“A lot of people know my name,” I said. “Go in the back before I get mad.”
He scoffed, and I stared. He relented and walked in the back.
Pretty good for alittle guy, huh?
I breathed a sigh of relief when Mr. Cane left, and then I used the computer to check and see if we had the kind of filter I wanted for Scop’s tank in stock.
The bell on the door jingled, and I glanced up as Rett came inside, a large brown pizza box in his hand.
Smiling, I started around the counter. “Hey, Rett,” I called. The savory scent of pizza made my stomach growl as I moved closer. “I’m so glad you could come by since I wasn’t able to stop at my place this morning.”
My smile fell a little when I noticed Rett wasn’t returning it. In fact, he looked a little odd.
“Rett? Is everything okay?” I asked, worrying that I’d somehow screwed up this friendship thing before it really even got started. “If you were too busy to come, you could have said that. I?—”
“It’s not that,” he said, casting a glance over his shoulder toward the door. “Maybe I’m just overreacting.”
His spooked demeanor was contagious, and I found myself looking at the door too. “What is it?”
His gray eyes turned back to me. “There’s a car at the end of the street, and yeah, I get a car on the street isn’t exactly noteworthy, but…”
Prickles of awareness raised the hair on the back of my neck, and my lips parted to yell for Kieran.
But then Rett continued. “It’s all blacked out. Tinted windows too. It drove up the block, then turned around and did it again. I watched it through the pizza store window, and then when I came out, it drove slowly behind me like it was following me. But then it pulled over and stopped. It’s just sitting there.” Rett’s eyes met mine, and his voice lowered. “It’s giving me a bad feeling.”
Movement from behind had me whirling around, breath lurching. I knocked into the pizza box just as large hands steadied me.
“What’s wrong?” Kieran demanded.
I slumped, heart thumping. “You scared me.”
Kieran’s fingers dug into my arm. “Why do you two look like that?”
“Like what?” Rett sputtered.
“Like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Did someone call me?” Ghost asked, coming out of the back.
Rett stiffened.
“Whoa,” I said, catching the pizza as it slid out of his hands. He didn’t even notice, too busy staring in the direction of Ghost’s voice but unable to see around Kieran.
“Oh,” I said, seeing how freaked out he was. “Kieran’s friend Ghost is here.”
Rett said nothing. He didn’t even look at me. I wasn’t even sure he breathed.
“Ghost, come meet Rett,” I called, tugging Kieran aside.
The second he moved, Ghost stepped forward, the wide smile freezing on his face. Just like Rett, Ghost stiffened as the pair stood there staring at each other in shock.
I glanced at Kieran who was frowning.
“Uhh,” I said, attention ping-ponging between the two. “Do you guys know each other?”
Rett jolted back to life. “I have to go,” he announced and rushed for the door, a slight limp in his step.
“Wait!” I called as he flung open the door to run.
