Love, Like Ghosts: A Bay City Paranormal Investigations Story

by Ally Blue

  There was only one problem with that argument—he did want sex with Greg. Wanted it so badly his blood sang with it.

  So do it, the Sean-faced demon in his head goaded him. For once in your miserable existence, just damn well do what makes you happy. What are you so afraid of? Your powers? Look how well you controlled them just now. Practice makes perfect, and how are you gonna practice if you never do anything?

  Adrian smiled. Scary how much sense Sean-demon made sometimes. Even scarier how the possibility of sex with Greg seemed so much more important than any of Adrian’s fears and neuroses.

  Looking Greg squarely in the eyes, Adrian nodded. “I can definitely promise you that.”

  The movie-star smile that already had Adrian hooked lit Greg’s face. “Good.” Leaning in, he planted a soft, lingering kiss on Adrian’s mouth. “I can’t wait,” he whispered as they drew apart.

  “Neither can I.” Clutching Greg’s hand in his, Adrian flung the bathroom door open, lifted his chin and stalked out past the line that had formed while they’d been inside. With any luck, no one would notice the swelling in the front of his jeans or the loopy grin on his face.

  Chapter Eight

  Throughout his six-month relationship with Christian, Adrian had become accustomed to sex whenever the mood struck. The thing was, the mood didn’t strike all that often. For the first few weeks, sure, they’d screwed constantly. Then the novelty had worn off, familiarity had set in, and they’d settled into a once or twice a week pattern more like that of a long-married couple than a pair of teenage boys.

  The experience had led Adrian to believe he simply didn’t have much of a sex drive. Aside from the mild irritation of discovering yet another way in which he was different from everyone else, it hadn’t bothered him much. He had big plans for his life, and those plans didn’t include a relationship. Not being burdened by the hormonal urges that plagued most men his age could only be a good thing.

  Then along came Greg. Greg, who could turn Adrian’s legs boneless and his cock stone hard with nothing but a single smoldering look. Every time they kissed, every time Greg’s hands slid beneath Adrian’s shirt to spread across the bare skin of his back, Adrian’s powers surged into a savage whirlwind of crackling energy. It terrified him, yet at the same time he found the feel of all that raw power pulsing inside him almost unbearably exciting.

  Unfortunately, that excitement appeared inextricably linked to Adrian’s intense sexual attraction toward Greg. And how ironic was it that he’d made up his mind to give in to his need and take Greg to bed, yet in the two weeks between the first haunted house show and today—Halloween, the day of the final show—they hadn’t had more than a few minutes alone at once?

  Greg, only half joking, called it poetic justice. Adrian just called it hell.

  “Tomorrow night,” Greg declared as he and Adrian walked hand in hand to Groome Castle. “We are holing up in your apartment and spending the entire night fucking like bunnies.”

  Adrian cast a furtive glance around them. “Not so loud.”

  “Oh, for God’s sake, Adrian, give it a rest.” Greg shot him an irritated look. “Nobody cares, okay? Everybody is having sex. Nobody’s gonna get their panties in a wad just because somebody else is talking about the sex they want to have. Eventually.”

  A planter shattered as Adrian walked past it. He clenched his jaw. Those sorts of things had been happening disturbingly often lately.

  “I promised we’d…you know…when I was ready. You were fine with that. I don’t understand why this is different.”

  “When you said that, you weren’t ready to have sex.” Greg enunciated the last two words far more than was strictly necessary. Adrian groaned. Greg plowed on with a determined glint in his eyes. “Now you are, and I know we could be fucking, if only life would cooperate. And that is the goddamn difference.”

  Adrian sighed. “Okay, I see your point.”

  “So. Tomorrow night? Your place? I’ll bring the rubbers and lube.”

  Someone brushed past on Adrian’s other side. He whipped his head around, heart in his throat. Theo Smathers grinned and waved as he jogged past. “Hey, guys. See you at the castle.”

  “Yeah, see you.” Adrian turned back to Greg, who wore a smug expression. “Okay, so obviously he heard you, and obviously he didn’t care. Point taken.”

  “Uh-huh.” Greg elbowed Adrian in the ribs. “Answer my question.”

  Adrian laughed out loud. “Yes, okay? Yes. Tomorrow night. My place. You bring the necessary…things. I’ll supply the bed.”

  “Thank Christ.” Letting go of Adrian’s hand, Greg bounded in front of him, flung both arms around his neck and planted a hard, hungry kiss right on his mouth.

  Fire raced through Adrian’s veins. His arms slid around Greg’s waist, his mouth opened and his tongue sought Greg’s without his brain’s permission. It was like this every time. One touch, one kiss, and pure instinct knocked propriety and the desire for privacy sideways.

  In fact, it seemed to have gotten worse lately. In the past two days, he’d come to his senses to find himself on the verge of groping Greg in public no less than three times.

  And this makes four. Snatching his hand out of the back of Greg’s jean, Adrian broke the kiss and pushed Greg away. “Stop. Please. Not here.”

  Greg let out a frustrated growl. “For fuck’s sake, it’s just a kiss, okay? I swear I’m not going to sully your virtue in public.”

  “It’s not just a kiss,” Adrian snapped. On the porch of the house they’d just passed, a potted fern fell and broke. Scowling, Adrian stuck his hands in his pockets and stalked up the sidewalk as fast as he could go, leaving Greg scrambling in his wake. “Every time we kiss, it does things to me, and I…I can’t control it. And I don’t like not being in control of myself.”

  “Yeah, well, in case you didn’t notice, it ‘does things’ to me too.”

  Some of the sharpness had leached out of Greg’s voice, but the sarcasm that remained wasn’t much of an improvement, in Adrian’s opinion. He kept his gaze trained on the Groome Castle tower, just visible through the trees ahead, because he really didn’t want to see the mulish expression he knew would be on Greg’s face right now.

  “That’s not exactly what I meant.” Adrian kicked a horse chestnut so hard it bounced off a nearby trashcan and into the street. “But in any case, even if it was nothing but a kiss, why isn’t it enough for you that I don’t feel comfortable kissing like that in public? Why do you have to keep pushing it?”

  Silence. Adrian cut a surreptitious glance to his left. Greg caught his gaze and held it, gray eyes glittering in a blank mask of a face. “That’s what you think? That I’m pushing you? Trying to make you do things you don’t want to do? On purpose?”

  “Um. Well.” Adrian tripped over a crack in the sidewalk, stumbled and recovered. He stared at his feet, grateful for the excuse to look at something besides Greg’s eyes. As much as he liked Greg, as much as he enjoyed his company—entirely aside from the physical attraction—he had a knack for twisting Adrian’s words so that even he wasn’t sure what he meant anymore. Biting down on his frustration, Adrian shrugged. “I don’t know, Greg. You tell me. Is that what you’re doing?”

  Greg snorted. “See you at the castle.”

  He strode off without looking back. Torn between hurt, anger and sheer irritation, Adrian stood there and watched him go.

  Once Greg turned the corner onto the gravel road leading to Groome Castle, Adrian started walking again with a sigh. This was how it started when his relationship with Christian went bad. Things had become complicated. Frustrating. Infuriating. They’d started fighting more than talking, they’d stopped listening to each other, and by the time it ended neither had even cared anymore about making the other happy.

  Is that already happening to Greg and me? After only two weeks together? Am I already sabotaging it by turning minor annoyances into major problems?

  Adrian’s stomach clenched. In spit
e of the short time they’d been seeing each other, Adrian had grown used to having Greg around. The thought of a day without his company filled Adrian with a terrible desolation.

  He reached the corner and made the turn onto the gravel road. Up ahead, Greg swiveled and looked over his shoulder. Their gazes locked for a moment before Greg whipped around again, but Adrian caught the heat—and the hope—in Greg’s expression.

  I’m not letting this end, Adrian decided, watching Greg’s golden brown curls twist in a sudden breeze. I’m not going to let my stupid hang-ups ruin this thing with him.

  Not when being with Greg made him feel so damn alive.

  He started jogging up the road, passing several other students on the way. “Hey, Greg!”

  Greg stopped and half-turned. “Yeah?”

  “Wait up.”

  Greg waited in stony silence, hands in his jacket pockets. Adrian skidded to a halt in front of him, grabbed his face in both hands and kissed him. Greg stiffened, then relaxed. His hands rested on Adrian’s hips, but he let Adrian control the kiss. Adrian was profoundly grateful for that. His powers flared briefly before settling into an easily controlled simmer. Adrian figured sheer nerves had a lot to do with that. He could practically feel everyone watching them. It was horribly uncomfortable, but he ignored it.

  You can do this. Just this once. For Greg.

  They drew apart after a couple of minutes. Greg pulled away and smiled up at him. “What brought that on? I thought you didn’t like public kissing.”

  “Yeah, well.” He shrugged, feeling somewhat like a zoo animal on display with all the passersby staring at him. “I thought I owed you one.”

  Greg’s brows drew together. “Not that I don’t appreciate it, ’cause I do, but why would you think that?”

  “Because, I know you wouldn’t deliberately push me into doing anything I wasn’t comfortable with, and I shouldn’t have insinuated that you’d been doing that.” Taking Greg’s hand in his, Adrian wove their fingers together. “I’m sorry, Greg. Forgive me?”

  A strange expression fleeted through Greg’s eyes and vanished before Adrian could grasp it. “There’s nothing to forgive.” Greg squeezed Adrian’s hand. “C’mon, let’s get a move on. We’re gonna be late.”

  They started up the road hand in hand. Adrian smiled. He’d just gotten past his first serious disagreement with Greg, and tomorrow night he’d finally get to take Greg to bed. Life was looking up.

  ~ * ~

  Lyndon Groome—the real one—appeared in the middle of the main hall an hour before the haunted house was supposed to end for the night. And this time, lots of people besides Adrian saw him.

  Hidden behind one of the gauze screens, Adrian gaped as a trio of teenage girls squealed in terrified delight at the grisly spectacle of Lyndon hovering in midair to one side of their path. Adrian’s psychokinesis had been acting up for days, but until now he’d been able to channel it into relatively inconspicuous things like cold drafts and objects moving in the dark where no one would see them. Had his powers reached critical overload? Or had Lyndon simply decided that the anniversary of his death—if today indeed marked that event—was the perfect time to leave his tower and scare the crap out of all the people who’d taken over the castle for the better part of a month?

  Guilt prodded at Adrian’s insides. In spite of his vow to solve the mystery of Lyndon’s fate, Adrian hadn’t returned to the tower room even once in the last two weeks. Between the haunted house, classes and Greg, he simply hadn’t found time. He wondered if he imagined the spark of hurt in the ghost’s translucent eyes.

  Cassss, Lyndon sighed in Adrian’s head. At least Adrian thought it was only in his head. Between the sound effects and the crowd, it was kind of hard to tell.

  Adrian wished he could leave his post, open his mind to Lyndon and find out what was going on. But there wasn’t time. The haunted house was still in full swing, and since it was Halloween they had the largest crowd yet. Lyndon faded and vanished in between a couple of high school kids on a date and a group of UNC basketball players, and Adrian still had no idea why the ghost had appeared here tonight, why he’d been visible to others this time, and whether or not Adrian’s psychokinesis had been responsible.

  Sorry, Lyndon. I’ll visit the tower tomorrow. I promise. Adrian hoped Lyndon heard him, somehow.

  The story of Lyndon’s unexpected appearance started spreading almost immediately. By the time Marisa locked the castle door behind the last customer, Adrian had caught enough furtive whispers and sidelong glances to know that most of the cast and crew had heard about it.

  “That was an amazing effect,” Erin said, sidling up to him at the drinks table just as the cast party was getting into full swing. “How’d you do it?”

  Adrian snorted into his half-finished cup of chardonnay. “I assume you’re talking about the ghost.” He shot a surreptitious look around the room. Where the hell was Greg? He’d gone to take off his costume and makeup over half an hour ago, and Adrian felt horribly alone without him.

  Erin nodded. “Everybody’s talking about it. They’re all saying it must’ve been you, because you’re the smartest person we’ve got.” She tilted her head sideways, a curious expression on her pale face. “So? How’d you do it? And why didn’t you tell anyone you were gonna?”

  Before he could answer, something poked him hard in the ribs. Startled, he jumped, turned and came face-to-face with Greg’s teasing grin. “Greg. What took you so long?”

  Greg laughed. “Sorry, Susan and I got to talking.” He took Adrian’s hand in his and gave it a squeeze. “Please continue.”

  Adrian blinked at him. “Huh?”

  “The lady there asked you a question.” Greg blew a kiss at Erin, who laughed and shook her head. “I interrupted you before you could answer her. Please continue.” He aimed a thoughtful look at Adrian. “I’d kind of like to know the answer to that one myself. In fact, that’s what Susan and I were talking about just now. Wondering how you’d pulled off that trick. I didn’t see it myself, but I sure heard enough about it.”

  Adrian glanced around. It seemed as though everyone had picked now to come get a drink, and every ear was inclined his way. He rubbed his thumb nervously over the back of Greg’s hand. “It wasn’t me. That was really Lyndon Groome’s ghost.”

  Surprised silence met his declaration. Across the room, someone dialed up The Shins’ Oh! Inverted World on the iPod connected to the portable speakers Marisa had brought. Chelsea, Conor and Ashwin struck up an impromptu singalong to “New Slang”, and Adrian had to fight off a sudden urge to run and join them. He couldn’t carry a tune with a handle, but he’d take any excuse he could get to avoid talking about Lyndon in front of all these people.

  Susan broke the quiet with an excited squeal. “That’s so cool! But I thought he only appeared in the tower room? I wonder why he came down here?”

  “Maybe he always appears down here, just nobody knew about it before now.” Erin stuck a finger in her Sprite and stirred, her expression thoughtful. “I mean, this is the first time anybody’s spent any real time here in decades. This could’ve been happening all along, every Halloween.”

  “Or maybe the ghost never appears at all, unless there’s someone here to see him,” Theo piped up. He grabbed a plastic cup and filled it with red wine from one of the boxes on the table. “Think about it, dude.”

  Greg shook his head. “You people have all lost your collective minds. There’s no such thing as ghosts.”

  Susan and Theo both scoffed. Erin’s eyes went wide. “Greg, Adrian just said he didn’t create the effect. I believe him. But I saw an extremely realistic-looking ghost tonight. I didn’t imagine it, and neither did all those other people who saw it. It had to come from somewhere. We all know Adrian’s the best effects person we have, by far. So if he didn’t do it, how do you explain it?”

  Greg didn’t say anything, but Adrian saw the answer in the way his gaze dropped and the faint tightening of his jaw.


  He thinks I’m lying.

  Setting his cup carefully on the table, Adrian tugged his hand free of Greg’s grip. “Excuse me.”

  Greg’s brow furrowed. “Adrian? You okay?”

  “Fine, I’m fine, I just…I have to. Um. Go. To the bathroom.”

  He fled down the hallway before Greg could talk him out of it. He needed to be alone, if only for a few minutes. Just get away from all those people watching him. It hurt that Greg believed him capable of telling such blatant lies, and he knew his feelings showed on his face for anyone who cared to look. He hated that.

  Why are you letting this get to you? he wondered as he slipped into the bathroom and locked the door behind him. You’ve only known him a few weeks. You’ve been dating him exactly sixteen days. Why have you let what he thinks of you become this important?

  Leaning his hands on either side of the sink, he stared at himself in the mirror. His eyes brimmed with the fear and confusion roiling inside him. He shook his head, disgusted with himself. Keeping people at a distance had become a survival mechanism for him over the years. How the hell had Greg managed to get around that in such a short time without Adrian even noticing?

  A soft knock sounded on the door. “Adrian, it’s me. Come out of there. Let’s talk.”

  Adrian watched his reflection light up in spite of himself at the sound of Greg’s voice and thought of his vow from a few hours ago—to make this thing work. To not let his insecurities ruin it. So what if they’d only dated a couple of weeks? Having had a taste of real intimacy for the first time in his life, Adrian couldn’t go back to the lonely half-life he’d had before. And that meant he was by God going to open that door, go sit down with Greg and talk. About ghosts, and truths, and lies, and…

  And hopefully not about why everything I touch lately breaks, or why he and I feel electricity all around us every time we kiss.