I gave his arm a squeeze. “I’m not uncomfortable. Really. What happened?”
He huffed. “I wasn’t even allowed to talk about it for so long, still feels weird when I do. The people who wanted to hurt me are all dead now, but honestly, I’m still getting used to being free of that.”
“And is it definitely over? The threat against you, I mean.”
“Oh, yeah, it’s definitely over. I’d been living here a few years, when one day Jasper came and picked me up at Claudette’s. Took me out for ice cream, which I thought was weird, because he hadn’t done that since I was younger, and I thought I was too old and cool for that now. But he bought me a sundae and let me know I didn’t have to worry no more. I could show my face anywhere. No one was looking for me.”
“That must have been a relief.”
“Hell, yeah. I was scared when he bought me ice cream he was softening the blow. That he was gonna tell me I had to move again. But it was the best news. Because it meant I got to stay in Hillock Beach as long as I wanted. Forever if I decided to. I think that made me happier than hearing no one wanted me dead.”
“Sounds like my father was very kind to you. That’s nice to hear. I’ve never seen much of his softer side to be honest.”
“Oh, he ain’t soft. Your dad’s a tough motherfucker.”
I laughed hard.
“What? He is!”
“I believe you, but it’s kind of hard to picture since the last image in my mind is him drunk and screaming for fruities.”
“Yeah, well, maybe he ain’t so tough no more, but he was.” Chuckling, Orion drummed his fingers on the table. “I’d been in two safe houses before Jaz finally got assigned me. Ran away from one, got in a bad fight with the people at the other. I was not an easy case. Messed up beyond…” He shook his head. “I was messed up.”
Wind lifted Orion’s hair, the ocean breeze cooling the warm night suddenly, and I saw goosebumps rise on his arms. Taking my sweatshirt off, I tossed it over to him. “Put this on.”
I expected him to argue, but his eyes were distant, and he pulled on the sweatshirt. “I told you about my real mom, and the seashell thing.”
“Yeah.”
“There’s a bit more to it. I’m not just a simple intuitive. It’s more than that, I just keep a tight rein on it.”
“Like what you said before, that you need to do readings regularly or it comes on unexpectedly?”
He looked surprised. “You were actually listening?”
“I’m always listening. I just have resting bitch face.”
He smirked. “So you listen, you just don’t believe anything I say, because you’re a big fat skeptic.”
I smiled. “How about for the sake of this conversation I promise to keep an open mind. I’ll even forgive the fat crack.”
He grinned, then frowned. “You being serious right now? That wasn’t a crack, just a figure of speech.”
“It’s fine,” I said. “I’m not bothered either way.”
He huffed, and his eyes did a quick flick over my body before meeting my gaze. “Your body’s fucking perfect.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks, and I prayed the darkness would hide the flush I knew was there. It wasn’t just his words, it was the emphatic way he said them, and the way he was looking at me right now. I cleared my throat, letting out a nervous chuckle and stared down at the table.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Inappropriate.”
“It’s okay.”
“Just slipped out. I’m gay, if you hadn’t figured that out.”
I looked up.
“And you might as well know you’re my type. Shit, guess I didn’t even know I had a type until I got a good look at you that night at Hillock Fun Park.”
I bit my lip to try suppressing a grin, nervously rubbing the back of my neck. “Well…thanks. I’ll take it as a compliment.”
“Ah shit, I embarrassed you, didn’t I?”
“Yes. You did.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to say all that. Don’t hold it against me, okay? I think maybe I’m real nervous telling you about my past, so I’m babbling.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. For once, I could plainly see how nervous he was. My protective instincts awakened, and I reached over and gave his shoulder a squeeze. “It’s all right. You said earlier tonight you want to trust me. You can. All right?”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I promise.”
A smile lit up his face. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Please, continue your story.”
“Okay. Can I have one more cookie?”
I slid the plate over. “Have all the cookies you want.”
“Thank you. After the seashell thing with my mom, the psychic shit went off the rails. I know you don’t like me to mention her but Claudette’s a really strong psychic. That’s why your dad placed me with her.”
“Okay.”
“She’s the one that figured out I could use the seashells to do readings after I told her that story about my mom. Not just because they work as a conduit, but because if I used them for readings regularly enough, I could focus it all into an object and not have to be hit with other people’s energy and shit all the time just willy-nilly. She taught me to block it out til I wanted to use it. Took a while, but it comes naturally to me now. I’m always operating with a kind of shield around me.”
“You guard yourself.”
“Yeah, exactly. But back before everything happened, I was always just knowing shit I shouldn’t know. My dad ran a gambling hall and tried to use me for guessing numbers and cards and dice rolls, but it don’t work that way. He had some really shady friends though, bad people. That’s important for later. But it started with camping.”
“Camping?”
“Right. Me and three of my friends used to pitch tents in the woods in my neighborhood. It wasn’t a real big woods and not that far from our houses, but when you’re a kid you don’t care. Spending the night outside away from home is fun.”
I nodded.
“But this one Friday night we camped out and we’re all boasting about shit, cocky little bastards, and I was feeling competitive because my friend Aidan said he saw a ghost in his grandad’s house. I’d never told no one I had abilities, my dad told me not to. But this was something right up my alley. I was pumped, like thinking, awesome. Maybe if Aidan saw a ghost, he’s kinda like me. Our other friends were eating his story up, so I thought…yeah. They think that’s something? Wait til I tell them there are two bodies buried just twenty feet away from us.”
My eyes widened. “Were there?”
He nodded, fidgeting with his cookie, breaking it into little pieces as he spoke. “I felt them, under the ground. Didn’t think nothing of it really.” He looked up. “Probably sounds weird, but I sensed bodies under the ground a lot. Graveyards, sure, but sometimes other places. Old bones and shit. It was just normal to me.”
“Is that what these bodies were? Just…old bones?”
“No.” He swallowed hard. “They were pretty fresh. Not even a year dead. I don’t communicate with ghosts or nothing, like Chapel does. I can just sense bodies. I was so used to it…but I should have been smart. I should have realized this meant something bad probably happened there.”