Page 63 of Treasure and Tarot

“Well, maybe you can try a bite of hot dog with a tiny bite of pickle, huh?” He wasn’t sure how she would feel about microwave water hot dogs so he put on a pan to boil.

“Okay!” She crawled up into her little booster chair. “Can I have a drink?”

“What kind of drink?” He’d seen at the hotel what Sebastian would let her drink, but he was curious to see what she would ask for.

“Milk?” She beamed at him. “In my purple cup?”

“You got it.” Her purple cup was on the drainboard, so he filled it about three-quarters full with milk before securing the lid. “Ta-da.”

“Tank you.” She beamed at him as if he was the most brilliant human in history. It was an awesome feeling.

The first time she cried on him he would probably have a nervous breakdown.

“Do you want to play outside?”

“Later, baby girl. After your hot dogs.” Sebastian winked at him and grabbed a glass of tea. He’d brought a load of laundry down with him, which was clearly what had taken him a moment.

“Okay!” She swung her feet, but she wasn’t kicking, so he let it go. So did Bastian.

Gent had always said with the nieces and nephews that a man had to pick his battles, and he was going to start that out like he could hold out.

He grinned. He had no idea what he was doing.

Sebastian touched his hip on the way by, and it didn’t matter that he was clueless. This was the best life he could ever imagine, and he was going to grab it with both hands and hold it tight to his chest.

Chapter

Twenty

“And then he dumped the salt on the weird drawing on the floor and screamed, ‘Demon get out! I command thee!’,” Gent finished, and Sebastian had to clap a hand over his mouth to stifle his giggles.

The guys were all lounging around, drinking beer and decaf coffee and eating the pie that Gent had brought along with a cookie and a toy from Xavi’s coffee shop. The toy, an alien with googly eyes, had made Abby squeal.

She had played with it until Sebastian had put her down for bed. And she was clutching it in her sleep even now. He knew because he’d checked on her.

Thankfully, the guys were being pretty good about keeping the noise to a dull roar, even if they were telling terrible tales on Colton.

“And did the ‘demon’ leave?” Sebastian asked.

Colton snorted. “It did. I scared the fool so much that he made a full confession about how he’d set up the whole thing. The problem was, the sigil he’d drawn on the floor was actually the real deal, and something was trying to get through. Salting it allowed us to destroy it, though, and seal off any entryways.”

“It was wild, but not like your house, Sebastian,” Iago put in. “This one has been the craziest.”

“Thanks!” Sebastian said brightly, grinning. Not that he meant thanks, but hey.

He got it. His house was a real hub of ghost activity.

“So has it always been this busy in your house?” Gent asked, and Sebastian shrugged.

“I mean, it…it never was ugly, but there’s always been—like we knew there were ghosts here. It was sort of accepted. It’s not a big deal, you know? The meanness, that was new and awful, but I grew up knowing that the ghosts were here and living with us.” It was like breathing.

“So, is the whole town haunted? I mean, everybody seems to have their ghost stories.” Law was sitting on the floor, leaning against Iago’s leg. These guys were so comfortable with each other, easy in their skins, and Sebastian liked that.

“It’s a mining town, I think, so I imagine every place has got its tall tale. There are so many little spots where life happened. This was part of the Old West, right?”

Mason nodded to them, looking very serious. “I think we should do a series out here, boss. I mean, bosses. I like it out here. It’s quiet. It’s solid. And we could literally do mining towns and Colorado ghosts for years.”

Iago nodded. “Hell, I’m in. If we come out here, we could rent a big house, and just chill. It’s so much cheaper than the city. Everything’s cheaper than California, but…”

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