For Always Read online

  "What in the Sam Hill?"

  "Sorry, I should've warned you," I laughed. "I took a picture, see." I flipped my phone over so we could both see. I was surprised to see a mass next to mine. It looked like a glare or something, but the more I looked, I could make out the outline of a person.

  "Is that me?" He seemed as astonished as I was.

  "Yeah, I think it is. Weird, huh?" I had never taken a picture of a ghost before. I saved it to my phone after I sent it to Max, who I thought might find it fascinating.

  "No, what's weird are phones ya carry 'round with ya. And takin' pictures and stuff with 'em."

  I'd say a lot of the stuff we do now looked strange to him. I glanced around my room looking for something that he may not have seen before. I grabbed my mp3 player and headphones. "Listen to this."

  "What is it?"

  "Headphones. They play music." I held them in place over his ears so he could hear the music and turned it on, waiting for his reaction.

  I let him listen until a smile finally spread across his face. "That would be neat if it didn't sound so bad." I looked to see what song was on and laughed.

  "What? You don't like Prince?"

  "Prince of what? Skinnin' cats?" He was rubbing his ears like they were hurting him.

  I laughed and shook my head. “He’s one of the greatest musicians of all time, silly.”

  He rolled his eyes at me as I got up and put my headphones down on my dresser. That's when I noticed my plasma ball, which I hadn't turned on in ages. Margaret had gotten it for me for Christmas. I pulled the cord up and turned it on to show Beau, surprised that it still worked. I touched it, letting the lightening trails follow my finger. I heard a commotion behind me and turned to see what it was.

  Beau looked like he had been shot. "What's goin' on?"

  I didn't know what he was talking about. "What? What's wrong?"

  He was still looking shocked, not moving. "What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO?" He was panicking, and I had no idea why.

  I instinctively backed away from him. "Beau…you're scaring me."

  When I moved, his eyes quickly went to my plasma ball. He started backing away from it as fast as he could. He moved across my bed so abruptly that he almost fell off of it. He jumped up and backed against my wall, sliding down it toward the door.

  "Beau, it's okay. It won’t hurt you."

  "What is it?" He asked as he slid out my door and stood by the top of the stairs. "Turn it off."

  I went over and cut it off and motioned for him to come back in, but he didn't move. "It's okay, I turned it off." I noticed that my bed was messed up. It had been made, but now my blanket was hanging off the side where Beau had slid across it. He finally appeared at my door, but his eyes were still wide with shock. "What happened?" I ask him.

  "Hell if I know."

  I pointed to my bed. "You moved my blanket. Did you mean to?" I knew that it took effort for Beau to move anything, so it was odd to see him mess up my bed.

  He looked down at it and shrugged his shoulders. He didn't come back in my room, just stood at my door. "I was watchin' ya put your music thing back up, then all of a sudden—" He raised his eyebrows and shook his head.

  "I cut my plasma ball on to show you. Did it hurt or something?"

  "Not exactly. But I did…feel. I never feel anything, but suddenly I did."

  "But it didn't hurt?"

  "No."

  "Can I turn it back on?"

  Before I even finished my sentence he told me no.

  "Why? It's only a ball that amplifies electricity. It has gases in it and a globe around it to help it glow and stuff. It can't hurt you…I don't think." I really wasn't sure, though, now that I thought about it.

  "Exactly," he said with skepticism. He took a deep breath, contemplating what he wanted to do. "Okay, let me stand outside your room before ya turn it back on."

  "Okay." I walked over to the ball and waited until he was out. "Are you ready?"

  "I reckon! As ready as I'll ever be," he called from across the hall.

  "Okay, I'm turning it on." I flipped the switch and ran to make sure he was okay. He was all the way on the other side of Grandmama's room. "What are you doing way in here?"

  He looked anxious. "Just makin' sure," he said with fear in his voice. "Okay…here I go." He slowly made his way toward Grandmama's door with me following close behind. "I can already feel it, but just barely." He turned and smiled at me, but continued to creep toward my room. He must've been a dare devil when he was alive.

  "I wonder why it bothers you so much." He didn't say anything, just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. He stopped when he got to the top of the stairs and took another deep breath. "You okay?" I asked, worrying. He still didn't answer, just nodded his head again. We got to my door, but he didn't go in. "How do you feel now?"

  "Buzzin’, like my body's full of bees. It don't hurt…just feels…" He shivered, which I had never seen him do.

  I walked in past him and said, "If you need me to turn it off, just tell me."

  He looked at it, then back at me and smiled again. "Na, I kinda like it. I just want to make sure it ain't gonna fry me or nothin'," he said with a nervous laugh. He walked into my room and paused at the foot of my bed. "This is amazin'." He sat down on it, and I was shocked to see it give to his weight.

  "Beau…the bed…it moved…when you sat down."

  He beamed up at me and started bouncing up and down on my bed. "I don't understand it. It's like I'm…alive."

  "But that's impossible. That ball doesn't have the power to do that. It's just electricity." I just stood there, watching him bounce like he was a little kid. He suddenly stopped and looked up at me. "What?" I thought something was wrong, until his smile got even wider.

  He reached his hand out and grabbed mine, pulling me down on his lap. I started laughing, and when I did, he jumped up, with me in his arms, and started spinning me around. We were mesmerized by what was happening when we both heard something break and looked to see a glass in pieces on the floor. When we saw what caused it, he immediately put me down and stepped away. Grandmama was standing in the doorway looking at us like she had just seen a ghost—because she had.

  I looked from her, to Beau, then back to her. She was looking at him, not me. "Can you see him? You can see him, can't you?" I was ecstatic, even though she still looked like she was in shock. Beau wasn't moving, or smiling; he looked scared. I was afraid she would step on the broken glass, so I grabbed my garbage can and started cleaning it up. "Grandmama, say something," I told her anxiously as I cleaned up her mess. She stepped over me and the glass and walked toward Beau. She was wearing her poker face, so I had no clue as to what she was thinking. I hated it when she did that. I picked up the last few pieces of glass and ran to her side. "Grandmama!" I had absolutely never yelled at her like that, but the situation called for it.

  She started laughing and reached up and touched Beau's cheek. "Mercy, Malyn was right. You are a looker."

  Great! When she finally decides to speak she takes it there. "Grandmama!"

  "I had pictured how ya looked," she said to Beau, "but I was a little off." She stepped back and sat down on the foot of the bed. She looked from me, to him, then back at me. "How has this happened?"

  Finely! The reality of the situation was sinking in. "We don't know. I turned on my plasma ball and it affected him somehow."

  She looked back at it, then back up at Beau, who still hadn't moved a muscle. She got up and turned the ball off, watching Beau as she did. After about a few seconds, I could tell she couldn't see him anymore. "Well, I'll be." She turned it back on, and was able to see him again. "This is the craziest thing I've ever seen in my life!" She sang—literally. She walked over and hugged Beau with one of her rib splintering hugs. She was stout to be a small woman. "I wanted to do that the other day when you came to me, and I'm so glad I can do it now."

  Beau hugged her back. "Thanks, Nellie."

  She jumped
back, still holding his shoulders. "I heard you!" She was just as amazed at all of this as we were. "You sound like a grown man. Not that you ain't," she added, realizing she may have offended him. "I just wasn't expectin' to be able to hear you talk, too, and with such a deep voice." She was right; he did have a nice, rugged voice.

  He blushed and sported his dimples for her. "Thank ya, ma'am. I'm kinda surprised myself."

  She smiled and patted his cheek before she turned around and walked toward the door. As she walked out, she yelled over her shoulder, "I'm callin' Max!" Then she stopped and came back, smiling and pointing her finger at both of us. "Y'all behave while I'm gone." Then she turned around and almost ran down the stairs.

  I looked at Beau, who was smiling at me. "How do you feel?"

  He looked at me with a devilish grin and said, "I don't know," and held his arms out, "you tell me."

  I went to him and wrapped my arms around him, and he hugged me back. I felt him bury his face in the top of my head, sniffing my hair. "What are you doing?"

  "I can smell. I smell ya," he said with his voice muffled by my hair. "Mmm."

  I assumed I smelled good to him, and then I noticed a new scent in the air. I planted my face in his shirt, soaking him in. "I can smell you, too," I mumbled into his chest.

  "Well, seein' as how I'm a hundred years old, that can't be good," he laughed.

  I inhaled deeply. "You smell wonderful." I took another whiff. "Like the outdoors—woodsy and spice."

  "Well, I figured after the third sniff that it must not be too bad." He chuckled again before he leaned back and looked down at me. He reached his hand up and touched my cheek with the palm of his hand and slid it down my neck and through my hair. He kept running his hand through my hair until he lifted a strand and put it to his lips and shut his eyes. He let it slip out of his fingers and brought his hand to my face again, opening his eyes and looking at me with a penetrating stare. He rubbed his thumb slowly back and forth across my lower lip. I didn't know how much more I could take before I thought my lips would combust. Thank goodness he didn't make me wait much longer.

  He shut his eyes again and leaned down, pressing his forehead against mine. He whispered so softly that I barely heard him say, "I'm sorry, Malyn," before pressing his lips to mine. His kiss started out more aggressive than our first one, but I wanted him to kiss me even harder. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him to me. His tongue darted into my mouth, dancing with mine. I slid my hand up the back of his neck and grabbed a handful of his hair. He gently sucked my bottom lip into his mouth like he was tasting something delicious for the first time. This sent me over the edge. I wanted to pull him to the bed, but with Grandmama right downstairs, I knew that wouldn't be a good idea.

  His kisses became gentler as his aggressiveness softened. I could kiss him forever. He stuck his thumbs under my shirt just above the waistband of my shorts so he could feel my skin. He moaned softly, giving me goose bumps as he rubbed my sides. He slid his hands around to my back and picked me up, hugging me to him so that my feet dangled. He stopped kissing me and laid his head on my shoulder, burying his face in my hair again.

  "If you're sorry about that, I'd like to see what you do when you're not sorry," I teased him.

  "I'm sorry for not havin' more control of myself."

  He put me back down, but kept his hands on my lower back. Feeling his skin on mine made me think thoughts that I shouldn’t be thinking. "Control is overrated," I said with a huge smile on my face, "very overrated."

  Chapter 11

  SUNSHINE AND MOONLIGHT

  Malyn

  It was barely daylight when my alarm went off. I had it sitting across my room so that I would have to get up to turn it off. I was surprised at how well I had slept last night, considering all the excitement we had encountered. Grandmama got a hold of Max and she said he didn't seem too surprised, which I expected. He probably knew exactly what had happened, right down to the molecular science behind it all. She said he would be up next week, which I was looking forward to, but also dreading at the same time.

  I went to my window to see if Beau was in his usual morning spot on the stump, but he wasn't. So I grabbed my uniform, which was a pair of khaki shorts and a green polo shirt that had the Lakeside Marina logo on it, and headed to the bathroom. I put my clothes on and pulled my hair up into a messy bun and put some mascara and lip gloss on. When I went back into my room, Beau was sitting on my bed.

  "Good mornin', Sunshine," he said cheerfully.

  "Well, good morning to you, too." I sat down in my desk chair to put my shoes on. "It's nice to see you in such a good mood."

  "It's good to be in a good mood." He was just sitting there smiling at me.

  "I hate to leave you today," I admitted. I wanted to stay locked up in my room with him and my plasma ball all day. "Are you sure you don't want me to cancel?" I wanted him to say yes, but I knew he wouldn't.

  "No, I wantcha to go and have fun," he said, but I could tell he didn't really mean it.

  "I'll go…I'll try to have fun…but I won't. Not without you." I stood up, knowing I needed to leave so that I wasn't late. "I've got to go."

  "Can ya do me a favor before ya go?"

  "Sure."

  "Can ya turn the ball on? There's something I need to do."

  "In here? What would you want to do in my room?"

  "I can do what I need to do anywhere. But I need the ball on to do it, and since you're the only one who I can ask to turn it on, I thought it'd be a good idea to have ya turn it on before ya left." He smiled and raised his eyebrows. I loved it when he made that face.

  "Okay. But it needs to be cut off after a little bit or it may get too hot." I turned it on and was immediately snatched up in his arms. "This is why I'm in such a good mood," he laughed. "I can manhandle ya now."

  I kicked my feet and he must've thought I wanted him to put me down. When he did, I quickly turned and pounced on him, wrapping my legs around his waist, almost knocking him backwards. I slid my arms around his neck and whispered, "I have reflexes like a cat, Mr. Brogan, so you better watch out." Then I leaned down and purred in his ear before gently biting his earlobe and jumping down.

  He still had his arms around me, pinning me to him. He leaned down like he was gonna kiss me, but barely touched his lips to mine, sliding them back and forth. He traced them across my jawbone all the way up to my ear and whispered, "Such a feisty little thing." He chuckled and his breath on my neck made me shiver. He quietly chuckled as he ran his lips down my neck, kissing it lightly. He obviously knew how to tear a girl up.

  "Um…I think I…" I said, a little more breathlessly than I had hoped to sound. "I have to go," I somehow managed to say. Oh, mylanta.

  He slowly let me go and kissed me on the cheek. "Have fun today, Malyn." I took a deep breath and smiled before I grabbed my bag and headed out my door.

  Grandmama was waiting on me in the kitchen. "I made some muffins." She was looking at me as if she was trying to read my mind. Sometimes I thought she might actually be able to.

  "Thanks. I'm hungry."

  "What else is new," she teased as she slipped her shoes on. "Ya still goin' out with Jace tonight?"

  "Yes. Why wouldn't I be?"

  "Well, with the recent turn of events, I didn't know."

  I waited to finish our conversation in the privacy of the car. "Even with the recent turn of events, he's still dead. As much as I don't want him to be, he is. And as alive as he seems to be, he's not."

  "I know. I just wanted to make sure that ya still realized that."

  Sadly enough, I did still realize that.

  * * *

  We were so busy at the restaurant that the morning flew by. I hadn't seen Jace at all, but Beth assured me he was there, working in the bait shop. I didn't see him until after lunch when it was time for us to go.

  "Are you sure it's okay? It's awfully busy for us to leave."

  "Yes, stop worrying. Mom and Dad are both here
, so it's fine," he assured me as he gathered his stuff. Then he stopped and looked at me. "You do still want to go, don't you?"

  "Yeah, I just don't want your family thinking badly of me."

  Relief crossed his face as he grabbed his keys and said, "Don't worry, they don't."

  We walked across the parking lot toward his monster truck. He went around to my side to open my door for me. I hated trying to get into it. "You know, you're gonna have to invest in a step ladder for me," I said as I jumped up into my seat.

  He just laughed and shut my door. I called Grandmama and told her I was off and that we were heading to Jace's house. "We are going to your house, right?" I asked him after he got in. He nodded and I let Grandmama know. "I'll let you know when we leave his house and where we're going." We finished our conversation and I told her I loved her before we hung up.

  "Do you always tell her every move you make?" From the way I must've looked at him, he realized that his question didn't come out as he intended it to. "Sorry, I didn't mean it that way," he laughed. "I meant to say does she always know where you are, because my parents rarely have a clue where I am."

  I smiled, letting him off the hook. "Yeah, it eases her mind to know where I am. I probably don't have to give her my 10-20 all the time, but I do."

  "10-20?"

  "My location. Sorry, my best friend's dad is a cop,” I explained. “She uses police codes all the time." I laughed, thinking about LeLe. "When her parents would fight, she would walk into whatever room they were in and announce 'We’ve got a 10-15 in progress at the Beaumont residence', which means a civil dispute. Her parents would usually laugh at her and stop fussing."

  He glanced over at me as he drove. "You miss her, don't you?"

  "Yeah, I do. She's supposed to come up soon. Or at least I hope she does." I started thinking back to the fun things we used to do in Nashville; ballgames, concerts, bowling.

  Jace interrupted my daydream. "Are you okay? You seem …distracted or something."

  Distracted was an understatement. Between thinking about Beau all morning and now missing LeLe, my mood was less than to be desired. "I'm just having a bad day, I guess. I'm sorry."