Page 47 of Grave Possession (Grave #2)

“The only way you’re getting rid of me is in a bodybag, little siren.

” I smirk. “Anyway… Victoria threatened to lob off my nuts and shove them down my throat if I had done anything to you.” Mallory laughs at that, an other true one that’s music to my ears.

“Babe, she broke down when I told her you were missing. Then, when I wasn’t working fast enough, not rescuing you quick enough, she put herself in the line of fire.

Mallory, Victoria was so desperate to find you, she put herself on a bunch of online dating apps and websites, hoping she would get taken so she could somehow save you. ”

“Really?”

“Yes, and I gave her shit for it, but you’re her best friend. She loves you. She’s just working through things right now, like you are.”

“Is there anything else?”

“Yes, but you can’t get mad at us for it.” Her nostrils flare, and I can see the spiral her mind takes her on. “When I found her at Ted’s cabin, she couldn’t stay awake. I couldn’t bring her back safely on Graham’s quad, so… I left her there.”

“YOU WHAT?! You fucking left her there?!? Are you kidding me?” Her fist slams into my arm, then both of her hands are shoving me away, pushing at my shoulders, forcing distance between us.

“OW! Hey! What the fuck? Stop!” I raise my hands to block her strikes, then grab her wrists so she can focus on my voice. “She made me leave her there, forced me to go find you. Told me to stop worrying about her and go save you.”

All the fight leaks out of Mallory’s body as she crawls into my lap. Brushing her hair out of her face as it rests against my chest, I continue, “I left her armed, she almost took Grey’s head off because of it.”

Mal blows out a steady breath, not replying, just absorbing my recounting of events. “I miss her,” she rasps, head laying over my heart, listening to its steady beat.

“I know, baby,” I reply softly, nuzzling my cheek against her hair, then placing a gentle kiss to the top of her head. “But bridges aren’t built overnight, and it’s quicker if you’re each working from the opposite side.”

“So wise,” she whispers, looking up at me.

“I try.”

The silence floats between us, not at all tense or uncomfortable. We just exist together, calm and quiet. It’s nice, feeling like I can breathe deeply for a moment.

“Nox,” she hesitantly says, popping that peaceful bubble.

“Hmm,” I reply.

“There’s nothing you could have done to save me that night.” My entire body tenses beneath her, I know she feels it.

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do.”

“How? How could you possibly know that?” My voice becomes elevated. I don’t mean for it to but I can’t help it. Digging this up hurts, like I’m reliving the moment I realized she was truly missing all over again.

“Because I ran after him.”

“You what?” I growl.

Her head lifts off my chest as she locks her honey gaze with mine. “I thought it was you, obviously.”

“So this is my fault?” I unintentionally snap.

“No, absolutely not. Please, just listen,” she pleads, laying her palm over my racing heart .

I keep my mouth shut, waiting for her to continue. Even though there’s a million other things I’d rather do than listen to her recount how she ran into the arms of a serial killer because of the fucking mask.

“I was sad Ghost wasn’t coming around anymore. The only time I saw you was on the camera feed. I thought I did something wrong, something to upset you. I thought you were mad at me for still seeing you…the other you…Nox…whatever. You know what I mean.”

I can’t help but smile at that. I flipped her world upside down. My plan worked perfectly. She fell for the two sides of me independently, now I have no reason to hide who I am from her. She accepts each and every part of me, murderous intentions and all.

Continuing, she says, “You realize how fucking bonkers it is that you were jealous of yourself, right?” Letting out a quiet laugh, a small smile curves her lips.

It alleviates some of the darkness looming over this conversation.

“Do you know how much of a mindfuck it was to realize you two were the same person while I was kidnapped?”

“You knew that whole time?”

“I didn’t know, like one hundred percent, but I was pretty fucking sure, yeah.”

“You’re so smart,” I reply. I mean it, she’s bloody fucking brilliant. She survived.

“No, I’m not. If I was, I would have realized it wasn’t you at my window a whole lot sooner.”

Revulsion grows in my gut as I prepare to endure whatever fucked up thing she doesn’t want to reveal. “What happened?” I ask, trying to hide the shake in my voice as my ass starts sweating through my briefs from the nervous energy thrumming under my skin.

She heaves in a deep breath, “Promise not to be mad at me?”

“Why would I be mad at you? Mallory, what did you do?!” I say sharper than intended, the mounting anxiety causing me to slowly lose hold on my emotions.

“When Johnson showed up at my window that night, I was so happy to see you. But then you turned and left.” She hangs her head, diverting her gaze from mine. “Something inside me broke, being disregarded so blatantly. So, I ran after you…him.”

Mallory raises her face, not looking at me, but past me.

Out the window to the yard, she relives the whole traumatizing event.

“I stood outside, screaming and begging for you to come back because I wanted to fix whatever I had done to make you not want to be with me. Then you came back…and I was so happy. I ignored the bad feeling in my gut, rationalized it away as you being upset, and I was just picking up on the negative energy pouring off you. But something was wrong…and when he touched me, I knew it wasn’t you.

I was just too late and I couldn’t get away. ”

Mal’s eyes refocus, glossy with irritation from not blinking.

She trails her sight back to mine, sadness carved into the very fabric of her soul.

I feel it as her essence reaches out to touch mine, pulling me to her.

I want to comfort her, despite the urge to kill Ted all over again breaking the surface.

I’d dig up his corpse, not giving a shit that the county funded his funeral, and deliver it to my little siren.

Watching her whiskey eyes ignite with desire as his body burns on a pyre of my making, putting her demons to bed one devotional act at a time.

Fuck, the thought is enough to tent my pants.

But now is not the time for inappropriate thoughts.

“When did he take you?” I ask, steering my mind back to the current conversation.

“The same night I brought you dinner.”

Ted was there when I got back, he was sitting in the briefing room with everyone else while I waited in my uncle’s office.

“I can see your mind running, Ghost. Just let it go, it’s in the past and there’s nothing we can do about it now.” she says.

I don’t miss how she calls me Ghost, knowing full well it will fill my head full of the memories of her beneath me . Guess this is her way of putting an end to the conversation. So clever. So devious. So perfect for me.

Perhaps my inappropriate thoughts aren’t so poorly timed after all.

“You know I wasn’t mad at you, right?” I say, trying to stay on par with the mood in the room instead of just lunging at her like an animal. “I was just so tired, trying to work the case while still spending every minute I could with you, even if you weren’t awake.”

“I know that now, yes.”

“Good,” I reply.

Mallory offers me a small smile, looking off and out the window again. She starts nibbling on her bottom lip, lost in thought. Something is still weighing on her and it will bother me if I don’t find out what it is. “There’s something you’re not telling me, what is it? ”

Her wide eyes snap back to mine. “How did— How do you always know?” she exclaims. I just beam a massive smile at her. She knows I’ll say it’s my job, and that I know her better than she will ever comprehend, so I just stay silent.

“Ugh, fine. I flashed him.” she huffs.

“You what?!” I growl.

She fakes lifting up her t-shirt and showing off her breasts, embarrassment colouring her face as red floods my vision. “So, you showed him your tits?” I grumble.

“I was trying to get you to stay.” she counters.

“You know I wouldn’t have left if you did that.”

“Yes…. Again, I realized it too late.”

“Is that why you made me promise not to be mad? Because you flashed a serial killer your perfect tits that are for my eyes only?”

“First, they are my titties, and I’ll show them to whoever I want. And second…yes. I made a mistake, and I didn’t want you to get hung up on it since he’s dead.”

There’s a knot in my face, and no matter how hard I try to unwind it, it comes back. I’m so annoyed and irrationally fucking jealous. I want to beat his face to a bloody pulp.

Mallory slowly shifts in my lap, moving to straddle my thighs as she brushes her core against me.

“Aww, Ghost. Don’t be like that.” She pulls her shirt over her head, long ebony waves falling forward, covering her chest. “I’ll make it up to you,” she whispers, scattering her maddeningly soft kisses across my skin.

She’s goddamn right, she will.