Page 47 of Ghosted in Arkadia
“Ghost?”
“You want to be with me?” It’s the softest I have ever heard his tone. Like I said the one thing he wasn’t prepared to hear.
“For fuck's sake—” I sigh. “—of course I do. I mean. You’re my soulmate. We’re supposed to be together. And from what I’ve gathered, now that we’ve found each other, we’re fucked. Seven ways to Sunday. We can keep dancing around it, but we both know what’s inevitable.”
Ghost chuckles. “Go on and tell me, kitten. What’s inevitable?”
“Us,” I say, baffled that he needed me to say it. “Us. You and me. Together. Living life together. Doing things.” I take a moment to catch my breath. “I mean, I don’t really want to kill people. You can keep that as ayouthing. But, come on, Ghost. My life is about to change. Hell, it already is changing. I’m just saying I would like to take one last good run at Bill Roman.”
“It’s funny,” Ghost says, his tone barely above the sound of a whisper. “You’re practically planning our wedding, and I haven’t even shown you my face.”
I scoff. Something like embarrassment floods through me, heating my cheeks while feeling like a bucket of cold water. “What?”
“Kira, you don’t know the life I live. You don’t know who I am.”
“And whose fault is that?” A fire starts inside me, the heat from my cheeks helping to ignite the rest of me. The parts that grew up mateless. The ones that were told they were nothing.
“What do you want from me, Kira?” The edge in his tone is meant to cut deep. “What kind of life have you envisioned? Whatever it is, I promise I can’t be it.”
“We’ve played this game before, Ghost. It’s getting old. If you really felt that way, you never would have sent your first reply.I’m not the only one fucked here. You can’t stay away from me either.”
I have done my fair share of thinking about Ghost. As much as he loves to get into my head, I have to remember there is power getting inside his as well.
He has emotions too. Even if he likes to pretend he doesn’t.
“What if I need more time to get things… finalized?” he asks.
“I see the trajectory of our paths, Ghost.” My lips tilt into a smile. I hope he can hear it in my tone. “I’m just giving you a timeline. I’m going to take one last crack at Bill Roman. After that, I’m ready to get on with the future.”
I pull the phone away from my ear and end the call. I feel good. Powerful even.
There were things that needed to be said, and I said them. A little, nagging voice in the back of my mind shouts that it was always going to end this way. It didn’t matter that he killed for me. It didn’t matter that I asked him to.
We are soulmates.
We belong to each other.
Fake Dating Always Works
Iwasn’t looking forward to working on Monday morning, despite my body feeling better than it has in years. Even the blaring sound of the alarm did nothing to squash my mood as I sprung from my bed and got dressed in half the time as usual. Normally I have to lie in bed, convincing myself to get up. Now I had too much time, and nothing better to do, so I opted to put on a little makeup.
Just for shits and giggles.
I felt like a different person on the inside and part of me wanted the outside to look different, too.
The moment I walk into the station, I realize my mistake.
“Oh, hey hot stuff,” James calls out, following on my heels as I make my way to my desk. “Who were you with last night that has you feeling this good?”
“Oh, didn’t I tell you about Nunya?”
A look of confusion crosses his features. “Nunya?”
“Yeah, I met him a few weeks ago,” I say, watching James struggle to think back to the nonexistent conversation I am referring to. “Nunya fuckin’ business is his full name.”
“Haha. Very funny.” James pouts, hoping it’s enough to make me cough up a name.
“Oh, I know. I’m hilarious. And you can just keep wondering.”
