With that exclamation she threw her arms around my neck and pure instinct took control over me yet again, my arms wrapped around her waist. In what now felt like déjà vu, her soft curves molded against me as if that’s what they were made to do. My fingers tightened and I heard her intake a small huff of breath before she released her hold and sped back across the bar to her two partners in crime.
I sank back onto my heels and pivoted towards the heavy wood door. As I stepped into the crisp, Texas night air I closed my eyes and shook my head, trying to erase the lasting effects of our close encounter like a mental Etch A Sketch, but it backfired in a big way. Instead of clearing my head, it only magnified my other senses. Like a phantom limb, I felt the sensation of Harmony in my arms, her body pressed against mine. I could still smell the flowery, fruity scent of her hair like my face was nuzzled in the crook of her slender neck. I could still hear the soft sounds of her heavy breath panting against my chest.
My eyes flew open as a realization hit me like a Mack truck. In that moment I knew my sanity was the last thing I needed to worry about losing…my heart, on the other hand, was in serious danger.
Chapter 5
Harmony
“It’s better to arrive late than to arrive ugly.”
~ Loretta Reed
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mumbled as I pressed the brake pedal and lifted my sunglasses to the top of my head. I dipped my chin so I could see the entire property through my windshield, squinting, thanks to the bright morning sun.
My eyes scanned the four numbers on the post in front of the driveway. Twelve-Six-Zero-Two Emerald Cove Way, I silently read the address for the third time.
This could not be the place. Creepy didn’t even come close to describing what I was looking at. It had horror movie written all over it.
If I believed in ghosts (which…I kind of did), I would be sure this was their headquarters. And I’m not talking about Casper and his friends. No, this would be the place for The Grudge, The Conjuring or The Ring kinda poltergeists.
Three dilapidated buildings were scattered across what I figured, just from eyeballing it, had to be at least twenty acres of land. The first structure was the biggest in size, and it boasted a wraparound porch with a set of wooden steps leading up to it that I wouldn’t set a pinky toe on out of fear it would give way. Every window on the place was boarded up and there was either a layer of dust so thick that it had turned white or the entire thing was covered in spider webs. Either way, yuck.
From my vantage point I wasn’t really able to make out any detail on the other two buildings as they were tucked away in the back of the property and surrounded by dense trees and overgrown grass and weeds. I seriously doubted that they would be in any better shape. If I had to guess, I would say that one was a barn and the other was a bunkhouse of some sort.
The scene in front of me was sketchy enough on its own, but the fact that I didn’t see another soul, alive or dead, nor any vehicles made it terrifying. I was beginning to think I must’ve gotten the wrong address. There was no way Hud could’ve meant this place, unless he was joking. But, a small voice in the back of my head reminded me that Hudson Reed didn’t make mistakes and he wasn’t known for his pranks, especially when it came to anything having to do with his role as an officer of the law.
A shiver ran down my spine as the wind kicked up. A few tree limbs tapped against the side of the broken-down farmhouse, and the urge for me to put my car back in drive, flip a U-ey, and floor it screamed at me so loudly I nearly dropped everything and listened to it.
As much as I liked to play up my tough-girl reputation, the truth was, deep down I was a big ol’ scaredy cat. I’d never been able to watch scary movies, and forget about psychological thrillers. No. Thank. You. Just seeing the commercials for It Follows had given me nightmares for weeks. I never understood how or why people considered being scared entertainment. It wasn’t fun. It was horrible, scarring, and traumatic.
A shadow danced a menacing jig across the front porch of the house.
Yeah, leaving sounded better by the second.
“What do you think?” I turned to the sleeping black lab on my passenger seat, who happened to be the only thing stopping me from putting this place in the rearview. If I’d left Romeo at home and shown up solo this morning, there was no way I would still be here.
I’d already been halfway up to Emerald Cove when I’d turned around and gone back to get him. I wasn’t sure how long I’d be here today, and I didn’t want him home alone. I may have changed my clothes once (or three times) when I’d stopped back by the house, just in case Hud happened to stop by and check on my “manual labor.” But even the promise of Hud seeing me in my faded, form-fitting blue jeans was not enough to tip the scales towards staying.
“Should we get the hell out of here?”
A heavy sigh as he repositioned himself so that his nose was tucked closer to his tail was the only response I got.