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I was still cracking up and I rolled the other way.

Lee started laughing, relaxing a bit more. He was always so tense, but now I knew why. The dude was haunted. Literally. Suddenly he went rock solid, his gaze going past me. He let out a long suffering exhale. I knew what that meant. One of the ghosts just showed up and now knowing the rules, knowing we were in Lee’s house, it was Noah.

Lee got up and went into his closet.

As he did, I held up my middle finger, whispering to the air, “Yeah. This is for you, asswipe. We could use some privacy here.”

Lee came back, sweats on and he was pulling a different sweatshirt over his head. He tossed some clothes my way. “Noah said someone’s about to ring the gate buzzer.” He paused, laughing suddenly. “He said you gave him the middle finger. How’d you know he was here?”

I separated the hoodie and sweats he gave me, standing and pulling on my underwear first. “I can tell because of you. You look like you’re facing death when he’s around, which,” I said the rest to the air, i.e. Noah. “You’re a dickhead, dude. Don’t be such a dickwipe.”

A weird expression came over Lee. “What?”

I flicked my hand in the air. “He knows what I’m talking about.”

Lee’s head cocked to the side. “He’s saying he doesn’t.”

Ring, ring filled the air.

Lee’s hand went through his hair. “Uh…” He looked back at the bathroom.

“I got her.” The bell rang again. “Go and do your thing. It’s your place and that’s a human pressing the button. I’ll handle things here. We’ll come down when she’s okay.”

“Okay.” His gaze flicked to the other side of the room, pausing.

“Tell Noah to stick around for a bit. I’ve got something to say to him.”

Lee opened his mouth and then closed it. “You just told him yourself.” He frowned, his eyebrows pushing together but when the bell rang again, he took off, grabbing his phone as he did.

Cole was still in the bathroom and as soon Lee was out of earshot, I went and grabbed my old sweats and Lee’s abandoned sweatshirt. I went over, knocked on the bathroom door.

“Yeah?” Cole asked from inside.

“Here’s some clothes.”

She opened the door, a small frown on her face, but took the clothes. I knew she’d love them. They were both of ours. When the door closed, I rounded on the not-empty room. My hands went to my hips. “Okay, dude. We’re going to have a talk, and by a talk, I mean that I’ve got shit to say and you’re going to listen to me. First off, Cole says you’re a dick to our boy. And I knew you when you were alive. You were a dick then so I’m sure death hasn’t stripped your basic personality from you. Good, but also, stop being a dick to Lee. I don’t know your issue with him, and I don’t care. It ends here. He’s a good guy and he’s got the fucking afterlife world on his shoulders. Our girl can see ghosts and stuff, but I’m guessing Lee’s abilities are more. So, just, cut him a fucking break. Okay? And second, Lee said Cole threatened you and I know my girl. She’s got the nicest heart around so if she threatened you that means you deserved it and probably deserved it tenfold. So, cut that shit out too. Be nice to our girl and be nice to our boy, and if you don’t, I’ll start researching how to make a ghost’s life miserable and do that all the time. Got it?” I nodded to myself. “I feel a lot better and I don’t know if you’re still here, but you better fucking be.”

The door opened behind me.

Cole stepped out, looking confused. She scanned the room. “Who are you talking to?”

I cursed. The asshole had left. “No one apparently.”

The gate bell buzzed again, then cut off.

“Who—” Cole started to ask.

I took her hand.

“Someone’s at the door.”

She huffed, falling in line behind me.

I skimmed an eye over her. We’d washed up separately, and we all looked fine now, but I was wondering what were the odds I could talk Cole into sharing a shower after this? Maybe next time, considering she said this had been her first, I stopped walking.

Cole ran into the back of me. “Uh. What?”

I smacked my own forehead and turned around to her, my hand still on my forehead. “I’m an idiot.”