Haven of Nightmares (Littlemoon Investigations Book 5) by Morgan Kelley

throat was on fire watching her.
    After she lowered it, she closed her eyes. “Are you telling me that we’re being chased by ghosts? That they’re real and one of them wants to hurt me?”
    Yeah, this was tricky.
    He took the bottle from her and followed suit. He took a huge swig to help buy him some time to come up with an answer for her.
    “Shit! That burns,” he muttered.
    She started laughing. “Yeah, it does, but because it did, I must be alive and awake.”
    He handed the bottle back.
    “We’re going to either get sick, or drunk, if we continue drinking.”
    She took another sip. “We have dead people after us. When would be a better time to get drunk? I’m pretty sure that this is at the top of the list, followed by a zombie apocalypse.”
    “You have a point,” he said, laughing. He loved her sense of humor.
    “Okay, so we have ghosts here, one who apparently wants to kill me, and the Littlemoons are accustomed to this insanity.”
    “Pretty much.”
    “What else?”
    He stared at her.
    “I deserve to know, Roman. I’m part of this now, and you should just say it.”
    “You’re going to meet Trey and Bethany. Well, you won’t see them, but you’ll know they’re here.”
    She stared at him.
    “Are you okay?” he asked.
    “I think you had better explain.”
    How did one do that?
    They weren’t exactly like some crazy relatives that you kept in a locked room. They were…dead.
    “They are Nyx and Tori’s ghosts. Nyx channels the dead, and Tori is a medium. She’s getting more and more powerful each day.”
    She started laughing. “Ghosts don’t exist.”
    A whole shelf of books fell over, crashing to the ground. Then, the lights began flickering.
    They both jumped at the crashing sound.
    “They don’t, right?”
    “Then who put those marks on you?” he asked. “It wasn’t you, and it wasn’t me…”
    She took another sip of whiskey. This time, she didn’t flinch. “Good point. I’m glad one of us is calm here, because I feel an epic freak out coming.”
    When the lights went out, they were only sitting in the small amount of moonlight.
    “No, now it’s coming.”
    Roman took her hand in his.
    “Can I move closer? I’m scared,” she whispered.
    He dropped the bag onto the floor in front of the couch. “You can come over here,” he said, opening his arms.
    Mattie crawled across the couch to sit between his legs, as she rested against him, she felt safe. “This is nice.”
    No, it was anything but nice. It was hell.
    He was trying to think about anything but the woman pressed to his body. She was right up against him. As in, her body was touching his lower anatomy.
    Crap.
    Crap.
    Crap .
    He tried to remind himself that she was his dead girlfriend’s sister, but then he started thinking about how she should have been his.
    Mattie should have been his girl.
    As she cuddled closer, he took the bottle from her hand and took another sip.
    “Are you drinking to forget or to get drunk?” she asked, glancing up.
    “Oh, I’m drinking for so many reasons. In fact, the list is getting longer every day.”
    “Like?”
    “Coming back here is at the top of the list. I really hate this place. My life ended here. I’ve never been the same since.”
    “Yeah, you lost the love of your life.”
    He stared down at her. “You think that’s why I really hate it here? Devora?”
    “She told me all the things you two had planned. You were going to travel the world. You two were going to get married and start a family. She made sure I knew it all.”
    That hurt him.
    Devora hadn’t been kind to her sister.
    Roman wished he’d known.
    “I thought it was you,” he said. “I fell for your wit, the way you told those assholes off when they were picking on you, and your smile. You have a dimple in your cheek. Devora didn’t have that. Now that I think back, I see how I should have noticed.”
    “It’s okay.”
    He exploded.
    “It’s not! Stop pretending it is. I screwed up. I hurt