Not looking up at him, her knuckles white from gripping the phone so tightly. She acknowledged his statement by saying, “Okay.”
Liam placed the glasses down on the coffee table and sat down next to her. “Are you texting Lexi?”
“Yes. She’s freaking out because I’m freaking out. Now, I’m trying to calm her down.”
“Why don’t you call her? She’ll feel better if she hears your voice.”
Emily nodded in agreement before sending off one last text message. Three seconds later, her phone rang. Emily sat and talked to Lexi, doing her best to reassure her she was okay. A minute later, Emily held the phone out to Liam. “She wants to talk to you.”
Liam took the phone. “Hello, Lexi?”
“Is Em really okay? She doesn’t sound okay.”
“She is physically just fine. Emotionally, right now, she’s shaken up, as am I.”
“Don’t leave her alone,” Lexi stated. Liam stole a glance in Emily’s direction. She rested her head against the back of the sofa. Her eyes were closed as she breathed deeply. “She will kill me for telling you this, but she has anxiety. She’s in a new place that is haunted. I’m not there to help comfort her. I don’t want her to have a panic attack while alone.”
Listening to Lexi’s concern for her friend was sweet. It reminded Liam of his friendship with Trey and Luke. They looked out for one another.
“You don’t have to worry about that, Lexi. I wasn’t going to.”
He heard Lexi breathe a sharp sigh of relief. “Okay. Good. I can’t believe this is happening to her. She’s never had to deal with anything on this level before.”
“What do you mean?” Liam calmly interrupted and lowered his voice.
Lexi was silent for a moment. Liam heard a sharp intake of breath on the other end. “I’ll let her tell you.”
Liam kept his gaze on Emily. Had she been dealing with a haunting prior to moving to San Francisco? He had seen what stress of hauntings could do to a person. Victims normally tried to go about their lives and ignore the activity taking place around them, until it became too much. Most people only called in help once they had reached their breaking point. There was no way he was letting that happen to Emily. “We are going to find out what is going on. She won’t be here alone until we get rid of this thing. My friends and teammates are on their way over right now.”
“Alright. I know you like Em. And she’s going to kill me for saying this too, but I think it needs to be said. She likes you. A lot.” Liam’s heart jumped into his throat at Lexi’s statement. Knowing that Emily had spoken to her best friend about him and confessed her attraction to him made his own knees weak. “She’s had bad luck with guys. Don’t add yourself to that list, okay?”
“I understand, Lexi. I’m on the same page, believe me. My team will be here shortly. I need to talk to them. Don’t worry about Em. I’ll take care of her. And I will make sure she calls you first thing in the morning.”
At that, he and Lexi said their goodbyes, and he hung up. He set Emily’s phone down. She had drawn her legs up, hugging them to her chest and head buried in her knees.
He sat on the wooden coffee table, positioned himself in front of her, leaned in, and pulled her close. Emily dropped her feet so they rested on the floor and wrapped her arms around his waist. Her head rested on his shoulder. Liam hugged her tightly, and fuck if his heart didn’t skip a beat at the sensation of her body pressed against his. “I poured us both some wine.”
“Thank you,” Emily said as she lifted her head.
“Here you go.” Liam let her go and handed a glass to her. “It will take my friends a little while to get here.” He held his own glass in his hand and stared at Emily as she took a sip of the golden liquid. “Will you tell me the passcode to your phone?”
Emily stared at him in confusion.
“Lexi is someone who you care about. And she cares about you. I want to make sure I can contact her in case you can’t for any reason.”
“That’s sweet of you,” Emily told him and gave him the six-digit code to access her phone. She took another sip of wine and smiled at him over the rim of her glass. “Tell me, how did you get into paranormal investigating?”
Looking at his glass, Liam took a breath. “Well, now that’s an interesting story.”
“Good. I like interesting stories,” she said as she tipped her glass to her lips, taking another delicate taste of the wine.
Smiling at her, Liam took one of her hands in his. He wanted to feel her warmth while he explained the reasons behind his infatuation with Parapsychology. “It started when I was a kid. We moved into this house up in Sacramento. From the outside, it looked like any of the other houses on the block. But the place was so haunted. There was ghostly activity almost daily. We all started having experiences from the start.”
“Wow. What kind of things happened? If you don’t mind me asking?”
“No, not at all. It all started out pretty mild. We would notice that things would be moved around the house from where we set them down. A light would be on when we knew we turned it off. We would find doors open when we knew we shut them. But it started to escalate quickly. We all began having nightmares. We would be touched by something that we couldn’t see. Noises, like footsteps, were heard in rooms we knew were empty. The final straw was when we came home after my dad had picked my brothers, sister, and I up from school one afternoon. We found my mom at the bottom of the stairs. She said something had pushed her down.”
“Oh my god! Was she hurt?” Emily squeezed his hand, then stroked it with her thumb.
“She was okay, thankfully. She had a hurt ankle, but nothing too serious. My dad called in everyone he could think of at the time to help us. A priest, even a Rabbi, and a Native American Shaman. Anyone he could get to listen and who was willing to come out to the house. There weren’t many people doing paranormal investigations in those days, and the internet wasn’t what it is today. Research and finding people to help was harder. Eventually, we moved, and the activity stopped for us.”
“Wow,” Emily said. The look on her face was worrisome.
Afraid he was frightening her, he chose to wrap up his response. “So, that’s how it all started for me. I wanted to help people who were experiencing what I did. First, to let people know that they are not crazy. Unexplainable things do happen, and just because we can’t find an explanation for certain circumstances doesn’t mean that they aren’t real. They shouldn’t be ignored, especially when it affects a person’s life. Second, to try and find out the truth. What really does happen when someone passes on? Why do some people choose to stay behind, and some supposedly move on? There are so many questions in this world. Way more questions than answers. I want to try and find some of those answers.”
“That’s wonderful. You’re passionate about your work. That’s so admirable. How many siblings do you have?”
“I have two brothers and a baby sister.”
Emily smiled. “You have a big family.”
Liam chuckled and nodded, looking into her eyes. “I do. I have a bunch of nieces and nephews too. Holidays are always fun.” Liam caught a hint of sadness in Emily at his last statement. “How about you, Em? Tell me about you.”
“Well…” she began and held her wine glass to her lips again. “There isn’t much to talk about. I didn’t have a family when I was young. I grew up in foster care.”
Liam stopped mid-sip and lowered his glass back down. “Wow. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“When did you go into foster care?” he asked.
“My entire life. My mother surrendered me at a fire station. I was told that I was only a few hours old. Social services assumed my mother was a drug addict and possibly homeless. There were drugs found in my system at the hospital. After I went through withdrawals, I was placed in foster care. I wasn’t one of the lucky ones to be adopted. I was completely on my own when I graduated high school. And I’ve been completely on my ow
n since.”
Fucking Hell, he thought. It was one thing to be abandoned at birth, but it was a whole other thing to have to spend your entire childhood in foster care.
“Wow. I’m sorry, Em. Really.”
Emily lifted one shoulder in a shrug and brought her legs back up to sit cross-legged. She played with the rim of her glass while she spoke. “It’s okay. I’ve made peace with it. I was angry for a long time. But, I decided I didn’t want to be angry at people who I didn’t even know anymore. In college, I majored in art with an emphasis in photography. It always made me happy. I got through school and established my career.”
Since she was at a point where she felt comfortable opening up to him, Liam asked, “Did you ever live in a foster home where there was any paranormal activity?”
Emily hesitated to answer.
“I’m asking only because I’m trying to figure out what is going on here. Hauntings don’t normally just start out of the blue without something significant happening. I’m not saying you have anything to do with what’s going on here. I’m just trying to put pieces together.”
“Liam,” she said. She looked directly into his eyes, conflict stirring in them.
“It’s okay. I won’t judge you. What is it?”
“I’ve experienced a haunting my entire life.”
Liam froze. “What?”
“I know it sounds strange, but it’s true. Though it’s never been this severe. It’s actually worsened since moving here. I never thought what I experienced would ever affect anyone else. I’m so sorry if I brought something h—,”
He cut her off, “Stop. Don’t you dare apologize.” Looking at her, Liam softened his stare and placed her wine glass on the table beside his own. He took her other hand. “This is not your fault, and it’s also not strange. Millions of people experience some kind of haunting every year. You are not alone in this.”
“If I had known, I would have never come here.”
“Don’t say that. I’m glad you’re here,” Liam said in a half-whisper while leaning in closer to her.
“What?” Emily gasped, surprised.
“I said I’m glad you are here,” he reiterated and reached up to tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear, making sure he allowed the palm of his hand to brush her cheek in the process. “Tell me what you’ve experienced throughout your life. It might be helpful for me and the team to know.”
Emily closed her eyes and took a cleansing breath. “I’ve always dealt with sleep paralysis. I didn’t know what it was until I was in high school, though.”
“Sleep paralysis,” he confirmed. “It’s when the brain is not fully awake and keeps your body in the REM state. You’re conscious, but you’re also paralyzed,” he explained, trying to comfort her by letting her know he understood what the condition was. “It can be terrifying, from what I’ve read.”
Emily nodded. “It is. It was a relief to finally know that I wasn’t crazy when I learned what it is. But the only time I experience it is after I have a reoccurring dream. A dream I’ve had for as long as I can remember.”
Liam’s heart felt like it was going to beat right out of his chest. Was she experiencing the same dream he was? Did she recognize him too? Was she aware of their relationship in the dream? “What is the dream about?”
She took another deep breath and said, “I’m in a dark place. I can hear voices, but I can’t make out what they are saying. And I can’t make out the figures. It’s all blurry. But I know I’m lying down, and I’m hurt and can’t move. And then I wake up. Only when I wake, I can’t move, and I always feel a presence near me.”
Liam’s heart raced. She confirmed that she couldn’t clearly see the people in her dream. So there was no way of knowing if she shared the same nightmare. “What kind of presence?”
“A terrible one,” she confirmed. Tears escaped the corners of her eyes. “I’ve only told two other people about this. One is Lexi. And the other was an old boyfriend I had a few years ago. He was a phycologist, and he thought I was delusional and wanted me to take medication.”
“Fucking dick.” Liam couldn’t believe how insensitive some people could be. Emily’s lips curled into a smile, bringing him a little comfort that he was able to lighten the mood with his comment. “What about this presence is terrible?”
“I don’t know. It’s an oppressive feeling, I guess. Like, it’s angry and wants me to be scared. It’s so hard to explain. When I see the shadow figure—,”
Cutting her off quickly. “Wait! You’ve seen the shadow figure before moving here?”
“Yes,” Emily confirmed. “Only never like what we just saw. It’s never come at me like it did in the bathroom. I’ve always seen it out of the corner of my eye or at a distance, and it was always gone in the blink of an eye. It’s never hung around like it did.”
Holy Shit! He was not expecting this.
“I think it’s the reason why I was never adopted. My foster families never said anything directly to me, but I’ve always felt that whatever this thing is, doesn’t want me to have a family. Doesn’t want me to be with anyone or be happy.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Because every time I have the opportunity to date, the activity around me picks up. The presence follows me wherever I go, and the dreams happen more frequently. They make me stressed and exhausted. And when I move on from the idea of dating, everything around me subsides. As a kid, whenever I was placed with a family and things went great, and I would think maybe this would be the family to adopt me, activity in the house would start, and I would be moved and placed with another family.”
“Have you had these dreams and sleep paralysis since you arrived in San Francisco?”
“Yes.” She squeezed his hand, hard. “At first, maybe just once a week. Lately, it’s been more frequent, every night.” Emily stared at her hands resting in his. Liam used his thumbs to caress her skin.
The knowledge that the presence around Emily had tormented her for years pissed Liam off. And the fact that it had grown more severe simply because she was talking to him made his blood boil. But he pushed that anger aside to focus entirely on the woman sitting in front of him, a woman who he knew his entire life in a dream. But now, she sat in flesh and bone, holding his hand. “Emily, we will figure this all out. I need you to believe that. Okay?”
“Okay.” She sniffed, giving Liam a small nod.
Noticing the room was chilled, Liam took the blanket that was draped over the back of the sofa and wrapped it around Emily. For the first time in his life, he thought, what the fuck was up with ghosts and the cold? He had been ghost hunting for years. Had felt hundreds of cold spots, but had never given any thought as to why apparitions choose to suck the life from a room.
His rational mind told him it was simply the need for energy that they were seeking to manifest some sort of phenomenon. But his protective heart was pissed off at the idea that the occurrence was making the woman he cared about uncomfortable.
Knocking at the front door to the building pulled Liam from his thoughts. “I have to go let Trey and Luke in. We are going to come right back in here. I’ll leave your front door open. Stay right here.”
Not wanting to leave her, but knowing it was necessary, Liam picked up her glass of wine from the table and placed it in her hands, hoping that would help her mind focus on something other than what was happening around her. He walked to the front of the house, cursing himself at the thought that his two best friends didn’t have a key to his building. Making a mental note to correct that soon, he met Trey and Luke at the front door and let them in.
They both held a couple of cameras, and each had a large duffel bag that carried extra batteries, cables, and laptop computers. “Thanks, guys,” he told them.
Both men greeted Liam and stepped through the threshold of the Victorian home. Trey and Luke were both big men. Taller than Liam and more muscular. Luke had a rugged look, light hair and skin, and a beard that he kept slightly lon
ger than Liam’s closely shaved look. He also had a bad boy persona—intimidating looking at times. He was an unyielding warrior who stood his ground but had the biggest heart and his intentions were always for helping and making sure the well-being of their clients was number one priority. “Don’t even mention it. Where is she?” Trey asked.
Liam gestured a few feet away at the open door, and Trey proceeded into the flat where Emily was waiting.
“I have recorders with me and the EMF meter too. Go talk to Trey while I walk through the house and see if I get any strange readings. Is it okay if I go into the basement?”
That was Luke. Always ready and willing to investigate at a moment’s notice. Liam had never met anyone as enthusiastic about provoking and urging an entity to show itself as Luke was. Liam hadn’t known Luke as long as he knew Trey, but Luke was his other right-hand man nonetheless.
Putting his hand on Luke’s shoulder, he gave his friend a squeeze, and looking him dead in the eye, he said, “Thank you.”
Luke responded, “Not a problem. I got this,” and took off down the hallway to get to work.
Back in Emily’s living room, Trey had already introduced himself and was making small talk with her as he unpacked his duffel bag. Trey, also being a big man, took up much of the small space in the corner of the living room. He was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome, with a chestnut skin tone and deep brown eyes.
Liam felt relief as it looked like the color was finally returning to her cheeks, and she smiled while engaging in small talk with Trey.
“Stay away from her, Trey. She’s mine,” Liam told his friend, playfully. Trey dropped his head down and grinned.
Emily blushed as she curled her lips up, giving him a sexy smile that caused his heart to flutter. “What did Lexi say to you?”
“Nothing I wasn’t already planning on doing.”
Liam took a seat next to Emily, putting his hand in hers. They both described what had happened as Trey readied his recorder and a couple of cameras.
“Okay. I know Luke is getting some readings around the house. Since there has already been activity, I expect there to be some strange readings. But we’ll see if he catches anything really out of the norm. Have you been back in the bedroom?”
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