Thankfully the next week is relatively quiet around the house and Tris and Tobias go back to living in the house after two nights in a hotel. Zeke and Uriah focus on finishing the renovations to the guest house for Shauna who will be arriving in the coming weeks. Zeke makes sure to ask Tris about anything special that Shauna likes. Tris thinks it's cute how Zeke wants to impress Shauna even though Tobias and Uriah have been constantly teasing him.
After the conversation with Hana, Tobias and Tris were planning to visit the Amity Paranormal Society to see what could be done in the way of understanding the spirits inhabiting the house. The first few days back both Tobias and Tris are jumpy. It takes two days before Tris can fall asleep and sleep soundly through the night but even then she can only do it when Tobias is in bed with her and his arms wrapped protectively around her. Tobias tries to suggest that maybe Tris should go stay with Caleb and Susan for a few weeks, the new baby was coming and she could help out.
"Frist off, I'm not leaving you here alone to deal with this, and second, I'm might be on edge and a bit scared but I'm not running from this. This is our house now, I'm going to fight for it."
Tobias chuckles and pulls her into an embrace, planting a kiss on the top of her hair. That was his wife, stubborn, strong, and never one to back down from a challenge.
"I love you a lot, you know that right. I know you always have my back but I thought it was worth a shot."
"Yeah, I do and I love you too, we are going to get through this like we have everything else, together" Tris replies as she puts her arms around his waist and squeezing. There wasn't anything that she wouldn't do for her husband and he often underestimated that she could be just as protective of him as he was of her. They were stronger together, no matter what.
Tris still feels like she's missing something with all the information that she had gathered. If only she could figure out what it was, it could be the key to unlocking this whole mystery. She could feel it when she heard the disembodied sobbing, there's something they need to find but she had no idea what it was or where to look.
Tobias crawls into bed next to Tris who appears to have dozed off reading while he was in the shower. He smiles as she notices her simple black bra and panty set. She could make the simplest things look unbelievably sexy. He rubs his hands up and down her thighs while softly starting to kiss her shoulder and up her neck. He pushed her braids out of the way to give him better access to her neck and smiles when she moans and her eyes begin to flutter. He could feel himself stirring to life as he slides the strap of her bra down and moves his lips to her exposed shoulder. They had been going to the beach more and more and the sun had made her mocha complexion a golden bronze. In the past few weeks with all of the paranormal activity that had increased in the house they hadn't made love and Tobias was feeling needy. He needed to feel connected to his wife in this way, needed to feel her soft body pressed against his. It was something about being with Tris and making love to her that not only helped him relax, it helped in focus. When he played basketball the team always had superstitions about sex messing with your game making you not focus. That was never the case with Tobias, he had his best games after a Tris.
"Tobias...baby" Tris moans out waking up feeling the sensations of Tobias moving his hands across her skin made her feel like she was in a dream.
Tobias instantly moves to cover her mouth with his for a deep kiss. Tris can't resist Tobias and instantly returns the kiss and moves her hands to rub his back. Tris let out a moan as Tobias rubs her folds through her panties with one hand. He moves down her to her neck again, moving one hand to her breast to pull to the top of her bra down to expose one breast.
"Baby, I want you so bad right now" he mumbles against her neck. He presses himself against so she could feel how much he wanted her.
When she instinctively pushes her breast further into his hand, he pinches her nipple slightly before moving down to suckle her nipple, alternating between flicking his tongue over it before suckling again. Tris has her hands running across his head. Tobias is down to his boxer briefs and is so hard it's painful. He moves his hands to remove Tris's panties when she suddenly gasps and sits up covering herself with the sheet and quickly pulls her bra back into place.
"What's wrong? Tobias asks with his eyes wild as he looks at his wife wondering if he had done something wrong.
"What if the ghost is watching?" Tris says in a loud whisper with a serious face clutching the sheet to her chest and biting her lip.
"You have got to be kidding me" Tobias groans and he flops face-first into the mattress next to her. "Tris, we have not had sex in weeks because of this whole ghost thing." He complains rolling over to stare at the ceiling.
"I know but it's freaking me out thinking about it watching us" Tris whines putting her head in her hands.
"I know this is difficult Baby." He says moving so he can sit up and put his arms around her. "But I would really not like the added stress of not ever being able to make love to my wife in our own house".
Tris lets out a deep sigh and flops back on the pillows. It wasn't like she wasn't horny too but it really was freaking her out ever since the encounter that had occurred in their bedroom to think that something or someone was watching them.
"We have to get rid of this damn ghost soon" she groans clenching her thighs together.
Tobias jumps up abruptly and into the living room.
"What are you doing?" Tris calls out curiously. Tobias comes back a minute later with his laptop. He plops back down on the bed, opens his laptop, and starts typing away.
"We have three nights before Shauna gets here, We are spending two of them in a hotel
I can't go another night without being inside you. Go pack your overnight bag"
Tris falls back on the bed again laughing hysterically this time. She rolls over and looks at the clock it was only 10 pm. When her husband set his mind on something he stuck with it just like she did. She rolls out of the bed to grab a few things and tosses them into her overnight bag. They had come a long way from being 17 and sneaking around trying to find places to have sex without being caught by her parents for Max. At least she was in for a good time tonight once they got to the hotel. She had a feeling once they made it to wherever Tobias was booking them for the next few nights she wasn't going to be doing much sleeping.
A few days later Tris and Tobias pull up to the small storefront that houses the Amity Paranormal Society. Tris looks skeptical as she and Tobias knock on the door. They had a long discussion the morning before. Tris had to admit both of them were feeling better after letting some of thier stress go after making love for several hours. It wasn't that they were skeptical after all they had experienced in the house but it just all still seemed surreal.
"We're looking for Johanna," Tobias says "My name is Tobias Eaton and this is my wife Tris. We spoke on the phone yesterday".
"Yes I've been expecting you, please come in and sit down," she says as she gestures to an office to the left inside of the front door with four chairs around a small round table. Johanna appeared to be in her early 40s with long faux locs that and dark umber skin. She also had a gold nose ring, She had a very bohemian vibe that was almost regal and made Tris feel as though she was some type of priestess.
A thin man with glasses, who looks to be around the same age as Tris and Tobias joins them at the table a few moments later with a note pad.
"This is one of my investigators, Robert. He will be sitting in to take some notes to be able to formulate how we approach setting up equipment." Johanna explains as Robert shakes Tris and Tobias' hands before he sits down.
"Thank you for meeting with us on such short notice, things have gotten intense the last month and we don't know what to do" Tris explains. The one good thing about being here was that she didn't have to guess or wonder if Johanna and Robert thought they were crazy for thinking their house was haunted.
"Hana is a dear friend of mine and she explained briefly to me the situation you are in. If you don't mind me saying, we've heard so many stories about Dauntless Hall for many many years but the place is still an enigma. Much of what we have heard is hearsay. We've never heard directly from people who have had personal encounters. I don't want to seem insensitive when I say this but this is an exciting opportunity for us"
"No offense taken, we have a few friends who are excited we are living in a haunted house" Tobias explains.
Tris hands over the journal she has been keeping documenting all of the experiences as she and Tobias recount everything that has happened. Robert and Johana listen intently while pouring over the journal making notes.
"Well it's known that construction and renovations stir up paranormal activity but it definitely seems as though you have both residual haunts and intelligent hauntings going on with multiple spirits, there are so many different types of activity going on there is no way that this is just one."
"Are you, if you don't mind me asking, like Ms. Hana calls us, sensitive?" Tris asks
"I'm what some people call a medium, I communicate with spirits, but what we do here is gather evidence and try to document the paranormal activity. You would be surprised at how many people thinking a creaky board is more than just a creaky board, or a shadow figure is really the headlights of a car passing by. We need to find out what's real and what's not to figure out if we can help this spirit move on"
"So how do we go about this? I know we are trying to open a bed and breakfast but my main concern now is for my wife. I don't want to feel like she isn't safe in our own home" Tobias asks leaning in.
Robert speaks up now after having been taking copious notes while Tris and Tobias talked.
"We will set up equipment throughout the house in the areas that you have identified as hotspots for activity, DVD cameras that are recording, motion sensors. And we will break into teams to investigate different areas. We will use things like digital recorders to capture sounds and hopefully we will be able to interact with the intelligent spirits"
Tris and Tobias nod at his explanation and they plan for the following weekend for a two-night investigation.
Two days later Tris, Shauna, and Christina are in the guesthouse helping Shauna get settled in unpacking her things. Shauna had gotten in the day before but was trying to get all her things organized before she started her new job in the next two weeks. Shauna was going to be working at a restaurant called Justine's Kitchen to get a flavor of Charleston. Justine's was a Charleston staple and one of their lead chefs was going out for maternity leave. Christina had done her nursery and she was very excited that Shauna was looking for a position that wasn't permanent so she could spend a few extra months on maternity leave and the restaurant want wouldn't be short-staffed or struggle to find temporary help while she was out. After one video chat with the owner's Shauna was offered the job when everyone loved Shauna's personality and were equally impressed by the kitchens' she had managed in New York.
"So when are you and Zeke going out again" Christina probes as she hands Shauna a hanger.
"Actually, I'm going out with Fernando tomorrow night"
"Seriously Shauna!" Tris groans handing her a dress out of one of the suitcases on the bed.
"Fernando? The guy that works here?" Christina asks, amused at this new piece of information.
"What? I was upfront with both of them the last time I was here, I made it clear I wasn't interested in being in a relationship" She says with a shrug, hanging the dress in the closet. "If Zeke is really serious he'll put in some work, otherwise I'm going to try out all my options. Same thing for Fernando"
"Well, this is going to be interesting. I'm here for it. I think Zeke might have actually met his match" Christina comments and Tris turns to look at her. Zeke knew he was handsome and charming, he never had to work hard for attention from women. Christina was positive he wasn't sure how to handle Shauna.
That evening everyone heads out for dinner to celebrate Shauna's official move to Charleston. Tris and Christina exchange a look when they see Zeke purposefully position himself to sit next to Shauna. Tris knew her best friend, she had really hoped she would settle down when she came to Charleston but she understood her thought process of making Zeke work for it. Tris had noticed how Fernando looked at Shauna and she hoped no one ended up with a broken heart in the love triangle that was forming.
"So when are we going ghost hunting?" Shauna asks curiously as they dig into their food.
"Well we are next weekend but Tris and I got this. Things have gotten so intense I don't want to put anyone in a dangerous situation, after what happened to Tris I'm a little leary about having anyone else agitate these things" Tobias explains.
"Don't even try that, we are coming too" Uriah points out.
"Hell yeah, you two aren't getting off that easy, we got your back" Zeke adds.
"Exactly" Shauna cosigns. "I'm not letting a ghost run this Boriqua back to New York"
"Awe you guys," Tris says leaning back. They had only been here six months but the friendship from that first visit with Zeke, Uriah, and Christina it was clear that they were all going to be lifelong friends.
"Y'all are family now, we are in this together" Christina responds giving Tris a side hug from her chair. "We've all put in so much work to make Dauntless Hall an amazing bed and breakfast. This is a win for all of us. We want it to work too and if that means we have to take on some ghosts alongside you that what we'll do"
Tobias and Tris launch into everything from the Amity Paranormal society and the group agree to all go over the information on Tobias's family to see what they can figure out on top of what Tris has already put together. For the first time since the spirit attacked her, Tris feels encouraged that they are going to figure this out.
A/N: Let me know what you think of this chapter! Justine's kitchen was one of my favorite places in Charleston that had to close permanently due to the pandemic.