by Bex Dane
I forced that on her. She hadn't given me any signs except the way she watched me. She was probably watching the freak show. "I hear ya."
"No. I mean the kiss last night was incredible. It's just… I'm trying to protect my heart."
Oh Jesus. Okay. This was hard for her to say, but I have to listen to her.
"At least you're watching over yourself for something, right?"
She laughs with a nervous edge. "I'm trying. It's been more challenging than I thought it would be."
Okay. I have to honor her request. She's right. "I'll take you to the Queen Mary. I won't kiss you. Won't touch you. Okay?"
She looks up and down the street and chews on her bottom lip. "And you'll walk the deck with me at three in the morning?"
Why the fuck am I doing this? "Yes. I'll protect you from the colliding spirits. And from me."
Her mouth turns up into a stunning smile. That's why I'm doing this.
"I'll sleep on the floor or a couch or wherever," I say.
"It might be too scary to sleep." Her eyes glint in the streetlight. She's getting excited about this.
"Then I'll stay up all night keeping guard."
"You'd do that?"
"Yes." I have no idea why, but yes, for her I'd do it.
She jumps forward and wraps her arms around my waist. "Thank you so much."
"No problem." I keep my hands to my sides. Keeping my promise not to touch her.
She pulls back quickly and awkwardly. "Alrighty then. Let's go get my gear."
"There's gear?"
"I'll tell you about it on the drive down."
Oh shit. There's gear.
Chapter 10 The Queen Mary
"This is so cool!" Cass lights up when she sees the Queen Mary's notorious room B340, the room where an insane man died by suicide while he was trapped inside. She fully believes the room is haunted by his spirit.
We had to come down to the lowest level of the ship and locate the unmarked room. She's turning on all the lights and exploring with wonder and joy on her face. This is her gig. She digs it. She's recording everything and her reaction on a small camera.
She reads out loud from quotes on the walls. Two different witness accounts of apparitions being seen and disappearing in this room. She runs her hands over the smooth cream-colored bedspread. Next to the bed, she's excited to find a Ouija board, a candle, tarot cards, and a crystal ball. I hope she doesn't expect me to do any of that crap with her.
"Er my gawd, look at that closet." She points to a dark door in the far corner with deep shelves inside.
"Creepy." I still don't believe we'll see anything tonight. We're gonna spend a lot of time recording air and listening to nothing.
She sets her bag next to the bed instead of going back and putting it in the closet.
In the bathroom, she reads something to herself that is hanging up on the wall next to the old-fashioned sink. Bloody Mary Step by Step. She turns to me, "Do not do that."
I chuckle. "Got no plans to summon Bloody Mary."
"Okay." She takes a deep breath. "I can't believe we're here. Let me get set up."
She digs in her bag and pulls out a rectangular device. "Infrared thermometer." She pulls out two long thin metal poles. "Dousing rods." Another electronic device. "Voice recorder." She opens her camera bag. "Tripod for the camera."
As far as I'm concerned, it's an ordinary hotel room. The ghost stories are all hype for publicity. Which obviously works because she saved up to pay for this.
"How much was this room?" I ask her.
"Eight hundred dollars." She shrugs.
"That's a lot of money for one night."
"It's gonna be worth it. Trust me." She holds her hand out like she's pushing back air. "This is one of the top ten most haunted places in America. So many unexplained phenomena here. It can't be a coincidence."
"Sure." I take a seat in a chair across from the bed. She's happily messing with her stuff. It's fun to watch her. She's like a child with a new toy. Not a hint of the skepticism that comes with life as an adult. When does a child lose that inherent wonder? When did I lose it? Did I ever have it? I honestly don't remember a time when I played and had fun. I fought. Always fighting. Always scared. Always lost.
Why do I have no memories of anything I enjoy? A stuffed animal appears in my head. A fluffy brown puppy with big ears and a permanent smile. Bruce was like a person. He loved me. My beloved Bruce in my head explodes as Arthur shreds him to pieces. He's saying I'm too old for stuffed animals. Tight pressure in my chest stifles my breath like I'm a hundred feet underwater. I'd forgotten, but now I remember. That's what happened to my joy. He took it from me. I have to press my palms into my eye sockets to erase the horrible vision.
"Did you hear that?" Cass's excited voice forces me to open my eyes. She's looking at the wall in exactly the spot I was focusing.
"I heard something right there." She points at a shadow on the old wallpaper of the room.
"I didn't hear it."
"Oh my God. My heart's beating so fast." Her hand is on her chest. "I totally heard a child cry."
"Not to freak you out or anything, but I was focused on that spot thinking about my childhood."
Her eyes widen and focus on me. "What specifically were you thinking?"
I shake my head and look down. I can't tell her.
"Please tell me, Cutter. It would mean the world to me. You can trust me."
Shit. Her begging works on me. "I was thinking about a stuffed dog I used to have. Someone…" No. I can't say that out loud. "I lost it when I was ten."
Her hand flies to her mouth and she takes a step back. She blinks and stares at the spot on the wall. "I feel cold. My hair is standing on end. Look at it." She holds out her arm. I don't see anything sticking out but I'll take her word for it. "I can't believe we heard something right when we got here and you had a memory at the same exact time."
It's fun watching her go off, but I'm not entertaining it. "We didn't hear anything. There's lots of people on the ship. It could be any one of them."
She points at the wall and her finger shakes. "I heard it coming from right there. There's no rooms on the other side."
"Play it back."
She plays back the video and swears she hears it when I hear nothing.
We spend another uneventful hour in near darkness, playing back the tape, watching the candle flicker on the table. She thinks she hears knocking, but I still don't hear it. She looks up at me. "We have to wait until three a.m."
"Why?"
"Devil's hour. Best time to talk to spirits."
"Ahh." My stomach grumbles and my legs are stiff. "Let's go walk around."
"Okay."
The old ship has some cool relics from World War II, but overall, I need a drink. We come upon a lounge called the Observation Room that could easily be the bar in The Shining.
"God, I'd give anything for a drink," I say with a deep drawl and my lips close to her ear.
She gasps and stares at me. "What?"
"I'd give my goddamn soul for just a glass of beer." I watch her eyes to see when she gets it.
Her mouth drops open. She gets it. "The Shining?"
"Yep."
Her shocked face is cute. Not many of my friends would recognize a quote from Jack Torrance from The Shining, but based on the movie posters in her room, I knew she would.
"You like horror flicks?" she asks me.
"I went through a slasher phase." That's an understatement but with respect to movies, it's true.
"Cool. What's your favorite?"
Do you have a favorite horror movie? Aren't they all awful? "I'd guess Nightmare on Elm Street."
"Oh yeah. You like the classics. I do a vicious looking Freddy makeover."
"I may have dressed as Freddy once or twice on Halloween," I admit.
She laughs. "Excellent. Walking Dead?"
"Every Sunday."
"Right on. I can do decayed zombie makeup too."
We order two beers and some burgers. She gets onion rings and fried onions on hers. Mine is a regular cheeseburger with fries.
"Press record." She hands me the camera.
I'm checking out the camera and she points to the shutter. "Here's the button, right here."
I knew that. "I got no problem finding your button. Okay?"
Her eyes widen then she giggles. Cute.
I press her button and a red light goes on, so I aim the lens at her. "Hey, guys. I know this looks like the Overlook Hotel bar in The Shining but we're up here in the Observation Room at the Queen Mary." She leans in and whispers to me. "Show the entire bar."
I pan around the room for her, showing the view of the harbor, all the bottles of booze stacked to the ceiling, and the art deco vintage vibe of the place. It is pretty cool. An absolute nod to The Shining.
"We may have had one amazing sprit encounter so far but we're waiting for three a.m. for the good stuff." She rubs her palms together in anticipation. She makes a "cut it" motion across her neck.
I stop taping and ask her, "So who are you talking to?" I point to the camera.
"I have viewers." She shrugs but I have a feeling this is important to her.
"Like a YouTube channel?"
"Yeah." She smiles but she's holding something in. She doesn't want to share her channel with me. I get that, but if she wants me to be her cameraman, I kinda need to know what's up.
"So you do ghost videos?"
Her food arrives and she takes a bite of her burger. "Mmm. Good."
"What kind of videos do you do, Cass?" If she's doing homemade porn, I'm out of here. Not because I wouldn't watch it, but because if she gets naked and asks me to film it, I would not be able to keep my hands off her.
"You know. Makeup tutorials and stuff." She crosses one leg over the other. She looks incredible in black fishnet stockings and a tight Ghostbusters T-shirt over a tiny black skirt.
"Naked tutorials?" I ask her.
"What? No." She laughs. "They wouldn't let me post that on YouTube."
"If they did, would you do it?" I'm curious where her limits are.
She takes a long time to think about it. Too long. After a sip of beer she finally answers. "Probably not."
"Probably?"
"It would depend on the situation."
"What would make it okay for you to do porn?" I down half a beer in one gulp.
"Porn? No. I mean I wouldn't do porn. I'm not opposed to getting naked if it's artistic and it pays well."
This does not sit well with me. "You do know whoever asks you to get naked will probably try to fuck you?"
"Not necessarily. Models pose nude all the time."
"You have a lot to learn about the business."
"I'm doing okay in big bad Hollywood. Relax already."
True. It's none of my business if she gets sucked into some porn scheme and… Oh shit. She better not get into anything like that.
Three hours, six beers, and an order of fries later, Llyod tells us the bar is closing at one a.m. The time flew by as she told me stories about her mom, how she came out here to get into makeup, and how she met Tash at her first makeup job. Laith is her boyfriend and he does Cass's hair for her videos. She's funny, smart, and easy to talk to. We carefully avoided the topic of the kisses we'd shared.
The deck is deserted when we get out there. "It's not three yet," I say to her, "so we're safe."
"I doubt the spirits have watches." She giggles and takes three wobbly steps in her boots with thick high heels. She's even sexier when her cheeks are red and her eyelids droop a little from the buzz of the beer. Her eyes are glossy and her mouth is relaxed. She's fucking gorgeous and I want to kiss her, but I promised her I wouldn't.
Instead, I pull up the camera, the red light goes on, and she comes to life. "This is the upper deck of the Queen Mary." She pulls the thermometer from her purse. "So far no activity but it's not three yet. Let's keep walking."
We make it around to the stern of the ship and she looks inside a small storage cabinet. "Hello? Ghosties?"
"I'm pretty sure they won't answer to that."
"Ah, so you admit they will answer?" She sneers like she caught me.
"Didn't say that."
"Let's sit down and wait."
She sits on a bench with a view of the city lights and I stop recording. The wind off the harbor cools our cheeks. I pull out my smokes and light up. I love the feel of smoke going down my throat when it's chilly like this. Add the salt air of the ocean. A little buzz from the beer. Pretty girl as company. Best smoke ever.
"You shouldn't smoke here," she says as she's staring out into the harbor.
"No one is even out here."
"It's not good for you."
"It's my only vice."
"Your only one?"
"Sure." She has to know I'm lying.
"You should try hypnosis to quit smoking."
"I should, huh?" She thinks hypnosis will work on me and I'll suddenly be cured. Life doesn't work like that.
"I'm kinda freaking out we're gonna see a ghost now. Like the smoke will make them visible."
We both look up at the smoke dissipating into the ocean air. "I don't see shit, but if we do, I'll chop him up. Make ginsu ghost out of him."
She laughs. "I don't think you can hurt a ghost with a knife."
"If you get him in the right spot you can."
"Hmm."
She slumps into me and presses her shoulder against mine. I told her I wouldn't touch her, but this is all on her. Her eyes close and her head drops to the side to rest on me. This smoke keeps getting better. I might light up another.
The thermometer beeps and blinks for the first time tonight. Her head pops up. "What is that?" She's looking down the deck toward the stern of the ship.
"What?"
"There's someone out on that balcony." She hits record and tries to focus on something.
I have to strain to see, but I think I see someone standing there. "Want me to chop him up?"
"No."
"Let's go." I help her up and we walk toward the figure.
She grabs my bicep and tugs me back. "Wrong way."
"Let's get closer and get some footage."
"He's tall and creepy."
"I'm not afraid." My long-distance vision isn't that great and there's fog in the air, but I do see someone tall standing on a balcony. He's facing toward the boat, which is kinda weird, and he's sort of turning left and right in an unusual manner.
"Let me zoom in."
She zooms in and I check her screen. "His neck is really long," I confirm.
It looks like he's wearing a long coat, but I can't make out any features.
"Oh my God. That's a ghost. It's totally a ghost. I can see through him." She walks on her tiptoes and the camera shakes.
We're moving closer to the guy, but he's not becoming any clearer to me.
She tugs me back and I look down at her. "Now we finally have a ghost, you're losing your mojo?"
"He is fucking freaky." Her shoulders hunch and she looks terrified. I have to admit, the dude is fucking bizarre. What's he doing staring at the wall of the ship in the middle of the night wearing some freaking trench coat? For a split second, I feel the fear she must be feeling. I admit. It's exciting, but there's no way that dude is really a ghost.
I place my hand on her back to calm her. "Let's get closer to him."
She reluctantly turns to head toward the balcony.
When I look up, he's gone.
What the fuck? "Where the fuck did he go?" My voice rises in pitch at the end.
"He was there and disappeared. That was totally a ghost." Her voice is fi
lled with terror.
I try to calm her down but the truth is I'm having some doubts too. "He was just a really tall dude out for a late night stroll."
"He wasn't walking. He was just… hovering. Holy shit. I'm freaking out. I have goosebumps. Let's go back to the room." She spins on her heels.
"Don't think the room is gonna help with that," I say to her back. She'll be just as terrified in there.
"I need to get back for, uh, something else." She starts walking really fast and takes the stairs in a clumsy two at a time. Oh yeah, she's spooked. Her hair flies in the wind as she breaks into a run, and I'm laughing as I jog behind her.
Chapter 11 Wiggle Wiggle
She slams the door to the stateroom behind us and pushes her back against it.
"You think that'll keep him out?" I can't help but tease her. If he's a ghost, he can go through a freaking door.
"I don't know. Shush."
"There's ghosts in here too," I whisper. Her logic is shot.
She shushes me, impatient with my taunting. "Be quiet."
I take a seat and wait for her to get herself together. She's walking slowly, hand out in front of her, scanning the room for ghosts. There's nothing in here.
"You go out hunting ghosts and run when you find them?" I ask her.
"That was legit scary. I'm going to look at it on the camera."
She does some complicated set up and playback thing where she's videotaping her computer screen and talking at the same time. She zooms in on the dude. It looks like a really tall man to me. He's just really blurry. She's sure it's a spirit so I keep quiet.
With staying up late last night after the fight, driving all day today, and chasing ghosts till three-thirty in the morning, I need to catch some sleep.
I move over to a miniscule couch in the corner. At least I can at least get my butt on it and rest my head on the arm. My legs hang over the edge, but I could sleep like this.
Next thing I know, she squeaks and jumps on my lap. I must have dozed off, but she's sitting right on my dick and trembling. She's holding her knees and her teeth are chattering as she stares at the bathroom. My dick rises to attention as she squirms harder. Fuck. She's so curvy and she's rubbing it all up on me.
One thing's for sure about this girl. She has no idea how fuck-hot she is.