Collide (Anomaly Book 3)

by Jessica Gilliland

  Cash joined us on the beach. I felt joyful surprise rising inside of him as he saw us laughing together, our bodies halfway submerged in the shallows.

  "I'm going into town with Nyx and Lux. Do you two want in?"

  "Nah, I think it's time I showed Headset who the lord of the lake really is," Glitch said. He pushed himself deeper into the water and started swimming back out to the boat.

  Cash turned to me, a question in his expression. "Lord of the Lake?"

  "Yeah, Headset is becoming quite the nemesis these days."

  When Cash laughed, it was a rich, deep sound that sent a chill through my body, but it didn't make me feel as lusty as it normally did. I was clear headed when I met his gaze and held out my hand to him. "I'll come check it out with you."

  He smiled warmly and pulled me to my feet.

  Chapter Seven

  Cash and I held on to whatever we could in the back of the twin's Mustang as Nyx swung around corners and floored it on the straightaways. Every traffic light turned green as we approached. Based on the screeching tires of cross traffic as they slammed on their breaks, it was safe to assume Nyx and Lux were the cause.

  We pulled into an outdoor marketplace that sold everything from fruits and vegetables to high priced gallery art. Cash and I grabbed a couple of street tacos and perused the merchant stands. In between the turquoise jewelry and the taco stand was a flavored pistachio hut.

  "I need this in my life," Cash said, searching over the selection of nuts.

  The shop Girl's hazel eyes snapped to Cash the moment he spoke. I felt her heart kicking in her chest and the heat rising through her body. She followed Cash with her eyes and bit her lower lip as she watched him scanning through the flavors. She was locked in, captivated by him as she waited for him to speak again.

  "What would you prefer? Salt and pepper or jalapeño?" He asked me. He said the latter with an enthusiasm that punctuated his preference and made the girl's breath catch. She was practically salivating. When Cash heard her panting, he quickly clammed up and finished the transaction by simply pointing. It didn't make it worse, but it certainly didn't make it any better. The girl was so enthralled, she completely missed the bag and ended up scooping the first two scoops onto the floor.

  Blush rushed to Cash's cheeks and I felt mine flush in tandem. The girl's blood spiked at seeing his response and her eyes locked on his. I felt the nervous excitement coiling in her belly and the urge to touch Cash's face.

  I was surprised at how potent Cash's charms were for this girl. I found Cash's normal speaking voice to be a lesser version of his singing voice. It was still enthralling and commanded your attention, but it gave me a feeling of warmth and safety, rather than a full on feeling of lust. It usually took a heavy serenade to get the blood really pumping. Maybe it was because he did what he could to keep is conversations short and sweet, or maybe it was because over the last few months, his voice had become synonymous with my comfort rather than passion. I didn't know...

  The shop girl's associate had to finish up the transaction in order to get any of the pistachios into the bags. We thanked him, and Cash offered the girl a polite smile, then slipped a tip into her jar before we headed off to meet Nyx and Lux. I looked back at her and saw her close her eyes and shake off the fog his voice put her in.

  Cash didn't seem too bothered by it. He was used to it by now, but it seemed to spark caution in him. When things like that happened, he made the conscious effort to keep his sentences short and spent the bulk of group conversations listening. I think that's what made him so compassionate and sympathetic to others. A lifetime of listening must give you a lot of practice evaluating people. I could relate.

  We found the twins haggling over a huge oil painting they'd decided would look perfect over the mantle in the living room. Nyx flirted with the artist while Lux studied the painting intently, commenting on brush strokes and dramatic effect. It looked like something Bebe had finger painted for me, so I kept quiet and decided that a career in art was not in the cards for me. I was okay with that.

  Cash seemed to enjoy the less impressionistic paintings and admired them whilst popping pistachio after pistachio into his mouth. I preoccupied myself at the wind chime booth next to them. The older man that carved the wind chimes was sitting quietly, reading the newspaper. His gray-muzzled black lab sat loyally at his side, chewing a piece of rawhide. The man looked up at me and offered me a smile. "Beautiful day, isn't it?"

  "Yes," I replied, returning his warm smile with one of my own. I leaned down and let his dog sniff the back of my hand before scratching her behind the ears. Her tail wagged and thumped back and forth at the attention. "It's perfect, actually. I love this town. Everything seems so calm and everyone is so inviting."

  "We've got a good community here." He straightened his chair and gave me his full attention. "It helps that this is a vacation destination. We get a lot of tourists, and who isn't happy on vacation? Am I right?"

  "You're definitely right about that." I laughed and gave the old dog another pat before standing and admiring a wood carving of a wolf with a dozen or so wind chimes dangling from it.

  "The way the world is now, I don't see myself leaving this little bubble anytime soon." He cleared his throat and lifted his newspaper, showing me the article on the front page. "But the world keeps closing in on us."

  "What's that?" I asked, leaning in closer to get a look at the headline.

  "Police found a man murdered in his own home. He was stabbed over sixty times in the chest." The man's face scrunched. Confusion and utter sadness weaved through his previously jovial emotions. "You have to be filled with some special kind of hate to stab someone that many times. Ever butchered anything?"

  I shook my head and made a cringe-face.

  He smiled and I could tell he knew that about me before he asked. "Your arm would get tired after about five or six thrusts. Over sixty? That's pure hate driving the man who did that." His eyebrows lifted. "Or woman." His eyes smiled at me. "More likely that. I never knew a man who could match a woman when it came to passion."

  "You think that was passion?" I arched a brow.

  "Passion isn't just in the bedroom, young lady. Passion will take you to places you'd never thought you’d go."

  "What's that they say about a woman scorned?" Cash interrupted, standing next to me.

  "Exactly," the man agreed.

  Cash leaned over and shook the man's hand.

  "How much for the wolf chime?" Cash asked.

  "Fifteen," the man said.

  "I'll take it," Cash said. He turned to me and smiled, then gave my hand a squeeze. "For when we find a new Lair."

  "Thank you," I said squeezing back.

  Cash paid the man, who wrapped up the chime for us. I gave the old dog one last scratch behind the ears. When we got back to the twins, Lux was counting out pieces of lime green construction paper as if it were money and handed it to the shop owner. I laughed until I saw the man accept the paper and generously thank Lux for his purchase. They wrapped up the canvas and handed it over to Nyx, who winked at the shop owner and made her way back to the Mustang.

  Nyx turned back to me. I stared slack jawed at her and didn't move.

  "We're done here. Are you two ready to head home?" She asked.

  "Are we just going to pretend you didn't just pay that man with Monopoly money?" I asked.

  I felt Cash's body tense and Nyx's temper spike. Her eyes met mine challengingly. "How do you think we have everything we have, Liv? The house you're staying in, the food you've been eating. People see what I want them to see."

  "You just steal everything?" I asked, my voice hushed as Cash and I made our way back to the car with them.

  "No, we don't steal anything," Lux said, smirking. "People give it to us."

  Nyx sensed my judgment and crossed her thin arms over her chest. “Do you have an issue with the way we live?”

  “It just seems wrong,” I admitted.

  “How is this
any different from what Cash does?” she asked, arching a brow at me. “You all live off of the money he tricks people into giving him. Is he wrong, too?”

  As I went to argue with her, I felt a hand on my wrist and glanced over to see Cash's eyes pleading with me, warning me to let it be.

  “It's no different,” Nyx said bluntly. "You think the women who hear his voice don't work hard for their money? That they don't have children to feed or bills to pay?" She circled around the car and stared at me from the passenger side. "We all use our gifts to get by in this world, Liv. You're not above it. When it comes down to it, we do what we have to do to survive."

  "Couldn't survive without a three thousand dollar oil painting?" I snapped back.

  Nyx narrowed her eyes at me. "Oil painting. Wind chime." A wicked smile pulled at her lips. "I see no difference."

  Nyx lowered herself into the car. I felt the heat of Lux's eyes on me. When I turned to face him, he grinned and leaned closer to me. "I've stopped trying to argue with her. You can't win with her. Even when you're right."

  I rolled my eyes and slid into the back seat next to Cash. We shared a look and he held my hand, a silent reminder that he was still with me, that he understood me. It didn't matter that Nyx and Lux didn't understand. I was never going to change their minds because everyone is the hero of their own story.

  I rolled my eyes and smiled. Cash let out a small laugh and we stayed quiet the rest of the way home. We drove down the highway with the top down. The wind rolled across our faces and through my hair, cool and clean. The lake stretched out along the left side of the highway, sparkling in the fading sunlight. The highway curved up ahead of us, and snaked its way up the mountainside. Halfway back to the cabin, the entire left side of the road opened up to a steep cliff side. We climbed slowly so we could enjoy the view from the top before the road would eventually head back to the private strip of lake the twin's cabin stood.

  Up ahead of us, I saw a little girl and her mother on the side of the road. Seeing the two of them on foot on such a dangerous, narrow part of the road gave me an uneasy feeling. The woman had short brown hair, pin straight, and a long white maxi dress. She was stopped along the edge of the road, staring out at the lake. Her arm was slightly outstretched, fingertips barely touching her daughter's hand. The little girl wasn't looking at the view. She was looking at us as we drove slowly past. The girl's curls drifted in the breeze. Familiar brown eyes met mine, and made my heart jump. I straightened in my seat and stared at her. It was a vision of Mia, younger than I could remember ever seeing her. Her vacant stare made me feel numb. It all happened in less than a minute. Mia’s eyes widened and she turned in time to see her mother—our mother—step off the edge. I shut my eyes tightly and took in a quick, horrified gasp of air. When I opened my eyes, the vision was gone, but the panic was still rattling in my chest.

  "Are you okay?" Cash asked, alarm ringing through him louder than the one in my own head.

  "Yeah." I settled back down and saw Nyx’s eyes watching me in the rear view mirror. She was amused, and I knew without a doubt that she was screwing with me. Lux didn’t seem to notice what his sister had done. The fact that she was toying with me wasn't surprising, it was the way they reached into my mind and the dark images she pulled from it that really bothered me. That vision of Mia was real and it was something from before Hawthorn. It meant that Nyx had access to parts of my memory that I didn't. It scared me, but it was also intriguing.

  When we arrived back at the cabin, the kids were still playing on the lake despite the setting sun. Charlie and Dozer were huddled around a fire in the pit, under one blanket. When they saw we had returned, Dozer jumped away from Charlie like he’d been caught doing something wrong and she blushed and waved sheepishly. I just grinned and waved back, happy to see them happy.

  I went into the house and turned on the television. I was just about to get comfy on the couch when Lux grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him. My psyche shot out instinctively, but I reigned it in, having not felt any malice from Lux.

  “What are you doing?” I asked as he spun me away from him and pulled me back, dipping me low. I carefully untangled myself from him and brushed myself off. If he sensed my annoyance, it only egged him on more.

  “It’s barely eight o’clock, Liv. We sure as hell aren’t calling it a night,” he said.

  “So what do you suggest?”

  “Oh, I have an idea…”

  I wasn’t so sure I liked the sound of that, but I looked over at Cash.

  “You’re only young once, Liv.” Cash gave me a smile and a little shrug. “Come on. Let's go act our age for once. Have a little fun."

  “What did you have in mind?" I asked.

  "Lux and I are going to take you all to the casino. We dance, we drink, we gamble. You know..." Nyx looked me up and down. "Well, maybe you don't know, but you're going to find out tonight."

  Chapter Eight

  I stood in front of the full-length mirror and studied the curve of my body in the tight, sequined dress Nyx had shoved me into.

  "Not bad," Nyx purred, spinning me around. She turned my body to face hers and came at me with a makeup palette and brush kit. She dusted power over my skin and went to work on my eyes and lips, before running gloss through my hair with her fingers.

  "I love it!" Charlie squealed from the bed. She was still wearing an off the shoulder T shirt and cut off shorts. She and Dozer decided to take the kids for ice cream since they couldn't come to the casino.

  Nyx looked over her shoulder at Charlie and smirked. "I do good work."

  Charlie leapt to her feet and stood in front of me. She pulled and pushed on the dress, adjusting my breasts and the straps. "Perfect," she said, stepping back to admire me. "He's going to die when he sees you."

  I rolled my eyes. "Don't start that, Charlie."

  "What?" She winked and headed out to meet Dozer, turning before she was out of sight and drawled, "have fuuun."

  "You tooo," I replied with the same cheesy vigor.

  I turned back to Nyx who was standing in front of the mirror, sliding on her dress. It was made of shimmering, dark material that clung to her body like a second skin. The golden thread in the fabric made her eyes shine; they met mine in the mirror as she spread on a thick coat of plum matte lipstick.

  "Go ahead and ask, Liv," Nyx said with a sigh.

  "I know that was you earlier."

  "What? The little girl?" She arched a brow and her painted lips tilted up to one side as she proceeded to line her eyes.

  "Yes," I said flatly.

  "Who was she?"

  "You don't know?"

  "I don't read your mind. I just pluck the images. That one was pretty fucked up. I wanted to mess with you, but even I feel a little bad about it." She paused for a moment, then moved to the next eye. "Not enough to apologize, but more than I normally would."

  I guess I had to admire her honesty.

  "She's my sister." I stood behind her in the mirror. "Any memories of her as a child were erased when I was twelve. I don't remember ever seeing her that young. And that was our mother. She committed suicide, but not like that."

  "It's not an exact science. You know something happened, but if you don't know the details, your mind fills in the blanks." Nyx perfected the wing on her right eye then straightened and looked at me again. "You're way more damaged than I thought."

  "Can you access those memories and show them to me?"

  Nyx stared at me for a moment. She wasn't trying to unlock my brain. She was debating whether she should agree to my request. More likely, she was thinking about what she could get in return.

  "I suppose I could."

  "But you won't?" I folded my arms, anger rising inside me like steam in a kettle. I didn't like being toyed with and I really didn't like being vulnerable to people like Nyx and her brother. Nyx and Lux having the knowledge that I needed something from them made me susceptible to their whims, and I had a feeling that was a dangerous po
sition to be in.

  "I didn't say that," Nyx replied, slinking past me. I felt a flash of satisfaction from her that made me feel like I'd just fallen into a trap.

  I followed her out into the living area where Cash and Lux were waiting. Lux smirked and offered a slight bow and a gentle applause.

  "Very nice, ladies," Lux said, holding his arm for Nyx.

  She slid her arm in his and started walking toward the garage.

  I felt Cash's eyes on me and blushed in response. I couldn't help but smile. That light tickle that fluttered in him when he looked at me went crazy. He was usually a snappy dresser, but he'd stepped up his game too. The top buttons of his black dress shirt were left undone. He'd tamed his dark locks and slicked them away from his face. Cash didn't say a word. He knew He didn't have to. He just grinned at me and held out his arm. I smiled back and flushed with embarrassment as I slid my arm in his.

  As we walked out to the garage, he leaned in and whispered, "wow."

  Heat flushed through my body and I couldn't blame the thrall of his voice. It was the feeling behind his words that made me blush from my cheeks to my toes.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, everyone looks great, now let’s go. The slot machines are calling my name!” Glitch buzzed by us on the way to the car.

  Chapter Nine

  Nyx and Lux crossed their arms, each pouring a shot into the other's mouth. Lux wiped the excess from his lips and made a sour face. I felt the alcohol burning as it made its way down their throats. The alcohol warmed my belly and took its toll on me despite not having had a single drop.

  Nyx sent Glitch off to the cashier with a ton of chips the twin's had glamoured the cashier into giving them. Having filled his pockets with cash, Glitch disappeared into the sea of slot machines. I still felt bad about the way the twins did business, so I declined any cash they offered and resigned myself to free cokes from the bartender. Of course, Nyx gave me grief because those cokes were courtesy of the female bartender after Cash had asked her for them.