GHOST PORTAL (#1 GHOST PORTAL series)

NINE

Inside the EMPLOYEES ONLY corridor, Jessamine took one deep breath, two. Somehow, she'd dragged herself back into the building, but was foggy and flimsy in her movements, and doubted she'd last three seconds out in the shop serving customers. She had half a mind to knock on Chad's door—to the office she had keys to, as assistant manager, but he locked himself in it anyway—and ask him if she could take the rest of the day off. But Chad would look her up and down, ask her if it was "that time of the month", and tell her to deal with it.

She loved working at Common Grounds, but hated Chad.

After fixing her hair—from the employee bathroom mirror she noticed it was matted to her forehead and face, as if she'd just come out of water—and putting on another lather of deodorant, she braved out into the shop, bracing for the worst.

And the worst came in the form of Avery, who hadn't left, to her dismay. He'd been seated with Jamie, huddling over that map again. But as if smelling her entrance, he turned to see her coming in and didn't waste a moment before storming up to her.

She hurried behind the counter before he could get too close—she'd seen his videos, and he could get volatile.

"What?" She snarled at him as he approached and set a curled fist on the counter.

"What?" He snorted. "What, she asks? Are you serious?" His eyebrows, that she'd noticed were bushy but tended to, shot up. "You say something like that and rush off and you expect me to accept it?"

She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. He was the type of guy who'd play with her words, turn them against her, she knew; the less she said, the less she admitted to, the better.

"Avery," said Jamie, bustling over and grabbing one of Avery's shoulders with a big, burly hand. "Dude, leave her alone, okay?"

Avery smacked his hand off, then nudged him with his elbow. He rolled up his sleeves, revealing a few obscure tattoos scrolled across his brown skin; a tableau of flowers and skulls in shades of navy and auburn. Jessamine fixed on the design, intrigued, but also doing her best to avoid Avery's gaze.

"No. You heard what she said; it was a threat, right?" She sensed him staring her down as he pressed his other hand onto the counter, leaning into it, as if about to push it out of the way, to be closer to Jessamine. "You know where the place is and you're protecting it."

Jamie folded his arms, and though he'd seemed ready to speak, he chose not to, keeping to the background. He, too, had a certain confusion about him, an air of conflict in his half-movements, his half-help to give Jessamine space. He peered at Avery, squinted, then at Jessamine, with a brief look that said sorry, but he's right.

"I don't know where it is," said Jessamine, glancing towards the shop door, begging for patrons to come in so she could be busy assisting them instead of facing Avery. Sadly, no one came. The place was mostly empty, but for an elderly couple near the bookshelves, too ensconced in their reading to interfere were things to become worse. "I gave you the wrong impression, but I... it was a scary video, that place spooked me, and I figured it should spook you, too."

"Of course it does!" Avery's voice raised in volume, its intensity reverberating down Jessamine's neck. "But why were you so defensive of it, if you've never been there? Is it because of Amy?" His jaw tightened; she was concentrated on the back of the room, but still she caught his facial muscles contracting and his mouth twitching. "Did you know her? Tell me, because I'm not going to stop nagging you until you do. I'm not fucking around here."

Jessamine's arms were pressed to her side, but she sensed her fists tightening, her shoulders tensing. Her throat was raw, scratchy; she should have taken that water bottle from her mom's car and drained it. Something deep within her—like a growled whisper, a suppressed urge—told her to scream at Avery, to slap him, to ban him from the shop.