by Char Webster
When Robert got nothing but a bored expression from his ex-friend, he continued. “The slight feeling I got from Kate was much stronger. Wonder why that is. So now I ask myself, what is my buddy Nick doing with this little group?”
Nick just continued to look bored, and Robert became frustrated. “Are you finished with your little rant yet?” Nick asked.
Robert pushed off the fence and got right up into Nick’s face. “I’m going to find out what you’re doing with the teacher and kids.” Robert paused. “Maybe I’ll pay them a little visit. I’m sure I can make Kate very cozy.”
That last comment broke through Nick’s bored expression. “Stay away from her,” he said menacingly.
Robert just laughed and walked away. “See you around, Boy Scout.”
Nick wanted to hit Robert, but he couldn’t give in to that impulse. He needed to calm down before he went to see Kate. He was thrown completely by what Robert had revealed. Kate has a gift? Could that be possible? He hadn’t felt anything from her when he was around her, but he didn’t have a gift for determining other’s abilities like Robert did. It was true that their kind could usually sense each other when they came into contact, but there wasn’t anything from Kate at all, just a familiar feeling. Is that it, and I misread it? Is she hiding it? Is she working for the Division, and if so, what is her end game? His gut told him no.
He needed to see her, and he needed to know if his thoughts of getting to know her much more intimately had just been crushed. There was a rule against two people with gifts getting together.
He had just gotten his thoughts in order and his temper settled when he noticed Kate’s porch light go out. Damn, he had missed his opportunity to talk to her tonight. She would not be in a friendly mood the next time he saw her, which he would make sure was very soon.
He walked back to his house and went up to bed. He settled back among the pillows, but he knew that he would not get any more sleep that night.
~*~*~
Robert walked into the shadows and away from his ex-friend. Something was going on and he wanted to find out what it was.
He pulled his phone from his pocket and flipped through the contacts. He might need some assistance.
The phone was answered on the first ring, almost as if the person had been waiting for his call.
“Yo!”
Robert was not surprised by the enthusiasm from the man on the phone. “Jay, I might have a job for you. Are you interested?”
“Definitely.”
Robert smirked. “Start heading to New Jersey.”
“On my way.”
Chapter Eight
Kate finally opened her eyes and sat up in bed when Maddy started pulling on the sleeve of her T-shirt. She smiled at the adorable child even though she felt rotten inside. She hadn’t gotten back to sleep last night until what felt like only a few minutes ago, and was already feeling tired. It would be a long day. Maddy struggled to climb up into bed, but Kate took pity on her and helped her up. They snuggled together for a little bit, just lying in silence. Kate wasn’t sure how she did it, but Maddy always had a way of making her feel better.
After breakfast, Emily and Eric came over to ask if Alex and Zach could go to the waterpark with them for the day. As much as Kate wanted to talk to them more, she couldn’t deprive them of a fun day with their friends.
~*~*~
After Maddy went down for an afternoon nap, Kate sat by the pool and tried not to think about how crazy her life had become. A few weeks ago, the only thing she had to worry about was applying sunscreen so that she wouldn’t get burned. She hadn’t spent much time with Cindy in a while. Sure, Cindy would stop by and visit with her and the kids now and again, but it just wasn’t the same. She was going to have to make it a point to hang out with Cindy more.
As she got up from her lounge to get some more iced tea, she turned around to face Nick standing by the side of her house, just inside the side gate. He approached slowly with a boyish grin on his face and his hands in his pockets.
Kate decided to ignore him and walk past him toward the house. In a burst of speed, he beat her to the back porch and blocked her escape. She continued to ignore him and tried to side step around him. He didn’t let her get away with that; he just continued to block her with a big smile on his face. He was enjoying their little game.
She gave up and went back to her lounge chair. She didn’t want to talk to him right then; she wanted to be angry with him. She didn’t want to see how well he filled out his Guess shirt or how his shorts showed a glimpse of his muscular legs. She would close her eyes and, hopefully, he would go away—but if she was honest with herself, she would admit that she was afraid that he would just go away.
Nick pulled his lounge chair up next to Kate’s, leaving less than a few inches in between. He settled back on it and turned his head to look at her. “I can wait all day, Kate.” He snatched up her nearly empty glass of iced tea, finished off the last drop, and handed it back to her. “I could use a refill.”
Kate wished that the glass was not empty, because she would have loved to pour it on his head. He continued to watch her with a very smug look on his face, which, she had to admit, was sexy as hell. If possible, he looked even more smug after her thought. Suddenly she realized that he might be able to hear her thoughts as well. That frightened her; she didn’t want him getting into her head.
He laughed at her. Laughed! Now she knew that he could hear her.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it for coffee last night,” Nick told her. “I was unavoidably detained.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kate said, trying to seem nonchalant but probably failing.
“Oh, come on, Kate, we both know you were waiting for me to join you for coffee last night.” Nick said, still looking a little smug.
“Wow, you really are full of yourself,” she told him. “I went outside to enjoy the quiet night air with my coffee. I was not waiting for you.”
“With two mugs of coffee?” Nick added.
“I brought out two in case I wanted a second cup so I didn’t have to go back in the house to get it,” she said lamely.
“Really? So, you like to let the second cup get cold before you drink it?” Nick was trying to bait her. He wanted her to argue with him because he liked when she got all flustered.
“Ever heard of iced coffee?” Kate tried.
“Nice try, but we both know you’re mad at me for not showing up,” Nick told her.
“I couldn’t care less if I ever saw you again,” Kate said, getting a little riled. “Are you done drinking my iced tea and lying on my lounge?”
“No, I think I will stay for a while.” Nick put his hand behind his head and crossed his ankles. “I could use some more iced tea, though.” He could just see her seething. It is getting fun, he thought.
“What do you want, Nick?”
“I came over to see what you wanted to talk to me about last night.”
“Nothing. You can leave now.”
“It must have been something for you to make me coffee at 4:00 a.m.”
“I did NOT make you coffee.”
He ignored her comment. “So what’s up? What did you want to talk about?” He sat up and turned to look at her directly. His eyes absorbed everything about her from her flip-flops to her hair, up in a clip that kept it off of her face and neck. She was in a bathing suit that he couldn’t see completely because she had a cover-up over it; Nick was now mentally taking that extra layer of clothing off her. He decided to let her hear a few of his thoughts, and knew she heard him because her face became beet red.
Kate jumped up and said, “I’m going to get some more iced tea.” She grabbed the glass off the side table and hurried into the house, closing the kitchen door and leaning against it. Oh my . . . she thought. Kate had to pull herself together and stop acting like a teenager with her first visit from a boy. She knew her face must have been seriously red after hearing what he was thinking
. Did he really want to see what was under my cover-up? He was making her all sweaty just thinking about him.
Wow, Alex must be right; I can hear his thoughts. Since it was the first time she could hear them, she wondered if her other gift would work now. Will I be able to feel his emotions?
She pulled out another glass from the cabinet and filled the two with ice. She was just pouring the tea when the back door opened.
“I wasn’t sure if you were coming back out again. I figured you must need some help with the iced tea,” Nick said, picking up one of the glasses. He had walked up very close behind her and reached around her for his glass, effectively circling her with his arms. He lingered there for a moment longer than necessary to grab his glass. He then backed up a step but was still crowding her.
“I don’t remember inviting you in here,” Kate said, pushing past him and out the back door.
“Are you going to fight with me all afternoon?” he said with a fake puppy dog look when she shot him daggers. “Although, I can tell you’re trying to make it up to me. You fixed me a drink.” He winked at her as he settled back onto his lounge chair.
She decided to try to turn the tables on him, so she pulled off her cover-up and settled back on the lounge chair in her black and hot pink bikini. She pulled her sun glasses down off her head and set them in place over her eyes. This way, she could watch him without him seeing her do it.
His eyes got huge as he took in her bikini. He shifted in his seat. Mission accomplished, she thought to herself. She felt a glimmer of a feeling from him, but it was gone as fast as it had come. He must be able to hide his emotions somehow. She really needed to get some answers. Maybe shock would work.
She laid her head back with one arm over her head. She purposely thought about him kissing her. She imagined him coming over to her chair and leaning down toward her slowly. She pictured him cupping her face with one hand and thrusting the other through her hair. She imagined him just a breath away before crushing his lips toward hers and her circling his neck with her arms and kissing him back urgently.
She almost laughed out loud when he choked on his tea, spitting some of it out. Score!
He coughed a few times, and she pulled up her sunglasses and looked at him all innocently. “Are you okay?”
“Sweetheart, if you want to play those games, you better be prepared to finish them.” With that, he got up and acted out exactly what she had just imaged—only the reality was so much better than the fantasy.
Nick broke off the kiss abruptly and took a few steps backward, escaping to the edge of the pool to look at the water. Kissing Kate had been a way of retaliating for her getting to him, but he hadn’t expected to be that affected by her. The same electricity ran throughout his body but was so much more intense as their lips met. Thoroughly shaken and confused by his intense feelings, Nick realized he was going to have to be extremely careful around her. She was exquisite and seriously dangerous and if he allowed it, she could get under his skin.
Kate sighed back against the chair and closed her eyes. WOW. That was her only thought. She had been messing with him by thinking of him kissing her, but she could never have imagined how great a kiss from him could be. He was everything she had imagined and much, much more. She sighed again. Oh boy am I in trouble. She had to clear her head if she wanted to get any kind of answers from him today. At the rate that they were both going, that wasn’t going to happen. She needed to steer things back to safe territory. She stood up and faced him.
“Are you done trying to prove your manhood?” she asked with what she hoped was a sarcastic tone.
He flew around to look at her. “Prove my manhood? I wasn’t the one who was clinging to me so hard I had to break free. I think I proved my manhood.” He had his cocky predatory look back and was slowly but purposely walking back to where she stood. He stopped just before her and stared her down.
Kate knew that she needed to give him a little bit of information or he wouldn’t tell her anything. Picking up her glass of tea to stall a little bit, she nervously played with the ice, swirling it around. She had to do this to get her answers.
“Why can’t I feel your emotions like I can with everyone else?” Kate asked.
He was surprised that she admitted her gift so quickly. He had thought that he would have to pry the information out of her. What was her game now? He figured he could tell her the truth; she probably knew the answer already and was just toying with him. “I block everything.”
She nodded and said, “I figured it was something like that. How can you do that?”
“Like you don’t already know,” he said. “What kind of a game are you playing, Kate? Why ask questions you already know the answers to? Are you testing me? Playing games with me?” He stepped closer to intimidate her. “You won’t win.”
She thought that this might happen. Apparently, everyone with gifts already had all this kind of information, and they didn’t have to piece it together in bits.
“I’m not playing games with you,” Kate said, looking directly into his very blue eyes. “I really don’t know anything about this stuff.”
“How is that even possible? You should have grown up with all this. Didn’t your parents, whoever they are, tell you the facts? You expect me to believe they didn’t?” Nick was getting annoyed at her ploy.
“I just figured out I had a gift yesterday, Nick. I had no idea I was different,” Kate started to explain.
He cut her off and said, “What do you mean?”
“I was adopted,” Kate said flatly. “I have no idea who my birth parents are.”
Nick was stunned; all he could do was stare at Kate. She had to be lying, but his lie detector was telling him she spoke the truth. “You were adopted?” he asked quickly. He grabbed her arms. “How old are you?”
She looked at him like he was nuts but said “I’m twenty-three.”
He dropped her arms quickly and took a step back, truly shocked. “I have to go.”
“Oh no, you don’t. You can’t run off on me again. I need some answers,” Kate pleaded.
He turned back to her with sad eyes. “I’ll be back soon. I promise,” Nick said, coming out of his shock. “I’ll explain everything when I get back.”
All Kate could do was watch him walk around the side of the house and out of sight.
~*~*~
Nick couldn’t believe it. Of all the situations and scenarios that he had imagined, he never would have expected this one. Kate was the lost baby; she had to be. It was the only explanation and if that was the case, he really couldn’t be with her. Damn. He needed to pull himself together. He could still feel where her lips had pressed together with his. She was gifted, so she was part of the Association, too, and off limits. He couldn’t mess around with anyone in the Association. It was against the rules.
He knew what he had to do. Nick pulled out his cell phone and dialed a secure number. It rang once and clicked twice, and then a pleasant voice came on the line. “Chancellor’s office, Melissa speaking.”
“Hey. It’s Nick. I need to speak to the Chancellor right away. It’s urgent.”
“Absolutely, Mr. Taylor. I will put you right though.”
A moment later, another voice was on the line. “Nick, why are you calling in? You weren’t supposed to check in for another few days. What happened?”
“Pete, I know this sounds crazy, but I think I found Jim and Amanda’s daughter.”
There was silence for a second on the line, and then Pete spoke. “Are you sure? That was twenty-some years ago. The chances that you would find that child, who would now be an adult, are not very good. I’m sure someone from the Division had found her as a baby, if it’s even a her. We could never confirm which sex the child was.”
“It’s her,” Nick assured him.
“Nick, I understand you and everyone else wanted to find that child. We all hoped, but after Jim and Amanda’s disappearance, and the news that they had been captured and possibly tortu
red, we gave up hope that the child would remain untainted. I’m sure the Division has done a good job of turning that child into a monster.”
“Pete, listen, maybe she’s not Jim and Amanda’s child, but she is someone we need to help. She was adopted by parents who are not part of the Association as far as I can tell. She didn’t know she had any gifts.”
“What do you want to do?” Pete asked.
“I want to figure out who she is and how she ended up with my brother’s kids,” Nick told him.
“So stick with her and figure it out. Don’t trust her until you figure out if she is working with the Division.”
“I haven’t detected any lies yet,” Nick explained.
“We both know that the Division may have ways around that.”
“Yes, sir. I’m aware,” Nick acknowledged.
“I have faith that you’ll figure out who she is and what she’s up to. If she’s who you think, bring her in and we’ll decide what to do, but I’m warning you, no one should have that kind of power.”
The Chancellor hung up the phone and walked over to the window. He was looking out but not really seeing anything outside. He needed to tread very carefully with this situation. It could blow up in everyone’s faces. He should have taken more time to find Jim and Amanda after they had run away and caused all kinds of problems. He would just have to clean up that mess now.
~*~*~
Nick wondered if he had made a mistake by calling Pete. Jim and Amanda had broken the rules by getting married in secret. They were both among the most gifted and powerful families within the Association. It was too dangerous for two very gifted people to be together. Powers could get out of control and become dangerous. Children from those unions would be more powerful than anyone in the Association or the Division. Hundreds of years ago, marriages among the Association members were outlawed; Nick was told that even the Division leaders followed this rule.