But the groaning only became louder with every slam of my pulse against my tingling skin.
Reluctantly, I lifted my head …
Down below, beside the edge of the cliff, a woman stood with her back facing me. Hair hung like a white river flowed down her back against the black night and black ocean. With a blink of my eye, she fizzled out only to reappear in the middle of the lawn facing me! Her head was down so I couldn’t see the ghost’s face. I blinked again, and she was standing just below the balcony, the crown of her platinum blonde head staring up at me. I jumped to my feet! The quilt fell to the balcony floor. My trembling hands gripped the railing as I peered over, my blood pulsing through my veins like a stampede.
Blink. She disappeared.
At the corner of my eye, the ghost popped up at the top step of the balcony! snatching my attention, and I jerked my head until she consumed my gaze. My back slammed against the opposite railing as she walked closer, lifting her head.
The view caused me to lose my balance, but my hand gripped the railing, catching me.
Her blue lips were sewn shut, and I recognized her face immediately. “Beth? Beth Clayton?”
She tried to talk, groaning again, but no words would come out.
“What happened to you?” my voice shook. I couldn’t believe she was here. It had only been this morning she was murdered, and she’d already sought me out, not staying long with her body. “Who did this to you?”
A white film covered her big eyes, and she clawed at her sewn lips. Blood seeped from the holes where the thread wove tight together, and her nails dug into her flesh, ripping her mouth apart. Scratching and desperate, she crawled closer and closer toward me with tears running from her white eyes, one hand reaching out, the other tearing out the thread.
She groaned from her throat, and a scream escaped from my lungs just as the grandfather clock chimed from inside the house. The loud bells bounced out into the night, and a warm hand smoothed over my forehead.
My eyes sprang open to see silver eyes traveling across my face.
I jerked in the chaise. My breathing couldn’t slow. My nerves couldn’t calm. My eyes darted around for Beth Clayton, for the ghost.
Julian was sitting beside me, his hand cupping the base of my head. “Hey, hey, hey,” he chanted, redirecting my attention back to him as his eyes retraced their path to mine. “It’s okay, it was just a nightmare,” he said in a rush behind his black mask. “Only a nightmare.”
I dropped my head back and bit my lip, sucking back the panic. “No, I saw her,” I insisted. “She was right there.” Beth had to have been here, trying to tell me something.
Julian’s shoulders relaxed, and my hand moved over his on my cheek to make sure he wasn’t a dream either. His hand was real inside mine. I released a long breath and closed my eyes for a moment as his thumb brushed my jawline.
And then I remembered the way he’d left at Voodoos. I remembered how he treated me in front of everyone, and I blinked my eyes open. “Julian …” I sat up taller, the blanket fell from around my shoulders, and his hand slipped from my face. I narrowed my eyes. “What are you doing here?”
He pulled his hand into his lap and turned at the edge of the chaise, glancing down at his boots. “I was with Phoenix tonight. We overheard someone talking about a girl who was murdered. All I heard was ‘the girl with the white hair,’ and I came straight here,” he said as if he couldn’t believe his actions, his words. Confusion struck his gunmetal eyes as if something clicked in his head, and he turned to face me. “I had to make sure you were okay.”
“Now you talk to me?” I asked, shaking my head.
He cocked his head, and his brows snapped together. “What?”
“You only talk to me when it’s convenient for you. You only see me when it’s convenient for you. Last night, you couldn’t even acknowledge me—” I shook my head, catching my voice shaking too. I was too far gone to stop myself, and I didn’t realize how hurt I was until I’d let it out. “You need to leave.”
“What? No, you have it all wrong,” Julian’s lost and confused eyes flicked rapidly over my face. His brows bunched together. “Look, I’m sorry about what happened at Voodoos—”
“Go, Julian,” I gritted out through a whisper, my mind telling me this was for the best, but my heart knew it wasn’t. “Keep pretending this thing between us never happened.”
“I CAN’T THAT’S THE PROBLEM!”he thundered. “You think this is easy for me? That Iwantto have these feelings for you?!” Julian seethed, slamming his fist over his knee. My eyes widened, and he shook his head before dropping it into his palms and fisting his hair. “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s complicated, alright?”
I stood, and Julian’s gaze followed my every move. I grabbed the blanket from the chaise and wrapped it around my shoulders as I walked toward my room.
“Fallon,” he said desperately, standing to his feet. “Wait, slow down and just give me a damn second.”
Casper ran through the French doors after me.
“Goodbye, Julian,” I said, closing the doors, leaving him outside on my balcony.
And the deadbolt slid in place with a click.
Chapter 20
