Graveyard Games by Sheri Leigh Read Free Book Online Page B

gave me a
lift."
    "He's here?" Her eyes following Chris' gaze
to where Shane sat on the hood of his car, just outside the eastern
fence, a beer bottle resting against the crotch of his jeans.
    "Yeah, but he wouldn't...he didn't feel like
coming in."
    "No?" As she watched, Shane tipped the
bottle at her and then put it to his lips. Dusty fingered the rose,
turning her gaze back to Chris. "How come?"
    Chris shifted his weight back and forth and
shrugged. "I don't know. Gave him the creeps, I guess."
    "Shane Curtis—scared?” she scoffed. “Come
off it, Chris. He's never been afraid of anything in his
life—except maybe jail."
    "I don’t argue with him.” Chris met her eyes
and then looked away.
    She nodded, pursing her lips, and looked
down at the headstone. "Can I ask you something?"
    "Uh...sure." Back and forth, he shifted his
weight from one foot to another.
    "Did you see Nick that night?"
    He laughed, shaking his head, but his eyes
fled hers. “You playing detective?”
    "No.” Dusty lied. She was better at it than
he was. “Just wondering. He mentioned he might see you guys that
night. He mentioned Shane specifically."
    "We were all at the Starlite.” Chris
straightened, pulling his hands out of his pockets and crossing his
arms over his chest. “Me, Shane, the gang. We were drinking beers
and playing pool.”
    “ And Nick?”
    “ I don’t know.” He looked
down at his boots. “He wasn't with us."
    "Hmm." Dusty gazed toward the fence where
Shane was parked. She raised her hand to him and he nodded in her
direction.
    “ You don’t believe
me?”
    Chris’ words brought her attention back to
him. “I don’t know what to believe, to tell you the truth.”
    “ I wasn’t there,” Chris
insisted, his arms tightening around himself, as if he were cold in
the warm September sunshine.” I don’t know what happened…but I wish
I did.”
    “ I wish I did,
too.”
    “ Teri wanted me to tell
you she’s real sorry.” He gave her a small, tight smile at her
blank stare. “My wife, Teri.”
    “ Oh. Teri…” Dusty frowned,
trying to remember. “Teri Calhoun?”
    “ She’s Teri Jackson
now.”
    She shook her head, smiling, remembering the
Chris she knew from high school, wearing a leather jacket and
tagging after Shane, like they all did, wannabes. “It’s hard to
picture you married.”
    “ We just had a baby.” He
sounded proud and that made Dusty smile. “That’s why she didn’t
come, you know, to the funeral.”
    “ Well, congratulations.”
Dusty looked down at her brother’s headstone and the sudden
realization that Nick would never have the opportunity to make her
an aunt made her feel sick and dizzy. “Boy or girl?”
    “ Girl.”
    Chris married with a kid—it was almost too
much to comprehend. Dusty changed the subject. “So, what are you
doing now?”
    “ I’ve got a good job over
at the steel mill in West Lake,” he said, again with that
tight-lipped smile. “We just bought a house out on Deer Trail Road.
The old Avery place.”
    “ That’s a great house,”
she admitted, knowing it well. The Averys had moved downstate not
too long ago, according to Julia. “You really like living in this
town?”
    “ Yeah, I do.” He nodded.
“Everyone knows everyone else.”
    She laughed softly, hugging herself. “That’s
why I hate it.”
    “ Nick didn’t,” he replied,
catching her eye. His gaze was soft now, more open.
    “ I know.” She sighed,
shaking her head. “Maybe that’s why he came back, because he loved
it here.”
    Chris raised his eyebrows at her and then
frowned. “I don’t think so.”
    “ No?”
    He glanced down at the headstone and then
lifted his gaze off into the distance. “I think…honestly, I think
he came back because this town loved him.”
    Dusty smiled, blinking back tears. “I did,
too.”
    “ Yeah, so did I.” Chris’
voice broke when he said it and she looked up at him
sharply.
    She had forgotten about him almost, but
Shane startled her