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Austin hit the bed and dropped into the dream almost immediately. The shower scene played in slow motion, the way she felt, the sound of her ragged breath, it all seemed so surreal.
“You want her?”
The strange voice whispered in his ear and he shivered, distracted. His gaze returned to her shimmering skin, the ecstasy etched into her features and his soul stirred.
“Do you want her?” the voice asked again, this time louder, closer.
“Yes,” he whispered, his fingers ran down her slick abdomen.
“Allow me in and you can own her,” the voice echoed.
He blinked, meeting her heated gaze. He wanted her, but owning her didn’t feel right.
“Say yes, and I’ll give you everything you desire.”
Her mouth moved, forming the words, but the voice didn’t match her usual seductive purr and his brain wasn’t the one in control at the moment.
He whispered a soft ‘yes’ and then his mind was shrouded in darkness. The blackness overriding his senses caused him to cry out, but he was now locked in the dark prison of his mind. His eyes blinked open and he watched in horror as his hand opened and closed in front of his eyes.
“I’ve learned a great deal since the first time I possessed you,” his voice whispered in the dark, layered with Hunter’s.
Austin shivered, trying to take his body back, but he had no experience in how to excise a ghost. His thoughts turned to Paige for a brief moment before he thought better of revealing their last conversation.
“You’re not going to make me kill anyone, are you?” he forced the words out and Hunter laughed.
“No. My vengeance is complete. Now all I want is Paige,” he chuckled. “And since you like to watch, I’ll be a nice guy and give you a front row seat.”
“Get out,” Austin hissed, but it seemed he couldn’t buck Hunter from his form.
“Don’t be such a spoil sport. Isn’t she what you want?”
Austin pressed his lips together in contemplation. The fact he could still control some of his bodily functions was a plus, and Hunter’s offer was tempting, but deep down, he wanted to win her over on his own, not use her dead fiancé to pad his chances.
“I figured out how to stay in a body even when the owner doesn’t want me there,” Hunter’s voice echoed in his head. “The only way to get rid of me is to eat a bullet.”
Austin stared at the ceiling through the eyes he now shared with a psychopath. “Is that what you did to Paige’s friend?”
“Friend? I would hardly consider April a friend.”
“Is that what you did,” Austin asked through clenched teeth.
“As soon as I made her confess to all her wrong doings in a superb suicide note, yes. She blew her brains out all over that room.”
“You pulled the trigger.” Austin didn’t pose it as a question, just a statement that dropped his heart into this stomach.
All he received in response was an evil chuckle.
“Get some sleep,” Hunter said and despite the adrenaline running through Austin’s form, his eyes closed and he fell into the black.
* * * *
THE ALARM SHOCKED AUSTIN awake and he slammed his hand on the snooze. Before his eyelids closed again, the bizarre dream ballooned into the forefront of his mind and he let out a little laugh.
“Rise and shine!” Hunter’s voice boomed in his head and Austin grabbed his ears, rolling his face into the pillow before he lost all control over his body.
Horror wrapped around his mind as Hunter animated his form, crossing to the bathroom to do normal things a live person would do. Take a piss, brush his teeth, and shower away the stink from the prior day. When he got a glimpse in the mirror, his eyes were not grey. They were the same green that April’s eyes had been the day before.
“You’re my bitch,” Hunter said to his reflection and stretched his lips into a grin.
“Fuck you,” Austin tried to say, but nothing came out of his mouth. The idea of living with this ghost in control for the rest of his life scared the shit out of him. He had to figure out a way to get this prick out of his skin and he tried to send a glare at his reflection, but he had no control over anything anymore.
Hunter dressed in Austin’s work scrubs and grabbed the car keys along with his work badge. When he slid into the car, he glanced into the rearview mirror.
“Time to break my baby out of that hospital,” he said and winked.
Austin huffed. He needed the job, and if he allowed Hunter to break her out of there, not only would he be unemployed, he might end up in jail. He sat back in his mind, stewing, as Hunter called the shots.
Hunter walked through the halls as if he owned them and he headed straight for Paige’s room. When he swung the door open, Paige turned from her spot in front of the window and Dr. Schaeffer sat in the chair with his ever-present clipboard.
“Oh, sorry,” he said and met Paige’s stare. Her face paled a moment and she blinked before regaining her composure. Her eyes were bloodshot, like she had been crying, and Austin’s heart squeezed a little at the hurt in her gaze. She turned back towards the world outside and Hunter backed out of the room.
As the door clicked closed, the tightness in Austin’s chest loosened. Paige was no longer bound to the bed, which was a very positive sign, despite the sorrow in her eyes.
“I need to work,” Austin whispered and Hunter huffed, letting him have partial control. The fact that Hunter could shift control so easily sent a chill up Austin’s spine. Hunter let him do his rounds and when he came back to Paige’s room, all control stopped and Hunter was now in charge.
He slid into the room.
Paige sat on the bed with a laptop computer, her hair tucked behind her ears as she typed at a pace Austin hadn’t seen since his college days. Halfway across the room, Paige put her hand up as if she was stopping traffic.
When her gaze left the screen and met Hunter’s, he stopped. Austin actually felt the jarring shock rattle through his form at her glare.
“I don’t want to talk to you right now,” she said. Her voice was soft but firm, echoing the hostility present in her eyes.
“But, Paige...”
“No. You killed a shit load of people. I don’t care what you think your reasoning is, it is dead wrong. Not one of them deserved what you did.”
She turned away, refocusing on her computer screen, and Hunter remained glued to the spot, unsure of what to say or do. He honestly believed that what he had done was just, and before the anger burned through the disbelief, Austin whispered, “Let me try.”
The shift was subtle, but feeling returned to his skin. Hunter was still present in his mind, just relegated to the back seat for the moment.
“Paige?”
This time when her glare met his, it softened.
“Why did you let him in?” she asked, the pain of her question painted in the creases around her eyes.
Austin shrugged. “He tricked me into saying yes during a dream, and I can’t shake him.”
Her features hardened. “He’s still there?”
Austin nodded and his own fear mingled with Hunter’s, creating a burn in his stomach. “Yeah,” he said, acknowledging her question verbally as well as with the head bob. “He seems to have mastered hanging on,” Austin added and sent a crooked smile in her direction. “We could test that theory...” He trailed off and his eyebrows rose with hope.
His attempt at humor failed, and her stark stare just made him shift his feet and want to retreat into his fantasy world. Within a blink, he lost control and Hunter took full possession of all his faculties.
Hunter crossed his arms. “Don’t be such a judgmental bitch.”
Her laugh echoed off the walls and she dumped the laptop onto the mattress and climbed out of the bed. The moment she stepped in line with his toes, Hunter narrowed his eyes with suspicion.
Her hands planted on his chest and shoved.
Hunter was not prepared for the physical display, or the angry glare that accompanied it. He stumbled a few steps before regaining his balance, and was towering over her with just one menacing step. While Austin cringed, Paige did not. She had no clue of the venom brewing inside his body.
He reached for her and she batted his hand away.
Hunter wrapped his hands around her upper arms and lifted, bringing her to eye level before turning and slamming her back to the wall. With his eyes less than an inch from hers, he growled, “You do not want to piss me off.”
Paige’s widening eyes was the only indication of the shock she must have felt, the rest of her expression remained deadpan, like this was a normal occurrence. Austin began to hate the ghost inhabiting his body.
“Let me go,” she said, through clenched teeth.
Instead, the bastard stepped closer, pressing his body against her, trapping her in place. “No.”
“Hunter, I don’t want this. You aren’t the same person I agreed to marry.”
His teeth ground together for a moment. “I am the same person.” The words came out in a harsh snarl.
“No. You are bitter and nasty and... and...” She stumbled on words as she stared into his eyes. “And not my Hunter,” she added in a whisper.
His grip on her arms loosened and he set her down on the ground, but he didn’t give her any breathing room.
“I am what they made me,” he said just as softly, and his hand cupped her cheek. The fire in Austin’s veins cooled and for the first time since Hunter possessed him, he actually believed he would do Paige no harm.
“They didn’t make you a murderer.”
“Yes. They did. What they did to me and then to you...” He stepped back, allowing both of them to breathe.
“It was a stupid college prank that went drastically wrong. They didn’t set out to kill you.”
He laughed and ran a hand through his hair. “Well, they didn’t exactly want to have a fucking tea party, either.”
“They wanted an orgy, not a massacre.”
They stared at each other, the space between them widening into a gap Austin didn’t think they could ever breach again.
“They got both,” Hunter mumbled, keeping her gaze.
“Yeah. About that. What were you thinking, screwing the whole fraternity?”
“You did it.”
“I was drugged.”
“I was curious.”
Her eyebrows arched. “Curious?”
“I wanted to know what it felt like for a woman.” His shoulders rose and fell in a half-hearted shrug, and Paige crossed her arms.
“I could have told you what it’s like,” she snapped.
“There’s no way you could accurately describe it. At least, not in any meaningful way that a guy would get.” He stepped closer. “It also helped me understand exactly what gets a girl going.” He flashed a grin.
“Fuck you,” Paige said and stepped back, right into the hospital bed.
“Is that an invitation?”
“Get out!” She pointed at the door.
Hunter stared at her and then turned and stormed out of the room. Austin tried not to smile at his epic failure, but Hunter caught the underlying glee and issued a growl of derision.
“What the fuck are you so happy about,” he muttered under his breath.
Austin didn’t say a word, letting his mind drift to a place where Hunter couldn’t reach him.