Keeper of Spirits

by Jennifer Malone Wright

  He had always come out to the graveyard when he was pensive. Even when he was young. The souls always seemed to know that he was upset, or whatever it was that he was feeling at the moment. The beautiful blue mist of the souls would swirl around him, circling his body as if they were embracing him.

  And now, there they were, doing just as they always had. He protected them, and they gave back by offering their comfort.

  “I’m okay,” Dan whispered. “Just don’t know what the hell to do with my life.”

  What a loser thing to say, he thought as soon as the words passed over his lips. It didn’t matter, though. The souls didn’t judge. They were just there for him, no matter what, just like his family was supposed to be.

  He heard a car and turned toward the sound of the engine. Liv’s van was tearing up the driveway, faster than she normally took the driveway.

  Shit, that meant something was wrong. He strode down the path a few paces and then broke into a jog so that he could get to the house quicker. Liv burst through the front door just as he was charging through the back.

  “Family meeting!” Liv called out. “Everyone get your asses in the living room.”

  “What’s wrong?” Dan demanded.

  “Tell you in a minute.”

  Thundering sounded as multiple footsteps hurried down the stairs and more from other rooms on the main floor. Everyone was there except for James and Steph who had gone into Clearlake for groceries.

  Liv took a deep breath and then exploded. “Reese was attacked in the bar by one of those Reapers from the other day. He tried to kill her, you guys. Her throat has fucking finger prints on it and giant bruises on her cheeks!”

  Dan felt a white, hot anger rise up in his body.

  “Holy shit, is she okay?” Lucy asked.

  Liv shook her head. “She says she is, but I don’t think so. I offered for her to stay with us and she could shut down the bar for tonight, but she wouldn’t do it. I think we need to send a couple of us to help watch her, and the place.”

  Dan turned, he didn’t need to hear anymore. He was going to her.

  “Where are you going?” Hannah asked as he dug his keys out of his pocket.

  He swung around to face the rest of the group. “To watch Reese and kill anyone who gets near her.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Aiden told him, slipping on his hoodie and zipping it up.

  Hannah stared with wide eyes. “She doesn’t want us there. You guys can’t just waltz in when she told us to stay away.”

  “She’ll get over it or deal with it, we’re still going.” Dan strode toward the door.

  When they arrived at the bar, Dan paused with his hand on the door handle and turned to Aiden. “Are you ready for this, because she’s not going to be happy with us.”

  Aiden smiled grimly. “I’m dating your sister. I think I can handle a sassy bartender.”

  “We’ll see.” Dan rolled his eyes and yanked the door open.

  It took a moment for his eyes to adjust from the bright California sunshine to the interior of the dimly lit bar. He shaded his eyes with his hands to help the process along. When he was finally able to focus, what he saw was Reese’s beautiful face, covered in bruises. She was staring at him with an expression of anger and sadness that he had never seen on her before.

  “Yeah, she’s pissed.” Aiden nodded.

  “You think?” Dan agreed. He moved to the back of the room and found an empty table. He was definitely not going to talk to her. She could figure out on her own why they were there. That way, if there was a scene, it would be because she came over to talk to him.

  Aiden followed him, but didn’t sit down right away. He moved around the bar, scanning the people, poking his head into the restroom and out the back door. When he was done with his rounds, he joined Dan at the table.

  “She looks bad. Did you see her throat?”

  Dan had seen it. He had seen it and he wished he hadn’t. The marks on her made his blood boil with anger. How dare those Reapers attack her, an innocent, who knew nothing about any of this. “Yeah, I did.”

  Aiden leaned back in his chair. “You sure are quieter than usual.”

  Dan reached into his coat and pulled out his flask. “I don’t feel like talking.” He didn’t say it, but he especially didn’t want to talk to Aiden. He was a Reaper. Yes, Aiden was on their side now, but at times like this it was harder for him to remember that.

  He twisted the cap off his flask and brought it to his lips. As he drank, he looked over the top of the flask and his eyes met Reese’s piercing glare. Quickly, he put the container away in its place inside his coat.

  “Sucks to be in a bar and not be able to have a beer,” Aiden pouted from beside him.

  Dan agreed, though he usually preferred the harder stuff.

  “Shit, she’s coming over.” Aiden turned his head toward the photograph on the wall near them and examined it as if he were standing in an art gallery.

  “Coward,” Dan accused just as Reese approached them. Her hair was loose, flowing over her shoulders and down her back. He could see that she had used makeup to unsuccessfully cover some of the bruising. She wore a tank top and jeans, with her cowboy boots underneath.

  “I thought I told you that I didn’t need your help.”

  Dan forced a smile and looked up at her. “I don’t care if you need our help or not. You’re getting it.”

  She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t need you, or any of your family to protect me.”

  “Again, I disagree. We’re here, Reese, so you can physically throw us out or you can just deal with it, okay?”

  “This is total bullshit.” She spun around and stalked back to the bar.

  Dan let out a relieved sigh. “Well, that went better than I expected.”

  “Yeah.” Aiden had returned his attention to the patrons of the bar. “I thought it would be worse, too. She’s a fire cracker.”

  “That’s for sure,” Dan agreed.

  “She’s not bad looking either, for a small-town bar tender.”

  A flash of something rippled through him at Aiden’s words. He wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but he didn’t take his eyes off of Reese as he answered, “She’s not bad looking regardless of small-town or bartender status.”

  “Oh … I see.”

  “You don’t see shit, so quit thinking you do.”

  Aiden laughed. “This is getting super interesting.”

  Dan sighed, but didn’t respond. The last person he wanted all up in his business was Aiden.

  They both sat in silence for a while. Eventually, Aiden took his phone out and started clicking away at the keyboard.

  Reese would glance over his way occasionally, but not once did she smile or show any indication that she was in a forgiving mood. He didn’t blame her, it was their fault that this had happened to her.

  “I’m bored,” Aiden announced after several hours had passed. “And hungry.”

  “Well, go get something to eat.”

  “I should stay here with you.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Dan assured him. “I doubt that guy will be coming back here tonight, but even if he did, I got it.”

  “Fine. I’ll just go grab a sandwich and come back. Do you want me to bring you one?”

  Dan let out a laugh. “Hell no. I can only imagine what would happen if I brought outside food in here. We’re lucky she’s leaving us alone right now.”

  Aiden shrugged. “Okay, but don’t say I didn’t offer.”

  “I won’t.”

  Dan kept his eyes on Reese as Aiden strode away. She glanced up as he left the establishment and then over at Dan. Their eyes met. Her expression was unreadable, though, so he didn’t know what she was feeling. Someone called her name and she turned away to go serve her customer.

  It dragged on like that all night. Several times, Dan caught himself shutting his eyes and almost falling asleep. Man, he was a seriously shitty body guard if he couldn’t
even stay awake to do the job.

  Finally, Reese announced last call. Since it was a week day, most people had work the next day, so there were only a few people left at this hour anyway. Those who were left cleared out pretty quickly and Reese began her clean up.

  Dan turned to Aiden. “I’m going to help her clean up and I’ll take watch at her apartment, we don’t both need to be there.”

  “You sure, man. I don’t mind coming with.” Dan could tell that Aiden would rather not have the duty if he didn’t have to.

  “That’s nice of you to offer, but it might freak her out having you there. She knows me better.”

  Aiden lifted his eyebrows and grinned. “I bet she does.”

  “Not like that, and dude, why is everything about that with you? I can’t believe my sister likes you so much.”

  “I can’t believe she likes me that much either,” Aiden told him as he rose from his chair and stretched. “I’ll just be a call or text away if you need me. I’m going home.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  Aiden left and Reese only glanced his way as he exited the bar, then she went about cleaning up for close. She ignored Dan, acting as if he weren’t there at all. He was completely aware that she was giving him the cold shoulder, but he didn’t care. He rose, went to the bar to get a clean rag for the tables and began wiping them off and putting the chairs on top.

  Just as he was finishing the last table, she appeared behind him. “You can go. I don’t need you around and I’m going home now.”

  He turned so that he was facing her and looked down into her big brown eyes. “I am going up with you.”

  “Dan, I don’t need you to watch me twenty-four hours a day. Please just go home.”

  “Sorry. Not gonna happen.”

  “Why are you doing this? I told you I don’t want to be involved in any of this and you hanging around is only putting me more on edge.” Her voice was resigned and almost sad.

  He set the rag on the table and reached out, stroking one finger down her bruised cheek. “This … this is the reason I’m sticking around. I am going to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”

  She didn’t flinch at his touch, but she froze and her lips parted just a tiny bit. She didn’t respond until Dan had pulled his hand away picked up the rag again. “I appreciate that, but I don’t need it.”

  “Stop arguing with me. I’m coming up. You can continue to ignore me if you want, that’s fine, but I’m coming. You can refuse to let me in and I’ll just sit outside your door. No matter how you play it, I’m still going to be here.”

  She straightened and set her lips in a hard line. “Fine.” With that, she turned and strode off to finish whatever she was doing behind the bar. He grabbed a broom and swept the floor, then mopped it while she took care of the bathrooms and then finally, they were both done.

  She collected her phone, tucking it into her back pocket and held a key ring in her hand. “Let’s go.”

  He followed her out the back door and up the stairs to her apartment. She unlocked the door, which he noted was not usually locked, but was on this night. He lay a hand on her shoulder as she made to pull the door open. “Let me go first,” he whispered.

  She nodded and stepped back, which told him that she was, indeed, nervous that someone was inside. He stepped over the threshold, hand resting on the hilt of his gun, ready to draw if anything moved.

  All the lights were on in the place, every single room was brightly lit. She must have anticipated her return in the middle of the night and turned everything on so it wouldn’t be total darkness. He didn’t blame her, she’d been attacked. There were certain fears she would always have now.

  Because of him … because of what he was.

  Reese stayed right behind him, moving in tandem with him as he made his way through each room of her apartment and announcing in a whisper that the rooms were clear. Once they had finished the entire place, Dan sat down at the little dining table and crossed his legs, ready for a really long night of trying to stay awake.

  “I’m going to bed,” Reese announced.

  “All right. I’ll be right here.”

  “I still don’t need you.”

  Dan sighed. “So you keep telling me. I understand that, okay.”

  “There’s a couch if you want to sleep,” She told him flatly, and then she turned, her chocolate curls swinging over her shoulder as she did. He watched as she made her way through the apartment and disappeared into her bedroom.

  She was conflicted, he could see that. She was still angry with him and his family, but she was also protecting them. She hadn’t told Sheriff Davis about the incident in the bar with the Reapers, which meant that she knew that doing that might incriminate or harm them in some way.

  He wasn’t sure if it would be easier or harder if she knew the truth. But, that wasn’t something he was going to find out anytime soon.

  CHAPTER TEN

  REESE

  Daniel Estmond was in her apartment in the middle of the night. There were a lot of reasons she might envision Dan being in her apartment, but protecting her from some freak who tried to kill her was definitely not one of them.

  She had slipped on a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top before crawling underneath the blessed warmth of her comforter. But, as exhausted as she was, sleep would not come. She lay there, staring at the ceiling, wondering how her simple life had taken such a turn. One minute she was just a woman who owned a bar, and now she was the target of an assassination attempt for something she knew nothing about.

  Sighing, she threw the covers aside and got out of bed. Wandering into the living room, she stopped short and sucked in her breath at what she saw before her.

  Dan had pushed the coffee table aside and was doing pushups on the hardwood floor. That wouldn’t have been so bad, but he was shirtless and covered in sweat. His muscles bulged, flexing with each rise and fall of his body.

  She couldn’t look away … couldn’t move. She had absolutely never met an alcoholic who took such amazing care of himself. He was the definition of a functioning alcoholic. The really sad part was that she knew a part of her deep down longed for him … a part of her that always had, even before Anna.

  Dan must have sensed her there because after pushing upward, he suddenly jumped to his feet and his hand went to his side where she spotted a gun that she hadn’t even realized he’d had on before.

  “Whoa!” She held her hands up, “It’s just me.”

  “Fuck, Reese, don’t sneak up on me like that.”

  “I didn’t know you had a gun.” Her gaze slid over his chest and abs, which were shiny with sweat. “And why are you doing pushups in the middle of the night?”

  He turned and strode into the kitchen. She followed and watched his backside as he reached up into the cabinet for a glass and filled it with tap water. After guzzling down the entire glass, he turned back to her and leaned on the counter.

  This time, he was the one to stare. His smoldering dark eyes took in everything, beginning with her bare toes and working upward over her legs, all the way up her body until their eyes locked. He drew in a deep breath just as she was releasing one.

  “Of course I have a gun. Don’t worry, I know how to use it. And I’m doing pushups in the middle of the night to try and stay awake. What’s the sense in staying here to protect you if I fall asleep?” He turned and flipped on the faucet to refill his water.

  “You can sleep, Dan. Staying awake like this isn’t good for you.”

  “Why are you awake?” He changed the subject. “I figured you’d be so exhausted you’d pass right out.”

  “I am. I tried. Too much on my mind to sleep I suppose. Can you grab me a mug from up there?”

  “Sure.” He turned, reached up to grab one of the million coffee mugs from above him and handed it to her. She moved up beside him and turned on the water, filling it three quarters of the way from the top. Then, she crossed the room and put it in the microwave, setting t
he time for one minute.

  She could feel his eyes following her as she moved about the room. The silence was awkward and she knew she should say something, she just didn’t know what. The tea was in a container on the counter, so while the water heated she got the tea bag out and unwrapped it. The tea dinged it was ready, so she removed it from the microwave, dropped the tea bag in and grabbed a spoon from the drawer.

  “I’m going into the living room.” She felt weird standing around in the kitchen staring at Dan’s chest. He followed her out of the kitchen and watched as she sat on the couch with her back up against the arm and pulled the throw blanket, which had been neatly folded over the back, onto her lap. She spread the blanket out, covering her legs and waist.

  Dan picked up his shirt off the floor and slid the white cotton over his head then pulled the rest of it down over his stomach.

  His rock hard stomach.

  When he was finished unknowingly taunting her with his body, he sat down on the opposite side of the couch.

  “You know that you have to tell me now, right?”

  Dan shook his head. “Reese …”

  “Seriously, you can’t still think that this can happen to me and you could still keep whatever is happening here a secret. I know all that stuff you guys told me is a lie.”

  “We’ve been over this, and I’m sorry but I still can’t tell you.”

  “Why?” she cried out. She was so frustrated that if it hadn’t been for the hot mug of tea in her hands, she would have thrown her arms in the air. “There can’t be any reason good enough for you to keep something from me that has to do with why someone tried to kill me.”

  Dan sighed and ran a hand through his dark red hair. “Look Reese, I know that you know these are all lies, but if you knew the truth you would think we were crazy, and we need to get permission to tell you.”

  “Oh, my god. That’s even more cryptic than the ‘we can’t tell you, it is too dangerous’ part of it. Permission? From who?” Once again, she wondered how all of this had even happened. Why the hell would the Estmonds get mixed up in something like this? Maybe it was money. After their father passed, maybe they got into something bad because they needed help financially.