It's A Wonderful Midlife Crisis (Good To The Last Death #1) - Robyn Peterman Page 0,107
of emotions crossed my face. I’d been waiting for the other shoe to drop. It had dropped, crashed to Earth and ripped a hole in my heart that I knew could never be repaired.
“Daaaauusayy,” Steve grunted.
“Stop,” I said softly as my chest hurt so badly, I was sure it would never stop. “It’s okay. I understand. I will make sure he pays.”
Steve’s lips continued to move in a panic-stricken manner, but I couldn’t understand a word he said. It didn’t matter. I knew what had happened. Steve’s death had been in question and Gideon had won. Heather had lost. Steve had been tried and convicted of something he hadn’t done.
And the man I was in love with was responsible.
Correction. The man I now despised was responsible.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Don’t go anywhere,” I said to Steve, and then grimaced.
The absurdity of my statement didn’t escape me at all. My limbs felt like lead and I wanted to sleep for a year, but that was impossible. If there was a way to reverse what had happened to Steve, I was going to get it done.
My happiness was about to go up in flames, but it hadn’t been real. Trusting myself had been a mistake that I’d pay for the rest of my days. Never again. Never.
Steve’s lips still moved, but the garbled sounds made no sense. I couldn’t make out a single word. Maybe the Ouija board would help… maybe not. Not one of my squatters had ever been in this bad of shape. It didn’t matter. I’d figure out something.
Slowly standing up, I glanced down at the black crystals littering the floor. Were they deadly? Avoiding them was impossible. I’d sweep them up later and bury them somewhere. If they were harmful, I didn’t need them to end up at the county dump.
Hurting innocent people wasn’t in me.
Hurting myself? I was an expert at that.
Making my way to the family room, I had to hold on to the walls so I didn’t fall. Every inch of my body hurt, but that was nothing compared to what was happening inside me.
“Gideon. Heather,” I shouted. “Come to me.”
I almost laughed. I didn’t possess magic. I was simply a forty-year-old woman who used to help the dead. Now I was just dead inside. I was unsure if Heather could poof around like Gideon, but my guess was she could. If they didn’t hear me, I would text them.
Gideon heard me.
That was good. I had things to say to him privately that I didn’t want Heather to hear.
The most beautiful and deceitful man I’d ever come across stood before me with an angelic smile on his face. I closed my eyes and tried to block the picture, but his scent still intoxicated me. The memory of his lips on mine and the sound of his laugh tore at my heart. My judgment about people was terrible. Heather was right not to trust Gideon. She’d been my friend for years. I should have listened.
I didn’t. I didn’t want to. I still didn’t want to, but I had no choice. None.
“Couldn’t wait until tonight?” Gideon asked with a crooked grin.
He thought he was here for sex. It was surreal.
“No,” I said with no emotion in my voice. “I couldn’t.”
“Daisy, what’s wrong?” he asked, approaching me.
I held up my hands and backed away. If I hadn’t known what he’d done, the hurt in his eyes would have undone me. But I was a different person than I was a few hours ago. There was no going back to the old Daisy now. She was dead.
“Why don’t you tell me?” I questioned calmly as I tamped back my urge to go to him.
What was wrong with me? He’d decreed that Steve go to the darkness and I wanted to touch him? He knew Steve. He liked Steve. I would never take anything at face value again.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Gideon replied, putting his hands in his pockets and watching me warily.
“No games, Gideon,” I snapped. “He’s gay. He posed no threat to you and he didn’t kill himself.”
“Again,” Gideon said, his tone turning cooler. “I have no idea what you are speaking of.”
I wanted to believe him so badly. I wanted to turn back time and be happy again. But Steve was upstairs in our bed looking like something out of a horror movie. I’d just fought back the darkness that Gideon was in charge of and I’d won—hopefully.