The Ghost Host: Episode 1 (The Ghost Host Series) Read online

  “Her?” I say with a laugh. “That was a great show. How could you not like that idea?”

  “Uh, because I’m not a huge nerd guy who’d rather have a relationship with a computer than Amy Adams who only lived like a few floors above him.” Cerise shakes her head, making me laugh. When she looks at me again, she’s more serious than before. “Seriously, though, what do you mean? Are you seeing someone or not?”

  Feeling more than a little uncomfortable, my eyes drop. “I haven’t actually met her, but we’ve been talking on the phone, texting, emails, that sort of thing.”

  Cerise just stares at me for a minute. “You met her online? Where? You don’t seem like the eHarmony type.”

  “YouTube,” I say, immediately regretting it.

  “You can meet people on YouTube?” Cerise asks.

  “She does a show…about ghosts,” I say, hesitant to tell her who it actually is. She’ll pry it out of me eventually, I think with a sigh. “Kyran got me to watch it, and I messaged her, Echo, asking a few questions about the show, and we just kept talking.”

  Cerise’s response doesn’t exactly surprise me when she breaks into a huge grin and grabs my shoulders. “Echo Simmons? The Ghost Host? Seriously?”

  “You know her?” I ask in mock surprise. Cerise is a good friend, but looks like more of a Project Runway fan than anything paranormal to those who don’t know her well. Even to me, I’m not sure why she latched onto the show when none of her other interests are even close.

  Still beaming with excitement, Cerise says, “You know I love her show! I’ve been watching since she started it. How could you not tell me about this immediately! The questions she asks, and the answers she gets sometimes, it’s just amazing what she does! This is awesome!” Grabbing my arm, she looks at me seriously. “We’re definitely going for coffee after work. I want to hear everything.”

  “Fine,” I say with a shrug. I guess Echo wouldn’t mind. It’s not like Cerise is interested in me, or me in her. She’s a senior, for one, and treats me like her little brother most of the time. She thinks I’m a big nerd, too.

  When she’s pulled away to deliver another order, I head back to the piano where I’m greeted by several slips of paper bearing requests from the diners. As I work my way through them, I can’t help thinking about Echo and the deal we made. I want her to come for the summer, but it scares me to think about having her here for that long. I get that she’s been through some really rough stuff. She barely seems to know what it’s like not to be harassed by either family or ghosts.

  Ghosts. That’s what freaks me out the most. I want to believe her. Part of me thinks there must be some other explanation for all of this, something…scientific. What if there’s not? What if she comes here and something happens to make it impossible for me not to believe her? I have no idea what to do with that.

  It feels like days later before I finally step down from the piano for the last time. Carrying my sheet music back to my locker, I don’t notice Cerise until she’s right beside me. Tired, but excited, she loops her arm through mine. She looks like she’s about to say something, but it gets cut off when she’s suddenly yanked away.

  “What are you doing?” Evan demands angrily. His fingers are gripping her arm so tightly his fingertips are white.

  Cerise tries to squirm out of his grip, but the redness of her flesh and pain in her eyes makes it obvious she can’t get away. Evan is a good four inches taller than me, and older, and more built. I play piano while he does CrossFit. That doesn’t stop me from stepping up behind Cerise and glaring at him.

  “What’s your problem, Evan?”

  “My problem is with my girlfriend, not you, piano boy,” he growls. Several other members of the kitchen and wait staff are hovering around us.

  “Ex-girlfriend,” Cerise snaps. She tries to yank her arm out of his grip again, but yelps when the motion only hurts her.

  Evan crowds his face in next to hers. “You think you can just walk out on me and move on like nothing happened?” She tries to turn her face away from him, but he yanks her back. “You think he’s better than me?”

  “Just about every guy in this building is better than you,” Cerise snaps.

  He moves too fast for anyone to stop him. I’m reaching in, halfway to getting a grip on him, when his open palm slaps against her face. A second later, my elbow cracks against his jaw, stunning him enough that his grip loosens. Cerise wastes no time scurrying away from him, leaving Evan and I to square off.

  Growing up with three older sisters, there shouldn’t have been a lot of wrestling or roughhousing in my home. Having Kyran as a best friend, though, I know my way around a street fight. I grimace inwardly at the thought of having to punch this idiot. Breaking one of my hands would cause a lot of trouble for me.

  “What the hell is going on here?” Francesco shouts. His red face glares at everyone huddled between the kitchen and dining room. Nobody says anything at first. They’re all still too stunned. Finally, Cerise is the one to speak up.

  “Evan grabbed me,” she says, showing Francesco her red arm, “and then he slapped me when I tried to get away. Malachi was only protecting me.”

  Francesco is a very emotionally charged man. Even so, I’ve never seen him as pissed as he looks right now. “Evan,” he bellows, “clear out your locker! Amy will mail you your last check, and if I ever see you near my restaurant again, the police will escort you away!”

  Everyone holds their breath. I think we’re all waiting for Evan to lose it. Red-faced, he yanks his apron off his waist and tosses it to the ground. “Clearly I’m too good for this place anyway,” Evan snarls, “if you’re keeping around trash like that.” The parting glare he throws at Cerise makes her bristle, but she doesn’t say anything.

  As soon as the back door slams closed, everyone lets out the breath they were holding. Francesco rubs his hands across his face before looking over at Cerise. “You okay?”

  “Yeah. I’m fine.”

  Francesco shakes his head. “If you need to have it checked out by a doctor, go, and then bring me the bill. I’m going to call the police and report this. You okay sticking around to give a statement?”

  Cerise nods, but looks smaller than I have ever seen her before. Evan was always a douche bag, but I’ve never seen him get physical with anyone before. I think Cerise was as caught off guard as the rest of us, even though she knew him better than anyone else. Her hands are shaking as she wraps her arms around her body.

  Pulling her under my arm, I say, “I’ll wait with you and drive you back to my place, okay?”

  “Malachi, you don’t have to do that. I’ll be fine at Susie’s.”

  When she moved out of Evan’s place two days ago, I knew she was crashing at a friend’s house, but I didn’t know it was Susie’s place. One of the other servers, Susie isn’t working tonight, but Evan knows where she lives. “We’ll pick Susie up on the way. There’s no way you two should be alone at her apartment tonight, just in case Evan decides to try to find you. You can both crash at our place until you’re sure Evan won’t cause a problem.”

  She looks unsure, but eventually nods. Cerise is tough, and I know she can hold her own in most situations. Hiding her fear right now just isn’t happening. She puts on a good face when the police show up and take her statement. When one of the officers suggests she files a restraining order against Evan in addition to pressing charges, she goes completely pale and more than one person reaches out to steady her.

  By the time the police are wrapping things up, Susie is waiting at the empty bar. Someone must have called her to tell her what happened. When I see the two overnight bags sitting at her feet, I realize Cerise must have texted her about the plan for tonight.

  “Ready?” Susie asks when Cerise and I walk over to her.

  Cerise nods, looking completely exhausted. She smiles, though, when Susie throws her arms around her and starts dragging her out of the restaurant. I follow behind quietly. A buzz from my phone rem
inds me of its presence. I pull it out and groan when I realize I missed a call from Echo and have texts from both her and Kyran. I open Kyran’s first and quickly reply to his wondering about whether or not I’m ever coming home.

  Echo’s, I open next. Must have called too late. Sorry I missed you. Talk tomorrow.

  You didn’t call too late, I reply. Got stuck at work. You still up? I can call when I get home.

  The response is almost immediate. Still up. Call when you can.

  I slip my phone back into my pocket as I leave the restaurant. The girls pile into Susie’s car at once and I follow them in mine. It isn’t long before we’re all pulling into the parking lot of our apartment complex to find Kyran waiting on the sidewalk.

  “Hey, roomies,” Kyran says with a grin. He grabs both girls’ bags and starts joking and laughing with them. Trust Kyran to be able to take everyone’s minds off an assault with stories about getting massacred online. Susie and Cerise are laughing and shaking their heads at him as they slip into the building.

  Being that it’s after midnight and the last few hours were pretty draining, both girls are quickly tucked away in my room while Kyran and I flop down on the couch. “So,” Kyran says, “Evan, huh?” When I nod, he shakes his head. “I always hated that guy. Couldn’t figure out what Cerise saw in him.”

  “Me neither, but the police will be keeping an eye on him tonight.”

  Kyran yawns then nudges me with his elbow. “Well, I guess we’re bunking together tonight. Can’t think of the last time that happened. Fourth grade, maybe?”

  Laughing, I remember the days of our sleepovers. It was a rare thing for us to make it through one without getting into some pretty major trouble. “Actually, I’ll be a few minutes. Missed a call from Echo earlier.”

  The mocking laughter that precedes Kyran standing makes me throw a weak jab at him. He just shakes his head. “Dude, you’ve yet to meet her in person and you’re already whipped.”

  Instead of being annoyed, it makes me think about Cerise’s earlier invitation to go for coffee. Noticing my serious expression, Kyran pauses. I feel fried, but I ask him anyway. “Cerise asked me to get coffee with her after work.”

  “Yeah? You guys grab coffee all the time.” He shrugs, not sure why I’m telling him this.

  “Do you think…I mean, with Echo. Is it weird if I go out with Cerise like that?”

  Kyran scrubs a hand through his hair before shrugging. “I don’t know, man. I know you and Cerise aren’t a thing, but Echo…she might think it’s weird if she, you know, thinks you two are a thing. I guess.” He shrugs again. “Are you and Echo like together?”

  Now it’s my turn to shrug. “I don’t know. I guess we haven’t really talked about it.”

  “Ask her then. I’m going to bed. Gotta be up at four a.m. Early flight.”

  Nodding, I wave him off to bed and stare at my phone.

  12: Boyfriend Material

  (Echo)

  I’ve almost given up hope of hearing from Malachi by the time my phone finally buzzes. It’s not that late here, just after nine at night, but I know it’s much later for him. I feel bad that he’s calling me instead of going to bed, but I answer anyway. I really need to hear his voice after the day I’ve had.

  “Hey,” I say simply.

  “Hey, Carrots.” He sounds worn out, worried even.

  Biting my lip, I ask, “You okay?”

  “Long night.” He starts to say something else, but another voice cuts in…and it’s not Kyran’s.

  “Malachi, sorry to bug you,” a woman’s voice says. “I just needed some water. Where are your cups?”

  Suddenly, everything inside me twists. The ghost attack, my parents hounding me about therapy and Georgia, leaving home with no clear plan, the fear of joining up with the FBI…none of it hurts as bad as hearing her voice.

  “Sorry, Cerise, I should have asked if you needed anything. The cups are above the sink. Get whatever you need,” Malachi says.

  Her voice is faint as she responds, but even that much brings tears to my eyes. Burying my face in my pillow, I try to tell myself it doesn’t matter. Malachi is just a friend. I have no claim on him and he’s made me no promises, but I can’t. Even if I hadn’t had one of the worst days in years, I still wouldn’t be able to brush this off. I know I’ve only known him for a little while but, I just…I thought….

  “Echo?”

  Gasping in a breath, I desperately try to calm myself back down. I can’t let him hear me so upset.

  “Echo? You still there?”

  I try again, borrowing one of the few useful things my therapist taught me, breathing in and out to calm back down, but it doesn’t work very well.

  “Carrots?” Malachi tries again. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” I finally manage to squeak. I only sound halfway strangled, which is about the best I can do. “I’m fine.”

  Silence. “You don’t sound fine. You sound pretty upset. What happened?”

  Pressing my face into the pillow, I feel like screaming. He doesn’t even know? Talking to me for days and not mentioning he has a girlfriend who spends the night? Did he really think that wouldn’t bother me?

  “Echo, look, I’m really sorry I missed your call earlier. I wasn’t ignoring you or anything. This thing happened after work with Cerise and I…”

  “You don’t have to explain,” I say quickly. Please, please don’t tell me what happened with your girlfriend after work that led to her being at your apartment tonight. Please don’t tell me that.

  Malachi sighs. “No, I do need to explain. It’s been a weird night and I just want to sit and talk to you, but I’ve obviously pissed you off, so please let me explain.”

  I don’t say anything. I can’t. If I do, I’ll cry.

  He must take my silence as permission to go on, because he starts talking, tempting me to cover my ears or end the call. “Cerise’s ex, he’s always been a prick, but she finally realized it a couple days ago and broke up with him and moved out. He wasn’t happy about it.”

  She just broke up with her boyfriend and she’s already staying the night at Malachi’s? I don’t know whether to feel better about this news or not. Maybe he hadn’t neglected to tell me about his girlfriend in the beginning, but… my stomach turns as a thought sinks in. Maybe that’s what he needs to explain. He’s with her now. Talking to me all the time, this summer…is it all over?

  “Anyway,” Malachi continues, completely oblivious to my impending break down, “we all work together, and Cerise and I were going to grab some coffee, well, maybe. I don’t know. I need to talk to you about that in a minute.”

  Huh?

  “Before we could leave, Evan, that’s Cerise’s ex, he grabbed her and slapped her. I was pretty freaked, I thought I was going to have to fight with him to get him to back off, but luckily our boss showed up and scared him off.” Malachi sighs, sounding exhausted. “We had to stick around to give statements to the police and all that. You must have called in the middle of everything and I just didn’t hear it. Sorry.”

  Breathe. Think. Form words. “It’s fine,” I whisper. “It was just one call.” I take another deep breath and my brain starts working marginally better. “Is everyone okay?”

  “Yeah. Cerise will probably have a bruise tomorrow, but she said she’s fine. She and her roommate are crashing here tonight because I was afraid Evan would go after her at Susie’s place. They’re both pretty freaked out.”

  Something in those sentences makes me pause, but I’m too muddled to pick out what. “That does sound scary,” is the best I can come up with.

  Malachi yawns. It reminds me of how tired he must be, which inevitably makes me wonder where he’ll sleep tonight. Will it be with Cerise?

  “Anyway, back to coffee with Cerise.”

  Oh no, please. I don’t want to hear about it. I just don’t, even if that makes me a coward.

  “Cerise and I have only ever been friends. She’s like a replacement sister
since all of mine are moved out and off doing their own thing. We get coffee after work once in a while.” He hedges, suddenly sounding anxious. My own breathing stops completely. “When she asked me tonight, though, I didn’t know what to say. I mean, I know we haven’t really…I mean, I guess I don’t totally know where we stand with each other.”

  I’m so confused. “What?”

  Frustrated, Malachi grumbles something under his breath. I can’t really hear him, but I swear I hear the word mistake. “I get that we haven’t actually met,” he says, “but I really like you, Echo. I mean, I’m sure you get that. You do, right? I love talking to you. You know I think you’re sexy as hell. I just…I sound like an idiot. My brain’s kinda fried right now, so at the risk of sounding like a sixth grader…do you want to be my girlfriend? I mean, is it okay if I tell people you’re my girlfriend?”

  His voice drops off and I think he groans at himself for babbling so much. I’m not really sure. Too stunned to say anything right away, I simply try to process everything. It takes a while. “So, you and Cerise, you’re not…she’s not your…girlfriend…who sleeps over?”

  “What? No. She’s just…” Malachi mumbles something about being an idiot. “Echo, I’m so tired right now, I can barely think. I realize now that I probably should have opened up with the fact that Cerise and I are in no way involved. She’s a friend who needed a place to crash. I’m either sleeping on the couch or in Kyran’s room tonight.”

  Holding my breath, I wait for him to tell me he’s kidding, or tack on something at the end that will rip my heart out. When nothing comes, I force myself to take a deep breath. “You really want me to be your girlfriend?”

  “Of course,” he says like he can’t figure out why I’m so surprised.

  “Are you sure?”

  Suddenly, Malachi laughs. “Am I just really tired, or are you actually shocked by this?” He chuckles again. “How many times do I have to tell you how awesome I think you are, or how beautiful you are, or how much I enjoy talking to you?”