Closer: Bay City Paranormal Investigation, Book 4

absent circles on the back of Sam’s hand. “I’d like to.”
“I figured.” Gripping Bo’s hand tighter, Sam turned to meet his gaze. “I wish you wouldn’t, Bo. I don’t know why I feel so apprehensive about you being there, but I do.”
“Is it just me you feel that way about?”
“Yeah. When I think about the rest of the group— including me—being there, it doesn’t bother me. The rest of us feel safe to me. But you don’t.” Sam curled one leg into the chair beneath him. “I realize I have nothing really concrete to base that on. The blur on the video is inconclusive, I know, even though it seems completely wrong to be the result of camera movement. Even those…visions, spells, whatever they are you keep having, don’t prove anything.”
“That’s only happened to me once. But you’re right, it proves nothing. I’m glad you’re finally seeing that.”
Sam stared at their clasped hands, choosing his words carefully. “It’s happened at least twice since last night,” he said, keeping the anger and frustration from his voice with a huge effort. “This morning while we were running, then again in the water.”
“No, it hasn’t.”
“Yes, it has. Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not—”
Sam silenced Bo’s protest with a savage glare. He snatched his hand from Bo’s grip. “Just stop it, Bo. I thought you trusted me more than this. If you don’t, fine, whatever, I’ll live. Just don’t sit there and lie to my face.”
Silence. Bo’s eyes searched Sam’s face. In the distance, a low rumble sounded as the storm moved north.
“Okay,” Bo spoke up at last. His voice was soft and shaky. “You’re right. I’ve had more of those…whatever they are. I have no idea what to call them.”
Drawing his legs up, Sam wrapped his arms around his bent knees. “Why couldn’t you tell me that before? Didn’t you think I’d understand?”
“That’s not it at all.” Bo tugged hard on the end of his braid. “I dismissed what happened as a result of too little sleep. I haven’t actually seen anything, even though I called it a hallucination before. It was nothing but a very strange, very brief feeling of being somewhere else. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you to understand. I knew you would. It’s just that I truly didn’t think anything of it, and I didn’t want to worry you unnecessarily.”
“So what changed your mind about telling me?”
Bo grinned, and the unexpected change of expression was like the sun shining after the storm. “You mean other than your incessant nagging?”
Sam had to laugh. “Yes, other than that, since I know you well enough to know nagging never works.”
“Because it’s happened too often to dismiss it anymore. Once is a random event. Twice is a coincidence. More than that is a pattern.” Rising to his feet, Bo started pacing a tight circle on the damp boards of the porch. “I still don’t think it has anything to do with the fort, or with any potential portals.”
“How’d you know that’s what I was thinking?” Sam uncurled his legs and planted one bare foot on Bo’s knee, stopping his pacing.
“Because I know you.” Bo shot a fond look at Sam. “I suppose I can’t blame you, really, after all we’ve seen and experienced in relation to the portals.”
Snagging Bo’s wrist with one hand, Sam pulled him onto his lap. “If what you’ve been experiencing isn’t related to the portals, what do you think it is? I’m assuming you don’t still think it’s just exhaustion or whatever.”
Bo’s brow furrowed. He wound an arm around Sam’s shoulder, fingers playing with the tendrils of hair curling against his nape. “Honestly? I don’t know. Whatever’s causing these episodes, they don’t seem to be particularly dangerous. But if they continue, I’ll go see my doctor after we get home. And I don’t think I should be driving right now, just in case.”
“I agree.” Filled with a mingling of relief and renewed worry, Sam wrapped both arms around Bo and held him tight. He buried his face in the curve of Bo’s neck. “Let’s go back home, right now. Today. You can call your doctor, and I’ll take you to see him. Let’s find out what the fuck’s going on.”
Bo rested his cheek against Sam’s hair. “It’s Friday afternoon, Sam. Even if I were to get hold my doctor this late, there’s no way I could get in to see him until Monday. We might as well stay. If I’m still having the episodes then, we’ll head back to