Chapter 26

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

HIRO

The moment Maddox presses post, he stands up, pushing me up with him. “Well, that was a load of stupid shit. I didn’t feed the cats when I got home since they were sleeping with you and I didn’t want them to wake you,” he says. “You know how they act like they’ve nearly starved to death, even though there’s still food in the bowl. Such a tragedy.”

“Maddox.” I grab his hand since he’s very clearly planning on escaping.

“You want your trash can to spoon again? I’ll try not to feel too jealous.” He wants to avoid this and maybe I should let him. But instead, I slide my fingers between his and draw his hand to me. I kiss his palm as I look up at him.

“I just wanted to tell you that I love you,” I say.

He hesitates. “I… I love you too,” he responds, voice quiet.

“I’m so glad I met you and that I could harass you with my ghosts.”

His expression lightens and I can tell that’s what he wants. Maddox really doesn’t want me to fixate on his past. He wants me to make the atmosphere light again so he can pretend none of it happened.

“I’d like your ghosts better if they weren’t constantly trying to steal my man. Even a ring on your finger doesn’t seem to be slowing them down.”

“Men and women just flock around me. They’re… holy shit.”

“What?”

I jump up and grab his face and then look this way and that. “I was so…” I was so distracted by his post I never even noticed. “The ghosts are gone.”

“What?” Maddox asks. “Why would they be gone?”

“Because they have you where they want you,” I realize. “They were wanting to kill you if you didn’t play their game but now that you’re playing it…” I glance at the screen where I see that he has a private message.

Quickly, I click on it and see that it’s from an account named Valiant_Vali that says, “I’m sorry for what you went through. I wish those who hurt us could understand what they’ve done or what they’ve taken from us.”

“Valiant… Vali… isn’t Vali a god?” I ask.

Maddox raises an eyebrow. “You really expect me to know that?”

I quickly open a new tab and type it in. “Vali is the son of Odin, born to avenge Baldr’s death. Basically, he’s a god of vengeance.”

“Vengeance? I mean… that makes sense if this person thinks they’re helping people find vengeance. It does seem to be their motive.”

“Possibly. But what did Hikaru do wrong?”

“We don’t know what was written on the forum,” Maddox reminds me. “Toxic people know how to paint themselves as innocent. The ghosts seem to fixate on the victim. Maybe now that we’re interacting with the person, the ghosts no longer perceive me as the victim.”

“You’re right. Okay… how do we reply to them?”

“Be vague. Don’t look too needy, but we want to make sure that our response doesn’t close off any replies,” Maddox says.

“How about… ‘They’ll never understand’?” I ask. “Short, simple, shows a bit of bitterness but not full engagement.”

“Good,” Maddox says. “But don’t reply immediately. I think they’ll get suspicious if we’re too obsessed with it. They might think we’re onto them and fishing for information.”

“True. Realistically, you’d never look at it again… or even post it… or deal with humans,” I tease.

Maddox grins. “That’s why I hang around you. You’re not fully human. More alien than anything. And whenever I have to deal with said disgusting humans, I make you converse with them.”

“Ha. Ha. So funny,” I say. “I’m going to text Patricia and Nicolás and see if they want to go out to eat. Go share our findings with Shion. I need to use the bathroom.”

“Okay,” he agrees as he heads off.

Instead of going into the bathroom, I wander through the house until I find Reggie staring at Bandit on the bed. He’s clearly itching to touch the cat who is busy licking himself.

“Reggie?”

“Oh, Hiro, my friend. My pal,” he says. “Allow me to pet the furry potato.”

“He doesn’t look like a potato.”

“A furry one.”

“He’s not a potato. Come here.”

“Why? Are you finally going to give me a lap dance? I have to ask Keaton first. Keaton! Keaton! Can Hiro give me a lap dance? Dammit, he’s not here. What do I do? What do I do… Hiro, I’ve never been faced with such a difficult decision.”

I grab his face before he can ramble anymore. “Reggie.”

His eyes narrow. “Hiro?”

“Thank you… for being there for Maddox when he was going through so much shit. Thank you for being such a rock for him when he needed it more than anything.”

Reggie seems a bit startled, but when I wrap him up in my arms and squeeze him to me, he lets me without hesitation. “It… I mean, you act like I was some big hero. I was like… just happy to focus on something other than my own shit. So it wasn’t like I did anything selfless or heroic. It was probably even selfish. Ha ha. I’m generally quite selfish.”

“Reggie, you are not selfish. I’m sorry if anyone has ever made you feel that way, but I promise, you’re not selfish. Maddox needed you and you were there for him and that means so much.”

“Until I wasn’t.”

“There’s nothing that could have been done about that, no matter how much you question the choices you made or their consequences. You were there for Maddox when he needed you most, and I’m so thankful for that.”

Reggie sets his head against my shoulder. “He saved me too. He’s just too stubborn to admit it. And then you came along, and you just save everyone without question. You’re almost irritatingly good.”

“ Irritatingly ?” I ask.

“Uh-huh. Has to be why I like you so much.”

I pull back and smile at him. “I’m so glad I met you.”

“Really?” he asks.

“Did you regret meeting him that very first time when he made you feel like you weren’t welcome and lied about being Maddox’s fiancé?” Keaton asks as he walks into the room.

“A little bit,” I admit.

Reggie’s eyes get wide. “No!” he cries. “Keaton, why remind him?”

“Maybe I was getting jealous.”

His head snaps to Keaton so fast I feel like it could have caused whiplash. “Jealous of?”

“Jealous that you get to be hugged by Hiro, of course,” Keaton says.

Reggie gasps. “No! Jealous that I was hugging him instead of you , right?”

“Aw, Keaton, you need a hug too?” I ask as I hurry over and hug him as well. Quickly, Reggie rushes over and joins in the hug.

Reggie makes a noise of bliss. “This is what I have to assume heaven feels like. Manly.”

“Alright, I need to get back. We’re going out to dinner. Oh! Wonderful news. Maddox’s ghosts are gone and we got the person to respond. We’re going to figure this out.”

“That’s fantastic,” Reggie says. “I helped.”

“You did, you fucked up Maddox’s mom,” Keaton agrees.

“I sure did. Keaton, would you like me to reenact it?” he asks as Natalie appears, unaware of what’s about to happen.

“Sure.”

And just like that, Reggie grabs her in a choke hold and starts dragging her. “What the fuck, my man! You know momma likes to be choked!” she declares.

Reggie quickly drops her before falling into Keaton’s arms. “Ewww, Keaton! I feel so icky.”

Natalie is proud of herself as she struts out of the room, whistling a merry tune.

Keaton awkwardly pats Reggie’s head. “I’m not sure what you want me to do about it? You literally attacked her.”

“Your manly arms are making me forget everything .”

“I see,” Keaton says, still patting away. Reggie looks so fucking happy about the whole situation and I can’t help but wonder why Keaton won’t just give in. Then again, it seems like Reggie is slowly wearing him down, which sounds like a bad thing, but I think in this situation, it’s a good thing. They need each other… even if they don’t know how long they’ll have together.

I leave them to it and head out to where Shion is standing in front of the mayor’s painting.

“How the hell did I not notice this before?” Shion asks.

“Because Maddox likes to park his body in front of it so we don’t scare newcomers off,” I explain. “He’ll rush over in front of our guests and do some weird body shimmy in front of it, like that doesn’t draw more attention to it.”

“That’s not what I’m doing,” Maddox says.

Shion nods, as if he understands the depths Maddox will go to protect the eyes of newcomers. “There’s… there’s so much to unpack here.”

“It’s Hiro’s painting. It was the only piece of decoration he insisted on hanging when he moved in. He told me the only way he’d move in with me was if I allowed it front and center. At first, I thought he wanted to make a shrine out of it.”

“I did not! A client gave it to me. And that very client is the reason that Maddox caved and started working with me. Hell, if it weren’t for that client, we might not even be together.”

“Clients give me a lot of things. Doesn’t mean I stick them on my wall. Actually… if a client gave me this, I would probably assume it was sexual harassment,” Shion says. “But there’s something about it… I kind of like it. And I like how you’re not ashamed to place it front and center.”

“Thanks,” I reply a bit sarcastically because I really feel like I’m being judged.

“Now the real question is… why the fuck is there a bullet hole in it?”

Maddox smirks. “It’s Hiro’s. Do you even have to ask?”

Shion opens his mouth, then thinks for a moment before closing it. “Huh. You’re right. That answered the question immediately.”

“It’s lovely to meet you,” Patricia says. “And… you came all the way from Japan for nothing of concern, correct?”

As soon as we sat down in the restaurant, Patricia seemed to be speculating about something and apparently… this is what it was. We’re at a round table so she can glower at me with ease like I’m in any way suspicious.

“So you just… rushed over here without a moment’s notice for absolutely no reason at all?” she asks.

“Right…” Shion says as he eyes me, but not as much as Patricia is eyeing me.

Patricia gives him a wide smile. “Don’t mind me. I’m just wondering how my sweet and innocent son met a police officer in Japan and got to know him well enough that the officer came all the way here and is even staying with him.”

I can’t hold her eye contact any longer, it’s too much of a burden to bear, so she shifts to Maddox. He is much braver than me and sits stoically as he holds her eyes. I feel like he believes he’s in an interrogation room with no way out. Maybe this is karma for all of the poor souls he’s interviewed in the past.

“Maddox?” she asks with a sweet smile but there’s so much malice in it. It’s fooling no one. “Maddox is my good son-in-law. He would never lie to me.”

I catch Nicolás’s eyes to find him giving me an “I told you so” look.

“Patricia, I would never lie to you,” Maddox begins.

“That’s good.”

“ But… the server is headed our way. It’d be best not to be in conversation when he arrives so he doesn’t feel like he’s interrupting anything,” Maddox says just as the server veers off to deal with someone else.

“Looks like he had a pit stop. Plenty of time to talk,” Patricia states as Maddox urges the server with his eyes. He’s caught up with a different table, but he gets a look at Maddox and proceeds to appear a bit worried. It makes me wonder what face Maddox is making to elicit fear in a man halfway across the room.

I lift up the breadbasket and wave it around in front of everyone. “Did you guys try this bread? This bread is so good. Patricia. Eat bread.”

“Don’t think that I can’t talk with my mouth full,” she says as she snatches one up like it’s the enemy.

“I thought my mom was scary when she’s mad,” Shion says. “It’s like dinner and a show.”

“Stop enjoying this,” I hiss.

“It’s so much fun over here. Maybe I should move over here. My life has become significantly more fun since meeting you, Hiro.”

“Why would it be more fun?” Patricia asks. “Hiro should be boring. He owns a bookstore. That doesn’t seem overly exciting.”

“Let’s talk about the time Nicolás burned the shed down,” I say.

Nicolás throws his hands up in the air. “Did I do nothing else wrong? That’s the only thing you can think of?”

“I’m struggling here, brother. My dear brother, ol’ pal.”

“I told you to tell her,” Nicolás says before he realizes just how deeply he fucked up.

Patricia’s eyes snap to his as he refuses to look at her. “You knew ?”

He glances down at the breadbasket like that’ll save him. “I-I didn’t like know , know. Just lightly know. And Hiro was going to tell you.”

“We have a guest, I think it’s rude to… take out your rage on your children when we have a guest,” I say.

Shion beams at me, and it’s so damn cocky. He’s loving it. “Oh no, don’t worry about me, I’m enjoying this.” Even the way he takes a bite of the bread makes him seem cocky. “Please don’t stop on my behalf.”

“You’re supposed to be on my side,” I growl.

He just grins and eats his bread. Clearly… he’s an asshole!

“We were planning on telling you this evening,” Maddox says.

“Are you lying?” Patricia asks.

“We were planning on telling you if you forced us to,” he amends.

Her eyebrow arches higher and higher. “Yeah?”

“Yeah…”

“Oooooh, snap. There’s some drama ,” Natalie says as she plops down right on the back of my seat while leaning on me. “Definitely need popcorn for this.”

“This is your adoptive mother?” Grandpa asks as he scrutinizes Patricia. “Is she worthy?”

“Hiro, why does Spite hate me so much?” Reggie complains. “I just want love. Everything should love me! He’s so fussy.”

“You ever feel like it’s a you problem?” Natalie asks.

“Hiro, don’t stare at your ghosts and pretend like we aren’t having a conversation,” Patricia says.

“Ohhhhhh, snap. She told you,” Natalie comments, chomping on her popcorn as the others start to dig in. Even Spite, who must have come with Reggie. “She looks so hot when she’s bossing you around.”

“I wasn’t. I just wanted to introduce you to my grandpa. My grandpa is here.”

Patricia gives me a look that blatantly says, “You little shit, you did this on purpose.”

“Grandpa, this is Patricia. She’s the one who adopted me. She’s literally a saint. She put up with so much shit, and even though she thought I was a creepy serial killer, she still chose to love me because her love is the best. And I also love that she never holds grudges.”

“First off, I’m glad your grandpa is here. Please watch over Hiro for me and force him to make the right decisions. And second, I never said serial killer. I just said you… did creepy things and I maybe wondered whether you might or might not murder me in my sleep,” she says as the server rushes over, looking a bit concerned.

“I am so sorry for your wait,” he apologizes.

“We didn’t wait,” Maddox says, which makes the server look confused about why Maddox had been giving him such a look. “What do you think about eating with us?”

“Uh…” The server looks rightfully confused. “Ha… ha ha. So what can I get you?”

After we order, Patricia fixes us with her narrowed eyes.

I realize it’d be best to cave. “Okay. We didn’t want to worry you. Long story short, my cousin’s ex-friend was stalking her new boyfriend. Keaton told me that the ex-friend had attacked her boyfriend. So we ran off and helped him and called the police, which is how we met Shion. We’re all good. I promise.”

Patricia doesn’t seem overly pleased. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? You know I don’t like being left out of things.”

“Because I didn’t want you to worry,” I admit. “I… I just feel like I keep getting wound up in things that make you stressed. I mean… think about how stressed you were with me just going to Japan. Now imagine I told you that we got wrapped up in something too. I just thought it’d be better to tell you later and then when later came… I was like ‘Man, she’s going to be upset I didn’t tell her right after it happened…’ and then I pushed it off and it just got worse and worse. I’m really sorry. That wasn’t fair of me. And while we’re talking about things, Maddox and I are working on another case, and that’s why Shion is here, but at this point, I can’t share much else. I promise we’re not in any immediate danger. If we were, I guarantee that I wouldn’t be meeting you guys for dinner and dragging you into it.”

She seems semi-satisfied by that. “Okay. Please… please be careful. And please don’t wait to tell me things. I promise I won’t freak out if you tell me.”

“I promise. And we are the most careful.”

Patricia shifts her attention to Shion. “Sorry for the family drama.”

“No, no. My family is close, but they are avoiders . We’d sit here and stew over the stupidest things for no apparent reason,” he says. “I’m the only one who never shuts up. So what do you think about Hiro’s painting?”

“I think that the woman’s breasts are ridiculously large, but it makes sense that Hiro thinks that’s the standard and is oblivious since he likes boys,” Patricia says.

The others laugh as I give her a look.

“Still not as pretty as mine,” Natalie declares as she pats her chest.

“It’s not my fault. It was a gift,” I whine.

“Still not as bad as the time he played porn on full blast for my boss. And it wasn’t just two people going at it, there were at least five or six on screen,” Maddox says.

“No! Maddox! I didn’t! The ghosts asked for it. I was reading. I had a book. Did you not see the book in my hands?”

“Yeah, that you were peeping over,” Maddox teases.

We clearly need to get this conversation off me, so I turn to Shion. “How are you liking America so far?”

“Been exciting, to say the least,” Shion says, and Patricia’s eyes narrow.

“What’s that mean? What have they done to you?” she asks.

“We’ve been wonderful hosts!” I protest.

Nicolás raises an eyebrow. “I have to question that claim.”

“Don’t you dare, Nicolás,” I warn.

“I am an easy man to please,” Shion says. “I grew up in a very rural town with a pretty poor family, so when I moved to Kyoto, I had one of those rooms that was only large enough for a futon on the floor. The place was so bad the shared toilet rarely ever worked, and I had to walk to the nearby store to use their bathroom. So I’m happy as long as wherever I stay isn’t as bad as that. Thankfully, I now have a nice apartment, but I can assure you, staying with them is far nicer than I could have hoped for. Even with the creepy ghosts. I got to watch a cat toy hop across the room at midnight last night and then had the joy of trying to sleep.”

“Oh, that’s just Spite,” I tell him. “He loves cat toys. And interrupting our meals.” Of course Spite is here because he would hate to miss out on an opportunity to fuck with people. He hops here and there, looking for something to mess with.

“See? Nothing strange about that,” Shion says. “Nicolás, you said you could see glimpses. Can you see anything here now?”

“Just hints. If I touch Hiro, it heightens it.”

“Ooh, he’s gonna touch Hiro,” Reggie says with a waggle of his eyebrows. “Does it matter where he touches him?”

“I bet it does,” Natalie responds. “I bet if he touches the antenna, his reception will be best.”

What the fuck is the antenna ?

“The look on Hiro’s face makes me uncomfortable,” Nicolás says. “Patricia. Please… do something about it.”

“Honey, you know it’d be rude to put a bag on his head in a restaurant so we don’t have to see his face,” Patricia replies.

“Can we do it outside the restaurant?”

“If you’d like.”

“What the hell? How did Nicolás become your clear favorite?” I whine, unable to tell them that I’m the one suffering here.

Patricia gives me a very pointed look. “Nicolás doesn’t chase after serial killers.”

Nicolás looks so proud.

“Did you come alone, Shion?” Patricia asks.

“Sure did. I’m very much single,” he says, evidently more than happy to announce that in front of Nicolás who simply glances at him.

After we finish eating, Patricia starts to get up.

“Well, I have Libby tonight, so I’m going to leave you boys to it. Please don’t taint Nicolás or Shion like you have Maddox,” Patricia says to me.

“Excuse me? Why just me? Maddox is the one who tainted me. I feel like you’re bullying me.”

“Honey, you were off whispering in corners and involved in demonic summonings well before Maddox was in the picture.”

“Demonic summonings?” I whine. “Is that what I look like when I talk to my friends?”

“Especially when you’re trying to slyly talk to them,” Nicolás says. “It’s like some weird whispering.” He proceeds to demonstrate and… I have to admit… it does look a bit ridiculous.

“At least I didn’t curse you with Spanish Pokémon songs. Patricia, Nicolás made me think he was talking about me when we were teens, and he was actually just reciting Pokémon songs.”

She grabs me in a hug. “That sounds very traumatic. I’m so sorry you went through that.”

“The amount of sarcasm she just used almost makes me feel bad for Hiro… almost,” Nicolás says.

Asses. All of them!

She kisses my cheek. “Please be good.”

“I’m so good. And while we’re confessing things, I… was maybe in a robbery yesterday, but it’s no big deal,” I say.

Patricia doesn’t move at all, which is almost more concerning than if she’d decided to just lower me into the ground right there.

“I’m perfectly fine… MOM,” I say, throwing that in for a dash of good luck. Like maybe she’ll feel so happy about it she’ll forget all about everything else.

“Don’t you dare try to butter me up,” she growls. “You were in a robbery ?”

“Shion was with me.”

“You dragged Shion into a robbery?”

“You act like I did it on purpose!”

Natalie pats my back. “Honey, it’s because you are drawn to trouble.”

“If it makes you feel any better, it was my mom robbing him,” Maddox says.

Patricia turns to Maddox. “How would that make me feel better? Why the hell was your mom robbing your fiancé?”

Maddox shrugs. “You know… it’s not the worst thing she’s done. But I do apologize for putting Hiro in that position.”

“You didn’t put me in any position,” I assure him. “Honestly, we’re fine. The police are dealing with it.”

“You’re trying to kill me, kid,” she says.

“I’m being careful,” I assure her.

She doesn’t seem convinced, but she squeezes me to her. “You are going to be the death of me, you hear me?” she whispers in my ear. It very much sounds like a threat. “Do you understand how much I love you?”

“I do. I love you so much too,” I say.

Patricia growls a little, clearly no longer able to threaten me now that I’ve shared my love with her.

She reluctantly leaves, and the four of us make our way outside.

“I think that went well,” I announce.

“If you’re referring to your capability to make Patricia fret more, then I agree,” Nicolás says.

“None of that ever happened. So… you guys want to see a movie or something?” I ask.

“Is that what he asked your boss before making her watch porn?” Shion asks.

Maddox shakes his head. “No, he didn’t ask. Just inflicted it upon her innocent eyes.”

“Maddox, stop! You all are the worst, you hear me?”

“We hear ya,” Nicolás says. “Sure… I could do a movie. Do we even know what’s playing?”

“No, but we can wander around the area until it’s time,” I say as we head off, and even though Patricia isn’t the happiest with me, it really makes me feel good to be surrounded by my family.