Page 18 of Finders Reapers

I hadn’t been away from my phone in years. I found the constant flash of notifications soothing.

A famous person once said that you don’t die until the last person forgets your name. Well, every single little drop-down bar that told me that someone had liked my insta post just proved that I wouldn’t ever really be dead.

The D-word.

Dead.

I stopped walking.

All three men looked at me.

“I’m dead,” I whispered again.

Rome scoffed and jammed his thumb against the elevator button. “Yeah. We know.”

“I died. I drowned in a pool. During my twenty-first birthday,” I continued. “That’s what you said, isn’t it?”

Fletcher reached out and patted my shoulder but kept walking until he reached Rome’s side. “Should we show her the video?”

“What video?” I perked up.

“I don’t know how you two can stand this.” Maddox snarled, turning away from me. “I’ve appealed to Oriax for months for a skin. Anything to bring our Grim-mate back, and this airhead walks in, and suddenly there’s a spare skin just lying about.” He snarled, speaking about me as if I wasn’t there. “I’m not teaching this bitch shit.”

“Language,” I chided on autopilot.

Maddox’s eyes flicked to mine. “Do. Not. Test. Me.”

I swallowed, but the lump in my throat didn’t go away. Instead, I turned my attention to Rome and Fletcher.

“The video?” I held out my hand.

Both men looked at each other and then looked at me.

“Maybe later.” Fletcher winced. “You just got your memory back. You shouldn’t live through that kind of shit twice in one day.”

I didn’t correct Fletcher, but something he said stuck with me like a popcorn kernel to a molar.

Live through it twice? Was I meant to have the memory of my death back? Because I didn’t. It was just a big black hole. I couldn’t even remember the party.

I guessed that wasn’t normal. I also assumed that it wouldn’t go down too well with the guys if I admitted that.

I frowned. “I want to see,” I told him.

Fletcher’s hand twitched towards the pocket of his pink jeans, but he didn’t take out his phone.

The doors to the elevator dinged open. The guys stepped inside, and a moment later, I followed. The doors began to close, and I forgot that I was solid, and my nose slammed into the metal.

Rome snorted. Maddox glared. Fletcher pressed the door opening button, and I stepped through.

“Do you guys have an apartment in the building or something?” I asked.

Rome and Maddox made no move to answer my question.

“You’ll see.” Fletcher flashed me a toothy grin; the only button illuminated was for the basement.

I faced forward, but my newly acquired stomach pitched forward when I caught sight of the glass walls and the numerous offices that flashed by.

After an eternity, the doors opened to what seemed like an innocuous dusty basement. Not a scrap of furniture, save for an empty doorframe that stood in the center of the dark room. Somehow upright, even though nothing was holding it there.

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