Page 61 of Just This Once

As the two of them approached me where I was still posted at the exit, Hope’s gaze shifted my way.

My heart began to pound.

More often than not, I wanted to strangle this girl. She had to be the biggest pain in the ass I’d ever met and contradictory as shit. She could give me a death glare one minute and then ask me to have sex with her the next.

I don’t think I’d ever truly understand her.

But she was one of the few people in my circle. She was part of the family I’d made for myself after my parents had died. And I didn’t want anything bad to happen to her.

Except how could green smoke mean anythinggood?

Ditching my plan to tell Alec about her little request, I grew a new mission to find out what the fuck was up with his sister.

15

PARKER

For the rest of the evening at Archer House, I surreptitiously dangled the ghost amulet near everyone else in residence, and no one stirred any kind of reaction from it. No white smoke, no green smoke, no smoke at all. It seemed like an empty glass vial around everyone but Hope.

So I swung by Mirlande’s shop on the way home, except Jezebel’s Nest was already closed for the evening.

It wasn’t until late the next afternoon before I was able to return again.

There’d been a development in the sale of one of the companies I’d just acquired, so I’d spent most of the day on the phone sorting out that mess. My brain was tired, and I had a damn headache, but I needed answers, so I made sure to stop in before the Nest closed.

The store was quiet with no other customers around when I entered. The old Haitian woman behind the counter, reading a book, lifted her attention immediately when the bell over the door tolled.

“Well, if it isn’t Faith’s frowning friend. Welcome, child.”

Without saying a word, I wound my way past lucky rabbit’s feet and love potions to the checkout station, where I set the amulet on the countertop without saying a word.

“Ah.” She smiled affectionately, picking it up to study it. “One of my homemade goodies. The ghost detector is what you young’uns have been calling it, if I’m not mistaken. How’s she been treating you?”

“She’s broken,” I said bluntly.

The old woman cackled, obviously not believing me, and she set the amulet back down on the counter between us. “Not possible.”

“I held it up near someone, and a green fog appeared inside,” I said, lowering my brows moodily to prove my point. “The fucking thing’s broken.”

“Just who did you hold it up next to?” she countered with lifted eyebrows. “Your sick, oldgranpapawho’s in hospice?”

“What?” I furrowed my brow. “No. This was a twenty-year-old girl in perfect health.”

“No, she wasn’t,” Mirlande murmured, shaking her head slowly. “Green means dying, boy. Your girl’s spirit is approaching its end, flirting with death, and the closer she gets, the lighter the green the smoke will turn until it’s pure white, and she’s nothing but a mere ghost.”

I exhaled roughly and narrowed my eyes. “Green meansdying?” I repeated, refusing to believe it.

Because Hope hadn’t been telling me the truth when she’d said that. She’d been fucking lying. She’d been trying to trick me into admitting I wanted her so she could torture me with my own desire.

Shewasn’tdying.

She just…wasn’t.

Sympathy filled Mirlande’s eyes, and she reached over a wrinkled hand to cover mine. “Mwen dezoleif you didn’t know, child.”

Not wanting her pity, I yanked my hand out from under hers and scowled. “I thought all this thing did was fill with a white cloud whenever a ghost was nearby. That was itsonlyjob.”

Mirlande pulled herself upright as if insulted. “Well, that would sound like a boring amulet if you be asking me. Of course, it does more.”

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