Scream in the Wind (Paranormal Peacekeepers: Book Two)

Chapter Six

CHAPTER SIX

Grace

"We're going where?!"

"Triple Oaks," Miles repeated, cringing at the way my voice shot up a couple thousand octaves.

No way in hell was I going back to Triple Oaks. The year I'd been away from that toxic town had been the happiest of my life, and now he wanted me to go back? Hell no!

I could understand Bodhi needing me to join him on the case, and he was my boss so I couldn't exactly refuse him. But Miles? Did he expect me to be okay with it and hop on board without a fight? I thought he knew me better than that...

"It's not like I'm asking you to go back to high school, Grace," he argued. "Things are different now. There's no reason for us not to go back."

Except countless hours of painful memories.

"Grace..." Miles rubbed his face with both hands before sliding them back to the base of his neck. "I want to see my parents."

My heart dropped.

Of course.

Of course Miles would want to see his mother and father. And his little brother. We'd planned trips for him to go back home probably a hundred times, but something always came up.

Miles wasn't like me, and I often forgot that little fact. He had people who cared about him outside the Peacekeepers. And I was keeping him from that.

Selfish brat...

"Right. Of course you do. I'm sorry."

Without another word, I grabbed my duffel bag from the closet and began shoving hair products and makeup into the side pockets. If he wanted to go, if he wanted to see Meg and Dean and Daniel, I was on board. He had sacrificed everything to be with me, to join the Peacekeepers, and he'd never complained about the way we lived. Not once.

"What are you doing?"

I looked up to find Miles standing in the middle of the room, hands held out in the air, a look of pure confusion painting his face.

"Packing. Was that not obvious?"

"No," he huffed and dropped his hands. "I mean, why are you packing? Why are you suddenly going along with this?"

I sat my bag on the edge of the bed and approached Miles. He looked suspicious, but I closed my eyes, wrapped my arms around his waist, and pressed my face into his chest. The smell of his cologne and heated skin invaded my nostrils, and I breathed it all in, enjoying the brief moment of peace before embracing the investigation that would no doubt be my own personal version of hell.

"Your parents miss you," I mumbled into his shirt. "Your little brother misses you. You need to go home."

"Well... we'll be working while we're there."

"We'll make time. I promise."

"And you'll go with me?"

I moved to rest my chin on his chest so I could look him in the eyes. "Of course. I miss them too."

"You do?" His eyebrows furrowed, and I wasn't sure why that was so surprising.

"Yeah. I mean, they were the closest thing I had to family while I still lived with Martha. Your house was an escape from all that. To me, when I try to think of happy times in Triple Oaks, I think of your home. That's where I was the happiest. Where I felt the safest."

If only he knew how much his parents' hospitality mattered to me a year ago. If it hadn't been for Miles and his family, I wouldn't have graduated high school, let alone survived it.