Noah and Caleb sat on a padded bench, their heads bent together, their whispers echoing oddly in the large room. Noah was wearing his square black nerd glasses today, and Caleb couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from him.
Wyatt had to smile. He saw nothing odd about either couple. Caleb had already declared his plan to pick a new city and start fresh, and Noah had every intention of following him. Ryan and Delilah planned to go as well, and Wyatt had a feeling they’d be picking out rings or whips or something for each other by Christmas.
His eyes sought out Ash, who leaned against the information desk checking an antique pocket watch chained to his gray vest. When he saw Wyatt, his dark eyes lit up.
“What happened?” Ash asked.
Wyatt shook his head and reached out to snag Ash’s vest. He pulled him closer and kissed him until they were both breathless.
“I’m not sure if that’s good or bad news.”
“It’s okay,” Wyatt whispered. He glanced at the others, then met Ash’s eyes with a mischievous grin. “What do y’all think about Charleston?”
“Big St. Patrick’s Day town,” Caleb said with a glint in his eye that practically reflected a dollar sign.
“Lots of history,” Noah added.
“To haunt you,” Ash grumbled. He was smiling though.
Wyatt grinned and kissed him again. “At least the ghosts there just haunt you instead of trying to kill you.”
“We hope.”
There’s a lot of history included in this book, and with very few exceptions, it’s all true. The LaLauries were a real couple, and the things they did to their slaves in New Orleans were so awful that I chose not to include details in this book. You can find out more about them with a simple Google search, or by taking a ghost tour in the city of New Orleans. Their mansion has remained a cursed building over the years, never retaining an owner for more than a year, never successfully hosting a business. The current owner is Johnny Depp, who intends to make it into a hotel. Good luck with that, buddy.
The tales of the Dubois and Fossor families are entirely fictional. No such families ever existed, and neither does Gravedigger’s Tavern. But the sights and sounds of Richmond’s Fan district are entirely based in fact. The Starlight serves root beer on tap. Monument Avenue is full of Confederate heroes. And Boulevard is a beautiful street to cruise down. Just don’t hit a stoner or hipster as you go.
The Virginia Historical Society sits on Boulevard, and the last time I went by there, it was still under construction. Any details of the inner workings, or of the inside of the building, are my imagination. If they’ve finished all that construction, there’s no telling what it looks like now!
The building Ash lives in is based on the one I called home for two years. It will forever be the love of my life, even if I did repeatedly find my knickknacks mysteriously sitting in front of the main door whenever I left.
Noah’s facts throughout the book are all true, even his lecture on dueling with hot air balloons and forkfuls of pig dung. You can read about that in Smithsonian.
The Cut & Run Series
#1: Cut & Run (with Madeleine Urban)
#2: Sticks & Stones (with Madeleine Urban)
#3: Fish & Chips (with Madeleine Urban)
#4: Divide & Conquer (with Madeleine Urban)
#5: Armed & Dangerous
#6: Stars & Stripes
Novels
According to Hoyle
Caught Running (with Madeleine Urban)
Love Ahead (with Madeleine Urban)
The Archer
Warrior’s Cross (with Madeleine Urban)
Novellas
A Tale from de Rode
My Brother’s Keeper
Seeing Is Believing
Unrequited
Abigail Roux was born and raised in North Carolina. A past volleyball star who specializes in sarcasm and painful historical accuracy, she currently spends her time coaching high school volleyball and investigating the mysteries of single motherhood. Any spare time is spent living and dying with every Atlanta Braves and Carolina Panthers game of the year. Abigail has a daughter, Little Roux, who is the light of her life, a boxer, four rescued cats who play an ongoing live-action variation of Call of Duty throughout the house, a certifiable extended family down the road, and a cast of thousands in her head.
To learn more about Abigail, please visit http://www.abigailroux.com.
Abigail Roux, The Gravedigger's Brawl
(Series: # )
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