Eighth Grave After Dark

“Where have you been?” I asked after setting him at arm’s length. He wore the same red bandanna over his brow and a dirty T-shirt. The peach fuzz on his face still tickled when I kissed him. And he brandished the same wicked grin as always, the one that made me wonder what he’d been up to.

“Here and there. You’re still hot, you know. I’d still do you.”

“Wow,” I said, forcing my smile wider. “You are too kind, but I’m good.”

He lifted a shoulder. “If you ever change your mind, you have my number.”

I snorted. “I’ve missed you. How’s your family?”

He lowered his head, still not able to fully accept that his best friend’s family had become his. “They’re good. My mom and her nieces made tamales all day.”

My mouth flooded with saliva. Pavlov totally could have studied me.

“I just wanted to tell you something.”

“That sounds serious,” I teased.

“You need to stay away from him.”

Was this about Reyes? Again? “Sweetheart, I’m married to him, remember? I’m having his child.”

He ducked his head to hide his face. “Not him. That guy that was just here. That cracker pendejo who pretends to be your friend.”

My brows slid together in thought. “Duff?” I asked, surprised. He was the only cracker I’d spoken to in the last few minutes besides … My heart skipped a beat. Did he hear me talking with Mr. Alaniz and the Loehrs?

“Whatever his name is. Four-eyed bitch. He looks like a serial killer.”

“Angel, it’s not nice to judge based on looks. Not all people who wear glasses are serial killers.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“I know, sweetheart.” I put my fingers under his chin and lifted his face to mine. “Are you okay?”

“I just don’t trust him with you.”

“You don’t trust Reyes with me either, if I recall.”

He shrugged and ducked his head again. “He’s okay.”

“I’m sorry. What did you just say?”

“Rey’aziel. He’s okay, I guess.”

Angel couldn’t have shocked me more if he’d slapped me. “Are we talking about the same Rey’aziel? The one you warned me about? The one you’ve hated since … forever?”

He kicked at a rock, missing it since he was incorporeal and all. “He keeps you safe. That’s all that matters.”

“That’s so sweet.” I pulled him into an awkward hug since he wasn’t really joining in. “You are the sweetest gangbanger I know.”

“Okay,” he said, wanting the nightmare to end.

“I wish you were alive.” I set him away from me again. “I’d totally get you a Charley’s Angel T-shirt.”

One side of his mouth lifted into an adorable lopsided grin. “Like I would wear it.”

“Oh, I’d blackmail you into wearing it.” We started for the convent arm in arm. I really did have to pee. “You’d wear it every day and thank me.”

“I don’t think so, freak.”

We trounced through the brush back to the party, and though I had a lot on my mind, Angel helped keep my mind off my impending doom. Reyes’s birth parents showing up out of the blue was going to be a tad difficult to explain. Maybe the hellhounds weren’t such a bad alternative to life without Reyes Farrow, because that was exactly what I risked by defying his wishes.

* * *

Angel gave me a kiss good-bye, saying he had to check on the tamales before trying to slip his tongue into my mouth, at which point I had to swat his ass. Sadly, I think he enjoyed it. I walked around to the front door, noticing most of the cars were gone now, but that the departed had multiplied. There were more now than when I’d left. All staring straight ahead. Waiting for something, which did nothing to put my mind at ease.

I would have to tell Reyes what I’d done. I would have to face the music, a term I never understood because it made whatever confrontation one had to endure seem bearable. I mean, it was music. How bad could it be to face it? The saying should have implied something direr, like, I would have to face the executioner. Much better.

I grabbed the door handle, but before I could open the front door, Denise opened it for me.

“Where were you?” she asked, almost frantic. “We’ve been worried about you.”

Gemma walked up behind her and did the crazy sign, which since she was a psychiatrist seemed very unprofessional.

“You can’t just go traipsing through the woods like that and not tell anyone where you’ve gone.”

“But, Mo-o-o-o-om,” I said with a schoolgirl whine, “all the cool kids are doing it. And I’m clearly not a virgin, so I’ll survive a traipse through the woods should I come across a slasher.”

She tsked while dragging me in the front door. “I don’t understand half of what you say.”

This was like a nightmare. My father gone and my stepmother deciding to pay attention to me after twenty-seven years. Then it hit me. I stilled. It all made sense now. We weren’t on sacred ground. Reyes had lied to me. We were in hell!

“You need to go upstairs and rest while we clean up.”

I flashed a boastful smile at Gemma and raised my arms in a long, languid stretch. “You’re right. I’m awfully tired. And Beep has been especially active today. She’s just worn me ragged.”