Ghost Walk

Part 2

He waits for a beat. When I don't finish my sentence, he glances down at himself like he's trying to spot a stain. My gaze travels down with him, and the shirt is spotless. The only thing on display are the ridges of his abs which the thin jersey cotton hugs like a second skin

"Yeah, I'm wearing it," he agrees mildly.

I bite down on my tongue so I don't accidentally spew out something else embarrassing about how it looks painted on. "Sorry," I mutter, "I should say thank you ... uh ..."

He reaches out with his free hand to catch a block of post-its that slides off my pile of textbooks. "I'm Kai. What's your name?" Yes, that's the question a normal, sane person would ask.

"Blaze," I reply, clearing my throat.

"Blaze? As in..."

"As in a fire." My grandmother picked the name and I guess it sounded better in Japanese in her head. The direct translation? Kinda douchey. But I try to own it anyway.

"Right." Kai says it slowly, eyes raking over me like he's trying to reconcile 'fire' with my generally not-fiery appearance. "Well, Blaze. The tour's probably already at Fort Street Mall, so we'd better catch up to them."

"Oh, yeah." I glance down at my armful of books and the collapsed bag still hanging from my shoulders. "Guess I'm not taking any notes tonight."

"I take it you don't have a car nearby."

"Your skills of deduction are top-notch," I tell him. Then I wince. "Sorry, didn't mean to be snappy. I really need to ace this assignment and this was my best lead for a Fall-themed article."

He glances in the direction our tour went, like he can still spot them from here. Then he nods down at the pile I'm cradling in my arms. "Hand them over. My car's not far from here. You can pick everything up on our way back."

"Uh. It's fine. I can..." Except I don't know what I can do. Beg the tour guide to email me his tour notes? Yeah, probably not gonna happen.

"If you're not comfortable—"

"No. I mean. Yes, thank you. Which way's your car?"

Kai shakes his head, still holding out his arms for the rest of my books. "You need the tour for an assignment, right? Go on ahead. I'll drop these off and catch up with you."

I mumble another heartfelt thanks and hand over the books, only hanging onto my notepad and a pen. I swing my ruined bag back, though it feels weird and off-balance over my shoulder now that it's mostly empty. "Be careful with those? I had to order a couple since the bookstore was out."

His lips twitch into another smile which makes my stomach twist with arousal. "I promise not to run off and hawk your textbooks on eBay. Scout's honor."

"I didn't think you were going to do that."

"Just drop them in a random puddle or something?" he teases.

"Maybe," I say with a chuckle. "Um. Thanks for this, man. I'll go on ahead."

"Yeah, see you soon." His dark eyes are trained on me as he speaks; the words seep into my skin like heat from a sunburn even in the cool October evening.

Calm the fuck down, he didn't mean see you see you.

I clear my throat again. "See ya."

He turns and starts toward the way we came. I take a moment to admire the curve of his ass which shows through his dark jeans as he moves. Wow, getting up at ass o'clock really has its perks. When Kai disappears around a corner, I turn and break into a sprint to catch up with the tour group.

This part of downtown Honolulu is pretty much deserted this late at night. Even the McDonald's by the crosswalk is closed. The street lamps are all lit, but Fort Street still feels eerily dark with all the businesses closed and locked for the night.

I think I spot the tour group congregating by the steps of the church towards the end of the street so I'm quickening my pace to get to them when someone calls out to me: "You doing okay, buddy?"

A man steps out of the shadows from one of the buildings, the silver badge of his black security guard's uniform flashing in the lamp light. I give him a reassuring smile and note with amusement that the orange accents on his uniform must earn him a lot of jokes about being Halloween-ready.

"Hey, man. Didn't know there was any security stationed here." I haven't seen the uniform around during the day, but I'm usually fairly distracted trying to get to and from classes.

"It can be dangerous here at night, especially for the frailer pedestrians," he says. The tree overhead casts dark shadows across his face. "Do you need me to walk you to your car?"

I don't know whether I should bristle at his implication that I'm frail or be touched that he's offering. "You're a sweetie, but I'm okay. I can take care of myself." At least, I'm pretty sure I can. All those years in Tae Kwon Do had to have paid off, right? I glance away from him to squint at the group in the distance, still paused for a moment by the church. "I'm just meeting up with my tour gr..."

I trail off, blinking at the empty spot in front of me where the security guard was standing not two seconds ago. My heart beats fast as I whirl around, searching in all directions for him. The tour group are still up ahead, but there's no one else on the entire street but me. The security guard is gone, vanished in an instant. A chill races up my spine and goosebumps rise on my arms. What. The. Hell.

I jump and yelp when something solid lands on my shoulder. A hand.

"Whoa. Blaze. You okay?" Relief at hearing Kai's voice almost causes me to lose balance as I spin around to face him, half-expecting to see the security guard staring at me over his shoulder or something. But there's just Kai, regarding me with a worried expression. That doesn't stop a second tingle from running up my spine.

"Holy shit! I think I just saw a ghost."

Kai raises an eyebrow at me, and his mouth curves into a half-smile. "For real?"

"For real. This security guard came out of nowhere to ask me if I needed him to walk me to my car and then—"

"He offered to walk you to your car? Was he flirting with you or something?"

I frown. "Maybe? He did imply I was like, frail, and needed protection. I thought he was being an ass but maybe it was a come on? Oh my god ..." I rub my eyes. "I can't believe it. First time a guy's been interested in me for months and it's a fucking ghost." Just my luck.

When I look up at Kai, he's biting his bottom lip like he's trying to hold back laughter.

"Go ahead. Laugh. Tell me I'm crazy."

Kai shakes his head resolutely and claps me on the shoulder. "Nah. If you think you saw a flirty ghost, you saw a flirty ghost. Weirder things have happened."

"To who?" I challenge.

Kai shrugs. "I'm sure there's someone out there. Come on—let's rejoin the group. I promise to protect you from any other ghosts who want to have their way with you."

"Hey, I'll hold you to that," I snicker.