Cast the Cards Read online

  “Thank you.” The words whispered against his lips did funny things to his stomach. Girly things he didn’t dare thinkg too hard on. Alarm bells rang and red flags waved. I can’t afford to do this. She’s my partner. Right now this case is all that matters. Oh God… Clark. His ardor quickly became cooled. How am I going to explain this? I just did the one thing he’ll never be able to. Guilt rushed in like a flash flood, clogging his throat and making it hard to breathe.

  “We should get cleaned up, huh?” He feigned normalcy, hoping she wouldn’t pick up on his unease.

  “Yeah. I have to say this wasn’t the cool-down method I had in mind when I came over.” Her wry delivery made him snort.

  “No? And here I thought you’d been planning this for weeks.”

  “Oh, you got me, Carey.” Her high-pitched mockery moved them into more familiar territory. She drew back and stood. “I’m going to shower in the guest room.” He nodded. “Meet you out here in fifteen?”

  “Sounds good.”

  Despite the nudity they’d slipped back into their partner roles. They both knew this case was too big to blow over feelings, sexual or other. Jesus, when I dig a hole, I dig it deep. Lost in his musings, he disposed the condom in the master bathroom.

  The hot shower rinsed away the dirt and majority of the guilt. Dry, he redressed in a light blue polo and a pair of khaki cargo shorts. Barefoot and refreshed, he turned to head for the door and came up short. Clark stood in front of the door, an odd expression on his face. He knows!

  “I wanted this to happen. At least… I thought I did. But I never imagined it’d be this fast.” His voice was thoughtful. He glanced up, his eyes unnaturally bright with pain and anger. It sent a shiver skittering down Carey’s spine.

  “Clark… it’s not … we’re not in a relationship.” At a loss for word,s Carey shook his head.

  “Yet… but you will be.”

  Carey’s attempt to placate was batted away like a cat with a ball of yarn. “That’s a lot of assumptions.”

  “Can you honestly tell me you aren’t looking at her now wondering what-if?” Clark growled.

  “Wondering and doing are two different things, and you know it.”

  “Mmhmm. I’m not the only one in this room who thinks that sounds lame.”

  “What were you just sitting around watching us?” Stunned by the words he let fly, Carey turned his head. A part of him still waited for the other shoe to drop with Clark. What was the downside to returning? It felt too good to be true.

  “Not that I have anything better to do, but no. I popped in with an update. Perhaps I should’ve phoned, or at least knocked.”

  Carey sighed. “I’m sorry, Clark. I honestly didn’t have this planned. It just sort of… happened.”

  “That’s what they all say.”

  The knife in his heart turned a bit deeper.

  “Clark.”

  “I’m just giving you shit. Better you than anyone else. I got a tip.” He shrugged but sadness clung to him. “A tip.”

  “An insight on the killers. I heard it through the grapevine. The tarot card obsession is strange, and where I live folks have a long memory.”

  “Grapevine?” Carey shook his head.

  “Spirits talk, they hear things you know? I think I pinpointed the men we’re talking about. I don’t have a name but I do have descriptions and a possible hometown location.”

  “Are you serious?”

  The stern look he gave spoke volumes.

  “Of course you are. Let’s go out front and meet up with Vannah. I’ll take notes.”

  “Fantastic. Then the Scooby gang can be together again.”

  “If you want her to move on, don’t you think you should take the same advice?” He left the room before Clark could answer. Let him chew on that for a while.

  Vannah was seated on the couch, flipping through television stations, when he entered.

  “We got company. Clark stopped by with some info on the killers.”

  Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

  “Does he know?” she mouthed.

  “Yeah, he figured it out.”

  She winced, and he nodded.

  Footfalls sounded on the floor behind him. He turned. Held his breath as he waited for Clark to speak.

  “Hey, Vannah.” Hands shoved in his pocket, and his shoulders hunched, Clark looked defeated.

  “Hey, Clark, what’s up?” Pain flickered in the depths of her dark eyes. We went from the three musketeers to the walking wounded.

  “I think I might have a description and stomping grounds. The tarot card fetish is a dead giveaway. It’s two Caucasian males mid-forties to mid-fifties. They have dark hair they tend to keep mid-length and dark eyes. They’re tall, over six feet and lanky. I don’t know if it’ll help. But I figured it was more than you had now.” He shrugged.

  “How do you know all that?” Vannah narrowed her eyes.

  “Ghost hotline.”

  “Wow, thank you, Clark.” She shifted on the couch, and Carey could see her discomfort. If it was because they’d been caught in the act or she’d been reminded he was a ghost, he couldn’t say. The whole ghost tip made him uneasy.

  “I’m just glad to finally be of some use. It’s been pretty anti-climatic. I come down and do what? Pop in and out.”

  “I think Carey and I both agree just seeing you changed our lives irrevocably. You can’t be more poignant than that.”

  “Well, when you say it that way.” Clark smiled.

  For a brief moment it was like time had reversed and they were as they had always been. Carey savored the moment, held it close to his heart. Clark’s return had been an upheaval, unearthing emotions, and unresolved issues that had been ignored for years. This was the good part, a new happy memory to get him through the darkness creeping in around them.

  Chapter Eight

  “Damnit!” Savannah slapped her palms against the desk. Frustrated, she shoved away from the wooden prison she’d been chained too for what felt like an eternity. A week of searching, and nothing!

  “It’s like these guys are ghosts! I can’t find hide nor hair of them. No loose ends, no cases that line up or bodies that fit the description. If they did all these kills based on cards, where are the remains?” Not expecting an answer, she paced the tiny confines of the office.

  “Listen, it’s getting late. Why don’t we call it?” Carey's reasonable suggestion made her surly. I’m like a lion with a thorn in its paw. She wanted to snarl and hurl a cutting comment. Instead she walked over to the window and peered out. The sun had begun to fall from the sky lighting the sun up all golden and pink. Right now the people of Dale were out enjoying the beauty, blissfully unaware of the sick bastards who moved among them in the shadows. It gutted her.

  She ran a hand through her hair and nodded. Her nerves were paper thin. The walls around them seemed to shrink. The need to escape hit her like a roundhouse to the chest. On autopilot she returned to her laptop and shut it down.

  “You don’t look right.”

  “I don’t feel it either. Burning the wick from both ends and I’m ready to just … “

  “Run away?”

  “Yeah.” Pressing her middle finger and her thumb into her temples, she issued a light massage.

  “Let’s go then.”

  “What?” She shook her head. “A weekend camped out in your apartment wasn’t what I had in mind.”

  “Me either but don’t act like you wouldn’t love every second.”

  “Hmm.” Her body hummed with the unspoken promise his words held. Stress release sounded right up her alley.

  “Save it.” The knowing look in his eyes intrigued her.

  “For?” Confused she furrowed her brow.

  “The lake house.”

  The quaint log cabin nestled in the woods an hour away flashed in her mind.

  “No.”

  “Come on, we always had fun up there.”

  “That’s the problem.” Her mu
ttered words were low. His narrowed eyes told her he’d heard.

  “You promised to put the past to rest.”

  “Hey, I’ve seen your parents and accompanied you to all our old haunts. Don’t act like I have my word and then sat on my ass doing nothing. ”

  “This is the last step. We both know it.” He countered.

  She bit the inside of her cheek and looked down. How can I tell the man I’m sleeping with this is where I feel in love with his twin brother?

  “Why are you so resistant to this?”

  “Why are you pushing it?” Shoving the laptop in her bag she placed the strap over her head, and turned to leave. His hand shot out and he gripped the door knob, blocking her.

  “Because I don’t want my brother stranded. I thought it’d be a good place for all three of us to air things out.”

  “And why can’t we do that in your apartment?” Her gaze trained on the floor.

  “Every time he’s in my place he’s thinking about all the things we’ve done to desecrate it.”

  “Did he say that to you?” Her chest ached. She closed her eyes against the illogical feeling that she’d cheated on Clark. This is crazy—we were never even together.”

  “No. But trust me I know. It’s in his eyes and the tone of his voice.”

  “Why didn’t you say that?” Horror filled her. All this time we’ve been slowly torturing Clark, and he never said a word!

  “I didn’t have a plan to fix it then. Will you do it?”

  “Go out into the woods, sit around a fire, sing camp songs, and bond with my dead bestie and my current fling? Sounds fantastic.”

  “Is that all we are to you?”

  He pressed his body into hers, leaning down to brush her ear with his lips. “You make it sound so neatly packaged. It’s not, we both know it.” Wrapping his other arm around her body, he slid his hand down her waist to cup her pussy beneath the fabric of her slacks. “Right now you’re wet and aching for me. I can practically smell you. Are you going to lie and tell me it could be any other man causing this response? I’m an officer. I know when someone’s lying.”

  Unable to hold it in any longer, she whimpered and rubbed against his hand like a cat in heat. He set her ablaze like no man ever had. The connection between them took off the edge, allowed her to function and sleep. This case was personal, and sludging through the murky waters of the past hurt. When things pushed her near her breaking point on a weekly basis she turned to Carey.

  Wrong maybe, but in his own way he did the same. There were no whispered words of love or talks about a relationship. Still, the nameless venture was tangible.

  “I don’t know. My brain is fried and my heart it bruised. What do you want from me? I’m hanging on by a thread ready to snap if any more pressure is added. This is why I stayed away from this place.”

  He removed his hand, stepped back, and spun her around to face him. “This is your home.”

  “No. Not anymore.” She shook her head. This hadn’t been home for a long time. A few months in town on a case wouldn’t change that.

  “You think it stops being that way because you don’t want to deal with the past? I’ve got news for you, Vannah. The place you’re at now is not your home. It’s where you exist. You keep yourself apart from everything and everyone. Since you’ve been here I think I’ve heard you talk to Amy, your best friend, once, maybe twice.”

  “What do you know about my life outside of this town? We don’t have deep conversations, we fuck.”

  “Bullshit.” His jaw clenched. “It’s time we lay all our cards on the table because we’re not going to get another chance like this with Clark again. Why can’t we make some new memories, more pleasant ones to hold onto?” Cupping her face between his large, warm hands he pressed their foreheads together. “We can send him off knowing he’s loved and we’ll be okay. It’s the greatest gift we can give him. And for the record we do a lot more than fucking.” He moved his hand down to encircle her throat. Her pulse raced and her body shook. “I haven’t done more than touch you and you’re ready to come. You would never give you body to someone so completely unless you cared deeply.” He tightened his grip just so. “If I wanted to fuck you against this door right now, you’d let me, wouldn’t you?”

  “Oh God.” Yes, I would and you know it. You bastard.

  “No, he can’t help you now. I should make you pay for those sharp words. Your tongue’s like a switch blade it cuts so swift. But I’ll wait. I have other plans for you. Now we’re going to stop fighting, pack, drive to the cabin, and set things straight.” Removing his hand, he stepped back and released her. Her body screamed in protest.

  “Sheriff West, silent? That’s one for the memory books.”

  “Not silent—contemplative and scheming. You might want to worry.” She raked her gaze over his frame, plotting her revenge.

  “I think I’d like punishment from you.” He smirked. The blood in her veins began to boil. I’ll wipe that smile off your face on the drive up.

  “We’ll see. I’ll meet you at your place in an hour.”

  After opening the door, she walked out of the room with a little extra sway in her hips. He wanted a weekend to remember… that’s what I’ll give him.

  ***

  “Clark.” It felt stupid calling his brother like this in the middle of his bedroom. Can he even hear me? There was so much he didn’t know about how his ghostly status worked. Clearing his throat, he glanced around. His packed bag waited on the couch. Now all he needed was his brother.

  Clark appeared to his right. “You called me?” The shock lessened every time he saw him appear out of thin air. Now he barely batted an eyelash.

  “Yes, Vannah and I want you to go to the cabin with us.”

  Clark frowned. “Why? I don’t need to be the third wheel.”

  “This is the last step for all of us to settle things together, one last hurrah.”

  “She agreed to this?” Clark crossed his arms, resting his weight on the back of his heels.

  “Yes. You make it sound like we’re the last people you’d want to be around. I thought it was lonely where you are now.”

  “It is, but that I’m used to.” He shrugged.

  Carey sighed. “You shouldn’t have to be.”

  “Hey, it is what it is.”

  “I hate that phrase, because it never makes the situation you’re in the midst of any easier to swallow.”

  Clark laughed. “No, it doesn’t. Look, don’t feel like you have to throw me a bone. If you want to go off into the woods to be alone with your girlfriend it’s your prerogative. I know you guys have been damn near killing yourselves to find these bastards.”

  “For the record she’s not my girlfriend.”

  “What is she then?” Clark scowled.

  “I don’t know.”

  “I didn’t hand her over for you to fuck this up, Carey.” Venom coated every word.

  “Tell me. Why did you let her go?” He wrinkled his brow and crossed his arms over his chest.

  “You know as well as I do we could never amount to shit! I’m going to leave and she’ll still be here. Are you purposely trying to be an asshole?”

  He ignored his comment. “It wasn’t worth it to stick around? Actually be there to spend what time you have left together?” He wanted to break through the hardened shell that covered him and break through to the man he saw growing more and more bitter.

  “Are you trying to guilt me?”Clark clenched his jaw.

  “No, I’m trying to get through that thick skull of yours!” Carey growled. “You’re wasting what time you have hiding from her, and from me.”

  “Maybe it makes me sick to see the two of you,” he whispered.

  “Don’t act like we make out in front of you.”

  “I can smell the sex on you. I see the hickeys and the tousled hair.” Clark’s body vibrated with anger as he grew louder with every word. “It should’ve been me!”

  That’s the admissio
n I was waiting for .“So step up then.”

  “Wait—what?” Clark’s voice became a blank canvas.

  “You want her, show her.”

  “Is this some sort of game?”

  “No, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. If I want a snowball’s chance at keeping her when this is over she has to make a break from you, at least romantically. I can’t live with her wondering if she wishes it was you instead.” It’s a hell I refuse to be trapped in.

  “And you think we’ll accomplish that by doing what?” Clark asked.

  “Sharing.”

  Clark’s jaw dropped.

  “Yeah I know. I’m the last guy to suggest that, but you’re the other half of me, and I want this to work. Not short term, lifelong. If your ghost is hovering over us...” Carey shook his head as he trailed off. “It’ll never happen.”

  “I don’t—” Clark shook his head.

  “Savannah Marie West has always belonged between us. Is it really so shocking?” Carey whispered.

  “No, not really. Can you live with it?” Clark studied him. “It turns you on, doesn’t it?”

  “Fuck, yes it does. Once I started thinking about it I couldn’t stop. Imagine it, both of us moving inside her, filling our girl up.”

  “Our girl… I like that.” For the first time since he returned, Clark beamed.

  “So, it’s a yes.”

  “It’s a hell yes.”

  “Thank God!” Carey tossed his hands in the air.

  “Worried?”

  “Yeah I was expecting you to kick my ass.” Carey ran a hand through his hair and laughed.

  “No, I wanted you two together. I just… I never thought it’d cut me to the quick.”

  “The minute I saw your face that first night, I knew how you felt. It ate me up.” He shook his head.

  “I’m sorry, bro. I thought I hid it better.” Shame dulled Carey’s excitement. “Then again, when could we ever hide anything from one another?”

  “Good point… how are we going to do this?”Clark rubbed his hands together.

  “Play it by ear. I’m not sure how she’ll react and you know when Vannah’s pissed it’s best to steer clear a while. I have a question though. Can you change your clothes?” Carey queried.