Page 105 of Chasing Your Ghost

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“How’s your mom?” Riley asked Noah when he joined them in the pool house again. She was worried the answer wouldn’t be good based on the tense set of his shoulders and the stormy expression on his face.

“What?”

“How’s your mom?” she repeated. A tingling itch on the back of her neck made her look over her shoulder, but there was nobody there. She frowned. Asher had been in the room with them for long enough that he couldn’t have been the cause of the sensation. Not sure what had caused it, she turned back to Noah. “I assumed that’s where you went?”

He shook his head as though to clear it. “Oh, yeah, she’s fine.”

He sounded distracted, but Riley didn’t press him. She didn’t think he was in the mood for more questions, so she only nodded, letting him get back to his book in peace.

“I’m going to grab a snack,” she announced a few minutes later.

The first signs of hypoglycemia had started to make themselves known, but she was also hoping to get a minute alone with Asher. They hadn’t spoken since their argument, and she needed to apologize again. She needed to make sure she hadn’t messed up badly enough that the fledging thing that had begun between them had ended before it had been given a chance to grow.

“Anyone else want anything?”

“I’ll take a Coke, please,” Chris asked, but Noah declined her offer with a disinterested shake of his head.

Riley stood up and looked at Asher. She pleaded with her eyes and made a small gesture with her head to indicate she wanted him to follow her out the door. He pursed his lips, and for a terrible second, Riley thought he would refuse. He didn’t, but nor did he look happy as he got up from where he was sitting with his back against her bed.

She could feel his reluctant presence behind her as she left the pool house and walked around the inviting-looking pool. She tried to focus on the smell of wet earth and freshly cut grass while studiously avoiding the gaze of Gabe, who had arrived soon after the rain had stopped falling and was mowing the lawn.

Spiders crawled over her skin under the attention of his unwelcome gaze, making Riley unconsciously draw closer to Asher and speed up her steps until she was inside the main house.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” Asher asked once they were in the kitchen.

“I wanted to apologize again,” she told him, the desperation in her voice easy to hear. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you about Ella’s ability. I know there’s no excuse, but I didn’t think it was my place to tell you. I was hoping I could convince her to do it herself.”

Asher tipped his head back and ran his hands over his face. “I’m so angry, Riley,” he admitted. He let out a loud breath and met her gaze again. “I’m furious, actually. So furious that I can barely think straight.”

Riley bit her lip. She didn’t know what to say that could make up for what she’d done. So, fighting back the burn in her eyes, she said nothing.

“I’m furious at the person who abducted me and is doing god knows what to my body. I’m furious that we’ve learned so much, but we’re still no closer to finding where I’m being kept. I’m furious that Ella has a way to save me but isn’t using it. I’m furious that my best friend isn’t at all the person I thought she was and that I would do anything to help her, but she can’t say the same. I’m furious at a lot of things, Riley,” he told her, stepping forward. “But you’re not one of them.”

She frowned, not understanding. “But I thought—”

“Let me rephrase,” he cut in before she could bring up that he clearly had been angry with her after she’d revealed Ella’s additional ability. “I was mad at you earlier, and maybe I still am a bit, but after everything you’ve done to help me, it would be impossible to be furious with you.”

“It’s okay if you are,” Riley told him, her voice a near whisper, softened by her guilt.

His eyes seemed to look through her as he seriously considered it. “You asked Ella to use her spiritwalking to find me, right?” he asked after several too-long seconds.

“Yes.”

“And she asked you to promise not to tell anyone?”

“Yes,” Riley repeated, though that answer came more slowly, her regret over ever making that promise rearing its head to make her feel even worse.

“But you wanted to tell me?”

“Of course.”

“So, your only crime was keeping your promise?”

Her face twisted in a grimace. “Except I broke that promise this morning.”

He conceded to her point with a tilt of his head. “Would you have eventually told me what Ella could do if this morning hadn’t happened?”

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