Page 20 of Ronen
Chapter Seven
Ronen
“Did you push me?” Mason accused, his amber eyes narrowed, as he lay sprawled at the bottom of the steps, practically upside down. His auburn head was nearly touching the sidewalk, his long legs splayed and resting on the steps above him.
“Of course not!” I huffed, annoyed he even had the audacity to suggest such a thing.
There was no way I would ever be able to explain to him that while I hadn’t been the one to push him down the steps, I knew who had.
Three someones, actually. They were all accessories to the deed regardless of which one of them had done the pushing.
The fact that those people were dead probably wouldn’t be very convincing to a jury.
Fucking meddling ghosts!
How was this even my life?
I certainly couldn’t tell him that while I had been low key obsessing over his lips, and his smell, and the anger seething between us that had somehow morphed into…lust–there I said it–that my ghosts had been plotting how to get the two of us together.
Doing my level best to tune them out, something I was an expert at most days, since I very well couldn’t respond to their nonsense during normal working hours with patrons around, I had missed their scheming until it was too late.
It had taken me a full minute for the wordsdo something,get them together,they need to just fuck it out already, andFlorence Nightingale effectto permeate my lust muddled–and slightly sleep deprived thanks to more nightmares–brain.
Like ice water being dumped on my head, I surfaced from beneath the amber eyed trance I had fallen into. Just in time to see William, Gigi, and Miss Rose floating right out the door, following Mason. Gut churning, I just knew they were up to no good.
Pinning Emily– who was sitting in her usual spot on the back counter–with a demanding look, she just held up her hands and shrugged, a secretive smile on her lips that did nothing to ease the tension coiled within my body for what the wayward ghosts were about.
Hurrying around the long counter, I rushed across the lobby. Pushing the door open in time to see William raise his hands toward Mason’s back.
“Don’t you dare!” I shouted, watching as my grandfather gave Mason a hard shove.
How he was even able to become solid enough to actually touch the man–and not go right through him–was a mystery I would need to solve.
Mason tumbled down the steps, and I was helpless to do anything but watch his ungraceful descent, hands over my mouth in silent shock. Wincing when his arms and legs hit the concrete hard, his hat flying off and rolling down one step, his head flopping like a ragdoll.
“Well, fuck a damn duck,” I muttered, before turning an angry glare on the trio of spirits floating above the top step. “Why did you do that? Are you trying to kill him? What is wrong with all of you?!”
“Of course not,”Gigi crossed her arms over her ample chest, her bangles jangling in the crisp morning air.“But you two needed a push.”
“A push,”William laughed, agreeing, like it was some joke.
She winked at him, doing a small curtsey.“I do have splendid ideas. Nice push. Not too hard, but enough that you did a small amount of damage.”
“Oh dear, do you think he’s all right?”Miss Rose inquired, looking to be the only one slightly upset by her companion’s behavior.“I think I heard a bone break. Nothing else sounds like that in the world. Nothing. I remember when my Walter broke his arm falling off the roof. Shouldn’t have been up there in the first place, I told him, but did he listen? Nothing else sounds like a bone breaking. Oh, dear.”
“All right?” I nearly shouted, my voice rising hysterically with each word, not even caring if anyone happened to witness me yelling at the air. “All right? Does he look all right? What is wrong with you people?” Turning to glare at Miss Rose, I pointed a finger in her direction. “I expected better from you. Him,” waving a hand at William, I said, “not so much.”
“It’s rather insulting, this opinion you have of me,”he told me, not looking one bit sorry about the man lying prone at the bottom of the stairs.“You don’t even know me.”
“I know enough,” I assured him, lowering my voice to a hiss. “Great, there’s a crowd gathering. Fucking fantastic. I’ll deal with you all later. Wait until I tell Grandma Mary what you did! Go find someone else to haunt.”
Rushing down to Mason, I shoved my way through the small crowd, only to have him accuse me of being the one to push him. Not that I could blame the man, it wasn’t a long leap to come to that conclusion.
Certainly made more sense than the actual truth.
Oh, no I didn’t shove you, it was a trio of matchmaking ghosts.
It would be better if I just took the blame, and moved on with our lives. At least the man wouldn’t think I was certifiable. Just homicidal. Yeah, that was better.
