Chapter 46

KATHERINE.

I got to the CMES clubhouse thirty minutes before the meeting time because I didn’t have anything else to do and thought it’d be a good idea to explore the building before the meeting began. Also, I hoped Blake was already there so I could get some alone time with him.

I opened the front door and a smile crept onto my face when I spotted Theo and Blake in the main room after walking in. The smile faltered the next moment though when I read the room. Theo’s eyes were a blazing red and he was seething at Blake who looked equally as pissed.

‘Uh…’ I glanced over my shoulder, hoping another member was coming in and kinda regretting my decision to come early because I didn’t know what to do in this situation. Should I leave? Should I say something? Should I do something before this situation escalates?

No one was coming in after me so I returned my attention to the boys. They were only like three feet away from each other so if they wanted to start throwing punches, I was pretty sure there was nothing I could do about it. I didn’t want to leave though because it’d be kinda weird if I did, so I went with the second option.

“Is everything alright?”

Silence reigned after I asked that question and I pressed my lips together, waiting for one of them to answer or even glance this way, but no one did. ‘Great. They both ignored me.’ Sure, I could assume that they didn’t hear me but the fact that it was quiet as fuck here meant they definitely did. I glanced over my shoulder again to see that there was still no CMES member heading over and as I began to contemplate leaving, the sound of a door being shut drew my attention.

There was now a third person in the room and it was Hunter. He had a bunch of objects that I didn’t recognize in his hand and a small frown on his face as he assessed the situation in the main room. “Really? I left you guys for like two minutes. What could have possibly happened?”

“Ask your friend,” Theo replied, his voice icy, and Hunter’s shoulders sagged. The expression on his face told me this was a frequent occurrence and I wondered why Blake and Theo were still presidents of the club when it was clear they didn’t like each other.

Hunter’s gaze slid over to the door and he blinked at me when he saw me standing in front of it before shooting me an apologetic look. He then returned his attention to the boys who were still having a stare-off and walked over to a table that had containers and other devices on them, placing the things in his hand on the table. “Come on. We have a meeting in twenty minutes,” he said and a couple of seconds later, they finally broke eye contact.

“Fuck this.” Blake headed towards the end of the main room and went up the stairs while Hunter let out an exasperated sigh.

“I’ll be right back,” he muttered before going after Blake as the sound of a door slamming shut upstairs echoed through the house.

‘...This is awkward… Should I just leave and come back with Josie and Lenore?’ Before I could make a decision, Theo’s gaze flicked to me and I gave him a tight smile, but the moment I remembered the advice he gave me last night, it became a real one.

“Hey,” I said and based on the mood and the times we’d talked, which didn’t include the times I was crying my eyes out, I didn’t expect him to respond.

“Hey.”

‘Oh…’

His gaze moved from me to the table Hunter had placed the objects on as he walked over to it before he began to assemble them. The assembling held my attention and I shut the front door before walking over to the table. Whatever device he was putting together was made of black metal and glass, and its sides were covered in intricate markings and patterns. The more parts he added to it, the more I realized this wasn’t something familiar and I wouldn’t know what it was if I didn’t ask, so I did.

“What’s that?”

“Absorber.” The device looked like it was completed now and he turned it sideways, assessing it.

“What’s it used for?”

“Absorbing.”

A snort escaped me at that because it didn’t seem like he was answering me that way due to being irritated with me or not wanting to talk. It seemed like he truly thought the answer he gave was enough.

Theo glanced at me with eyes that were now blue, drawing his brows together slightly, and I schooled my expression before he grabbed a container from the table.

Now that I thought about it, the only times we’d actually had a proper conversation were when I was crying, and I pressed my lips together. ‘Geez… I wish I could wipe his memory of those incidents.’

He opened the container and I raised a brow because it was filled with a substance that looked like salt. My brow lifted further when he began to pour the salt into crevices in the object before opening another container that was filled with white petals and keeping them in those crevices too.

‘What’s going on?’ “... Are you seasoning it?”

“What?” Theo replied, sounding even more incredulous than I did, and I gestured at the device on the table. After glancing at it, he narrowed his eyes at me. “Did you read your booklet?”

“Booklet?” I asked, wondering what booklet he was talking about while also noting that he just said more than one word, and his brows snapped together.

“It was in the club packet. You know, the one you were ‘given’ last week.”

‘Crap.' I didn’t even know there was a booklet because I hadn’t gone through the packet.

Theo kept his gaze on me, waiting for an answer, and I cleared my throat.

“Yeah?”

He nodded, but the expression on his face told me he didn’t believe me before he pressed a button on the device that made the markings and patterns on it glow with a faint, ethereal light. The device began to hum and buzz with energy as if it were alive, and after a couple of seconds, he turned it off.

“Why did you sign up for this club?” The question wasn’t surprising – I had been expecting him to ask seeing as I basically just told him I didn’t care enough to go through the packet the new members were given during orientation.

“Ghosts are fun…?” I replied, but it sounded more like a question than an answer. “Ghosts are fun?”

“Tons of fun.”

He shook his head sideways, probably thinking I was a lost cause and if he actually was, I wouldn’t blame him.

“Does it absorb ghosts?”

“What do you think?”

“That it absorbs ghosts.”

Theo blinked at me and took a deep breath. “I need to prepare for the meeting.”

That was clearly a dismissal so I nodded and turned around to walk away. A couple of steps away from the table though, I faced him once again. “Thanks for the advice yesterday. And the handkerchief–” I cut myself off when I realized I hadn’t brought his handkerchiefs even though I knew I’d be seeing him here. I had been way too focused on the fact that I’d be getting some alone time with Blake – something that probably wasn’t going to happen now. “I didn’t bring them. Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” he replied without looking up from something else that he had begun to assemble.

“I’ll give them to you on–”

“You can keep them.”