What happened at Ormond’s still pissed him off. That girl had no sense of self-preservation. The way Bowen looked at her…like something to eat. He should have separated them, too. She was a bundle of trouble. One he couldn’t resist anymore—no matter how hard he tried, she dragged him back in like riptide. Only when the thought hit him did he notice his fingers had gone numb. He looked down and forced his hand to relax.
That the girl?
Sebastian smugness grated at his ego. “Shut up.”
The black canine shook his massive head. What about—
“You don’t have to bring her in to this.” He scowled.
She visits you.
“Just stupid dreams.”
But—
“You know why.” He rolled his eyes toward the darkening sky. “She has the right to hate me. Wherever she is. If she’s still—”
Stop blaming yourself.
“Get out of my head, you mutt. We don’t have time to talk about that now. We can’t get caught out here at night. I count more than two hundred graves in the new area alone.”
A long minute passed without another word from the hellhound. Then he said, You have no reason to be jealous.
“Jealous?” A puff of laugher came out of him.
I feel no attraction coming from the Hilliard son toward the girl.
“Her name’s Selena.” And damn if that didn’t make him feel better. Forehead like an accordion, he grumbled, “Let’s get back to work.”
Why do you think they were here? The Hilliard boy should have known better.
He took a minute to make sure no one else was in the cemetery before he approached the place where Kyle and Selena stood earlier. At least two dozen yellow roses lay below a weeping angel. The names on the granite confused him. “Why would Kyle’s parents be buried here? When I got a look at his family tree, they were still indicated as alive.”
Symbolic?
“Trust me. The prick wouldn’t know what symbolic meant if it hit him in the face.”
A grumble bark came from behind him. I get it. You hate him.
He raised an eyebrow over his shoulder at the large animal behind him. “You really gotta work on your sarcasm.”
A coughing sound followed.
“Yeah, laugh it up, asshole.”
He waited until Sebastian sobered. He didn’t understand what had come over him. Why would Kyle’s arms around Selena piss him off? They were best friends. They had the right to hug it out. They were in front of a grave. It seemed appropriate. But it didn’t make sense. If Kyle’s parents were dead, their names should have been crossed out. The mystery got more complicated. Just when he thought he’d figured things out, twenty more questions popped up.
“Do you get the feeling the mutilated dogs and Maestro have nothing to do with the rest of what’s going on here?” he asked more to himself.
We cannot rule out any of the possibilities. The Maestro is here. I can feel its presence tainting the air.
A charge hung around them. It surprised him Kyle hadn’t felt it. Or maybe he’d chosen to ignore it. He deliberately put Selena in danger. The prick mustn’t have been listening when he told him about the puppets in Valley View. One concrete reason to really hate him.
Dillan cracked his knuckles. “Nothing makes sense to me anymore. And just so you know, I’ve never come up against a Maestro before, but I’ve read the texts. He’s hiding himself well.”
That is comforting.
“You should really quit with the sarcasm.”
Now you know how I feel.
“Will you just investigate the north side while I take the south? I want to get out of here in under an hour. Got that?”
Since you asked so nicely.
Only after Dillan added an exaggerated “please” did they dash deeper into the cemetery.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Selena
Never Fall at a Festival
Every night for the rest of the week, my vision plagued me. I barely caught a wink of sleep. Sometimes it felt like my head just hit the pillow, and seconds later, Grams was already calling down for breakfast. I’d never had images persist this way, and it worried me. Made me jumpy. By the weekend, I was ready for some fun at the Fall Festival. No matter how exhausted I felt leaning against the window of my grandfather’s truck.
For two years, the Fall Festival had been a shared experience. It was always me, Penny, and Kyle. Then when I started dating Bowen, we became a foursome. I shouldn’t have said yes to going with him. But I did say I’d give the “friends” thing a try. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
The Ferris wheel towered over everything when we pulled up to the fairgrounds—the most popular ride, allowing some alone time for couples. The Hi-Miler, the Skyride, the Zipper, the Water Log, and other scream-inducing attractions surrounded the monolith. The shorter than you-must-be-this-tall crowd had the Merry-go-round, Spinning Teacups, and the Flying Dumbos alongside colorful food stands and game booths.
Gramps pulled into the make-shift parking lot, setting off a dust storm from the dried dirt field. Once the dust settled, I slid out of the truck. Hacking up a lung wasn’t a pretty picture. Bowen stood by the fair’s entrance in his letterman jacket over a white T-shirt and jeans, looking all-American and handsome. Go Tiger Sharks!
Grams barely hid the frown on her face when we reached him. She had always been a huge Bowen fan, in and out of the pool. But after his cheating hit the airwaves, she’d lost all love for him. If Grams kept a top ten kill list, he would be in it. Gramps, having no idea about the cheating incident, stayed protective of his ladies. He eyed Bowen suspiciously and straightened to his full height to look extra intimidating. I was pretty sure if he’d known, his fist would be meeting my ex’s chin right about now.
“Young man,” he said. Although, from the way he squinted, I could have sworn he knew a thing or two about what happened.
Unfazed by my grandfather’s scrutiny, Bowen reached out for a handshake. “Good to see you again, Mr. Fallon.”
Gramps grinned and took Bowen’s offered hand while patting him hard on the shoulder. “How’s that truck of yours?”
The “love pats” sounded harder than they were. Bowen had the grace not to cough. A lesser man would have bent forward. I guess that was one of the reasons why I liked him when we started dating. He stood up against Gramps without being impolite. Maybe that was why Gramps grudgingly liked him, too, and why he would murder Bowen if he ever found out about the truth.
“Tuned and sounding better than ever,” Bowen replied.
Both men smiled that secret smile only guys who loved cars had for each other.
“That’s m’boy!” Gramps patted his shoulder again.
Then the ex turned to Grams. “Looking more beautiful than ever, Mrs. Fallon.” He treated her to a big hug. I shook my head then rolled my eyes.
Grams bristled, but her good manners didn’t allow her to be rude, so she tapped his chest when he finally put her down. “Bowen, it’s good to see you.”
Gramps grunted. “What do you say we leave these two alone? You have a pie contest to judge.” He pulled his frowning wife away before she could say anything else. To Bowen, he said with a pointed stare, “Take care of my girl.”
“Yes, sir.” He waved at their retreating backs before he asked me, “Grams is finally a judge?”
“This year’s organizers realized the benefits of having her on the panel.”