“That was nice of him,” Ben said. “I guess he really doesn’t want to kill me anymore.”
Melody snorted. “I wouldn’t jump to conclusions. I think he brought a bunch of soccer jerseys and basketball shorts.”
The group wound their way through the lobby past all the sunburned golfers and their well-coiffed, tipsy wives to the bank of elevators. They rode up to the top floor and walked down a long hallway to the suite. Melody unlocked the door and ushered the guys inside.
“I’ll let you all get cleaned up. We’re hanging out on the patio. See you in a few.”
“Wait,” Ben said, coming out into the hall and closing the door behind him. “Don’t you think we should go over our plan for the thing that’s happening later tonight?”
“Are you sure it’s happening tonight? Zellie wasn’t,” she lied.
“Yes, I’m sure. I was with Claire when she bought those fuck-me red shoes. She’s planned to wear them to this party since late February.”
Stupid shoes. And stupid Ben who remembered details about stupid shoes. He probably even knew who designed them.
“Okay, look, I didn’t want to hit you with this first thing, but Zellie and I have this one covered.”
Ben looked surprised. “You think she can rewind two strong guys at once?”
Melody shook her head. “Yes, of course she can. Are you forgetting what she did for Mom and Avery?”
“No, but she was dead when she did that. More powerful.”
“Well, she’s gotten a lot better lately. She worked a rewind with six people yesterday and only broke a sweat because it’s a million degrees lately.”
Ben held up his hands in front of him. “Fine. I’ll let her have this one, but if you decide it’s dumb not to use me, because
it’s dumb not to use me
, then all you have to do is ask.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Melody handed the suite key card to him. “Now go take a shower and I’ll see you outside.”
Ben tapped her on the nose with the key card. “See ya.” He went into the room.
Melody smiled as she turned and went back to the elevators. The first phase of her plan was going pretty well. If she were the kind of dork that patted herself on the back, she would have. Now on to phase two.
Chapter Sixteen
I walked back up the path that ran between the outdoor patio and the golf course and went to retrieve Avery. He was sitting on one of the benches the guys had pulled up to the outdoor fire pit, talking to Connor. I hoped Avery wasn’t scaring him with all of his trigger war stories because Ben needed him to stick around. We all did.
I watched as Connor nonchalantly reached over and took Ben’s hand, not missing a beat in his conversation with Avery. Ben looked down at their clasped hands and then glanced up at me. The smile he gave me before turning back to talk to Frank practically took up his whole face. This was genuine Ben. Not super sexy Ben or love me, need me, want me Ben. God help him, I think it made him even more attractive.
“Sorry to interrupt your conversation,” I whispered, leaning over in front of Avery and Connor. “Could you guys come help Claire with Jason? He barfed in a bunch of golf carts and then passed out on the course.”
“Crap, really?” Avery said. “I thought he’d been drinking pop all night. Guess not?”
I shrugged. “Guess not.” No, Melody had seen to it that Jason had been consuming pop and whatever alcohol she could liberate from the adults’ half-finished drinks. While we’d all been dancing and enjoying the party, she’d been mixing up 100-proof Graveyards. I could feel the pride that her plan had worked emanating off of her as she eavesdropped on our conversation from the other side of Frank.
Avery turned to Connor. “Can you help me? Jay’s a pretty big dude and it sounds like we’ll have to carry him.”
“Yeah, I think you’re gonna want to steer clear of the golf carts,” I said, making a gaggy face.
Connor stood, squeezing Ben’s hand. “I’m on drunk duty, babe. Can I get the key to the room?”
Ben handed the key over to Connor, giving me a suspicious look. “Jason?”
I avoided his gaze and pretended to be super interested in the fire.
Connor nodded.
“I thought that kid looked wasted. Put him in the bathtub, okay? I don’t want him puking on any of the furniture.”
Avery ran his hand down my arm and kissed me on the temple. A twinge of guilt speared my gut.
“Where are they at?” he asked.
I pointed down the path flight attendant style. “When you smell Jason and hear the sounds of a pissed off girlfriend, you will have reached your destination.”
Avery laughed. “I believe I’m familiar with both of those things.”
“Ha.” I gave him a peck on the cheek and then moved out of the way so he and Connor could get by. I sat down on the bench.
“So, what do you think?” Ben asked, his eyes following his boyfriend.
“Of Connor?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s not
quite
as hot as Avery, but he’ll do.”
Ben snorted. “Puh-leese.”
I giggled. “He’s great and you know it.”
“I still can’t believe he forgave me. I don’t know what I would’ve done if he hadn’t come with us.”
I linked my arm with his and cuddled up to him. “You would’ve done whatever you had to do to protect him. I’m sorry for everything that happened in California, it must have been awful.”
Ben met my gaze, but tilted his head toward a dazed Marcus sitting across the fire from us. “He’s going to be a wreck when Chris’s control finally wears off. Fucking Mildred and her fucking traitorous minions.”
“We’ll find her someday. I just don’t know where to look anymore.”
“That’s the thing, isn’t it? She can control people and spirits. She can be
everywhere
.”
I hoped to hell one of Mildred’s people was glimpsing this because Ben was doing an excellent cover job without even knowing it.
He leaned in closer to me. “Mel said you wanted to deal with the Claire thing on your own. Are you sure I can’t convince you to let me help?”
I shook my head. “No, we’ve got it handled. You guys need your rest after the ordeal you’ve been through. I knew the second you shared the vision with me that you’d want to help, but I really, really don’t need it this time. Melody and I are getting so much better. Just trust me for once, okay?”
Ben tapped his forehead against mine. “All right. I give up. You bitches don’t need saving.”
Claire came wobbling up the path in her red patent leather heels. She plopped down next to me on the bench. “Grr.”
I linked my other arm with hers. “You and Jason breaking up again?”
She sighed. “No, but grr, y’know?” Ben and I both nodded our heads. “Anyways, I’m ready to bail. I got Avery’s keys and I told him we’d come pick him and drunk-ass up in the morning.” She leaned across me to speak to Ben. “Sorry about the extra dudes in the suite tonight.”
“It’s cool, Claire. Don’t worry about it. We’re happy to have a place to stay.”
Claire stood, yanking me up with her. “C’mon Melody, we’re leaving.”
“Fine by me,” my sister muttered. She gave Frank a quick hug and saluted the rest of the guys. “See you mañana, boys.”
I parked Avery’s Jeep on the street in front of Claire’s house.
“Always fun to come home to the creepy dark abode!” Claire said, bracing herself on Melody’s shoulder as she teetered from the backseat of the car. Once she hit pavement, she kicked her shoes off into the grass. “I hate these things. They are banished from my closet, never to be worn again.” She bent down to pick them up. “You hear that, you torturous devices of evil? You are Goodwill-bound tomorrow.”
We walked up the driveway and Melody and I waited on the porch while Claire unlocked the front door and turned off the alarm.
She waved us in. “Okay, come on in so I can reset it.”
Melody and I went through the door.
“Hey,” Melody asked, “Does this one alarm work for the whole house?”
“No, Aunt Hazel,” Claire said, mocking my sister. “There’s a separate alarm on the door to the garage.”
Ah-ha.
Claire set the alarm and we all went upstairs to her bedroom.
“You guys mind if we just veg out in bed and watch a movie? I’m dead tired.” Claire dropped her shoes on the floor at the foot of her bed and pulled her dress off over her head. She went into her closet and put her pajamas on.
“Sounds good to me,” I said and went to my clothes drawer, taking out two pairs of cut-off sweats and a couple of tank tops for Melody and I to sleep in. I tossed the clothes to my sister.
The three of us got set up in bed, with Claire on the right, me in the middle and Melody on the left. Claire found some cheesy horror movie on HBO and we lay back and enjoyed the eye candy.
“Do you two want anything to drink?” Claire asked, getting up. “I think I’m going to have a glass of warm milk.”
“Yuck,” Melody said, sticking out her tongue. “I’ll take anything but a warm glass of milk.”
“Water?” Melody nodded ‘yes.’ “Zellie, how about you?”
“Water’s good. Thanks.”
Claire ran downstairs and returned with the beverages quickly. We all snuggled back in to finish the movie. The milk must have worked, because as the final credits rolled, Claire finally fell asleep. Melody and I crept out of bed, making sure we left everything as I’d seen it in the vision. I turned off the TV and we tiptoed down the hall to Claire’s parents’ bedroom to wait for the vision to begin. It was 2:30 in the morning, so we had a little less than an hour to wait.
Chapter Seventeen
Ben stared at the clock on the bedside table. It was 2:43 am and Zellie would be glimpsing soon. Meaning he would be glimpsing soon, and he just wanted to get it over with. He needed to make sure the girls were going to be okay before he could cuddle up next to Connor and go to sleep.
He listened to the sound of everyone in the bedroom breathing. He and Connor shared the bed, Jason was in the bathtub in the adjoining bathroom and Avery was camped out on the floor on top of three folded up bedspreads. Frank, Christopher and Marcus all shared the room across the sitting area.
Dudes breathe loudly. At least the ones in here do.
The room filled with a chorus of nose whistles and open-mouthed snores.
Ben got up and went into the bathroom to take a piss. He turned on the heat lamp for light, not wanting to wake Jason up. That kid was going to be
hurting
in the morning. Ben looked down at him as he zipped up, trying to remember if he’d actually seen Jason sneaking any drinks all evening. He did always seem to have a cup of soda in his hand, but he’d been with Claire and the rest of them most of the time. Melody was the one that did the refreshment runs.
Ben walked out into the room and knelt beside Avery, shaking his shoulders to wake him. Avery’s eyes shot open and he sat up.
“What? Is something wrong?”
“Shh,” Ben said, putting his index finger to his lips.
“Is Zellie okay?” Avery whispered. He whipped his head around, scanning the room for some possible threat.
“I don’t know.” He wasn’t quite sure where he was going with all of this. Something wasn’t right. He could
feel
that something wasn’t right. “Does Jason drink very often? I mean, is he the guy at every party that drinks whatever he can get his hands on and then passes out?”
Avery shook his head. “No, not at all. He got really wasted once when we were in eighth grade and swore that he’d never do that to himself again, so I did think it was weird that he drank tonight. I figured he’d just slipped up. But he’s really into Claire and wants to make it work this time. I know he’s been trying to be on his best behavior for her sake, so it didn’t make a ton of sense to me.”
Ben nodded. “For some reason, Zellie and Melody don’t want us around to help with Claire’s rewind.”
“What are you talking about?” Avery was fully awake now.
“And it appears that Zellie didn’t even tell you about it, so there is definitely something effed up going on.”
“Is Claire in danger?” Avery grabbed his shoes and started putting them on.
Ben looked at the clock again. “She’s going to be kidnapped in about forty minutes.”
“Shit! We’ve got to get to her house and help stop it,” Avery said, jumping up and feeling around in his pockets. “The girls took my keys. We’ll have to take your car.”
Ben and Avery snuck out of the suite, being careful not to wake anyone, and headed down to the valet station. The resort was deserted except for a few workers cleaning up from the party, the night auditor at the front desk and the food service people that had started preparing for the breakfast buffet in the morning.
A single valet sat vigilant in his small glass office drinking coffee from a thermos.
“Hi,” Ben said, handing over his ticket.
“Hello.” The valet studied them for a moment, as if he was trying to determine if they were too intoxicated to drive and then ran his finger up and down the board that held all the car keys. The little hook that matched up with their number was empty.
“I’m sorry. It seems that your keys aren’t here. Could someone else from your party have possibly picked them up?” The valet gave them a hopeful expression that said, “I work the middle-of-the-night shift, doesn’t my life already suck enough? Please don’t get me fired.”
Ben smiled. “You know, that’s probably what happened. Do you have any idea where our Suburban is parked?”
The valet smiled back at Ben, relieved. “Yes, we park all of the larger vehicles in the lower lot.” He pointed to a well-lit staircase on his right. “Take these stairs. Your car should be parked across the lot on the left.”
“Thanks, man.” Ben gave the valet a little wave and then took off for the stairs, Avery jogging after him.
They located the Suburban right where the valet said it would be.
“How are we going to drive this without keys?” Avery asked. “Break the window and hotwire it or something?” He eyed the large rocks that lined the perimeter of the lot.
“Cool it, MacGyver,” Ben said, bending over and feeling around under the front driver’s side wheel well. He touched on something and grinned, pulling out a small plastic box with a magnet on it from under the car. “Some things never change.” Ben slid the box’s lid over and took out Connor’s spare car key. He replaced the box and opened the car door, handing Avery the key. “You have to drive, I’m going to be glimpsing pretty soon.”