Double Dating with the Dead by Karen Kelley (best fiction novels to read .txt) 📗

he said in a loud voice. “Whoever is helping Selena might as well stop. Ghosts do not exist.”

“Are you sure?” Dixie perched on the desk close to Trent.

He jumped.

Finally! Selena barely stopped herself from clapping her hands.

Trent looked at Selena. “You’re really good.”

“That’s Dixie,” she whispered.

He chuckled. “Sure.” He stood and strode to the light switch.

She blinked several times when he hit the switch and light flooded the room. When she could focus, she quickly looked around. Dixie was gone.

No! No! No!

Trent strode to the desk and peered over it. “Hello, Paige.”

Paige stood. “Hi, Trent. Seen any ghosts lately?”

“No, and I don’t plan on seeing any.”

“Dixie was real!” Selena stomped her foot.

“I wasn’t born yesterday.”

“I only concocted this so Dixie or Wesley would get mad at you and appear…and Dixie did show herself.” And yes, revenge, but she wouldn’t mention that little detail.

Oh, Lord, he looked at her with pity in his eyes. The last thing she wanted was pity. She wasn’t sure which was worse, that he felt sorry for her or that he thought she was conning the public.

“You saw Dixie, didn’t you?” she asked Paige.

Her cousin shook her head. “I thought I heard a strange woman’s voice, but I was having trouble with the green smoke machine.”

“See! I told you it was all an elaborate setup.”

Paige wiggled out from behind the desk. “Uh, I think I’ll…uh…remove myself from the line of fire. Sorry, cuz. I thought this would work, too. I guess it backfired.” She scooted out the door.

Selena clamped her lips together and socked her hands on her hips. “Dixie was the real thing. I wanted to draw her out, and I did. What you saw was a ghost. Not mirrors or something we concocted.”

“I don’t care. It doesn’t matter anymore.” He waved his arm in front of him. “All this doesn’t matter. I don’t care what you were trying to do. But I’ve come to realize I care about you. We’ll figure out something so we can end this stupid challenge, but I refuse to let what we have between us end.”

“Don’t you see? It does matter to me. There can never be an us if you don’t believe.” She sniffed.

Oh, God, she was going to cry. She couldn’t let him see her cry. She ran from the room, through the kitchen and out the back door, letting it slam behind her.

She heard Paige’s attempt to start her Jeep that she refused to trade in, swearing that the heap of metal was like an old friend.

Selena knew she could stay the night with her cousin. That wasn’t what she wanted to do, but she didn’t want to go back inside and face Trent, either. Not until she had a chance to bring her emotions under control.

Damn him for being so hard headed! And for wanting to write a stupid book about her.

The Jeep sputtered to life.

Selena didn’t move as she listened to Paige leave. She looked behind her at the hotel. Was he gloating? Scribbling more lies into his black notebook? She should’ve burned it!

The light from the kitchen cast all but a narrow strip of the backyard in shadow. She kicked at a small rock and began walking down the yard.

Why couldn’t she make him see?

Trent should’ve figured out that Paige might be good with the mirrors and sound, but she wasn’t that good. Dixie had finally appeared, and he couldn’t see her for what she was.

Her plan had worked only to backfire. Damn and double damn. She stepped onto a boarded platform. Lord, she had to have the rottenest luck with men.

There was a crack beneath her. She looked down just as the bottom fell from beneath her. She gasped as the air whooshed past her. She landed with a thud, banging her head.

“What happened?” she mumbled as she tried to stand. She reached out and came back with a handful of damp earth. When she moved her head to look around, a sharp pain shot through it.

“Ow.”

She touched the tender area. It came away wet. Blood? She couldn’t see. The world began to spin. “Oh…hell.”

Everything closed in on her, and she knew she was going to pass out.

“Trent. Help….”

Chapter 25

Trent flinched when he heard Paige’s vehicle start and pull away. Just as he’d flinched when he heard Selena slam out the back door.

She was gone.

Why the hell did he have to believe in ghosts to have a relationship with her? He was willing to accept she was…was…

Was what?

Someone who was ripping off the public? Having any kind of relationship with her would go against everything he believed in. But he still didn’t think she was conning people.

Maybe unknowingly?

Who was he kidding?

He walked around the library. The mirrors were there, the recorder for the sounds—even a damn smoke machine. Although he had to admit she’d done a bang-up job bringing Dixie to life…or death, according to how you looked at it.

It still didn’t change what she was doing or make it right. He should just admit he’d been duped again. Selena was a carbon copy of Celeste, and he was old enough to have known better.

He cut off the light as he left the room.

A beer right now would be nice. Alcohol might numb the emptiness inside him. But rather than walk toward the kitchen, he went in the opposite direction.

Sleep. He’d lose himself in sleep and hopefully not dream of Selena tonight. Or maybe he would. It seemed they got along better in slumber.

“Trent,” someone called as he passed by the front door.

He hesitated, wondering if he’d actually heard his name being called. He went to the door and listened. Nothing. Rather than go to his room, he went outside. A welcome breeze caressed his face. Then he saw her.

“Matilda, you’re up late tonight.” He noted her worried frown. “Nothing wrong, is there?”

“You have to help her.” She twisted her apron in her hands.

A cold feeling of dread washed over him. “Who?”

“Why, the girl, of course.”

“Selena? She left with