What all did I do in my sleep? Megan wondered.
With this being the first time in her life she had ever woken up next to a man, she let the feeling sink in. She had only been on one date since high school and that was three years earlier with a prick who had assumed she wanted to have sex with him because he was attractive. The more he spoke, the less and less attractive he became. But this was Drew she was waking up next to, and he wasn’t a prick. He may have been known as a flirt, but he was a good guy.
Everyone knew that.
Heck, she was surprised the people of Hope hadn’t given him a key to the town or created a “Calloway Day” in his honor.
Taking her sweet time, she untangled herself from him. Trying not to touch anything inappropriate, she sat up, and turned her back to him. “Sorry, I must have slept really hard.”
He chuckled, then muttered, “You’re not the only one.”
His meaning wasn’t lost on her, but she chose to ignore it. Before she stood, she redid the buttons of her pajama top which had come loose through the night, and tried to look like it was not a big deal as she rose.
“What do you have for breakfast?” he called to her as she hurried to the bathroom and shut the door.
“Go look. I think there’s some cereal above the refrigerator.” She had to pee unbelievably bad, but no way was she going to be able to with him on the other side of the door. This wasn’t limited to Drew alone, no, Megan had anxiety in public restrooms, too. If there was more than one stall and someone else was in there, she would either have to find another place or wait it out until she was alone.
Megan watched as he walked out the door and breathed a sigh of relief. Staying a few minutes longer, she brushed her teeth and hair, not wanting to look like the queen of the undead like she had when she first walked into the bathroom. Leaving the bedroom, she slipped on a pair of jeans, a silk blouse, and a pair of high heels.
Clothing was her therapy and shield. If she was going to be a freak of nature, at least she would be a decently dressed freak.
By the time Megan reached the kitchen, Drew was reading the paper while eating a bowl of cereal. She wondered how he could make eating Fruit Loops look so damn hot. He was dressed in a different pair of jeans and a white button-up shirt with the arms rolled up just below the elbows. Someone must have dropped off clean clothes for him. Does he have an endless supply of white button-downs? Megan wondered. Maybe it was part of the detective’s uniform.
“Have they already dusted for fingerprints?” she asked, looking to the living room and finding it empty.
“Yeah, hopefully we’ll have names for these guys soon.” He didn’t look up from the paper. “I’ve got someone coming out in a few hours to replace your windows.”
“Okay, thanks.” Tapping her fingers against the counter, she nodded. “I guess I’ll see you later.” Megan turned and started to walk away, but Drew stopped her.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked, putting down the newspaper and standing. He grabbed his cup of coffee and walked to her. Where did he manage to get coffee? She didn’t even own a coffeepot.
Jabbing a thumb toward the front door, she said, “I’m going to work.”
He looked her up and down and she tried not to squirm. “We’ll go to your shop for two hours, then we have to get back to finding Laura.” He moved past her and slipped on his shoes that were by the front door. “Let’s go.”
Stupefied, she shook her head. “Hmm. Why don’t you go look for Laura and I’ll go to the shop?” She didn’t want him to know she only planned on spending an hour at the shop, then the rest of the day hunting for Laura.
“’Cause you’re going to be by my side day in and day out until I say otherwise.” He crossed his arms over his chest, daring her to defy his authority.
This could not be happening. She wouldn’t be able to handle all that time with him, not to mention, she had a business to run. “You can’t stop your search every time I need to do something and I can’t close my shop every time you need me to.” Her lips pursed, and he didn’t budge an inch. She crossed her arms under her chest in defiance, but it didn’t last very long. With an eye roll, she yanked her purse off the coffee table. “Don’t think you’re not going to be helping me at the shop.”
****
“It’s time to stop,” Drew insisted with a scowl.
“One more box.” Megan wanted to snicker, but kept it inside.
He had hung shirts for nearly an hour and complained the entire time about how this was not part of his job. If he wanted to be by her side day in and day out like he said, he would have to get over it. Saving the best for last, she handed him another box to open. While he used a box knife, she took the shirts he’d hung and put them on racks. She came back to find him grinning like a teenager.
“Lookie here! Wanna play dress up?”
Megan’s cheeks flushed. Of course he would end up having fun with it. She hadn’t thought it through and it was hard to ignore him while he was holding the panties in the air, wiggling his eyebrows. Yanking the pink thongs from his hand, she threw them in the box and walked away. “Grow up.”
“I’ll take that as a no?” He laughed. Drew stood next to her, watching while she put the underwear in a metal bin. Wishing he would move away and give her some damn breathing room, Megan kept her back to him. He was taking a task she usually loved and destroying it. He held a pair of electric blue, laced boy-shorts in front of her face. “Bet this would look good on you.”
The seriousness in Drew’s voice caused her hand to pause mid-air. In the past, he would come to the store every now and then and buy an item for his mom or sister, but he had never flirted with her like he had the night before. Not that Megan really gave him a chance as she ran away any time he came close. But what was it with him? He could wiggle his little finger and flocks of women would gladly come running, pants off, to see if he liked their panties. Why is he flirting with me? Megan wondered. She surmised it was more than likely because he knew how flustered it made her.
Megan took the box and turned it upside down, dumping the contents into the bin. “We’re done. Let’s go.”
Grabbing her purse, she waved to Brandy—who’s eyes were the size of moons—and walked through the front door, Drew following closely behind. “Are you ever going to tell me what was on the note?”
“Don’t plan on it,” he said, getting into the driver’s side of her car—which he insisted on driving—and started the engine as she took her seat on the passenger side.
“You know, I may be able to help you if you just tell me all of it,” she said, putting her purse on the floorboard and buckling her seatbelt.
“I don’t need your help.” He patted her leg and she yanked away.
“Obviously, you need my help or you wouldn’t be with me right now.” She threw him a sarcastic smile.
“Are you always so skittish? You’re so jumpy.” She turned her head to look out the window. When they reached a stop light he asked, “When’s the last time you went on a date?”
“That would be none of your business.” Thankfully, she was still looking out of the side window and he couldn’t see the embarrassment creeping up on her face. And, she was right, it was none of his business.
“That long, huh?” The light changed and he made a quick left. “I know you haven’t dated anyone from Hope.”
More like Hopeless, she wanted to say, but of course, she didn’t. Just two short days ago she could barely look at or speak a word to him, and now she wanted to wrap her hands around his throat and squeeze. The past nervousness was almost completely gone and was swiftly being replaced with annoyance. “Why are you so interested in my dating life?”
“Not interested, just think you need to get laid and maybe you’d loosen up some. You know, I could help you with that, if that’s the problem.” Drew gave a wink and Megan glared in return.
“I don’t need you to help me with anything. Especially my sex life.” She w
ished they were standing so she could kick him right where it would hurt the most. The arrogant son of a bitch. And there she had thought he wasn’t like other men. He was supposed to be one of the good guys.
“Funny. I didn’t get that impression when you were all over me last night.” Drew got out of the car before Megan even realized they had parked in front of the police station. At this point, she wished he would arrest her and she could be done with him. He waved her out of the car.
She rolled down the window and stuck her head out. “I’ll just wait for you out here.”
“Are we really going to go through you trying to win and me winning in the end, wasting both our time?” Drew asked, resting his hands on the top of the window, bending down to look directly at her. Megan gave her best I-hate-you look, but it didn’t do anything more than show her disapproval. “You’re cute when you’re mad.”
“Urgh!” She swung the door open and hit him in the knees with a satisfying thud.
“What?” he asked, laughing and holding up his hands. At that moment, she was just glad her super power wasn’t eye lasers, because he’d be blown to smithereens.
Drew held the entrance door open for her to walk through. The sound of multiple telephones ringing and people trying to talk over one another filled the air along with the bitter smell of burnt coffee. There was no way she could handle working in this kind of hectic work environment. She would be insane in a week.
“Sit right there.” He pointed to a line of metal chairs against the wall. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Playing the obedient woman, Megan did as he commanded, but slit her eyes at his back as he walked away. Already bored, she was drumming her fingers on the side of her purse when she noticed a beautiful blonde standing at the counter, wearing a brown leather mini-shirt under a flowy, lace top and knee-high suede boots. The skirt was short enough to show nearly all three feet of leg. Her hands flew in the air while she lectured the deputy behind the counter.
“What do you mean, there’s nothing you can do?” she spat. The deputy held up his hands and spoke in a normal voice, making it impossible to hear his reply, but it must not have been what she wanted to her. She leaned in, causing her skirt to hike up another dangerous inch, and pointed her finger at his chest. “Listen to me, Barney Fife, my van has my life in it, so you know what that means?”
He leaned back and shook his head no.
“It means, until you and your buddies here search this town, I don’t have a life!” She threw her head back. “God, help me, please.”
Out of nowhere, the woman directed her attention to Megan and when their eyes met, a sudden zing pulsated throughout her body, starting in her head and ending in her toes. She took a deep breath. That was the strangest thing she had ever felt in her life.
The woman stood, mouth opened, gaping at her. Did she have medication in that van of hers that she needs to take to keep her sanity or something? Megan wondered.
The blonde laughed, and with a smirk, started Megan’s way. Oh shit, she thought and scanned the building for Drew. He was all the way in the back of the building talking to three officers who were seated behind a desk. The heels of the woman’s boots clanked on the floor as she made her way to Megan. Megan clutched her purse resting in her lap and prepared herself for the wrath of a crazed woman. Megan lifted her chin when she stopped in front of her and put her hand on her hip.
Little did she know, Megan wasn’t going to be a pushover like the deputy.
The woman snickered. “Dear Lord, get your panties out of a wad. And no, I’m not on any medication.” She sat beside Megan like they had known each other for ages. “So, what are your powers?”
“Excuse me?” Megan stared at her with wide eyes. She knows my thoughts? How could she know her thoughts? And how did this woman know she had a super power? She had a gut-wrenching feeling that after meeting this woman, her life was never going to be the same. “Who are you?”
“My name is Lillie. Lillie Sharpe,” she said, her gold bracelets clanking into each other as she extended her long fingers. Megan gripped tighter onto her purse and decided not to take it. Shrugging, Lillie let her hand fall. “Stop worrying. I’m like you.”
Megan’s eyebrows drew together. “What do you mean, like me?”
Lillie took a breath, like she was having to explain to a toddler. “I can read people’s thoughts.”
The corner of Megan’s mouth twitched. Lillie did look a little new age. Before long, she would probably say her aura was all wrong and for only fifty bucks, she could tell her the future.
Lillie’s eyes narrowed. “Seriously? I am not a psychic and I don’t read auras.”
Megan sucked in a breath. “What the hell!”
“I told you, I’m like you.”
Shaking her head, Megan said, “I don’t hear people’s thoughts and if I could, I wouldn’t be so intrusive with it.”
“I wasn’t being intrusive. You’re blaring like a freaking siren,” Lillie replied, flapping her hands through the air again. She sat back, took a deep breath, and looked directly at Megan. “I’m the first you’ve met, aren’t I?”
“The first what?” The confusion was getting obnoxious, fast. Megan looked over her shoulder. To others, it would look like she was looking at the concrete block wall a few inches from her face, but she looked through and searched for Drew. He was nowhere to be seen.
“Superwoman is just too ridiculous to use. I mean, we don’t wear capes or anything. At least, I don’t.” She looked to Megan who shook her head in agreement. Lillie puckered her lips, contemplating her next words. “I would call us, power-induced. We both have abilities. When we made eye contact you felt something, didn’t you?”
There was no reason for lying, because Lillie obviously knew what she was. Hell, Megan didn’t even know who she was. Maybe Lillie could give her some much needed insight. Megan nodded, too speechless to speak. She had made it twenty-six years without meeting another person like her. Why now?
“Yes, well, I did, too. It’s happened to me before. That’s how I knew you were like me.” She patted Megan’s knee. “So, tell me. What’s your power?”
Lillie was acting like it was normal, everyday conversation. They weren’t talking about the weather, for goodness sakes. What if someone overheard them? She leaned into Lillie and whispered as she kept an eye out for anyone approaching. “Have you met a lot of people with… powers?”
“Only one, three years ago and she was a total bitch.” Lillie laid her head back against the wall and Megan wished she could read her thoughts. “Are you going to tell me what it is or not?”
Could she say it out loud? She had never said the words vocally, but to have the chance to actually speak to another person who had to live a secret life was too much to resist. Clearing her throat, she waited for a few people to pass before she spoke. “I can see through walls.”
“That’s actually cool. And?” she asked, her eyebrows going up.
“What do you mean and?” Megan asked, offended, since she thought her ability was pretty awesome all on its own.
Lillie tapped an index finger on her chin. “Hmm… I’ m guessing you haven’t found your other yet?”
“What do you do?” Megan inquired, turning the table on her to avoid expressing even more confusion.
“I can hear people from really far away as well as their thoughts and I can kick some serious ass.” To prove her point, she wrapped her finger around the armrest of the metal chair, barely squeezing, yet when she lifted her hand, deep indentions were left behind.
“Uh, wow.” Megan sat up straight in awe. Lillie gave her a smile of satisfaction. She had a thousand questions to ask Lillie to start, but she heard Drew’s baritone voice approaching. “Look, I’ve never told a soul about seeing through walls and I would like to keep it that way.”
“Of course. Secrecy is what keeps us alive.” Lillie winked as Drew came around the corner. He looked at both of them and Lillie took her time so
aking in the hotness that was Drew like he was on display at a museum. A jealous rage brewed just beneath Megan’s skin and she bit her bottom lip. She didn’t have any right to him, but she sure as hell didn’t want anyone else getting him, either.
Especially someone who could kick her ass with a flick of her finger.
“Siren,” Lillie said, tapping her temple with a laugh. Standing, she stretched out her miles of legs and held out a hand for Drew. “Hello, I’m Lillie Sharpe.”
“Drew Calloway.” He shook her hand politely, but looked over her shoulder at Megan in question.
“Was there something I can help you with?” he asked, his hands back on his hips.
“Nope. I was just talking to Megan.”
Megan shrugged, not knowing what to say.
“Megan, you ready?” The set of his jaw and the heat behind his eyes let her know something was wrong and she doubted he was going to let her in on it.
Megan wasn’t ready. She wanted to pull Lillie to the side and ask her what Drew was thinking, but his thoughts were his alone and no one had any business knowing if he didn’t want them to. She also wanted to stay and talk with her more, since she was the first person she had ever met who had a clue of what it was like to be, well, her. Maybe she knew what they were or if there were more people out there like them. There were too many questions to just walk away and never see her again.
“Megan, why don’t you give me your new number and we can talk more some other time?” Lillie asked, clamping her hands together in front of her.
“Yeah, that’s a great idea.” Megan rummaged through her purse, found a business card, and handed it to her. “That’s my store and my cell phone number is on there, too.”
“It doesn’t look like I’ll be going anywhere anytime soon.” Lillie looked over her shoulder at the deputy behind the counter and rolled her eyes.
Call me later, Megan thought as hard as she could, hoping she was listening. Drew opened the side door for her to walk through. “Maybe we can get dinner or something this week?”
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