Her father fell silent for a moment, miracle of miracles. But she paid in spades.
“Don’t you ever raise your voice to me, young lady!”
“I didn’t raise—”
“And now you’re talking back to me! You should drop to your knees and pray!”
Kal tried to loosen her grip on the phone before she crushed it. “Daddy, I’ve got another call coming in. I’m sorry, it’s work. I need to go. Love you!” She hung up, her body trembling, hating herself for the lie.
Sorry God. Hope You understand.
Despite how being around Will Hellenboek drove her…well, to hell and back, if she had to choose between Tampa or Columbus, she’d choose Tampa and Will. The lesser of two evils.
Does that make me a horrible daughter?
She loved her father. While she shared some of his beliefs, he came from a different generation. Kal didn’t honestly believe people were damned for being of a different faith or for not going to church every Sunday—Heaven help her—or for listening to a group called Vampire Weekend.
Kal jumped when the phone rang. Her gut clenched, expecting the caller to be her angry father. It wasn’t.
“Hello, Kal. Ryan Ausar. How are things?”
Relieved to be speaking to her boss? She must really hate talking to her father. “Hi, Mr. Ausar. Everything’s fine. You pegged Will right on the nose. A little shaky at the start but I think I’ll win him over, don’t worry.”
Ausar laughed. Dadgum, she loved his British accent. “I’m sure you will. Don’t hesitate to call me personally if you need anything, right?”
“Thanks, Mr. Ausar.”
“Please, call me Ryan. I insist. I hope we’ll be working together for quite some time. You might as well call me Ryan.”
She didn’t get a flirt vibe from him, so she didn’t feel creeped out. “Okay, Ryan. Thanks.”
Kal hung up and stared at the phone. She still had a few minutes before she had to leave for the office, so she called Becky.
“Hey, Kalypso Girl! Wassup? How’s the Sunshine State?” Becky had an ever-growing number of nicknames for Kal based on her unusual first name.
Kal laughed. Becky couldn’t be less like her, yet the two had become fast friends during their years as roommates at OSU. Kal pictured Becky’s unruly, curly red hair and freckled face, hazel eyes that always gleamed with mischief.
Geez, if she missed anyone, it was her best friend, not her parents.
“I’m settling in.”
“Your dad ready to come get you yet?”
“I’m sure he is. They’re still mad I’m not calling every day. He’s trying to get around the issue by calling me.”
“Ah, well, such is the breaks. That’s why they invented caller ID. So tell me about the hunkalicious guys.” Becky had demanded autographed pictures of Aidan and Will. Especially Will.
“Between you and me,” Kal said, “Aidan is a very sweet goofball who really dresses like a dork. Will is—” She paused, sorting her thoughts. “Will’s…different.”
“Different how, girlfriend? That covers a lot of real estate, you know. You dating him yet?”
Kal laughed. “No, not even close. He’s really standoffish. The network warned me he wouldn’t like having a woman as his producer, and they weren’t lying. I’ll win him over. Aidan’s a sweetie, though.”
“You dating him yet, at least?”
Kal grinned. “No. I can’t date either of them. I work with them.”
“Yeah, and I can’t imagine Daddy Dearest wanting a ghost hunter as a son-in-law.”
“Got that right!”
“Well, keep me posted, Kalliope Kid. Ciao!”
Her quick Becky boost left Kal feeling ready to take on the world. Becky was the one who encouraged Kal to pursue the internship at the network in the first place when the ad was posted in the school newspaper. Becky lived her life as a balls-out kind of girl who didn’t mind that Kal’s background stood in stark contrast to her own. Becky’s path meandered through law, and she’d already announced her engagement to her fiancé, the wedding to take place after she graduated from Ohio Northern’s law school.
Feeling lighter, Kal headed out the door to meet up with Aidan at the office.
* * * *
Kal tried to be sneaky. She wanted to find out more about Will Hellenboek and figured Aidan was her best resource. Maybe there was some snippet of information she could use to break through Will’s chilly façade and coax him into warming up to her.
Later that afternoon, she rode with Aidan as they drove two hours south to an investigation in DeSoto county. Aidan’s dark sunglasses hid his eyes. She tried not to study his profile as he drove. At least, not obviously.
“So tell me your secrets,” he said, startling her after a long period of comfortable silence between them.
“What secrets? And why should I tell you?”
“You’re awfully anxious to get into Will’s head.” He glanced her way, arching an eyebrow at her. “You’ve been pumping me for info all day, kiddo.”
She blushed. Apparently she wasn’t as sneaky as she thought. “You would be, too, if it meant your first big job depended on it.”
Aidan nodded. “I suppose you’re right.”
They rode in silence for a while. “I have to make this work,” she finally admitted. “And if you spill this to anyone, I’ll beat you brainless.”
“My lips are sealed.”
She eventually continued. “If I don’t make this work, I can’t go back to Columbus with my tail tucked between my legs. My father will never let me out of his sight again until he marries me off.”
“Can’t you stand up to your father? You are an adult, you know.”
“You don’t know what it’s like being a preacher’s daughter.”
* * * *
She twisted the ring on her left hand. While she apparently didn’t realize she did it, Aidan noted the action.
“It’s like I lose the ability to speak for myself around him,” she continued. “He just takes over. Like I can’t think straight. I’m ten years old again and being grounded for watching cartoons that weren’t ‘approved’ by him.”
Kal let out a frustrated sigh. “I love him and my mom, don’t get me wrong. They’re good parents. I learned how to work hard and I always felt loved but it’s…it’s like I’ve never felt I fit in. Like I’m different, you know?”
Aidan said nothing, but he nodded.
Not fitting in? She has no idea, he thought.
Kal wasn’t done blowing off steam, apparently. “I mean, not just at school. ‘Oh look, it’s the preacher’s kid.’ Even at home. Like there’s something else inside me and I can’t get to it, you know? A feeling I should be somewhere else. I’ve always felt like that. But now I’ve got this job and it’s all changed. I feel like I’m supposed to be here. Like this is where I belong.” She looked at him. “Does that sound weird?”
He shook his head but didn’t answer, knowing she still needed to vent and not wanting to interrupt her.
She twisted the ring harder and he wondered the significance. Not a boyfriend, he already knew that much.
“I have to make it,” she eventually said. “I have to do this. Then I can be on my own for good and I can stay far away from Columbus. For now, at least.” Kal looked at him. “Whatever we’ve got to do to keep me on this show, I’ll do it. It’s just for a season, not even a full season because some of the episodes are already in the can. Just help me get through this. Help me convince Will not to leave the show, please. I can’t lose this job.”
Aidan nodded again. “Stick with me. That’s the best thing for now. You have secrets, well, you’re not alone. Keep your interaction with Will to a minimum, just refer to me, work with me, let me be the go-between. Ryan doesn’t have to be any wiser. Trust me, I’m used to dealing with Ryan. As long as the show’s filmed and you’re in charge, that’s all Ryan needs to know.” He looked at her. “Deal?”
She nodded. “Dea
l. Thanks, Aidan.”
“No problem, sweet cheeks.” He grinned. “You don’t mind I call you that, right?”
Kal attempted a scowl, but her lips betrayed her. He was funny and sweet, and she got a totally different set of vibes from him than she did his yummy cousin. He felt playful and…
Safe.
“No, I don’t mind as long as you don’t do it in front of the others. Keep it between us. I am supposed to be your boss, sort of.”
“Naw, I wouldn’t do that to you. If we’re going to be partners in crime I should get a little leeway, though. Don’t worry, I won’t sexually harass you.” He paused, then looked at her as he pulled up to a red light. “Unless you want me to.” He waggled his eyebrows at her, making her laugh again.
“Your girlfriend won’t mind you spending all this time with me?”
* * * *
Kal almost felt a wall go up against her in his mind, could practically feel his change in demeanor.
“I told you, no girlfriend for moi, sugar plum. Just little ole me. You get me all to yourself. Don’t have to share me.”
Kal studied him. “What’s your secret?”
He waggled his eyebrows at her again. “If I tell you, then it’s not a secret, is it?”
* * * *
Over the next two weeks, Kal quickly settled into a comfortable routine with Aidan. She usually rode with him to the shoots. Besides sharing an office they ate many—most—meals together. They’d developed an easy rapport, a close relationship she’d never had before with anyone, male or female, and without any sexual tension between them. She didn’t even feel this close to Becky, and they’d been best friends for years.
Aidan was like the big brother she’d never had. She couldn’t help feeling there was more to him than met the eye. She knew he was single. Even though he had a flirty reputation, she’d never seen him go out socially or even talk to women on the phone except for work. He spent as much time at the office as she did, if not more. He didn’t have time for a personal life.
At least they had that much in common. His wardrobe proved to be truly atrocious. Maybe that explained his single status. His fondness for eye-watering Magnum, P.I. tropical shirts, unbuttoned over tank tops, paired with totally clashing socks and shoes, apparently wasn’t just part of his shtick. He really did dress like that, all the time.
All the time.
He had an eclectic collection of music, especially Jimmy Buffett and anything slightly resembling off center. While she’d spent her youth and high school days listening to Christian music, when she met and became roommates with Becky at OSU, Kal had been introduced to artists like Aerosmith, Meat Loaf, and Usher. She was willing to give anything a try and picked up even more new favorites from Aidan’s extensive assortment.
On location, Aidan acted as a buffer between Kal and Will, frequently shuttling her out a back entrance before Will made it to base. What little contact she did have with Will, she settled for acting cool and aloof. Two could play that game.
Sometimes three or four days would pass before she’d even cross paths with Will in the office. Aidan had warned her that Wednesdays were especially bad, and to make sure to avoid Will at all costs. He wouldn’t elaborate except to say that a weekly errand Will made always put him in a foul mood.
“What, he visits his probation officer?” she snarked.
Aidan had smiled but shook his head. “Naw, that would be easy.”
He didn’t elaborate. The shadow that crossed Aidan’s face told her the joke had been as much for his own sake as hers.
Kal spent much of her office time cooped up in the edit room with Aidan, learning various hands-on production skills specific to their show. When Aidan scheduled appearances or scouting runs, locally or out of town, Kal accompanied him.
They settled into a comfortable routine. After a reservation screwup left them with one hotel room for an out-of-town appearance, Kal realized she didn’t mind bunking with Aidan. He was a perfect gentleman in his own playfully perverted way and made sure not to invade her privacy.
I wouldn’t mind sharing a room with Will, Kal thought before she could clamp down on it. No, like that would ever happen. Hell would freeze over before Will would even ride in a car with her, much less share a hotel room.
Maybe her infrequent contact with the brooding, mysterious cousin made him more romantically appealing to her. His stony, slate gray eyes pierced through her very soul the few times she talked to him, interactions that left her short of breath, heart racing, and with an uncomfortable dampness between her legs despite her attempts to put on a cool, professional front. Sometimes she’d stare at him from the edit room. If she sat in just the right place and he was at his desk, she could crane her neck and catch a glimpse of the back of his sandy brown hair.
The Great Brooding One, as she referred to Will when alone with Aidan, was an enigma who apparently stubbornly planned to stay that way. She’d spent more than one solitary evening cruising the fan sites, thinking surely one of them would have some personal 411 on Will.
Nothing. Which in itself struck her as odd. Some of the sites were run by paparazzi bulldogs, yet Will Hellenboek had no more than a few bland comments to describe his life, which contributed to wild speculation on the discussion boards.
In contrast, plenty of information could be found readily available about Aidan, even if most of it wasn’t accurate. While scores of women swooned over Aidan’s bad-boy, surfer-doofus charm, Will was invariably the focus of heart-throbbing, lusty posts by totally love-struck fans.
Oooh, I’d love him to investigate me…
Maybe Will can help me find my heart, becuz ive lost it to him…
I wish he’d take his shirt off…
Kal had to agree with that last one. While in agreement, she also felt a hint of…
No. She couldn’t be jealous. That was just plain stupid on a cellular level. Although Will didn’t appear to have a relationship going on, he obviously wasn’t in interested in her. The female volunteer investigators all dealt with Aidan. Kal never felt any jealousy when Aidan playfully flirted and bantered off camera with them. But the thought of adoring fans lusting after Will churned her stomach in an uncomfortable way.
More than once she replayed her initial meeting with Will in her mind, the visceral, immediate reaction—attraction—she’d had to him. How she’d never had that reaction before to anyone else in her life.
How pitiful did that make her?
Well, that’s why she wore a purity ring, to remind her not to have those kinds of feelings for others and to keep her out of trouble, not that she hadn’t been tempted a time or two.
Just never to this level. Or by a man who apparently had no interest in helping tempt her.
Kal took comfort in the fact that even though she might lust after Will’s firm loins, he apparently didn’t feel the same, thus effectively keeping her free from temptation.
Le sigh, as Becky would say.
* * * *
Kal’s parents eventually settled for her calling every few days. After they accepted every third day, Kal stretched the time between calls, even sneakily resorting to leaving voice mails on the house phone when she knew her parents wouldn’t be home so she could avoid talking to them. She’d sidestepped her father’s questions about her new church, unwilling to admit that not only had she not gone, she hadn’t even scoped any out. Not that it mattered, because they usually filmed overnight on Fridays and Saturdays, when the volunteer investigators were available to go out. Most of her Sunday mornings consisted of an early post-investigation breakfast with Aidan and the rest of the crew—sans The Great Brooding One—before returning home, dropping into bed, and sleeping until afternoon.
She didn’t know her father’s opinion of the Otherworlds show because she’d taken the chicken route and told her mother, not him. Whether her mother told him was another matter entirely. Kal would bet money on her mom not having told him simply because he hadn’t outright demanded she q
uit and move home immediately, screaming that she was contributing to the Devil’s work.
Yet.
Aidan gave Kal an autographed picture of Will, as well as one of himself, so she could send them to Becky. Aidan was also more than happy to call Becky personally and chat with her for about ten minutes. After Kal took her phone back, she’d been amazed to find motormouth Becky practically speechless in happy shock.
Will still had his day job, the production company. Apparently, that had paid his bills for quite a few years. Aidan explained that’s why the unusual setup regarding editing and postproduction with gO! Network, because they had the necessary equipment on-site.
Kal didn’t question it, usually too busy with her show duties to concern herself with anything outside of the Otherworlds world, so to speak. Ryan frequently checked in with her to see how she fared. When she mentioned it to Becky, her friend snarked he was checking to see if she’d decided to quit yet. Kal got anything but that kind of vibe from him. Whenever she talked to Ryan, it was as if he tried to do everything he could to help her succeed. When she offhandedly mentioned she wished she had a more powerful laptop and would have to go shopping for one, not meaning anything by it, a new one appeared at the office the next morning via express overnight shipping.
“Ask me for what you need, love,” he’d said when she called to thank him. “I didn’t send you there to fail, I sent you there to do a job. Whatever you need to do that job, it’s yours.” She didn’t take offense to his use of the endearment either, knowing it was probably a British thing. Even though he was cute.
Ack! Surrounded by cute guys. Sweet torture, but she loved it.
Chapter Five
Working with Kal proved to be an exquisitely sweet torture. Will tried to limit his exposure to her because he spent the hours after with his eyes closed, trying to hold on to her scent and the sound of her voice. He’d passed plenty of late-night hours standing in the doorway of Aidan and Kal’s shared office, his eyes closed, nose to the air.
Good Will Ghost Hunting: Demon Seed [Good Will Ghost Hunting 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 4
