Came Back Haunted (Experiment in Terror #10) - Karina Halle Page 0,60
there?” I say to him. “You reminding us of that? Because it’s going to get old real soon.”
“What are you talking about?” Dex asks. “Pull him out of where?”
“He’s in the Veil,” I say, waving my hand around. “This whole house is like the Veil. Jacob dragged him out of Hell but could only take him this far.”
“You have got to be shitting me,” Dex says, a look of awe coming over him as he stares at Max. “It really is you, isn’t it?”
“Something like that,” he says. “You gonna give me a hug or what?”
Dex wrinkles his nose. “I don’t know. You going to try and kiss me? Because I might need a breath mint.”
I watch in amusement as Max grins and goes over to Dex, putting a meaty palm on his shoulder and pulling him in to a hug. Dex winces, looking like he’s being crushed by the giant ginger. But eventually he pats him (rather awkwardly) on the back, and I swear there might be just a hint of emotion in his eyes.
Maximus releases him and then slaps Dex on the back, HARD, making him cough.
“Okay, okay. I get it,” Dex says, looking pained. “You’re real. Didn’t have to break my ribs like that.” He looks between the both of us. “So now what? Dex is all filled in here, no more secrets. Right?” He glares at me.
I throw up my palms. “No more secrets. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I really wanted to. I would have if we didn’t see him tonight.”
“So you wanted to come back tonight because of him.” He jerks his thumb at Maximus.
“And Samantha,” I tell him.
Seconds after her name falls from my mouth, the house fills with the sound of a door unlocking from the floor above us and slowly creaking open, followed by a thump.
The bathroom.
I look at Dex, wide-eyed. I do not want to run into her again.
“Hey, big guy,” Dex says to Maximus. “You wouldn’t be able to do anything about a troublesome dead woman, would you?”
Max’s expression turns grim, which I have to admit, puts all the fear back in me.
“Follow me,” he says, lowering his voice. He goes down the stairs as Dex and I exchange a look of surprise, and then Dex quickly scoops up his camera, peering at it as we hurry after Max.
“This better not be broken,” he grumbles. “And I can’t believe he fucking kissed you and you didn’t say shit about it.”
“Sorry,” I tell him under my breath. “It’s not like it left an impression on me.”
Max lets out a derisive snort from ahead of us as he leads us down yet another set of stairs, going into the basement. It’s barely lit from my flickering flashlight.
“In here,” he says, opening a heavy door.
“Oh great, he’s leading us into a basement,” Dex says. “Fucking love basements.”
We step into a cold room that’s lit by ochre-colored windows that line the upper part of one wall, facing onto the street, the streetlights providing just enough glow. There’s a brick fireplace with a Moorish arch above it, and broken Middle Eastern lanterns strewn between old leather furniture.
“What is this place?” I ask, shining my flashlight around.
“I’m guessing this used to be the smoking room, back in the day,” Maximus says.
Dex seems more preoccupied with getting the camera to work. I zip open my purse and find an extra flashlight, handing it to him.
“Here,” I tell him. “I think I left my EMF reader upstairs.”
“You can come get it next time,” Max says.
“Next time?” I repeat. “You think there’s a next time? If that was Samantha Poe up there in that bathtub, I’m sorry but there’s no way in hell that we’re talking to her.” Not to mention the fact that I’ve seen her outside this house. “No, we’re getting you out of here tonight.”
“I told you last time, sweetheart. It just ain’t that simple.”
“But you said you had a connection with me.”
Dex looks up from his camera, glaring at the both of us. “A connection?”
I give Max a pleading look like, please don’t fuck this up and say something that will set Dex off.
But Max gives me a smirk, and I don’t like the look of that smirk.
“We do have a connection,” he says slowly. “Happens when you’re that intimate with someone.”
Dex’s hands nearly crush the camera. “If you don’t shut up,” he growls at him, “I’m going to fucking kill you.”