The Reaping (The Reapers Book 1) (15 page)

I finished the last couple bites of my salad and wondered what I could say to make Bruce feel better and, at the same time, end the dinner before Landon figured out I really could see him. “Look, I have a hard time believing there was anything good about Landon, but you seem like a really nice guy so I’ll take your word for it. I’ll tell the girls at the store what you told me, too, and maybe we can all remember him a little differently.”

He smiled. “That would be great. Thanks.” He was only halfway through his dinner, and I thought suggesting he get a to-go box might be a little pushy. He took another bite while I tried to think of a new conversation topic. Then he looked up at me and smiled. “You want dessert or something?”

“No, not really,” I said, wishing someone would call me and give me an excuse to leave. A lot of girls would kill to be in my place. Bruce was good-looking and he seemed nice enough, not to mention that he actually had a job, but none of that made him any more attractive to me. He loved Landon, and right now, I needed to hate Landon, or I wasn’t going to survive. Not to mention that this dinner threesome was the most uncomfortable and awful date I’d ever been on.

“You don’t have to hang out and watch me eat. You listened to me go on about Landon, and I feel better. You’re free to go.”

The smile he gave me was a little sad. I had no clue what the right thing to do was. Maybe he was as uncomfortable as I was and wanted me to leave. No, better to assume he wanted me to stay and avoid depressing further the man whose best friend had just been killed. “Actually, I do think I’d like dessert.”

His smile brightened. “I’ll flag down a waiter and get a dessert menu.”

I’d love to say that the conversation picked up after that, and we both had fun, but that was not the case. When we did talk it was awkward, and the conversation dragged. Even the dessert was overly sugary and tasted artificial.

He walked me back to the flower shop. “Well, thanks for letting me take you out,” he said.

I nodded and smiled up at him. “I enjoyed learning more about Landon,” I lied as warmly as I could manage.

Suddenly, Bruce was kissing me and it was bad, really, really bad. Too aggressive and way, way too much tongue. I pulled away instinctively.

“Oh, wow, I’m sorry. I thought…”

“No, no. I just wasn’t expecting that. I mean I thought this was just…”

“A chance for me to tell you about Landon. It was. But you look so pretty, and you actually stayed for dessert, so I thought…”

I looked at him again. He was cute, and he was nice, and it takes two people to make bad conversation. Maybe if I got to know him better…okay, so this was probably all just rationalization because it had been too long since I’d been kissed by anyone. “It was just unexpected. Maybe we could try again?”

He leaned in again, and I stretched up to meet him. The kiss was sweet and soft, and I felt nothing. Not the slightest bit of attraction to him. We stepped apart, and he grinned at me sheepishly. “It was worth a try…but I don’t think…”

I smiled, relieved. “Me, either. Thank you for dinner. If you don’t have any plans for Thanksgiving tomorrow, I’m making a huge meal and you’re welcome to join us.” I suddenly felt friendlier with Bruce now that we’d shared a mutual lack of attraction.

“I do have plans tomorrow. Thanks for the invitation, though.”

“No problem. If your plans change, feel free to stop by. If not, I’ll probably see you around.”

“Yeah, have a good night.”

He walked away, and I headed upstairs.

I was glad to find Angelica alone in the apartment curled up on the couch with a book.

“Hey,” she said when I sat down next to her. “How was your date?”

She was wearing pink flannel pajamas with little hearts, her hair loose around her face, making her look like she was six and ready to go to bed.

“It wasn’t a date. Although, he did kiss me at the end of it, so does that make it retroactively a date?”

“Yep. How was the kiss?”

“Terrible. Both times. Before that, I had to listen to him tell me what a great guy Landon was before he got into drugs.”

“Was he really a good person? That makes me kind of sad.”

“According to Bruce, he was, and I promised I’d tell everyone at work the same thing.”

“That’s sweet of you. Think it’ll make any difference?”

“Not really, but I am less than inclined to believe any good of Landon at the moment.”

“Oh, no, you can’t. You have to hate him, or you won’t be able to live with yourself when you destroy him.”

“I appreciate your confidence.”

She grinned and pulled me in for a sideways hug. “Have you heard any more from him?”

“No. Maybe he’s moved on to harass someone more interesting.” I’m not sure why I lied to her, but it felt like the right thing to do. She didn’t need to be stressed out or upset about it, especially when there was nothing she could do to help me.

“See, he’s moved on already. That’s such a relief.” She smiled and some little bit of tension or sadness vanished from her face.

“Yeah.” I pulled away from her. “How was work tonight?”

“Allison convinced three people not to buy books, but to see the movies, instead.”

“No.” I groaned. “Did she at least show up on time?”

She shook her head. “You need to fire her.”

“I know, I know. I just really don’t want to do it.”

“You need to do it, Kelsey. She’s not even very nice. You shouldn’t feel bad.”

“Okay, I’ll call her in after Thanksgiving.”

“Then you can hire Cat to take her place.”

“That won’t look like nepotism or anything.”

“Kelsey, she really needs a job.”

“And I really want her to pay rent. If she wants to work there, she can submit her resume, and I’ll interview her. I can’t promise anything.”

“Fair enough.” She stretched and yawned. “I should be getting to bed. I’m exhausted.”

“Where is Cat, anyway?” I was only mildly curious. I was really trying to keep Angelica up with me, so I wouldn’t have to go to sleep and face Landon.

“Out with Caleb.”

My heart stopped for a moment in what felt strangely like jealousy. “Our Caleb?”

Angelica studied me for a moment and smiled. “I knew it.”

“Knew what?”

“I knew you’d like him eventually. There is no way you could
not
like him when he’s so hot and sweet and totally saved your life.”

“I don’t like him. I mean, I do like him, just not the way you think. He’s a good friend.”

She nodded. “Okay. He showed up here looking for someone to go out to eat with. I guess he doesn’t like to eat alone. I’d already eaten and Cat didn’t want to go, but Caleb convinced her.”

“Huh,” I said in the most casual tone I could muster. “Maybe he likes her.”

“I don’t think so.”

“What about you? Decided what to do about Paul?”

“Oh, yeah.” Angelica turned a bit red. “Isabella swears she didn’t sleep with him, so I guess I’m free to date him.”

“That’s great.”

“Yeah, it kind of is since I already went out with him. We saw a movie after work, and then he took me back to his place. I tried talking to him about the aura of this lady in the theater, and he said he thought that type of sweater was really itchy. Apparently, all that crap about sharing a past life with me was just a line to get me to sleep with him.”

“What an asshole. Did you sleep with him?”

“I considered it. I mean, he is really cute, and he bought me dinner, but I had gone out with him with other intentions, you know.”

“And he’s an asshole.”

“Yeah, that was really what decided me against him.”

“I’m sorry he turned out to be such a loser.”

“At this point, I would have been completely shocked if he were anything else. It would have ruined my streak.” She yawned again. “I’m seriously going to bed. You should, too. You look exhausted. Now that Landon is leaving you alone, you should be safe.”

“I’m not tired. Mind if I read your book for a while?” She had put down the latest offering from my favorite horror author.

“Help yourself. Have to say I’m underwhelmed. Doesn’t live up to the last one.”

“Too bad. I was really looking forward to this one.”

“I’m kind of relieved, to be honest. Her books are really too scary for me. I’m going back to my Gothic romances.”

“Good night, sweetie,” I said as she headed off to bed.

“G’night.” She yawned.

I moved into her warm spot and dove into the book. I tried to stay awake, but my eyelids kept drooping. I stood and paced the apartment while I read. I even took a couple of trips downstairs and outside into the cold to wake myself up, but nothing worked. As soon as I sat down, my eyes started to close. Even my fear of Landon and what he might do to me couldn’t get my heart racing fast enough to keep me awake. I debated going for a run and, somewhere in the middle of that thought, I fell asleep.

Landon appeared almost immediately. This time, I was completely dressed, and he was in my living room.

“It took you long enough.” He sighed, leaning back in the blue chair. He looked strangely like he belonged there. His blue eyes were clear and bright, his face more filled out in death than it had been in life. He could easily be someone Angelica and I would be friends with, someone we might date.

“Got something important to talk to me about?” I asked in my most confident, least terrified tone.

“I really don’t like you.”

“That’s it? I’d kind of figured that out already.”

He smiled, almost kindly. The first time he’d ever really smiled at me and, for a moment, I saw in him the guy Bruce had described to me.

“You’re a seriously nice person, and I realized tonight that is what I dislike most about you. Everything about you grates on my last nerve, but your idiotic kindness is what really makes me want to spew chunks.”

“Is this some sort of attempt to soften me up before you get back to kicking the shit out of me?” I didn’t want to remind him to hurt me, but if it was going to happen, I wanted to get it over with.

“Not tonight. Tonight, you get a break. My keepers are otherwise occupied, and you were nicer than you needed to be to my best friend.”

“Your keepers?”

Landon waggled a finger at me and shook his head. “Sorry, babe. No information. I’m not giving you any leverage to fight back.” He looked toward the window and frowned, then he met my eyes and smiled again. “When Bruce knew me, I really was a good person. I was probably nicer than you.”

“Yeah, I heard that from him.”

“That Landon died a long time before you met me. I’d love to be that person again, but I can’t.” He stood and took a seat on the coffee table, facing me. “The truth is, after I heard Bruce tell you how wonderful I was, all I wanted to do was go get so high I could pretend that conversation never happened.”

“So why don’t you do that and leave me alone?”

“The only way I can get high again is through the body of a living person.”

“I’m sure Reid would be more than willing to help you out there. You probably wouldn’t even have to do anything but squat in his body and soak in the alcohol.”

“Doesn’t work like that.” He sighed. “The point is that I’ve been telling myself that if I get a second chance at life, I’ll really do
something
, but the truth is, I’ll go out and get high the very first moment I can after I’ve taken your body.”

“Making you feel a little bit guilty?”

“Not the least bit. I really mean it when I say I’m not that good person I used to be. That guy is gone, and I had forgotten all about him until Bruce reminded me tonight. Even if I wanted to be a better person, I’m no longer capable of it.”

“Everyone’s capable of change. Especially someone who’s gotten a wake-up call like death by drug overdose. I’d think you’d—”

“I didn’t OD.”

I found that oddly humorous, and I chuckled. “I’m not surprised you don’t remember how you died, but I wouldn’t think it would be any surprise to you. You’ve accepted you’re dead, so how else do you think you would have died?”

He shook his head. “I remember exactly how I died, sweetheart. I remember staring down the barrel of a gun, and I remember the heat of the bullet in the moments before it touched my skin and entered my brain.”

I sat up straight. “The police told Bruce you’d OD’d. Why would they lie?”

“Beats the fuck out of me, but they did. I was definitely shot, Kelsey. I was a junkie, sure, but I had the sense not to overdose.”

I didn’t bother to argue with that self-assessment. “Did you see who shot you?”

“Uh-uh.” He shook his head. “It was dark, and all I saw was that fucking gun.” He stood and started pacing, running his hands through his hair. “Shit, Kelsey. What the fuck is going on here?”

“I don’t know, but there has to be some mistake, some sort of miscommunication. If you were murdered, they would have had to talk to everyone at the store, right?”

He stopped and looked at me. “Unless, whoever killed me made it look like a suicide or…I need you to find out for me, Kelsey. I need you to make this right. I was murdered, and someone needs to pay for that.”

“You wanna tell me exactly why I should help you?”

His eyes blazed and he took a few steps closer and got in my face. “You do it or I start fucking with every single person you care about. Angelica, your mother, Cat, any and all of the above and anyone else I find you give a single shit about will have me doing my utmost to make their lives fucking miserable.”

“Fine.” I knew I should have been scared, but I was sick of his threats and it made me angry that there was nothing I could do about it. “I’ll help you. Just leave everyone alone.”

He started pacing again. “Just make sure you don’t ever start talking to me about this before I’ve introduced it, okay. We can only talk about this when we are alone.”

I had never seen anyone else around when Landon brought me over to his world, but I was in no position to argue. “Okay, but you have to let me get some sleep.”

He grinned. “I don’t
have
to do anything. I’m giving you a break tonight. You do what I tell you, and I’ll consider giving you an hour or two off sometime.”