Intimate Whispers

by Dee Carney

  Intimate Whispers

  Dee Carney

  Whispers from the dead are everywhere…because their greatest desire is to be heard.

  Sabrina Turner has found only one way to stop the curse she was born with—allow an incubus to worship her body in exchange for halting the voices drowning her sanity.

  Every time she succumbs, it’s an act of desperation. Yet she’s not sure if she wants to be rid of the bittersweet release.

  All Jason Raines wants is to communicate one last time with his deceased brother.

  When he discovers his seductive neighbor speaks to the dead, it’s another reason to get close to her. The visions and cryptic dreams Sabrina’s experiencing are messages for him, he’s sure of it. Whatever her price, he’ll pay it. When a reluctant Sabrina opens the doorway to the other side, though, he discovers the cost may be higher than he first thought.

  Her urgent search for freedom…his crucial need for absolution…a burning love between them offers their only hope of salvation from—intimate whispers.

  Ellora’s Cave Publishing

  www.ellorascave.com

  Intimate Whispers

  ISBN 9781419936210

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Intimate Whispers Copyright © 2011 Dee Carney

  Edited by Grace Bradley

  Cover design by Syneca

  Model: Jasmine

  Photography: Konrad Bak/Shutterstock.com

  Electronic book publication October 2011

  The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing.

  With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

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  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  The publisher and author(s) acknowledge the trademark status and trademark ownership of all trademarks, service marks and word marks mentioned in this book.

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  INTIMATE WHISPERS

  Dee Carney

  Intimate Whispers

  Chapter One

  The onslaught of noise inside almost drowned the sounds of the city night outside, which was still teeming with life. Taxis drove by, honking horns. Pedestrians chattered as they went about their business. Inside the store, however, shoppers muttered to themselves while staring in horror at outrageous prices. She’d know. She’d done the same until about three minutes ago. As clamorous as the combined sounds should have been, they didn’t hold her attention.

  Only a few minutes ago, the first voice started. It would soon bring more, as always.

  Those hateful, incessant pleas that refused to hear her. To understand she had no control over the fact they were trapped. Earthbound until some force, some god who sympathized with their plights, released them. In the beginning, she tried to get them to understand. She spent hours pleading, days bargaining, weeks begging. They refused to listen, though. They focused on their absolute insistence that she help them.

  She couldn’t help them!

  And that they were always behind her, each voice like a tickle, still resulted in a start. One minute she’d be standing there minding her own business, and in the next, well, in the next, someone spoke against her ear with the closeness of a lover.

  He promised to keep them away, and for a little while, it worked, but never for long enough. Never long enough, at all.

  Help me.

  She knew better than to respond to a voice out loud, it always brought down more trouble than she was prepared to handle. But the insistence, the desperation behind their cries… God, it got to her every time.

  “I can’t help you,” she murmured with a furtive glance at her surroundings. No one stood in the current aisle with her. If she kept her voice low enough, no one in the next aisle over should be able to hear her hushed reply either.

  Find James.

  A new voice. A woman this time. Her heart clenched at the thought James might be a long-lost son. Or maybe a true love the woman had left behind.

  Help me.

  The original insistent voice spoke a little louder this time. Always from behind. No matter how many times she tried to catch a glimpse of one of them, no matter how quickly she whirled on her feet looking for all the world like a maniac, feeling even crazier, no one stood there. Never ever stood there. Yet those damn disembodied voices carried on the moment she stopped moving.

  “Hey, lady.”

  5

  Dee Carney

  That was a new one. Often they knew her name. Calling her “lady” was simultaneously a bad and a good thing.

  “Yes?” she answered. Her voice remained low, her senses on alert for someone who might turn the corner and find her in the midst of a conversation with herself.

  Help me.

  Or it sounded like “help me”. The voice had taken on a ghostly quality, with almost an echolike effect. Like more than one person called to her now.

  Help me.

  Yes. At least two people. Maybe three.

  She pulled her hair over her ears because she’d been down this road one time too many. She knew what came next. The voices would multiply. The requests, the demands would become more forceful. Always it began like this. Always a single phrase that soon became repeated by more than one of them.

  “Lady, you need something? This ain’t no parking lot.” Her heart thrummed steadily, a low quiver of almost useless activity. If she closed her eyes now, a wave of vertigo would envelop her, but what other recourse did she have? It helped a little when she did. And all she needed was a little time. Just long enough to walk the couple of blocks home. Get back there and get help.

  The din grew louder now and a heartbeat that only seconds ago didn’t seem strong enough to support life, pounded with such force, her breath caught.

  “Fucking crazies. Always gotta come in here during my shift.” Help me… Find James… Tell Mary… Our Father who art…

  So many now. Too many to distinguish. She needed to get home. She needed His help now. Please, someone, help me get home.

  Only the universe and whatever god ruled it probably laughed at that prayer. No merciful being would send her the kind of help she needed when the voices grew in numbers like that. No divine force would have cursed her with this kind of torment to begin with.

  “Listen, either you buy something or you gotta go.” Sabrina opened her eyes, gulping down air with the hopes the bile threatening to rise would stay down with it. A middle-aged man wearing a worn polo shirt and cheap Dockers knock offs stood in front of her. He wore a mask of confusion and irritation.

  And those damn voices kept growing louder. So loud, she had to focus on his lips to understand what he said. Something about buying something?

  She had groceries in her
cart a few minutes ago. She came down here for some cookies, a box of cereal, a half gallon of milk and toothpaste. The latter item actually the object of the two-block trek. So why didn’t he think she was here to buy something? The items lay right here in…the cart.

  Where was the cart?

  6

  Intimate Whispers

  Sabrina whirled. This wasn’t the aisle she was on. Shaking her head, she fought against the thought. Obviously, this was the aisle in which she stood. Only seconds ago, she stood next to the pharmaceutical sundries. Bottles of aspirin and cough syrups. One aisle over from the mouthwash and tooth whiteners.

  At what point had she moved to the aisle where they stashed magazines and books? The one with lines of chocolate bars and cookies stocked richly enough to become the nightmare of any parent with a wayward child.

  The store employee’s worn face looked as haggard as she felt.

  “I…” She faltered. Maybe a dozen or so requests from disembodied voices filled her ears. Hard to hear herself think. She had to get them to quiet down. Just for a little while. Please. “Stop. Please.”

  He frowned at her. “Stop?”

  “No, not you.” Shaking her head didn’t help at all. If she focused hard enough, between reading his lips and pushing through the crowd, she heard him a little. Did she have to go through this every time? Every single goddamn time?

  But wait. She had to focus on the fact she’d traveled across the store without realizing it.

  “Lady, are you okay?”

  Her eyebrows knitted against the noise. She reached out for stability by putting her hand on a nearby shelf, only to end up knocking a few boxes onto the ground.

  “Hey!”

  “I can’t help you,” she offered to the voices. They never listened, but maybe this time they would. They had to. She couldn’t take much more and if He didn’t want to help now, she’d be hosed until He did. “Please go away.”

  “Go away?” The man reached forward and grasped her arm. She knew this because the voices scattered like flies fleeing hot garbage after he touched her. They drifted in and out of her hearing, a little disturbed perhaps by his presence. “You come in here and loiter for hours without buying something…” Hours? Had she really been here hours? It’d only been a little after five in the evening when she ventured to the mart. What time was it now?

  She glanced down at her watch and gasped. Nine-forty.

  The voices swooped in like vultures after prey. If the man’s touch bothered them before, they retaliated with an excruciating volume.

  Had to get home now. Had to find Him. Beg Him to help. She’d lost almost five hours listening to the echoes of the dead and only He could help her now.

  My daughter… Richard needs… Help… Where am I…?

  “Please, I’m sorry.”

  They grew louder. So many. Too many to deal with. She had to get home.

  Please God. Get her home.

  7

  Dee Carney

  Help me… Find Felice…

  “I can’t help you!” she shrieked.

  “That’s it, lady. If you don’t leave right now, I’m calling the police.” She wanted to go home so badly, but they crowded her. The voices kept her immobilized. Blinded with indecision, she reached out, sought his help. Show her the door and she’d go home. She’d find the way if he’d help.

  The man backed away, his eyes wide. “You get out of here now. Come back when you’re ready to buy something.”

  “Sabrina?”

  Someone who knew her name?

  Oh please. Help me.

  * * * * *

  Jason came to a halt at the end of the aisle. He thought he recognized his neighbor standing several feet away with a store employee, so he stopped long enough to offer a tentative wave.

  Except she hadn’t noticed him. Kind of like every other time they passed.

  Beside him, Kelly asked, “Do you know her?”

  He glanced at the petite blonde. “Yeah.”

  Except he didn’t know her. Not really. He knew her name simply because he’d tried to do the neighborly thing when he first moved in and introduced himself to the other three tenants on the floor. Hers had been the last stop. When the pixie-like woman with amazing hazel-colored eyes looked up at him, his concentration waned just a bit.

  Observing those eyes next to smooth, caramel-colored skin always resulted in a double-take. Every single time.

  Sabrina was stunning. Dark, wavy hair framed her heart-shaped face. Her full lips parted in an easy smile after he explained why he was there. Not quite plump, but with a little more meat on her bones than he normally preferred, something about her curves made him wonder, just for an instant, what her clothing might hide.

  “Sabrina?” He sidled up to the store employee, shaking off irritation at the man’s aloof and disgusted manner. He’d heard the rumors about her, but with a brother who’d had his own mental health problems, Jason found the compassion he wished others had shown Teddy. “Hey, remember me?”

  She held something in trembling hands. A package of food. If she had any recollection of him right now, nothing in her wide-eyed, blank expression reassured him.

  “I can’t help.” She spoke with such sadness, his heart clenched.

  Taking a step closer, he asked, “Who can’t you help?” 8

  Intimate Whispers

  He and Kelly were both dressed for dinner and the theater. Kelly’s heels clicked against the linoleum as she also moved closer. “Sabrina, I’m Kelly. Can we help you with something instead?”

  Jason studied her a little better and realized something haunted Sabrina. The fear in her eyes had nothing to do with the people standing in front of her. There was real, perhaps irrational, fear there.

  So the rumors might have a ring of truth to them after all.

  She lifted her eyes, the motion reminiscent of a silent prayer. They flittered closed a moment later. She shook her head from side to side, dark tresses shifting with the movement. The box of cereal slipped from her hand, falling to the ground with a soft thud, breaking the silence. When she opened her eyes again, unshed tears filled them.

  She looked directly at Jason and he thought for a split second she might have recognized him after all, but then the spark vanished. “I want to go home.”

  “Sure, Sabrina.” He glanced at Kelly, who nodded. “I’ll take you home.” Saying those words sounded incredibly right. But that made no sense. He didn’t know his neighbor from Adam. Their relationship thus far consisted of tossing out pleasantries as they passed in the hall or elevator. On top of that, he had dated Kelly within the past year and like a man who planned on keeping his balls, never once thought of glancing at the opposite sex while in her presence.

  And face it, with his Wonder bread upbringing, acknowledging even physical attraction to a black woman never occurred to him. His father would give birth to a dozen kittens if he caught wind of it. Make that two dozen.

  “I need him. Please.”

  Jason gently took her elbow and started guiding her forward. “Who? Your husband?”

  Was she married? He didn’t think so. He’d never seen her in the presence of a male.

  Maybe a visiting father or a brother, though?

  Welcome to the new America where no one knew their neighbors. A hundred or so strangers on the Internet, yes, but a person would be considered odd knowing the name of the person across the hall.

  “He’ll help— I can’t help you!” She drew back, startled. Tears that hadn’t fallen before streamed down her face.

  Jason reached for her again. “Whoa, Sabrina, I’ve got you. You don’t need to help anyone.”

  “Is this safe?” Kelly whispered as they started moving forward as one. Behind them, he heard the store clerk mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like

  “good riddance”. Bastard.

  He nodded. He didn’t know for certain if she suffered from paranoia or delusions or what, but he would see her home. Wha
t someone hadn’t been kind enough to do for Teddy, he’d do for her.

  9

  Dee Carney

  Sabrina trembled beneath his hand. When he pulled her closer, wrapping around her in a tight hug, she molded against him. A gentle perfume, one he recognized from a high-end department store he frequented, wafted up. He focused on it, letting it be the target of his attention instead of the incredible rightness of her body folded against his during the cab ride. What the hell was it about this woman that sent his emotions on a joyride? He didn’t know her. Yet Kelly, who often hinted at reconciliation, sat on his opposite side and almost might as well not have been there.

  After they all exited, Kelly paid the driver as he escorted Sabrina inside. She no longer trembled and her tears had long-since dried. Soft sounds, little whimpers, slipped through her parted lips, but at least whatever haunted her a few minutes ago appeared to have eased its attack.

  He tucked away a mental note to check up on her again tomorrow, after the mysterious “he” had helped. She never did answer his questions, no matter how Jason phrased them or how softly he spoke.

  They stopped in front of her apartment, and he heard Kelly’s muffled steps against the carpeted floor as she hurried to catch up. Keys jangled when Sabrina dropped them, falling into a tidy heap. He scooped them up, withdrew the one that looked similar to his and inserted it into the lock. The tumbler disengaged and with Sabrina still balanced in his embrace, he managed to get the door open.

  Seeing the inside of her home was all she needed. She lurched forward, leaving him behind without a backward glance. “Hey,” he called into the closing gap. “Are you going to be all right?”

  The door opened once again and he took the opportunity to offer the keys still dangling in his hand. Sabrina’s eyes brightened, but a shadow crossed her face. Some breeze, some chill in the air swept down his back at the same moment she answered him.

  “I’m no teddy bear.”

  The words, the inflection, the tone…they were all his dead brother’s. He’d know them anywhere.