Call On Me (10 page)

Her green eyes
were big, but also a little wary. “Um, Ghost…?”

“Yeah?” His
voice sounded husky to his own ears.

“Are you all
right?”

“Sure. Why do
you ask?” The feel of her curves registered under his hand.

When had his
hand moved? Of its own accord, as though pulled by invisible
strings, his hand brushed her hip, palm curving to cup it.

“Ty?” Her eyes
were big, the expression uncertain.

She’d never
looked at him with uncertainty before, not uncertainty about his
behaviour, and it was enough to snap him back to awareness.

Holy shit, he’d
been about to grope Ali! Cop a feel of her curves! Rub his palm
against her!

He leaped away
as though scalded. “I’m fine. Fine! I just…I think I’ve caught a
cold or something. I – uh-” His gaze fell on the grandfather clock
in the corner of the hall. “Oh, is that the time? Hell, Matt will
be knocking on my door. Bye, Ali, have fun!”

Forcing himself
to wave at her and smile in a friendly fashion, Ghost walked
sedately down the hall and into the kitchen. He caught a last
glimpse of her just staring after him with her mouth hanging open
before he was through the kitchen door. He had to force himself to
walk to the back door and exit with the outward show of calmness,
as though nothing was wrong. Nothing at all.

Down the steps,
across the lawn, hoisting himself up and over the fence. That was
it, nice and steady. A last glance across to the Mackay house as he
entered his own back door showed Ali standing on her back veranda,
a frown on her face as she watched him.

Another smile,
another wave, a cheerful “Enjoy yourself!” and then he was safe in
his own kitchen.

Where he stood
stock-still in the middle of the floor and just stared at the far
wall. What the hell was wrong with him? Ali was like his little
sister, for God’s sake, and one didn’t grope one’s little sister.
Not that she was his sister, so it wasn’t as if he’d done something
disgusting, but it was
Ali
. Ali Mackay, his best friend. One
didn’t grope a friend.

A crash from
the lounge snapped him from his troubled thoughts and he hurried
into the room to find a vase lying in pieces on the floor and
Abraham happily chewing on a rose stem with the rose head bobbing
at the bottom of it. It was the last rose in one piece, for amongst
the broken pieces of vase and water were demolished roses, petals
of every colour a rose could come in scattered on the floor and
even a couple on the sofa.

“Moron,” Ghost
said sternly. “Mum brought those roses around a few days ago and
you’ve destroyed the lot. She wanted that vase back too, you
cretin.”

Abraham blinked
his big, gold eyes and jumped down off the side table.

Retrieving a
dust pan and brush from the laundry and a cloth to mop up the water
already soaking into the carpet, Ghost returned just in time to see
Abraham hunch up and start retching. Wonderful. The doorbell rang
before he could do anything further and he opened it to find Matt
standing outside dressed in cargo shorts, t-shirt and thongs with
two pizza boxes in his hands.

“Dinner is
served,” Matt informed him.

“With a side
order of rose spew.” Ghost stood to one side, closing the security
screen behind Matt and leaving the wooden door open.

Matt watched as
Abraham brought up an impressive amount of rose petals. “Vegan
diet?”

Dropping to his
knees, Ghost sighed. “Mixed with ‘roo meat? Doubtful.”

“Huh. Well,
I’ll leave you to attend your splurking cat and put these in the
kitchen.” Matt disappeared.

After cleaning
up the mess and binning the broken vase, Ghost wandered into the
kitchen to find Matt on the back veranda gazing across at the
Mackay house. In one hand he held a light beer, in the other arm
Mort was curled up, his front paws lying limp, his head thrown
back, and bliss on his face as he purred. Max was asleep in a patch
of sunshine on the grass.

Standing beside
Matt, Ghost also peered over at the Mackay house. The garden needed
weeding, the lawn mowing, yet it was a friendly place. Pot plants
lined the cement path to the clothesline.

No fancy bras
were hanging on the line today.

No sooner had
the thought crossed his mind than Matt murmured quietly, “Nice
girls.”

“Huh?”

“Lori and
Ali.”

“Oh, yes. Very
nice.” He glanced at Matt curiously.

“Lori’s kinda
shy, huh?”

“Yep.”

“Huh. So
different to Ali.”

“Very much so,
yet not in other ways.” Lori had certainly never had him wanting to
curl his palm against her equally lush curves.
Stop thinking
about it!

“You know, I
shifted into the house on the other side of theirs four months ago
and while I’ve seen Ali go out on a few dates, I’ve never once seen
Lori get picked up by a bloke,” Matt mused.

“Lori’s rather
shy,” Ghost said. “Not the dating kind.”

“Really?”
Thoughtfully, Matt took a sip of beer. “Not ever?”

“Guess she’s
been out once or twice but it’s never gotten serious. Never lasted
more than one or two dates anyway.” Ghost cut Matt a sharp glance.
“Why the interest?”

Matt shrugged.
“Just curious.”

“About Lori?”
Ghost’s protective instincts rose.

“Seems a shame
that such a nice girl doesn’t date.”

“You thinking
of dating her, Matt?”

Matt just gazed
in silence at the Mackay house.

“’Cause I’m
telling you now,” Ghost said quietly, “I don’t want to see Lori
hurt. Ever. So if you’re thinking of trying to date her, I’m here
to tell you that I’m the brother they never had and I’ll bust any
bloke who hurts Lori
or
Ali. Understand?”

Matt slanted
him a look. “Understood.” A small smile curved his mouth. “You
busted many blokes in regards to Ali?”

Ghost just
grunted.

“Yeah,” Matt
said. “I thought so.”

Before Ghost
think of a reply to that mysterious comment, Matt turned and walked
back into the house, Mort still lying limply in his arm. “Game’s
going to start any minute, Ghost. Let’s get ready to see your team
get thrashed.”

Grinning, Ghost
swung around on his heel and followed Matt inside. “Dream on.” But
he couldn’t resist one last look at the Mackay house where Ali was
getting ready for her date.

Shaking off the
troubled feeling he suddenly had, Ghost joined Matt in taking the
pizza and drinks into the lounge and settling down for the footy
game.

~*~

Sitting at the
kitchen table, Ali watched her sister stagger into the room. Her
nightgown had a picture of a sleepy dog on it with the words ‘Early
Risings Suck’. “Morning, sunshine.”

“That’s
afternoon.” Lori squinted at the clock. “Late afternoon, actually.
More early evening.” She looked at Ali. “You’re dressed nice and
early.”

“I have on my
dress but have yet to do my hair and makeup and put on my
shoes.”

“You look nice,
anyway.” Opening the ‘fridge, Lori surveyed the contents before
drawing out the bottle of apple juice and pouring a glass.

Minx ambled
slowly into the room, and Ali picked her up carefully, putting her
on the chair where the old cat surveyed her kingdom before settling
down in a sphinx pose, patiently waiting for her dinner.

“Have you
noticed anything odd about Ghost?” Ali asked as Lori took the chair
opposite.

Placing the
glass down on the table, Lori raised her brows. “Compared to
what?”

“Compared to
normal.”

“Define normal
when talking about Ghost. This is the man who has figurines of
horror dolls in a glass case.”

“Sent by fans,
he didn’t buy them.”

“Oh yeah? The
zombie figure?”

“Okay, he has a
weakness for zombies. But I mean apart from that.”

“He works at
night and sleeps all day, or most of it. Sometimes. Actually,
sometimes he sleeps a few hours, works, sleeps a few hours. Define
normal.”

Ali crossed her
eyes at Lori and her sister laughed.

“Seriously.”
Ali tapped the table with one finger. “He came over here an hour
ago going on about my thin nightie and being able to see through
it. Weird. He’s seen me in old clothes before.”

“Huh.” Lori
frowned. “Where were you that he could see you walking around in
your nightie?”

“I took Minx
out for a last stroll in the garden before I went to bed this
morning.”

“Got me there.”
Lori’s eyes suddenly widened. “He saw
through
your
nightie?”

“Well, he
couldn’t really see much,” Ali pointed out. “He saw me from his
window. How much could he possibly see?”

“Enough to warn
you.”

They looked at
each other before bolting for the back door, going through it to
look up at his bedroom/writing room window.

“He couldn’t
see much,” Ali argued.

Pursing her
lips, Lori looked from the window to the back yard.

“Could he?” Ali
asked a little uncertainly. Good grief, how much of her had he
seen?

“Um…I don’t
know?” Lori replied.

“You don’t
sound so certain.”

“I’m not.” Lori
folded her arms across her chest. “I guess it depends on how
transparent your nightie was with the light behind it.”

“Oh.” Oh.
Oh
crap
! He’d actually seen her almost naked? Seen her
over-generous curves? Cripes, seeing her in old clothes was one
thing, but seeing her, really seeing her, that was a different
story. No one apart from Lori and her parents had ever actually
seen her fully naked before, and if Ghost had seen her almost…Ali
cringed.

“But he
couldn’t have seen that much,” Lori mused. “Not really. Maybe your
outline, but not, you know, all the crevices and lumps and
bumps.”

Ali glared at
her. “Thanks.”

“Hey, just
saying it like it is.” Lori shrugged and turned back to head
indoors. “You asked me.”

“You could have
left out the lumps and bumps bit.” Ali followed her inside.

Without
answering, Lori took some raw mince from the ‘fridge and placed it
on a saucer before putting it on the floor beside the bowl of fresh
water. Automatically, Ali picked Minx up and set her down in front
of the saucer, where the old cat settled herself a little stiffly
and started eating.

Minx might be
an elderly lady, but she still had the appetite of a cat half her
age.

“So what are
you doing tonight?” Ali asked. “It being your night off?”

“Might go to
the video shop and see if there are any new movies in.” Lori
drained the last of the apple juice from the glass.

“Didn’t Tracy
want you to go to the movies with her?”

“That was
before she got a date,” Lori answered. “Anyway, I don’t really feel
like going out tonight, so a movie and a night in with Minx sounds
just fine. What time are you meeting Chris?”

Ali glanced at
the clock. “Half an hour. Suppose I should get my makeup and shoes
on and do my hair.”

“Good idea.
Once you’re gone, I’ll head out.”

Ali was looking
forward to the night with Chris, he seemed like a nice bloke. On
the way to the café she passed Old Man Parker walking his dog.
Unable to resist, she pulled up in front of him.

Obligingly
coming around to her side of the car, he rested one arm on the
window sill as he peered in. “Evening, Ali. You look pretty.”

“Thanks, Mr
Parker.” She studied his weathered face, managing to keep her own
expressionless. “So, that spirit of the missing woman out at – what
was it called? Screaming Pond?”

His eyes
started to sparkle. “Yep.”

“So, Ghost was
telling me all about it. Is it true you’ve seen it?”

“Yep.” He
nodded vigorously. “Not a nice sight, either. Scared me
witless.”

“Uh-huh. And
you say it shows at the same time most nights?”

“Yep, it surely
does.”

“But you only
saw it once.”

Parker stared
at her before his eyes crinkled at the corners. “You and young
Ghost been up there already, haven’t you?”

“Mr Parker,
with all due respect, I think you’re full of crap.” She grinned
widely at him.

“Oh now, would
I tell tall tales?”

“Wouldn’t
you?”

He winked.
“Have fun?”

“Well, you’d
know, wouldn’t you?” She winked back. “Having seen the spirit and
all.”

Laughing, he
straightened up and stepped back. “Have a nice evening with
Chris.”

Not really
surprised, Ali did a mental eye roll. “What makes you think I’m
meeting someone?”

“Sweetie,
you’re dressed to make a man’s tongue fall out, your hair is all
sophisticated in one of them bun thingies, and Elsa told me.”

Small towns.
Nothing remained a secret for long. Putting the car into gear, she
smiled at him. “Can I give you and Toby a lift somewhere?”

“Nah, Toby and
me are enjoying our nightly constitutional.” He waved at her. “Have
fun.”

“Thanks Mr
Parker. Goodnight.” Checking the traffic, she pulled out onto the
road and continued through the town.

Chris was
waiting for her outside the restaurant, coming forward with a smile
when she parked the car. Opening the door, he took her hand to help
her out, which got her heart beating faster. It was such an old
fashioned, courteous thing to do, and she beamed up at him. “Why,
thank you sir.”

“One must
always be polite to a lady.” He winked. “Especially a pretty
lady.”

Now that had
her a little tongue-tied. She wasn’t used to flattery. The men she
dated – small in number - were everyday men who held open a door –
sometimes – but flowery compliments weren’t something they said
often. Unless they were trying to get into her panties, which
wasn’t really that often, either, to be truthful. And only once had
anyone managed to get into her panties, way back in high school.
Lesson learned the hard way.