Ending the call, Remy reached for the company newsletter, flipping it back over. It was one of those PR documents from the parent company that Remy had seen before. Nothing offensive. Just bland statements about how well everything was going. There was even a small paragraph buried on the back page about the success of the Bucket List Buddies opening events.
It wasn’t the back page or the fact Remy’s name hadn’t been mentioned that was the problem. Remy hated the way his stomach curdled, and he felt positively sick at the picture on the front page. His boss, Sven, standing with another gentleman and two women, clearly having a wonderful time.
He never smiles at me like that, Remy thought savagely, picking up the newsletter and tossing it in the bin.
I have work to do. Lots of work to do. Tonight is the launch of our ghost hunting event.Remy kicked the trash can away from his desk, so he wouldn’t be tempted to pull the newsletter back out again.
Chapter One
Lionel
“What do you mean, you’re not coming?” Lionel stared at his phone in disbelief. “I’m just getting ready. I thought I was picking you up in twenty minutes.” He quickly checked his room—the nest of huge cushions on his bed, the velvet curtains covering the windows, the thick rugs under his boots. No, nothing there had changed. Just his evening plans, it would seem. “What the hell happened?”
Ian’s chuckle came over the line. “It’s not like I have a lot of choice. Did you forget my sister? The pregnant one, Maisie?Her water broke about an hour ago, and she’s in the hospital. According to Mom, her hubby is a blathering mess, claiming the birth is akin to a second coming.
“Mom’s doing all she can to keep him from getting in the way of the staff, and she insisted—you know what my mom’s like when she puts on her insistent tone—that I’m needed. So, I can run errands, get coffee, food, and do goodness knows what else.
“Between you and me, I think Mom’s hoping my being there will boost some paternal feelings of my own, but for now, I’ve been called to run errands, and I can’t get out of it.”
“Perhaps we can reschedule?”Surely that’s possible.
“I tried calling Remy to see whether or not I could get the tickets swapped over for another night. You have to admit it was really sweet of Hector to buy them for us…”
Lionel wasn’t admitting anything of the sort.
“—but all the spots are already fully booked. So, you’ll have to take one for the team and go there on your own. You’ll have a hell of a lot of fun, I’m sure of it.”
“But… but… you know damn well I didn’t even want to go.” Lionel slumped down on the corner of his bed, letting out a long put-upon sigh. “This really isn’t my thing.”
“I realize that, and chances are Hector does too.” Ian was taking things far too casually, in Lionel’s opinion. “Except this is one case where you’ll just have to suck it up. We can’t both let Hector and Morty down.”
Why not?Although from Ian’s chuckle over the call, maybe he was doing a spot of mind-reading.
“Can you imagine it? A pregnant meerkat getting all emotional because they bought us tickets out of the goodness of their hearts to thank us for being instrumental in bringing that loving pair together, and then we both don’t show up?”
A sound, a bit like a whimper, squeaked past Lionel’s lips. Fortunately, Ian was still talking.
“It’s bad enough I have to bow out. It’s really not going to go down very well with Morty, Hector, or the Bucket List Buddies organization if both of us drop out. For goodness’ sake, it’s one night, a couple of hours. It’s not like you have anything else to do, is it?”
“I would’ve found something if I’d known you weren’t coming,” Lionel muttered in a defeated tone. “Honestly, ghost hunting? It’s a load of nonsense. There’s no such thing as ghosts.” A shiver ran down Lionel’s back, and he quickly glanced around, but no one else was there. Fortunately, Ian couldn’t see him.
“If you don’t believe in them, then you’re not going to have any problem with going, are you? All you have to do is strut along there being your normal cocky self. Just imagine the number of sweet cuties who will be there. All prepared to be scared out of their wits and looking for a pair of strong arms to curl into when they think they see something scary. Honestly, you’ll have a ball, I know you will.”
Not even the thought of a dozen cuties was enough to convince Lionel that going was a good idea. “I’d feel bad about going without you,” he blurted out. “I could come with you, give you a hand at the hospital. Lend you some moral support so your mom doesn’t try to marry you off to one of the nurses.”
“You hate hospitals.” Ian laughed at his absurdity. “Besides, what would you be doing that I couldn’t do? Don’t worry about it. It’s a family thing. I know Hector and Morty will understand my not going because it's baby related. Sorry, this time you’re on your own, Lionel. Honestly, it won’t do you any harm. Just turn up there, be your normal self, and everything will be fine. Now I’ve got to run. You can tell me all about it tomorrow. Bye.”
“Asshole!” Lionel glared at his phone before stuffing it back in his pocket. The last thing he wanted to do was go to a freaking ghost hunting event. Anything else—any of the other eventsBucket List Buddies could have come up with—Lionel would have gone to all of them. The dance night had been a lot of fun, and he’d had a couple of dates from that, which were equally fun, although casual, of course.
Things have changed.Lionel had felt a bit bummed when he realized that his best friend Hector had found his mate—true love, and all that stuff. It wasn’t necessarily the sort of thing that Lionel believed in, except he couldn’t deny that Morty made Hector very happy.
Whereas I’m usually happy by myself,he thought glumly. Okay, not by himself, but Lionel had been content with casually dating all sorts of people. Any other type of event, and Lionel would’ve been fine. Just nothing to do with ghosts.
When Hector and Morty presented him with tickets, Lionel’s first instinct had been to refuse. Ghost hunting or anything to do with ghostly shit was a hard limit.
Then Hector had pointed out, rightfully so, that he hadn’t wanted to go to dance classes either. He had gone along with Lionel because he said he would, and he was blessed with Morty as a reward.
The problem with that, Lionel argued with himself,is that Hector is really good at dancing. I don’t know the first thing about ghost hunting and don’t want to.
