AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Rushing to her side, I look down to where she flashes her light and see a marble bench with a bottle of liquor sitting between the two support posts.
She picks it up. “I would’ve missed it, if not for this.”
I take her light and read the name in black letters on the front of the stone slab.Conor Doran
The birth date is listed before the name and the date of his death after. Twenty-two years ago.
I take the bottle from Coral, flashing the light on it. “Chimney Wind,” I read, swiping the grime off the faded and wet label.
Calvin takes it, tossing it up and catching it, the liquid inside sloshing against the brown glass. “It’s been here a while.”
“Not that long,” Coral chimes in.
I glance at her. “What?”
She scrolls her phone, droplets of water landing on her screen. “The brand’s been in the works for a decade, but it looks like they didn’t bottle their first batch until two years ago,” she says, showing me the website. “It’s made in New Orleans.”
Only two years.
My light catches a glint of something silver, and I bend over, picking up a tiny skeleton key off the bottom of the bench, next to where the bottle sat. I lift it up, searching for markings or numbers, but there’s nothing. It looks like a key to an old padlock.
Something cracks next to me, and I look over to see Calvin twisting the cap off the bottle.
Coral flashes her light at him. “What are you doing?”
He lifts the bottle, smiling. “Waste not.”
Tipping the bottle back, he gulps down a swallow, and I shake my head.
But immediately, he pulls the bottle away and coughs.
“What?” I ask.
“It’s not whiskey.” He laughs, clearing his throat. “It’s cognac. And it’s fucking good too.”
He gulps down some more as I pull up my camera and snap the pics Hawke requested.
Tucking my phone away, I lead Coral and Calvin back to the car. Calvin holds out the bottle to me.
“No,” I tell him.
He offers it to Coral, but she damn near runs away from him. “No, that’s bad luck,” she scolds. “You don’t steal from the dead. Didn’t you ever seeThe Mummy?”
I laugh, but yeah, she’s right. I’m not that brave.
“That wasn’t us!” she shouts to whoever is listening, making a big show of pointing at Calvin. “If anyone is listening, that was him!”
We reach the car, and she growls at him. “Put it back.”
“Fuck, no.” He opens the door. “It’s free.”
We climb in, turning off our flashlights, and we’re gone before I realize I still have the key in my hand.
Hunter
If she loved me, she’d hold out hope. She would try. Yeah, holidays and parties will suck with Kade pissed off—and I don’t want him to be hurt—but those events won’t be any less awkward now. Every time I see her, I’ll want her, and she’ll know it.
I close my eyes, rolling my neck as I move to the chest press. I blow out a long breath, trying to get her out of my head.
