eaten real food. Sometimes, I grabbed a burger from a fast food place on my way to Redwood, but very little beat a homecooked meal.
“Sorry,” Ben said, breathing heavily as he entered the kitchen. “That was my publisher. They’re interested in the Lady Death story and asked me to send the manuscript over.”
“Congrats! So, you decided to publish it after all?”
“I eventually said to hell with it.” Ben took the seat across from me. “Although personal in many aspects, the story is very much fictional. There’s a century old mystery the character solves, all while trying to keep himself alive. Readers will enjoy the thrill. Or, at least, I hope they will.”
“I’m proud of you, darling,” Theo said, sitting in the chair beside him.
Ben leaned over with a smile and kissed Theo lightly on the mouth. “You’ll forever be my muse. I love you with all my heart.”
“And I love you. Always.”
“Okay enough, you two,” I said, before picking up a sausage link and tearing into it. “You’ll ruin my breakfast with all that mushy talk.”
“How are things with Ezekiel?” Theo asked, moving his dark eyes to me.
“Amazing.” I couldn’t stop the smile from tugging at my lips. “Human men won’t ever do it for me again. Once you go ghost, you never go back.”
Ben snorted into his coffee, spilling some on the table.
Theo sighed and handed him a napkin. “So messy.”
I laughed, noting so many similarities between their relationship and the one I had with Zeke. For the rest of breakfast, we caught up on each other’s lives. Ben was taking a small break from writing for a change. He recognized he had been falling into a rut and needed to step back and refresh his mind before diving into another big project.
“You should invite Taylor for dinner again sometime soon,” Theo said, taking Ben’s plate and carrying it to the sink.
“You only want him to come over so he’ll fanboy over you,” Ben said, narrowing his eyes. He went up behind Theo and wrapped the smaller man in his arms before dropping a kiss to his shoulder. “I do believe you’re spoiled.”
“And who made me this way, I wonder?”
Ben’s arms tightened around his lover. “I would do it again a million lifetimes over. You deserve the world.” His face fell. “I only wish you were able to actually see the world instead of being trapped here.”
“I do not need the world, Ben.” Theo turned in his arms and took hold of Ben’s face. “All I need is you.”
Seeing them was like looking into my future. Even if no one ever moved into Redwood and I was allowed to keep sneaking over there to see Zeke, I’d grow old while he stayed exactly as he was; beautiful and frozen in time.
“I should go,” I said. I’d been away from Zeke for nearly four hours. “Thanks for the food.”
Ben walked me to the door, and I could sense something on his mind.
“Out with it,” I said, turning to him. “What’s up?”
“The ritual is Saturday night?” he asked. “And it will be at the mansion?”
“Dude, you’re not going,” I said, knowing what he was thinking. “Callum said it’s way too dangerous for you or Taylor to be there. Because it’s not just the ghost possessing me that you guys have to worry about, it’s all of them.”
“Is there anything I can do?” Ben asked, frowning.
I opened the door and stepped onto the porch before turning back to him. “Have breakfast ready for me Sunday morning. Chocolate chip pancakes.”
He smiled. “I can do that.”
I returned his smile before walking to my car and leaving. The mark over my heart tingled a bit, a sign that the magic keeping Philip behind a barrier was fading.
Two more days… and it would end.
I tried not to think about how it could very well be my last days. If Callum failed to banish Philip, the final stage of possession would finally be complete.
The gates to Redwood Manor were open when I arrived.
“What the hell?”
Three cars were parked out front, and another was pulling up behind me. I couldn’t back up and leave without hitting them, so I pulled forward, through the gate and into the round driveway. My heart was going ninety-to-nothing as I parked beside a black Cadillac Escalade where a couple and three children were getting out.
What was going on?
“Are you here for the open house?” a woman with brown bobbed hair and glasses asked, once I’d rolled down my window.
“Uh, an open house?”
“Yep.