Psychic Series Boxset: Books 1-3

by Lisa Freed

  He answered on the first ring. “Teresa…”

  The sound of his voice saying my name caused a rush of longing to curl up in me. I swallowed hard before I could speak. “Mateo, is there any way I could get you to help me?”

  “Teresa, you know I’ve repeatedly said I would help you. I wasn’t sure I would hear from you after earlier.”

  I winced, then walked away from Victor’s hotel door, talking softly in case others were sleeping behind the other closed room doors. “Sorry about that, just everything got to me…”

  Mateo cut in smoothly, “It’s fine, I understand, I’m just glad to hear your voice.”

  Maybe not a Hallmark moment but dang if my heart didn’t begin to thud a little more noticeably and I gripped the phone tighter while walking further from Victor’s door. “Thank you so much,” I gushed then got to the matter at hand. “Listen, I’m outside Victor’s hotel room and he’s turning Lance over to me.”

  “He is? Is Victor in spirit form again?”

  “No, he’s taken over another body!”

  “Whose? What is he up to?” Mateo’s voice rose slightly.

  Slumping against the wall, I let loose a long gusty sign. “I don’t know, he’s taken over some drug dealer, he’s really creepy looking. He said he wants to see his brother and his wife, he even invited me along.” I muffled a laugh with my other hand. “That’s why I’m calling, I think I should go with Victor but I can’t leave Lance here alone. He’s smashed and Victor says he’s been acting strangely.”

  “Ahh…. I just can’t right now. My job is flexible but I still need to get work done. Why don’t you just take Lance back to your hotel with you and I’ll meet you two later for dinner?”

  That wasn’t what I wanted to hear but what choice did I have? “Okay, thanks anyway, want to meet at the little restaurant we met at before in the open market?”

  “No, I’ll meet you at your hotel room first. Gotta go, bye!” he rang off before I could utter another word.

  Pushing off from the wall, I dumped my phone into my purse and went back to room five ten. It opened before I had even gotten to it. Seeing the dealer’s menacing face pop out at me gave me a fright and I let out a squeak while jumping.

  “Come on,” he said in that off growl of his, reaching out a hand and snagging my upper arm which he tugged me back into the room with.

  “So, are you coming with me or not?” Victor snapped.

  “No, I can’t just leave Lance here. Listen, I don’t know when I can get a flight back home but I’m going to be booking the first one I can. Are you returning to Delaware?”

  “Eventually,” Victor said, releasing my arm but standing near enough for me to notice the mingling smell of cologne and body odor coming off him in waves.

  “You promise you’re not going to kill your brother?”

  “Teresa, I already told you I have no plans to kill anyone.” He cracked his neck from side to side, and I could hear the faint popping sounds the fluid in the joints made. “I just want to go and speak with Andre and Brianna. Will I control my temper? Doubtful, but come on! They killed me! I think I’m fully within my rights to yell a bit.” He shot me a smile.

  Victor did have a point and I found myself smiling back at him. “And there’s nothing I can do to persuade you to release whoever this guy is and just come back to Delaware with me?”

  “Missing me?” He stepped closer and I retreated to the door.

  “You, I miss. This guy I don’t care for and hope never to see again.”

  Victor nodded and didn’t attempt to come any closer. “Fair enough. Let me get Lance up and moving so you can head out. Oh, but first, you’ll need these.” He went to the nightstand in between the beds and pulled out several items which he passed to me.

  A faded brown leather wallet with credit cards and a driver’s license all made out to Penrose Lancelot Hamilton and Lance’s passport. “Oh, we will need these.” I tucked them both into my purse.

  Victor walked over to Lance and slapped his face, the violence of the act startling me. Lance’s eyes flew open and he pushed off the bed, his movements slow and clumsy.

  “What happened?” he asked, his eyes looking around the room at both Victor and me.

  “Time for you to go with Teresa,” Victor said, he stuck out his hand for a handshake. “Nice meeting you and best of luck in your journey.”

  If I wouldn’t have known the true deal, I would have called Victor’s behavior cordial and friendly. But I did know and I wanted to kick him in his kneecap for being such a slimy jerk.

  Lance shook Victor’s hand, a big sappy smile on his face. He even gave him a chummy pat on the shoulder before turning to me. “Are we heading home?”

  “No, not yet, I have to get us flights, we’re going back to my hotel for now.”

  “Oh, okay. Thanks again for everything, Victor. If you’re ever in the United States please look me up. I have my business card somewhere.” Lance patted at his stained and wrinkled button-down shirt and then at his jeans.

  “It’s fine,” I lied. “Victor has your information already.”

  “He does? Oh, good. Alrighty then, off we go.” Lance latched onto my left hand and tried to lead me to the door.

  I tugged back. “Hang on!” I snapped pulling my hand free of Lance’s sweaty grip. I gave Victor a look that I hope transmitted the very powerful ‘be good’ thoughts I was thinking.

  “Great meeting you, Teresa, maybe we’ll meet again,” Victor said with a leer.

  “I doubt it,” I said. Making sure my back was to Lance, I stuck my tongue out at Victor then turned back to face Lance with a smile on my face. “Let’s go.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Lance slumped against the wall down in the hotel’s posh lobby and appeared to doze while I asked the front desk to call me a taxi. It was rather embarrassing and it didn’t surprise me when after a few minutes of loud, moist snores from Lance one of the girls at the desk asked us to wait outside for our ride.

  I elbowed Lance in the side to wake him and linking my arm through his, helped guide him out of the hotel. He perked up once we were outdoors and commented on how lovely Greece was and how he wished he could recall more of his trip before meeting Victor.

  But the moment we were underway in the taxi, he promptly went back to sleep. Checking my phone, I saw I had somehow missed a call from John. I pressed to replay his message and it was just a bunch of meows at first. I could make out Agnes and what I thought was Maverick but nothing from my Daisy-girl. Then John’s boisterous voice came on and I pulled the phone back from my ear. ‘T! Everyone is doing great; the beggar rats are eating like kings and don’t miss you at all. And you tricked me! They close the pool down after Labor Day. The weather’s still beautiful, why would they go and do a silly thing like that? Two ships passing in the night, call when it’s daylight here not there and stop trying to wake me up. I hope you’re okay, miss you!”

  Did John really just say he missed me? And to have my babies talking on the phone. I felt a lump clogging my throat. I missed my furry trio, and yes, I missed my sweet friend too.

  Glancing at the slumbering, smelly bum next to me made the lump easy to swallow. At least I knew I would soon be on the way home and away from this whole mess. As for Victor, I could only hope he was indeed being truthful. When Mateo came around for dinner, we could discuss things and hopefully, he would put my mind at ease.

  After paying the cab driver most of my remaining Euros I realized I needed to hit an ATM soon. Unless Lance had some available on him. As I helped guide a stumbling Lance inside the hotel, I realized that was pretty cheap of me. Here the guy had been dragged halfway around the world and was in danger of losing his job and I was trying to get him to help fund it. Not to mention the tiny, little fact that I had money to spare, thanks to my lottery winnings and the subsequent interest it accumulated. If anything, maybe I should be slipping some extra cash into Lance’s wallet just in case.

  I ordered L
ance to stand near the elevators while I went and got a few bottles of water from the machine around the corner which I crammed into my purse. He was right where I left him but when the elevator doors slid open I wished he had wandered off. The five businessmen in severe black suits and armed with identical leather briefcases stared out at him, then completely in sync their eyes moved to me. The youngest one’s lips twitched but they didn’t say a word, instead, they marched single file out of the elevator leaving a cloying mixture of colognes in their wake.

  Lance sneezed repeatedly as the elevator doors began to shut in his face.

  “Hey!” I called out trying to stick my hand in the rapidly closing doors.

  My arm was jerked back by Lance’s strong, firm one. “What do you think you’re doing?!” he thundered, his bloodshot blue eyes wide. “You want a broken hand?”

  “I thought it would sense my hand and reopen,” I stuttered out.

  “Well, obviously it didn’t. We can wait for the next one.” He jabbed at the up button with his index finger but didn’t release his hold on my arm with his other hand.

  “Lance, you can let me go now,” I spoke up in a tiny voice so unlike my normal one.

  “Ehh…” he glanced down at my arm before his hand slowly slid away. “You need to be more careful.”

  Rubbing my arm, I nodded absently. His touch had been very cool and strangely empty. Normally, I try not to read people by touching them but in times of stress or when I want to, I find I can pick up some vibrations and even recent activities- that can be hilarious. But nothing with Lance. Maybe the alcohol had dulled things? I would have to try later in hopes of helping him and possibly of seeing just what Victor had been up to.

  The elevator made it back down to us and when the doors pinged open it revealed we had it to ourselves. Lance hummed tunelessly as we traveled upward and I felt my one eye twitching in irritation when we reached my floor.

  Standing in front of my door, digging in my purse for the key, I unloaded the waters by shoving them at him. He had no choice but to hold them or drop them. He did a bit of both and then scrambled after one bottle as it rolled along the floor after bouncing off his foot.

  He grabbed it, holding it above his head in triumph and I couldn’t help giggling. But my sense of humor fled once we were in my room and I was faced with what to do with Lance. I hadn’t given this much thought and it took Lance placing the water bottles on the desk and then flinging himself backward onto the bed to drive it home to me. The room had only one bed and no couches.

  We used to sleep together all the time, but that was then and this was now and nope, not happening. I looked over the dimensions of the room and tried to think of where a rollaway bed could fit if the hotel even offered them. I opened a bottle of water and handed it to Lance. “Here, drink some water. You need it.”

  “Okay,” he said accepting it and guzzling half of it down. “Where’s the remote?”

  I pointed at it lying in plain sight on the nightstand near his head. “I need to head down to the lobby and see what we can do about getting you a bed, don’t do anything weird while I’m gone.”

  “What do you mean weird?” he asked, his eyes never leaving the TV as he rapidly clicked through the stations.

  “Whatever, just don’t do anything.”

  I grabbed the door key from the desk where I had left it and exited the room. Once outside I placed my ear up against the door, pressing closer until my ear ached from the pressure, still I couldn’t hear a thing. Releasing a pent-up breath and massaging my sore ear I caught a ride in the elevator down to the lobby where a manager from my first night was manning the front desk.

  “Ahh…Ms. Ashford, your visit is going well?” he asked, shocking me that he remembered my name.

  “Yes, very well, thank you. I wanted to see if you had rollaway or spare beds? I have a friend who is need of one.”

  His cheery smile disappeared from his lips to be replaced with a stern line of concentration. “Your room is only booked for one person. I could change your room to one that is for two?”

  “You don’t have any spare beds? I’m more than happy to pay the difference.”

  “No, sorry. Let me see what is available in a bigger room.”

  “How about two adjoining rooms?” I suggested, not liking the idea of sharing a room with Lance if I didn’t have to.

  “Nothing on your current floor but on the second floor, yes. I’ll need to check you out of your current room and you can check into your new rooms after one today.”

  I was in the process of handing over the room key when his words stopped me. “Wait, what am I supposed to do while waiting on the new rooms?”

  “Some sightseeing perhaps? Or spend some time on our rooftop terrace? The view is spectacular. You can see the Acropolis of Athens.”

  Even after lamenting just an hour ago about missing out on the classical sights of Greece, I didn’t feel the urge to go sightseeing. If anything, I wished the room had a hot tub I could sink into and pairing that with a book and some chocolate, I could wish this whole insane trip away.

  “You don’t have a room with a hot tub, do you?” I head the plea slip out of my mouth faster than I could tell my brain to let that fantasy go.

  He gave me a half nod, which raised my hopes, then followed it with a confusing verbal no.

  My brows lowered as I tried to make sense of things. Subconsciously, I mimicked his nod. “Yes, you have a room with a hot tub.”

  His full lips pursed and he gave me that half nod again along with a faint clicking of his tongue as he leaned closer and with a raised voice, repeated, “No.”

  “No? You don’t have a hot tub.”

  “Yes, we have a hot tub, but it is down in the sauna area, near the pool.”

  “Ahh…okay, then. Well, back to the topic of rooms. How about I pay for my current room for the rest of today, normal check-out tomorrow, and rent the two new rooms for the next three days?” I was hoping Lance and I could catch a flight out of Greece tomorrow but with the way my luck was going, it could be several days until there was room on one.

  Apparently, he found that idea preposterous if his raised bushy eyebrows and pained expression could be read correctly, but what did I know after that confusing bit with the hot tub. And either way, he cheerfully took my credit card information again and handed over two more room keys.

  As I was waiting by the elevators, an older man with a full head of iron-gray hair swept away from his heavily lined forehead joined me. We stood in silence as I observed him from the corner of my eye, trying hard not to be obvious about it. This was the first spirit I had seen since coming to Greece. Or at the very least, the first one I was fully aware was a spirit.

  When the elevator dinged loudly and the doors opened, he stood back and gave me an expansive arm gesture indicating I was to go first. He had good manners, perhaps I was going to get lucky here and run into a ghost who was content and not demanding my help.

  A small smile directed his way and I entered the elevator. The doors closed as he stepped in, so for a moment, only half his body appeared inside. Thankfully, the rest of him quickly followed.

  Like the businessmen earlier, this man emitted a strong odor, but of tobacco not of cologne. It wouldn’t surprise me if lung cancer had been his cause of death. He said something, but it was in Greek, or what I assumed to be Greek. What was that old joke? It’s all Greek to me? Very fitting here. My mouth quirked up and I bit down on the insides of my cheeks to keep my grin in check, I didn’t want to offend him.

  Looking at him, my eyes went over a few other details. He was quite powerfully built, with wide shoulders and a thick neck. Not someone to tangle with in life nor death going by his body and the dark, hooded eyes that stared at me with an intensity that caused a chill to go down my spine. I rubbed at the goosebumps on my bare arms.

  “Sorry, I don’t understand. I only speak English,” I said, shrugging my shoulders and putting on what I hoped was an apologetic smi
le.

  Blunt fingers shook in my direction and then at the door as he rattled off a whole, unhappy sentence. Whatever he was trying to convey was important, but I had no way of knowing.

  The elevator dinged as it reached my floor, the doors moving open silently.

  “Sorry, I can’t understand you,” I apologized again, then made to exit and turned to face a crowd of men in suits waiting to enter, their eyes wide and assessing.

  Come on! Why did it have to be the businessmen again?! I knew how it had appeared to them. That I was standing there talking to thin air since they couldn’t see the Greek man next to me.

  “Excuse me,” I muttered politely, trying to get through them with minimal pushing since they didn’t feel the need to give me any room to leave the elevator. Finally, I was through, they were all on, and the doors closed leaving me standing in the hallway alone. Glancing around, I didn’t see the older man, he either had left or stayed on the elevator to try speaking with people who knew his language. I wished him well but didn’t have much hope. None of them had seen him.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  A surprise greeted me when I went around the corner to my room, Mateo was standing outside it, a fierce expression on his normally cheerful face.

  “Mateo,” I called out.

  He whipped around, his dark eyes wide, his movements jerky. I had clearly startled him. Puzzling because usually, he seemed so attuned to his environment.

  “Teresa!” he said smoothly, regaining his composure, his ready smile back in place. “I finished up much sooner than anticipated so thought I would come to help you out. And excellent timing as you are just coming back to your room.”

  He was lying. Mateo’s eyes held mine and his smile seemed genuine but something was off. I just didn’t know exactly what he was lying about or why. Time would tell, it always did.

  “No, I made it back with Lance a bit ago. I was downstairs to get us set up in new rooms.”