or alone.”

I look up at the overcast sky, trying to keep the tears at bay. When I have control, I say, “Of course. It’s what I do, and I was glad to be there for you.”

“I’m still not sure what you even do with all this,” she says, gesturing vaguely between us, “But I’m happy to have met you while I had the chance.” Leave it to Rebecca to take something sweet and turn it into a jab.

I roll my eyes, saying, “Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Go wreak havoc in paradise.” I jokingly shoo her away, even though my sinuses burn with unshed tears.

“Will do,” she says with a smile. “Goodbye, Rae, see you over there some day. But not too soon, okay?” I nod, and she presses up on her tiptoes to kiss my cheek.

I close my eyes and feel rather than see a flash of light and a flood of warmth.

I could swear I smell the ocean. When I open my eyes, she’s gone and the world is cold again.