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“Four,” he said with a sigh, looking sideways at his wife.

“Oh, fun,” Ryan said. “I get a teammate.”

He smiled at Adriana, who was still glaring at Seth, and she reached across the table to offer him her fist to bump. She knocked a pitcher of water over and fist-bumped a jacket potato but the thought counted. I guess.

“I was always more of a solo act,” Seth said.

“I am absolutely shocked,” Ryan said. “I would have pegged you for a real team player.”

“Word at the office is he likes being pegged,” Adriana said, and Benjamin groaned, standing up and setting his napkin next to his plate.

“Okay four-glass-menace,” he said, pulling her out of her chair. “Bedtime for you.”

“Oh, but we were having fun,” she said. “With the food and the ghosts and the banter.”

I froze in place. Ryan’s hand on my thigh tightened. Ghosts. She said… Had she seen them? Had we failed at being discreet?

Ryan and I shared a wide-eyed look before comically turning back to face the couple.

“You’re clearly gone,” Benjamin muttered under his breath. “Seeing ghosts is new.”

“No, it’s not. They’re right over there,” she said happily, but he was already dragging her away, apologising as they went. Clearly he was not taking her seriously, and that made me feel a bit better.

“Well…I was right,” Seth said after they were out of the dining room. “She’s fucking mental. I keep telling Ben—”

“She’s not mental,” I said, anger seeping into my voice. “And I don’t allow language like that in my establishment.”

“What would you call it then if not mental? She’s talking about ghosts. Is it possession, maybe?”

“Could be.” Ryan shrugged.

“Wow, he really did a number on you, didn’t he?” Seth said.

“Meaning?” Ryan asked.

I shook my head at Seth, hoping for once he’d be a decent person.

“This one—” Seth pointed a finger at me. “—always had some kooky ideas. Paranormal stuff is real, him forgetting his keys wasn’t him being forgetful, him tripping wasn’t having two left feet it was all ghosts. And now he’s got you believing that bullshit. The arse ain’t that good, mate.”

“Who says I didn’t believe in that before him?” Ryan said. “But even if I didn’t…he’d be able to make me believe anything he chose to.”

Heart…please, I begged. I know he’s making it hard but just…hold on!

“Fucking hell.” Seth pretended to look pitying.

“Did you know possessions are sometimes done as a joke?” Ryan asked Seth, taking a sip from his glass of water and tilting it subtly towards where something silverish was glinting in the dark. A chain? It rattled. Definitely a chain.

My heart started to pound and I looked at Ryan, giving him a subtle head shake he clearly didn’t see. Or he just chose to ignore it.

“Excuse me?” Seth narrowed his eyes.

“Just something I read recently,” Ryan said, cool as he could be. “Owain might have been right about his keys and the tripping. They like to mess with people’s heads sometimes.”

Seth scoffed. “Kids’ stories.” He lifted his glass of beer and brought it to his lips. He was about to take a sip when the bottom of it lurched up, sending the entire thing down his chin and inside his collar.

I heard a gentle ping in the background and brought my foot down onto Ryan’s, stomping as hard as I could.

“OW!” he yelped, looking at me before realising Seth was watching. “Must hurt to be that clumsy, mate.”