Ghost (The Halloween Boys #1) (31)

But if only for tonight, I didn’t mind so much.





CHAPTER 12





Ames





WHY IS THE FOOTAGE ALWAYS BLURRY?





This is my costume. I'm a homicidal maniac. They look just like everyone else.

Wednesday Addams,

The Addams Family





Change was its own form of amnesia. It crept in like a stealthy killer and crowned its victims with false security. For better or worse, things evolved, and we all accepted it for the most part. I’d borne witness to a lot of change over my years. I’d evolved too. I’d become a different thing than I was back then. But sometimes a touch or sound could release an arrow of remembrance. Something my brain long forgot but my psyche recalled. There was a time when I believed sex should be reserved for marriage, but I’d long abandoned that belief. Both the notion of waiting and the idea of marriage wasn’t possible for someone like me. So I’d fuck around here and there. Why not?

But tonight, when Blythe took my hand . . . when her soft body molded inside mine and we moved together . . .

Something inside me remembered.

A long time ago, dancing was the most intimacy we were allowed outside of the threat of marital vows. Dancing was passion in plain sight. A dress rehearsal for what we hoped would transpire between cotton sheets. And Blythe, my Little Ghost, tasted like fear, and sadness, and hopelessness. As I pulled her to my arms, it burned my throat and made my mouth water. I wondered if her cunt tasted like fear, too. I wanted to find out. To rip that too fucking sexy corset from her perfect body. I wanted to run my true tongue along every curve, divet, and dimple. Perhaps I’d search for another taste besides terror hiding somewhere between her folds. Maybe what dripped from her when she wanted me would taste like something else entirely. What would she taste like if she didn’t want me?

I could have stayed with her there all night. Having her in my arms sure beat watching her from afar, watching that loathsome Vincent blood-drunk bastard zero in on her. If The Ravens hadn’t stepped in, I would have sent them. Thankfully they were smarter than anyone gave them credit for and they sought her out. I made a mental note to reward them later.

Maybe I’d feed them Cat.

An amused breath escaped me as I leaned against her car, waiting.

If hadn’t left her when I did, I wouldn’t have had time to wash up and change. And I needed to see her home. I should have been there when she arrived—but of course, Ez took the opportunity. The vampires could smell someone needing to get laid a mile away. They fucking loved their partners wanton and needy. Anger swirled in my chest at the thought. Ez could back the fuck off, along with all these other assholes. Mine.

My mind startled at the realization that I’d just referred to her as such. Was I claiming her? No, I couldn’t. It wasn’t possible. Blythe was a target, a game, a means to an end. Nothing more. And no one could fuck with her except for me. Not until I was done with her, at least.

The aroma of fear and darkness drifted through the rustling autumn leaves. Orange and yellow maples floated around me like confetti as she stepped out of the shadows. A fox in the night. A fucking vision of a woman. I quickly readjusted my cock for the twentieth time that evening. She held her elbows and looked down, a dreamy sort of grin hinting at her dark lips. I wondered if it was there because of me. Or him, rather.

Her footsteps paused when she finally glanced up, and her shoulders jumped back a fraction. So jumpy, Little Ghost. But the blood returned to her cheeks once she realized who I was. Who she thought I was.

“Ames? What are you doing here?” She stopped just an inch too close before taking a small step back. Interesting.

“Making sure you get home safe,” I replied, straightening the collar on my dorky blue button-up.

Her brown eyes narrowed beneath her fox mask. “How’d you know I’d be here?”

I shrugged off my old varsity jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders, noticing the lovely rose blush that illuminated her cheeks at the soft brush of my fingers. “Wasn’t too hard to guess. Plus, I saw your car. How’d you like it? You seem to still be in one piece. That’s better than most first-timers.”

“Thanks, I guess I know to bring a jacket next time. It was . . . bizarre. In the best sort of way.” She giggled. Wow, what a lovely sound.

I couldn’t help my grin. “Glad you had fun. I’m here to see you home.” I held out my palm in silent command for her keys. She really shouldn’t give them to me. She shouldn’t have trusted me at all.

“Why are you really here? You came all this way at this hour just to make sure I get home safe?”

I shrugged. “I’m the town nice guy. Wolfgang dropped me off a minute ago, so technically you’re my ride, too.”

She shook her head and looked at her feet before fishing a key out of her cleavage. Her cleavage. Fuck me.

“He’s a funny guy, but I don’t think I’m going to live with him.”

Red flashed across my vision. “Excuse me? Live with him?”

“Yeah, he didn’t tell you when he brought you over? He asked me to stay in his community with him. There’s a tiny house he says I can use and everything. But, I don’t know. I don’t want to impose, and with everything going on in my life right now—”