His questions came at me hard and furious, but my training kicked in equally as quickly. I twisted hard, going limp and forcing him to readjust his grip. I used the moment to stomp down on his foot and slip out of his grasp. He was stunned, more by my quick action than by any pain in his foot. Steel-toed boots tended to do a good job of protecting a man’s feet.
“IF you’d been a kidnapper, that is what I would have done, plus screamed really loudly. But since you weren’t, I figured I’d save us the scene. And yes, Jake knows I’m by myself. It’s not supposed to be dangerous walking from my car to my dorm.” He stared at me, and I shrugged, raising my hands up. “Not supposed to be. Also, quit throwing that many questions at me at once. I don’t like it. And what are you doing here?”
He was uncomfortable with my question, and as we were still standing outside in the cold, and I was freezing, I tugged him inside. “Well?”
“I wanted to …” He paused and I waited, wondering what the hell was going on. Danny had never been to my dorm, ever, and standing here looking at me awkwardly was the last thing I ever expected to see. “Apologize.” Alright, actually that was the last thing I ever expected.
“Hang on, I think I need to sit down,” I replied with a smirk, and he gave me a semi-glare.
“I’m serious,” he bit out, looking a tad grumpy and extremely uncomfortable at being here apologizing.
“Yeah, I see that. Come on.” I waved him toward the stairs. My dorm apartment was on the second floor, and I used the stairs as my rationale that I worked out every day.
Once we were settled, mugs of coffee in hand, he said, “I would not have pegged you for a chicory girl. Too dark and bitter.”
“Yeah, I get that a lot. Acquired taste from my grandfather,” I replied, sitting back in my little chair. Danny was on the couch, mainly because I was afraid his sheer mass would break any of my other furniture. It wasn’t exactly good quality to start with. All of it either came from a box or was collected from the thrift store.
“I wanted to apologize for earlier today. One, I shouldn’t have come at you like that. And two, I hurt you, and I’m truly sorry about that.” His sincerity shone through with each word, and I appreciated his apology, even though I didn’t feel the need for it. When I told him that, he shook his head.
“Danny, have you ever cornered a wild animal?”
“No, that’d be stupid and dangerous,” he answered, giving me a confused look.
“Exactly. It is stupid and dangerous. And today you were the wild animal. I knew that, and I took a risk, because you deserve to be happy. A lot of bad shit happened, Danny, and it’s easy to blame yourself, but the truth is, the people who are truly to blame are in prison right now. Don’t lock yourself away too, okay?” I smiled at him. “I know a few people that would miss you.”
He gave me a reluctant grin, and took a sip of coffee, his mouth twisting at the bitter taste. “Okay, I usually take my coffee black, but this is a bit much.” He went to the fridge and removed the creamer, pouring it in liberally. He raised an eyebrow at me, daring me to comment, and I just shook my head.
“That’s not the only reason you stopped by?” I inquired, sipping my own dark brew, sans creamer, but filled with sugar, a fact I didn’t plan to admit.
“No,” he took a sip and seemed to like the taste a bit better with creamer. “What did you see earlier this afternoon? It was something about Carly, wasn’t it?” His questions didn’t bother me, only causing the same image I’d seen in my dream to come back.
“Why do you ask? I wouldn’t have thought you would be so concerned about Carly.” I admitted to myself I was fishing for information. Carly was damn near an open book when it came to Danny, but he’d managed to keep his feelings where she was concerned hidden from me, and I wanted to make sure she wasn’t about to get hurt.
He sat back against the couch and the springs groaned, causing him to look down. “Am I gonna wind up on the floor?” I shrugged, uncertain if he would or not. He shook it off and said, “Talking about how I feel doesn’t come naturally to me. Never has. Hell, I don’t know if I could explain it right if I tried. So I’m not going to.” He gave me a pointed look and asked, “How do I feel about Carly?”
The emotions rushed through me, all good, and I smiled, blinking back stupid tears. He was protective of her, of course. No way around that with these guys, but she made him happy, a feeling he had forgotten. She was too good for him. He knew that without a shadow of a doubt, but the sense they were kindred spirits filled him. A feeling Carly had as well. He was terrified of hurting another person he loved, the fear keeping him from pursuing her, but he wanted to try. He wanted to be good enough for her.
“You are good enough for her,” I murmured, clearing my throat. He nodded, tense and uncomfortable with the thought of giving me carte blanche into his emotions for her.
“You see way more than I realize, don’t you?” I smiled at what he thought I was capable of. He’d started to understand how strong my ability was that first night, but it was all vague. He didn’t quite understand how I experienced the feelings, as well as saw the truth.
“It’s unusual for me to have a truly psychic vision; one of the future. My gift is more one of sorting through fact versus fiction. Seeing the truth amongst the lies. I know facts, things that have happened, even if there’s no way I should be able to know them. It’s always been a subtle gift.” I paused, taking a deep breath. “Carly … I had a flash of her, blood running down her face, as if she’d been hit. I don’t know how or when it’ll happen, or even if it will. The future changes with every decision we make. Telling you now may be enough to keep it from ever happening.”
“But you don’t believe that.” He didn’t bother to phrase it as a question, but I nodded anyway. “If I ask you questions, could we discover more about it?”
I shrugged, uncertain, since trying to question the future was like walking through sand that was constantly shifting.
He leaned toward me, his face fierce, and asked, “Does your vision have anything to do with the missing girls?” His question only brought a sense of emptiness. No knowledge or feelings came with it.
“No idea. The question might be too vague.”
“Who’s going to hurt Carly?” This question brought an answer, one I didn’t like and had no intention of declaring. I shook my head, refusing to look at him, as I denied knowing the answer.
He persisted, almost as if he knew I knew something and wasn’t telling him. “Who’s going to physically hurt Carly?” The answer came at me again, insistent, and I ignored it, refusing to believe it. There was a chance, a slim one, that what I’d seen wouldn’t come to pass, but either way, I didn’t believe the man in front of me would be the one to hurt Carly.
He’d shown me his emotions, and I believed them more than the answer that persisted when he asked me who would hurt her. He was the one who would cause blood to stream down her face, and I refused to believe it, or tell him. He would never understand how easily moments in time could be misinterpreted, and I wouldn’t give him something to feel guilty about, when it hadn’t actually come to pass.
“It’s late.” I stood up, and he followed suit more slowly. I could tell he wanted to push, knowing I was hiding something, but he finally gave in.
He paused at the door, looking at me sympathetically. “Your gift … it’s not really a gift at all, is it?”
I shook my head, telling him, “No, it isn’t,” and closed the door.
Chapter Nine
The next week followed much like the week before. I was accompanied by babysitters between every class. The only exception was Jules, who I hadn’t seen in three days. I had the feeling she was dodging me, now that she knew I knew her secret.
Connor was his usual laidback self, leading me to suspect she hadn’t brought it up to him. I wondered what she was waiting for, but since she wasn’t around, I didn’t have a chance to ask.
Jake seemed more and more tense, as the
friction between him and his captain had grown, since they’d made the connection between the missing girls and the drowned kidnapper. Jake and Connor had managed to find the guy’s car, and the evidence in it tied the missing girls to the drowning victim. The captain was suspicious as to why they’d bothered to look for a link, and refused to give the missing girls’ cases to Jake and Connor, frustrating them further.
Danny was usually the one to escort us to our late class on Tuesday and Thursday, since he had to come after work to do his bodyguard duty. On Tuesday, he’d surprised me by asking Carly out to dinner, after bringing us to my dorm. He usually walked Carly to her car and then walked me to the dorm, but this time he switched it up, and there was no doubt about what her response would be.
She’d called me the next morning on the way to class, gushing about their date. I had to hang up on her when class started, and she switched to texting me. We didn’t share any classes on Wednesday, so she was limited to texting and waiting on my response, until I got out of class, a fact that seemed to aggravate her, based on the fifteen texts I had waiting for me when I finally did get out of class. I attempted to respond to them, while Connor escorted me to class, his hand around my elbow, leading me, since I wasn’t paying attention to where we were going.
It wasn’t until we arrived at my next class that I realized how unusual it was. Connor would normally be joking and telling me stupid shit to text to Carly. No way would he have been silent the entire way.
“Hey,” I said, grabbing his arm as he turned to go, leaving me at the door without a word. His distraction was apparent when I gazed at him. He leaned over and kissed my forehead.
“I’ll be back after class,” he told me, his thoughts obviously miles away. I held on tighter to his arm, and he glanced at me, saying, “It’s okay. We’ll talk when I get back.” I nodded slowly, concern catching me off guard. It wasn’t often I had to worry about easy-going Connor, and I didn’t like the feeling at all.
I walked into class, distracted by Connor’s odd behavior, and it took me a few minutes to notice I was the only one in there. I finally noticed the note on the board, canceling class. It was odd wandering back outside, and not having a bodyguard waiting for me. I knew I could call Connor and he’d come back, and I even debated calling Jules and using her overprotective nature to force her to stop avoiding me. In the end, though, I used my unexpected freedom to find some answers.
The bell jingled as I pushed the door open to the shop. Wade peeked around the curtain, surprise crossing his face as he saw it was me.
“You came back.”
“I feel, as a self-proclaimed psychic, you shouldn’t be so surprised by this.”
He chuckled and gestured me toward the back room.
“You’re an unusual one. I have a feeling I’ll never be able to predict what you’ll do.” I stepped though the beaded curtain into the back room, seeing what I’d missed, when we’d left so abruptly. There was a cozy table in the corner with chairs, a counter with a coffee pot, and a couch. I must have interrupted him, because I could see the indention where he’d been sitting on the couch, a sketch book on the low table in front of his spot. “Grannie has been looking forward to your return. She had no doubts you’d be back.”
“She seems like a smart woman,” I murmured in reply, my attention once again drawn to the sketches on the wall. Dozens of questions tumbled through my head, questions I knew there’d be no answer to, if I asked them.
“You seem fascinated by my drawings.”
I heard the question in the statement and replied, “Wondering if there are any unsolved mysteries here.”
“Grannie believes you would be the one to ask.” His words drew my attention to him, and I opened my mouth to ask him where she was, when I heard her light steps.
She didn’t look surprised to see me, leading me to believe she’d known I was here. “Are you ready to learn?” I nodded, and she moved to the table, gesturing for me to sit next to her. With the three of us, the table was a tad crowded, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. I felt at ease with both of them, a sense of familiarity between us.
“What is a truth seeker?” I asked her, the question eating at me over the last few days. It was a term I’d seen in her mind when she asked who I was, but there was no certainty behind it.
“One who can always ferret out the truth. No one can lie to a truth seeker. They always know. You saw that when I asked you who you were?” I nodded, and she sighed, relaxing back into the chair. “Then I imagine that’s what you are. Truthfully, I never expected to meet another one.”
Startled shock was written on my face as I said, “You’ve met someone with my ability?”
She smiled, memories overtaking her as she told me, “Once. I wasn’t joking when I said you were a rare one indeed. I was barely six years old when my own grannie told me to come here and meet her friend. She told me, “I want you to meet this woman. She’s a truth seeker, and it’s not often you meet one with a gift such as this.” She paused, looking me straight in the eye then. “That woman was older than my grannie, and she was the only truth seeker my grannie had ever met, and let me tell you, hers was a strong gift. It’s been more years than I’ll admit to you since then, but I haven’t met another.”
“What can you do?” I was curious about their abilities, which obviously differed from mine in some way.
“Mostly flashes of people’s lives when I touch them, impressions you could say. Sometimes, I can sense when something is coming. The future is much more difficult to predict.” I nodded, familiar with that. I glanced at Wade, wondering if his were the same or different.
“The same, except I can see auras, I guess you’d call them. A person’s emotional state.” He flicked his hand to the drawing of the cabin. “When you look at that, you feel a deep sadness, but it’s twisted up with a strong sense of satisfaction.” I realized his gift was subtle, but powerful.
Glancing around the room, listening to them speak of their extrasensory abilities, I felt a sense of belonging. It was the first time I’d been around people who had abilities similar to mine, or at least, people who immediately accepted my own gift with no question.
The ringing of my cell phone broke the silence, and I muttered, “Oh, crap” when I saw it was Connor.
“Hello.”
“Where are you?” He was breathing heavily, like he’d been running, and it sounded like he was pacing. “I came back to your class and found out class was cancelled. So … Where. Are. You?” I sighed, unwilling to tell him about my new found psychic friends.
“I went to the store. I’m on my way back. I thought I’d get back before you showed up.”
“Hurry up. Oh, and I don’t I believe you, but we’ll discuss that when you get here.”
I stabbed the End button, muttering, “Over-protective asses.”
I felt their curious stares, and I gave a sheepish smile. “I slipped my bodyguard to come visit. But he caught me.” I waved the phone, still in my hand. “With the missing girls, my boyfriend and friends have been a little overprotective. Not surprising, since they’re cops.” They nodded, looking bemused, and I stood up. I wanted to come back here, to this place that seemed to understand what made me different. The sketches on the wall beckoned me; one in particular drew my attention. It felt a little awkward to ask, but I sucked it up and did it.
“Can I come back?”
“Of course, Addie.” She smiled as I gave her a surprised look. “Names are the easiest thing to sense about someone. They are the call by which your essence answers, too.”
I nodded, her explanation of a name one of the truest things I’d heard. I headed for the door, but a sketch on the wall stopped me. I stared at it, not understanding why it drew me. The sketch was nothing more than a wall with a door in it. It reminded me of ….
I spun around, and directed my comment to Grannie, “There’s a door in my mind, and sometimes a question will rip it open. There’s darkness on the other side, so dense i
t feels like I could touch it, but it frightens me.” I left out the part about the flashes I thought I’d seen inside of it. The flashing images that seemed to go forever and drew me to the door, curious as to what I’d find if I looked a little closer.
Grannie drew in a sharp breath, a warning on her face.
“That is a dangerous place, Addie. You must be very careful with a door like that. Never attempt to open it without someone who can pull you back. There are those who’ve been sucked into the darkness, believing answers lie there. Those people never found their way back out. Only by living can one find the truth.”
I nodded, her warning coming loud and clear. She told me what I’d already begun to suspect. That door hinted at truths I never could have imagined, but the cost could be far too high.
The chirp of my phone startled me, and I saw a text from Connor, his impatience growing as he waited for me.
“Come back and we’ll talk about it some more, but please be very careful if you see that door opening again. Don’t seek it out, not without more knowledge.” She was worried, and I sought to reassure her, “I won’t. I promise.”
My hand was on the door to leave, when I felt a gentle touch on my arm. Wade gazed at me uncomfortably.
“I’m not sure I should say anything, but at the same time, if something does happen …” I waited, figuring he’d seen something, perhaps a hint of the future, or something to do with the missing girls. “Your friend, the curly haired one; I have a bad feeling. Something is going to happen to her. I know it’s ridiculously vague, but you have your own gifts, and maybe it makes more sense to you.”
I nodded, shaken by his words. It seemed there was no escaping Carly getting hurt, but could I live with myself knowing it would be Danny who’d hurt her and I’d said nothing?
Hidden Lies (The Hidden Series Book 2) Page 9