Forbidden Secrets Read online

  “Because in order to save me, I had to save you.”

  Neither spoke.

  For the first time, it wasn’t uncomfortable. Hart was too focused on her lips. He could still feel hers against his, and he wanted to taste them again.

  Slowly, he moved toward her, gauging whether or not she’d welcome the contact. A part of him was ready to be slapped, but it was finally a risk he was willing to take.

  Instead, she slid her hand around the back of his neck and tugged him toward her. Their mouths met, and something amazing happened.

  They forgot everything but that kiss.

  As he was pressed to her body, Hart let go of all the inhibitions. He had to stop thinking about yesterday, and focus instead on today.

  He wanted a life.

  He wanted to feel.

  He wanted to be whole again.

  It was time.

  Hart had needs, too, and he couldn’t pretend they weren’t there. Wrapping his arms around her, he fell deeper into the kiss.

  Their mouths did battle, their tongues slid across each other as they both focused on what they were sharing.

  This was pretty damn amazing.

  When her leg went over his, drawing him in even more, Hart never wanted this moment to stop. Lennox felt amazing beneath him. She fit against his body as if she was made for him.

  And the kiss?

  It was freaking spectacular.

  She wasn’t rough, wild, or tame. She was perfect for him. They moved through the pleasure as one, and it called to all the need in his body.

  She woke it up in him.

  Lennox was the key.

  As she continued kissing him, Lennox could feel her body reacting to his touch. Hart was super gentle, and she loved every single second of it.

  How could she not?

  He was holding her close to him, and she never wanted the ex-cop to let go.

  Never.

  This was the perfect moment in time, and no matter what happened, she was going to cherish it forever.

  What else was she going to remember?

  How his body felt beside hers.

  How he was hard and pressed to her hip.

  Holy shit!

  She was getting so damn warm. Lennox actually believed the room was getting hotter.

  When she ran her hand down his chest, the moan that escaped made her wet. She wanted him more than she wanted that next breath.

  Everhart Rose was one hell of a sexy man.

  And he was kissing her.

  HER!

  This had to be a dream.

  As he pressed her into the couch, in his mind, he was trying to talk himself out of what he wanted. She was like that forbidden fruit, and Hart found himself very hungry.

  His erection was throbbing, reminding him of his need. What he craved was taking Lennox right there on the couch. Even as he told himself how wrong that was, he knew he was losing the battle.

  As her hand skimmed his very tense body, he prayed it went right to the bulge in his jeans. Hart wanted her intimately touching him.

  He craved it.

  It was making him crazy. Maybe after one taste of this pleasure, he’d be able to get her out of his mind.

  If there was a higher power, he would be merciful and allow him to break his sex fast with the sexy redhead beneath him. God knew he deserved it.

  He’d been a saint.

  Now he wanted to be a sinner.

  Just as he was about to fully cover her body with his, her phone started chirping.

  Oh sweet baby Jesus.

  Not Trey.

  Not now!

  “YOU. ARE. NOT. ALONE. LOOK!”

  The room got chilly, and fast. That was what made him pull away from the kiss. They were both breathless, and he could see the puff of air escaping from both of their mouths. He went on alert, aware that something was definitely wrong.

  Lennox knew she needed to look even if she didn’t want to do it. Still, she trusted Hart. He’d keep her safe. So…she turned her head and shrieked.

  That scared the shit out of him.

  Hart looked over, and what he saw freaked him out more than anything ever had in his life. It was so out of place that it was horrifying.

  Every single statue, knickknack, or doll was sitting on the table before them.

  Staring at them.

  Their unblinking dead eyes were focused on the two of them. The point was made.

  They were definitely being watched.

  Jesus Christ!

  Someone was sick.

  Lennox buried her face in his neck as she clung to his body inside the salt circle. Thankfully, she’d made one or who knew what would have happened?

  “Evangeline?” he asked, directing it at Trey.

  Only he wasn’t the one who answered.

  Instead, there was a woman’s laughter, and for the life of him, he didn’t know where the hell it came from.

  It wasn’t his phone.

  It wasn’t the room.

  It was disembodied.

  Yeah, this was bad.

  Real bad.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Thursday Evening

  When Tori and Julian returned to the house, they were ready to start working. Beau and Nyx would be there shortly, and they had to start picking apart everything the team had found during their research. Since the autopsies were going to be a bust, they had to hope the team had found something.

  Anything.

  As they walked through the grand foyer, they called out for Hart.

  “We’re in here, and we have a problem!” Hart replied, panic clearly evident in his voice.

  Tori did not like the sound of that at all.

  Rushing into the less formal living room, both Tori and Julian slid to a stop.

  “Holy shit!” he muttered.

  Yeah, that was putting it mildly.

  Tori stared at all the statuaries and figurines on the coffee table. They were lined up as if watching Hart and Lennox. Tori could feel her skin actually crawl.

  In her head, Bethany was warning her.

  It looked like it wasn’t over.

  Before she could say anything, as she approached them, the figurines began shaking.

  Then they turned to focus on Tori.

  Worse?

  They followed her as she moved. Their whole form turned on the table as if there was someone moving them.

  Yeah, this was damn creepy.

  “Evangeline! Stop being a bitch!” she stated. “I’ve seen bigger, badder spooks pull the same shit with a wall of books. This is nothing more than a cheap attempt to scare.”

  The figures moved again.

  Julian didn’t like this. His wife talking to the dead was one thing, but this…

  This was bat shit insane with a side of call the priest creepy.

  “Victoria, you shouldn’t taunt the dead woman,” he muttered, noticing that she was the only one they were focused on. It was horrifying to watch the little porcelain figurines turn on the table by invisible hands. They danced in some macabre motion, and he didn’t know what to do.

  They didn’t cover this in PI one-oh-one.

  Someone was twisted—that was for damn sure.

  The room got colder.

  It drew goosebumps across everyone’s flesh. It was a standoff. The living versus the angry dead lady, and sadly, if it came down to it, they knew who would likely win.

  Not them.

  “What do you want?” Tori asked, standing her ground.

  The air in the room whipped up.

  Tori’s phone chirped to life.

  “GET. OUT. SHE’S. ANGRY!” Trey warned.

  She couldn’t do that.

  This had to stop.

  At some point, they needed to stand their ground and prove that it was going to take more than one dead woman to scare them off this case.

  The curtains across the room waved as if they were in the middle of a hurricane.

  Tori’s hair whipped aroun
d her, flicking violently at her skin. She noticed that her hair was the only to do so. The dead woman was focused on her. She was glad and freaked out at the same time.

  This was going to be a mess.

  All she could hope was Nyx would get there, and fast. The woman knew more about this kind of thing.

  “If you need to talk, then talk to me. I’m listening, Evangeline!”

  Hart pulled Lennox into his lap to keep her safe. If this didn’t give them all nightmares, he wasn’t sure what would. This was the stuff horror films were based on.

  “You may want to sell this place,” he whispered to Lennox.

  The dead must have heard him because all the figurines spun to face them again.

  Shit!

  “Don’t you dare focus on them!” Tori yelled. “Talk to me. They can’t hear you. I can!”

  Julian didn’t know what his wife was doing, but now the app on his phone was going nuts.

  It was draining of power, and fast.

  Tori moved closer to the figurines and they spun again. “I’ll listen, Evangeline. Trey, Bethany, you have to leave me for a bit,” she stated.

  There were protests from the people around her, and the ones in her head.

  Still.

  They needed to get to the bottom of this.

  Tori closed her eyes and said the words that Julian feared. He’d prayed never to hear them in his life. It had been something that always terrified him when it came to his wife and the dead.

  And here it was.

  “Okay, Evangeline. Possess me.”

  And she did.

  Nyx could feel the energy as soon as the vehicle came to a stop. In fact, the whole estate felt dark, dangerous, and full of dead. How she knew, she wasn’t sure, but her gut was rarely wrong when it came to the non-living.

  Before they could even get out of the SUV, the radio chirped to life, scaring Beau.

  “HURRY! SPIRIT. TORI. DANGER!”

  That said it all. Trey was freaked out.

  Beau was in a close second.

  Nyx and Beau raced for the large house, not even ringing the doorbell. Instead, they raced inside, past a maid who was hiding in a corner, and into the room she pointed at.

  Once inside, they found Tori standing there, Julian trying to get her to come back, and the room in complete chaos.

  “What happened?” Nyx asked.

  From the look of Tori, she didn’t have much time left. There was blood running down her face from her nose. It was dripping down her chin, onto her shirt, and across her chest.

  “We have a spirit problem. She let it in.”

  Nyx could feel it.

  She knew how dangerous that was, and since Tori didn’t have years of practice, and she was fighting it, there was going to be trouble.

  For Tori.

  “We have to get it out of her,” stated Julian. “How do we do that?”

  Nyx knew there were only two ways—an exorcism or another vessel.

  “I love you,” she said to Beau, right before she kissed him. “Don’t ever forget that.”

  He didn’t like the sound of that. Before he could stop her, she moved toward Tori, who’s eyes had popped open.

  “Who are you?” she asked.

  “Evangeline, and I am angry.”

  “There are too many spirits in that vessel. You need to leave her,” Nyx offered.

  Tori slowly shook her head. “I am staying. Set me free and I will set her free.”

  “You’ll kill her before we can find you,” she stated. “Then you won’t have anyone to possess.”

  Tori tipped her head to the side—only they knew it wasn’t her. They could tell by the way she moved. It was that creepy horror movie motion that always made the audience gasp.

  Julian was freaked out.

  “You can use me. I’ll let you possess me.”

  Beau gasped.

  There was laughter in the room.

  “Very well.”

  Tori started to fall, only her husband caught her before she hit the floor.

  Nyx glanced over at her fiancé. “I’m sorry.”

  And then she screamed.

  * * * L i t t l e m o o n * * *

  This was a huge mess.

  For years, he’d moved through the night, ending their miserable lives. He’d killed Mariah easily, shoving her from the cliff. It had started it all.

  It had made him.

  Then there was Orwell, and he really enjoyed that. When he’d found him in the woods, he’d put him on his knees and made him beg.

  Then he shot him.

  That had been awesome too.

  When Howell had gone for that swim, it had been too easy to end his life.

  He’d deserved it too.

  They all did.

  As the matriarch covered for them all, she had to die too. She needed to be punished for hiding their crimes. A broken neck was the least she deserved.

  He would have beat her to a bloody pulp if possible.

  God!

  He wished he could go back and do it all again. They would have really suffered.

  Cornell went in that fiery blaze, and there wasn’t a man who deserved it more. He’d learned from his father and uncle, and he was on the road to being just like them.

  He hurt women.

  He abused them.

  He had to pay.

  Now there was Lennox. Oh, pretty Lennox with her red flame hair. She drew the men in too. He’d watched her flirt and manipulate her way to the top like every other Easton.

  Well, he was going to stop her.

  Now that she’d hired help, there was nothing going to stop him.

  Yes, he might get caught.

  Yes, he might go to the chair.

  Still, he didn’t care.

  Some things in life had to be avenged.

  The Easton’s crimes were at the top of the list.

  * * * L i t t l e m o o n * * *

  Julian didn’t know what to do.

  This wasn’t his thing. The dead worried him, and this…it freaked him out. As he patted Tori’s cheek, Nyx, being haunted by a dead woman, walked around the room.

  When she got to Hart and Lennox, she stopped.

  “Secrets,” Nyx whispered.

  Beau was beside her, trying to get Nyx to come back to him. She wasn’t responding as the ghost controlled her body. They could all tell he was getting frantic.

  When he grabbed her hand, she shoved him.

  Beau, who wasn’t exactly a weak man, slid across the floor and into the wall.

  Nyx, or whoever she was, continued.

  “Forbidden secrets. Set me free!”

  Hart held Lennox against his body. There was no way he was going to let her go. It wasn’t happening.

  “LOOK AT ME!” she screamed.

  Lennox listened. “I don’t know what you want. I didn’t do this to you. I am innocent. I don’t know about your secrets.”

  The laughter was horrifying.

  It was dark.

  It was twisted.

  “All the Eastons knew. They all knew what was happening. Now they have to pay.”

  Julian needed answers. Despite his wife being out cold, and the fear that was filling him, he needed to get to the bottom of this.

  “What happened to you, Evangeline? Tell us.”

  She turned her head.

  “Stay in the circle,” Julian warned.

  She laughed even more. With her foot, she brushed the salt aside, breaking the protection for Hart and Lennox.

  Well, shit!

  “Trey! Bethany! Now would be a good time for you to show up,” he muttered.

  Nyx headed right toward Julian.

  “I was used and killed. I was nothing. Find me. Set me free! I want to be free!”

  Julian waited until she was right in front of him. When she reached toward Tori’s belly, Julian wasn’t letting that happen. He was going to protect his child and wife.

  “I’m sorry, Nyx.”

&n
bsp; Then he tossed the bottle of holy water at her. It splashed onto her face, and Evangeline screamed.

  Nyx began falling.

  Julian caught her too.

  The room was silent.

  “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” stated Hart. “What the bloody hell was that?”

  Sadly, it was his life as of late.

  Beau moaned from the floor. When he rolled to his side, shaking his head, he saw Nyx.

  “God! Baby!” he blurted before crawling toward her.

  Lennox was clinging to Hart, and Julian was holding his wife in his arms.

  “How did you stop her?” Beau asked.

  Julian held up the bottle of holy water. “Tori’s spirits don’t like it, so I figured neither would Evangeline.”

  They were relieved he had it.

  Tori moaned.

  “Come on, honey. It’s over.”

  She shook her head. “I feel like I’ve gone a few rounds in the ring,” she stated, still not opening her eyes.

  Julian sprinkled the last of the holy water on her.

  “Hey!”

  “Just checking.”

  She stared at him.

  Julian knew it was his wife. She had that look on her face. It was a mix of irritation and amusement.

  “Come on, Nyxie. Wake up for me, baby. I need you to wake up for me,” Beau said, patting her cheek.

  The woman groaned.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe you offered yourself up to the crazy dead woman and could have died,” he stated angrily.

  Nyx’s eyes fluttered open at the tone of his voice.

  “I had to do it. Tori couldn’t channel three spirits at once. She was going to die.”

  Julian wanted to vomit.

  He really hated this case.

  “Victoria Rose, we are going to have a very long conversation about this. It’s going to start with me being angry and end with me shaking some sense into you.”

  She snorted. “Not today, babe, I have a headache.”

  He stared at her.

  Not a single word was said.

  “Geez. It’s a tough room.”

  “It’s not her fault,” Hart said. “She was trying to protect us. I didn’t know how to stop it. I’m sorry, Julian.”

  He sighed. “Let’s worry about that later. What do we know about this spirit?”