GHOST PORTAL (#1 GHOST PORTAL series)

EIGHTEEN

She'd been blunt; too blunt. Avery sat up straight, shoulders squared, his once warm eyes turning cold as they zoned in on her.

"I'm sorry," said Jessamine, reaching over to tentatively pat his arm. She worried he'd recoil, but he didn't, he allowed her to touch him; the contact produced an electric-like fizzle on her finger-pads. "I should have told you about them. Landon, Angela, the others I went on that trip with. They kind of faded from my memory, like they left my life, but... I never heard from them after I woke from my coma. And to be honest, I never cared much until now. They were... bad influences. And to have them gone... it helped me grow up."

She bit her lip and looked into her lap, staring at a few chip crumbs that had stuck to her leggings. If Landon and Angela ventured into that forest and were never found... what did that mean for Amy? And how would Avery react to that?

He'd be angry, she had no doubt. He'd finish his drink and close the bag of chips and put his shoes back on. And he'd leave, too upset that Jessamine hadn't given him this fairly important information until now.

Jessamine didn't want him to leave. He'd started off as a slimy douche with commitment issues who'd pinned her against a counter and forced her to rehash a past she didn't want to, but needed to. But from the moment she'd first seen him, she'd been eerily attracted to him, with no way to explain it. And that attraction was growing harder to resist now, with him sitting beside her, so close she could almost taste him. He was, in his own way, charming; a nerdy, boyish charm combined with a well-built and well-sculpted body—which wasn't hard to imagine, under his tight shirt and tight jeans—and eyes like tropical oceans that were impossible not to drown in.

Jessamine was drowning, and she needed him there to help her float up to the surface.

"I mean, it might be a coincidence, yeah?" She dipped the rim of her cup to her mouth, took a few sips, praying for Avery to say something. He'd gone so quiet, so stiff, she feared he might be about to explode. "For all I know, Landon and Angela are happily married somewhere; or separated and doing their own thing."

With a grunt, Avery stood up, and for an instant Jessamine couldn't breathe, couldn't move, anticipating his departure. But he turned to her, motioned for her glass, and once she handed it to him, he moseyed over to the dining room table.

He set the glasses down, and pressed his hands to the table, letting out a huff. "I told you, I don't believe in coincidences."

He refilled both their cups—Jessamine watched him struggle to open the bottle of red wine, but enjoyed the bulging of his muscles as he groaned in frustration—then returned to the couch.

Clinking their glasses, he stared at her, his expression serious. "If you haven't heard from them, I'd assume something happened to them, or they in fact disappeared, like Amy. Same forest, same house? Not coincidental." He swallowed a few swigs of his drink, and hissed as the mixed liquid trickled down his throat. "Remember when I said I spoke with your co-workers? Well, they never mentioned your friends, which I thought was weird. They all said you didn't have friends."

Jessamine snorted, louring at the crimson red liquid in her cup. "I mean, they're not wrong, but how fucked up of them to assume!" She squinted at Avery over the rim of her glass. "I do have friends, I'm not partying as much, not showing up hungover as heck. Of course, my coworkers noticed the difference."

Avery's tension seemed to ease a tad after another gulp of his drink. His body loosened up, and he fell into the couch cushions with a sigh. "Well, all the more reason to unlock those memories of yours. Who knows," he scoffed, "these guys and Amy might all be together, or captives, or something."