15

Chris knocked on Ella’s door long after the sun had set. If he’d had the choice, he would have much rather been sleeping, but the message Riley had sent that evening had made it clear they all needed to come over. So, there he was. Tired. Grumpy. And fucking curious.

A grim-faced Noah let him in, and after greeting Ella’s Yorkie, Chris followed him through to the living room, where everyone else was already gathered. And by everyone, he meant Asher, Riley, and Ella, whose lap Archie settled on now that there weren’t any more guests to greet.

“Finally,” Asher said from where he was sitting on Ella’s blue armchair. “We’ve all been waiting in suspense for you.”

“Sorry,” Chris replied, taking a seat next to Ella and Noah on the bigger sofa. He looked at Riley, who was standing in front of them all. “Please don’t tell me this is about ghosts or something.”

Riley winced. “Well…”

Chris tensed. “Tell me you’re kidding.” He’d really hoped they’d left all that supernatural shit behind them after Noah had killed Brett. They’d all dealt with enough ghosts and plane-walking psychopaths to last a lifetime.

“I really wish I could,” Riley replied, one of her hands lifting to play with the end of her lavender-colored braid. Her eyes shot to Ella, and she gulped.

“Just tell them, Riley,” Ella said with a sigh.

Noah wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into his side, his expression troubled. Chris frowned. Whatever Riley had to tell them, it seemed like Ella and her boyfriend already knew about it. Chris looked at Asher to see if he was also in the know, but his other friend looked just as lost as him.

“Remember how I was worried that Brett might have felt like he had unfinished business after everything that happened?” Riley asked.

“Sure,” Chris replied. “But after a week or two, you said he must have moved on.”

They’d all assumed Brett must have thought he’d succeeded in killing Ella, even if his plan to tie their spirits together hadn’t worked. And with Ella presumably dead, he would have had no reason to linger as a ghost.

“Right,” Riley said, looking pained. “I didn’t see his ghost, and I didn’t feel anything for months, so I thought it was safe to assume he’d moved on.”

Chris looked over at Ella again, his stomach dropping when he saw how pale she looked. There was only one reason Riley would be bringing up Brett again, and it wasn’t good.

“But,” Riley continued. “A few months ago, I started sensing a ghost. I never saw who it was, and it would come and go all the time, so at first, I didn’t think much of it.”

“But now you’re worried it’s Brett?” Asher guessed.

Riley nodded. “I wasn’t sure until recently, but I’m convinced it’s him now.”

“What made you realize?” Chris asked her. “Did you see him?”

“No.” She shifted on her feet. “But every time I’ve felt a ghost nearby for the last month, it’s been when I was with Ella.”

“Shit,” Asher muttered.

Chris wasn’t sure if that was enough evidence to prove the ghost Riley could sense was Brett or if it was even a single ghost and not multiple spirits, but it sounded exactly like something Brett would do. He’d stalked Ella when he was alive, and he was stalking her in death now as well. Worst of all, he’d known about Riley’s ability to see the dead, which meant he would have known to avoid being seen by her.

“So what do we do?” Chris asked. “How do you get a deranged dead man to move on?”

“You don’t,” Riley replied. “There’s no way Brett will cross over willingly.”

“Please tell me our plan isn’t to do nothing,” Asher said.

Riley shook her head. “He won’t move on willingly, but that doesn’t mean we can’t force him to leave.”

Chris was about to ask what the hell she meant by that, but Asher spoke before he could.

“You’re talking about an exorcism, aren’t you?”

Riley nodded. “Exactly.”

Chris’s eyes narrowed. “Aren’t exorcisms for demons?”

“It’s not really an exorcism,” Riley replied. “It’s similar, but the point of it is to force a ghost to cross over. My dad only used it in extreme cases.”

Chris leaned back into the sofa, wondering how fucked up their lives had become that they were talking about exorcising a ghost like that was a normal thing to do.

“I’d say this is an extreme case,” Noah said, his arm still tight around Ella.

“So, how does it work?” Chris asked, thinking of all the horror movies he’d watched. “You just read something from the Bible, and he disappears?”

“Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.” Riley moved to sit on the arm of the blue chair, and Asher placed an arm around her waist. “I have to read the passage in Latin—or at least that’s what my dad did—but the bigger problem is that you need to say the words in the ghost’s presence.”

“Can’t you just read the passage the next time you sense him, then?” Noah asked.

Riley sighed. “Even if that worked, what if it isn’t him that time, and I condemn some poor innocent ghost to something that’s apparently like torture.”

“Torture?” Chris asked.

“My dad said it’s extremely painful for the ghosts you use it on.”

“Sounds good to me,” Noah murmured. “Brett deserves it.”

Chris couldn’t have agreed more. The bastard deserved every bit of pain they could throw at him.

“As much as I agree, I’d rather be sure the ghost I’m sending to the other side is him before we do anything drastic,” Riley replied. “I’ve been doing some research, and it seems like there might be a way to do it without him being in the room, but I need a bit more time to make sure it will work.”

Chris ran his hands over his face and let out a long exhale. “This is crazy,” he muttered.

“I hate this,” Ella said quietly, and he turned his head to the side to see she was staring at the floor numbly.

Noah kissed the top of her head. “I know, but it will be over soon.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t have told you,” Riley said.

Ella sat up and shook her head. “No, I’m glad you did. I needed to know.”

“Is there anything we can do in the meantime?” Chris asked Riley. “How can we help?”

“Thankfully, I don’t think Brett is able to perform any magic that would affect the physical plane,” Riley said. “There’s a chance he could affect the plane of the dead, which might be how he’s kept himself hidden from me, but I’m guessing he can’t do anything that would affect us.”

“You’re saying he’s not actually a danger to us?” Asher asked.

Riley nodded. “So the only thing to do now is wait until I’ve perfected the Latin and made sure the alternative method will work.”

“How do you know he can’t use magic on Ella?” Noah asked, but it wasn’t Riley who answered his question. It was Ella.

“Because if he could, he already would have.”

Chris’s hands curled into fists. He and Ella might not have been the best of friends before Asher’s disappearance had forced them to work together, but he’d grown to realize he and Noah had been idiots to ever think she wasn’t an amazing person.

Brett had terrorized her for long enough before Noah had killed him. The fact that even his death hadn’t freed her from the fear he’d subjected her to for years was the kind of unfairness that made good people turn violent. It was the kind of unfairness that made Chris’s body ache with pent-up frustration.

“Have you told Olivia yet?” Ella asked Riley after a long and heavy silence.

Chris straightened before he could stop himself, Olivia’s name swiftly grabbing his attention.

He’d known that Riley had been wanting to tell Olivia about her ability for a while and that Ella was waiting for that to happen before she told Noah’s sister about her own gift. He was shocked that Riley had taken as long as she had to decide to let Olivia in on the secret given everyone else knew. He was even more shocked that Noah had agreed to keep it from their shared half-sister.

All he knew was that Olivia would be pissed when she found out she was the last to know.

Riley shook her head, her mouth pressed into a thin line. “I’ve been trying to get her to meet with me, but she’s avoiding me.”

“She sounded willing to meet with you the other day,” Chris said, hoping he didn’t sound too invested.

Riley grimaced. “Yeah, but I guess after I blew her off because I felt a ghost nearby, she decided to go back to hating me.”

“You need to tell her, Riley,” Noah said, his voice stern. Clearly he wasn’t too happy about Olivia being in the dark after all. “We’ve kept it from her for too long already.”

“I will,” Riley promised.

“When?” Noah asked.

“Soon.”

“I know this is a wild idea,” Chris piped in, knowing it needed to be said. “But you could just tell her the next time you run into her on campus.”

Riley scowled at him. “You think I haven’t tried that? She always runs off before I can bring it up.”

“Or you run off because you think Brett’s around,” he added.

“Chris,” Asher warned.

“No, he’s right,” Riley said with a sigh. “It’s my fault, too. I just need to rip off the band-aid and get it over with.”

“She’s going to be mad as hell,” Noah said. “At all of us.”

Chris’s shoulders tensed. His friend was right. It wasn’t only Riley who Olivia would be furious with. She’d be angry with all of them for keeping this from her. Including him.

◆◆◆

Chris found Ella in the kitchen after Asher and Riley had left and Noah was letting Archie out.

“How are you holding up?” he asked her.

She finished packing the last mug into the dishwasher before turning around to face him. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and shrugged. “Honestly? Not great.”

Chris nodded. “I’m so sorry, Ella.”

Her gaze dropped to the tiled floor between them. “I just thought it was over, you know?”

“I know,” he replied, wishing he knew the right words—better words—to say. “Is Noah staying with you tonight?”

“Yeah. He’s staying with me until Brett’s gone for good.”

Chris wasn’t surprised. He knew Noah would rather cut off his throwing arm than leave Ella alone with Brett’s ghost out there. “Just stay safe, okay. We nearly lost you once, and none of us want to go through that again.”

Ella’s lips twitched up. “I’ll do my best.”

“Good.”

Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully on him. “Can I ask you something?”

Chris’s brows lifted. “Sure.”

“You and Olivia. What’s going on there?”

His pulse jumped, but Chris forced himself not to react visibly to the question. “Nothing’s going on,” he lied. “I’m just trying to be friendlier like Noah wanted.”

Ella scoffed. “Why don’t I believe that?”

Chris’s jaw worked. “Believe whatever you want, but I’m telling you we’re just on better terms since I took her rock climbing. That’s all there is to tell.”

She narrowed her too-observant eyes. “If there is more to it than that, please be careful. The last thing Olivia needs is some asshole breaking her heart.”

“Are you calling me an asshole?”

“That depends,” Ella replied. “Are you planning on breaking her heart?”

Chris’s teeth ground together. “No.”

“Keep it that way,” she said, nothing but cold warning in her usually warm brown eyes.

“Is that what you think of me?” Chris asked her. “That I’m some jerk who goes around breaking girls’ hearts?”

“No, but I do think that when Olivia is involved, you’re not exactly the guy we all know and love.” She shook her head in a way that spoke of disappointment. “You’re someone else entirely.”

Ella was right, but she was also so wrong. Chris had been unfairly cruel to Olivia after the accident, but that had changed after she’d told him what happened that night. He didn’t blame her anymore. Rather, she made him want to be a better person. She made him want the things he’d never wanted before.

“That may be true,” he said to Ella. “But the last person who needs protecting is Olivia. She can take care of herself just fine.”

Ella’s lips pursed. “Olivia is tough as nails,” she agreed. “But I’m not so sure she’s as tough as everyone thinks she is.”

Chris ran a hand over his face. “Look, you don’t need to worry about me and Olivia. I promise I’m not going to hurt her.”

She considered his words for several seconds before nodding. “Good.”

“You know, I’m not the only one who should be worried about hurting her,” he noted. “How do you think she’ll feel when she finds out you and Noah have been lying to her for months?”

Ella winced. “She’s going to hate us.”

“Yeah,” Chris sighed. “And the longer Riley takes to tell her the truth, the worse it will be.”

It was one thing for him to keep lying to Olivia when he’d hated her. It was another to keep secrets from her when he’d had her writhing beneath him on her bed. He may not have been the one to decide to keep her out of their circle of trust, but Chris knew he was just as guilty as the rest for keeping her in the dark for so long.

Olivia would hate him for it, and when the time came, he wouldn’t be able to blame her.