He tugged her along the dock, which was surprisingly sturdy for a place that had been closed for years. “It used to be a catfish restaurant and the only way you could get to it was by boat. Luke said it was a pretty popular place until the old man that ran it died.” Parker smiled and his expression oozed mischievousness. He was about to lay it on thick. “They say the old man died upstairs and the place is haunted.”
The place was located a mile or so up Ashley Creek from where it fed into Lake Jefferson. A covered area next to the dock offered seating, a place perhaps for guests to relax while waiting for the boat to collect them and take them back to the dock on Lake Jefferson. Through the trees and up the path, the abandoned restaurant loomed out of the dark.
She laughed and pulled back on his hand. “Really, Parker? You’ve said that every place we’ve been is haunted. I haven’t seen a ghost yet. Ghosts don’t exist, except in your imagination.”
“No, no. I saw one once.”
“Yeah, yeah. That’s what you keep saying, but I’m starting to think you’re full of crap.”
“Aw, girl, I thought you liked me.”
She allowed him to pull her forward toward a set of stairs on the side of the building. When they reached the upstairs door, he didn’t hesitate to kick it open. Once inside, it was obvious that someone had been living there recently.
“I thought you said this place was abandoned.”
He dropped her hand, stood just inside the doorway, and placed his hands on his hips. “Yeah, it does.” He waited a few moments before speaking again. “Well, we can grab something to eat out of the refrigerator before we leave. I’m starved.”
She was too. She stayed hungry most of the time. They had resorted to stealing junk food from conveniences stores and gas stations to exist. Only once in a while did they get lucky and eat an entire meal. Nat pushed past Parker, crossed the open living room/kitchen area, and yanked open the refrigerator. It wasn’t extremely well stocked, but she spotted eggs and half a carton of milk, enough to scramble them some breakfast.
Without a word, he scrounged through the cabinets looking for a skillet. She might not call it love anymore but they definitely knew each other enough to read each other’s minds. Maybe because they’d been on the run together for months, an extended amount of time that seemed like forever.
And truthfully, Parker was a pretty basic kind of guy. Not hard to understand at all. Her heart longed for more than basic.
He leaned against the counter while she pulled out a spatula and found the salt and pepper. She was done frying up the eggs and had just turned off the burner when his fingers dug into her shoulder.
She turned to him. “Ow, you’re hurting me.” A horrified expression covered his face. “What’s wrong?” She dropped the spatula and put her hand to her cheek.
“You’re bleeding. On your neck.”
She pressed her fingers against the pulse of her carotid and then looked at her hands. Blood. Lots of blood.
“I told you to leave that necklace in the water. It must have some kind of toxic crap on it.” His voice shook. Fear flashed in his eyes. She’d never seen Parker scared.
She began to tremble. “Why? What’s happening?”
He grabbed her hand and dragged her through the bedroom to the small bath. “Look.”
Her eyes widened when she first glimpsed her image. A thin line of oozing blood started below her right ear and sliced across her neck to her left ear. She screamed and searched for a towel or a rag in a panic. Her heart raced again. Not a good thing for someone with her kind of heart condition.
Parker located a washcloth and pressed the rag to her neck. She clawed at the clasp of the necklace. When she finally released the hook and pulled the chain from around her neck, a stinging burned her skin where the pendant had rested just about her cleavage.
She glanced at the mirror again. A spot the shape of the pendant had raised a red welt on her chest. Another scream erupted from her. She opened her hand. The necklace seemed to be burning a hole in the palm. She dropped it on the bathroom counter and backed into Parker. He grabbed her around her waist and pulled her from the bath.
“Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Nat wrapped her hands around her neck. The pain seemed to sear her skin. A burning, stinging, throbbing sensation she’d never felt before.
Neither of them moved, glued to the floor in the bedroom, their attention on the view through the bathroom door. Their eyes riveted on the necklace, glowing red hot on the bathroom counter. The tension in the room broke. The desperate urge to escape took over as adrenaline coursed through her veins.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Parker turned and raced through the bedroom, pulling her behind him. Her pulse beat in her ears. Her ragged breaths erupted from her mouth. Parker had begun a weird sort of wailing, half moan, half cry. He suddenly didn’t seem like such a bad bay any longer. In fact, he was running like a scared little boy.
When they reached the dock, his head swiveled right and left as if making sure the demons of hell weren’t chasing him. He boarded the boat he’d stolen earlier that day and reached his hand out to help her aboard. Her shoe slipped on the wet deck.
Why is the deck wet? It isn’t raining.
Her breath caught in her throat when she realized the liquid on the deck wasn’t water but blood. Was she bleeding that much? Parker’s grip on her loosened and she stumbled, caught her balance on the far side of the boat. She released the breath she’d been holding. But she relaxed too soon. The boat tipped and she plunged into the murky water of Ashley Creek headfirst.
It seemed she stayed under water for minutes when it was probably only seconds. Her head broke the surface of the water and she splashed and bounced a bit, trying to get some traction on nothing, unable to find the creek bed.
When she bounced to the surface again, Parker had managed to climb out of the water and get back into the boat. “Give me your hand.” His anxious voice barely penetrated her panic.
Nat couldn’t swim. She screamed and it was a mistake. Her mouth filled with water.
Her hand found the side of the boat. His fingers touched hers for a brief moment. When she thought he was about to rescue her, a skeleton popped out of the water, seemed to wrap its bony digits around her neck, and dragged her under.
Her lungs filled with water, and her last living thought was that the skeleton actually seemed to be sneering at her as it pulled her to the bottom of the creek.
Ashley Ridge (Haunted Hearts Series Book 3) Page 26