Ghosts See Me, But I See You: Brothers Book One

At Two In the Morning

October 25

    THE SOUND of his phone going off woke him up.

    Who the f**k--?

    But he became instantly alert when he saw Tansy's name on the phone's screen. When he answered the call, she had apologized for waking him, but asked if he could come back to her place. After he ended her call, telling her he would be there in about twenty minutes, he'd thrown on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, his sneakers and a hoodie. He'd grabbed his personal sidearm and his badge, although he didn't know if he'd need them. 

    And, dammit, he was having the nicest dream.

    Okay, so maybe it was a wet dream.

    Maybe Tansy was in it.

    And, maybe things south of his waist were standing at attention at the moment, but she sounded distressed.  

    No upset. Like something had spooked her.

    That was a poor choice of words. Of course something spooked her, or rather someone.

    Now, as Matthew drove to her small North Valley home, he'd felt the apprehension in the sound of her voice.  She didn't tell him why she wanted him to come back, just that she wondered if he would, that she had something for him to see. 

    Something's wrong. I could hear it in her voice. Something scared her. That fact alone made him feel for her. 

    The streets were practically empty at two in the morning, so it didn't take him long to get to her house.  He pulled into her driveway, his Jeep Rubicon dwarfing her Fiat. 

    The minute she opened the door, he took in the pajamas she wore. A t-shirt with a Black Widow spider sitting on a web. It boldly stated "It's not like I'm going to bite you!" But it was those shorts that got him.

    Boy, oh boy, would he love for her to bite him...

    Then, again, in his dream, she did bite him.

    Down, asshole. Just keep it in your pants.

    Then, he saw her agitation. "Tansy, what's wrong?" he said while walking closer to her

    She sighed, turning away from him and heading to the kitchen. "I had another visit," she replied. 

    He was about to ask her why she didn't just tell him over the phone, but he saw the drawing propped up against the knife block on the kitchen island. He stopped dead in his tracks. "Oh, fuck..."

    "Yeah," she said, busying herself with the coffee pot. "Kind of what I thought."

    Matthew knew it was taking Cal some time to find other instances, but that drawing proved there were other boys missing. He let out a sigh, a hand rubbing his neck. "s**t, f**k and damn!"

    Tansy turned back to him, her eyes weary, a bit red. Had she been crying? For some reason, he didn't want her to cry. "He is by the river, near a bridge, strangled and his tongue cut out."

    His blue eyes closed for a minute.  Oh, this got better and better. A large sigh left him, and he stared at the drawing. The life-like face stared at him with golden brown eyes and the face of a boy turning into a man. 

    "He looked... different from the boy the day before yesterday," Tansy said.

    Matthew's eyes went to hers "Different how?"

    She gulped. "More dead."

    "Uhm...?" He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "What?"

    "I mean he looked dead longer than the other boy."

    Dead longer..."f**k!" he exclaimed. And, then, he stepped toward her and pulled her into his arms in a warm hug. And he instantly wanted to kiss her. Control yourself. He let out another huge sigh. Letting her go, he took her hand and sat her down on a stool. "I was hoping it was one boy. Now, we may have more than one."

    "What are the odds there's more than two?" she asked him.

    Matthew screwed up his mouth. "I was going to tell you later today, because by the time Cal informed me of what he found, it was late." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "The boy's name was Timothy Vigil. He and his two friends, Lucas Somerset and Antonio Mora went missing in 2016."

    Tansy's eyes widened at the information. "Oh, my God!" She gasped loudly. "Is this one of Timothy's friends?" she asked, pointing at her drawing.

    Matthew shook his head. "No, This is a boy that did not come up. At least, not yet." Her questioning look made him nod "Yeah, I asked Cal to find similar missing persons cases."

    Tansy got up from the stool and went to the coffee pot and poured two cups of the steaming hot liquid. "Well, I think I just met one more tonight." She set the two mugs down, then retrieved spoons, sugar, and cream.

    Matthew took the cup of coffee. He watched her fuss about. "Are you okay?" That urge to kiss her was burning inside him, and so very strong. To taste her lips...

    She shrugged. "As I ever am when they appear." She sat back on the stool and busied herself with her cup of coffee.

    Matthew looked at her, then took her hand. "Tansy, come on now. Are you okay?" 

    She sniffed. "You mean other than getting a huge wave of the boy's emotions messing with me? Yeah, peachy keen, jelly bean." She put cream in her coffee, took a sip. 

    Matthew couldn't help it, he let out a laugh and took a sip of coffee. "You must be all right."

    A grin curled her lips. "It's how I cope." 

    A chuckle ensued. "Look, we will figure this out. Okay?" He touched her face, brushed her cheek. Kiss her, asshole "Those boys may be missing, but they are not forgotten. Just because the cases went cold doesn't mean they were buried."  

    Tansy's green eyes looked into his. "What does it mean, then?" she murmured softly.

    Matthew studied her face. "It means we can re-open these cases, find the bodies and give the families their sons back." He leaned closer to her. Okay, yeah. A kiss is going to happen.

    "We?"

    "Yeah, Tansy, we." His hand cupped her chin, and then kissed her. Softly at first, then more passionately, his tongue gently parting her lips. Her lemony mint scent filled his senses, surrounded him, swallowed him. His tongue probed her mouth, tasted, explored, as his hand moved to caress her cheek, touch her jawline. A soft moan escaped her when he stood and pulled her close to his body. His arm went around her waist and lifted her up on her toes to deepen the kiss.

    With that one kiss, all his brain cells were, he was sure, destroyed, while all the blood went rushing to below his waist, his balls tightening.

    "Damn and f**k," he breathed against her mouth. He looked down into her green eyes, which had darkened to a deep emerald. "I liked that."

    Her chin tilted up to look at him. "Did you now?" A shy smile came to her face. "How much?"

    His eyes glittered with humor. "Ooh," he breathed, a grin quirking his mouth. "Quite a bit." 

    Tansy gave him a bright smile that made his breath catch. Once again, his c**k got a jolt from the blood rushing south. "Shall I make breakfast?"

    Breakfast was the farthest thing from his mind at that moment. "Tansy..." He touched her face again, placed another kiss on her lips.  "I'll have you know that food is not what I want right now."  

    AT TWO in the morning, Elijah pushed the button on his key fob to open the car door. 

    The life of a med-student. You never knew what hours you were going to be working. Elijah, Juan and Christopher had been scheduled to work from nine in the evening to two in the morning. When their classes and shifts were over, they were going to meet in the cafeteria, take Juan's Jeep Cherokee, and head to the Crest.

    So, he was rather perturbed that Chris and Juan didn't meet him in the hospital cafeteria like they had agreed. He didn't know why they didn't show. And that worried him. It wasn't like his friends to just blow their plans off, or to forget. He'd known them all his life -- having grown up with them -- and he knew that was not their way.  

    A thought came to him. Perhaps they were waiting for him by Juan's Jeep? He pressed the fob again, relocking the Mini Cooper, and headed to where Juan's car was parked. 

    He stopped in his tracks.  

    Something is wrong. Who is that standing by Juan's Jeep?

    A sense of dread went through Elijah at that moment as the realization of why his friends hadn't shown up hit him. Because now he could see a limp hand lying by the driver's side back tire. The wrist to that hand bore Juan's watch, and the feet that he could see now had Juan's shoes on them.

    Paralyzed with an instant fear, Elijah stood there, gaping at the strange looking man. Tall, and a bit on the wiry or sinewy side, he stood there glaring at Elijah. "What do you want?" he shouted at the man.

    The brute didn't answer, just shrugged and gave a sinister smile. A grunt escaped the man's throat as he stepped toward Elijah.

    Elijah backed up a step, and gasped. That fear that gripped him moments before, multiplied ten-fold; But his feet wouldn't move, and his voice suddenly stopped working.  Finally, he managed to spin around and start running.

    But, he didn't get far as large hands grabbed his shoulders and a sharp pain pricked his neck. 

    Oh, God... what's happening?

    As Elijah felt himself lose consciousness, he heard the awful grunts the man made as Elijah's body was slung over his shoulder. The horrible scent that came to his nose would have choked him if he wasn't blacking out. 

    And the last thing he saw before his eyes closed was his two best friends propped up against the Jeep, out cold. 

    "OH," Tansy said, feeling her cheeks heat up "I... uh..." She suddenly felt like she wanted to run and hide. She wiggled out of his embrace, and went to the fridge. "What do you like to eat for breakfast?"

    He was very quiet. Too quiet, in fact, that she had to look around the door at him to see if he was still there. He was studying her, as if trying to decide what he'd done to make her turn away. Those blue eyes    were narrowed as his thoughts churned. The warmth was still there but he was slightly agitated.

    "Did I go too fast?"

    Tansy shook her head. "No. It's just...Don't get me wrong, I have had men in my life, but they usually take off. Rather quickly."

    His brows knitted together. "Before or after they get you in bed?"

    She stared at the anger in his voice. "Uh, mostly before. Twice after."

    His jaw ticked, He walked around the counter to her. "I'm not those men."

    The conviction in his voice gave her pause. He meant every word in that brief sentence. And her own truth was that if she hadn't wanted him there, she wouldn't have called him. 

    He wrapped an arm around her waist and dipped his head to hers, placing another warm kiss to her mouth. And, while the kiss was every bit as passionate as the one moments before, this one spoke of sincerity. He broke it off and gazed at her.  "Okay," he said huskily. "I'll go slow." He smiled at her, took her hand. "So, instead of fixing breakfast, let's go somewhere for breakfast."

    "In my pajamas?"

    He chuckled at that "You wouldn't be the first person to do so," he quipped.

    "No," she giggled "Probably not." She put her hands on his chest. "Let me get dressed, yes?"

    He stepped back, releasing her. "Look at me, Tansy."

    She turned to face him. 

    "I am not those men. I won't ever do that to you." Matthew's eyes were a deep sapphire blue. "But, if you want me to back off, I will."

    Tansy blinked at him. After that kiss, that was the last thing she wanted. 

    Matthew's eyes suddenly twinkled with humor. "Are you going to get dressed, or are you going in your pajamas?"

    She quirked an eyebrow. "I'd go in my jammies, but," she took the hem of her shorts, "they are a bit, uhm, tiny." 

    At that, Matthew laughed in amusement. "Yeah and believe me, I noticed just how tiny them shorts are." Then, he let out a whistle when she whirled around and passed to her bedroom.

    Tansy laughed. Okay, maybe it would be good to be around Detective Apodaca.