Page 32 of The Spirit Key
“You want a…. I said I was hungry.”
He grinned. “Trust me. You’re going to be eating.”
I refused to laugh. I might have snickered, though. “And what about me?”
He grinned and held up a hand. “Five years, two months, and thirteen days.”
“You have a calendar, don’t you?”
He chuckled as he led me to the bedroom.
Chapter Eight
“GOOD MORNING.”
Tim ran a hand over my butt. “Hey. How are you feeling? Ass a little tender?”
Hell yes, it was sore. He’d given me a real pounding the previous night, and I loved every second of it. I never thought I could let someone take control like that, but when Tim had me bent nearly in half and was gazing into my eyes, I realized the truth: I had never trusted anyone enough to get close to me.
“Depends on if you’re planning to use it again.”
That made him laugh. “I would, but we have work to do.”
“Work? But I thought…. Wait. You went to work yesterday, but you said you were retired.”
“And I am, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have something to fill my life. Your mom taught me the importance of giving back the blessings we have. I bought a small store, and people from the group your mom is in make things to sell there. Rachel and I share the stocking, ringing up customers, and things like that. Once a month your mom stops by and picks up a check for everything we sold.”
“And Rachel does this free?”
Tim gave me a sad smile. “Rachel and Gavin had a son, Burton. He was twelve years old when he died of an overdose of Clenbuterol. For a couple years, the two of them foundered. Their relationship suffered because each of them blamed the other for what happened. It took a lot of intense couples therapy for them to realize that neither of them had seen the signs, and only Burton knew why he’d done it.”
That gave me a flash of inspiration. “What if we see if we can help?”
“How?” Then he must have realized. “No. Absolutely not.”
I sat up and twisted on the bed to look at him. “Why? If ghosts are coming to me for help, why not start there? He might not even be hanging around, but if he is, do you really think his parents would want that for him?”
The argument was working, and I was glad for it.
“Come on. What do we have to lose?”
He groaned and scratched his face. “I know I’m going to live to regret this.”
“You don’t have to come with me.”
He scowled and tapped me lightly on the side of the head. “Are you stupid? I said you don’t go anywhere without me.” He blew out a breath. “How do we do this?”
“Do you know where Burton died?”
“At their old place. Rachel found his body in his bedroom. They packed up and sold the house not long after that.”
“Then that’s where we need to go. As far as I know, ghosts are bound to the places that they died.”
“But my mom—”
“Had to be an incredible woman. She gave it everything she had, saying she used her connection to me to get to where I was.” I paused, considering my next words. “If Burton is still there, he’s probably missing his parents something awful. I want to do this for him. Please?”
“Fine. We’ll give it a shot, but if one thing goes wrong, we leave. Promise me that.”
