Page 31 of When Darkness Calls

Written across the headline in bolded letters reads BODY FOUND AT FOUNDER’S FEST.

There’s the sharp sound of her inhale as she reads it, her eyes widening a fraction with a nervous shift over to us. Cade hasn’t said whether she told him what happened Saturday night, but judging by the way she swallows hard, flipping the paper over, and readjusts in her seat…I guess that would be a no.

“I don’t want you going out alone at night for a while,” Cade speaks softly, but I can hear the undertone of the command, his urgency to keep her safe but wanting her to still live her life the way she wants. It’s what we all want. It’s what we promised.

Dani’s spine straightens. “Why?” She challenges.

Cade’s sigh holds an unbearable weight. “C’mon, Dani. I’m not saying you’re on house arrest. A girl was found dead, and another is missing. They aren’t much younger than you. I just want you safe.” He’s pleading with her. So much is left unspoken. If she really just knew what we do…

“But I’m always careful,” she mumbles, picking at a tear in her tights.

“I know, I know, but I worry. Just try to not go off alone, okay?”

She nods once. “Okay, Cay.”

He holds out his hand, pinky up and a twinkle in his eyes. I roll mine and can’t help my smile at this childhood tradition. Pinky promises are law in the Beckett house.

Dani grins, wrapping her pinky around his. They each kiss the tip of their thumbs before touching them.

“Well, that was adorable.”

“Why do we keep him around again?” Dani hooks her thumb toward me, blinking at Cade as a blush rises to her cheeks.

He chuckles, slapping my shoulder. “Come on, let’s go watch a movie or something?” Dani shuffles off her chair and Cade stands, stretching his arms high above his head. I’m really not sure if she meant to do it, but I watch from my seat, in slow motion, as her fist shoots out nailing him square in the stomach. The air is pushed from his lungs as he folds over groaning.

I guffaw. “Oh, shit,” I gasp, the laughter taking over as my shoulders shake. She covers her mouth in shock, choking on an apology between laughs. He raises his head, an evil grin shining through the pain.

“You’re on.” And he starts into a sprint. She screams, cackling, picking up anything in her way and throwing it at him, laughing harder each time I hear him grunt in pain from the impact.

“Hey, wait, no fair! I wanna hurt him too!” I leap from the table, running across the kitchen into the hallway, the hardwood floor slick beneath my socks. So slick in fact, that when I stop running, my feet don’t stop moving, and I slide hard into the living room doorway, slamming onto the floor in a heap.

For a moment, it’s silent. The only noise is my shuddered breath from the wind being knocked out of me. From the corner of my eye, I see them standing there, paused in the middle of their fight, Dani with a pillow raised high above her head, and Cade holding a blanket like he planned to use it as a whip.

Then all at once, like someone pressed resume, we all roared with laughter. Dani’s wiping away tears as they stream down her face. Cade is holding his stomach whimpering that it hurts, and we need to shut up.

My cheeks strained with the width of my smile. But this is a good pain. One I can live with.

A couple hours later, Cade, Dani, and I are lounging around in their living room. Dani has somehow found herself lying practically upside down with her legs up against the back of the couch and her head laying in the seat, staring at the TV. Three half eaten pizza boxes lie open on the coffee table along with a couple empty pop cans and beer bottles.

“Hey, do we still have popcorn?” Dani turns her head toward Cade in a very…uncomfortable looking angle. I stifle a laugh.

How the fuck is she laying like that?

“On it.” He stands saluting as he walks backward into the kitchen.

“Why are y’all so fucking weird?” I snort, shaking my head.

“What do you mean?” She turns to me, still in that freaky ass contorted position. I just quirk my brow staring at her pointedly as if to say, “Case in point.”

Rolling her eyes grinning, she lifts her arm to flip me off. “Shut up, Grays.”

Dani turns back to the TV, watching as the characters begin to piece together the strange mystery.

After we had all calmed down from the laughing fit earlier, at my expense might I add, we played games for a little bit, before Dani was over it and politely (not) begged to watch some movies instead. Before Cade and I had agreed fully, she’d rented like seven different movies for us to marathon tonight. Not that I’m really complaining though. She has really good taste in movies, but it’s a little harder for me to talk to her when she’s so enthralled in what’s happening on the screen. And honestly, I was really enjoying finally having the chance to talk to her like we used to today.

But I’ve found a quiet sort of enjoyment in just watching her as she stares at the TV. Her eyes widening at some parts, the slight parting of her plush lips, the relaxed posture. Dani’s in her happy place, and there’s nothing I want more than that for her.

Cade stands leaning in the doorway to the kitchen, arms crossed over his chest as he watches the movie too. He seems to be just as relaxed, an occurrence that has been few and far between lately. Seeing them so…comfortable settles me, settles something deep inside me I hadn’t realized was so restless. It’s like I can breathe for the first time in days, a lungful of the freshest air on a chilly winter morning.