Page 24 of Haunting Salem

6

Chase Jenkins III,I hated him. Why you might ask? Because the dickless wonder was a complete douche. I mean, I already knew he was, but there’s a difference between knowing due to seeing him on television and seeing all of his assholishness in person. The guy had frosted tips—who does that anymore, besides Guy Fieri? No one, that’s who. He had a face I’d like to smash if I was the aggressive type, though, I guess I might be, because every time I look at him my stomach churned, and not in a good way.

The vibes rolling off him in sickening waves said he wasn't a good person, though he performed being this cool, slick, dude who everyone loved. I saw right through it. The man had skeletons in his closet, and I wanted nothing to do with him. Unfortunately, I had to spend the next six hours with him for this live event. I curled my lip in disgust. Thankfully, I guess, he wouldn't be around us. We would have to do a few spots with him, but I would be standing far away from him, just in case.

“There you are,” Chase said walking in my direction. “They said you’re elusive, but this is more like you’re hiding.”

From him, yes. Plus, who are the 'they,' in his statement? I held up my hand, halting his steps. "I'm trying to center myself for the evening—" a lie—"and I can't be interrupted." Not a lie. I can't explain what made Halloween or the Day of The Dead—Día de Los Muertos such active days, but they were, which meant bolstering my shields with the help of Kael and Ember, while also allowing me the ability to hear and see those who wished to communicate. It was always a delicate balance for me.

“Come on now, don’t be like that,” Chase muttered. “We’re supposed to be friendly.”

I arched a brow. “We’ve met all of how many times?” I gave him a once over then snorted. “No thanks. I’m doing this show because it’s in my contract, not to become your friend.” The longer he stood close to me, the more my skin crawled in disgust. I hated the feeling. I also hated not being able to put my finger on ‘why,’ I was feeling that way.

Nor didhetake the hint. “Come on, Simone, we can have some fun together.”

Double, no triple, negatory. No way in hell I would do anything willingly with him. Especially when he didn’t takenofor an answer. “Sorry, no can do.”

“You need to lighten up, babe.” Again he advanced on me. “I can help you go places.”

Ew. Gross. I shivered in revolt. “Sexual harassment in the workplace is illegal Chase. Before you say anything, Henry is right there. I will tell him.”

He laughed. The tool doubled over as he continued to chortle. Then he stood to his full height, his eyes darkened with menace and intent. “Who’d believe you, Simone? You’re a nobody who happened to get two-million views on YouTube.”

"I would," Jack said, coming up behind Chase. "Henry would. Nolan would. Our whole production staff." A cruel grin split Jack's face. "I bet if we called your production crew, they'd believe Simon too. So, why don't you walk yourself back over to the pre-production area and stay out of our way? You're just the host after all. Everyone's tuning in to see Simone and only Simone."

Chase swallowed hard, his face went pale and there was a real fear there. Good. He should be feeling an ounce of the terror he inflicted on others. Jack had him by the balls, I was sure about it. If I had to guess, more women than not had to deal with Chase's gross advances.

I shivered again for good measure

“Well, Chase, what’s it going to be?” I’d never seen this gallant side of Jack or the fact he could become so intimidating either.

I crossed my arms and lifted my chin, turning away from Chase when he didn’t say a word. Didn’t bother me, though. Because I didn’t have anything else to say to him nor did I want to look at him either. He’d turned a night that could have been fun and interesting for all of us, into this slimy, nauseating mess.

“Simone, Henry wanted to speak to you for a minute,” Jack said, placing his hand on my shoulder. “I’ll take you over to where he is.”

“Thank you, Jack, I appreciate it.” And, I did. I wanted to be as far away from that man as I could be. The less I had to deal with him, the better off I’d be.

“I’m not getting the best vibes from him either. I should have listened to you more when we were discussing this after the contracts were signed.” He sighed. “We don’t need his shit tonight.”

No, we didn’t. We would have to be on our toes the whole time. “Not like it would make a difference, haven’t you heard, the good ol boy club is still running strong.” I shrugged, as we walked back over to the covered area where the rest of our team waited.

“What crawled up Chase’s ass and died?” Lucy muttered, gripping her cup of coffee.

“The foot Jack firmly lodged up it,” I replied, grabbing a waiting cup. “It’s nothing though. We have to get ready to start.”

This was it. We were finally going to begin our investigation and though it was starting on a shitty note, I wanted it to be the best live event Adventure Channel ever had. I waited as the production team attached our mics and handed us our radios. When they were done, Henry joined us looking frazzled around the edges. My thought, Chase just bitched Henry out for being caught red-handed trying to be sleazy with me.

"We'll start with the cemetery first then work our way up to Gallows Hill, remember all of this will be done in real-time, so try to keep the cursing to a minimum. It's hard on our tech people to bleep it out."

I laughed. “We’ll try to be good about that.”

“Also should anything, and I do mean anything happen, while you are at one of the locations, tell us to shoot to commercial. Then use the radios you’ve been given to let us know what’s happened and what you need help with.”

The standard procedure. I understood why Henry had to say all that, but I figured we already knew it, sans the commercial part. However, I also understood, standing there, that I too was a liability. The canyon proved once I was involved in a site, I could go too deep. I only hoped this time around, my team would have my back and bring me out if things went sideways.

"Once we're done with the televised live portion of the show, you'll have a twenty-minute break and then we'll hit the stream where you'll continue your investigation and answer some questions from the fans as you work." Henry looked to me. "We already have over five hundred questions for you, Simone."

I blanched. “What?”

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