I hated the seconds he was gone. Every time he left, I couldn’t shake the quiet, slithering voice that said he wouldn’t come back this time.
One, two, three…
Blink. There he was again, standing next to the fire.
“It went with you,” I said, gesturing to the jacket as if he wasn’t wearing the proof of that fact.
“It did. How odd.”
“Can you take it off again?”
He grinned at me, sly and coy. “Already? I just got here; the least you could do is offer me a nightcap first.”
I rolled my eyes and pretended his light-hearted teasing didn’t make my heart skip. “C’mon, enough experimenting for the evening.”
“Your mixed signals are giving me whiplash.”
“You’re impossible.”
“Not impossible. You just haven’t tried hard enough yet.”
I groaned and threw my head back in defeat. “You win. I’m shit at banter.”
Charlie winked at me. “Practice makes perfect.” But he did finally take off the jacket again and draped it over the back of his chair, before delicately toeing off his boots, as if afraid he wouldn’t have feet inside.
“Cool,” he breathed, wiggling his socked toes against the hardwood floor.
My mouth went dry at my first look at him without the extra layers. His T-shirt sat higher on his hip bones than the jacket did. Irrationally, I wanted to press my thumb into the just-visible divot above his waistband.More svelte than I’d realized, he was toned like a long-distance runner rather than mylet’s make it through winterbuild.
His forearm brushed against mine when he sat back down next to me, tucking the blanket around his legs, and I could actually feel his wood-stove-warmed body through the thin material of my shirt without the thick leather in the way.
Goosebumps danced along my skin.
“Comfortable?” I asked when he’d settled in, dutifully ignoring the slight crack in my voice.
“Yeah.”
“Good.” I panicked a bit in the ensuing quiet. Did he expect me to prompt him? How does one ask a ghost to talk about the way they traumatically died?
I reached over and took his hand so he’d have something to hold onto, in case he started to disappear again. “You don’t have to say anything, but I’ll listen if you’re ready.”
All of our carefree teasing gone, Charlie squeezed back and didn’t let go. “I don’t remember how I died, but I remember what happened right before,” he began quietly. “I was asleep. Something woke me up…” his eyebrows creased, as if remembering. “It was just like a few nights ago, when we saw the light in the woods. There was someone outside the lookout, in the trees, and I went down to check who it could be. I thought maybe it was one of the missing hikers.”
Icy chills skittered up my spine. “What happened?” I whispered.
“I called out to them, but they didn’t answer. I kept walking toward that light, though. I thought they were lost, or hurt, or couldn’t hear me. I didn’t realize how far into the woods I’d gone until it suddenly shut off, and I couldn’t se—anything.” His breathing sped up, near hyperventilating. “I couldn’tsee,Reece. I wa—ost. I ne—ed to find my—back—tower. I heard?—”
On instinct, my arm went around his shoulders and pulled him into me. “It’s okay. Hey, it’s okay. Take a deep breath. We can take a break.”
He clung to me, cheeks wet again with tears. “Don’t let me leave,” he begged. “I can’t be alone again. Not now.”
My heart cracked open at the brokenness in his voice. How long had he gone with only those awful memories for company? “You’re not leaving. You’re staying right here. Ground yourself, Charlie. You’re here.You’re real. They can’t hurt you anymore. I won’t let anyone hurt you again.”
After a few deep breaths, Charlie relaxed in my arms, but he didn’t release his grip. “I only wanted to help,” he breathed into my shoulder. “I didn’t hurt anyone. I have no idea why the police said it was me, or what they found to make them think so.”
I wanted to shred into every single person who’d allowed that farce of a narrative to spread, and scream that it wasn’t true. This beautiful, warm-hearted man had been painted a villain for far too long. “I know. I know you didn’t.”
He wiped at his nose. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore tonight. I can’t really remember anything else, anyway, and I’d rather stay here, if that’s okay.”
