Haunted (4 page)

Quinn’s head jerked up.

“Shh.” Virginia lifted a hand and gripped her friend’s elbow to lead her out of the room.

Daphne’s heels dug into the worn blue carpeting. “Are you trying to live out your teenage wet dreams for Quinn? Because no matter how erect and mammoth, ghost penis is kinda creepy.”

The horny ghost in question floated between them with a near manic expression. “I can have sex?” Eyes heavenward, Virginia groaned.

“What? It’s a legitimate question where you’re concerned. What if you got knocked up by Casper? Who wants to give birth to the devil?”

Virginia wanted to scream at her friend, but managed to keep her voice even. “What?”

“Ugh, don’t you watch horror movies?”

“Daphne, please stop.” Virginia motioned toward Quinn with her eyes and tilted her chin in his direction. “And close the door.”

“Oh oh oh. Is he here? Where is he?” Daphne bounced in excitement as the door closed behind her.

“Yes. He just sat down on the bed.”

“Oh, that’s amazing.” Her nose crinkled. “Could you really have sex with him?”

“Sort of. But it’s not what you think. Most members of the occult agree that sexual relations between two consenting adults is powerful. In fact, some speculate it creates a special kind of energy. There isn’t much known about how this energy impacts the spirit world, but based on what Quinn told me, I think it makes him stronger and able to exercise a greater degree of influence on his environment.”

Quinn no longer watched them, but stared past Virginia with unfocused eyes.

“That’s all well and good, but how’s it going to help?”

“He died in a state of extreme sexual arousal. I’m pretty sure he needs to satisfy himself to move on to the next plane of existence.”

“So in normal people speak, what you’re saying is he needs to come?”

Virginia nodded. “Yeah, I think an orgasm would do it.”

“And he can’t wrestle the one-eyed trouser snake all by his lonesome?” Daphne pumped her fisted hand.

A muffled groan came from the vicinity of the bed.

“No, he can’t touch himself.”

Daphne’s lips twisted, and she nodded. “That would make things tough.”

“Here’s what I think. If he absorbs enough energy, he could possibly become substantial enough to…” The smirk returned to Daphne’s face, and Quinn’s attention was once again focused on the two women. Virginia squared her shoulders. “To come. There’s a special ceremony that may generate enough energy.”

“Ah, come on. I have to watch you have sex with Jake again?”

Daphne beamed at Virginia. “Ah-ha, this is a ploy to sex up Jake. Nice. I bet there is a wild man under that nerd disguise he has going on.”

“Why don’t you tell your friend that you already ‘sexed’ my friend up plenty last night?” Quinn walked away with a scowl.

Heat rose to Virginia’s cheeks.

“You’re blushing.” Daphne pointed at Virginia. “You already slept with him. Didn’t you?”

She nodded.

“Oh, tell me more. Is he big all over? I bet he has a lovely ass under all that khaki.”

“Yeah, his body was a-ma-zing, and his cock…” Virginia licked her lips, unable to think of a word that did that particular part of his anatomy justice.

Quinn tried to slam his hands over his ears but they passed through his skull.

Daphne fell to the bed with a dreamy sigh. “I knew it. It’s always the quiet ones. So, what’s the problem? You don’t look like a woman who spent the night being pleasured by an indescribable hunk of man meat. No, sweetie, you resemble someone who had their favorite toy taken from them.”

Virginia plopped down on the bed and dropped her forehead onto Daphne’s shoulder. “The sex wasn’t the problem. It was the morning after.”

Daphne rolled her eyes. “What? Didn’t he want to snuggle?”

“Well, I thought he did. I kind of passed out on top of him. It was when I woke up.” She paused to gauge her friend’s response, but Daphne only stared back. “He crept out of bed while I was asleep. Later, when he came back, he acted like he thought my vagina would attack him.”

Daphne’s eyes narrowed. “He told you he wasn’t interested?”

“Well, no.”

With a dismissive wave of her hand, Daphne stood. “Then, what the hell is your problem? When he gets back, stick your tongue in his mouth. He’ll push you away or onto the bed. Either way you’ll have your answer.”

“No more.” By now Quinn glowered in the corner amongst the discarded linens.

Because the moment wasn’t awkward enough, Jake charged into the room and stopped just shy of crashing into Daphne. With a mumbled sorry, he stared at the two women.

Daphne winked. “Hey, big guy.”

Virginia’s face started to burn, but Jake only blinked twice before rushing past Daphne. He set two bags of yummy-smelling takeout onto the shabby table.

“Well, on that note, I’ve got to go. If you need anything else, let me know.” She pressed the thumb drive into Virginia’s palm and grinned. “Have fun.”

Daphne gone, a frazzled Jake doled out food. How on earth would she be able to talk him into participating in a tantric sex type ritual?

* * *

Three hours of driving around town and Jake still didn’t have a better handle on last night. First, Virginia acted like they never slept together, and then the first thing out of her mouth was about Quinn being involved in whatever she did remember. Even dead, Quinn got all the girls.

“Listen, I think we need to talk about last night.” He pushed one bag across the table and noticed a tablet underneath. Drawn in a neat hand, a figure labeled
Quinn
was encircled in light wavy lines. On the opposite side, Virginia had drawn a picture of two nude figures embracing. Much darker lines were drawn in waves that surrounded the couple. The caption underneath contained both his and her names along with the words shiva and shakti.

Before he could read the bulleted lists below the anatomically correct drawings, she swept the tablet away. “What about last night?”

He scrubbed his hand against his chin. A light stubble had already formed. “What’s that?” She stared down at the tablet. The paper crinkled under her grip. “Well, I’m waiting.”

“Can I sit down?” she asked. He threw himself down into the blue chair positioned against the far wall. “It’s simple really.” She perched on the edge of her own chair and placed the notebook in front of him. “I know what happened to your friend.”

“What do you mean? He died. That was never in question.” He reached into the bag and pulled out a container of Mongolian beef.

“Yes, I know he passed away. I mean after. The reason his spirit is lingering in this awful room.” She glanced toward the bed and scowled.

“Go on.” Jake suppressed the urge to ask what else disgusted her besides the room, but he’d brought her here to help Quinn. It was time to put his feelings aside about last night and get down to business.

“When he died, Quinn had unresolved business.”

Jake pointed to the drawings. “Unresolved business that involves us sleeping together
again
?” She winced and near guilt hit him. “Listen, I didn’t --”

“No, no, I understand. This is a very strange situation. I know last night didn’t mean anything.”

A coldness spread over him. He pushed his untouched food away.

With a groan, she swatted the empty air to her left. “Stop it. I’m getting to it.”

“I presume Quinn is here?”

“Yes, he’s been here the whole time.”

“The whole time.” He nodded and fought back queasiness at that little revelation. Quinn laughing at him over his clueless way with girls, like always. “Okay. So what do we need to do?” At least this would give him closure.

“I need to research a little more, but the bare bones version is that we need to combine our energies via a sexual ritual based on Tantra teachings. This should allow Quinn’s physical form to become dense enough to permit him to address his unresolved issue.”

“In English, please.”

“You and I need to have sex for as long as possible to generate sufficient energy for him to become solid enough to have an orgasm.”

“Excuse me?” Jake’s mouth gaped.

“He died, unsatisfied.” Virginia cringed against the back of her chair.

“Ah. So, my dead best friend is going to watch us fuck until he comes?” And his day somehow got worse.

She bit her bottom lip and frowned. “Pretty much.”

Thumb tapping against his lips, he blew out a big breath. “When?’”

“I can be ready by tonight.”

“Anything you need from me before then?”

“I have some things you could read. Techniques for prolonging the sex act. It’s okay if I come, but you can’t.”

He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. Not only had last night meant nothing to her, but it was so bad she thought he needed to read a book before they did it again. He opened his eyes and surveyed the room. Was his friend really here? He shivered. The whole situation gave him the heebie-jeebies, but if it helped Quinn, he would do it. Worst case, he got to have sex all night with a beautiful woman. “Okay, I’m game.”

Virginia had spent the day reading about different theories and practices related to sex magick. While nothing she found explained what had happened last night, the thought of Jake naked and hers for an entire evening gave her the shivers. She wanted more of him.

An hour ago, she’d sent him out to buy candles and other supplies. There was no real need for any of the items, other than the fact that the poor man had wound himself into such a bundle of nerves, he needed something to do.

Quinn remained quiet after his friend left the room. Almost thirty minutes later, he asked, “Do you really think this will work?”

“How did you feel after last night?” She closed her laptop and turned to face the spirit who sat on the edge of the bed tapping his fingers against the side of his legs.

His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Did you feel weaker, like after you possessed those couples, or stronger?”

“I don’t know if I would say stronger. It was different, electric, but it didn’t leave me weaker.”

“Good. I want you to keep close to me and Jake tonight. Okay?”

“Do I have to?” The whine in his voice grated on her nerves. She’d probably freaked out and ruined her chances with Jake, the first man to interest her in over a year, and Quinn was being pouty. Men could be such babies.

With all the patience she could muster, she explained in a low tone, “When a man and a woman have sex their unique energies join and sometimes a new type of energy is generated. That’s what I believe gave you the ‘electric’ feeling.”

His lips twisted. “I guess.”

“Listen. I am no expert, but whatever happened to you wasn’t normal. By all rights, it shouldn’t have happened at all.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I don’t practice magic, and Jake wouldn’t know the difference between a cauldron and a Crock-Pot, but we did something that most people have to work years to achieve. I’ve been all through these books and there’s no explanation for it.” She stood and moved toward where he rested on the bed. “We shouldn’t have affected you any more than the other couples who stayed in this room.”

Quinn angled his body in her direction. “So, you can’t help me?”

“We can try, but I won’t promise anything. Last night may have been a fluke.”

They stared at each other wearing matching frowns.

A knock sounded at the door, and Quinn shook his head and backed away. Seconds later, Jake entered the room carrying a canvas grocery bag. “Hey.” He set the bag down on the table and scanned the room.

She stepped in front of him. “Is everything okay?”

She took the candles from him and positioned them around the room, one in each corner. Jake shut the door, but kept to the far wall. When she pulled out the box of condoms, he looked away. “What’s the matter?” She set the box down on the nightstand.

“I don’t know if I can do this.”

One by one, she lit the candles, waiting for more of an explanation. None came. “Do you find me attractive?”

Silence. In the middle of the room, she faced Jake. As he looked at her, she lifted her hand to the belt of her white wrap dress. The clingy dress fell open with a single tug. A shrug of her shoulders and it slithered to the floor. Underneath she wore a matching bra and panties. The flimsy white lace hid little. His face softened as he studied her bared flesh.

“You know I do.” His voice sounded wounded as if she’d slapped him.

A few steps later, she stood before him with her hands on his chest. “I’m glad, because I find you attractive too.” She ran her fingers up his chest to the top of his pinstriped shirt and undid the top button. His breathing picked up, but she could tell he wasn’t quite there yet. She stifled a smile at the white T-shirt featuring yet another cartooned superhero. On her tiptoes, she slid her hands under his dress shirt and pushed it past his broad shoulders. “Even without this mess involving Quinn, I would want to be with you.”

“I know what you’re after.” His hands cupped her breasts, and his thumbs circled her aching nipples. Was he even aware of what he was doing with his hands?

Eager to see him naked with the lights on, she brushed his hands away to untuck the white undershirt. He pulled the shirt off and tossed it aside. “That’s good. I’d hate to have to do this alone, or is that what you want? To watch me?”

His eyebrows shot up. “I wouldn’t say no.”

With fingers hooked in the waistband of his slacks, she led him to the bed, but left him standing beside it. She slid onto the mattress. With her back against the headboard, she pushed her hand into her panties and spread her legs. Jake stared down at her, while his big dick strained against the front of his stuffy trousers. The sight provided her with plenty of inspiration.

She brushed her fingers against the side of her clit, and she bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out. A little more pressure and a low moan escaped.

Quinn stood beside Jake. His hand tried and failed to stroke his own erection. “Damn, woman. Take those panties off.”

Eyes fixed on Jake, she asked, “You want me to take them off?”