Whispered Words

by Marie Harte

  “Oh hell.” She blew out an exasperated breath. “I’m not working for Werlin. If you know all that other stuff about me, then you know I’m telling the truth.” They didn’t speak. “It’s not like it’s a huge secret. Well, I don’t advertise it or anything, but if people ask, I’m honest.” But no one had thought to ask her about her abilities in years. Until the PWP. Until now. “I hear voices. Not crazy-town voices, like mental-case voices. Real voices. I’m a clairaudient.” The men leaned closer, their gazes intense.

  “Ever since I can remember, I’ve heard them. Most of them want me to do things. Tie up loose ends for the dead. Fix things for the living. Share useless information. But some of them direct me to right wrongs.”

  “Which is why you became a cop right out of college.” She frowned. “Yeah. Should I be flattered you know so much?” Josh’s expression softened. “We had to be sure, Chloe. If Otis Werlin has his way, we’ll be dead. For all we knew, you were working for him.”

  “Knew? So you don’t think I’m working for him anymore? What did I say to convince you?”

  Xavier took their bowls and spoons to the sink and returned with an answer.

  “We already pretty much knew you weren’t working for Werlin. We just wanted to know more about you.”

  “Asshole.”

  He laughed. “That would be me.” He reached for her hand and squeezed it tight.

  “We’ve missed you.” She heard the voice loud in her mind. But it still took her a moment to read the satisfaction on his face and connect the dots. “Oh my God.

  You?”

  Josh frowned. “You’re sending now? She can hear you?”

  “Yeah.” Xavier’s grin widened. “I told you she was our girl.”

  “Wait a minute. Hold on.” Chloe had a hard time understanding. “You knew it was me all along?”

  “No. What we told you about Werlin was true. He wasn’t happy we stopped his stranglehold on the town. He’s old-school. Country. A real frontier-justice kind of guy.” Josh sighed. “I should have seen it coming, but for some reason, I didn’t.

  Xavier and I were caught by one of Otis’s special concoctions. Bomb knocked us on our asses.”

  Xavier continued. “And a concussion rattled me a bit. It’s screwed with my abilities to contact you.” He let go of her hand. “If I’m not touching you, I’m still having a harder time sending than I should.”

  Josh nodded. “My visions are spotty since the bomb. Unless I really struggle to see something. But it’s getting better. At first, I couldn’t see anything. Now I can see little bits but nothing about our future.” He paused, his gaze intent. “I used to see things about you all the time. Like the vision of you in the warehouse. Except since the bomb, I didn’t realize the woman in danger was actually you. I had no idea the stalker was yours either.”

  “If he had, I would have done everything I could to let you know. I should have tried harder,” Xavier said and closed his hand around hers again.

  She couldn’t look away from him and Josh. For so many years, she’d heard the voices. But it wasn’t until she’d hit puberty that one particular voice had sounded louder than the others. Though at first just a cold, lifeless voice, it had nevertheless directed her from danger and along the path to success. She’d gotten so accustomed to it being with her—a voice that took a personal interest in her, wanting nothing but to see her do well, or so it seemed. Losing it had really hurt. So to find it now, here, in all places, with these two larger-than-life men, was hard to fathom.

  Xavier stroked her palm, and butterflies raced through her.

  She pulled her hand back, both disappointed and relieved when he let her go.

  “I—I don’t know what to say.”

  Xavier seemed ecstatic, and he had yet to take his eyes from her. Josh didn’t look as happy. He seemed almost haunted.

  “Josh?”

  He pushed back from the table. “I need some space. I’m going out. Don’t worry.

  I’ll be careful.”

  Xavier and she sat in silence. His coat, gloves, and hat in place, a gun tucked into his pocket, Josh left the cabin.

  “This doesn’t seem real.”

  Xavier blew out a breath. “You’re telling me. Chloe, you have no idea how hard it’s been not talking to you. Especially after what happened in Brownville.” She blinked. “You know about that?”

  “Yeah. I wanted to tell you more, but Josh told me if I had, I’d have killed you.

  He sees the events that unfold, and he normally tells me what I can and can’t tell you. Knowing there was a psychopath who had every intention of slicing your throat and ra—uh, doing other things to you, was killing me. But I couldn’t tell you. If I had, he’d have killed you and your friends, Noah and Lara, right?” She nodded, stunned. “So Josh sees my future, and you tell me all about it?”

  “Yes.”

  “But why? Why me? I’ve never met you before.” Another thought occurred to her, and she blanched. “We’re not related somehow, are we?”

  “Hell no,” he denied with a vehemence that startled her. “My family is straight up the only family I have. I can trace relatives back for generations. And you’re nowhere close to family.”

  Annoyed now, she leaned into his space. “Why? Don’t want that pretty white-boy blood getting muddied up with mine?”

  His smile surprised her. “Honey, I’d be more than happy to be a part of you.

  Hell, it’s all I can do not to get up close and personal with you right now. But I’m not into making out with my cousin. You get me?”

  “Oh.” She blushed, understanding a lot more. “So you don’t mind that I’m a little darker.”

  His lethal grin raised the temperature in the room. “I like the way you look against me. That tanned belly looked real good against mine. And I can’t wait for you to wrap those fine legs around my waist.” He licked his lips. “I’ve had a hard-on for you since I saw your pretty face. For a long time, you were just a person I had to speak to. I could feel you were female but not much more than that. But as the years passed, you felt more intimate. A part of me. A part of us.” He closed the distance between them and loomed over her.

  “Xavier?”

  “Just let me kiss you, honey. Now that you know, let me show you how I feel.” She couldn’t have stopped him if she’d wanted to. Her body was on fire, her lips tingling with the need to feel him. He held her close, his overpowering frame no longer threatening but protective.

  And then he kissed her. Unlike before, this kiss promised care, tenderness, and a sense of belonging. His lips moved over hers with a hesitance as he learned what she liked. Then his tongue slid over her lower lip and pressed into her mouth.

  She gasped and groaned as he swept through, taking possession as he pulled her further under his spell. Before she could deepen the kiss, he pulled away on a groan.

  “Shit. Chloe. Oh man, I’m so fucking hard right now.” He placed her hand over his erection, and she squeezed, amazed at how large he felt. “See what you do to me? And it’s not just me,” he said. “It’s us.”

  The cryptic words made an odd kind of sense, but before she could ask him to explain, the door banged open. Xavier closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to hers, his body trembling.

  “Dammit, we talked about this,” Josh swore as he slammed and locked the door behind him. He ripped off his boots and outdoor gear before striding into the bedroom.

  “I have to talk to him.” Xavier took a few more deep breaths and let them out slowly. “You are so pretty, Chloe. You have no idea what I want to do to you.” She knew what she wanted to do to him. But how would Josh react? Would he feel left out? Abandoned?

  Would he want to join in?

  Her entire body cried yes at the thought. Then Xavier pulled away.

  He kissed her lips once more. “The HF transmitter is over by the fire. If you call through on the frequency listed, it’ll patch you through to one of my brothers.

  They can s
end your message to whoever you need to talk to. I’ll be out in a minute, okay? We have a lot more to say. All of us.”

  She nodded and watched him walk away. He closed the bedroom door behind him, and she wished she could have joined him. But maybe the bedroom wasn’t the right place. A big-ass bed. Two handsome men. And Chloe.

  Fanning herself, she found the transmitter and asked someone named Sam to pass a message to Jack. Time to get her head on straight and back on track. But after she signed off, she couldn’t help wondering what Josh thought about all this.

  And if he still wanted her, or if he wanted her gone.

  Chapter Four

  Xavier found his brother standing stock-still in the bedroom, staring out the window. Nervous and trying not to show it. That was Joshua. Always trying to be the stronger one. The rock. The levelheaded twin who followed the rules and was rare to anger.

  Xavier snorted. He knew better.

  Josh might be harder to rile, but when the man grew angry, he seethed with a cold rage. He could burn for hours, days, weeks. Xavier got angry quick, and then he let it go. Not so with Mr. I’m-in-Charge.

  “Spit it out, bro. You know you want to.”

  Josh whirled around and scowled. “Again, Xavier? We talked about this. No sex with Chloe! But just a few minutes after I walked outside, I was hot and hard and aching. What the fuck? You can’t be that hard up for sex.”

  “You’re kidding, right? It’s her. Our girl. The one we’ve been waiting for.”

  “You mean the one you’ve been waiting for. So we share a connection with her.

  So what?” Josh turned away, but Xavier saw it.

  That kernel of fear Josh couldn’t quite hide, not from his twin. “Josh, she’s not Karen.”

  “I know that.”

  “I don’t think you do.” Poor Josh. The one time in his life he’d tried to be independent, and he’d gotten badly burned.

  Xavier knew he and his twin were bound. As if they shared the same soul but had two bodies, they liked and hated the same things. Xavier accepted it. But Josh struggled. He’d tried to go his own way. Had sought out a female for himself. And she’d been a worthless bitch who cared more about what others thought and about herself than about the caring man who’d given her everything. Even the truth about himself.

  “Why the need to bring up Karen? She’s gone. It’s been years.”

  “Two long-ass years. And you still won’t share with me.” Josh stiffened and wouldn’t turn around. “We’re not normal.” Xavier chuckled. “No shit. What’s your next excuse?”

  “There’s no you or me. It’s always us.”

  “And that’s a problem?” he asked with a softness to his voice. God, he hated to see his twin suffering. But hell, Josh had to know they would always be together.

  There was no rhyme or reason to it; it just was.

  “Not for me or you. But we’re never going to find someone to accept it.” Josh sounded so heartbroken in his assurance that they’d always be alone. But God forbid Xavier show him any pity. The strong-willed bastard would turn on him like a wounded wolf. Sometimes it was both heaven and hell to know Josh so well.

  “Yeah, well, nothing says you can’t try a few women out while looking, right?

  Come on, Josh. This is our girl. We know her. At least, we know a lot more about her than you ever knew about Karen when you started dating.”

  “I’m not dating Chloe.” Josh turned a hard stare in his direction. “We have too much shit going on to deal with a stupid romance. Shit, Xavier. Since when did you become such a pussy?”

  “This from Mr. Sensitive?” Xavier refused to take his brother’s bait. “How is it I’m labeled the horndog and you’re the rational one? Calling me a pussy just because I happen to like Chloe? Come on, Josh. She’s sexy, she needs us, and she’s got a killer right hook. That’s an awesome combination. Besides, we have chemistry. I swear I tingle when I touch her.”

  He shifted to ease his growing erection, not surprised when Josh did the same.

  They both wanted her, but his boneheaded brother refused to see the truth.

  “Look. You don’t want to get involved. I respect that.” Though Xavier didn’t agree with it. “But why can’t I get some lovin’?” Josh looked at him for a good while before sighing. “Fuck it. Fine. You want her? Have at her. But leave me alone.”

  “No problem. Just more of Chloe for me.” He grinned at his brother’s clenched fists and rejoined Chloe in the living room. She sat by the fire, staring into the flames. He couldn’t explain how he knew, but he did. Without having to ask, he sensed she’d be okay with them both. She felt it, that connection, like she had when he’d kissed her the first time. When Josh had been on top of her, right there with him taking Chloe. “You okay?” he asked her.

  She blinked up at him, her light eyes gleaming with hidden secrets in the firelight. “Great. I didn’t have to talk to my boss. Instead, your brother relayed a message for me.”

  “You going to get in trouble for not talking to him earlier?”

  “Nah. Jack will sputter and threaten, but he’s just a big worrier. A teddy bear of a guy. But don’t tell him I said that.”

  Xavier sat beside her on the shaggy rug in front of the fire. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

  She turned to look at the fire once more, and he noticed the thick length of her lashes. So pretty, so feminine. Yet she’d kicked and punched him with an experienced hand.

  “Tell me how a girl like you joined the police force, then the PWP.” She frowned. “What do you mean, a girl like me?”

  “You’re small, beautiful, and sexy.” He couldn’t help looking down her body.

  Those breasts were killing him. So full, so perky. He wanted to suck her nipples into his mouth and hear her moan his name.

  She swallowed loudly, and he swore he could see her nipples beading against the sweater. “I’m not that small. I’m not,” she said again before he could voice his opinion. “I’m tough. I grew up in Miami in a bad part of the city. My father was a gangbanger who’s currently serving life in prison. And my brother died in a shootout over drug territory. I’ve lived a lot of life you’ll never understand.”

  “Ouch.” He clasped her hand in his. To his pleasure, she didn’t tug it away.

  “Yeah. Life was hard growing up. Especially because my mom is mixed, black and white. My dad’s Latino, and my brother looked white. I mean, Wonder Bread white. We were like a rainbow family living in a neighborhood where being different could get you killed in the blink of an eye.”

  “And you heard voices.”

  She sighed. “Talk about different.” She looked at him, her eyes searching. “But the voices guided me. They helped me refocus.”

  “Yeah? How old were you when you first started hearing them?”

  “Around six or so. But you guys… I didn’t start hearing you until I hit my teens.”

  “Thank Josh. He’d see odd flashes of the future and would tell me. I remember that first time. It was weird. I just knew I had to pass on the info to you. Josh and I talk together all the time. But you’re the only other person I can communicate with like that. Without talking out loud.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. And in all the time I’ve been talking to you through the years, there was little emotion involved. Like you were this girl but a disembodied person. I didn’t connect with more than your voice, and when I’d hear you ask me stuff, you were muffled, flat, kind of lifeless.”

  “Josh’s visions? Did he ever see me?”

  “No.” Josh answered for himself as he joined them. He sat down behind them on the couch and stared into the fire. “I only ever saw what Xavier described. A kind of faceless person. My visions would show me the people and places around you but not always with clarity. I mean, I know Jack Keiser, the PWP, and a few of your friends. But I don’t know how many of them are working here in Bend.”

  “Do you see other futures? Not just about me?”

&
nbsp; “Only those that help me and Xavier.”

  Xavier nodded. “Like a heightened self-awareness. Josh usually sees futures that have to do with ours. Except since the accident—”

  “Not an accident. Werlin bombed us on purpose.”

  “Since the bombing, we’ve both been off our game. But we know it’s only a matter of time before Werlin tries to take us out.”

  She blinked. “As in, kill you?”

  “Yep.” Xavier liked that her hand squeezed his. “So you aren’t in the safest place you could be right now.”

  “Yeah, well, neither are you. That guy I met in the warehouse was there to kill me.”

  “I know,” he and Josh said at the same time.

  Chloe nodded. “He’s going to come after me again. I can feel it.” Josh frowned. “But I can’t see it. I don’t doubt you’re right. When I knocked into him, I could feel the crazy bleeding off him. But he was too fast for me. Plus, I was more concerned about you than him that night. I’m sorry to say he ran away from me.”

  “Maybe. But you distracted him.” She bit her lip, and Xavier wanted to take the flesh and soothe it with his tongue. “Thanks.”

  Josh looked at her. “You’re welcome.” The heat in his gaze was impossible to ignore, but then he blinked and banked it.

  The dumb-ass needed Chloe. Xavier could feel it. Hell, he couldn’t remember the last time Josh had gotten laid. But it wasn’t simply for the sex. Josh needed the intimacy. He needed to feel a part of more than just Xavier. Sometimes it felt as if Xavier had the responsibility of tying his twin to the rest of society. And it got tiring to constantly reel him in.

  Chloe could ground them. Both of them.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Huh?”

  “Why are you looking at me that way?”

  Xavier cleared his throat. “I, ah, lost my train of thought. Damn, Chloe. You’re pretty.”