Page 20 of Haunting Phantom
“At one time, yes. But over the years, she made it impossibly hard to keep loving her.”
“What the fuck? How can you even say that?”
Autumn smiles, patting his hand out of pity. “Relationships can be very hard, especially if only one of you is working on keeping it together.”
“It wasn’t that I wasn’t trying, it was just too much, you know? The day she died…” This time he gets choked up, the emotion stalling in his throat, his eyes burning with tears. “The day she died she wasn’t even supposed to come with me. She forced me to let her come. I actually tried to leave without her, and she threw a fit. So, I caved, like I always do.”
“Blake, stop acting like you didn’t want me there. You know how much we enjoy riding your motorcycle together.”
Autumn’s eyes slowly open. “She says you two enjoyed riding your motorcycle together.”
Hey, maybe there’s something to this ghost talking after all?
“We definitely had some good rides,” he agrees. “But that one… that one will haunt me for the rest of my life. Much like her.”
“What happened that day?”
Phantom leans back on his elbows, staring up at the ceiling again. He always does that when he’s avoiding a talk, that’sabout to get serious. It’s a way to keep people from getting too close to him, I guess.
“We were near the back of the pack. Normally, I ride up front because I’m the Road Captain, but because she came with me, I switched up with someone else and took a position in the back. We hadn’t even been driving five minutes before she started laying into me. She wanted me to name her my Ol’ Lady, but with everything going on between us, I just couldn’t do it. Claiming someone is like asking someone to marry you in the biker world. And the thought of marrying Eve…”
“The thought of marrying Eve what?”I growl, ready to pick another fight with him.
He sighs. “Was torturous for me.”
“TORTUROUS! What the fuck are you saying?”
Autumn, caught in the middle, swivels her head to look at him. “She couldn’t have been that bad.”
Another fucking eye roll? If this man rolls his eyes while talking about me one more damn time…
“She was fine when we were younger. I would’ve done anything to make her happy because she was my first love and meant everything to me. But as we got older, she wanted more from me—things I wasn’t ready to give her. That’s when she started to change. One minute she’d be happy and smiling, the next she’d be throwing things and trying to rip my head off. I don’t hit women. I refuse. But that woman got me there so many damn times. When the bad things start to outweigh the good, you have to take a look at the relationship and see if it’s even worth saving.”
He changes the subject. “What about you? Any toxic exes still latched on to you?”
She laughs. “Actually no. I’ve only ever dated one boy my whole life. Once he realized I could talk to dead people, he got freaked out, called me a witch, and bounced. It was kind ofridiculous. One day, he just woke up and said I wasn’t the one for him, kicking me out of his apartment. After that, I floundered for a while, trying to figure out what the right path for me was.”
“How’d you figure out you could talk to ghosts?” he questions, looking way too interested.
She blushes, her freckles deepening, making her stupidly more beautiful. “It’s kind of a scary story.”
“I like scary stories, Autumn. I ride in a biker club that bases its road names off horror villains, though, I’ve probably seen less horror flicks than most of the guys here.”
She laughs. “Well, okay. So, the story is… my college did a tour of the Carson City prison, the one people think is haunted. I didn’t believe in that sort of stuff until I walked through those doors. It was like I could feel the sadness aching in my chest. The more I toured, the heavier that ache became, until I suddenly blacked out, hitting my head on a concrete wall. When I finally came to, my teacher and classmates were standing around me, but they weren’t who I was focused on. I was focused on the inmate with a shank sticking out of his eye, staring at me like he was waiting for me to die. The vile and filthy things that man said to me will never go away. He made me feel dirty and gross. He said he wanted to kill me and then fuck my dead corpse.” She shudders. “Not all ghosts are that mean and violent, but the ones who merge with the dark ones are.”
“Dark ones?”Finally! Something she says sounds fucking interesting.“Go on, freckle Lady, keep talking.”
“Dark ones?” Phantom questions.
“Um, I guess you can call them shadow people. Maybe even demons. They feed off negativity, especially spirit negativity. That’s why some ghosts are stronger and more violent than others. The dark ones take them over, then they consume whatever good is left in their soul, before dragging them to theshadows with them. I’ve only encountered the dark ones twice. Once at the prison… and now here.”
“Here?” Phantom questions, sitting up a little straighter.
She nods, looking fearful. “I felt them the first time I walked in your clubhouse. I believe they consume a certain spot in the corner of your bar. That’s where they like to fester. If the dark ones are around, it’s because there’s someone here that’s calling to them.”
“Do you think it’s Eve?”
She nods. “The other ones don’t make me nervous. Not like she does.”
