Laure Donavan 2 - Ghouls Night Out (6 page)

I massaged my temples, then shoved my
hands into my pockets. I didn’t know what else to do with
myself.

Mindy cleared her throat, stopping the
deputy before he got away. “Um, you know, Deputy Fredericks, I
heard a couple stores have been burglarized recently,” she
said.

He stopped in his tracks.

Why hadn’t I heard of this? I glanced
from her to the deputy. “I thought you said things like this don’t
happen in Magnolia? You said the stores are safe.”

Deputy Fredericks gave me a blank
stare. A lot of good he was. Did he fib on purpose? But what reason
would he have to do something like that?

Finally, he said, “Well, they don’t
happen in the downtown stores. That’s why I said it. Those
break-ins happened on the other side of town and we know the
responsible party.”

“
You still should have told
us,” Mindy scolded him. Just like in school when she ratted him out
to the teacher.

His face pinched into a frown. I
wanted to jab Mindy in the side with my elbow for pissing him off.
“By the way, you have any enemies?” he asked me.

“
Not now,” I
mumbled.

“
Larue doesn’t have
enemies,” Mindy fumed.

Callahan moved from his spot by the
front door, coming to stand next to me. He was a strong presence by
my side.

“
All right, we’ll talk
later.” Deputy Fredericks nodded, then walked away.

“
That wasn’t much help. The
police in this town need to evaluate their hiring policy if they
hire guys like Mike Fredericks,” Mindy frowned.

The sensation of someone staring
caught my attention. The man standing beside Mindy took in my full
appearance. I wanted to break free from his gaze, but I wasn’t sure
how to accomplish that. It was as if his eyes had me
transfixed.

“
You know, Mindy told me
about your ghost hunting. Have you ever considered that you might
be bringing demons home with you? They can destroy lives. Cause a
lot of bad things to happen.”

“
I’m sorry. I don’t believe
we’ve met.” I frowned.

“
The name’s Cooper Garret.”
He stretched his hand toward me. “I’ve read a lot about demons.
They can disguise themselves, you know. Even possess people and
make them do crazy things.”

Chapter Nine

“
I’m aware of what demons
can do, thank you.” Please don’t let him be a know-it-all like his
cousin.

“
I’m sorry. Mindy was just
telling me about your special talent.” He smiled.

Mindy looked like she’d actually seen
a ghost this time. I prayed she had told him about my ghost hunting
talent, not the talking to spirits talent. Whatever the case, I
needed to stop this conversation. Couldn’t my ghost friends take a
hint and wreak havoc? I was about to cause a distraction by
flinging my body across the floor when Deputy Fredericks
approached.

“
Listen, Larue, we’ll keep
an eye out. I’ll drive by a little more often, but I’m sure it was
just a random incident. Just a few more things and we’ll be out of
your hair.”

“
Thank you, Deputy
Fredericks.” Callahan shook the deputy’s hand.

I had almost tuned out every word the
officer said. This new guy had me intrigued.

“
So, how did you two meet
again?” I pointed at Mindy and Cooper. I didn’t want him to return
to the last topic.

“
Mindy here…” He draped his
arm across her shoulders. “Was working and I stopped by for gym
info. Unfortunately, it looks as if it’s not the right gym for me.”
He wiggled his eyebrows.

The guy had been in town for mere
minutes and he was already Mindy’s dear friend? I couldn’t believe
she let him touch her. Mindy hated having her personal space
invaded.

“
You never know. You should
give it a whirl,” I said. Pun intended.

“
I bet you’d be better at
it than Larue.” Mindy’s big brown eyes widened as she wiggled her
eyebrows.

They chuckled in unison. Had she
already shared the horror stories of my attempts at her fitness
classes with him? I wanted to hide my red cheeks from
Callahan.

By the look of Cooper’s muscular arms,
he’d probably rip the pole right out of the ceiling.

Yeah, so I sucked at working that
pole.

“
I’m not really the
athletic type,” I whispered to Callahan.

“
It’s okay.” He grinned.
“You have other talents.”

Why were we discussing pole dancing
when my front door was broken, anyway?

I studied Cooper while he whispered to
Mindy. He definitely had eyes like Brianna’s, which creeped me out
a bunch. They had the same steely blue color, cold and sharp. Was
he a witch, too? I needed to call Karyn Bentley and ask about
him.

“
Well, where are my
manners? We haven’t been properly introduced.” I cast a glance at
Mindy. “I’m Larue, by the way.” I held out my hand toward the new
stranger in town.

Cooper Garret may be intriguing, and
not necessarily in a good way, but that was no reason for me to be
rude. I’d even been nice to Brianna until she played dirty, so it
was no time to start being bad-mannered now.

“
It’s a pleasure to meet
you, although I’d prefer it was under better circumstances.” He
gestured toward the mess around us.

“
Thank you. Me too.” I
sighed.

He had held my hand in his strong
grasp for a several seconds, then released his hold when he looked
at Callahan. So far, his personality was nothing like Brianna’s
sharp, snippy attitude.

“
This is Callahan Weiss. He
owns the coffee shop next door,” I said.

Callahan stretched his hand toward
Cooper. It didn’t take a bulletin board for me to realize Cooper
didn’t want to partake in pleasantries with Callahan, though.
Cooper dropped his car keys, as if by complete accident, but I knew
better. He bent to pick them up, but when he straightened, he
didn’t offer to shake Callahan’s hand. If he thought I’d believed
he dropped the keys by accident, he had another think coming. Sure,
maybe I was being overly suspicious because of Brianna, but that
was one murky gene pool, so why not be guarded. Anyone would wonder
if he was up to no good, not just me.

“
I don’t like this guy,”
Seth said from over Cooper’s shoulder.

Somehow, I knew he
wouldn’t.

“
I don’t like the dirtbag
either.” Anthony neared as I gave him a warning glare. I hoped
Cooper didn’t think I was sending him dirty looks. I might not
trust the guy but, as I said, my mama didn’t teach me to be
rude.

Mae sashayed a circle around Cooper,
her ghostly hands inches away from his muscular body. If only he
could see Mae West gliding around him...

“
I don’t know…,” she
purred. “He’s got ‘bad boy’ written all over him, and I like it.”
She puckered her lips and blew Cooper a kiss. “I like a man who's
good, but not too good. The good die young, and I hate a dead
one.”

“
Hey, I heard that. I
thought you loved me,” Anthony said.

Mae laughed.

I knew she was itching to run her
fingers through Cooper’s thick, dark-chestnut hair. Having a little
fun with my ghoulish friends was tempting; I should have motioned
for her to go for it, but I refrained. Seeing his reaction would be
priceless, though. Maybe he’d think the unseen presence was one of
those demons he’d claimed to have read so much about.

Cooper noticed my expression and
furrowed his brow. He stared for a beat, then focused his attention
on Callahan again. “I am so sorry about my cousin, Mr. Weiss. I
hope you won’t hold my relative’s actions against me. Brianna
always was the black sheep of the family.”

“
Hey, don’t worry about it.
You had nothing to do with it. I can’t blame you. I’m trying to put
it behind me. It’s still fresh in my mind, though.” Callahan’s
expression turned as he looked down at his shoes.

Perhaps the magic spell had a greater
impact on him than any of us could possibly understand.

“
Well, again, I’m truly
sorry, Mr. Weiss.”

“
Call me Callahan, please.”
He shoved his hands in his pants pockets, a sign that he was
putting a distance between him and Cooper.

“
Doesn’t look as if you’ll
be opening for business in the morning,” Cooper said, turning his
dangerously dark gaze on me.

A nervous lump formed in the pit of my
stomach. I shifted from one foot to the other, then answered, “Not
until I can get all these books picked up, but I think I’ll be
ready for business as usual.” I let out a deep breath.

“
Can I help you?” Cooper
asked with his stare intent on me.

Wow. That was a very sweet
gesture—very much unlike Brianna. So why was I being so suspicious?
It was common for us Kentucky folk to be guarded around strangers
and, after what Brianna had done, I doubted anyone would blame me
for taking that stance. But I didn’t think having this Cooper
character around for very long was such a good idea.

“
That’s very kind of you to
offer, but I couldn’t possibly take up any of your time. It’s not
as much work as it seems. I just need to board up that door and get
the books picked up.” I pointed around the store. “It doesn’t look
as if any of them were damaged. Well, except for that one.” I
pointed at the book with the pages ripped right from the
spine.

Callahan leaned in closer to me. “I’ll
fix the glass in the door for you. I have some scrap boards next
door from when I opened.” His spicy scent launched a tingle through
my body. Even at a moment such as this, he made me feel full of
life, as the butterflies tumbled in my stomach.

“
Thank you so much.” I had
suspected Callahan was special, but the more I got to know him, the
more he proved it. With the crazy things he’d seen from me, he had
to be extraordinary.

Speaking of my outrageous life, I
spotted my three ghoul friends in the corner talking amongst
themselves. No doubt, they were deliberating my terrible
plight.

“
Excuse me for just a
second.” I stepped away from the human crowd in order to better
eavesdrop, but before I heard a single word, Callahan gently took
my arm, guiding me away from Mindy and Cooper.

“
Are you okay, Larue? We’ll
get this mess cleaned up, I promise. We’ll figure everything out,
don’t worry, okay?” He brushed a strand of my loose hair away from
my face, allowing his fingers to linger over my cheek.

With my gaze fixed on Callahan’s face,
I said, “I’m fine. It’s all a little shocking, but I’ve been
through worse. I’ll make it.” I smiled.

“
You are one tough cookie.”
Callahan cupped my chin in his hand.

“
We’ll be in touch,” Deputy
Eraser-eater said. “We just need you to sign this
statement.”

His words broke my desire-filled haze
and I forced my gaze away from Callahan.

Deputy Fredericks shoved the paper
toward me.

“
Do you mind if I take it
over to the counter to sign it?” I asked.

He needed at the very least to give me
a chance to read the thing before I signed it. What was his hurry
anyway? Dad’s Bakery was open late. I knew they had the best
doughnuts this side of the Mason-Dixon Line, but still.

“
Sure.” He sighed, looking
as if I’d deflated his balloon.

“
Mindy, can you come with
me? I need some moral support.”

I looped my arm through hers. For a
second, she frowned, exchanging a glance with Cooper. They didn’t
share words, but I had a strange feeling about their
exchange.

“
Cooper, we can take a rain
check on the drinks?” Mindy asked.

“
Of course, of course.
Being with your best friend when she needs you is much more
important than keeping some strange guy company who wandered in
here from nowhere.” He winked.

Did I detect a patronizing tone in his
voice, or was it my imagination? Some strange guy was right—not to
mention he’d wandered into our lives after an extremely tense
situation with his cousin. So why did I feel guilty about Mindy not
taking him up on his offer? In my defense, I’d just had my store
broken into. As a matter of fact, hadn’t he just offered to help
me? Had he counted on me saying no?

What if I’d been in the store at the
time of the break-in, I could have been killed. Maybe he should
worry, too. It could just as easily have been his newly acquired
store across the street. Heck, it could have been any store along
the historic main street of town. Even if the police claimed it was
safe.

“
It’ll just take a second.
I don’t want to stop y’all from having fun,” I said.

“
So many men, so little
time,” Mae chimed in from over Cooper’s shoulder. “Should I stay
with you? Or travel with Mindy and sit on Cooper’s lap all night?
Just look at his hard…thighs. But then again, you have Anthony and
that baby doll…,” She pointed. “…Callahan. God, I love his chest,
and those dimples, and eyes.”