No More Secrets (Book 2)

2. Something Wrong

"Trav, I'm hungry."

I looked at Dylan. He was laying on the bed, completely naked. I had just gotten out of the shower. I would have expected him to at least get up, since he didn't join me in the shower. "Oh? Well someone wanted to have sex instead of unpack the kitchen. We don't have anything to cook with."

"Can't we order in tonight?"

I kneeled on the bed. "Are you paying?"

Dylan scoffed. "Yeah, sure. With what money? You're the one with the job, aren't you?"

I sighed and leaned over to kiss him. I knew why he didn't have a job - he was afraid to work in some place he wouldn't be able to handle. At least he was applying to places now. It was a start. "Fine, what do you want?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Whatever you want." He sat up and looked around the bare room. "You don't happen to know where my crutches are, do you?"

I looked around, but didn't see them. "No? Your leg's here, though. Want that?" He made a face, so I stood up off the bed. "I'll go look in the other room."

I went, not sure where to even begin looking. I hadn't expected him to want them right away, so I knew they weren't left out in the open. Eventually, I found them behind a stack of boxes next to the couch.

I could hear Dylan talking to someone in the bedroom. At first, I figured it was Jenny. But when I listened to the words he was angrily whispering, I stopped just outside the door, out of view.

"You need to leave me alone," he was saying. "I can't help you." There was a pause, then, "I don't care! Just go away!"

He was quiet then and I heard him shuffling around on the bed. I walked into the room.

"Everything okay in here?" I asked, holding out his crutches.

He grabbed them and stood up. "Fine."

"Was someone here?"

"Nope. I'm going to shower."

He walked out of the room without another word. Something was definitely going on with him. I hated that he wasn't telling me about it.

He was pushing me away, at least, that's what it felt like. I know it was weird to learn about the whole ghost thing, and he was generally good at not weirding me out with it. But if there were ghosts bothering him, I wanted to be there for him. Right now, I just felt shut out.

I guess I could reach out to Nina. Dylan still talked to her. But I didn't want to be the person that went behind their boyfriend's back. I had to trust that Dylan would tell me when he was ready. While Dylan was showering, I ordered us a pizza for dinner. I added some garlic knots to the order, too. They were Dylan's favorite.

The food still took another ten minutes to get here after Dylan got out of the shower. He had put his leg back on and the two of us used the time to start organizing the kitchen. It was mostly in an effort to find plates, but also to get a start on the whole moving in thing we neglected earlier.

It wasn't until after we had finished eating and had moved on to unpacking the bedroom that I brought it up. We had been keeping easy conversation all night, but I knew he'd gotten distracted by some ghosts randomly popping in every once in a while. He just refused to admit to me that they were there. I had a feeling that's what made him slip on the stairs, too.

"You know I love you, right?" I asked.

He looked at me from where he stood, hanging out clothes in the closet. "No, really? I hadn't noticed."

I shook my head and sat down on the edge of the bed. "I'm being serious, Dyl. I love you and I can tell something's been bothering you all day. I just want to help."

"If you love me so much, then trust me to handle it on my own. There's nothing you can do."

"So it is about ghosts? Even if I can't do anything, I'm here if you need to talk about it. Okay?"

He sighed and sat down next to me. "Look, it's not that I don't want to talk to you. I love talking to you. It's just..." His eyes darted over my shoulder for a second before meeting mine again. "This is nothing. Really."

I wanted to believe him, but I wasn't going to push him further. I had to remind myself that he'd talk when he was ready. I just hoped it wouldn't end in the same sort of situation he found himself in last year.

If he died one more time, I was going to kill him myself. Actually, that's not true. He'd at least be sleeping on the couch for a few days. As much as I am going to love sharing a bed with Dylan every night, him risking his life for ghosts again would make me not want to sleep next to him for a bit.

"If it turns into something," I said. "Please, don't keep it from me. I love you, Dyl. I don't want anything to happen to you, especially if I don't know what's going on."

I remembered the day I found out Dylan had been in that car accident. Nobody had known we were dating yet, so I wasn't told. His phone had gone unanswered and no one was at his house when I stopped by. I only found out that he was in an accident when his aunt tagged him in a post on Facebook, wishing for his speedy recovery and posting a date for Jenny's memorial service. I drove to that hospital so fast. I wanted to be there when he woke up from surgery, although I hadn't realized at the time that he had gotten out a couple hours prior.

He nodded, then leaned forward to place a soft kiss on my lips. "There's nothing to worry about," he said. "But okay."

I smiled. "Thank you."

I crossed the room and picked up the small pendent Nina had given me last year to protect me from my mother, in case she ever came back. I hadn't worn it in a while, though, since Dylan hadn't seen her around at all. But with Dylan being distracted, I couldn't help but think she might slip by his notice. I tucked the pendent into my pocket while Dylan was looking the other way. He didn't need to worry about me on top of whatever he was dealing with. I could protect myself if I needed to.