Page 30 of Grim Girl (Dead Girl Duology #2)

Rhodes

I was drifting.

It was calm here. Peaceful. Quiet.

I wanted to stay.

The switch-up was immediate. Once that decision was made, everything changed. I felt the snap of the string that tethered my soul to my body. I felt the sheer relief of releasing my hold on the living realm, and the warm acceptance of the realm of the dead as it welcomed me home.

More importantly, I felt strong again. No longer did my sickness drag me down. No longer was I bound to my bed, unable to move. I felt lighter. Brighter.

I knew it was so cliché to say it, but even though I had just died, I had never felt more alive.

Sounds rushed through my ears with startling clarity.

Scents invaded my senses with a strength that almost knocked me off my feet.

I could feel the warmth of the sun as it cast its rays over my skin.

I could taste the sweet cleanliness in the air.

And the sights were spectacular. Colours so vibrant and full that it took my brain a moment to process the sheer beauty of it all.

Yet, when I looked around, it was to see the familiar sight of my bedroom.

I was still home, but things weren’t as I left them.

My body lay empty and unmoving beneath me, surrounded by people bustling about.

Davey was in the corner speaking with Jessica.

Mikey was there, too, but he looked tense.

I saw why when my gaze caught on Dakota.

She had been such a blessing in my last moments, caring for me in a way no one had since before my parents got sick.

But it was the man standing beside her who made me freeze.

Blake.

He was here. In my room. With Dakota.

He was staring down at my corpse with a dead expression.

There was no emotion there, just emptiness that flared every instinct inside of me.

His hand was wrapped tightly around Dakota’s like he was holding her hostage, and he kept darting his gaze to where Mikey sat in the chair in the corner, like he was preparing to start a brand new hunt, and Mikey was his prey.

With the way Mikey kept stealing no-so-surreptitious glances at Dakota, I got the feeling Blake was considering using her as bait.

He needed to leave. Now.

I surged forward, ready to physically drag him from my house if I needed to, but got the shock of the century when instead of my hands landing on him, they went straight through.

I tumbled down, down, down, through the floor, passing through the bottom storey, and ended up in the crawlspace beneath the house.

‘Well, that was fun,’ a light, lyrical voice teased from behind. I whipped around, and there she was.

‘Kali!’ I grinned, more than happy to see her.

‘Hey, Rhodes. Sorry about your death.’

I waved her condolences away. ‘Don’t be. I’ve been waiting for it to happen so I can do this.’

Then, without any preamble, I threw my arms around her smaller frame and gave her the biggest hug ever. The very hug I had dreamed of for weeks now.

She chuckled, her arms lifted to wrap around me and return the embrace. ‘You’re feeling better, then?’

‘Much,’ I mumbled into her hair. Fuck, she smelled good. Like ice cream on a chilly winter’s night. It always tasted better in the winter, for some reason. ‘This helps.’

I felt her smile against my chest. ‘Glad I could help.’

‘I’m so glad I can finally touch you,’ I said, sighing happily into the embrace.

‘Okay, okay,’ another voice said, and glanced up to find Chance stalking towards me. ‘Break it up, bud. That’s my woman, you know.’

I didn’t listen to him. I was happy that he and Kali seemed to have found each other again, the right way this time, but I wasn’t letting her go. She belonged right here in my arms.

‘Uh… Rhodes?’ she called out, her voice muffled by the way her face was shmooshed against my chest.

‘Yeah?’

‘You gonna let go?’

‘No.’

She huffed like she was annoyed, but her arms tightened, pulling me closer. I grinned at Chance, but he just rolled his eyes and joined the hug.

‘Oh, hell yeah,’ I beamed. ‘Group hug!’

Chance’s rumbling chuckle vibrated through us all, followed by Kali’s squeal when he lifted us into the air, squishing her between us.

When he put us back down, I reluctantly released her and stepped back into Chance’s embrace, leaning against him while he wrapped his arms around her from behind.

‘I hope your passing was smooth and painless,’ he told me, and my smile immediately fell from my face.

‘It was peaceful. But yours wasn’t, was it?’ I wasn’t a question.

‘Not particularly, no.’

‘You can move freely,’ Kali commented, eyeing me with a scrutiny I was all too eager to welcome. So much so that I lifted my arms, struck a pose, and did a little spin.

She whistled. ‘Nice.’

‘I’m feeling a bit left out now,’ Chance pouted, but it was all in good fun.

‘Nah, man. I’m sexy as fuck, but you’re next level,’ I told him, and his responding grin was blinding.

‘Damn right.’

‘Okay, you two. Morty’s waiting on us.’

I blinked. ‘Who the fuck is Morty?’

Chance smirked and jabbed a finger into her side, tickling her. ‘Her second boyfriend.’

I was already shaking my head in denial. ‘No way. I’m boyfriend number two. Right, Kali? Tell him.’

They shared a loaded look, and I was pleasantly surprised that I could understand what was being said in the silence.

Kali was blushing, which looked like strawberry sauce drizzled over her pale, creamy features, and I wanted to lick it off to see if it tasted as sweet as I imagined.

Chance, though, he smug. His look screamed I told you so, and Kali wacked him half-heartedly on his bicep.

‘Oh, shut up.’

‘I am boyfriend number two, right?’

Her gaze found mine, suddenly vulnerable and a little nervous. She was so fucking adorable. ‘I’m totally keeping you,’ she told me, a cheeky grin lifting up her plump pink lips.

I was in front of her in the blink of an eye. ‘And I’m totally going to kiss you now.’

Neither one of them protested when I lowered my face. My lips claimed hers in a passionate kiss that she returned with just as much vigour. Her sweet little body ground against mine, and I realised Chance was pushing his hips into hers, getting off on watching us together.

That, in turn, sent me into a head-spiral of lust. My cock rose, aching in its stiffness, and I dry-humped her like a fucking animal.

I had waited weeks for this. Fucking weeks .

I’d had to die just to get a single taste of her, and now that I had, I wasn’t holding back.

She was it for me. I was hers. I knew this with all the certainty in the world.

Was it insane? Probably. But who the fuck cared? This woman was mine, and I was claiming her before anyone else tried to take their piece. Three boyfriends, and I had yet to meet the second, but if he was good enough to win her over, then I liked him already.

When she moaned into my mouth, I couldn’t take it a second longer. I had to have her, and I had to have her now.

But Chance yanked her away from me, my lips momentarily kissing air where they were once moulded to hers. My eyes snapped open, and I glared at the man for daring to put a stop to where that was leading.

‘What the fuck, man?’

‘Morty.’

‘Oh, shit,’ Kali said breathlessly. ‘We need to go. Morty’s kind of… um…’

‘A psychopath that happens to be in love with our girl here, but that love doesn’t necessarily extend to us,’ Chance finished for her, levelling me with a pointed look. I quickly got the hint.

‘Right. Introductions first, then fucking. Got it. Let’s go.’

He was shaking his head when I zoomed up through the ceiling and ended up in my living room.

Chance and Kali were quick to follow, and they led me outside to where another man was waiting.

A man covered in swirling shadows with a glare fixed on his black, bottomless pits that passed as eyes.

He was attractive in the way a moth might be attracted to a flame.

Common sense said stay away, but there was something about him that drew you in anyway, even against your better judgment.

I could totally see why Kali wanted him, not to mention the benefits of having someone like him on your side. Talk about a secret weapon.

‘Thanks,’ I whispered to Chance from the corner of my mouth, and he chuckled under his breath, amused, yet there was an undertone of tension that told me if this guy didn’t like me, I was no matter how hard I kicked and screamed in protest.

‘Don’t thank me yet.’

Yeah, that didn’t sound good for me at all.