Ghost (The Halloween Boys #1) (38)
“Interesting,” Wolf grumbled, his thick arms crossed over his wide chest. “What are your plans tonight?”
I looked between them, each so focused on me it was both flattering and unnerving. “Well, I need to check in with Raja about my work schedule. Apparently, they close early all of October. And they don’t serve breakfast. So I don’t know if that job is going to pan out. But I’m never in one place long anyway, especially now . . .”
Ames spoke. “You’re not running this time, Blythe. You’re going to let us help.”
“You guys are really generous and sweet, but I don’t see how you could help me in this situation. I’ve dealt with being followed for so long.”
“Do you want to leave?” Onyx asked. “Do you want to run again?”
I swallowed down the emotion in my chest. I knew the answer. I’d known the answer the moment my bald tires hit the pavement in Ash Grove. “No, I don’t want to leave. For the first time in my life, I want to stay. Ash Grove feels like home, somehow,” I said sadly. If I didn’t run, I’d die here. And maybe I was ready for that, now. After Hallows, after meeting these guys, maybe I could die somewhat happy.
“We have a plan,” Ames said decidedly. “You’re staying here and you’re going to be okay.”
Wolf’s gaze eyed me pointedly. “No one is going to hurt you.”
Onyx rolled up his newspaper and put his pen behind his ear. “We’re going to protect you.”
My heart warmed as emotion swelled behind my eyes. “I can’t—”
Ames put his rough palm over the top of my hand and squeezed. “You can and you will. We’ve decided, and there’s no arguing with us when we make up our minds. You’re ours now.”
The heat from my cheeks dropped like a weight between my thighs. Onyx smirked. “Don’t bother arguing. Stick with us and see what we can do.”
God. Damn.
“How can I say no?” I gave a breathless laugh. “At least if I die it’s around a place . . . and people . . . that I like.”
Wolf leaned forward, making strong eye contact. So strong I felt his fervor in my bones as a chill of intensity traveled down my spine. “You are not going to die, Blythe. You can be sure of that.”
A breath lodged in my throat and I realized Ames was still holding my hand. “Okay,” I agreed meekly. We finished our meals and the guys cleared our plates, marching them to the back as if the diner were their home kitchen. Judging by the smell of soap on Wolf when he returned, I gathered they actually washed the dishes too. Admiration pooled in my heart. These boys were dangerous with their easy smiles, charm, and kindness. I realized then that I was at great risk of falling for each of them. Something deep inside me whispered that not only did I want to stay in Ash Grove for Hallows, but for them. And I wanted to stay alive for them, too. It was a feeling I hadn’t experienced in all my travels. But then again, I’d never met anyone like them before.
Something about these boys made me want to live.
CHAPTER 14
Ames
HELL RIDER
The real world is where the monsters are.
Rick Riordan
My possessiveness was growing. Blythe was afflicting me like slow and steady frostbite. The mask I’d crafted to hide my true form from the world was cracking. Piece by piece, it fell at her feet like a bloody offering. Did she notice? Could she see the way I couldn’t pull my eyes from the crook of her neck? Did any part of her sense that I didn’t close my eyes once last night in fear of missing her assailant again? The way her lips wrapped around the grape on the end of her fork . . . How she sucked the juice before taking it in her mouth . . . I was hard in the booth next to her. Her golden-brown hair was tied in that sexy, tousled braid and her ripped jeans hugged her ass just right.
I called her beautiful, I held her hand, and none of it came even close to being enough. Even our dance paled in comparison to what I wanted. To the growing ache in my core for her. I’d fought it the entire time she’d been in town, and I should have kept fighting it. If I held out a little longer, her stepfather would be dead, and she’d change her mind and want to leave. With safety and possibilities ahead of her, why would she stay? I needed my mind clear. The Halloween Boys and I had already proven ourselves to be sloppy and out of shape with age. Perhaps our supernatural abilities had made us slow and overconfident. Because this had been a challenge from the start. An annoying challenge. And we still had no real leads. If I lost sight of this fucker, if somehow he slipped past us again, if he touched her . . . Losing this target meant losing her. And that wouldn’t, couldn’t, fucking happen.
I may have been slipping, and falling for her, but I had to keep it together. I had to maintain some level of distance so I could see straight. Otherwise, I was afraid of getting far too deep. And where could we even go? I wouldn’t drag Blythe to hell with me. She couldn’t haunt graveyards and thirst for dirty blood like the evil inside me did. Being with me would mar her. She was dirtier just by association. Everyone at Hallows knew. They all feared us, as they fucking should, but they also knew we were the most wretched of them all. The reason the town was what it was. The source of the suffering.