Haven of Nightmares (Littlemoon Investigations Book 5) (12 page)

It was time to be honest.

“I wanted to be part of you back then too,” she admitted. “The second I saw you with those blue eyes and sweet smile, I fell in love.”

His heart skipped at her admission.

It hadn’t been one sided.

She had felt it too.

“I feel hate that she lied to me. Until this moment, I hated myself. I hated that I didn’t keep her safe. Now I find myself loathing what she did. She stole you from me. I could have been happy. I would have been happy, Matilda.”

“I hate that name.”

He touched her cheek. “I don’t. I think it’s sweet. I think it’s strong. You gave up your chance at happiness for your sister, Mattie. You don’t often see that compassion. That’s something I respect above everything else.”

She shrugged. “Look what it got me.”

He stopped her.

“That’s my number one trait in a woman. It always has been. My mother taught me always to be compassionate. To always give and be kind. That’s how I live my life.”

She listened to him.

“That’s how I met the Littlemoons, and how I found you again.”

“The past is the past.”

“The future is up to us, Mattie. I would like a chance. I need you to believe that I would have come looking for you had I known what Devora did. We both got screwed on that one. We were both the victims.”

“Would it have really mattered?” she asked. “We looked the same. We sounded the same. You still got one of us.”

He wanted to get angry.

He wanted to yell.

Of course, it mattered.

He hated when someone screwed with his free will. He loathed when someone tried to manipulate the facts. That’s why he’d become a reporter.

That’s why he’d unburied the truth for a living and thought he was really good at it.

“I didn’t get the one that I wanted. It matters more than you’ll ever know!”

She heard the tone in his voice.

“I didn’t mean to make you angry.”

“I am angry, but not at you. I’m just sorry we lost that chance. It would have been amazing.”

She didn’t doubt it.

Matilda wanted that moment back. She wanted to have that shot at happiness. She wanted everything he said they could have had, and it was going to be up to her this time. Her sister wasn’t there to stop her.

Moving toward him, Mattie’s mouth found his. They crashed together, his arms wrapping around her body. Heat exploded from them, pouring into the other person.

Someone moaned.

Hands wandered, until hers found his hair. When their glasses bumped, he pulled them off without breaking the mating of mouths.

It had never been like this.

Even in his horny teen years, being dominated by hormones and lust, it had never been close to this unquenchable need.

Matilda was flame and heat, and that berg of ice in his heart and soul was beginning to melt away. As her tongue slid across his, exploring the depths of his mouth, his did the same.

She tasted like old whiskey.

He’d never forget that flavor again. As he slid down into the couch, her pressed to his body, he was amazed at his good fortune.

“Mattie,” he whispered. “God!”

She dove back in, stealing his breath with the most important kiss of her life. She’d never gotten to experience this with him. She wanted this moment ten years ago, when they were kids. Now, so much had changed.

They’d changed.

She still craved it.

As his hands cupped her ass, holding her to him, she was heating up.

Maybe it was the whiskey.

Maybe it was him.

Either way, she never wanted it to end.

As their mouths mated, driving the heat of the room up, they didn’t notice the chill forming around them.

They didn’t notice the chairs moving away from the old tables, or the books sliding across the floor to stack in new piles.

What finally had their attention was when the lights went on. The darkness was gone. As she slowly released his mouth, they didn’t break eye contact.

“Wow,” he said, staring at her. “That was…wow.”

She grinned. As she was about to say something witty, clever, and to make him smile, she happened to look up.

It was then that she screamed.

Roman sat up, grabbing his glasses and shoving them onto his face.

He couldn’t believe what he saw.

The chairs formed a circle around the couch. On them, there were stacks of books forming a wall.

It was over six feet high. It was as if someone had taken every book in the room and moved it in the span of one kiss.

How?

If he believed in a higher power, this was when he would have started praying.

Why was this happening?

Oh, that was crystal clear.

Something wanted to keep them in. Something wanted them to know that they weren’t safe, even behind the salt on the floor.

They were being watched.

It made his heart skip and his pulse race.

Mattie buried her face in his throat, refusing to look as she sobbed in terror.

He couldn’t blame her.

He wanted to do the exact same thing.

This was scary.

This was a thing of nightmares.

Shockingly, he wasn’t surprised. This school was going to be the death of him. He wouldn’t doubt it.

It was going to claim him, much like it stole his family.

Mattie had been right.

This place was evil.

       
         
* * *
  L   i   t   t   l  e  m  o  o  n  * * *

Haven

Wednesday

Five A.M

After their flight had landed, they were on their way. Tori had an uneasy feeling the second she got off the plane. There was something bothering her, and she wasn’t sure what.

Once in their car, she checked both of their phones.

“Roman gave us entry codes and a location to find them. It seems they’re laying low in a library. Why aren’t I shocked?”

Yeah, he wasn’t either.

Roman loved books.

As for jumping right into work, Julian would have preferred to have his wife rest, but he knew the soldier in her would want to hit the ground running. She ran herself ragged, but that was just Tori. If her team was in danger, she’d run headlong into the fray with no concern of her health and wellbeing.

His big issue with that was that she had a baby on board.

His baby.

That made this tricky.

“Trey?” she called, hoping he was nearby and ready to get to work. Tori loved having him back in her life, even if it was weird and spooky.

The radio came to life.

“Yes?”

“When we get there, you need to stick close. Don’t go wandering around. We have a bunch of angry spooks, and they’re targeting our family.”

“I. Am. Angry. Too.”

She knew he was teasing her. “If I tell Julian to smile will that cheer you up?”

“I am not humoring a dead man. I draw the line. I have to tolerate a great deal, like my wife talking to inanimate objects to communicate with the dead.”

“Bethany?”

A breeze stirred.

“Okay, both ghosts are present and accounted for, and no one took the plane down. This is good practice for traveling with a child, I guess.”

Julian stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. “I can’t,” he said, not sure if he should laugh, or not.

“Line. Up. Soldier!”

Julian rolled his eyes.

“There it is,” Tori said, pointing at the large looming structure ahead.

“Holy shit! That’s massive.”

“It was a private school with over two hundred students,” Tori said, reading the dossier to her husband. “They all stayed there in three dorms, and the tuition was crazy.”

She scanned for the amount.

“Holy crap! It was twenty five thousand a semester. Can you say rich kids?”

He whistled.

“That’s like college.”

She flipped the pages. “Apparently, Remington Academy boasted that ninety percent of its students went to Ivy League schools. That’s probably worth the money to some families.”

He started laughing. “My mom would have been happy with community college and a passing grade of a C.”

Tori got it.

“My dad only
‘let’
me go to college so I’d go in an officer and not a grunt. That’s why I went.”

“Roman had a pretty decent education,” Julian stated, and then abruptly changed the topic. “Can I ask you something?”

She glanced over. “What?”

“What do you think of those two?”

“Roman and Matilda?”

“Yeah.”

“There’s something there. Even when she hit him, it wasn’t a full on slap. She pulled it. If she really hated his guts, she would have leveled him. He didn’t even lose his glasses. That says it all.”

Julian thought about it. “You think she loves him, don’t you?”

“Yep.”

“Oh boy.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked. “Since when have you been anti-love? You own a company that pairs off couples with the opposite sex after they fall in love.”

“Hey!”

She laughed.

“It means that someone is going to go and stick her nose into it—like you did with Claire and Beckett.”

“Uh, they’re happy and getting married. That’s a win in my column.”

“You lucked out,” he stated.

“What about how you told Kane to ask Chrissy to marry him? You interfered. How is that any different?”

“I told him to shit or get off the pot,” he said, entering the code at the gate. He watched the big wrought iron fence open for them. “That’s the difference. I wasn’t meddling. I was warning him that his life might end in a tragic way. She was hormonal.”

“Uh huh.”

“You’re looking for a reason to get involved, Tori.”

She shrugged. “Love is a beautiful thing. Vivian and Justin fell for each other, and I could see something in Roman’s eyes too. It looked like regret.”

“You think?”

“We’ll find out,” she said, as they pulled up in front of the main structure. In the distance, there were buildings and what she assumed were dorms.

“This place is huge.”

“We’re going to need a little help with this one,” Tori said. “We’ll never find the victims on this campus. It’s bigger than most universities.”

Yeah, it really was.

“He owns all this, and yet he’s playing reporter and PI. I don’t get it. He’s obviously well off.”

“I do.”

Julian glanced over. “What?”

“His family is all gone. Do you remember that day when I told him he couldn’t have the job, when we were testing him? He looked devastated. He’s all alone. He needed a family to be part of, and like a duck, he’s imprinted on us. He’s ours now.”

His soldier babe was pretty astute. Julian liked that in her.

“You’re probably right, and in this case, I’m more than okay with that.” The family was growing, and Julian liked it.

God help him, but he loved the craziness.

“We wives always are. Now, let’s find them and get this started. We have one hell of a situation on our hands. Once the media sees us in town, or the police department, we’re going to have a harder time working this case.”

He knew she was right.

As they headed up the stairs, toward the building, Tori could see the flashes in her peripheral.

“I hate to freak you out, but we’re in trouble,” she warned. “We’re not alone. There are so many spirits here, that my head is spinning. I get the feeling that they’re not happy.”

“What gave you that idea?” he asked.

Tori stared at the door. Dripping down it, there was blood. Somehow, since Julian wasn’t freaking out, she didn’t think it was real.

“What do you see in front of us?”

“A door?”

“How does it look?” she asked.

“Did you suddenly go blind? It looks like a big wooden door, honey,” he said, glancing back at her. “What do you see?”

“Blood. Lots and lots of blood. I’m taking that as a sign from the dead.”

“Great,” he muttered. “We’re not even inside, and I hate this case.” As he reached for the door, something cold touched his arm.