“Stevie will calm him down,” I said, patting my cousin’s back.
Harry’s gaze tracked up the steps. “Maybe I’ll take Scotty a snack.” He gave Ego a half-bow. “I look forward to speaking with you now that you know we’re here, master Ego. I’ll find you shortly.” Then he took off walking back toward the kitchen, disappearing as he went.
“Wow,” Ego said, turning eyes bright with excitement toward me. I saw the lingering pain at the interaction with Scotty there, as well, but like me, he’d learned to compartmentalize a long, long time ago. “Did you see that?”
“I did. They do it all the time. It can get annoying when they just pop up out of nowhere, though.”
Buck’s laughter boomed through the vestibule. “You mean it’s fabulous! Speaking of…” He scooted me out of the way and wrapped an arm around Ego’s shoulders and directed him toward the parlor. “Tell me how amazing it was being haunted by us.”
Laughing to myself, I trailed after them.
“Wow. Tonight was…”Ego shook his head. “What a freaking epic night!” He started dance-hopping around in a circle in the middle of his room.
It had been a wild night for him. From the revelations at Gran’s house to chatting for hours with Buck, Harry, and eventually Stevie, to having a nightcap with Chance and Jetty where my bestie told my cousin all about his gift and what had happened since buying the manor.
The only thing no one had touched with a ten-foot pole was me and the journey King and I were on. I appreciated my friend’s sensitivity. These truths should come from me, and there was no better time than a cousin slumber party. Since I’d lived here for a while myself, and sometimes stayed the night if Chance and I decided to split a bottle of wine or had margaritas on taco night, I had sleep clothes to change into. Once Ego had put on a pair of sleep pants and a t-shirt, we’d come to his room to talk.
While he finished his giddy little dance, I shuffled through my brain trying to decide what to tell him and what to leave out. He’d promised to play a benefit and had a few other responsibilities to attend to, so he’d be leaving Willowhope tomorrow. I was sure he’d told me that before, and I felt like a jerk that I’d gotten so caught up in my own stuff that I’d forgotten. At least we’d had tonight together. I’d have been gutted for him to go before we’d had this last sleepover.
He said he’d be back within a few weeks, but I knew the demands of his schedule. His life wasn’t exactly set up for him to disappear to a small town like ours. It was entirely possible that once one of his handlers got their hands on him, he wouldn’t be back until well after the mini-castle was completed.
Ego jumped onto the bed, body hopping twice on the mattress before he stared at me curiously. “What’s got you so pensive?”
Snorting, I shook my head and leaned back against the headboard. “What are you talking about? I was just watching you.”
He shook his head, and I was glad to see all the color back in his cheeks. He looked healthy again. Despite Buck’s and Stevie’s teasing hauntings, he also looked more rested than when he’d first arrived in town. Reaching out my hand, I gripped his wrist. “I’ve missed you.”
His fingers wrapped around my wrist in return. “Not as much as I’ve missed you.”
We sat in the silence like that for a minute. Letting our pasts and the secrets we held for each other settle between us. “You’ll come back soon, right?”
“A few weeks at the most. Maybe a month. I promise.” He smiled, letting me go and sitting with his back to the headboard.
Matching his pose, I bumped his arm with mine. “I’m sure you will. After all, ghosts.”
He chuckled huskily. “Right?”
Resting his head on my shoulder, he mumbled, “So tell me the rest. Whatever it was you were all being so careful not to tell me all night.”
I huffed. “That obvious, huh?”
“Not really, but I noticed that no one brought you or King up at all. Yet, I’ve seen you and Chance or you and Elyse have intense conversations, and King has mysteriously gone from hanging out at the pond in his free time to showing up here every morning for fencing lessons with Jetty.” He giggled. “FromYouTube.”
I snickered. “You can learn how to do anything withYouTube.”
“Mhm. You don’t have to tell me twice.”
Which was true. His heavenly voice, along with him watching hours and hours of tutorials and becoming an expert with facial designs and diva makeup had given him his original stage notoriety. Last I heard, even with his success, he still applied his own makeup for his shows and interviews.
He poked me in the stomach, making me think of how many times we’d been in this same position as little kids. One of us giving the other a safe space. How that had morphed into my relationship with Chance, doing the same thing. How we were all here for each other, to talk, to listen, to bear each other’s burdens and rejoice for one another’s accomplishments.
Yeah, my cousin was just as much my champion as Chance was. And I was his. Maybe I wouldn’t tell all of it tonight since I didn’t know what this Reign family line stuff was all about or what exactly had been weighing on King earlier, but the dreamwalking and the birthmarks and Patchy? These were things Ego needed to know. Deserved to know.
So I told him. Laid it all out there.
By the time I was done, he sat next to me, clutching a pillow to his chest and watching me wide-eyed. “Holy shit, cuz. This is all…phew.” He shook his head. “And I thought ghosts being real was epic. You’re like a freakin’ super hero.”
I snickered. “More like King is.”
