Ghost Handled (Valley Ghosts Series Book 3) Read online

  “Okay, I’m really excited about wha—”

  “Hey, boys, everyone here? Good. I want to hear what you’re up to Wade.” Deidra pushed the door open and walked into the room like she owned the place, before flopping down on the other side of Jimbo. She leaned forward until she could meet Dean’s eyes and they smiled at each other. “What are you waiting for, tell us what’s going on.”

  “Hokay, so, like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted.” He pinned his mom with a hard stare that obviously did nothing to offend her. “We’re going to visit three different haunted places over the course of three nights. Since they’re all outside Sacramento, it doesn’t matter which place we go to first since we’ll be traveling every day.

  “The first place I thought we could go is in Marysville. The Silver Dollar Saloon. The owner has been calling for a while. It sounds like he has a residual haunting, but we’ll see if there isn’t something we can do to make the staff a little less nervous.”

  “Oh god, do I even want to know?”

  “James, you know you’ll love it once you’re there,” Dean said, and squeezed his arm.

  “No, I’m pretty sure I won’t. But I’ll go.”

  “Of course you will,” Deidra said, then motioned for Wade to continue.

  “The next place is a spa in Auburn, it’s in one of the older Victorian buildings. The staff has said they’ve had many instances of odd happenings. But so far no one has made contact.”

  “Residual too?” I asked.

  “I don’t think so, they’ve recently done some renovations and added a few pieces of antique furniture. I’m betting the activity is attached to one of the pieces, or the renovations have stirred it up. We’ll get to the bottom of it. It’s a big space, but not all of it’s being used, and what is there can easily be covered with the four of us.”

  “What’s the next place?”

  “There are a few to choose from. Some are just outside Sacramento. I’ll call them and see which of them is available on such short notice.”

  Dean rubbed his hands together and squirmed in his seat. He looked like a kid about to get away with something he knew he shouldn’t. Jimbo again, groaned. “James, this is gonna be so fun!”

  “Don’t mind him, you boys are going to have a great time.”

  “Thank you, Deidra. He can be so difficult sometimes,” Dean said looking around Jimbo.

  “He is a little stubborn,” she said, leaning around Jimbo to make eye contact.

  “Jimbo, you have no chance against the two of them,” I said, and smiled as sweetly as I could at him.

  “Yep, thanks for that, Jason.” Crossing his arms, he sat back on the couch and ignored all of us as we talked about our plans for the investigations. Deidra put her arm through his and cuddled up to him, but he was having none of it. I could just imagine the talk him and Dean would have later.

  “So, once we know the third location, we’re good to go. Now we just need to organize all our equipment, and decide who’ll be driving.” I looked directly at Wade and he smiled.

  “We’ll figure it out. Just be sure you pack all your toys,” he smirked at me.

  “Oh, I’ll be sure.” I waggled my eyebrows at him, and out of the corner of my eye saw Jimbo’s eyes grow wide, before he covered his face with his hand. Yep, this was going to be fun.

  Chapter Four

  Wade

  Jason was enjoying messing with Jimbo so much, I didn’t mind doing my part. He gave us so much crap on the regular that we took any opportunity to give a little back to him.

  “I’m going to make sure the restaurant is taken care of while we’re gone. We can go back and check on everything each morning. We have it running so smooth now it shouldn’t be a problem,” Dean said, and smiled at Jimbo.

  “We’ve really got it going good there now. Not that it wasn’t before, but with the two of us, it’s smooth as silk.” Jimbo squeezed Dean’s hand, and brought it up to his lips.

  “Aw, you two are so cute,” Mom said, and leaned on Jimbo’s other side.

  “Alrighty then. If you guys don’t mind. I’d like to spend some time with my boyfriend. We can discuss everything in more detail when we decide on the last place. I’ll plot out who will be where, and where we’ll put the cameras and other equipment,” Jason said with a clap.

  Everyone stood and we walked them to the door, and after saying goodbye, finally we were alone. I pulled Jason close to me and held him, just enjoying his warmth and the feel of him in my arms. “Can we just stay right here for a while?”

  “As long as you want, babe. We can stand here all night if you want.”

  I felt his smile against my neck, and pulled him closer. “Maybe not all night. I need to eat.”

  “Yep, I can eat.” He pecked me on the cheek and moved to the kitchen. “I picked up some tacos on the way home from that little place on Auburn.”

  “Did you get me a burrito?”

  “You know it.” He passed me my burrito that was the size of a small loaf of bread, and we sat at the table to eat.

  “So, do you think we need to take sleeping bags, or should we just plan to sleep in the car if one of us gets tired?” I asked.

  “I don’t think we need to take all that, we’ll get there at dusk and leave before dawn. We can come straight home and sleep a few hours before going to the next place.” Jason took a bite of his taco, and I knew he was thinking about all we’d need to take.

  “Where do you think we should go for the third place?” he asked, giving me a serious look.

  “I’m not sure, did you have a few that stood out?” I could think of a few I’d rather stay away from.

  “Yeah, I’m trying to stick with smaller places, so most are houses. There’s even Iceland, which is kinda weird.”

  “Hm, haunted skating rink. That could be fun, or a total pain. I’m not sure we could handle that after two nights in a row. Let’s choose something smaller.”

  “What do you think of the Dorthea Fuentes house? They’ve called a few times. Seems every time they have someone cleanse the house it doesn’t last long.”

  “You think we can do that in one night? There’s a lot of history in that house, and a lot of death.”

  “Yeah, but maybe we need something a little less crazy. How about the bar in Newcastle? I know we’ll be backtracking going that way two nights but it’s not really that far.”

  “How about this, all of us pick a place, and we’ll write them down on paper, put them in a hat, and have Mom choose.”

  “I like it. Makes it a little more like it’s up to chance. So, I’ll make a list of the places who’ve called us, and we’ll choose from them?”

  “Yes, it’s less complicated that way. We know they want us to go already.”

  “I’ll get it together, then we can all choose which ones we’d like to visit. We have a pretty good variety to choose from.”

  “I’m sure Jimbo will appreciate that.” I snickered at the thought of his reaction. If it was up to him, he wouldn’t be choosing any of them. “Dean will pick whichever one is the most active.”

  “And Jimbo will freak out and want to leave.” Jason rubbed his hands together and looked at me with a mischievous grin. “This is gonna be so fun!”

  “Yep, I think I’m already regretting going along with this plan.”

  Chapter Five

  Jason

  “So, everyone has made their choice?” Wade asked as he showed us the clipboard that had the cases we could choose from.

  “Oh yeah, can’t wait. I hope mine gets chosen,” Dean said as he practically bounced on his toes. Jimbo gave him his usual shocked/pissed off expression that Dean met with a smile as he dropped his piece of paper in the ballcap I’d put on the table for Wade’s mom to draw from.

  Wade and I tossed our papers into the hat, and after standing there being dramatic for more than a minute, Jimbo threw his in too.

  Deidra smiled sweetly as she tossed them around to mix up the pi
eces of paper before finally plucking one out.

  “Which one is it?” Dean asked, more than anxious to find out where we’d be going.

  Deidra slowly unwrinkled the paper and smoothed it out before reading.

  “The Gibson House. Is that a good one?” she asked as she looked between all of us.

  “Good for me,” Jimbo said, and slapped me on the back.

  “Hey, fucker, you never know, it might actually be haunted.”

  “Jason, language,” Deidra scolded. “What the fuck do you mean?”

  “Mom, oh my god,” Wade mumbled.

  “It’s not haunted. Well, the owner says it is. But several teams have gone there, and not one has seen anything. It’s a dud.”

  “Why did they call then?” she asked.

  “Because they’re a museum. It might help sell a few more tickets if they have a good story to go with the admission.”

  “Jimbo, you can wipe that grin off your face anytime,” Dean said.

  “Nope, I’m gonna enjoy it as long as I can. The other two places might be haunted but at least I know the last place should be safe.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” Dean kissed him and he ducked his head in such a not-Jimbo way.

  “Aw, James, you two are so stinking cute I can’t stand it. I’m going home, let me know when you need me to do something,” Deidra said as she walked out the door.

  “So, when are we doing this?” Dean asked, as we all moved to the living room to sit.

  “I’m thinking we’ll do Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. That way we don’t have to worry about Dean and Jimbo missing too many days in the restaurant. And, Wade, if you need to you can take Monday off or maybe go in later?”

  “Sounds good, I’ve already talked to the staff and they know we won’t be there those evenings. We can go in during the day and make sure anything we need to do is done,” Dean said, and squeezed Jimbo’s leg.

  “I’ve called everyone, except the Gibson House. We’ll go to the Silver Dollar Saloon around sundown Friday. That way they can close and finish up for the night. The owner doesn’t want to be there when we’re investigating. He said he’s done it a few times and he doesn’t care to witness it again.”

  “Do you want to find out what the other investigators found?” Wade asked.

  “Yes, the owner is sending it to me today. He said there’s a lot of activity, but so far no one has been able to get it to stop. Apparently, if we can make the ghosts tone it down enough that his employees stop leaving, he’d be happy.”

  “So, that just leaves the spa in Auburn.”

  “Yes, The Robie Mansion. It’s willing to close on Saturday so we can get there anytime. There’s mostly been little annoying things. But the employees aren’t comfortable being there alone. One of the girls saw a bottle pumping out lotion on the station behind her while she was working. Others have said every time they leave one room, when they return there’s a puddle of product under any bottle that has a pump.”

  “Weird, a ghost that likes personal care,” Dean said with a grin.

  “They also said the rooms upstairs are not very inviting. That’s where they usually do massage and facials. They say it’s very cold, and you always feel like you’re being watched.”

  “What do we know about the person who built it?” Wade asked.

  “Wendell Robie, he was very instrumental in building Auburn into the city it is today. His family built the home in the late 1800s and lived in it until most of them died. A few of them did die in the house.”

  “Has anyone seen an apparition?”

  “No, it’s very weird. Everything points to it being haunted, but it’s almost like a child is playing pranks on the employees.”

  “Were there any children who died there?”

  “Not that I could find. But like I said, they’ve been doing a lot of renovations, and have added some pieces of antique furniture, so I’m thinking we’ll need to set up cameras and hang back. See if the ghost will play when we’re not in the room.”

  “I thought you said the activity happened when they were there working?” Jimbo asked.

  “Yeah, but the ghost knows them. It sees the same people every day, so it’s not trying to hide from them. It doesn’t know us. And if it’s a little shy, it may not be so willing to show us what it can do.”

  “Jason?”

  “Yeah, babe?”

  “You are so weird, and that is so fucking hot,” Wade said, and once again Jimbo groaned.

  Chapter Six

  Wade

  I hated to admit it in front of everyone, but it really was hot when Jason got all serious ghost hunter. He was so in charge, and a force to be reckoned with. He shot me a look with so much heat, I could feel it like a touch to my skin.

  Jimbo’s groan registered to me in the background, but right then all I could think of was getting everyone out of the house so I could have him to myself.

  “And that’s our cue to leave. Call us tomorrow and let us know what time we should be here Friday,” Dean said as he dragged Jimbo out the door. Jimbo looked back at us and rolled his eyes.

  The door snapped shut, and the room was plunged into silence. Neither of us moved, but both of our breathing sped up. The heat and want between us continued to increase until finally Jason bolted for the bedroom.

  “Hey, wait for me,” I yelled as I ran after him. He threw himself onto the bed, and before he had time to bounce back from the impact, I was on him and pressing him down onto the mattress. “How is it possible to want you more and more every day?” I punctuated the question with several kisses as he pushed up against me.

  “You’d better be naked soon, or I’ll start without you,” he groaned. I wasn’t sure how he thought that was possible since I was on top of him and he was still fully clothed, but I didn’t want to waste more time on not fucking him.

  I lifted up off him enough to run my hands up his sides underneath his shirt; he panted out his excitement but didn’t push me for more—yet. My fingers glided up his ribs and I slowly slid his shirt over his head. Dark pupils met me when he looked up into my eyes.

  “Kiss me,” he whispered, and raised his head slightly. I locked my mouth with his as my hands found the button on his jeans and with dexterity I never possessed before, I unzipped them and slid them down as far as I could. Jason reached behind me and pulled my shirt over my head. And like it was every time since the first time, as soon as our skin touched, we were in a frenzy.

  I wasn’t sure how we got the rest of our clothes off, only that they were gone, and I was slowly pushing into him. The warmth, and the feel of his body beneath mine, made me want to thrust harder, but somehow make it last. I looked down at his beautiful face and slowly ran my hands through his hair that was longer than I’d seen it in years. “I love you, Jason.”

  “I love you too, now fuck me.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I woke up the next morning wrapped around Jason, and not wanting to move. But work called, and I knew the sooner I left, the earlier I’d be home. But I had a few more seconds. I pulled him closer and nuzzled into his neck, inhaling a big breath of his scent. It was never enough, and I doubted it ever would be. “I know we should get up and start the day, but I really don’t want to.”

  “We’ve got time,” Jason whispered, and wiggled even closer.

  “We can start packing and organizing as soon as we get home. Are you okay to call all three of the places or do you want me to take one?”

  “I can call. I want to make sure they know exactly what we’ll be doing. And see if they can give us any additional information. I really don’t expect much from the Gibson place, but who knows.”

  “Dean is so excited he can’t stand it, but I can’t see anyplace being more active than the tunnels were. And hopefully we never deal with another angry spirit like that again.”

  He rolled in my arms to face me. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

  “You said that at The Viney
ard House, and again at The Hitching Post.” I pinned him with a cold stare I should have patented. And when he laughed, it was so hard he had to scoot away from me for room to laugh. I couldn’t hold it against him, not too much anyway.

  “So, after you talk to the owners, I want all the information.”

  He stopped laughing only long enough to nod his head. Dick. But I couldn’t stop myself from tackling him to the bed and kissing him once again.

  After a quick shower and a shove out the door, I was off to work. I didn’t mind it so much. We were busy, and the days usually flew by. If we had investigations booked, they were flexible enough to make it easy for me to help Jason. There was no way in hell I would ever let him go alone on any investigation. No matter how safe it seemed, we’d learned—or at least I had—you could never predict what the spirits would do.

  I made a mental note to ask Janis if she could see anything harmful in our weekend, and if she did, what she recommended to protect us. She’d helped us now on most of our cases. Her psychic instincts and skills were never to be doubted; she’d saved us too many times to count.

  Jimbo was another story. He was much better than he had been on the first few cases, but he still struggled with the worry of the spirits using his spiritual beacon to seek us out. I shook those thoughts and memories from my head and concentrated on driving. Hoping again the day went by fast.

  Chapter Seven

  Jason

  After shoving Wade out the door, I was on the phone with the owner of the Gibson House. “Hello, this is Jason from Running Scared Paranormal. I wanted to check if this weekend was a good time to start our investigation.”

  “Oh, hello, Jason, I’m Molly, the manager. I’ve been expecting your call. I spoke to your mother, and I told her this weekend is perfect. We have no outside events on the calendar, so you’re welcome here anytime.”