Empath: The Flawed Series Book One

by Becca J. Campbell

  “Jade, I’m so glad you are safe, and that we were able to get you out of there. And I’m amazed at what you did.”

  When she didn’t speak or move, he reached forward to hug her. Despite her inner agony, she surrendered to his embrace, savoring the closeness with him and wished things were different. She let her head fall against his shoulder and sighed, exhausted by the trauma of the day.

  He touched his lips to her forehead and smoothed her hair back with his hand.

  She was afraid to move. Maybe she could pretend it was real—just for a little while. She turned her face in to his neck, breathing in his scent. His arms pulled her in tighter, and she wondered if she was imagining it. She closed her eyes, indulging in her own fantasy for a moment, letting her grip on reality slip a bit more. He placed his cheek against hers, and she felt his lips close to her temple, his soft breath whispering by her ear.

  Just as Jade was thinking how much it felt like a dream, Logan sighed and pulled away from her. Her eyes opened, catapulting her back into reality.

  A frown creased his brow. “I don’t know if this is a good idea.”

  A lump welled up inside her throat, and she fought to keep it from creeping into her voice. “Is what a good idea?” Here it comes. Finally he was going to spew out what he was thinking. The obstacle that had been there all along. Whatever reason he thought they shouldn’t be together.

  “You being in my room.”

  “We’re just eating dinner.”

  “Still. How do you think your boyfriend will feel about it? Won’t Cam be upset that we’re alone together?”

  “Cam? He’s not my boyfriend.”

  “He’s not?”

  “No. He never was. Well, I mean, there was sort of a misunderstanding. But it’s cleared up now.”

  Realization slowly dawned on Logan’s face. “I see.”

  There was a long pause. She waited for more, but he didn’t speak.

  “Can I ask you something?”she asked.

  “Sure.”

  “What were those emotions I felt from you earlier?”

  “When?”

  “When you first found me in the cave. You said I needed encouragement. Did you somehow fabricate those… strong… feelings because you thought it would motivate me to stand up to Ethan?”

  Logan looked into her eyes as though he was searching for the truth behind her words, and this time she felt his surprise. “Jade… is that what you thought?”

  She waited for him to speak again, unable to find any words in her own embarrassment.

  His hand reached for her, and he cradled her cheek in his palm, his fingertips dotting the same places Ethan’s had, only Logan’s burned warmth into her, his golden eyes locked on hers. His thumb caressed her face, trailing toward her mouth, then softly tracing her lips. He leaned forward and kissed her. The passion flamed from him into her, melding into her own desires, as strong as the first time she’d felt it. Any haunting question of its legitimacy dissolved on the spot. His feelings were rich and true, reaching her very soul.

  She wrapped her arms around him, her lips responding to his with equal fervor. He ended the kiss by pulling her closer to him, his arms and his love enveloping her.

  When he spoke, it was barely more than a breath in her ear. “And now you truly know how I feel about you.” He pulled back and his eyes searched hers. “But I’m afraid I don’t have the same gift of perception as you.” The passion holding her subsided, and her own attraction rose to the surface, a different sensation than his, but stronger now than ever before.

  “Logan. How can you not tell? I care for you. Deeply. It isn’t like with Cam. Or anyone else. I don’t feel like your emotions are overriding mine. Instead it’s like ours are flowing together in harmony.”

  “The only reason I didn’t tell you was because I thought you were with Cam. I didn’t want to influence your decision about him—or about me. I know how sensitive you are.”

  “You know and understand. That’s one of the reasons you’re so perfect for me. Can I ask something of you, though?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Don’t hold back your feelings. I want things to be open between us. I want to really know you.”

  He hesitated.

  “Please? I can handle it.”

  “You handled Ethan, so I’m sure you can. But it’s more than just you handling it. Remember the other side of the situation. I’m used to acting a certain way, not because of you, but because of my own struggles since childhood.”

  “I know. But now that you know how I feel, maybe it’ll help.”

  “I’ll do my best, but it’s not going to be an overnight transformation. I don’t want you to doubt my feelings just because you can’t sense them at the moment.”

  “Okay.” She wasn’t completely thrilled about the idea of a closed-off Logan, but she’d have to give him time. She could handle that. Then she thought of something else. “So what were you doing in Carlsbad, when you found me?”

  “Like I said, taking pictures. I told you I liked New Mexico.”

  “But you knew I was coming down here this weekend. Were you following me?” She narrowed her eyes at him.

  Logan scratched some dirt off the knee of his jeans with a fingernail and didn’t meet her eye. “Following you? Not per se…” The corner of his lip twitched guiltily.

  “Then why did you pick this weekend to come to Carlsbad?” She wasn’t letting him off the hook this time.

  “Well… Okay. Maybe I was a little worried about you running off with Cam and his ilk. I wanted to be close in case anything happened.”

  “Worried? Why?”

  “Well, I didn’t know whether or not you would take my advice and tell him about your secret. On the chance that you didn’t, I was afraid of what might happen to you… again. I made sure you got to the cave safely and then went off to do my own thing. I never dreamed that entering the cave would be the worst possible thing for you.” He shook his head. “I sure hope you aren’t traumatized for life because of that creep.”

  Jade smiled and shook her head. “No. I think I’ll be fine. I just hope he gets caught before he hurts anyone else.” Being with Ethan had been horrible, but it was in the past, and fading now that she was with Logan. “I’m glad you came to Carlsbad. I’d still be locked in the dark with that monster if you hadn’t.”

  “It was a team effort. I’m just glad you were right after all.”

  “Right about what?”

  “There was a purpose behind our weaknesses. I guess that God you were telling me about did have a plan. You made it out safely.”

  “We all did.”

  He pulled her close again, wrapping his arms around her. She closed her eyes, leaned into him, and swam into the waters of his freely flowing love.

  “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’… That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.

  For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

  2 Corinthians 12:9—10 NIV

  The sky turned from charcoal to black while Ethan squatted on the dry ground, surrounded by the sparse but pungent vegetation. The smell reminded him of hunting in Arizona, but this time he was going away empty-handed—not a gratifying thought. What he’d been forced to give up was almost too much to bear.

  From his vantage point a hundred feet away, he was nothing more than an extension of the large rock concealing him—a mass without distinction in the blackness. He watched the small group exit the cave’s entrance and hobble across the parking lot. His gaze flicked to the blonde, brassy girl’s superficial wounds, his own failure mocking him. If only he’d had a few more minutes… he could’ve taken care of her for good. That was one thing he’d always regret.

  The tall man with long, wavy hair that had tried to fight him was put on a stretcher and loaded into the ambulance. Ethan looked past him quickly, having no int
erest in the man. Then his focus trailed to the dark-haired girl as she climbed into a truck. His second Kelsey, lost again. The ache inside him dug its claws in as he watched the truck drive away. His heart, bound up tightly for so long, had been worn raw by the chafing emotions he’d thought he’d repressed. He had that girl to thank for this pain.

  He had thought she was the fix he needed, but she was only a poor substitute for the real thing. What he needed was Kelsey. The real one, not some cheap imitation. How had he not seen the solution earlier? He needed a new plan.

  When the last vehicle left, Ethan rose and pulled the black hood of his sweatshirt over his aching scalp. He had a good hike ahead of him.

  He took one last glance at the deserted parking lot and spotted a lone bat flying loops in the air. For a moment, he admired the creature of the night. Then it spiraled off into the night sky and was gone.

  Enjoying the Flawed series?

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  Constricted

  A Flawed Short Story

  What really happened when Logan disappeared during Empath? Find out in this short story companion to Flawed #1.

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  Outsider

  The Flawed Series Book Two

  The second book in the Flawed Series focuses on Josh Schuyler, an average guy surrounded by so many people with extraordinary abilities. Book Two also introduces a new villain with a gift of his own.

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  or keep reading for a peek at Chapter One.

  Josh Schuyler grabbed the knob with a soapy hand and cracked open his front door. Water drops ran down his bare chest as he peered left and right, counting his blessings that the coast was clear. Gripping the towel around his waist, he darted out of the apartment, four doors down the breezeway, trying not to dwell on what his new neighbors might think if they saw a dripping wet, half-naked man running around the complex. Would that be grounds for calling the cops? He hoped not. It wasn’t his fault that his water had been inexplicably turned off in the middle of the day. This wasn’t exactly the way he wanted to spend his first day after moving out of his parents’ house to his new place in Denver.

  He nearly lost his footing sliding to a halt in front of Chloe’s door but caught himself at the last instant. Shivering, he glanced left and right to make sure no one had seen his near fall. He was still good. Praying that his sister was home—and that her water wasn’t affected by whatever had stopped his—he grabbed the doorknob.

  It turned easily.

  Relief flooded him as he shoved the door open and darted inside. It took him a moment to register the occupant, and when he did, he froze. Lingering water droplets trickled past the goose bumps on his chest, arms, and legs.

  In the middle of the living room, a young woman dressed in spandex shorts and a tank top was holding an odd pose: feet spread wide, rear to the ceiling, hands planted on the floor. Messy brown curls cascaded from her head, brushing the carpet. Josh might have tried to figure out what in the world she was doing if he weren’t so bewildered by the realization that the woman was most definitely not his sister. At his entrance, the woman’s head craned to meet him, a curious expression creasing her brows. She stared at him, her face upside down between toned runner’s legs.

  Panic shot through Josh’s chest. He hadn’t double-checked the door number before barging in, and towel-clad and shampoo-headed, he must’ve entered the wrong apartment. Mortification heated his face as he gawked, at a complete loss for words. Shock planted his feet like lead weights, and he wished he could disappear—or spontaneously transport, or reverse time. It wasn’t the first instance he’d wished for an abnormal ability, though it was probably the weirdest.

  “Can I help you?” the woman asked, arching an eyebrow. She glanced at the floor beneath him, and Josh followed her gaze, suddenly realizing he was dripping soapy water in a puddle on the carpet.

  “I…uh…” His voice cracked. He backed a step toward the door, his hand grasping at empty air behind him, reaching for the elusive doorknob. He forced his eyes onto her face and off the parts of the spandexed form that kept trying to draw his attention. He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry… I think I’ve got the wrong—”

  The young woman straightened and turned to face him. Her hair fell around her heart-shaped, freckled face, and her green eyes narrowed at him. “Josh?”

  He frowned, his mortification dwindling as something else nagged at his mind. Now, right-side up, the face that stared back at him was suddenly familiar.

  The side of her mouth curved upward. “You didn’t recognize me, did you? I’m Alex…from Ocean Beach—remember?”

  Then it hit him. “Alex. From California. Right.” Why hadn’t he remembered that Chloe had a new roommate? She’d mentioned Alexandria Hailey several times since their family reunion trip last summer, but he’d only been half-listening. Somehow he’d missed the part about Alex moving to Denver and rooming with his sister. Now he felt even more like an idiot, if that were possible.

  “Is Chloe here?” he asked.

  “Nope. She’s at class.” Alex bit back a grin, putting her hands on her hips and cocking her head. “So. Is there a reason you’re…uh…” Her eyes lingered on his lanky form.

  His face burned. “I was taking a shower, and my water got turned off. I was wondering if I could use Chloe’s…your…bathroom.”

  She shrugged. “Sure. Help yourself.”

  He shuffled to the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Real smooth.

  As the hot water pounded over him, he heaved a sigh. He thought about the young woman in the other room. He had met her in California, but she’d mostly hung out with Chloe, and he and his brother, Cam, had been too busy surfing to do much socializing. Cam had still been hung up on Jade then, so he hadn’t been his normal flirting, charming, woman-magnet self, and the two of them had pretty much stuck together.

  Finally de-soaped, Josh was beginning to relax when a realization made him tense up again. He hadn’t brought any clothes. That meant he would either have to trek back to his apartment in the same half-naked manner he’d come or steal something from Chloe’s closet. And there was no way he was parading past Alex in one of his sister’s skimpy silk robes.

  Seriously, a memory-erasing power would be pretty sweet right about now so he could get out without Alex ever knowing he’d been here. Why was he the only Schuyler child without some sort of supernatural talent?

  He’d often wished for Chloe’s lack of pain when he’d stubbed a toe, and he could’ve probably come up with something useful to do with Cam’s déjà vu if he’d been blessed with it. And what about all the other weird gifts that had been creeping into their lives lately? A young woman who was an empath, a guy with super strength, and some psycho who could see in the dark? It was uncanny how all these traits had circled around him recently. What he would give to not be normal.

  He stepped out of the shower, nabbing one of his sister’s fresh towels. It was fuzzy and yellow, but it was dry. At least it wasn’t pink. Wrapping it around his waist, he looked in the mirror, thinking about how to slip past Alex. Suddenly every flaw in his physique turned glaringly obvious. He wished he had Cam’s pecs right now. Not that he had a gut or anything, but he was a lot scrawnier than his uber-muscled brother.

  Maybe he didn’t need to worry about it. Maybe Alex had gone back to her room. Maybe he’d be able to sneak out without an awkward parting confrontation.

  He opened the door as silently as possible, but when he walked into the next room, there she was, sitting on the couch with a textbook on her lap. She looked over at him and smiled.

  Josh gave a tense nod, hoping to make a beeline past her and to the door as efficiently as possible. “Thanks for letting me use your shower.”

  “Sure,” she said. “That was Downward-Facing Dog, by the way.”

  He stared at her blankly.

  “You know, yoga. That was the Downward-Facing Dog pose. I just thou
ght maybe you were wondering what I was doing—you had a weird look on your face.”

  “I did?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Oh. Well, I guess for a second I was wondering why your…er, why you were upside down.” His face was suddenly hot.

  “I do yoga every day. It helps calm me.”

  “Right.”

  “You ever tried it?”

  “No.” He wasn’t sure what to say. He moved to go, but she spoke again.

  “So your brother’s coming to town next week, huh?”

  “Yeah…”

  “He’s staying with you?”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  “Chloe keeps talking about us all going to a movie together when Cam’s in town. Are you going to come, too?”

  Every awkward bone in his body ached to flee, to escape to his apartment and lock the door behind him. He was standing here in a towel, and she wanted to chit chat?

  “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  “Cool.”

  “Well, I gotta go,” he finally managed, grabbing the doorknob.

  “Okay. See you ’round.”

  Just as he was pulling open the door, Chloe walked up and stopped just outside the threshold. She looked him up and down and raised an eyebrow. “What’s going on?”

  “Long story,” he mumbled, pushing past her.

  “Hey! Is that my towel?”

  He ignored her, hurrying back to his apartment as quickly as possible.

  ~

  Nicodemus Zachau walked into the Victorian-decorated foyer of the old folk’s home and strode past the front desk. Francine Marshall’s room was the third on the left down the hunter-green carpeted hallway. He entered the small amber-lit bedroom and found its occupant sitting in a wingback chair, staring at the perfectly manicured back lawn of the retirement center. A skein of yarn with a tail looped around a crochet hook sat nearby, forgotten.