Page 98 of All Our Secrets

She looked at me with rounded eyes, the little guy nestled in her arms, my blankets wrapped around them.

“I’m glad he’s settled,” I murmured.

“Did you find anything?” she whispered as the rain pelted against the truck roof.

Since she was damp, her sweet feminine scent flooded the tiny space, filling me up and making me whole.

I placed my hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. “It’s okay. I’m here now.”

Tears filled her eyes again.

“You want to stay here tonight or go to my place?” I asked.

She worried her bottom lip, then clutched my hoody. “Will you stay?”

“I already planned on it.”

Her shoulders sagged. I grabbed T.J. from Peyton, hunched over to shield him from the rain, and rushed inside. His mother was behind me. I shut the door as she wiped at the water on her bare arms with her hands.

I hadn’t realized how soaked she was until I saw the puddle around her feet. “You both need to change clothes.”

She looked me up and down. “You too.”

“I can sleep in my boxers,” I responded.

Theodore scoffed somewhere down the hallway.

Peyton hugged herself and frowned. “Silas?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“Baby?” my ghostly former friend snarled.

“Am I crazy?” she whispered, meeting my eyes. “Do I need to worry? Am I going off the deep end like my mother? You don’t know, and you probably think my mom is this awful person from what you’ve seen. But she used to be a good woman. A very, very long time ago. I think her mind got to be too much… God, what if…”

“Shh.” With T.J. still bundled against my chest, I used my other hand to pull her against me.

She gasped as a sharp pain rammed into my shoulder. I staggered backward. My heart sank, and I gripped T.J. tighter, fearing I wouldn’t regain my footing. My shoulder smacked the wall, catching me, and the relief that hit me was quickly drowned out by the ashen color sweeping over Peyton’s face.

“You okay?” I asked, glancing at T.J. in the process to make sure he was fine.

She gripped her shoulder. “It was like you shoved me.”

Theodore hadn’t just shovedme. He was breaking us apart.

Anger cranked inside me. A fury like no other. One that made me wish Peyton wasn’t here so I could unleash it all on the specter staring at me from her side. Did he not fucking see his son between us?

“I said don’t touch her,” Theodore warned.

Could he not fucking read the room? I couldn’t look his way for fear of glaring. She already thought I’d shoved her. I didn’t need her thinking worse.

“I didn’t,” I rushed. “We must have lost our footing somehow.”

“I know you didn’t, but it felt like it…” She reached out for her son. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s happening.”

“Tell her I’m here.”

Ignoring Theodore, I brushed my thumb down the side of Peyton’s jaw. “You’re not crazy. You hear me? I felt that too.” I eyed the ghost for a brief second before adding, “Some things can’t be explained.”

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