Page 36 of With All My Haunted Heart

Xander drops the game piece. It lands in the bowl of salsa, causing Elle to shudder and swear as she tries to wipe the sensation of cold, wet veggies off her palm. I hastily undo the sigils with a flick of my fingers before fishing the game piece out of the salsa.

“Please tell me I didn’t touch Louie’s clit,” Xander whines. “Y’all need to do that behind closed doors.”

“It was an educational demonstration,” I say, but my face burns with the heat of a thousand suns anyway. “It was bonded to her hand. Absolutely nothing inappropriate was going on.”

“Either way, I’m never using the pink one again.” Xander reaches into the box and pulls out the yellow token. “How many turns did I miss?”

“Actually, I think I’m going to call it a night.” Elle pushes away from the table, avoiding my gaze entirely. “I’ll see you both in the morning.”

“Later, Louie!” Xander calls after her, but I don’t say a word.

All I can do is watch her walk away and hope I haven’t ruined everything.

Chapter

Eleven

“I feel like I owe you an apology.”

Elle and I are alone for the first time since the incident last night with the game piece, and so far, we’ve spent the last thirty minutes cooped up in my ancient Camry in complete silence. And not the warm silence of friends who don’t need to constantly hear the sound of their own voices. Awkward silence. Weighted silence.

“About last night,” I clarify. “I should have remembered that Party Polygraph isn’t workplace appropriate. And I definitely shouldn’t have brought up…well, you know.”

In the passenger seat, Elle sighs. “We’re adults, Pippa. Mentioning ‘sex magic’ isn’t going to offend my delicate sensibilities. Besides, I know Alex as well as you do. I agreed to play knowing he designed the game. Frankly, I’m surprised the questions were relatively tame.”

Her words should be reassuring, but she’s still staring out the window like the riot of color on the trees is the most fascinating thing she’s ever seen. Yes, it’s a picture-perfect fall day, but come on. It’s not like she didn’t grow up around here.

“If you’re not upset with me, why did you run off last night?” I risk a glance in her direction. The rural road is deserted but full of hairpin turns. “Why can’t you stand to look at me?”

Color blooms up Elle’s neck and seeps into her cheeks before I’m forced to focus on the road again. “It’s not anything you did,” she says at last, and from the corner of my eye, I see her pivot to face me. “I was starting to feel too high, and I thought it was better to put myself to bed before I got dizzy.”

“You could have said that.”

“I know, but…I can get morose when I think about Kinsley.”

“The ex-girlfriend.” A tiny, involuntary thrill works down my spine at the reminder of Elle’s queerness. Of how she let me demonstrate sex magic for her. That’s not something you do with someone you despise. There must be at least a little attraction. Right?

But then I remember what she said in the kitchen that day I was finally mobile enough post-possession to get my own food. “Was she the one who always made you the bad guy?” I ask, but when Elle turns her attention back to the foliage outside, I kick myself for bringing it up. “Never mind. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No, it’s fine.” Elle tugs at her sleeves, nestling the fabric in the palm of her hand. “Kinsley was the first woman I dated after coming out. Before I’d realized I’m a lesbian, I had nearly gotten engaged to my college boyfriend. He was sweet and kind and patient. I thought I’d loved him, and I did, I guess. It was just a platonic love. We had zero chemistry, but I assumed that was normal.”

“Compulsory heterosexuality at its finest,” I offer gently.

She huffs out a laugh. “And then being with Kinsley, things finally felt right. All those stupid love songs made sense. And god, the sex. Even our less-than-stellar moments were better than anything I’d experienced before.” The pink in Elle’s cheeks darkens to crimson. “Anyway, I was so enamored that I didn’t notice when she started to get more critical. When she started to pick at every little thing I did.”

“You figured it out eventually. You broke up.”

But Elle shakes her head. “That’s the thing, though. I didn’t see it. She could be sweet, too, you know? She talked about getting married and building this incredible life together. But then Kinsley got a job offer on the West Coast. I wanted to move with her, but she said I wasn’t ‘sophisticated’ enough to drag across the country.”

“Fuck her,” I say, my sudden conviction loud in the cramped space of my car. “You’re incredible, Elle, and fuck anyone who makes you doubt that.”

Elle’s green eyes meet my dark brown ones, full of questions I didn’t mean to raise. She must realize the strength of my reaction isn’t the platonic support of a fellow queer woman, and there’s a heat to her expression that wasn’t there before. A longing that mirrors my own, and I swear her gaze slips to my lips before I force my attention to the road so I don’t accidentally turn us into the ghosts we’re currently hunting.

“Anyway, I kept myself busy after the breakup. I finished the last semester of my MBA, learned how to bake from YouTube tutorials, and made plans to put in for a promotion at work. Then, a few months ago, Alex landed on my couch, heartbroken and needing a change. Midnight Manor was born, and here we are.” Elle glances over at me. “Where exactly are we going again?”

“There’s an abandoned hunting lodge out this way. According to the Witch-tionary, the locals believe the area is haunted. But not, like, creepy haunted.”

“Are all the locations you found in the middle of nowhere?”