Ghost Guy: Hell to Pay (Ghost Guy Series Book 1) by M.M. Crumley

Author:M.M. Crumley [Crumley, M.M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lone Ghost Publishing
Published: 2026-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Tucker had the feeling that Nefeli had never cried about her losses before because it seemed as if she wept for a thousand years. It couldn't have really been that long, but he sat beside her after a while, just so she would know he was there; and it was surely hours later, but she still showed no signs of stopping.

His stomach was beginning to launch a protest, which was ridiculous because he was much too sad to eat.

Sad wasn't a strong enough word for what he was feeling though. He had felt sad before, and it wasn't like this.

Tucker caught Apollo's eyes over the coffee table and mouthed, "Thesaurus."

A book sailed through the air and landed on Tucker's lap; and he flipped through it, looking for the word sad.

He quickly determined that Nefeli was inconsolable. He, on the other hand, was heartsick. That was the perfect word for it. He felt sick, in his heart.

After this job, he was going to retire. He just wasn't Tessa enough to keep going. He only had one heart, and if he broke it over and over and over again, he was going to end up with a bunch of pieces and nothing else.

Nefeli cried out sharply, and Tucker almost reached out to her, almost. He stopped himself just in time, sighing with selfish relief when her sobs finally began to ebb.

She cried softly, hiccups and other strange noises breaking the flow, and then she shuddered a few times before lying quietly on the floor. If her back hadn't been moving slightly from her breathing, Tucker would have thought she was dead.

He waited five minutes before saying, "Nefeli?"

Moxie turned to look at him. Her cheeks were streaked with ghostly tears, but she smiled as she pressed her finger to her lips, then pointed at Nefeli and closed her eyes.

"She's asleep?" Tucker whispered.

Moxie nodded.

Good. He hoped she stayed that way. Not forever, of course, just long enough for him to find his heart, tape it up, and lock it away. Forever.

He could not keep doing this. He wasn't strong enough to bear someone else's grief. Especially not grief as potent as Nefeli's.

For a long while, he just watched her motionless crumpled form; but when he couldn't stand it anymore, he looked at Apollo and said, "Thanks for letting us in."

"I would have never locked you out if I had known it was Medusa," Apollo said with irritation.

"Nefeli," Tucker corrected.

"Aycola," Apollo replied.

"What?"

"Her given name, the name her tribe gave her is Aycola. The children remember."

"Well, she calls herself Nefeli," Tucker said. "So I'll stick with that."

"Suit yourself. Merely telling you what I learned."

Tucker pointed at Moxie and said, "What's her name?"

"Kai," Apollo said.

"Kai," Tucker said with a smile. "That's a pretty name."

Kai returned his smile and very carefully said, "Tucker."

"That's right," Tucker said.

She smiled even more widely, her eyes happy.

"Holy shit, I'm bad at this," Tucker muttered as he stood and turned his back to her.

"Bad at what?" Apollo asked.

"I'm supposed to be helping them go… wherever!" Tucker exclaimed.

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