What Remains by Bailey Bradford (to read list txt) 📕

on him. There were so many spirits in them, and they would swamp Sev, buzzing in his brain until he wanted to scream.

But he’d rather have felt that than nothing. Abso-frigging-lutely nothing. It had so unsettled him that he’d practically ran down one hall after another, drawing more than one odd look from various members of the hospital staff. He’d been desperate to find just one spirit, just one. Sev didn’t get so much as a quiet hum in his brain, much less the usual cacophony.

“I don’t understand,” he said over and over, stunned stupid by the experience. “Last time I was here I could hardly stand it. There were spirits everywhere, clamoring for attention. Something bad has happened,” he blurted before he thought better of it. “Conner, Stefan, Mrs. Hawkins, your mama,” Sev said with a tip of his chin toward Zeke. “They wouldn’t just all up and leave, not like this. They wouldn’t abandon us.”

“No, they sure wouldn’t,” Zeke grumbled as he hooked an arm around Sev’s waist. Brendon was on Sev’s other side, his arm linked with Sev’s.

Sev hadn’t even realized he’d been stumbling along or that he’d needed assistance. He was so out of sorts, so on the verge of full-scale panic that he could barely concentrate to speak.

“Come on, get in.” Brendon opened the truck door and gave Sev’s butt a nudge. Sev climbed into the truck. His chest felt tight, his heart beating so fast he was dizzy. Sev reached up and felt for his necklace. The silver chain was warm from his skin, and it immediately started to soothe him as it so often did.

Rolling the necklace between his fingers, Sev closed his eyes and concentrated on calming down. He was vaguely aware of Brendon’s arm pressing against his chest as his friend grabbed his seatbelt.

Zeke and Brendon were blessedly quiet on the drive, giving Sev the time he needed to pull himself together. When he finally felt like he wouldn’t lose it, he opened his eyes and discovered they were almost back to his friends’ ranch.

“Zeke and I didn’t think you should be alone.”

When Sev glowered at Brendon, the man only arched a sandy brown eyebrow. “You’ve been kind of out of it for a while, and frankly, you scared the hell out of us at the hospital.”

Sev sighed and gave up on being irritated. “Yeah well, I scared the hell out of myself, too. I don’t…” He looked out of the passenger window, unable to deal with the sympathy in Brendon’s eyes. “I don’t know what to do. This ability to commune with spirits has been with me most of my life. Even if the problem isn’t me, which I don’t think it is since everyone seems to be missing their spirits, regardless, it feels like the biggest part of me is gone.”

He didn’t know what he’d do if it turned out he was wrong and he really couldn’t interact with the dead like he had all these years. If someone or something had eradicated— Sev’s mind skittered away from that train of thought. No matter how downtrodden he might feel right now, he wouldn’t give up hope that Conner and the other spirits would return. He couldn’t.

Chapter Four

Laine did his best not to let Sev know how worried he was but his lover was one of the most observant people Laine had ever met, and he knew Laine better than anyone else ever had. Sometimes he suspected Sev knew him better than he knew himself.

“I could call Alma, tell her something’s come up,” Sev offered after recounting the details of his day. “It wouldn’t be a lie, and I’m not sure I’m up to having them visit right now.”

As badly as Laine wanted to jump on that offer, he didn’t. Laine hated to admit it, but maybe having some family down would help Sev in ways Laine couldn’t. Distract him, at the very least. Sev wore a pinched expression that sat unnaturally on his normally cheerful face. Nothing Laine had said yet had wiped that look away.

“No, it wouldn’t be right to cancel on her at the last minute.” He bit back a sigh at the lost opportunity to avoid what he fully expected to be an uncomfortable week spent around Sev’s family. “And anyway, it won’t make a difference if they don’t come. Something has happened to the spirits in McKinton.” He gave Sev a determined look, knowing he would do whatever it took not to let the man down. “We’ll figure out what happened and how to right it. We’ll get them all back.”

Sev relaxed a little and rested his head on Laine’s shoulder. It felt good, so Laine decided it’d only get better if he stretched out on the couch under Sev’s sexy body. He resituated them both then groaned as he closed his eyes. “Chris’ mom is a trip. She damn near talked my ear off when I went out there to talk to her about that ceremony they’ll be doing in a couple of nights. You are coming with me, right?”

“Like I’d miss a bunch of skyclad people dancing around under the moonlight.” Sev snorted. “Not gonna happen. Of course I’m going.”

“Skyclad?” Laine twitched, afraid he knew what that meant. Sev confirmed it.

“Yeah, you know, naked? Dressed in the sky or something like that. I’m not sure of the technical definition, but it does mean bare-ass naked.”

Laine’s eyes popped open. He glared into Sev’s pale eyes. “Oh no. No, no, no. There’s not going to be any of that naked dancing stuff. I made that perfectly clear to Miriam and that High Priest fellow, Vincent. They agreed to keep their clothes on and light any fires in proper fire-safe containers. When they’re done the place will look like they were never there. Chris promised he’d see to it.”

“Aw, you just took all the fun out of it, but I still want to go.” Sev propped himself up on Laine’s chest. For the first time