Etienne (The Shifters of Shotgun Row Book 1)(46)

“Janis, please send Eti in when he gets here.” His voice was still stern, but the power seemed to be gone. Jerkhead was doing it on purpose.

“Yes, chief.” She smiled, going back to her confection.

“Are you coming?” He quirked an eyebrow, his cockiness looking downright awful on him.

I followed him into his office, and he took his seat as I shut the door, which I knew better than to do, but it was almost like it wasn’t my choice. Etienne and I needed to have a talk about shifter powers, it would seem. I took the seat closest to the door, my self-preservation still intact. Not that I was scared. Not as much as I was that night, anyways. Maybe it was because Etienne was on his way, or maybe because I knew I had a crew, or not crew as the case might be, of badass shifters on my side. Whatever the case may be, I felt safe—safe-ish.

“I was right about you.” He leaned back in his chair, his eyes never leaving mine, his ghost nowhere in sight.

“That I’m a good baker?” I wasn’t sure where he was going with all this, but I wasn’t going to give him any ammunition.

“No. That you can talk to the dead.”

I shook my head slightly. This could not be happening.

“I heard you slip up with Marie a couple of times, but I assumed you were in mourning, but then that day you came here you looked so scared. I just knew.”

“I’m not going to tell people about you murdering him.” The words came out unbidden.

“Little liar.”

I swallowed. Of course he knew I was lying. Stupid shifter traits.

“You already have, haven’t you?”

“He warned me away from you.” I wasn’t going to answer him. There was no point. He knew.

“That’s why you wouldn’t let me in.” He rubbed his hands on his beard, talking almost to himself.

“Yes?”

“It’s not like that. He...he won’t leave and I can’t take it anymore.” Bruno never met my eyes as he spit out the words. He knew he was being haunted. In my experience, people rarely, if ever did. And it couldn’t be a shifter thing because Etienne would’ve mentioned it if he felt the haunting, we’d talked about it enough.

“Then why did you kill him?” I slapped a hand over my mouth, expecting his rage to come. Instead he slumped down, almost as if in defeat. “Who is he, anyway?”

“I didn’t kill him.” I wasn’t a shifter, but I could hear his sincerity. He hadn’t killed the guy. What in the world?

“He thinks otherwise.” I wasn’t accusing Bruno of lying, just stating the fact. The dead dude blamed Bruno. If he didn’t, his haunting of him made no sense.

“I own up to my kills.” Because he was a killer. Of course he was.

“What the fuck, Bruno?” Etienne came in like a freaking bull. He was livid. I held out my hand to him, and he took it. I needed more information, not a bloodbath, and I could feel Etienne’s gator—he wanted blood.

“Quit scaring my woman before I fucking bleed you.”

Etienne, I want to hear him out, I pleaded in my mind. We’d gotten better at this over the past couple of weeks, but it still didn’t always work on my first attempts.

He’s a piece of shit. Etienne wasn’t wrong. But he was a piece of shit in some kind of trouble; trouble I might be able to aid in.

Agreed, but I think maybe he needs our help. My help.

“My mate says to listen, so make it quick.” Good mate. Trusting mate. Mine. “There are king-nuts out there with my name on them.”

Bruno looked between us a few times, probably trying to figure out if I was gonna sock Etienne for putting words in my mouth, or maybe figuring out we were communicating. After a solid thirty seconds, he finally opened his mouth to reply.

“The ghost—I didn’t kill him.” Bruno went straight into his story, his voice not as strong as it had been. “He was drunk and hit the tree I threw, but I didn’t kill him.”

Drunk driving. Of freckin’ course. That would explain his extra weirdness—I mean for a dead guy. Death is a weirdness unto itself.

And Bruno threw a tree. A tree.

“I remember that.” Etienne cut off my thoughts, which in this case was good because all I could envision was a bear the size of King Kong throwing cars at me because I couldn’t get rid of the ghost.

“You were a fucking kid.” Etienne took the seat behind me. Something about Bruno’s confession changed the entire atmosphere of the room, the air feeling different.

“I got into a fight with my bear when I first started shifting. He took over and took his temper out on the trees.”

“How big is your bear? Never mind. It doesn’t matter.” And I didn’t want to know. “So, he’s been with you the entire time.”

“No wonder you’re such an asshole.”

“Not helping, Mate,” I scolded. He might be right, but this was so not the time.

“I don’t know how to help you. He doesn’t really talk to me, more at me.”

“I need him gone.” Bruno was so raw in those four words. I still didn’t like the guy. He was a prick. But I vowed to myself then and there I would help him. No one should have to deal with that.

“I’ll talk to Meemaw.” Maybe she had a clue because I sure as sin didn’t.