Soulless (The Heartless Series Book 2) by Kelly Martin

pitch to it. I bet it makes dogs want to die. I know it makes my ears want to bleed.
    I’m happy to hear my mom’s voice. I am, and as much as I want to go home, I know I can’t. It wouldn’t be smart. Hart is right about that. We need to stay here. Lay low. Keep our noses clean, as one of my teachers used to say.
    “I’ll come home soon. I promise, but not just yet. Not for a few weeks. Love you.”
    “Gracen…”
    “Bye.” I click off the phone and lean my head against the wall with my eyes closed. I basically hung up on my mother. Probably the only person in the world who loves me and wants what’s best for me. The worst part is I know my mother. She won’t call back in a few minutes. She’s the kind who lets me stew a few days before she calls back to ask a simple question, and we start talking again. It’s been that way since I got my first cellphone at sixteen. At least we’re consistent.
    I love my mother, but I don’t want to hurt her either.
    How much stock should I really put in that vision?
    Or had it been only a nightmare?
    I’d been stabbed after all.
    Who says what I saw was a real, honest to goodness vision.
    I won’t smell pizza.
    I won’t see an alley.
    I won’t kill my mother.
    That I am damn certain of.
    I know I have to hold on to that. Make it stone one and build on it. I’m not a monster.
    I’m not.
    I look into the living room and remember all the blood-drained bodies.
    I’m not.

CHAPTER TEN
     
    “ W HO WAS THAT ON THE PHONE?” Hart asks as he comes through the French doors. He’s left the shovel outside, thank God. My eyes catch a glimpse behind him. The ground looks like it hasn’t been disturbed for years. The grave… where’s the dirt? Why is the ground so green? Hart must have some serious demon mojo that I don’t know about yet. “Sometimes people see what they want to see.” He says all cryptic on his way to the sink. He turns on the water and pours the pumpkin spice detergent—Sam’s favorite—on his hands.
    It takes him longer than I think he needs to wash the dirt off… to wash away the murder.
    I wish I could get past it. I heard what Hart said.
    I also heard my aunt talking on the other end of the line and the words of my mother. Aunt Willow was healed. She knew who she was and could eat with a fork. Why couldn’t those poor people in that grave, before they were in the grave, do the same thing?
    Or had Hart lied about that too?
    “You didn’t answer me. Who was on the phone?”
    “My mom. Checking in on me. That’s all.” There is a tug of war going on inside my mind. Part of me thinks I should not only tell Hart about Willow, but that I should rip his head off about it. Another part of me believes I should stay calm, keep casual, don’t let on that I know something is wrong and hopefully keep Hart’s trust long enough to find out the truth. I want to do plan one. Strategically, I need to do two.
    Darn strategies.
    “What did she want?” It’s more of a question than an accusation. Hart sounds as tired as I feel.
    “Just to check in on me.” I can’t look at him. I’m afraid he’ll catch me in a lie. “Said you told her I’d been sick.”
    He wipes his hands with some paper towels and then throws them down in the sink. I have to bite my lip to keep from fussing at him. Sam did the same thing. Used to drive me crazy. Apparently it still does.
    Unless I’m already crazy, and this is some big made-up dream world.
    Yeah…
    “Ruby always was a persistent one. Especially when it comes to you. I told her I was taking care of you, and you’d be fine. It wasn’t a lie. I am taking care of you.” He walks toward me. I can feel his gaze on me, like a magnet trying to make my eyes meet his.
    They want to. Goodness, they want to, but my brain screams at me to resist.
    “That’s what I told her. That you were taking care of me, and we didn’t need to come up there now.”
    “She wants us to come to her house?” He sounds like a