Call On Me

by Angela Verdenius

  Ali grinned. “So much more fun. Wait until you hear what the bedroom fairy wears.”

  “Perish the thought.”

  “Oh, come on. I have dimensions in mind and everything.”

  Lori grimaced.

  “You’re no fun.” Ali’s eyes gleamed. “We could guess about the dimensions of a certain neighbour.”

  “Ghost?”

  “Geez, no!” Appalled, Ali screwed up her nose. “That’s just gross. Bite your tongue, you disgusting wench.”

  “Hey, I’m just saying.” Lori took another sip of drink. “You know, I’ve heard some girls discuss his dimensions. They say-” Her words were cut off by the tea towel Ali held being pressed against her mouth. Shoving it aside, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Argh!”

  “Ghost’s dimensions are not to be discussed in here,” Ali said sternly.

  “Actually, they are rather interesting.”

  “No!” Grabbing the wooden spoon, Ali pointed it at her. “No, we are not now, nor ever, discussing Ghost’s anatomy. Ever. Understood?”

  “But-”

  “No!”

  Lori’s eyes twinkled. “You don’t know what you’re missing out on.”

  Ali glared at her. “That’s sick. The man is almost our brother.”

  “Sure. Okay. But still, he isn’t really our brother and the saying amongst the girls is that his di-”

  Sticking her fingers in her ears, Ali started singing loudly, “Lalalalalalala! I can’t hear you! Lalalalala!”

  Grinning, Lori started to say something more, only to stop and look towards the back door. Her cheeks pinkened.

  Oh crap. Fingers still stuck in her ears, Ali swung around to see Ghost standing just inside the door, his quizzical gaze sweeping back and forth between her and Lori.

  Pulling her fingers from her ears, she smiled weakly. Crap crap crap, what had he heard? And why did her gaze suddenly drop to the crotch of his old jeans?

  Chapter 2

  Was Ali staring at his crotch? Ghost glanced down to ensure his fly wasn’t open, but no, it was safely zipped up. Looking back up, he found her smiling at him, her gaze on his eyes.

  He just had to be mistaken. He looked at Lori, her flushed cheeks plain to see. They’d been discussing something that had her a little embarrassed and he wondered what it could be. “Care to share?” He wandered into the kitchen.

  “No.” Ali turned back to the stove.

  “Huh. How about you, Lori?” He took the chair opposite her.

  “Nope.” Lori shook her head, her cheeks flushing even more, her lashes falling to hide her eyes.

  Hmmm. Intriguing. “You know I’ll find out.”

  Ali laughed. “You wish.”

  “I have my ways.”

  “Yeah, right. So, are you set for tonight?”

  “Of course. I’m always set.” Bending down, he carefully scooped Minx up onto his lap, rubbing behind her ears, her purr his reward.

  “I don’t know what you get out of heading into supposedly haunted places,” Lori said.

  “Atmosphere. Chills, thrills. What’s not to love?”

  “Fear?”

  “Fear is thrilling.”

  “No, fear is scary.”

  “Shit your pants scary?”

  “Pretty much.”

  Grinning, Ghost looked at Ali. “You love it.”

  “It has its moments.” She shrugged nonchalantly.

  “Right.”

  “Okay, it’s a bit of fun. Plus I can make sure that nothing happens to you and we’re forced to take in that load of misfit cats you hoard next door.”

  “Hey, those are my family.”

  “They’re hooligans.”

  “I take offence.”

  “There’s the door.”

  “Ohhh, hard words. If you’re going to treat me like that…” He turned his attention to Lori. “How’s work?”

  “Same old, same old.”

  “Huh. You on night shift for long?”

  “For a while.”

  Trying to get information from Lori was like trying to pull teeth. Then again, she’d always been like that. Placing Minx back on the floor, he leaned forward and plucked the can of Diet Coke from her hands. Standing, he swigged leisurely from the can. “So, I’ll come around nine o’clock, Ali.”

  “I knew that already.”

  “You are a hard woman.”

  “Why, thank you.” She dropped her gaze modestly.

  Laughing, Ghost strode across the floor. He’d just made it to the door when she asked, “By the way, what did you want?”

  “Huh?”

  “You came here for something, and it wasn’t to steal Lori’s drink.”

  “True. The stealing was just fun.” He winked at Lori, who rolled her eyes, before switching his gaze to Ali. “I actually came to tell you that Brian has been shooting his mouth off, but don’t worry, he won’t be doing it anymore.”

  She looked seriously at him for several long seconds before saying, “You saw him.”

  “Let’s just say we had a friendly chat and he’s going to watch his mouth from now on.”

  A faint blush appeared in her cheeks. “I can look after myself, Ty.”

  Uh-oh. Ty. Ali was annoyed. Time to tread carefully. However, he’d known her for years and he knew just what verbal mines to avoid stepping on. “Never doubted it. I just heard him talking in front of me and I had a little chat to him.”

  In fact, Brian had been mouthing off about ‘the tease’ he’d dated and dumped the night before, but he’d not managed to say Ali’s name before he saw Ghost step behind the man Brain was talking to, and the threatening scowl levelled over his shoulder.

  He’d said a quick goodbye and hustled out of the supermarket.

  Ghost had been right behind him, managing to neatly side-step him into the little alley beside the supermarket. One growled, “Drag Ali’s name through the mud, arsehole, and you’re history’ pretty much said it all. Brain knew Ghost from school, and Brian, being a coward at heart when it came to taking on someone his own size, much less someone a whole lot bigger and with a lot more muscle, had blustered and bluffed. Ghost’s added growl of “Dumping her on the side of the road just begs a thrashing” had Brian sweating, apologising profusely and scurrying away. Ali’s name was safe. Ghost would have felt better punching the turd’s nose in, but the law frowned upon it. If the world were a better place, then a werewolf would have been waiting at Brian’s house to tear him apart, however, the world wasn’t like his books so he had to take satisfaction in scaring Brain off the old fashioned way.

  Threats.

  When it came to Ali, he’d threatened a few blokes. A couple she knew, most she didn’t, and there was no need for it to be any other way. It had been like that all through high school, so why change now?

  He smiled winningly. “Am I forgiven?”

  “No.”

  “But you still love me.”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “Minx still loves me.”

  “That’s because you rub her ears.”

  “How about if I rub your ears?”

  Ali pointed the wooden spoon at him. “If you don’t want me to box your ears, you’ll make tracks. Now.”

  “Okay.” At the door, he smiled back at her. “But you’ll still bring the snacks, right?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes, I’ll bring some snacks to the scary ghost hunt.”

  Laughing, Ghost left. Jumping the fence easily that divided his house from the Mackay home, he almost fell on top of Abraham, who meowed up at him, disgruntled, as a butterfly he was obviously stalking took off into the air.

  “Oops, sorry.” Lifting up the big tabby, Ghost returned to his house. “Time to come in for the night anyway, old boy.”

  Hanging grumpily over Ghost’s arm, Abraham batted at the dream catcher a fan had sent Ghost and he’d hung on the back veranda. The dream catcher swung in the air but the tabby didn’t get a chance to t
ry again as he was carried inside the kitchen and the security screen shut securely behind him.

  No sooner had Ghost set Abraham on the floor than he straightened to face four other furry feline faces looking at him from various positions around the kitchen. Mort had a breakfast stool, Mauve’s furry bum was firmly parked on the corner of the kitchen bench, Millie sprawled elegantly along the kitchen mat near the sink, and Max was half hanging off the kitchen table with a plastic flower hanging out of his mouth.

  At the sight of Ghost, Max sprang off the table but refused to relinquish the flower. Mauve regarded him disdainfully, clearly not worried at being sprung sitting on the forbidden bench.

  No, she knew who ruled the house, Ghost thought ruefully. But he could still pretend. “Hey, fur ball, off the bench.”

  Her crossed blue eyes surveyed him lazily out of her seal point face.

  “Yes, I’d be aiming that at you, missy.” Ghost walked across the kitchen to her, reaching out to lift her off the forbidden zone, when she pulled her cute act, flopping over onto her side and batting playfully at his hands, all sweet and innocent and look-at-me-I’m-just-a-little-kitty expression. Combined with her brilliant blue, crossed eyes, Ghost was a goner.

  “Pathetic.” He shook his head at himself and his finger at Mauve. “Just make sure you never get on the bench when Mum comes around.”

  Mauve rolled over onto her back and displayed her tummy.

  With a sigh, Ghost gave it a rub.

  Millie did everything but roll her eyes. Max just sat there with the fake flower hanging out of his mouth. Mort ambled over to the cupboard and started yelling demandingly for his tinned food.

  Knowing he’d get no peace until his furry kids were fed, Ghost broke open the tins of food and fed them. Sure enough, he hadn’t even finished toasting a cheese sandwich for himself before they all ambled out of the kitchen to their various haunts in the house, Max retrieving the fake flower from the floor and dragging it through the doorway behind him.

  Rinsing out the five bowls, Ghost left them draining in the rack on the sink and munched on his toasted sandwich. True, it wouldn’t fill him for long, but knowing Ali, she’d have some very tasty snacks packed to bring with them.

  Going upstairs, he checked his email, replied to his agent that yes, his book was on-track, and was, in fact, ahead of schedule, deleted spam, and answered fan mail. Then he indulged in his favourite past-time, searching the internet for new books to read and checking to see if his favourite authors had new books out. Having a huge weakness for creature features, he ordered a couple of zombie and ghost movies, even though he suspected they might not be that particularly good. But hell, he needed something new to watch in the horror line.

  He’d just drag Ali over so he could have the amusement of listening to her moan and groan and watch her roll those pretty green eyes when something particularly corny happened on the screen.

  At ten to nine he locked the house, all the cats safely ensconced inside, and hopping into the panel van, he backed out of his driveway and pulled up in front of the Mackay’s garage. Ali was already waiting at the front door with an esky at her feet.

  “Girl, I love you.” Jumping onto the veranda, he picked up the esky.

  “Are you talking to me or the esky?” Ali queried dryly.

  Lovingly, he ran his hands over the sides of the esky. “What do you think?”

  “Do you want some time alone with it?”

  “I’ll content myself with loving caresses.”

  “Pervert.”

  “Jealous.”

  Shaking her head, Ali followed him to the van, opening the passenger door and sliding inside while he put the esky into the back.

  Coming around, he slid behind the steering wheel, started the car and flashed Ali a grin. “Ready to ghost hunt?”

  “Abso-freakin’lutely.” Her eyes sparkled.

  Oh yeah, Ali might like to tease him about chasing ghosts but she loved it as much as he. However, while he loved the mystery and the unknown, she loved the thrills and chills.

  To be truthful, he got inspiration from ghost hunts, going through old, abandoned buildings with a torch, waiting by a deserted road for a phantom truck or hitchhiker, most of which he’d never really discovered.

  There had been a couple of times he’d felt a chill, his hair had risen on his neck, and his breath once had actually fogged before him on a warm night, but that had been it.

  Ali swore she saw ghost and things moving every time she was with him. He quite unashamedly used her reactions in his books, to her pretended annoyance.

  It wasn’t long before they were on the highway, the only way in and out of the small town he loved and had called home since he was born.

  Ali leaned forward in the seat to fiddle with the radio. He glanced at her, taking in the stretch jeans she wore on these outings, along with sturdy sneakers. Her t-shirt was short-sleeved, her rounded upper arms softly pale against the darker material. The thick hair was pulled up on her head in some kind of messy bun he liked, mainly because little wisps fell down to dance around her apple cheeks, one long curl caressing the corner of her lips.

  The scent she wore tickled his senses. “I like that scent. What is it?”

  “Panache. It’s a Yardley brand.”

  “Nice. I think ghosts are drawn to it, too.”

  “Then you owe me.”

  He cut her a look. “How do you figure that?”

  “If I finally bring a ghost to the fore for you to see, then you can buy me more of this perfume. My ghost hunting fee.”

  “Hey, I’m paying for the petrol and you have the pleasure of my company.”

  “Dubious at best.”

  “Goodness me, we are a little temperamental tonight. You’ll scare the ghosts away.”

  “Do you want me to switch this radio to opera music?”

  He shuddered. “Please. We need ghost hunting music.”

  “Rock it is, then.” Deftly she dialled and soft rock music filled the cabin.

  “That’s not Guns’n’Roses,” Ghost objected.

  “No, it’s Bonny Tyler.”

  “Oh, well then, that’s all right.”

  Smiling, Ali settled back in the seat.

  The next hour stretched in companionable silence as they each drifted in their own thoughts, but hunger pangs finally made themselves known and Ghost cast Ali a hopeful look. “I don’t suppose…?”

  Lifting her hips, Ali dug around in her pocket and withdraw a little plastic container. “Tic Tac?”

  “Are you kidding me?” He looked at her in horror.

  Smirking, she dug in her other hip pocket before bringing forth a little packet. “Juicy Fruit gum?”

  “If you don’t produce something decent to eat in the next two minutes, I’m dumping your arse on the road.”

  “Touchy.” Leaning forward again, she opened the glove box and rustled around inside it. Straightening, she held up a Mars Bar. “Will this do?”

  “Oh baby, yes!”

  Ripping it open, she handed it to him. Biting down with relish, he sighed happily.

  “You know, if I ate like you, I’d be the size of a house,” she said.

  A glance down showed her hands empty. “Didn’t you bring one for yourself?”

  She rustled around in the glove box and withdrew a little plastic bag. Reaching in, she took out a thin biscuit. “I’m fine.”

  The woman was unbelievable. Plucking it from her fingers, he tasted it. Ugh. Some health cracker. “This tastes like shit, Ali.”

  “No it doesn’t. It’s yummy.”

  “How can anything this thin and wheat tasting be yummy?”

  “Hey, you eat your heart attack snack and I’ll eat my healthy heart snack.”

  “I’m almost having a heart attack watching you eat it.”

  “So don’t watch.”

  He had a sudden thought. “You’re not dieting again, are you?”

  Almost instantly she was on the defensive. “W
hy? Are you saying I need to?”

  “What? No!”

  “Then why ask?”

  “Because of the health thing.”

  “I eat healthily, Ty.”

  Oops. “Okay.”

  “I do!”

  “I said okay.”

  Arms folded across her ample chest, Ali glowered out the side window.

  Ghost sighed. “I’m sorry, honey, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “I’m not upset.”

  Well, she certainly wasn’t happy and he knew why. Ali could be very touchy about her weight, depending on the circumstances, and obviously her date and the outcome with Brian had made her touchy.

  Glancing from the road to her and back again, Ghost reached across the space dividing them and nudged her shoulder with the back of his hand. “Um…Ali?”

  “What?”

  “Can we be friends again?”

  He could feel her glance at him.

  “Because there’s a fog in here right now and I don’t think it’s from the presence of a spook.”

  A laugh escaped her before she could stop it. “You arse.”

  “I know. But you love me anyway, right?”

  “Just for this, next time I call on you for help, you keep your mouth shut and just pick me up.”

  He smiled. “Agreed.”

  There was silence for a heartbeat before she stated, “Liar.”

  “I swear.” He shot his hand up in a Boy Scout salute.

  “You’re still a liar.”

  “I’m hurt.” Glad to hear the amusement in her voice once again, Ghost relaxed.

  That was the thing with Ali – if she wasn’t happy, neither was he. They got on so well together, sharing good times and bad over the years, that he felt a responsibility towards her that was more than just close friends. He loved seeing her smile and laugh, hated seeing her unhappy or crying. Their closeness meant he knew when she was unhappy, regardless of what she said.

  It was rather like being a personal forecaster to her moods. Interesting, he hadn’t thought about that before and he glanced sideways at her, this time curiously. Didn’t most good friends, even best friends, grow apart with time, or at least move on with their lives? Did they ever really stay close?

  Maybe it was because they lived beside each other, had done since the Mackay sisters had moved into the house ten years before when their parents had died and they‘d come to live with their grandmother. After she’d died five years ago, the sisters had continued living there and he’d been so glad. Yeah, he was good friends with Ali at school, but since she’d come to live next door they’d become even closer. He hated to see that vanish if she ever chose to leave.