Page 43 of The Devil and His Ghost

MY SCREAM TORE AT MY throat, burning as the sound mingled with the shrill laughter that fought for dominance. My hands clenched so tightly around the handles that I lost all feeling within them, while my body vibrated with excitement.

“Woo!” Xander hollered from the seat beside me.

The coaster finished its final loop and shot us toward the hills, which evened out as the trolley slowed. The cart docked back within the boarding area of the ride. Meanwhile, I still felt like I was flying through those fast loops.

My legs were jelly as I stepped off the ride, but all I could do was continue to laugh from the thrill buzzing in my veins. Xander’s blurry grin seemed just as permanent on his face as he held me around the waist to steady my walk. He placed my glasses back on my face with his free hand.

“That was amazing!” I gushed, straightening my glasses so I could beam up at him. I grabbed the side of his shirt and tugged happily while bouncing on my feet as we made it back to the front entrance of the roller coaster where Catsper waited on us. “Let’s do it again!”

He laughed. “We could, or we could walk around and try all the other rides, too. There’s so much here.”

I looked back at my first amusement park ride, hyped up on its energy while itching to see what others waited within the huge park we’d arrived at an hour ago.

“I’ll come back for you,” I told the coaster before letting Xander lead me to the next destination.

The fast paced and packed amusement park was exactly what I’d imagined it would be based on the movies I’d seen. Families, couples, and workers rushed up and down the many pathways, which were framed by rides and shops. Screams, laughter, mechanical operations aided by music, and autumn wind in golden leaves filled the air with life.

Despite my aversion to crowds and people, I soaked it in with a smile. I inhaled the sugary sweet scent coming out of a candy store and the delicious aroma of cooking meat, peppers, and onions from a restaurant. Parents laughed with their cutely dressed toddler as the child posed for a photo with the park’s mascot. Another family tried to corral their hyper kids who kept trying to pull them in different directions in search of a toy, a certain ride, or a show. A young couple shared shy smiles over a table where they sipped on coffee and took pictures together.

All around me were memories being made, happiness shared among loved ones, innocence in its purest form.

My heart squeezed.

A plate with a mess of fried dough, powdered sugar, whipped cream, and fall colored sprinkles appeared in front of my face. “Funnel cake for your thoughts?”

I accepted the plate and looked up at Xander. “Where did you get this?”

We literally hadn’t stopped walking to the next ride, so I was confused where the sweet treat came from. The smell of pumpkin spice wafted up to my nose.

He leaned down to press his mouth close to my ear and whispered, “A demon can’t reveal his secrets.”

He’d totally stolen it. Probably conjured it right out of a stall’s inventory and into his hand. Even so, I smiled, especially when his lips lightly grazed the shell of my ear before he pulled back. A new buzz filled my body, but I tried to ignore it.

I grabbed the fork and cut a piece off before sampling the food. My eyes rolled into the back of my head as I groaned and quickly gathered more onto my fork.

He laughed low, the sound rough and with his own sort of groan mingled in. “Good?”

“So good,” I agreed around another mouthful.

“Fuck,” he cursed and ran his fingers over his strained smile. He shifted his walk as we fell into a new ride’s line. “If you keep making those sounds, I’m going to have a pretty awkward conversation with whoever straps us into this ride about my hard cock being in the way.”

I nearly choked on the food while the mother standing in front of us with a small boy glared at Xander. She grabbed her son and shifted as far away as the line would allow. Unperturbed, Xander nodded his chin in greeting at her.

I managed to swallow, though try as I might to calm down, the heat remained on my cheeks. “Please don’t get us kicked out of the park before I’ve had a chance to ride that coaster again.”

Xander stood across from me in the tight line, perching on the silver bar that framed the line pathway. Catsper floated up through the air to sit proudly right beside the demon. Xander’s dark eyes swept over me while he crossed his arms over his chest. “You never answered me out there.”

“About?” I asked, holding the fork full of this delicacy out for him.

He leaned down to accept my generosity, eating off the fork I held out. When he swallowed, he responded, “About what was on your mind out there. You went from this—” he pointed at his face, which wore an overly exaggerated smile “—to this.” His smile morphed into a pitiful pout.

Despite what had been going through my head at the time, I grinned at his antics. I held out another bite of food for him, but when he leaned down this time, I withdrew the fork and leaned my face in instead. Our faces were centimeters apart when I whispered, “A ghost can’t reveal her secrets.”

He didn’t pull away. “Touché.” His onyx eyes landed on my mouth for the briefest of moments before I pulled back to sample more food.

We moved through the line like that, standing face to face, sharing the funnel cake and conversation that wasn’t too serious. Because I didn’t want to be serious right now. I didn’t want to dig into what had momentarily taken me out of the lively, outdoor street and into a dark, cramped room. I wanted to stay in this moment with Xander.

By the time we made it to the front of the line, we’d demolished our snack. This ride was also a coaster, and it was even faster than the last one. I handed my glasses to Xander for safe-keeping as he’d had me do before. I didn’t even care that the world blurred as we soared by it. I didn’t need to see to know how alive I felt, racing, soaring, spiraling through the air with heavy music and Xander’s rich laughter as my soundtrack.