Experiment in Terror 06 Into the Hollow Read Online Free PDF Page B

“You’re looking mighty fine.”
    I wasn’t buying it. “Why are you here?”
    He rubbed at his broad chin, still grinning. “I’m here to see how you’re doing.”
    Was he? I couldn’t help but think back to the car the other day when it seemed like he could hear my thoughts. Did I want to try it out on him now? He definitely wasn’t a normal man, I knew that much. But just how different was he? Was he really a ghost-sensitive type like Dex and I were, or was he something else? And was it only certain types of people that could potentially hear my thoughts, or was it everyone?
    I decided it wasn’t safe. I had a hard enough time trusting anyone already.
    Though the expression on his face was gentle and somewhat cheeky, I could pick up a vibe of something else. Beneath the laissez faire façade, he was studying me.
    I cleared my throat, suddenly feeling on the spot, and pushed my bowl of pasta toward him. “Do you want this? I lost my appetite.”
    “You sure?”
    I nodded and looked back at the window, the grey sky my failsafe.
    I saw him start to eat out of the corner of my eye, happy that the mouthfuls were keeping his giant mouth occupied.
    I decided to take the nice route out of all of this.
    “Thanks for bailing Dex out of jail.”
    He made an amused sound as he slurped up a noodle. “No problem.”
    “Did you do it because you like the guy or did you do it for me?”
    I realized right then I was being a tad presumptuous with his feelings toward me but I pushed through it and looked him straight on.
    He eyed his next bite of pasta like it was a question. “Well, I guess you could reckon I did both. Dex didn’t deserve to be in jail. And I knew you’d be distraught without him.”
    “I wouldn’t go that far,” I said automatically.
    His eyes narrowed into brief green slivers. “Interesting.”
    “What?”
    “I thought you would have gotten over your little problems by now.”
    I leaned away from him. “Little problems? Need I remind you what those little problems did to me? Fuck, you men are all the same.”
    “I’m just saying,” he said slowly, “that you seemed to have gotten over them when you were with me. That’s all.”
    “I wasn’t me. I was possessed.”
    He turned back to his pasta. “Darling, if you want to tell yourself that...”
    Without meaning to, I punched him hard on his arm and the fork and pasta were finally set free across the kitchen, clattering to a stop on the floor.
    He sighed and put his head in his hands.
    “Sorry,” he said, even though I was the one who should have apologized. “I shouldn’t have…I should have known it wasn’t you.”
    I breathed out in a huff and got off the stool. I threw the fork into the sink with a clatter and fished out a new one from the cutlery drawer.
    “I’m sorry,” I said, handing him the new fork. “You don’t even know me. It’s not your fault.”
    He gave me a sheepish look between his parted fingers. “You have to understand that when a gorgeous gal is throwing themself at you, it’s really hard to say no. I knew you weren’t quite yourself. I just reckoned it was a revenge thing…not a possessed thing.”
    I allowed myself a small smile. “It was both. Sometimes I think you can’t separate the two.”
    “I know what you mean,” he admitted. He held out his hand. “Friends?”
    I hesitated, then shook it quickly. To his credit, he didn’t try to hang on any longer than he needed to.
    “So,” I began. “You’ve checked up on me and eaten my lunch. Anything else you need?”
    He grinned. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily. I promised your mother I’d spend some time with you.”
    My face wrinkled with disgust, the feeling spreading through my veins. “Why? I don’t need a babysitter.”
    He twirled pasta around his fork, watching the turns. “I know. But it makes your mother feel better.”
    “So?”
    “So…so I can tell her you’re doing great. And then she can relax and maybe not