Page 26 of The Devil and His Ghost

I whipped around to glare at him and curled my hands into tight fists. “Fuck off, Xander.”

He clenched his teeth and stood slowly from the bed. Those dark eyes suddenly glowed as gold pierced through the night of his eyes. Horns appeared between the black tresses of hair on his head, and when he curled his lip in a rueful smile, fangs had replaced his canine teeth. “Go ahead. Yell at me. At least that way you’re talking to me.”

“You infuriate me,” I gritted out.

He chuckled. “I love you, too, Ghost.”

I nearly lost my grip on the clothes in my arms, but I managed to keep hold of them. If only the same could be said of my galloping heart and the memories that refused to stay buried.

Chapter 12

Xander

(Present Day)

I COULDN’T LOOK AWAY FROM her. Not for a single second. It had been so fucking long, and given the last time I’d seen her, held her …

I closed my eyes against the memory and shook my head. No. I wouldn’t dwell on that. She was here now. She was with me. That was all that mattered. I knew ending up back at the starting line with her was a possibility after reuniting. But I didn’t mind. I’d take whatever crumbs this woman gave me, and I’d do it with a fucking smile and unwavering praise.

Perseus liked to call me a masochist, Dante called me moronic, Zagan called me a simp, and Coldin called me … Well, Coldin didn’t call me anything, being a man of few words and all. I didn’t mind how my friends viewed my situation. There was truth in each of their observations.

Kendyll was busy taking photos and videos of the hospital, which she did at every haunted location she went to. A small smile remained fixed on my face as I watched her in her element. She was skilled at finding anything that painted an eerie atmosphere, such as scratches within an old patient room that appeared to be claw marks of a person who desperately wanted out, a rust-colored stain on an exam table in a windowless room, or a long stretch of dark hallway with something all the way at the end that could’ve been a blanket draped over a tall object or something lurking within the darkness.

What was currently missing in her creepily aesthetic photos were actual ghosts.

“Still no spirits today,” I noted while looking around the children’s ward where Kendyll was currently taking photos.

She rested on her knees while peering into the viewfinder of her camera. She had it focused on the abandoned wheelchair and messy blanket we’d found on our first day here. After snapping her shot, she shook her head. “No. I haven’t seen or felt any, either.”

“Hmm.” I cupped my hands around my mouth and cooed loudly, “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

She snorted and cocked a baffled brow. “You don’t actually think that will work, do you?”

I shrugged. “You never know. We are in the children’s ward. If they think we’re friendly and playing a game, they might appear.”

“Is that why you’ve been walking around looking human even though it’s just us here? Because you don’t want to scare them off?”

Grinning, I crouched next to her and looked over her shoulder at the photos while she reviewed them. “You’re the one who suggested back in the day that a demon like me could scare spirits off, remember? It’s true. Most people would be scared if they saw a demon.”

My eyes flicked from the camera to the side of her face, and a warm tightness gripped my chest. Unable to stop myself, I brushed the back of my fingers lightly over her cheek and into her hair. “You’re the exception.”

She stiffened and seemed to hold her breath. The tips of her ears turned pink. She pressed her lips firmly together and turned away from me.

I welcomed the way that tightness in my chest turned cold like biting frost. It was a reminder that this was real, that she was back in my life. I didn’t care how long it took to get back to where we were before that horrible fucking day. Before I did what I did. I didn’t care how long I had to lie to her, keeping my secret tucked away where she couldn’t glean any truth from it. I’d wait and embrace any punch she threw at me in the meantime.

Even with my mind made up, I couldn’t help but wonder how it all went so wrong so fast. The last time we’d been together, we’d been perfect. Did she blame me for what happened at her brother’s wedding? Did she hate me for breaking another promise?

Because I certainly did.

I fucking hated myself for not being there. I’d gone through that day in my head countless times, wishing I’d done something differently.

If only I’d told her not to go.

If only I’d skipped the band’s gig and gone with her from the start.

If only if only if only if only …

I squeezed my eyes shut as my demonic form threatened to tear at my human guise.