Leaving the shower, Cole toweled off and grabbed at his jeans. Fuck it. He cared too much to leave Payton at the mercy of a monster. If she wouldn’t let him in the front door today, then he’d just keep an eye on her place from outside, make sure she stayed safe. He wasn’t leaving her safety to chance anymore.
Her apartment wasn’t far. He’d have time to walk there before class, talk to her—probably through the door given his attitude last night—and make sure she was okay. She was probably as mad as hell at him, but at least then he’d know she was safe.
Fuck, this was stupid. The girl was in danger, and he was worrying about whether or not she was mad at him. He was going to protect her. Even if she told him to stay away. He wasn’t going to be the same as everyone else and just walk away.
But how long would it take before she told him the truth? Would she ever?
The FBI Agent, Knight, had been straight up, at least about the missing women. When he hadn’t been able to sleep, Cole had called Jake, one of his few remaining friends down at the station, and asked him to check out a few details. The cases were there. They were real, unsolved, and the trail was completely cold. No agency, local or federal, had anything much to go on, and regardless of how whacked-out Reece’s story had sounded, it was beginning to be the only thing that made any sense to Cole.
He’d watched the man closely when they’d talked and there was no malice there; he was scared for his girl, sure, and would probably drive a tank over anyone who stood in his way of stopping these assholes, but he was on their side. On Payton’s side.
These people, the other psychics—man, that was still a bit of a head trip—they were Payton’s best shot at real help. If she continued to ignore them, then she was putting herself in danger. The only thing Cole could do was go and talk to her. He needed to find out what had really happened to spook her so badly at work, then take her to meet Reece and his friends.
She’ll never listen. Too stubborn.
He had to try anyway. After grabbing his wallet and phone, Cole pulled his front door shut and headed in the direction of Payton’s apartment. With every step he took, Cole grew more and more certain he was doing the right thing. If he just waited to meet her at class, instead of waiting by her front door, well, there were enough opportunities for someone to have gotten to her already. He wasn’t about to make any more.
Guilt ran through him at the memory of the look on her face as he’d walked away the night before, and he shook away a vision of her lying in blood. No, he wasn’t going there. Torturing himself wasn’t going to do either of them any good. He shouldn’t have left her there alone, but if Cole had his way, she wouldn’t be again.
He rounded the corner to her apartment. Everything was the same as it had been last night.
Thank God.
There were no squad cars parked outside her building, lights flashing; and no suspicious black vans parked on corners, either.
That doesn’t mean she’s safe.
Cole pushed open the door to her apartment block and listened for any sign of trouble, but all he could hear was the sound of a tenant’s TV. He stood outside Payton’s apartment, hand held up to knock but hesitating. As far as she knew, he had no idea what was going on. She was going to wonder what the hell he was doing outside her front door at six-thirty on a Saturday morning. Once he knocked, that was it. He’d have to tell her he knew her secret. It was the only way she wouldn’t just slam the door in his face. She might still.
He knocked anyway.
After a minute, he heard a thump come from inside the apartment, then a soft curse word, before Payton opened the door just a sliver.
“What?”
“I had to talk to you. I’m sorry about the way I left things last night.”
The door closed in his face and his heart dropped. He was about to knock again when he heard the clanking sound of the door chain and the door opened again, wider this time. Payton stood on the other side, dressed in nothing but a plain white t-shirt.
“I hope I didn’t wake you.” He walked into her room and sat on the single chair in the living space.
“No, but only just,” her voice was hoarse from the early morning. “What do you want?”
Cole weighed his options. If he did this the wrong way, then he’d fuck it all up completely. There was no way he’d give up, but it would make it a fuck-ton harder to protect her if she couldn’t stand the sight of him.
“Payton, I know.”
He watched her eyes narrow, and then grow almost impossibly wider as his meaning sank in.
“I should have told you the minute I found out, but I didn’t know how to talk to you about it.” She flinched and wrapped her hands around herself.
She’s pulling back, protecting herself. Get it out.
“What?” She shook her head so vigorously she was going to make herself dizzy. “No, I mean, you’re wrong.”
“It’s okay, I believe you. I’m not playing games, and Payton . . . you can’t, either.”
She stood silently and he watched the emotions cross her face—shock, fear, denial, guilt, and then finally anger.
“How the fuck do you know any of this? Was it those women? I’ll fucking kill them.”
“No.” Cole crossed the room and stood next to her. “It wasn’t them, Payton. But they don’t want to hurt you.”
“How the hell would you know?”
Cole took in a deep breath. She was defensive; he should have expected that. Payton never gave in to anything easily and she clearly wasn’t going to start now. “Why won’t you let me help you with this? Every time I asked you what was wrong last night, you blew me off. But then you asked me to come up to your place, to stay with you.”
“Don’t flatter yourself.”
“I want to help you. God, I want to help. But you won’t even tell me what the fuck for.”
Payton’s mouth dropped open and her hands clenched into fists. Fuck. Wrong thing to say.
“You think I’m just gonna go around telling anyone this shit, that I want anyone I know, shit anyone I care about. . . .” She paused, almost choking on a sob. “You think I want you involved in this? I’ve got fucking psychos chasing me across the country and you’re worried that I didn’t tell you my precious secret?”
Her eyes shot through him. There was that fury again. At least she’d stopped crying. He couldn’t handle that.
“I didn’t want you involved before because I didn’t know who to fucking trust, but now I just don’t want you to get hurt. I want you here too much for anyone’s good. God, I was all set to tell you last night, but they’ve already approached you. Fuck.” She paced across the apartment, running her fingers through her hair. “This is serious.”
“No shit.” Cole met her eyes and walked closer, stepping into her path and stopping her manic pacing. “You think I’m going to just leave you here to do this all on your own? What about the other people who are facing the same danger? You’re not alone in this, even though I’m sure you believe you are. Those girls you keep calling psychotic are trying to help you.”
Payton shook her head in disbelief. “I don’t need anyone else to protect me, and those girls are the ones that hurt me!”
“A federal agent came to my house—Emily’s boyfriend—he told me that the girls only want to help. He told me other things, too, and I believe him.”
Her eyes went cold. “You betrayed me. You went behind my back and started working with the people trying to hurt me.”
“I’m only trying to help.”
“Don’t be an idiot, Cole! How could they possibly have known where I was if they weren’t working with the people who kidnapped me?”
“I don’t know what you can do, Payton. They don’t even know, but they found you using whatever gift they have.”
“Get out.”
“I haven’t betrayed you.” She glared at him and Cole felt the pain down to his soul. “And I sure as fuck am not judging you. I want to protect you, Payton.
”
She erupted. “You have no idea what I’m going through! And then you dare to walk in and tell me what to do, try to take over.”
“Whoever is really behind this is probably still out there. Payton, please. You can’t take the risk of doing this alone.”
“Stop!” His ears nearly rang from the force of her scream and before he could move, a strange glow filled the room before Payton’s eyes glazed over.
Fuck, she was doing something. Right there in front of him. Only he had no idea what.
Everything went black. The only other person in the world was Payton, standing beside him in a blank space. Then he saw him. A giant man, coming at her with a steel pole. She was on the ground, a bloody wound on the back of her head.
The man bent down, a syringe in his hand. He injected whatever it was into the side of Payton’s neck and the world flew away.
Shit, her life changed in that moment, wrenched away from her and shattering her world in a heartbeat. She hadn’t asked for that. He was a cop; he knew the risks. Payton had just been walking down the street and the world she knew ended.
It was there in her eyes every day: the haunting images and echoing voices that lay just beyond the threshold of perception. He knew exactly what that felt like and he saw it reflected now inside Payton’s mind.
“Help me!”
“Shut up.” The man kicked her in the ribs.
Payton screamed, so loudly that Cole could barely stand it. The sound continued endlessly until finally she was silenced, her throat completely raw and all that escaped her was a raspy spurt of air.
Cole watched in terror as Payton’s eyes closed again and everything went black.
A vague mist swirled past, peppered with slices of pain and then swirls of sound and twists of color as something cold was injected into her veins, then the pain would come again. People asked her questions, demanded that she tell them everything, but Payton could barely remember who she was. Only a quiet voice, speaking inside her head just once, offered her any comfort.
“Payton? Is your name Payton? I’ll get you out, I promise.”
But then the voice was gone as the pain rushed through her again.
It seemed like an eon had passed before Payton opened her eyes again, but this time the room around her was clear, the whispers in her mind gone. A tall blond man was leaning over her and another figure sat crouched in the dark. She bent forward and Cole caught a glimpse—just enough to tell she was a woman.
“Who are you? Let me go!” Payton thrashed around wildly, trying to lift her feet.
The man had a knife in his hand and Cole tried to rush forward to disarm the man, but nothing happened. It was as if he didn’t exist.
“Shh,” the man said. “It’s okay.”
He bent down, angling the knife toward Payton. She struggled again, punching out at him, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get away.
She was powerless.
“We’re not going to hurt you,” he murmured as he ran the knife through the bonds at her legs. The blade whispering over her skin sent chills through both Payton and Cole as the ropes fell away.
The woman was eye level with Payton. The blonde woman! “Stop. We’re here to help you. Please listen to us.”
Dizziness and confusion still ran through Payton’s head. What the hell had they been drugging her with?
“How did I get here, and who the hell are you?”
The woman hesitated and then stepped closer. “I tried calling out to you. I had a vision of you here. I saw you trapped.”
“Bullshit.”
There was his firecracker.
“Like I’d believe that. The fuck is wrong with you people? I’ve never met you before in my life, and you expect me to believe that you just happened to find out I’d been kidnapped?”
“I know it’s hard to bel—”
“It’s bullshit,” She had to get away. Now.
“We have to go, Kelia,” the man said. “Someone’s bound to call the cops, if they haven’t already. Psycho-woman left just before practically flanked by a small army, and we weren’t exactly quiet. We can’t be found at the scene. Zero’s dead and we’re covered in blood.”
Fuck, the man was covered in red. Cole looked through Payton’s eyes. Her torturer lay unmoving on the floor. Dead.
“Please, you have to come with us,” the woman above Payton implored.
Payton shut her eyes, trying to close out the rest of the world, and when she opened them again, they were consumed with panic.
“We have to go. If she won’t come with us then we’ll come back for her.” The man stood up and pulled the woman away. “I promise we’ll come back for you.”
The world dimmed again as Payton closed her eyes and Cole felt something press at the very edges of himself, something so strong that neither Payton nor he could contain it. The electric pulse that had overwhelmed Cole a few moments before erupted out of Payton’s mind, knocking him back and out of her head.
Fuck, what the hell was that? Had they been attacked? His brain worked just enough for Cole to figure out he was lying on the floor, his breath sawing in and out as he struggled to work out which way was up. Forcing himself to calm his breath, he pushed up, first to his hands and then to one knee. If he could just get his fucking bearings, then he could find Payton.
He’d called them flashbacks. He’d had no fucking idea.
20
It was Saturday and so there was no class to take Payton’s mind off things. Work wouldn’t start for hours. Last night with Cole had picked her up, spun her around, twisted everything in her head, and then dropped her on the floor—almost literally, judging by the pounding in her head when she’d come to. She’d kicked him out shortly afterwards before he’d said a single word.
Cole.
God, even thinking his name brought pain crashing through her heart and mind. They’d had a connection Payton had never experienced before, one born from personal tragedy most people could never understand. He’d been easy to talk to, easy to joke around and have fun with, and he’d also held her close when she needed comfort. His sweet kisses and gentle touch had brought her out of her panic-driven world and she’d finally felt ready to move on, to open up, and let someone in.
And then he’d betrayed her.
He’d walked into her home and begged her to turn herself over to the very people who had done this to her.
Those fucking assholes. All of them.
They’d taken away her life in Chicago, forced her to run to San Diego, and now just as she had found something worth staying for—no, worth fighting for—they’d torn that away in just a single night. What would they be capable of if she went with them willingly? No. There was no way she was just handing herself over to the devil. If they wanted her, then they would have to take her by force, and she was a hell of a lot stronger than she had been on that cold Chicago night when they’d snatched her off a sidewalk.
But her heart still hurt. She’d had one chance—one tiny chance at love—and he’d thrown it back in her face. Cole had been someone she could’ve given it all up for. Someone she would have fought to stay with, but he’d thrown that away the moment he’d turned against her. Her grief and sadness had transformed into a seething pain that, combined with the incessant pounding in her head, took away her very breath. She was standing through force of will alone, staring at the tan carpet of her one-room apartment as if it contained a chalk line where her lover had been murdered.
In a way, it did.
The only way she was going to get relief from this was to get shit-faced as much and as quickly as humanly possible. Yep, drinking until she couldn’t see straight was a brilliant idea. Skipping a shower and even looking in the mirror completely, Payton dropped her bedtime t-shirt on the floor and wrenched on a pair of jeans and a fresh shirt.
She meant to go straight to Rita’s, but instead found herself wandering randomly around the streets. Turning a corner, she lifted her hand to
shield her eyes from the sun, but the movement and pressure only served to magnify the pounding in her head. If the constant pounding was a sign of danger and not just a hangover from her flashback-fest the night before, then bring it on. From what she knew, Keila’s power was purely mental—she’d had a vision of Payton—and Emily was just too damn passive to have any sort of warrior inside her. Payton would be safe from them. It was time to find them, confront them, and deal with their bullshit once and for all.
Her goals had changed so much. At first, it had been only about staying safe, surviving just long enough to escape if at all possible. Now, she had grown roots and was ready to settle down, to finally make a home. But first, she had to fight for it. There was no getting around that.
But she still wished Cole could be part of it. They could have spent lazy days together just talking, and frantic nights coming together as one over and over again.
Stop it.
That part of her dream was smashed, and there was nothing she could do to put it back together. That had been up to him. When she’d needed him most, he’d sided with them instead.
But why had they let her get away? They’d hovered over her at the house in Chicago even after they’d untied her. Why the hell had they untied her? Payton shook her head. No! They’d fled when the police had arrived. No one innocent would have done that. Cole had been a cop, and that should be obvious to someone like him.
Shit. Had they used whatever their fucked up powers were on him?
There was no way there was a real FBI agent fronting for them. Finding a fake badge was easy these days; some people even sold them online.
But wouldn’t Cole have noticed that?
God, this was all too hard! Payton was overwhelmed and the sun beating down on her head was wearing her out. The pain in her head continued to pound with every step and she still had the hill to conquer before she could get her hands on any alcohol. Rather than being afraid, she longed for the cool darkness of the bar and a cold, frosty beer, definitely followed up by something harder. Finally, she reached the door, pushed it open, and walked straight up to the bar, letting her head fall flat down on the counter.
Payton (Dreamcatchers Romantic Suspense Series Book 3) Page 14