Page 56 of You Can Make Me
He snorted. “Went hard with something. Nah, I didn’t sleep well.”
I leaned on my elbow and faced him. “Bad dreams again?”
He nodded as he pulled his knees up to his chest one at a time. “I keep having versions of the same one. I don’t know how my mind picks what to jumble up, but this time it was my Granddad. He’s at a carnival, but he’s on the other side of the fence and I can’t go to him. He tells me that I can’t go there, and there’s something about fate and protecting the truth, and thenit’s like I’m being attacked again, but it’s a different place, and it’s not Holland.” He blew out a long breath and rolled onto his knees so he could do some cat/cow stretches. “Something those old women said to me in Laurel Canyon…”
My heart gave a thud and my morning calm came to a screeching halt.
“Wait a minute. The old ladies? Outside the Canyon Store? You’ve seen them too?”
“Mmhm. Years ago. I meant to ask you about them after you mentioned them to Sam.” He stared at me, his blue eyes wide, but he didn’t seem freaked out. He was more intrigued than anything.
“I can’t believe you saw them.” Though, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. There was way too much woo-woo up in that fucking place. “Want to tell me about it on the drive? If we leave now, we can avoid most of the traffic.”
“I can’t believe we’re doing this.” He huffed out a breath and gave me a brave smile. He was doing better, and I knew the stronger he grew, the more determined he’d be to get back to work—which likely meant hunting down more information about the carnival.
As much as that terrified me, I could either stand in his way or I could help him. Keep him safe.
Not really a choice then.
Fourteen
Cooper
“So tell me what happened whenyoumet the women in Laurel Canyon?”
I hadn’t been in Denny’s car since he broke me out of rehab, and here we were, headed home—my home, nowourhome—leaving the 5 for the 170 and turning onto Cahuenga Boulevard. I’d been excited to leave the cabin and start the next phase of our life together, but once he’d finished packing the car, and I’d completed our last few tasks to clean up the place, I’d had to sit down and do some breathing exercises to stave off a panic attack.
I had to keep him talking or I’dreallyfreak out.
This is it. I’ll be back in public. People are going to see me…
“It was actually just before we left to go to Buttonwillow,” he said. “Right before we found you.”
I could handle talking about the attack now. I didn’t freeze up when bits and pieces of my assault cropped up in conversation.
Look at me, all evolved.
“Funny, I didn’t see them out there, and I must not have left too long before you did. Tell me, were they listening to that tinny radio?”
“They were,” he said with a frown. “Some Doors song, I think.”
“‘Love Street.’ Yeah. Same. They kept trying to get me to buy crystals. I think I got some?—”
“Quartz? Onyx?”
“How’d you know?”
“They insisted we take some as well. Charged us twenty bucks for two rocks. Then they tossed me the 8 Ball. They said it was more my speed.”
I barked out a laugh. “Mean. I wondered where that came from. I stopped to ask them questions one day on my way from my old apartment to Studio City, when I was just an intern during grad school. At the time, there was all kinds of interest in Laurel Canyon history, and I was obsessed.”
Denny chuckled. “You and Junior. Sorry, please continue.”
“It was one of the strangest interactions I’d ever had, and I grew up in Vegas.” That made Denny laugh.
“You get a lot of woo-woo out there in the desert?”
“What doyouthink? You know how many magicians there are in Vegas? You’d be surprised. A lot of so-called psychics show up in Vegas, too, thinking they can work the system. Some of them do, but fewer are smart enough to get their winnings and get out before they get caught. Anyway, the ladies didn’t say much to me, but when one of them pointed at the crystals, she touched my hand, and suddenly there was some monologue being recited in my head. It was so strange. Neither of their mouths moved, but I could hear them both in my head. Oh, turn up here.”
