Edwin Masters has spent his entire life lusting after one car -- a 1962 Alfa Romeo Spider 2600. When he finally buys one, it changes the entire shape and meaning of his world. The car comes with a guest, and the restless spirit is awakened by Edwin.<br><br>Cooper James, the young man who died behind the wheel forty-seven years earlier, haunts the Spider and he wants a life. He wants Edwin. So he reaches out, sucking Edwin into a deepening abyss by exploiting demons from a past Edwin can't break from.<br><br>Edwin resists, struggling against the phantom in favor of an attractive, exciting young man who wants to be with him, Carson Heston. Carson holds the key to Edwin's salvation, but every time he gets close, Cooper terrorizes him. Edwin knows he'll be lost forever if he submits to Cooper's dark promise of release and relief, but that might be the only way to save Carson's life.

On a Bruised Road

It was harder than Edwin imagined it would be to direct the Spider to the road. Not because it handled poorly—it handled like the dream it was. But as soon as he drove away from the safety of the garage, the reality of his purchase settled on his shoulders, and then farther south, sitting like a brick in his stomach.


The first year he had lived on his own, he had barely made a third of that. He didn’t even clear thirty grand until after he was twenty-five. And he knew his twenty-five-year-old self would have never believed that paying cash for a classic car and then calmly driving it home was even possible. His twenty-seven-year-old self would have found something in powder form to invest in. His thirty-year-old-self would have thought it completely impractical and irresponsible. But now he had done it. His forty-seven-year-old self had actually handed the money over and was given the title. As simple as that. No muss. No fuss.


Chapter 3