Page 72 of The Haunting of Lockton

I suppressed an eye roll. “All right, you didn’tpass outwhen you saw Roy.”

“This guy is different.” Skyler waved a hand at Alan. “He seems way too real. Roy was a full-bodied apparition but still seemed ghostly. But him?” Another look at Alan. “Took me completely off guard.”

Alan tipped his head to him. “Again. My apologies.”

Skyler exhaled and squeezed his eyes shut. “This is a lot to take in.”

I tossed Alan a worried look before gently cupping Skyler’s cheek. “Here. Let me check your pupils.” I was no expert, but I’d seen it done in a TV show. Because TV mirrored reality, right? Oh god, what if he had a concussion?

Skyler’s mouth hitched up. “Are you a doctor now, Ichabod? You could just kiss it and make it better.”

“Yep. You’re fine,” I said, lowering my hand from his face. “Then again, you seem like the type to be on his deathbed and still trying to flirt with everyone.”

“Not with everyone.” He rested his hand on my thigh. “But with you? Always.”

My heart knocked harder in my chest as his smile became lopsided.

“I’ll brew a fresh pot of coffee,” Alan said before leaving the living room. He could’ve teleported to the kitchen instead of walking, but he probably didn’t want to freak out Skyler more than he already was.

“Ghosts can make coffee?”

“Alan makes it for me every morning,” I answered. “He can’t drink it though. Well, I guess hecan, but he can’t taste it. Same goes for food. Except for on Halloween. It’s the one day of the year when the dead can walk among the living as one of us.”

Skyler smoothed his thumb in tiny circles on top of my sweatpants. Quiet. Processing, probably.

“I was too nervous to tell you about him.”

He glanced toward the archway. “Alan is hot as hell. Just putting that out there.”

Taken by surprise, I laughed.

“I’d tap that,” he added.

I laughed harder.

He rewarded me with a tender smile. It then slipped, as did his gaze from mine. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

Skyler used the pad of his thumb to trace a design on my sweats. “Why were you nervous to tell me about him?”

My sternum prickled. “Because of your job. I…” I wet my lips, trying to sort out how to phrase it. “I didn’t want you to see Alan as some kind of spectacle for your show. You and Julian travel all over the country investigating hauntedlocations, hoping to catch evidence of the paranormal. Alanisthat evidence. I didn’t want you to exploit that.”

There was a contemplative wrinkle to Skyler’s brow. “I’d like to say I’d never do that, but honestly, a part of me would’ve been tempted.”

“Are you tempted now?”

He shook his head. “The only thing tempting me right now is you.” He pinched my sweatpants again. “I like these on you.”

Such a charmer, even in his current state of shock. The dork.

“You asked me once what started my interest in the paranormal,” I said. “It’s because of Alan.”

“Have you known him your whole life?”

“Basically,” I answered. “He was always in this house but didn’t show himself until I was five. I grew up with him. I’m an only child, and my dad left when I was little, so Alan was the closest thing I had to a male role model, I guess. He’s not just a ghost to me. He’s my family.”

“So you see him more like a brother?” he asked.