Page 1 of Absolutely Pucked
CHAPTER
ONE
FORD
“So.I’m seeing the ghost of a guy who died in his car. And I really do not want to be the star of that I see dead people movie sequel.”
I expected the look Alessia gave me. The sort ofwhat the fuck is wrong with youlook. It had become a very familiar expression on her face. She wasn’t quite used to me, which was the problem. She was starting to become one of my best friends since she was making frequent trips here to see Amedeo, and I was going to make sure I imprinted on her with my scent.
Like a cat.
Not in a weird sex way.
Eventually, she’d not want to leave Turenne anymore and find an apartment and stay instead of flying out every weekend. I hated when the people I cared about left. It made me feel scared and anxious, and those were not feelings I enjoyed.
“You’re not seeing ghosts,” Alessia said patiently,interrupting my internal panicking monologue. “Ghosts aren’t real.”
I stared at her, then picked up my fork, aborted my attempt to stab it through a piece of romaine, and pointed it at her instead. “You literally cannot know that.”
“Yes, I can. Through logic. And science.”
“Then how do you explain this?” I displayed my prosthetic and waved my hand up and down Carol-Ann’s glorious visage.
“I’m pretty sure your leg can’t see ghosts. Also, I’m pretty sure ghosts didn’t cause your accident. Didn’t you fall out of a tree or something?”
I had not. A lot of people thought I did. It was probably a story I told once when I was drunk which was a lot better than the real story, so I usually let people believe it. My stump twitched inside the socket, and I felt the same, single, dull pulse of nausea every time I had to think about what had happened.
Unfortunately for me, Alessia was very fucking observant. We’d only been best friends for a few weeks, but somehow, she could read me like a damn book. It was so annoying.
“Ford?”
Sighing quietly, I shrugged. “My parents used to own a ranch. Well, not aranchranch. We had four horses, and sometimes, if my stepdad was in the mood to take care of them, we had chickens.”
“Okay,” she said in her get-to-the-point voice.
My tongue felt heavy. I hated this part of the story. I took a breath. “My stepdad scared a horse, and it fell on me.” I left out the part where he’d done it on purpose asa method of punishing me for my attitude that morning. I also left out the part where my attitude had been because days before that, they dropped a huge emotional bomb on me that had all but destroyed my sense of self. “It crushed both my legs, but this one took the worst of it.” I tapped my thigh. “They couldn’t save it.”
Theycouldhave saved it, but my parents hadn’t wanted to shoulder the cost that the insurance wouldn’t have covered. Taking a hacksaw to the bone and muscle was easier. Which, yes, was a total exaggeration. It was a bone saw, and while I was awake for it, I was ripped to the tits on Versed and didn’t remember a thing. The only reason I knew I was awake was because the doctor told me I gave him a good lesson on Vampire Masquerade, and he was going to look into it with some buddies who were getting tired of their D&D campaign.
He’d been a pretty cool guy.
“Earth to Ford.”
I blinked. “Hey, babe.”
She rolled her eyes. “I asked why people think you fell out of a tree?”
“Oh.” I laughed and then took a huge gulp of the tea the server brought me—sweet instead of unsweet, which was a fucking crime against humanity, but whatever. “It’s a better story than the one that blames my parents.” I couldn’t meet her gaze. I didn’t want to talk about this anymore, but I also couldn’t bring myself to say that.
I didn’t want to be rude. I didn’t want to do anything that would make her not want to talk to me again. I was the kind of person who kept trying to setthemselves on fire to keep everyone else warm, but my metaphorical burn scars were starting to itch.
“Alright, then.” I could tell by her tone that she was going to move on, and I appreciated her more than I could say. “And why do you think you have a car ghost?”
“Oh. That.” I set my salad aside—I’d ordered it to make Boden happy, but the fucker wasn’t even with us this afternoon, so why torment myself. Leaning on my elbow, I dipped my head low. “My apartment complex doesn’t give a shit about broken cars, so it’s been there for a few days. But also, it’s a nice car. Like, anicecar.”
“Jag nice, or?—”
“Please. No one in this fuck-ass town drives a Jag. It’s a Mazda.”I think.What the fuck did I know about cars? “But you know, it looks too nice to be abandoned. Anyway, one day, when I was getting home from work, there were sheets in the window. In the morning, they were gone. Then one night, I swear I could see a creepy glowing light from the floorboards.”
