Page 95 of The Devil and His Ghost

“What the hell are you doing?” I grumbled at Kendyll.

She ignored me. Alex got Bethelma’s car ordered, and when it left with the star, Kendyll motioned for her coworker to follow her up the stairs.

“I’m confused,” Jonathan whispered to me as we watched the two humans ascend the carpeted steps. “I was under the impression that the two of you were lovers. Was I mistaken?”

Kendyll glanced back halfway up the stairs. Our eyes locked, and the warning within hers was clear. She’d put on a front of wanting me to go away last night. Likewise, she continued to do things in an effort to drive me away today.

But I wasn’t falling for her facade this time.

You were a mistake, and I regret it all.

Don’t look for me, because I won’t be looking for you.

Her wounding note had aimed to get rid of me, and it had worked. I’d let myself second guess and give in to an emotion I should’ve been immune to. But after running into her again, after hearing her soft confession the night before about me being the only one, after sharing in the gift of her body, I saw all of her cold actions and words for what they were. I saw what I’d been too blinded by fear to see before.

“You weren’t mistaken,” I finally answered Jonathan as Kendyll and Alex disappeared into a bedroom.

Jonathan looked even more confused now, his ghostly gaze bouncing between the second-floor room and me. I didn’t explain. Instead, I shadow-walked to the room to find Kendyll and Alex lying on top of the bed, over the comforter. Kendyll laid on her side and faced away from the cameraman while he laid on his side to stare longingly at her back. Kendyll was apparently so exhausted that she was already sound asleep, unconcerned about the man who pined for her on one side or the demon who ached for her on the other.

I stared down at her slumbering face and gently trailed my knuckles up her warm cheek. “Push me away all you want, Kendyll. I’m not letting you go this time.”

I STAYED OUT OF THE way for tonight’s attempt at filming their episode. Kendyll hung out in the control room, so obviously, I chose to stay there, too. Even though the human woman mostly ignored me. Not that that stopped me from talking to her.

“Poor Johnnie boy and Melinda girl,” I sighed while watching the ghostly home owner and his wife.

The two hovered around a beeping device in the room Alex and Bethelma were shooting in. As Bethelma asked them yes or no questions, they made the device go off—once for yes, twice for no.

“Having to be in the same room as those two twits is rough. Thankfully, you guys are almost done here. Although, I’m sure Jonathan will be sad to see you go. He—”

“When will you go?” Kendyll cut me off flatly with her blank stare fixed on the live footage in front of her. “I’m not sure what you’re still doing. No one wants you here, Xander.”

“Being unwanted is part of the demon job description,” I grinned as I leaned back in my chair next to hers.

She glanced at me before shaking her head and facing forward again. I reached out and gently toyed with the ends of her black hair. I expected her to shrug me off, given all of her other efforts to get rid of me since reuniting, but she didn’t. That only made my smile grow as I wrapped her hair around my finger.

While Kendyll had been colder this whole time, her demeanor had shifted even further since Bethelma broke the news about purchasing Mountview. I’d wanted to check in with Kendyll about it, but she’d run off to sleep with Alex so that we couldn’t talk.

“Are you alright?” I asked softly.

She was quiet for countless heartbeats. When she finally answered, her dull gaze never wavered from the computer screens. “She’s making me go back there. As soon as we’re done filming this season of Haunted Days and Nightmares, I’ll be sent to Mountview to gather as much information about the spirits there as possible. The email Bethelma forwarded me says three months. I’ll be staying there to work on my own for three months.”

I frowned and stilled my twirling of her hair. Hundreds of questions raged in my head. They’d always been there since I found Kendyll in that institution all those years ago. I’d never broached the topic, because our relationship was already so precarious. I didn’t want to make her retreat even further into herself.

But I wanted to know more. I wanted to share in the parts of herself that she was afraid of. I wanted to walk through the dark with her.

“What was your experience like there?” I hedged, resuming my toying with her hair. My fingers swept through the strands until I caressed the back of her neck to massage it gently. She really seemed to enjoy having her neck touched.

She let out a humorless laugh. “More of the same nightmare.” She swallowed hard and seemed to settle into my palm and the brushing of my thumb. “They wanted me to think I was the one with a problem. They wanted to make sure no one would believe …” She pressed her lips together and closed her eyes around a pained grimace.

“Believe you about seeing ghosts?” I pressed. Something heavy and uneasy churned in my stomach. “Or believe you about something else?”

Her eyes reopened. That detached haze had settled over her once again. Silence was the only response I received. The unpleasant weight in my gut only grew.

“You can talk to me, Kendyll. Whenever you want or can. I’ll always listen.”

Her fists clenched in her lap, and she stared at those knuckles, which became increasingly whiter. I held my breath and waited for this long locked door to open, even a crack. Yet just as her lips parted, a shrill voice sounded from the computer speakers.

“Kendyll,” Bethelma demanded. “Kendyll, the activity stopped. Is the ghost gone?”