Page 65 of A Haunting at Keystone Manor

“Liar! You’re blushing!” I poke his cheek.

He swats my hand away. “He barely even knows I exist.”

“He’s probably just shy. You should make the first move. Wait, I don’t actually know if he’s gay… I’ve never thought about it before. Does he seem straight to you?”

“How would I know?”

I shrug. “We’ll have to do a little recon. Next time you see him, “accidentally” drop something and bend over in front of him. If he looks, he might be gay. Or at least bi. We can work with bi.” Seth just rolls his eyes, and we both watch Jake work. Respectfully.

Chapter thirty-seven

Waking Nightmares

Jake

I’m lying on the bed with Alex after a long day working in my garden. I’m on my back and Alex has his head resting on my chest. I’m running a hand through his hair, thinking about how much I love this. Just being around him is my favorite part of the day.

After a few minutes, he gets up off the bed. “I’ll be right back, baby. I need to check on something,” he says and leaves the room. I close my eyes and wait for him to return.

“Hello, Jacob.”

The sound of Andrei’s voice has me bolting upright, a cold sweat breaking out on my skin. He’s standing there at the foot of the bed, watching me with malice in his eyes. I kick the sheets off me and scoot back against the headboard, trying to put space between us.

“Get out of my room. What are you doing here?” He doesn’t answer, just continues to stare at me as he walks around the side of the bed.

“Alex will be back any second, you need to leave.” He laughs at that.

“I took care of that little brat. You know better than anyone what happens to people who get in my way.”

I stare at him in shock. “You’re lying!” There’s no way he could have hurt Alex, right? My mind is racing and I’m trying to make sense of his sudden appearance. He takes advantage of my distraction to wrap a hand around my ankle, pulling me down the bed. He crawls on top of me and wraps his hands around my throat, squeezing.

“Get off me!” I scream over and over as I throw my fists against any part of him I can get to. He grabs my wrists and pins them to the bed beside my head. “What do you want? Just leave us alone!” I struggle against his hold, wanting to get to Alex and make sure he’s okay. I feel tears leak from my eyes and I hate how helpless it makes me feel, being at his mercy once again.

“Jake, baby, relax. Everything is okay, you’re safe,” he says. I blink in confusion.

“Alex?” There he is, hovering above me, holding my wrists. I tug at them, and he lets me go.

“Sorry, I didn’t want you to hurt yourself,” he says with concern in his eyes.

“Did I hurt you?” I ask, looking over him for any signs of damage.

“No, you didn’t. Can you tell me what happened? It was like you were having a nightmare, but we don’t sleep.”

“I don’t know. I don’t understand what’s going on. I was here with you in bed, and you left. He came into the room and told me he’d hurt you. He crawled on me and started choking me. But it wasn’t real, right? He’s dead, and there’s no way for him to come back…”

I don’t say his name, but I don’t have to. Alex knows who I’m talking about.

“It wasn’t real, baby, none of it. I was here the whole time. You had some sort of waking terror or something. I didn’t even know that was a thing. You okay now?” he asks and runs a hand through my tangled hair before wiping a tear from my eye.

I clear my throat, embarrassed. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry about that.”

He lays down and puts his head back on my chest, hand resting over my heart. “It’s okay, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

We lay in silence for a while, and I try to soak up all the comfort Alex has to offer.

“I feel like I’ll never be rid of him. Logically, I know he’s gone and he can’t come back, but it still feels like he’s haunting this place. Haunting me. Every time I turn a corner, I expect to see him standing there, waiting to drag me out of here.” I take a deep breath.

“Do you mind if I call around, see if I can find a therapist? I think talking to a professional might be good for both of us.”