“No, I’m coming with you to the party.” He places his bottle on the coffee table.
My stomach turns at the thought of Alek, Finn, and a houseful of happy ghost hunters. “I didn’t think you were going?”
Alek picks my phone up from beside the bottle and holds it out to me. “I wasn’t going to, but it appears your Reaper will be there.”
“What the... Alek, how dare you!” I snatch the phone from him. I’ve had a few texts from Finn asking if I was okay since our talk. “What are you doing reading my messages?”
“What are you doing sneaking round with him?” he demands.
“I am not sneaking!”
“You know he can’t touch you, right?” Alek’s arms are folded tightly across his chest; normally he’d approach me and touch me.
“Are you jealous? Do you think I want him to or something?”
Alek snorts. “As if. I’m pissed off with you putting yourself in danger, that’s all.”
“Danger from what? Dying properly so I’m not stuck in this weird life?”
“You can’t die!” snaps Alek. “You’ll end up stuck, which is worse than this. The only way to die is...” he pauses. “You can’t die.”
“What? Tell me what you mean! How?”
Alek’s face darkens and he shakes his head as if shaking a thought away. “You can lose your existence, but your soul will always be lost. That’s why we need each other.” He approaches me, holding out a hand. “I need you, Rose,” he says softly as he winds my long hair around his hand. “And you need me.”
I brace myself for one of Alek’s hungry kisses, ready to resist. Instead, he presses his lips softly to mine and rubs his nose against my cheek. This intimate, almost-loving gesture takes me by surprise and has the opposite effect to what I intended.
Any attempt to fight against what connects and sparks between us is useless. Anger with him is washed away, and for the first time, how terrifying this is strikes me. I don’t want to need someone or be needed. However good this feels, or amazing the sex, I will always struggle with having choices made for me. How can I be strong, as Finn says, if I depend on Alek?
Alek slides his hand down my back and pulls me closer, his body fusing to mine as if we were always meant to fit together. He nudges his face into my hair. “Come on, I promise not to attack anyone. Even Finn.”
***
The noise from Tom’s house carries toward us as I walk down the street with a hunched Alek. His arm is wrapped protectively around my shoulders, and he rubs a thumb along my neck. I shift away.
When we arrive, I’m surprised by the number of guests; I didn’t take Tom as the popular kind. A lot of them look like students. There’re one or two faces I recognise from the hospital; colleagues of Tom’s, I suppose. Tom greets me like his best friend and introduces me proudly to anybody who cares. Not many do, but I expected that. He and Alek exchange short greetings.
“I’m glad there are plenty of people here,” Alek says, close to my ear, and then disappears into the kitchen. He bumps into a girl in the doorway, and he puts a hand on her arm to get by. An unfamiliar feeling grips me at the sight of Alek touching someone else. Jealousy. The blonde-haired girl steps away from him and rubs her arm, but she watches him walk into the kitchen. As he disappears from sight, she rushes to another girl and whispers something. The girl cranes her neck for a view of Alek.
If only they knew. I turn back to Tom. Alek returns and skulks in the corner of the lounge, beer bottle attached as usual. The loud music makes conversation difficult, and I’m amused when Tom decides to turn it down. Alek watches and after his talk of ‘need’ before, the intensity of his gaze unnerves me. I’m confused and unhappy; being at a party with people my own age sharply focuses my new reality.
As I talk to Tom, I notice Grace come downstairs. The sudden realisation Alek doesn’t know Grace is connected to Tom has me excuse myself and head over to him. Alek’s already seen Grace and now he’s gripping his bottle, staring as if she’s the ghost.
“What the fuck?” he growls.
Worried he’ll get angry with Grace, I hang around as she approaches.
“Hey, Alek, how’re things?” There’s no apprehension in her warm welcome, which appears to disarm Alek.
“How do you know Tom?” he asks. I place a hand on Alek’s arm, hoping to calm him.
“I live here.”
Alek drags a hand through his hair. “Are you a ghostbuster, too? Did you know about me when you lived at the house?”
Grace nods. “Not the nicest place to live. I couldn’t stand all the ghosts.”
“Why didn’t you bring your equipment to kill them?” he asks snidely.
Grace shakes her head at him and walks off. I laugh. “I guess she lived with you long enough to avoid your bad moods.”
Alek mutters something under his breath. “I can’t deal with this shit. Want another beer?”
I hold up the bottle I’m holding. “I don’t drink as quickly as you.”