Sweetwater: The Kihn (The Sweet Series)

by Rivi Jacks

  Diane ambles over to say goodnight, ending my questions. “Emma Rae says she’s ready to leave, so we’re going to head out.”

  Searching around the room for Jake, I find him talking to Sam and Sawyer. “I work tomorrow, so I should go too.”

  “Let me take you home.” My gaze darts back to Nick’s beautiful blue eyes.

  Emma Rae has moved up behind me, and she bumps me forward. I don’t know what she thinks she’s doing. Nick reaches out to steady me with amusement in his eyes. It’s embarrassing at how obvious Emma Rae’s antics are.

  “Come on.” He holds out his hand, which reminds me I’ve been waiting to ask him something.

  “Let me tell Jake first.”

  Nick drives a sweet red Corvette with that new-car smell. It suits him. Sam and Sawyer don’t live too far out, and we pull into my driveway about fifteen minutes later. I wait until Nick shuts off the car before asking my question.

  “Um... what happened the other night at Ben’s? You know... when you caused that hot current thing.”

  Nick unbuckles his seat belt and angles himself against the door, facing me. He takes a couple of minutes before he answers. “Perhaps you caused the hot current thing.” He reaches over, taking my hand, and I’m relieved nothing happens. “I honestly don’t know.” He looks at my hand as if he’ll find the answer there. “I’ve never experienced anything close to that before.”

  I look at him, confused. “So, we have no idea why it happened?”

  He pulls on my hand, pulling me closer as he leans toward me. “I think we should go in.” His voice is low, and we’re close enough that his breath fans across my face.

  “Why?” I breathe.

  “Because I want to kiss you... and this damn console is in the way.”

  I lean in close, surprising myself, and bring my lips to his. His mouth is warm, and when he tries to deepen the kiss, I pull back. “I have to work in the morning.” Plus, I’m not sure I want this to move too fast.

  “Well,” he sighs, “I guess I’d better walk you to the door.” As he helps me from the car, he glances about the yard.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Doesn’t Jake have a security light out here?”

  My eyes sweep the yard, noticing how dark it is. “It must have burned out.” I see him scan around again. “You’re making me nervous.”

  Nick brings his gaze back to mine. “Sorry.”

  I’m fumbling with the key in the lock when he asks, “Don’t you leave a light on inside, and why no porch light?”

  Pushing the door open, I reach around the doorframe, switching on the light for the porch. “What are you, the light police?”

  “Sofie, something strange is happening around here. Jake needs to make sure everything is secure for when you’re here alone.” Nick follows me inside.

  “Are you... trying to scare me?”

  “No—”

  “Because you’re starting to do a good job of it.” I turn to face him.

  He takes my hand, pulling me close. I look up into the darkest blue eyes I’ve ever seen as his head descends toward mine. The shrill ringing of the phone makes me step back.

  I giggle, somewhat nervous. “I’d better answer. It might be Jake.” Nick mutters under his breath as I head for the kitchen.

  I come back into the living room to find him on the couch with his feet propped on the coffee table. “I decided to wait with you until Jake gets home.”

  “Thanks. That was Diane. Jake dropped her off, and he’s headed this way.” Sitting at the opposite end of the couch, I tuck my feet under me, still cold. “Calvin called your friends witches, but Jake explained that they were Wiccan?”

  Nick studies me for a moment. “I’ve known Lucian and Estella Zelt for a long time. They’re good people who only want others to leave them alone. When fools like Calvin start talking about them being witches, they mean all the dark connotations of practicing magic. They perceive the Zelts as evil—and they are not.” He hesitates, and I can tell he wants to say more, but he waits a few minutes before he continues. “They want to help with what is happening. They have knowledge of sacrifices and the meaning of certain rituals.”

  “That’s what Jake told me.”

  “Well, if word gets around they’re witches, no one will listen to them.”

  “Did you know them from Florida?” I can’t help but be curious.

  “Yes.”

  “Jake said they moved into the old Rogers place. No one’s lived there for a long time. It’s haunted. At least, that’s the rumor.”

  He smiles. “I don’t believe ghosts would deter Estella.” His voice holds a hint of laughter.

  “Are they married?”

  “No.” He places his feet on the floor and stands. “Brother and sister.” He moves to the front windows and looks through the curtains. “They have a younger sister, Brit, who lives with them too.”

  “What about Taylor?”

  He looks at me in surprise. “Taylor?”

  “Is he... wiccan too?”

  Nick laughs out loud at my question. “No, Taylor is not wiccan.”

  I feel foolish, but I’m sure of what I saw earlier. “Okay, what is he then?”

  Several moments pass before Nick asks, “What do you mean?”

  “The way he handled Calvin Stewart tonight… He had lots of controlled energy. I could feel it... He had Calvin on the floor so quickly.” I shake my head as if I’m still in awe of what happened.

  Nick takes my hand and pulls me to my feet, holding me close. “You are a very observant young woman.” He lowers his head toward mine, and before kissing me, he murmurs, “And very beautiful.” His lips are soft, warm, and gentle. He touches his tongue to my lips, coaxing them open as he deepens his kiss. The sound of Jake’s truck, in the driveway, ends the kiss. Nick leans his forehead against mine.

  “I want more of this,” he sighs. He kisses my forehead before stepping over to the couch and retrieving his coat. “Would you like to go out with me Saturday night? Go into Springfield for dinner and a movie?”

  I glance toward the kitchen as Jake comes in the back door, then at Nick. “Yes, that sounds fun.”

  Jake strides from the kitchen toward us. “Hey. What sounds fun?”

  “Sofie and I are going out Saturday night,” Nick answers for me, and I glance at Jake. Jake smiles, pleased. I hope he doesn’t get any ideas about his best friend and me.

  “Thanks for staying with Sofie until I got here. I’m not sure why the outside light’s not working.” Jake looks puzzled.

  “No problem.” Nick gives me a smile.

  “Also, I dropped Taylor off at your place,” Jake informs him.

  Nick looks a little surprised before he laughs. “I sort of forgot about him.” He rubs his chin and steps closer to me to say softly, “Which is your fault.”

  Jake grins at us. Oh no, Uncle—don’t go there.

  “I’d better go. You are coming by in the morning, right?” he asks Jake.

  “Yeah, I figure about eight.”

  Nick takes my hand, pulls me with him to the front door, and gives me a quick kiss. “I’ll be talking to you before Saturday.”

  “Okay.”

  “Good night,” he says, loud enough for Jake’s benefit, and I shut the door behind him. I wait until he pulls out of the driveway before turning off the porch light.

  I hear the phone ring as I get out of the shower, so I’m surprised when Jake knocks on my bedroom door a good thirty minutes later, informing me Diane is on the phone.

  “Hey, Di, were you just talking to Jake?”

  There’s an extended silence before Diane answers. “I just wanted to find out how things went with Nick?”

  “We have a date Saturday night. I’m hoping you’ll have some clothes I can borrow.”

  “Ohhh, that was quick,” she says with a giggle. “Come by tomorrow. I’m sure we can find something. So, did Nick kiss you?”

  “He did.”

&nb
sp; “Good?”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  “Why are you being so vague?” she asks.

  “What do you want me to say?”

  “You like him.”

  “Of course, I don’t go around kissing guys I don’t care for.”

  “Well, not entirely true,” she accuses with a slight laugh.

  “Okay, I know we agreed never to bring up Gary Fenton again.”

  “Oh, yeah, I forgot. Sorry,” she says with another giggle.

  I’d gone out with Gary my senior year. Big mistake. He’d been asking me out since junior high, and over time, I caved. We went out only three times, but he acted as if I broke his heart when I decided three dates were two too many. He moped and followed me everywhere, called my house at all hours, and grilled my friends and family on my whereabouts. It got so crazy that Ben finally spoke to him. When that didn’t make a difference, Jake and Sawyer had a word with him. I was never sure what they’d conveyed to Gary, but he did back off. Nick was sooo not Gary.

  “Diane?”

  “Ye-ah?”

  “Over at Ben’s the other night, when I met Nick—what are you doing?” I could tell she was moving around and was distracted.

  “Looking out my bedroom window. A shadow flashed past, and I was afraid maybe we had a cow out—but I don’t see anything. What about Nick?” She gives me her full attention again.

  “When we shook hands... it was as if a... hot flash... shot up our arms.”

  “When was that?”

  “Right before you came in the kitchen and stole my piece of pie.”

  “Did he feel it?”

  “Yes, most definitely.”

  “Weird.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed.

  “Did you ask him about it?”

  “I did, but he didn’t have a clue. What do you think?”

  “Could it have been a shock?”

  “No.”

  “Remember the time we raised that electric fence wire old Mr. Haney had strung out in the field? That sent warmth all over my body.”

  “It wasn’t anything near that,” I tell her with a smile.

  “I remember you peed your pants.”

  “That was you.” I remind her.

  “Oh... yeah. Well, let me know if you come up with anything.”

  “Don’t say anything about this.”

  “Of course not,” she assures me.

  “Okay, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  “Night.”

  “Night, Di.”

  I’m not sure what particular noise wakes me and alerts me to someone who isn’t Jake moving about in the house. After years of hearing him get up in the night, I know the sounds he makes. These sounds are different—steps shuffling as if someone is dragging something heavy. It sounds as if it’s coming down the hall from the front room. It hasn’t reached my bedroom door yet, but I sense it’s coming.

  I scoot across the bed to the far side, slide to the cold floor, and push my way under the bed. I’m more afraid of what’s outside my room than possible spiders on the floor. And I’m plenty scared of spiders.

  It’s pitch black; I can’t see my hand in front of my face. Weird. I should be able to, at least from the light of the alarm clock. Only—nothing, total darkness, which scares me the most, I think.

  It’s close to my room. Too late, I realize I should have gone out the window, climbed the tree by the house to the roof, and woken Jake.

  Now it’s at my door, and it’s not the first time I’ve tried to breathe while making as little sound as possible as the adrenaline pumps through my body. I’m starting to shiver, too. I only have on a long-sleeved tee and boy’s boxer-type shorts. The floor’s ice cold, damp and clammy, and the air smells musty. I tense every muscle in my body and grit my teeth to stop them from chattering. I try to lie as quiet as possible on my stomach, my pounding heart the only sound. Is it still out there?

  As if answering my silent question, the door makes a loud groaning noise as something pushes against it. Covering my mouth with ice-cold hands, I want to scream for Jake. The door rattles loudly, and I pray he’ll wake from the noise.

  Whatever pushed against the door moves away. I hear it as it shuffles back toward the front of the house. As I ponder coming out from under the bed, a stair board creaks. It’s moving up the stairs, to a sleeping Jake!

  I am scared shitless as I move across the floor, going into the open. I stand, shaking, and try to decide if I should try the window or the door. Jake keeps a shotgun in the kitchen and another one in the front hall closet. The closet is in view of the stairs, so I decide on the kitchen.

  I place my ear to the door, but the only sound is the pounding of my heart. The darkness will be a problem. The power must be out. I move slowly back toward my bed. Evidently, being terrified makes me stupid because I haven’t considered the phone. With the power out, the phone won’t work anyway. My cell phone! I feel around the bottom of the nightstand where I stash my purse. I hear the floor creak above my head; it’s in the hallway above me.

  I quickly return to the door, unconcerned by stealth now. I open the door, step out into the hallway, and turn to my left toward the kitchen. I take a couple of steps when I sense something directly behind me, and I take off running as quickly as one can run in total darkness. As I touch the kitchen doorframe, I slow to turn. I swing to my right to clear the kitchen table and head to the back door and the air moves as something grabs at me. It’s as if something brushes through my hair as it reaches out to catch me. I keep moving just out of its reach. There’s no way to get to the gun in time, so I just head to the back door.

  There’s a loud bang as I reach the door. It must have run into the kitchen table. The door won’t open. I frantically fight with the lock as the banging continues, loud and insistent.

  “I’m coming!” Jake yells as he comes down the stairs. The pounding continues. “I’m coming, dammit!” I hear him unlocking the front door as I open my eyes. I’m lying on my back, in bed, heart racing. I sit up; the alarm clock shows three-sixteen.

  I hear Jake talking to someone, and then he’s at my bedroom door. “Sofie, are you okay?” He knocks. “Sofe, you awake?”

  “Jake!” I gasp. He steps into the room, light from the hall spilling in. “Who’s here?” I slip on my robe. I’m trembling, making my voice quiver.

  “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

  “I... I guess I had a bad dream.” That’s how nightmares are for me: realistic and hard to believe it’s only a dream upon waking.

  “Nick’s here.”

  “What?” I ask with surprise. As I make my way down the hall, I look around. Okay, this nightmare was incredibly vivid and real.

  “Sofie.” Nick places his hand on my shoulder. “You’re trembling.”

  “Why... are you here?” My voice reflects my confusion.

  “I—” He glances over at Jake. “I had a—feeling something was wrong here.”

  What? “Only in my nightmare,” I say my voice unsteady.

  “So, just a bad dream and you’re okay?”

  “Yeah, I am.” I yawn. What the hell? This is too weird. “I guess... I should get back to bed and let you go to yours.” I glance uncertainly at Jake with a what’s going on look.

  “Do you want to talk about your dream?” Nick asks.

  “No!” I say and startle him. “Sorry. My Gram always said, ‘Don’t tell a dream before you eat breakfast, or it will come true.’”

  “Well,” he sounds amused, “we wouldn’t want that.”

  “No,” I breathe. “We would not.”

  “Okay, goodnight and—sweet dreams.”

  “Thanks, and thank you for coming to check on us. I’m grateful you woke me.”

  As I head for my room, Jake says, “Nick, be careful about pounding on a door in the middle of the night around here. You came close to a shotgun in your face.”

  This reminds me, and I hasten back to the hall closet. I reach in for the twelve-gauge pump-a
ction shotgun. Nick and Jake both watch me.

  “Night,” I tell them, taking the shotgun with me.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The early morning light coming through my window wakes me. I’m rested and alert earlier than I would have believed possible, considering the lack of sleep I’ve managed in the past four days. Amazingly, after last night, I’m in good shape. I should have just enough time to stop by Lucy’s for a cup of coffee before heading to work.

  Dressed in jeans and a dark-green tee, I pull my hair into a high ponytail. I’ve always had thick hair, and the last time I had a trim, the hairdresser suggested a few layers. I love them, and the highlights are courtesy of the California sun. The ponytail swings full and bouncy down my back.

  The house is quiet; Jake has already left to feed cattle. I stand in the hallway outside my bedroom. The floor looks perfect and the door unblemished. As I step into the kitchen, the table seems to be in its normal position in the center of the room.

  Since I’ve already worked out a menu, I don’t take long at Murphy’s. I just need to go through the storage room to check on what I’ll need to order. We decide to start Murphy’s Special of the Day the following Monday.

  When the noontime rush is over, Emma Rae, Reenie, and I sit, eating our lunches in the now-quiet dining room. After ordering my supplies, I helped Emma Rae, refilling drinks and waiting on customers. One fact about working the dining room: I got to hear all the latest gossip and local news.

  The main talk of the day pertained to the meeting that night. I got the impression the locals think the sheriff should handle the cattle crisis. The sacrifices are of some concern also. Who would do such a despicable act?

  Others gossip about Tony Martin and his wife Lola divorcing after ten years of marriage. Lola is one of my Aunt Jordy’s best friends.

  In addition, Leroy Benton, likkered up, drove his truck off the slab crossing Panther Creek out by Durn Holler. The holler’s not named for anyone in particular... just that durn holler.

  The three of us look up as Benny Perkins and Gary Fenton enter the dining room. “Time to go,” I state as soon as I see them.