It was all going really well, too, until I saw the last entity that I wanted to see.
Fake Dean, sauntering to my side with his chin-razored surfer blond hair, hands shoved in his jeans pockets, and a shit-eating grin.
But of course.
“You’re awake,” he said in that voice that made me want to touch him, run my fingers down his arm. “You gave me a scare.”
I laughed sarcastically, and it took a hell of a lot of energy. And why not when I’d possessed Gavin and, as a consequence, had started to fall into a time loop?
“This isn’t what I remember happening when I was an imprint,” I whispered.
“That’s because you’re not in a residual haunting phase, thanks to me.”
Fake Dean put his hand on my leg, and tendrils of heat coursed through me, just like searing blood blasting through veins. I stifled a soft breath of pleasure, because those tendrils were inching up to a place I didn’t want to get warmed up.
He seemed to know it, because that grin only got cockier.
“Stop that,” I said, talking a little louder.
“What?”
“That.”
“It’s good for you,” he said tauntingly. “My touch makes you color up and get strong.”
“I don’t need what you have to give.”
“Is that so?” He laughed, sexy and low. “Darlin’, is it too soon to remind you that I saved your ass?”
“I didn’t ask for any favors.”
All right, in spite of my feistiness, I was kind of glad he’d been there. Why did he have to gloat about it, though?
He slid his hand over my knee, and my belly tightened even more.
Crap.
“Jenny, you already know I’ve been watching you. And you know that I would’ve considered it an epic waste if you’d fallen back into a loop.”
“So you brought me here? To ‘hang out’?”
“See? You’re in a better mood already. Before you know it, you’ll be making good puns.”
“I’m not up for this.”
“No,” he said softly. “I don’t guess you are. You went through some heavy stuff tonight.”
Damn it, the Edgett memories had almost faded, and here he was, bringing them back: death, destruction, innocent people stained by what’d gone on at James the pool guy’s.
“Just so you know,” he said, “Farah, Noah, and James are without a doubt dead. James and Noah were shaken up so bad that they’ll be time loops in that house.”
Oh, that sucked. Not so much for James, but I felt bad for Noah, even if he’d been an accessory to murder.
Fake Dean read the emotion in me. “There’s nothing you can do about it, Jenny.”
That’s right. I remembered how McGlinn’s uncle died on a regular basis in his house and the partying ghosts couldn’t bring him out of it.
“It might interest you to know,” he continued, “that Farah moved on.”
“What?” I was still weak, but his touch was doing wonders to revive me. “Why does she get to do that and not the others?”
“When she went over that rail, she’d already planned to die, so there wasn’t much shock for her. But after she realized she was dead, a wrangler showed up, and her shade was screaming bloody murder as she moved on. I can’t tell you what that means, exactly, but I don’t think it’s good.”
“How about Wendy and Gavin?” The alive ones. “What’s happening with them?”
“Wendy’s in a state of shock, but your Gavin’s got her covered.”
Your Gavin? Jealousy again? His words were tight, so I guess he was a little green.
“The cops are still in the house with them right now,” he said, “but Gavin and Wendy aren’t revealing everything. They had to come clean about James’s body and how Farah killed herself and her brother, but Wendy asked Gavin not to tell anyone about Farah murdering Elizabeth, because it would implicate Noah.”
That’s right. Farah hadn’t told her siblings all the details about how Noah had aided her, but she’d said enough. And I couldn’t blame Wendy for protecting her brother. Even if they’d fought like cats and dogs, she was probably making excuses for him, thinking of Farah’s hold on him, especially at the age of fourteen.
Besides, Farah had paid for her crime, and I was pretty sure Elizabeth—and Amanda Lee—would be satisfied with that.
Fake Dean and I didn’t talk for a beat—I was trying to get the memories out of me again—and I side-glanced at the closest body. She had long curls that had gone white from the star place’s glow, and they spiraled down from her head. Her gaze was fixed above her, and she had a slight, fizzy grin on her face.
“A keeper, not a reaper,” I said to fake Dean, changing the subject. I just wanted to leave the night behind me.
He quirked an eyebrow, clearly knowing just what I was up to, then letting me get away with it. “All of these bodies you see are willing, if that’s what’s bothering you. And when they want to go into the light, I let them.”
The light. I remembered that glowing pool of lotus leaves I’d seen during my first visit.
“If they came willingly,” I said, “why did you try to get me here unwillingly before?”
“It’s not about how you got here. It’s about how long you want to stay.”
“Stay?” He was delusional. “Let me consider that for a sec. Staring into space, not moving around. Yeah, that really seems like the life.”
“You’re getting even peppier. Good.”
He skimmed his hand from my knee to my lower thigh, and for some stupid reason, I let him stay there. As always, it was so easy to remember the real Dean and how he’d looked at me when he wanted me.
The same way this Dean was looking at me now.
“Anyway,” he said, jerking his chin toward the nearest star woman, “don’t knock what they have until you try it.”
“Wasn’t I just trying it before I woke up?” I didn’t recall anything that’d happened after I’d almost time-looped back at James’s house and then ended up here.
“You’ve been healing.” His fingers were playing along the inner seam of my jeans, making me liquid again. “You got a lot taken out of you when you possessed Gavin, and I was magnanimous enough to put it all back into you.”
As he coasted his hand up my leg, to the front of my thigh, he watched his progress, like he was appreciating my body. Almost like he was the true Dean, remembering it.
“Do you want to know why all these souls stay with me?” he asked.
Sure, why not?
“In their minds up here,” he said, “life is perfect. They don’t have to constantly amuse themselves on the earthly plane. They don’t have to deal with humans. This is a certain paradise for them, and they don’t have to go into the light and take a chance that there’s no heaven, no nirvana. It’s right here.”
“What kind of dope do you give them?”
He laughed, squeezing my leg. I bit my lip, then stopped, hoping he hadn’t noticed.
He had, but he did me the favor of not mentioning it.
“I just touch them,” he said. “In case you haven’t noticed, I can do things with a touch.”
Slowly, he eased his hand up and over my hip, to my waist. I was toasty inside. Perfect. Almost paradise. He wasn’t just bragging about his talents.
“Why do you collect, though?” I asked, trying not to sound affected. “What’s in it for you?”
As he toyed with the bottom of my shirt, he sighed. “I’m old. Living eternally is a long haul, you know. If you don’t find new spirits to enjoy—ones who’re a little different from everyone else—then time becomes a slog.”
He’d already told me he liked my get-up-and-go attitude, that most ghosts didn’t have it. Even though it was nice to be liked, there wasn’t a Dean in the universe who could make me consider hanging out in the star place forever.