“Why are you allowing me to ask you things?”
“Because I want you to know who I am, Oliver. That’s a part of the fun.”
They both went silent as the waitress returned and set their food on the table before moving away.
“Now that you’re all out of questions, it’s time to listen. With every day that passes I gain more strength. Soon I’ll be able to take over for longer periods of time until eventually there is no Juniper Bloom. I’m going to enjoy watching you try to save her, Oliver. Especially since I know in the end you’ll fail.”
Oliver leaned forward to whisper over the table.
“Listen to me, you evil bitch. I will find a way to send you back to wherever you came from.”
“You always were a determined man when you had your mind set on something.”
She reached out a hand to caress his face, and he clenched his jaw as his skin crawled. It felt wrong to feel so much disgust when it was technically Juniper touching him.
“Oooh. All that anger could be channeled in a much more constructive way.”
He grabbed her wrist and forced her hand back on to the table.
“Don’t.”
“Careful, you might hurt me, and you wouldn’t want to do that to Juni, would you?”
Frustrated, he released her hand and leaned back in his chair. There was no way in hell he could just sit here and eat like all was well. She beamed up at him and batted her lashes as she picked up her cheeseburger and moaned.
“This is delicious. I’ve missed food.”
She peered at him and took a long drink of her root beer.
“You should eat. People will start to worry that something’s wrong.”
Oliver forced himself to eat as the pseudo-Juni continued to make tiresome conversation. Her biting comments and vague hints at her identity coupled with his concern for Juniper had him close to the edge.
Her talking trailed off suddenly, and she went completely still. He held his breath as he viewed her transformation. The cocky air dissipated, her body relaxed, and bewilderment flooded her eyes.
“Oliver?”
“Juni?”
“What just happened?”
“I think you were possessed by a ghost.”
“What!”
“Shh.”
He leaned forward and grabbed her hand. “I swear to you, Juniper, we’ll get to the bottom of this. She’s made her plans clear, and I’m not about to lose you.”
“She?”
“It was too feminine to be a male.”
“What did this ghost say?” she asked.
“She said I knew her once.”
“Wow, what did you do to piss someone off enough to haunt you?”