Page 30 of Savored Sins
“No reason,” I say, heading back into the fitting room and shrugging out of the leather jacket. “Just wanted to ask if I could hit you up one night next week to, uh, try filming the pilot again.”
“Uh huh,” Autumn calls. I can hear her shuffling through her papers again, so I take that as my sign to shut up. I’m not trying to get my filming invitation revoked.
When I come back out, dressed in my own clothes again, Autumn gives me this fake-ass smile. If I’d known she was going to act so damn weird, I’d have taken that ghost in the bathroom last night and let her go down on me behind closed doors. God.
“Okay, I’m gonna peace out,” I say, already headed toward the door. “Later.”
“Wait.” Autumn’s still rifling through stuff on the desk, clearly looking for something. After what seems like forever, she comes out with a manila envelope and hands it to me. “I… couldn’t sleep last night. I did some digging around in the attic after you left, and…” She nods to the folder. “I found some photo albums. Stuff my mother-in-law never got around to moving yet. I have no idea what our ghost looks like—probably should’ve asked that, but I guess I was kind of intimidated—so I just pulled out any photos that looked like they might be relevant. I don’t really know what’s there, but… you can take a look.”
“Damn,” I say. I’m impressed. She said she’d do some digging. I just didn’t think it’d be this quick. I also never thought I’d hear her admit to being intimidated. There’s something weirdly cute about that. “Thanks. And just between us—you’ve got no reason to feel intimidated. Take that as you will.”
Autumn blushes and flicks her hand at me.
As I head back out the door, I realize I’m touched. Autumn and I are trading favors—and digging around in her ex’s family history wasn’t part of the original bargain. I might be imagining things, but… it kind of feels like Autumn actually wants this pilot to go well for me.
And that’s a huge turn-on. Because that also means she—what?—kind ofbelievesin me?
Gross. Get the fuck out with that corniness, Zeke. Get. The fuck. Out.
I need a distraction.
Booty call, anyone?
fifteen
AUTUMN
Autumn: So… you gonna come get this ouija board or what?
Autumn: Zeke.
Autumn: ??
Autumn: Okay. Into the fireplace it goes.
It’s eerie, sitting in my house alone like this since last night. I hadn’t thought this far ahead when I agreed to let Zeke film here, but now I’m kind of wondering what I was thinking. Until now, I’ve always been able to tell myself it’s, I don’t know, thewindor something whenever I hear weird noises.
But now that I know forsuresomeone’s here—and that the someone is horny for my friend’s fiancé’s little brother—every creak of the floorboards has me jumpy. Hell, I about had a heart attack when the ice machine on the fridge went off. Andofcourse, Trey couldn’t make it down tonight. He’ll be here tomorrow night, but his husband, Dustin, has some big event he’s planning in New York tomorrow morning, and Trey needed to be on support duty.
Which means I’m here in my kitchen alone, loading the dishwasher after cleaning up from dinner. I know I shouldn’t be nervous. The ghost seemed friendly enough—at least with Zeke and his dick—but I think that’s part of what’s bothering me. As absolutely ridiculous as it sounds to even admit it in my head, I’m a little worried that the ghost girl is going to be, like…resentfulof me. That she’ll think I’m encroaching on her territory. Because she clearly has a thing for Zeke—and I kissed him right in front of her, for god’s sake.
Of all the dilemmas I ever imagined I’d get into in life, I can honestly say that threesome drama with a ghost was not one I predicted. Fabulous.
If this ghost girl was a human, I wouldn’t be sitting here worrying. I’d sit her down for a little woman to woman chat over a glass of wine and tell her I’m not out to steal her man. She’s got dibs. Am I ridiculously attracted to Zeke? Yes. Did I enjoy kissing him last night? Yes. But that’s where it stops. He’s way too young for me. He and I are inentirelydifferent phases of life, and that’s just the way it goes. It’s cool. I’d explain that to this other girl if I could. Even though she’s, you know, dead, and that complicates things for her.
I close the dishwasher, wipe my hands on a towel, and scan the room for any dishes I may have missed. My eyes fall on the spirit board, still on the kitchen counter where I placed it last night after Zeke accidentally left it. He still hasn’t responded to my texts about when the hell he’s going to come pick it up. Until this moment, I’ve just wanted it out of my house. But now…
A sudden thought jolts through me.
Maybe… maybe Icantell this girl that everything’s cool. I mean, I’m no psychic medium and I can’t see ghosts like Zeke and his siblings can, but neither can the majority of people who use spirit boards—right? I’ll pour us each a glass of wine, pull up two chairs, and invite the ghost to come sit with me. We’ll have ourselves some girl talk.
Pulling two wine glasses down from the cupboard, I pour two glasses of chardonnay and set out a couple bars of dark chocolate. I make sure to unwrap them first because, even though the ghost was apparently able to unzip Zeke’s jeans last night, I’m really not sure what her motor skills are like and want to make her as comfortable as possible. Then, closing my eyes, I place my fingers lightly on the planchette. I take a few deep breaths, trying to draw on all the grounding techniques I’ve learned in yoga classes over the years.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Relax.
“Hey,” I say into the silence, feeling a little ridiculous. Zeke made it look so easy last night, but I have no clue what I’m doing. “I don’t know your name, but… if you’re the girl who was here with us last night, could you come hang out with me for a few minutes? I’ve got wine.”
I wait a minute, barely daring to breathe for fear I’ll miss some slight sound, some flash of movement. It occurs to me suddenly that I really have no idea how I’m supposed to know if the girl actually shows up. Like, will she slam a cupboard door or something? Will the wine glass suddenly start levitating? And speaking of, if a ghost takes a sip of wine, where does it go?
