WeirdNights (10 page)

What the hell?

“You’re not dead. Is that how this is going to be from now
on? Every time I communicate with one of you in a non-traditional way you’re
going to assume you’re done with?”

Jonah swallowed. This was too weird for words. “Why are you
talking to me this way?”

“Because you’re not hearing me out there.”

Looking around, he tried to see through the blur of the
strange setting where he communicated with Foy. “I don’t see you at all.”

“We’re aware of that.” Foy walked closer to him. Each
footstep echoed into the space as if Foy were slamming his feet down on metal
instead of the wooden floor of Jonah’s childhood home.

“We?”

Jonah’s heart rate picked up. Something was wrong here. How
were they talking at all? Foy didn’t simply pop in and out of his students’
heads. Or at least not Jonah’s.

He backed up a few feet. “Who are you and why are you doing
this to me?”

Foy stared at him for a second before his face distorted
into a shape Jonah didn’t want to see. In front of him stood not his teacher
but the seven-foot figure of a demon.

And not just any demon. BoBo. The demonic clown that had
terrorized Austin, Texas, six months earlier and been responsible for the hell
Mindy went through.

BoBo laughed gleefully. “Did you think you were rid of me?”
He clapped his hands. “You’re not. I’ve got you trapped here in this house.
You’ll never leave it. You’ll perish here just as your parents had wanted you
to.” He licked his lips. “Plus, I’m going to kill Mindy and I’m going to make
it hurt.”

“No.” He had no weapons but his own body and so that was
what he used. Charging forward, he lunged himself at BoBo. Just as he would
have hit him, the clown vaporized into thin air, appearing behind him instead.

The clown squealed.

“I won’t let you hurt her. You might be able to keep me here.
You might be able to kill me. But somehow, some way before I die, I will see to
it that you can never harm a hair on her head.”

Jonah ran at the clown again.

“Jonah.” Something gripped him from behind. He struggled to
break free while his mind tried to recognize the disembodied voice. Who had
him? Who called him?

BoBo scowled and then vanished into thin air.

“Jonah. Stop struggling. It’s Braxton. Come on, man. Deep
breaths.”

“Braxton?” He shoved himself out of whatever held him and
whirled around. Jonah couldn’t see the other man anywhere. What was this?
Another trick?

“Jonah.” Now he could hear Foy’s voice. After the shit BoBo
just pulled he had no doubt now that he was being played with. He charged in
the direction of the voice. If they wanted a battle, he’d give them one. Even
if he couldn’t see what he was fighting.

“Jonah.” Foy spoke again, this time to Jonah’s right. He
swung in that direction. “If you keep this up I’m going to worry about you
hurting yourself or, worse, hurting Mindy.”

“Don’t you speak her name, you evil son-of-a-bitch.”

“Jonah, man…” This time it was Braxton’s voice and he
whirled around.

“Stop doing that,” he shouted. What did he care? If he
sounded nuts then there were only the demons to hear it. “Go back to before if
you want. Shove my family at me. Stop taking the voices of people I care
about.”

A laugh sounded. “Well, gee, dude, I had no idea you felt
that way.”

The creature sounded so authentic that he almost believed it
for a second. Almost. But he wouldn’t be fooled. Not again.

“Jonah.” Mindy’s voice. “Please come back to me.”

Just hearing her took the wind out of his sails. His knees
threatened to buckle. Fuck that thing. He wouldn’t allow it. He’d…he’d…he’d…

“I’m sorry, son.” Foy sounded right behind him. “I’m going
to have to knock you out. This will hurt later.”

A whack on the back of Jonah’s skull sent him to the ground.
His world spun and seconds before blackness spilled into his vision, he saw
Mindy lean down next to him. How was that possible?

“Jonah has a hard head.” Braxton shrugged, leaning back in a
chair in Jonah’s room. “He’ll be fine and hopefully, when he wakes up, he’ll be
cognizant of what’s going on so we can help him.”

Mindy nodded as she stroked the side of Jonah’s face. Why
didn’t he wake? From her perspective it hadn’t even looked as if Foy had hit
him that hard. This had to have something to do with the poltergeist Jonah had
re-created.

“You love him.”

She jolted with Braxton’s words. Did she
love
Jonah? Shouldn’t
it be too fast for her to feel that way? Her feelings had begun six months
earlier and they’d done nothing but grow into emotion she’d never known before.
The very idea that he lay there unconscious and there wasn’t a thing she could
do about it made her want to cry.

And she didn’t do that anymore. Little things that would
have led her into hysterics no longer did. She’d had a good, real dose of
horror to change her perspectives on everything.

Love Jonah? She looked at Braxton. “Yes, I do.”

Braxton knelt down next to her. “Can I ask you something?”

“Didn’t you just do that?” For a guy who supposedly didn’t
talk much, he certainly seemed to like gabbing with her.

“Something else.” He stood up. “Never mind.”

“No. I mean, sure. You can ask me something. I’m sorry I was
rude. I’m stressed over Jonah and not good at social relationships anymore. So,
please, sit down and ask me anything you want.”

He’d been amazing with Jonah in the house and taken care
when he’d hauled him back to the mansion to see that her
love
wasn’t
hurt. She could forgive a lot of things based on that alone.

“Never mind.” He shook his head.

“No, Braxton, please. I was a bitch. Give me a chance to
undo it.”

Jonah’s blood-oathed friend moved next to her. He looked
down at the bed where Jonah lay unmoving. “I guess my question is, how can you
do it? How can you or the chick Christian is marrying love any of us? I mean,
can’t you see us for what we are?”

A light turned on in her tired brain, she could suddenly see
Braxton clearly. He wasn’t rude—or maybe he was but that wasn’t all he was—or
silent—or sullen—or difficult to know or understand. He was in horrible pain.

Mindy stood up. “And what are you?”

“Broken.” He fisted and unfisted his hands. “We were lost
souls. And Foy found us. He made us these beings that live this life not
suitable for the general population. We’ll never be whole. We’ll never be okay.
No matter how much Jonah jokes or Christian smiles, we’re hardly even human
anymore. I mean, you know what happened when Christian died. Regular people
can’t be brought back from the dead.”

“Braxton.” She stepped forward, wanting to give him a hug
and needing to do it before she talked herself out of it. Never in her life had
she known someone so in need of a hug as Braxton seemed to be in that minute.

He stepped back, holding his hands out in front of him as if
she might burn him.

“Never mind.” He scampered toward the door. “Forget I said a
word.”

“I’m not…”

He shook his head and interrupted her. “This isn’t me. I
don’t bond.”

Braxton fled as she imagined he never did from danger. Running
from the room as if hell were chasing him.

For all she knew, maybe it did.

Jonah groaned and she rushed to his side. “Jonah? Can you
hear me, baby?”

His lids opened and for a second he looked zoned out then he
blinked rapidly before focusing on her. “Mindy?”

“That’s right.” She took his hand. “You okay?”

“How did I get here? The last thing I remember…” His voice
faded off.

“Is being in your childhood home? Under some kind of
attack.” She finished for him.

“Yes.” He tried to sit up and fell back down on the bed. “You’re
not safe with me. There are things after me.”

“No.” She shook her head before leaning down to kiss his
knuckles. Mindy needed contact with him. Any kind she could get. “No one is going
to hurt you. Nothing paranormal either. We need to talk but I don’t think
you’re up to it yet.”

“Mindy.” His voice sounded strained. “If there is something
I need to know, just lay it on me now. I can’t sit around trying to recover
from something if I don’t know what it is.”

“You have re-created a poltergeist and the things you’re
living…basically, you’re doing them to yourself.” She expected denial or rage. What
she got instead was his already paled-out skin whitening another shade. “Please
don’t pass out. We’ll work this out. Foy has experience. You’re the strongest
person I know. If anyone can figure out how to rid himself of this it’s you.”

This time, Jonah managed to sit up. “You need to leave.”

“What?” He had another think coming if he thought she was
going anywhere.

“I said
get out
.” He spoke through gritted teeth. Days—hell,
even hours earlier—she would have heard venom in his voice. Now she could hear
only fear and knowing him the way she did she knew it wasn’t fear for himself
motivating him.

He didn’t want her hurt.

“You’re not going to get rid of me by acting like a
douchebag. So drop the anger routine and let’s talk about what we can and
cannot do here. Deal?”

“Why are you bothering with this shit?” He pulled himself
upright until he stood. She could see the strain on his muscles. Jonah happened
to be one of the most in-shape people she’d ever known. If he was having that
much trouble standing then it was fair to say he was really down for the count.

“Are you going to answer me?” he hollered but the way he
gripped onto the bedpost took some of the sting from his words. “Why are you
doing this? Go back to Austin. You’ve fixed your hair, you’ve clearly managed
to get your shit back to together. Go live life. Get out of here.”

He turned his back to her, walking impressively steadily
considering the rough shape she knew him to be in.

A million retorts came to her mouth. One of which involved
telling him where he could shove his attitude. It basically involved putting it
where the sun didn’t shine and then falling off a large cliff.

Broken
. Braxton’s earlier words resonated in her
mind. She couldn’t fix Jonah. He had to do that for himself. But maybe she
could show him that he was worth the effort.

“I’m staying here because I’m in love with you.”

He swung around, nearly falling over before he righted
himself upward. “What?”

“I think you heard me. I’m in love with you. I don’t know if
you feel the same way. It would be nice if you did, but I suppose it’s really
neither here nor there if you do when it comes down to it.” She walked toward
him. “I love how you always try so hard to take care of everyone around you,
even if they don’t notice. I love how you feel things so deeply, especially the
needs of others. I’m convinced it’s why Damian’s poltergeist triggered yours. You
just felt his pain too strongly.”

“Mindy…”

She wasn’t going to let him put her off. “You’re funny,
charming when you want to be, kind to strangers and when you don’t expect
someone to be watching you. When you look at me…it feels as if you really see
me. Your friends adore you, even if you don’t know it. Foy respects you. I
could keep going but you look as if your head might explode. Listen, I love
you. This is how I feel. So I can’t give up on you and I need you to not give
up on yourself.”

She didn’t know how he’d respond. Looking at her feet seemed
a good idea and since she didn’t have the strength left in her to fight both
for him and her own insecurities she let herself check out her sneakers.

For the first time in her life she’d said “I love you” to
the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with and all she was getting
was silence. Mindy took a deep breath just before he hauled her against him.

She looked up. “What?”

He pressed his mouth to hers, kissing her hard. Mindy sighed.
Kissing Jonah always felt so right.

Only this time something felt different. She pulled back as
she realized what it was. His body shook against hers.

God, she’d forgotten how hurt Jonah happened to be. “I’m
sorry. You need to go lie down.”

“Only if you’re going with me.” He kissed her forehead, her
cheek, her nose. “You think you can tell me what I’ve wanted to hear from you
for six months and then send me off to bed like a child? Mindy, you have to be
out of your mind. I’m the son of devil worshipers. I’ve created a poltergeist.
You should be running for your life, not telling me you love me.”

When he said the word love, his voice lowered as if he
couldn’t believe he was speaking it. “Well, I do. So deal with it.”

“All right.” His grin was slow. “I think you said something
about lying down.”

“Right. You’re not well.”

“Baby.” He shook his head. “I’m well enough.”

* * * * *

Jonah swung her around and she shrieked. Mindy must not have
thought he’d be able to manage that much physically but with her declaration in
his head he could climb mountains if she wanted him to.

He pushed her down until he lay on top of her.

“Jonah.” She touched the side of his face and goose bumps
broke out on his skin. “You’re deeply wounded right now. You don’t have to do
this.”

He kissed the tip of her nose. She had such a sexy one. In
fact, there wasn’t any part of her body he didn’t find that way. “If you think
there is a have-to factor to this then I must be doing it wrong.”

“Jonah.” He could see the determination in the strong set of
her jaw and the way she narrowed her eyes. The woman didn’t want him hurting
himself.

“Mindy.” He swallowed. She’d confessed her feelings and
changed his life. He could feel the cold spots inside him warming. Jonah could
do nothing else but give her the same. “I’ve been in love with you for six
months. Since the moment I laid eyes on you and I didn’t even believe in love
at first sight before then. Christian had to shut me up from saying something
inappropriate the first night we met.”

She smiled and his heart turned over. Every move Mindy made
touched him deep inside where he hadn’t known he needed to be. “Jonah, why do
you think I followed you to Chicago? I love you. Your words mean everything to
me but it doesn’t mean that I want to risk you overdoing things right now.”

“Tell you what. You can fuss over me all you want in a
couple of hours. For now I feel strong. I need to be in you, to know your
warmth. Don’t say no.”

Mindy narrowed her gaze at him. “If you collapse on top of
me it’s going to cause permanent psychological problems.”

“I can absolutely guarantee that won’t happen.”

He kissed her, needing to feel her lips, needing to caress
her body.
Needing
her altogether, which should scare the fuck out of
him. Only he’d never felt better in his life. Strong. Able. If it was going to
be temporary then he needed to take advantage of it the best way he could.
Making love to his woman.

They’d had hot sex every time they’d been together but this
felt different. They always had intensity between them. But this? In his bones
he knew it was sacred.

She didn’t argue and he bit down on her bottom lip. Somehow,
he was going to have to resist the urge to mark her all over. Never before had
he wanted to make physical proof on a woman’s body of his possession. But of
course he’d never before had a woman like Mindy loving him.

Goose bumps erupted on his skin at the thought. She. Loved.
Him.

He ripped at her shirt, breaking some of the buttons. Mindy
looked down at his maneuverings and then back up to make eye contact with him. “This
is not a cheap shirt.”

“Well, its garbage now.” He ripped it apart. “Anything that
gets in the way of me touching you is going to be destroyed.”

“Is that true for all things or just clothing?”

“I meant what I said.
Anything
that comes between us
gets destroyed.” Including his own personal demons.

“The same goes for me. You might be mister tough guy but I
will always be there on your side. Get it?”

He bit down lightly on her earlobe. “I’ve got it.”

After unhooking her bra, he took her nipple in her mouth. It
perked under his tongue, hardening while she moaned. “Yes. Like that, Jonah.”

He tweaked the other nipple while he continued to suck on
her breast. Her skin tasted sweet and he pulled back to lick her. She shivered
and he grinned. Making Mindy squirm had to be one of the ultimate pleasures of
his life.

His balls tightened and his cock ached.
Down, boy
. He
wasn’t ready for that yet. Not when there were still so many parts of her body
he wanted to touch.

She tugged at his shirt. “Why am I always so naked when you
remain dressed?”

“Because I really, really like you nude.” It was, in fact,
his favorite image. His getting that way was only useful because it got him
inside her.

Additionally, he did love the way it felt when she touched
him. Skin-to-skin contact with Mindy made his senses go insane. Somehow he had
to figure out how to get her to touch him all of the time.

He pulled at her pants until he got them off and then
undressed himself. With her eyes watching his every movement, he felt exposed
and for the first time ever didn’t mind the experience. Jonah could be exposed
to Mindy and nothing bad would happen to him. She would take care of his soul.

Jonah yanked off her undies and then his own. They were both
completely naked and once again he was struck by how perfect her curves were. Mindy
was round in all the right places. He stroked down her chest toward her belly,
rubbing his hands across her tummy.

“You’re so beautiful. So soft. What are you doing loving me,
baby? Could have anyone you want.”

She whacked him on the arm. “Knock that off. Do you have any
idea what you look like?”