a reason to live(88)

“Okay. Can you see to find it?”

I started to say no, and that I’d wing it when a loud noise caused us to turn. It sounded like someone whacking something hard against a tree.

“What was that?” I asked.

“No idea.”

I started to turn back when the knocking broke through the night again, and I froze. My heart rate accelerated as I scanned the trees.

“The digging stopped,” Mia whispered as a light hit the trees.

We turned back and peered over the headstone. The man was standing on his ladder, flashlight pointed over our shoulders.

Whomp, whomp, whomp broke the silence again.

Our grave robber stumbled on his ladder then crawled out of the hole, pulled up his ladder, and took off toward his vehicle.

“Shit,” I whispered.

“Let’s get the radio and flashlight then get the hell out of here,” Mia cried out.

We stood, hell bent on escaping like the oh-so-smart grave robber when the whomping began again.

It was closer this time.

We spun and saw a faint light hovering in the trees, suspended, just as you’d expect to see if a ghost was watching you. Then a low, deep moan broke the night air.

We screamed bloody murder and took off hell-bent for leather. Unfortunately, I went left, Mia went right, neither of us with our lights.

I’d made it twenty feet or more, tripping and bumping into headstones before I realized she wasn’t behind me, so I turned and shouted, “Where are you?”

Mia shouted my name in return, and I spun in the direction of her voice, but all I could see was that damn glow coming from the trees.

Then she laid down a blood-curdling scream. It bounced off trees and sent a chill down my spine.

“Oh. My. God. The ghost has her.”

I needed help fast.

Was the road to my left or right? Were Jenn and Maxine behind me or in front of me? I had no clue.

“MIA!”

“HERE!” she called out. Air gushed from my lungs, relieved to hear her voice.

“WHERE?”

“HERE! In the grave.”

I blinked hard.

Of course she was.

I put out my hands, trying to guide my footing as I moved toward her voice. Thankfully, after a minute of bumbling in the dark, a kaleidoscope of color poured from the ground.

“Holy shit.”

I took off running toward the rainbow, dodging headstones as I went.

Five feet from the hole an arm made of steel reached out and snagged me around the waist, pulling me into a solid, hard chest.

The minor’s ghost!

I screamed like a banshee until a warm hand clamped tightly over my mouth.

This was no ghost.

Heller had found me.

I bit down hard on his hand.

“It’s me,” Shane hissed in my ear as I kicked back, aiming for his balls.

I froze in relief.

Then I got angry.

“It was you in the trees, wasn’t it?” I shouted, struggling to break free. “You were trying to scare us on purpose.”

“Tryin’ to teach you a lesson is more like it.”

I froze again.

They knew we were here, which meant he knew at the restaurant. Jenn was right; he was testing me to see if I’d break.

“You were trying to kiss a confession out of me, weren’t you?”

He didn’t answer.

Grrr.

“I suppose all that talk about hearing my heart beating from across the room was just a lie to get me to confess.”

Shane grew rigid and his hold on me tightened, then he put his mouth to my ear and hissed, “Don’t.”

“Don’t what? Don’t point out you whispered sweet nothings in my ear in an attempt to weaken my defenses?”

“Don’t throw my words back in my face just to get out of trouble. You know I fuckin’ meant every word.”

Shit.

Guilty.

“You’re right . . . I’m sorry.”

“I know you are. I also know you changed your mind after you got here and wanted to call me.”

“How did you—Oh. My. God. You were listening to the radio weren’t you?”

“Yeah. And for your information, owls don’t foreshadow shit. You don’t need to worry about Heller. Not as long as I’m alive. No force in this world can stop me from protectin’ you from him.”

I spun in his arms and plastered my body to his, taking comfort in his warmth. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

Shane’s armed tightened and he whispered, “Not as sorry as you’re gonna be when I get you home.”

I shuddered and he chuckled low, the rumble causing my nipples to tingle.

I had it bad for this man.

“Hello? Anyone out there? A clumsy woman in a hole here.”

Jack and Max emerged from the darkness carrying a baseball bat and lantern and looked down into the grave.

Max crossed his arms and shook his head. “Baby, we’ve got to get you another source of light.”