Page 14 of Devil's Haunting
I’ve found he has that effect on me over the last week since he insisted that he was moving in because he refused to leave me here alone. I’m more than willing to admit I was offended at first. I’m not a child and being treated like one makes me want to lash out. But the more time I’ve spent around the man, the softer I have become to the idea.
While I won’t be admitting it out loud any time soon, I kind of like him being here. There is an ease between us which has nothing to do with the truce we seem to have come to when it comes to the attraction between us. He’s just a solid guy; one anyone would be lucky to have at their back.
While Tripp carries me out of the room and down the stairs, I ensure the journal doesn’t slip from my lap even though part of me is tempted to start a fire and burn it to ash. It wouldn’t do me any good and it certainly wouldn’t change the past.
Just before he steps into the room I set up as a bedroom, complete with a shitty air mattress and drafty windows, a chill so profound that my teeth chatter, rolls down my spine. Tripp stops moving as if he can feel it too but then shakes it off and steps into the room.
It’s not until we’re settled, his back against the wall while sitting on my air mattress with me still in his lap, that he prods, “Okay, now tell me all about this Blanche Ann Landry.”
And I do.
I tell him everything that happened, including finding the journal in the desk, and everything I read about in her journal. He doesn’t interrupt; he just listens. As I lay everything out, I getthe distinct feeling he’s not the only one paying attention to my words.
It’s a ridiculous feeling, but impossible to shake all the same.
CHAPTER 6
HAMMER
We’ve now been working on Laiken’s house for three full weeks. Just by looking around, you wouldn’t know how long we’ve been working. It feels like every project we start leads to more projects. I knew it would happen; I knew this place was going to be a fucking headache, but it also has good bones, charming details, and will be beyond amazing when it is complete.
Of course, I’ll have to survive the renovation to see it completed.
Right now, I’m not entirely sure if it will happen.
As we’ve worked and opened up walls, tore out old, rotted wood, and demoed rooms where the only solution is to go all the way down to the studs leaving the lathe and plaster to be hauled away, strange things started to happen in the house. The noises which don’t belong are an everyday occurrence at this point.Tools are moved and hidden all the time. Some of them we still haven’t found. Things are being whispered, and cold spots are walked through.
If I believed in such a thing, I would think this fucking house is haunted. But it’s just not possible. There’s no such thing as ghosts, specters if you prefer. Hauntings don’t happen. Spirits are not trapped in this plane and have the ability to interact with us.
I just don’t believe it.
But that doesn’t mean I’m capable of explaining why tools have been moved and lost. I can’t tell you why we’ve all heard things like our names being whispered or, even worse, warnings being screamed. You would think, if hauntings were real, that it would be worse at night, but that’s not the case.
Most of the activity happens around the construction work. If I were a believer—which I’m not—I might think that they don’t want us to work on the house. Which makes no fucking sense. If this house is brought back to its former glory, or better, then its fate is a good one.
If Laiken were to walk away from this place, it would be allowed to go back to the earth. Knowing New Orleans, it wouldn’t take long to be reclaimed either. Hell, the plants are already making a move on the driveway, it would be just a matter of time until this piece of history would be lost.
Personally, I would think that the ghosts wouldn’t be in favor of that happening. Of course, that is if ghosts exist. Which they don’t.
Leo, the newest Prospect from the club and a guy who has worked for Devil’s Construction for a few years, steps into the library where I’m working today. We’re doing some demo andfinding out just how much of the parquet floor needs to be replaced. There is a little water damage along the outer wall, but the rest of the floor looks good.
The custom built-ins along the longest inside wall can be restored with a minimal amount of work, but the ones on the opposite side need to be ripped out and rebuilt. Thankfully with some being able to stay in place, it’ll make it easier to copy and build.
The windows that take up the outside wall will need to be replaced entirely. These original windows aren’t exactly rated for the weather and are far too drafty to stick around. This is the perfect opportunity to put in energy-efficient windows, and the amount of light they’ll let in will be phenomenal.
As I look around the room, I can almost see Laiken snuggled in a comfy oversized chair with a book in her hand and a hot drink in a steaming mug on the table next to her. It’s a vision I want to come home to. I want to find her just like that all wrapped up and cozy after I’ve had a long day on a job, knowing the entire time she’d be right here to welcome me home.
“You good, Hammer?” Leo’s question pulls my thoughts away from the snuggly as fuck scene in my mind and my head snaps over to meet his gaze.
“Yeah, why do you ask?”
“You looked to be about a million miles away,” there’s a tease in his voice, but it’s tempered by a lot of respect.
He is a Prospect for the club, but he’s also my employee. When he’s clocked in at the job, I treat him more like my employee than the bottom of the barrel Prospect he is in the eyes of the club. I need it to be that way or else the guys who work forus at various businesses would never be interested in earning a patch.
But those are also the people who make some of the best brothers because they’re already loyal. To us. To the brotherhood. To the patch. To the business.
Those are the people who are less likely to fuck you over when they find themselves in a dark place.
