Page 14 of Treasure and Tarot

The salads came in, and Sebastian picked at his, worrying his bottom lip between bites. “So, do you like it? Being a ghost hunter?”

“It’s what I do.” He shrugged. “I like that it’s not the life my folks picked out for me. I like the crew.” And he’d loved the travel, the adventure. Until it had almost killed him.

Sebastian nodded, but he didn’t respond beyond that. He had absolutely zero doubt that someone—someone in his family—had hurt Sebastian deeply.

He might have to beat someone to death. In fact, at this point, he would do it happily.

“Are you—Are you still doing your readings?” Colton asked, casting about for anything to talk on that wasn’t their tangled up past and, hopefully, future.

“I am. It’s a good job. I can be home, and I love my clients. They were incredibly supportive during my—challenges.”

He wanted to just roar, but that would do no one any good. But what the hell? If he kept swallowing words, he was going to choke to death.

Thank God the salad was good, and the entrees came in on the heels of them being removed. The cook delivered them himself, clearly making sure Sebastian was okay. But Sebastian waved him away with a laugh.

“What’s good for dessert here?” he asked, a little desperate for a safe topic.

“The pies. Xander’s pie crusts are a thing of glory.” Sebastian rolled his eyes. “This is awful for you. I hate that Hank Vargas fucked us over. I didn’t think he was a mean man.”

Okay, now that wasn’t exactly fair, and it definitely wasn’t true. “Oh, honey, he’s not mean. He thinks he’s doing us both a favor. And I gotta say, it looks like, if nothing else, we both need some closure. There are too many damn discrepancies in what we’re both sure we know.”

And if he thought about it, since that was his damn job, when shit didn’t match up at this level, that meant something nefarious had happened.

And he wanted to know what.

“Yeah. I don’t—I don’t… I just don’t know what’s going on. I’ve felt like this for so long, and I hate it.”

“Okay. So tonight, we have pie. Tomorrow, we do the big-ass list of questions for the show. Then we’ll sit down after that and talk like adult human beings?” The steak was really damn good, assuming the cook hadn’t spit in it or poisoned it or something.

“Okay. I’ll forward you the diary of what I’ve noticed. It’s detailed. I’m a journaler.” Sebastian shrugged his shoulders. “But you can ask me whatever you need to. I’m…easy.”

At the last words, Sebastian turned a bright red.

“Okay. I’ll wait until tomorrow for the personal stuff.” After he called his damn parents. “But don’t blame Hank. I mean, I thought he had told you, but he was trying to help, I think.”

“There’s nothing to help.” Sebastian looked at him, so serious, so sad. “I didn’t ask you for anything. I mean, I’d likesome help with the ghosts. But as far as the rest? After I called and tried to find you and after everything that happened? I managed. I have good friends here, and I thought I had good friends there. You’re just going to have to excuse the fact that I’m mad at him. I trusted Hank, and I don’t care what we’re—” Sebastian shrugged, lips twisting. “It doesn’t matter. I’m sure that we’ll figure it out. It’s not like we live in the same town. It’s not like I’m going to run into him at the gas station. But…damn it, I’m trying to make this whole thing work.”

Colton shook his head, his fucking heart breaking—for Sebastian, for him, for that little girl in the portrait. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

Sebastian nodded once, so sure. “I accept that you didn’t know. You need to sit and think real hard, then, about why nobody wanted you to know so badly. Because somebody didn’t want you to know. Somebody really didn’t want my child to be involved in your life. Or me for that matter.”

“I know that now. And yeah, I got some thinking, and some yelling, to do.” He was his own fucking man, and his folks and their money and their lawyers were fixing to learn something about that. About how his damn choices were his own. “So, the town hasn’t grown much.”

Sebastian did smile then, finally. “Where will it expand? We’re so narrow in land. Growing is Secret Springs’s job.”

“I know. I was pretty stunned when I drove through. But the pizza place is still as good as ever.”

“Dave’s, yeah, that’s the best. Half and half salad for the win.” That was another real smile. “I try to drive over every couple of weeks and let—” Sebastian stopped himself. “And go to the park and stuff. The parks over there? They’re bigger.”

“Are you even going to tell me her name?”

Sebastian blinked at him. “Abigail, Abby.”

“Abby.” His daughter’s name was Abby. Okay, he was going to have to sit with that for a while. He didn’t know her middle name. He didn’t know her birthday. He didn’t know if she was a Maxwell or a Belle. But he did know that her name was Abby, and that was more than he had a second ago. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”

“I’m not a fucking monster, I promise. I tried to let you know.” Sebastian shrugged, wrapping his arms around himself. “Obviously, I didn’t know that you were hurt, but I was serious when I said that I never got any phone calls from you or texts or anything.”

“I swear to you, I called over and over. I wanted…well, I wanted you.”

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