Page 34 of Ghost
“We keep searching.”
“Really,I don’t know what all the fuss is about.”
I grind my molars together to keep from yelling at my mom. It took two more hours, ten Soulless Kings other than me, Addison, and Ember to track her to the train station on the other end of town. Tracer would’ve found her sooner, no doubt, but she forgot to charge her phone overnight, and it was deader than a doornail.
“We were worried about you, Mrs. West,” Crow says, slipping his arm through hers to lead her to Ember’s car, which Addison took her back to the house to retrieve when Mom refused to get in anyone else’s vehicle.
“Oh, pish posh,” she says, smacking Crow on his forearm. “Trace Thompson, I’ve known you since you were a little boy. It’s my job to worry, not yours.”
He smiles. “Yes, ma’am.”
When I asked her why she’d been at the train station, she scolded me for not remembering that my father was returning from a business trip. She was simply going to meet him so she’d be the first thing he saw when he stepped foot in Marble Falls again.
I didn’t have the heart to remind her that Dad’s dead, and apparently, neither did anyone else because no one said a damn thing. Eventually, her memory shifted, and she was in the present. It took a little bit of explaining for her to understand how she got to the train station, but she seems no worse for the wear, so we’ve all let it go.
“Parker, sweetheart,” Mom says, looking over her shoulder at me. “You’ll ride with Ember and me back to the house, right?”
“Yeah, Mom, I will.”
Crow hands her off to Addison, who gets her settled into the passenger seat.
“I’m glad she’s okay,” Crow says to me, his voice low. “What about you?”
“I’m glad too.”
“No, I meant, are you okay? I know this scared the shit out of you.”
I thrust a hand through my hair and sigh. “I’m fine. Just glad this turned out the way it did. Could’ve been a lot worse.”
“Yeah, it could’ve been, but it wasn’t. Focus on that, yeah?”
“I’m tryin’, Pres, but it’s fucking hard.”
“No doubt it’s harder with the situation with Ember?”
I stiffen. “What situation?”
“Calm your tits, man,” he cajoles. “I just meant that it has to be hard being around her again.”
“Oh, right. It’s not easy, I’ll give ya that. But…”
“But what?” he prods when I fall silent.
I glance at Ember, who’s chatting happily with my mother while they wait on me. “Look at ‘em. She’s the best person for my mom. She handles everything Mom throws at her with grace and a smile. Em’s a fuckin’ angel.”
“Jesus, you’re getting poetic.”
“What?” I narrow my eyes at him. “No, I’m not. Just stating facts.”
“Right. Keep telling yourself that.” He pauses to kiss Addison’s cheek when she joins us. “So, if she’s treating your mom with grace and a smile, how’s she treating you?” he asks me.
I scowl. “With attitude and more fuckin’ attitude.”
CHAPTER 18
EMBER
I really need to have a conversation with him about the last fifteen years.
