Extrasensual Perception

by Rayna Vause

  “Sounds smart. I mean this guy could easily come into my reading room as a client. So having extra eyes close to me is appreciated.”

  “I also know you told Jack about your dreams. I’m glad. We need every tool we have to track this guy down.”

  “I’m not so sure Jack thinks my particular tool is real or of much use, but I’ll do what I can.” He cocked his head at her. “Ang, we could have discussed this at work. Not that I mind you stopping in. I’m always happy to hang with you. Really, what’s going on?”

  Her violet gaze bored into his. “What’s going on with you and my brother?”

  Chris blinked at her. “What do you mean?”

  “Don’t play coy with me.”

  Chris dropped his chin to his chest. “We’re… I don’t know…. It’s complicated. We’re friends, I guess.”

  Angelica crossed her legs and raised a brow at him. “Sell it to someone else because I’m not buying. I’ve seen you two together. The sparks are so hot I worry about the club’s carpet getting scorched. Just be aware. Jack can be stubborn and a little too wrapped up in projecting the right image. Behind the professional façade, though, he’s a really caring man.”

  “Look, Jack is extremely attractive and charming, but I’m not sure I’m the right person for him, and I’m not looking to be a temporary thing.”

  “What makes you say that? What makes you think he even wants that?”

  Chris drew in a long slow breath and dragged his hand down his face. “I never told you, but five years ago Jack and I had a moment.”

  “I know that. I saw both of you when I came back in. I’d have to be an idiot to not know what had just happened between you.”

  “Yeah, well, after that day he avoided me like the plague. On the rare occasions I saw him with a date, it was usually someone socially appropriate.”

  She picked at a piece of lint on her pants with perfectly manicured nails and sighed. “You have to understand. Jack has always had a boatload of responsibilities on his shoulders. When he took over the reins at Whitman International, everything became about keeping the company successful and profitable. Sadly, we’ve got some antiquated mindsets on the board of directors, and Jack’s sexuality never sat well with them. Jack told them to get over it or get out, but still he did his best to keep the grumbles to a minimum, hence the socially acceptable dates. Hilariously, now that gay marriage is legal, I’m waiting for them to talk out of the other side of their mouths and start pressuring him to get married. To someone proper, of course.” She rolled her eyes.

  “Proper, appropriate, acceptable. I’m fairly certain a psychic or the son of a psychic wouldn’t fit the bill in the board’s book.”

  “Who knows? Who cares? What matters is what you and Jack want.” She leaned forward, scooting to the edge of the couch cushion, and took Chris’s hand. “I see the way you look at each other. There’s something between you. Don’t turn away from it because my brother was an idiot five years ago.”

  “I’ll think about it.” He swallowed and bit his lip. A small window of hope opened inside him.

  Angelica pushed up and hugged him. “Give my brother a chance, but make him work for it. I think you could be good for each other.”

  Chris returned her hug, clenching his fists in the soft material of her blouse. When he’d opened his door this morning he never expected to be given Angie’s blessing to date her brother. He liked knowing she supported their relationship, but still—weird.

  Chris’s arms tightened around Angelica, and he sucked a sharp breath in through his nose. In the next moment, he saw the exterior of his apartment building, the row of cars parked in front. A wave of angry malevolence swept through his body. As fast as it came, the vision disappeared.

  Chris released Angelica and crossed to the window. Separating the slats of the blinds, he peered out, searching the street.

  “Chris, are you okay? What is it?”

  “Not sure. I just saw something odd. Ang, how did you get here?”

  “I drove.” She checked her watch. “And I really need to get going. Why?”

  Chris let the blind snap back into place and turned around. “You need to be careful out there. I think someone is watching.”

  Angelica headed for the window to look for herself.

  “I think you should stick around here a little longer. Let me call Jack or Connor. At the very least, let me send for the car for you.”

  “No, I have to go and I need my car. Tell you what. I’ll call Connor and keep him on the phone with me the whole way back to the office. Okay?”

  Chris looked out of the window again. “I’ll walk you to your car. You call Connor now. You need to be careful driving back.”

  Angelica nodded and pulled out her cell phone. “You need to be careful too. If someone is here watching your home, I don’t like it one bit.”

  “I’m going to be here until Ma gets home.” His heart knocked hard in his chest and nausea crawled up his throat. “You don’t think they’d go after my mother, do you?”

  “I don’t know, Chris. I don’t know who this is or what they’re capable of doing.”

  “Fuck.” He dragged his hand down his face. “Let me get you to your car, and I’ll figure out the rest.”

  “I’ll talk to Connor and Jack about security here.” She cupped Chris’s face in her hands. “You are not in this alone. Remember that.”

  He nodded and walked to his front door. He pulled it open a crack and scanned the street. Nothing. No strange cars, no bad vibes. Angelica already had her phone to her ear, making the promised phone call, as they rushed to her silver Mercedes. Once she sat locked inside, he backpedaled to his door as he watched her drive away. He scanned the street one last time, then bolted himself into his apartment. He crossed to the couch and collapsed on it. The situation seemed to be rolling ahead at full steam, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it except follow this path where it led, hoping no one got hurt in the process.

  JACK stared out his office window. He’d removed his tie and sat slouched in his chair, collar open, a drink in hand, scowling at the boats decked in white lights below. His original opinion of Chris was dead-on: walking sex appeal, complicated as hell, and the epitome of frustrating.

  Chris’s description of watery nightmares replayed in his mind. Jack wanted to shake him and rail at him that a dream was just a dream even as a knotted ball of raw fear formed in his stomach. Chris believed in that dream with every fiber of his being when he talked about it, so much conviction and honesty ringing in his words. How could someone actually know the future? A few weeks ago he wouldn’t have thought it possible, but now with everything that had happened, he struggled to deny Chris’s claims.

  His cell phone rang. He grabbed it off his desk and checked the caller ID, answering immediately.

  “Hey Ang. Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m good. Did Connor call you yet?”

  Jack straightened in his seat. Something in her tone made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. “No. Why? What’s wrong?”

  “I stopped over to see Chris. While there something weird happened. Someone was watching his apartment.”

  “What?” Jack shoved out of the chair and strode to the window. “How do you know?”

  “Chris. He sensed the guy watching.”

  Jack dropped his head back and stared up at the drop ceiling. “Another damn vision?”

  “Mock if you want, Jack, but I know what Chris sees is the real deal.”

  “Ang.”

  “Consider this. Are you going to be so stubborn about this that you’ll disregard Chris’s visions at the risk of someone’s life?”

  “I….” Jack pressed his forehead to the windowed wall of his office.

  “We have no idea who wants to hurt us or why, Jack. We can use all the help we can get. Even unconventional help.”

  Jack growled. “What-ifs” had way too much control over his life. There were too many questions
and not enough answers about this whole situation. If they could just catch the madman that dogged all of them at every turn, life could get back to normal, and he could finally focus on whatever seemed to be developing between him and Chris without fear or doubts.

  He paced back over to his desk, sat, and tilted back in the chair. “I take it you’ve told Connor about this already?”

  “I had him on the phone with me the whole way back to the office. Chris wanted to make sure someone knew where I was the entire time as I drove back.”

  “Smart. I’ll have to thank him. Did we get anything on this guy? A car description, license plate, anything.”

  “No. Nothing.”

  “Dammit.” He jerked forward in the chair and pounded a fist on his desk. The shining gold-foil interior of an invitation envelope caught his attention. It sat propped against his desk phone. His ever-efficient assistant had affixed a fluorescent green sticky note to it, and in her neat script had written: Don’t forget the charity benefit.

  He glanced down at his blotter and noticed tomorrow’s date circled multiple times with the word benefit written in the middle. The beginnings of an idea teased the edges of his mind.

  “Ang, you’re in your office? You’re safe?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good. Let me call you back in a bit. There’s something I need to do.” He hung up the phone before she could respond. Picking up the envelope, he tapped it against his lip and thought for a moment. Then, setting the invitation down, he reached for the telephone and dialed Connor. With a little luck, maybe they could get a giant step closer to ending this mess.

  THAT evening Chris arrived at work to find a garment bag lying across the table with a sealed card on top. He picked up the card and hesitated before he opened it or the bag. For one second, panic flashed through him. He thought about Angelica’s recent gift from their not-so-friendly neighborhood psycho. He glanced over at Paul, the host who made and kept track of his nightly reading appointments. Paul smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. Chris unsealed the envelope and slipped out the card. Join me tonight? Jack.

  Chris’s brow furrowed as he reached for the zipper of the bag. He fumbled with the zipper pull before getting the bag open. His mouth dropped in shock when he revealed a designer tuxedo. He couldn’t help but smile. A gift like this should make anyone happy.

  Even as warmth curled through him like a plume of smoke because Jack wanted to spend more time with him, a small seed of worry planted itself in his mind that Jack wanted to turn him into someone who fit in with his social circle. No matter how nice the tuxedo, it couldn’t change him from a fortune-telling son of a psychic. Who says that’s what he’s trying to do? Stop jumping to conclusions.

  He ran his hand down the cool, smooth fabric and hummed. He read the card again and smiled. For once he’d let go of the doubt and the baggage he’d been determined to carry around. If Jack could take a chance, so could he. Pulling the phone out of his pocket, he dialed Jack’s number.

  “Chris? I assume you got my gift.”

  He shivered at the sound of Jack’s low, velvet voice rumbling across the phone line. “I did, and I’d love to go with you.”

  Chapter Six

  AS Jack dressed for the benefit, he ran through everything he and Connor had discussed yesterday. If he wanted to draw out this stalker, they needed to take action, and the benefit seemed like a good place to do it. They had arranged for a security staff to mix with the crowd, keeping an eye out for anyone suspicious. The crowded environment should make this guy comfortable enough to make a move.

  Still, doubts plagued him, churning in his stomach. So much could go wrong. If anyone got hurt, he didn’t know what he’d do. But as much as he disliked how little control he had over this situation, they had no choice; as much as he wanted to lock Angelica in her tower suite and lock Chris in with him, hiding wouldn’t solve this problem.

  The phone rang. He crossed to the bedside table to pick up the receiver.

  “Jack, I’m on my way up. You ready for this?” Connor asked.

  “No, but we’re going to do it anyway. Besides, no force in the world could make Angelica miss this benefit. This benefit is her other baby.”

  “Is Chris here yet?”

  “Not—” Jack’s cell phone beeped and a text appeared on his screen. “Correction. Chris is on his way up too.”

  “Good. I’m going to stop at Angelica’s room first. Then we’ll come up to meet you guys.”

  “Sounds good. Hey, have you managed to talk her into staying here yet?”

  “No, but I’ll keep working on her.”

  “Good. We’ll all feel better if she’s somewhere with more security than her complex.”

  “Maybe we’ll have a chance to chip away at her stubborn streak tonight.”

  A knock sounded on the door. “Gotta go. See you in a bit.”

  Jack moved to the door and pulled it open. The sight before him melted away every thought in his mind, and his welcoming smile became a low noise of appreciation. The gorgeous vision standing just beyond his door stole his breath.

  “Wow, you look amazing.” Chris gave him a sexy smile and a slow once-over.

  Jack didn’t think, didn’t speak. He grabbed Chris, tugged him into the suite, and claimed his mouth. Jack moaned as molten heat rolled through him. He licked and nipped at Chris’s lips. Chris wrapped his arms around Jack, his hands gripping Jack’s jacket, his taut, lean body pressing into Jack’s. The sounds of ragged breathing and the moist press of mouth on mouth filled the room.

  Jack’s tongue teased along the seam of Chris’s lips, asking for entry. He groaned when Chris’s lips parted, letting him delve into the warm recesses of Chris’s mouth. They tasted each other, tongues tangling as Jack pressed Chris against the door. His hands roamed over Chris’s body, sliding up to cup his neck. Chris’s hand slid down Jack’s body to caress his ass. When his lungs demanded air, he lifted his mouth from Chris’s and pressed their foreheads together. Breath sawed in and out of his lungs.

  “You look incredible,” Jack rasped out the words.

  Chris laughed. “Thanks. I like the way you offer compliments, but if you compliment everyone this way, we’re going to have a problem.”

  Jack chuckled and buried his face in the crook of Chris’s neck to press a soft kiss there. “What do you say to skipping the benefit? Mingling with stuffy rich folk is not my idea of a good time.”

  Chis leaned back. “I’m sort of surprised to hear you say that.”

  “Why?” Jack’s gaze lifted to meet Chris’s.

  “I guess I thought an event like this would be up your alley. Mixing and networking with board members and potential future business associates. Showing off a socially acceptable date and potential future spouse.”

  Jack frowned at him, not liking the picture that Chris painted of him. “You make me sound like a stuffy elitist.”

  “I… I guess I did. Sorry, but I know you have a lot of responsibilities on your shoulders and a lot of expectations to live up to.”

  “I do. But I’m not going to let those things dictate how I live my life or who I spend my time with. The only person I’m worried about impressing tonight is you.”

  Chris searched his eyes for a moment, then reached up and cupped his cheek. He leaned up and pressed a soft kiss on Jack’s lips, then ran the tip of his tongue over his own lips as though savoring Jack’s taste. Jack watched the slow motion of that tongue and the room got sauna hot.

  Jack trapped Chris against the door. “My offer to skip the benefit still stands.”

  Chris brushed his lips along Jack’s cheek. Hot, moist breath caressed his ear. “If I didn’t think Angelica would hunt us down, I’d say yes in a heartbeat.” Chris nipped his lobe, kissed it, and then slipped out from under his arm.

  Jack continued to lean against the door, working to settle his overheated body. He reached down to adjust himself in his pants.

  “Jack, you ready?” Angelica pounded on the doo
r.

  Jack took a moment to check himself in the mirror before admitting his sister and Connor into the suite.

  She took one look at him and froze, then shifted her gaze to Chris. When her eyes met Jack’s again, she gave him a knowing smirk. Great. I’m never going to hear the end of this.

  She opened her mouth to speak, but Jack cut her off. “Shall we?” He pulled open the door, then turned and offered his arm to Chris.

  Chris crossed to him and hooked his arm through Jack’s, stepping close enough that their bodies brushed. Together they headed for the elevator and down to the limo waiting at the hotel’s side entrance.

  Once inside, Angelica popped a bottle of champagne open and passed glasses all around.

  “Are we ready for tonight?” She took a long sip from her glass.

  Connor set his glass aside. “Enjoy that glass, Ang, because it’s your last one. When we get to the benefit, I want everyone alert and aware. No one goes anywhere by themselves, and try to always stay in each other’s line of sight.”

  “You think our stalker is going to make a move tonight?” Angie glanced between Jack and Connor.

  “We’re hoping he will.” Jack took a drink from his glass and set it aside. “What better opportunity than a big, splashy ball? We figure the crowd will give him confidence. What he doesn’t know is that we’ve seeded the crowd with a bunch of extra security all dressed like partygoers.”

  “If we’re lucky, we’ll catch this guy at the shindig. If not, we’re hoping to at least get an identification or something to go on. So we need to be safe and smart.” Connor gave Angelica a pointed look.

  “I get it. I know what’s at stake here.”

  “Good.”

  “So basically, we’re bait? Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Chris looked from Connor to Jack with a hard expression.

  “We came up with this plan on the fly, yesterday afternoon.” Jack explained.