and some burned leaves would be enough to get rid of me?”
“Get to the point, Maeve.”
“Relax, it’s not like she can see me. Or you for that matter.” When I tensed she stopped looking back and forth from Emma to me. “She can’t see you, right Finn?”
I clenched my jaw, wanting to take back my reaction. This would definitely piss her off. The fact that I’d found some kind of happiness. It was going to send Maeve’s madness into overdrive, and I’d just thrown fuel on the fire. Panic started a slow burn in my chest.
To my surprise, she visibly calmed herself. “Well, isn’t that nice. Regardless, we can call a truce for now. I’m too busy working on something to bother with your screwed-up love affair.”
“On what? What kind of game are you playing this time?” Emma was almost here, swinging her bag as she hurried across the crowded parking lot. The fear of having them this close to each other twisted me into knots.
“Who said it was a game?”
“It’s always a game with you, Maeve.”
“Have you spoken with Scout lately?” she asked a little too innocently.
I shot Maeve a look that could have cut through steel. “Why? Have you?”
Emma stopped by my side and gave me a wide smile. “You’re here.”
Maeve’s form vibrated with the blackness of her rage. “You really want to be with her? In the flesh?” she asked, her voice shaking. “Go see Scout. He’s got a really interesting operation going on.
You might even find it useful yourself.” A cruel grin on her face, she blinked out of existence.
“Hey, pretty girl.” I tried to smile at Emma, tried to feel the warmth of her presence. But no amount of Emma’s warmth could cast off the cloud of worry that had settled over me. What had Scout gotten himself into? If Maeve had anything to do with it, it couldn’t be good.
Chapter 21
Emma
“What’s wrong?” I looked around to make sure there wasn’t anyone close enough to hear me talking to myself, worry curling around my spine like a vine. Finn was staring at nothing beside me, his brow creased, a frown ruining the happy look that usually accompanied his face.
He snapped back to reality and smiled at me, shaking off whatever had been bothering him.
“Nothing. Are you ready to go? ”
I shivered as a bitter gust of wind blew over me, biting at my nose and cheeks. Winter was close.
“Yeah, we better before I get frostbite.” I bounced on the balls of my feet to keep warm, tugging my gray stocking cap over my tousled hair to cover my ears. Finn gave me a distracted smile, and followed me toward my worn-out blue Jeep Wrangler. It was spotted with rust and the air conditioner didn’t always work, but it was mine.
“So, what are we doing today?” I tossed my bag into the back of the Jeep and cranked the ignition, praying that the heater wouldn’t take a century to heat up. I had wanted to try out a new hiking trail and load up my camera with landscape shots, but today was way too cold for that. Any minute now, snow would start dumping from the sky in buckets.
Finn stared out the windshield at an approaching SUV. “I don’t know about us, but it looks like
I slipped off my gloves and shoved my numb fingers against the vents to thaw them out. Cash’s black Bronco ground to halt in front of us, blocking in my Jeep. He jumped out of his truck, shivering as a rush of wind blasted his face, turning his cheeks pink.
I gave Finn a meaningful look and he groaned. “So, what? Am I supposed to go stand out in the cold now?”
“You can’t even get cold,” I said.
“Point taken.”
“Seriously,” I said. “Just give me a minute with him.”
Finn gave me a small smile and nodded, barely giving me time to blink before he was gone. I watched him until all I could see was the flicker of his gray shirt near the tree line, but then it was gone, too.
Cash climbed in the passenger side and slammed the door shut behind him. “It’s cold enough to freeze Hell over out there.” He rubbed his hands together and blew hot breath into them.
“Here.” I cranked the heat up another notch and turned a vent in his direction. “Better?”
He nodded and settled back in his seat.
“So what’s up?”
He looked at me and raked his fingers through his thick black hair. “Funny. That’s exactly what I was going to ask you.”
I averted my gaze, watching a whirlwind of tawny-colored leaves dance over the hood of my Jeep and get stuck in my windshield wipers. I’d been avoiding Cash for more than a week—pretty much since Finn had popped into my life. Honestly, I was surprised it took him this long to corner me and demand an explanation. Mom would’ve demanded an explanation for my behavior days ago had I not patched up the holes in our kitchen walls while she was at Spin class. I took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?” Cash asked, his stare burning a hole through me. “Don’t say sorry, just tell me what I did that’s making you dodge me in the halls and not answer my calls. And what the hell is up with the new lock on the window?”
“I didn’t do the window,” I said to my lap. “Mom did after she caught you in my room the other night.”
“So, what, then?” he asked. “Is it because I didn’t believe you about the pictures? The ghost crap?
Did I fuck up?” Cash leaned across and grabbed my arm. “Talk to me, Em. What?”
I stared down at his hand. “You didn’t do anything, I swear. I’ve just been dealing with some stuff lately.” It wasn’t a lie, but I wasn’t willing to give him the details. Not even Cash would accept what was going on in my life as reality.
Cash stared blankly out the windshield. “You used to let me help you deal with stuff. Now it just feels like you’re shutting me out.” He wiped his palms over his jeans and laughed bitterly. “You’re my family, Em. You’re the only one who gives a damn about me, so I’m asking you to let me in. Don’t try to do this on your own again. We both know it doesn’t work. If you’re going through something, then I go through it, too. Got it?”
“Okay.” I nodded, wanting so badly to tell him about the boy who had saved my life. In more ways than one. I wanted to tell him how wonderful Finn was. I wanted him to be alive so Cash could see for himself.
“So…we’re good?”
I shoved the things I wanted to say back into the place in my mind just for me and nodded. “Yeah, of course.”
“Do you want to hang out tonight? We could go to the old drive-in. It’s cold as hell, but I got the heater fixed in my truck.” Cash pulled out his phone and started Googling show times. “We can hash out these problems of yours over a hot box of popcorn. Unless it’s gross girl stuff. If that’s the case, I take back what I said about us going through everything together.”
I peered out my window, looking for Finn. I spotted him lingering at the tree line, hands shoved in his pockets as he kicked a few rocks waiting for me. “It’s not gross stuff. Why aren’t you going out with Tinley tonight?”
“She’s grounded,” he said. “Hey,
I sighed. More dead people. Just what I needed. “Perfect.”
Cash finally slid his phone back into his pocket. “I’ll pick you up at seven.” He lightly punched me in the arm and climbed out of the Jeep.
Once the black Bronco was out of sight, Finn slid into the front seat. “How bad was it?”
“He’s fine,” I said, pulling out of the parking lot and starting the fifteen-minute drive home. “Just worried
