“Fresh meat,” Blythe squealed. She pointed across the room to a tall man standing next to the framed photograph of Billy Joel, sipping on an amber beer. He sported a casual long sleeve t-shirt and blue jeans. Rubbing a hand over his short brown hair and scruffy beard, he looked out of place amongst the dancers on the floor.
Blythe never wasted time zeroing in on a target. Left behind in the dust were dozens of ex-boyfriends who never lasted longer than a month. Whether it was a fear of commitment or a restlessness that prodded her into breakup after breakup, I couldn’t be sure. After all, I wasn’t exactly great at commitment myself. None of the Brunicks were known for keeping around a man. My father had left before I was born. Blythe didn’t know who her father was and all Raven knew was that she’d inherited her Native features from him. Internally, I groaned at the prospect of another one of Blythe’s victims.
“What do you think, Raven? He’s tall enough for you.”
“What?” Raven spit out a little of her rum and coke and brushed it off her black leather pants. “Who, me?” Her bottle-green eyes followed the direction of Blythe’s finger and nearly choked again. “Um, so not my type.”
Sometimes I wondered if Raven even had a type. I’d never seen her date anyone.
“Oh.” Blythe’s smile faltered for only a nanosecond. “Well, less competition for Hazel and me.”
Before I could protest, she shot out of our booth like a crab scuttling through a beach of seabirds. It didn’t take her long. Within three minutes, she’d led the poor man back to our booth, making him scoot in next to me.
“Ladies, this is Drew Warring. He’s ex-military, just moved into the area, and 29 years old. Isn’t that right?”
Drew eked out an uncomfortable smile. He had a thin, pleasant mouth and slightly crooked front teeth. His nose came to a sharp point below dark chocolate brown eyes. “Sounds about right. I’m renting a cabin along Lake Apolka. It’s only temporary.”
Blythe squeaked and flapped her hands. “Oh, we live on the lake, too. Isn’t it divine? Such a beautiful place.”
“Yeah, if you don’t believe the rumors.”
Raven and I exchanged glances. We’d heard these rumors before.
“You mean, that it’s haunted?” Blythe asked with her big blue eyes practically popping out of her head.
“Yeah.” He flexed his jaw and frowned. “I guess people are afraid to go out there at night. Something about ghosts and weird lights. I’ve heard people talking about alien sightings. It’s crazy.”
Raven’s mouth pulled down into a deep grimace that probably mirrored my own. The Brunick family knew only too well the cause of the lake’s haunting. Blame it on an old naked lady and her fondness for skinny dipping at night. Grammy Jo had resorted to magical projections and protection spells to keep wandering campers from stumbling upon her nightly escapades.
I shivered at the gruesome picture in my head. Luckily, it hadn’t taken long for word to get around Uriville. Lake Apolka was haunted and it was safer to stay away.
“That’s so scary,” Blythe whimpered. She huddled into Drew’s broad shoulder, letting her hair fall across her face in an alluring pose. Gosh, this girl was nothing if not a great actress. “I don’t know if I want to go out there anymore.”
Drew puffed up his chest and looked down at her. “Don’t you worry, sweetheart. I served in the military for eight years. If I can kill a man with my pinky finger, I can certainly protect you from some silly ghost.”
She simpered and giggled into her pink cocktail, practically batting her eyelashes at him.
A groan I hadn’t intended to release caught his attention and he looked expectantly at me. I stumbled to think of a way to recover. “So, Drew, any family in town?”
Uriville wasn’t exactly the kind of place people just decided to move to, at least, in my mind.
He coughed into his fist, his brown eyes staring resolutely at the table. “No, no family. My mom passed away from cancer last month. She was the only family I had left.”
I choked on my drink, nearly spilling the rest into my lap. Leave it to me to ask the one question that could ruin the night for good. Luckily, Blythe was all over damage control. She practically launched herself into his lap, grabbing for his hands.
“Oh, you poor baby.” If she leaned over any further, her chest was going to spill out of the generously cut top she’d picked out today. Drew didn’t seem to mind. “I can’t believe what you’ve been through. Come on, let’s go dance. That’ll take your mind off things.”
With a quick disapproving glare directed my way, she pulled him out of the booth and down the stairs. A bump and grind kind of song came over the speakers just then, and they were lost in the tidal wave of dancers migrating to the floor.
“I’m predicting another tragic romance story,” Raven said over her drink. Her voice was naturally low and husky, like that of an old Hollywood vixen. “Give it two weeks. She’ll be hopelessly in love and he’ll suddenly have to move out of town on business. Isn’t that how it always goes?”
I laughed and nodded. Even though we’d moved away from Uriville a decade ago, Momma Tula and I had been back enough times that even I was familiar with my cousins’ peculiar habits. Raven, the shy olive-skinned owner of the town hardware store, and Blythe, the excitable bouncing blonde wedding planner. It was hard to know where I fit into all of this. They’d spent their entire lives here. To me, it was just a bump in the road.
And speaking of bumps in the road, my gaze had just landed on Ian Larson sitting twenty feet away. Dressed in a black hoodie and jeans, he lounged alone and nursed a beer, his eyes scanning over the crowded dance floor below. My blood boiled at the sight of him, the ticket fresh in my memory. Excusing myself to Raven, I slid from the booth, drink in hand, and marched his way.
“Are you always on duty or is patrolling people just a hobby of yours?”
He looked up from the dance floor and frowned. “Actually, I am off duty. I guess you decided to leave the pig at home?”