a Touch of TNT (An Everly Gray Adventure)

by Charles, L. j.

  I flopped my hand on the bed, trying to get their attention. “Work what?”

  They ignored me. Pierce checked his watch. “If you can cover the next hour while I finish my shift, I’ll spend the night with her. I’d like her out of here by seven tomorrow morning. Rather not explain her to anyone.”

  “That works. I’ll pick her up, spend the day with her.”

  The protective act was beyond annoying. “Hello. Awake here. Does anyone care what I think?”

  “Not really,” they said in unison.

  Pierce laid his finger on my cheek, testing the bruise. “I want to watch you tonight. By tomorrow you’ll be fine on your own as long as you don’t leave the house. And I mean that. Nothing but rest tomorrow.”

  Annie nodded. “I’ll put her under house arrest.”

  A low buzz sounded. Pierce glanced between us, shook his head, then checked his phone. “Mayhem calls. Later, ladies.”

  The effects of the evening, heck, of the whole day were taking a toll, and try as I might, I couldn’t keep my eyelids from drifting closed. The background noise of the emergency department soothed my nerves in a strange, inexplicable way that was…safe.

  The rattle of plastic on metal, the squeak of protesting wheels, and the scent of bacon and coffee filled the air. I opened my eyes. The bright glow of morning sun spiked through the slats in the Venetian blinds. Headache.

  I rolled away from the sunlight and checked out the room. Alone. My body ached in places that I’d long since forgotten, and the smell of breakfast nudged the desire for food almost to the top of my to-do list. If only my stomach would settle down.

  Shower first. I wanted to get rid of the dirt and stink from the explosion more than my next breath. Well, almost more than my next breath. When you’ve come within a few feet of turning into pink mist, breathing takes on a whole new meaning.

  The IV had disappeared from my arm and there was a pile of clean clothes sitting on the cabinet next to the bathroom. Had to be Annie.

  Just as I slid my feet from under the covers she strolled in, all bright and cheery. “Morning. How’s your head feel?”

  “Mild headache. Everything aches, and I’d kill to be standing in that shower.” I jerked my head toward the possibility of running water and was rewarded with a sharp twinge of pain.

  Annie offered her arm to help me out of bed. I grabbed on, started to pull myself up, and dropped back down.

  There were no images.

  “I’m not getting any images.”

  “What do you mean, no images?”

  “I mean I’m not picking up anything about where you’ve been, what you’ve done, no images about you at all.”

  “Do you always see things when you touch me? I thought you’d learned to ignore what you pick up from me? That you blocked it or something?”

  “Not exactly. I’ve learned how to fade the images associated with you, so they’re like background static rather than an intrusion into my conscious awareness.”

  Panic crawled under my skin. This couldn’t be happening. I kept lifting my fingers and setting them back down on Annie’s arm. Then I realized my other hand was resting on the bed.

  No images there either.

  When I’m in strange places, I sleep with my fingers curled in. I’d been careful not to touch the bed. Even with a wobbly mind and in a deep sleep, my fingers would have stayed lightly curled. But the shock of not picking up any images from Annie distracted me, and…

  A hospital bed.

  Full of emotion.

  No images. Nothing, nada, zilch, zero.

  “Everly?” Pierce’s voice cut through my panic.

  My gaze snapped up to meet his. “Nothing. No images.”

  He blinked. “Are there always images? No exceptions?”

  “Yes. In a place like this. With all the emotion. There would always be images.”

  I grabbed his hand. Nothing.

  “It’s gone. My hinky touch thing is gone.”

  TEN

  I grabbed Annie’s hand again, and she settled on the edge of the bed next to me.

  “Nothing,” I whispered, my skin tightening with awareness as fear lodged deep in my chest.

  Pierce rocked back on his heels, staring at me. “Your body is still in shock. This may be normal.”

  “Normal?” I screeched, a true wince-worthy sound. “There is nothing normal about my sense of touch.”

  “Okay. I’ll give you that one.” Was that a smile making his lips twitch?

  Another wave of fear washed through me. “What if it doesn’t come back? It’s like being blind and deaf. And empty. What if I can’t see things through my fingers ever again?”

  I stopped breathing, started to get out of bed. I needed to pace. Strong hands pushed me down. Pierce. “Take a minute. You haven’t been up since the explosion.”

  Adrenaline fueled panic shot through me.

  I pushed. He danced back. Oh, yeah, that worked just fine. Power pulsed through my veins and I jumped to my feet, knees wobbling. “Oh, damn.” The room spun, balance eluded me, and I flopped down, landing on the bed with an inelegant splat. Pain exploded in my head. “Bloody hell but that hurt.”

  Annie glared, opened her mouth, but Pierce flipped his index finger at her and not a word escaped.

  I found a focus point on the far wall, planted my hands on either side of my hips, and slowly levered to my feet. The room spun, but not fast enough to knock me on my ass. Success! Sort of. Still, no biggie as long as I didn’t move too fast.

  Pierce and Annie watched me, their eyebrows hiked up in identical arches. If I weren’t in the middle of such a disaster, I’d take time to smirk. It’s not every day I get two top government agents to back off. “I’m not going postal. Just need to move around. I think better when I pace.”

  I took a step. Stayed steady. A couple more brought me halfway to the bathroom. Nothing was spinning. Yay, me. Shower first, pace second, since the hospital gown flapping in the breeze in front of Pierce was so not a good plan.

  Annie touched my shoulder. “I’m walking with you. Think of it as backup. The shower will clear your mind, then we’ll figure out what’s going on.”

  It took a minute before her words registered. Shock? Had to be. Apparently my brain had gone numb, but her words finally seeped through, and I recognized the beauty in words like “backup” and “we’ll.” Words that meant I wasn’t alone. Relief skittered through my mind and I dragged in a shaky breath. Annie would help. Not that anyone could fix my problem, but knowing she’d be there made all the difference.

  When I turned to go in the bathroom, Pierce stepped in front of me. “How about you sit in the shower. Don’t want to be peeling you off the floor.”

  I dropped my forehead against his chest. “I don’t know what to do. Help me. Please, Pierce. Think of something emotional, something I should be able to pick up.”

  His body tensed. Relaxed. “Okay. Got it.”

  I gingerly rested my fingertips against his chest. No images, but there were hazy background fragments that could solidify into a real picture…maybe. Pierce was right, one step at a time. Didn’t seem like I had much choice.

  “You’re not getting anything?” he asked.

  His clue? The tears running down my face. “G-Gray. Background shades of g-gray. That’s all. What was the image you focused on?”

  “You. Crumpled, when they wheeled you into the ER.”

  “Oh.”

  “Ready for the shower?”

  “Yes.”

  “Want me to come in with you? Wash your back?” Those deep blue eyes flashed with humor.

  Heat ripped through my body. Shower? With Pierce? Holy shit. What was he thinking?

  “I will sit with Everly.” Annie—protecting my innocence.

  Guess the explosion didn’t damage my libido, but if I had to choose, I’d rather have my sense of touch back. On the other hand…”Thank God something is in working order.”

  “What?” Pierc
e asked, handing me off to Annie.

  “Nothing. Not a thing. I promise to sit and take it slow.”

  “El?” Annie called from outside the curtain. “You need any help?”

  “Clothes would be good. And a towel.”

  A towel flicked over the top of the shower door. “There are sweats next to the sink. I’m stepping outside, so yell if you need anything else.”

  Rivulets of bloody water dripped on the floor. The scrapes on my leg weren’t that bad, but the water must have rinsed off some clots and started minor bleeding.

  I cracked the bathroom door and peeked out. “Are there some gauze pads out there? I need to blot these scrapes before I put my clothes on.”

  Drawers opened and closed, then a handful of gauze pads poked through the crack in the door.

  “Where’s Pierce?” I asked.

  “I sent him to sign your discharge papers. You need some antiseptic for those scrapes?”

  “Yeah, that’d be good.”

  A tube of antibiotic ointment appeared around the door along with a roll of tape. “Thought you might want to tape some of the gauze over the scrapes, keep your sweats from getting greasy.”

  We made it out of the hospital a little after seven, and Annie drove through Mickey D’s for McMuffins. After a few bites, some of the numb left my brain, and I noticed a distinct glow surrounding Annie. “What’s going on with you?”

  She slid a look in my direction. “Nothing. Why? What could be going on?”

  “I may be out of touch, so to speak, but numb brain notwithstanding, I still have all my regular senses and excellent intuitive abilities. You’re flushed, glowing actually, you can’t stop smiling, and you’re bouncing all over the car. You got some lovin’ last night, didn’t you? After you left me, Sean showed up. Damn. What a time for my ESP fingertips to go on the fritz. The timing on this is just wrong. You would never have gotten that by me if—”

  “Something to be thankful for,” she cut in. “We should try to look at the bright side of this temporary touch setback.”

  “And that would be?”

  “I can keep secrets from you—”

  “Annie, we don’t keep secrets about that stuff. Your work, my work, yes. Men, never. So spill. What happened?”

  “He was waiting on my deck when I got home from the hospital. Wanted to know about you and fill me in on the preliminary report from explosion. One thing led to another and we woke up together this morning.”

  “I’m thinking you left out a few of the details. Let’s start with waking up this morning. Still think you’re in love?”

  “Yes. We’re good together. Really good. It’s like I’ve re-connected with a part of myself that’s been missing for a long time. I don’t know a lot about this kind of thing, but whatever it is, it feels right.”

  “When do I get to meet him? I mean I know I met him the night of the Molotov cocktail, but that doesn’t count because I didn’t know he was The One. Actually, I suspected the potential for a great fling, but with the deck being on fire and all, I got sidetracked. Besides, looks like it’s more than a fling from the way you’re glowing.”

  “I do feel, ummmm, like a glass of really good champagne, bubbly and sparkly, all that kind of stuff.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe that sentence just came out of me. Me.”

  “I don’t believe it either, but since it did—”

  “No. End of topic. Moving right along to when you get to meet him.”

  “Un-huh,” I grunted.

  “Seriously. I think now that Sean and I have finally connected it’ll be easier to catch time together, to slide in and out of each other’s lives without specific plans.”

  I rubbed at the bump on the side of my head. Didn’t help my headache. “So, that means I’ll get to interrogate him soon?”

  “Other way around. He wants to question you about the explosion.”

  I scrunched up my face. I was more in a mood to listen than talk. “Right. He was called to the scene last night. Did you know he was training for arson investigator?”

  “We’d talked about it. I didn’t know he was working on the same case, make that cases, as you and Adam until we got to Summer Woods Manor.”

  She pulled into my driveway, helped me out of the car, and followed me upstairs. It was good to be home.

  I sank down into the cushions on my sofa and covered my legs with a blanket. Crazy, mixed emotions were running through my head and I needed to figure out what was going on with the touch thing.

  Annie handed me a mug of tea. “Think you’ll feel up to meeting with Sean this afternoon?”

  “Sure,” I said, hesitating as a fresh wave of nausea clogged my throat. “What time?”

  “He suggested early afternoon, around one o’clock.”

  I was able to swallow several sips of tea before an overwhelming fatigue rolled through my body. “Fine,” I mumbled, and barely managed to set the mug down before I dropped into a deep sleep.

  “El?” Annie rubbed my shoulder, and the rich fragrance of beef, broth, and vegetables saturated my brain.

  “You’ve slept five hours, and Sean’ll be here soon. Figured you’d be hungry since you didn’t eat last night. I heated up some soup.”

  My stomach rumbled in agreement. I took inventory of my body. Aches and pains, but not nearly as pronounced as they’d been this morning. Best of all, no nausea. “Good call. I’m starving.” Didn’t take more than a couple minutes to wolf it down.

  Annie cocked her head. “You want more?”

  I started to shake my head, thought better of it. “No, thanks.”

  “So, maybe you want to tidy up before Sean gets here.”

  I must have looked pretty bad for Annie to suggest I needed help with my appearance. But then I was about to officially meet Sean. “Hey,” I said as I stood and took a few steps. “This isn’t half bad. I can balance, and the pain is only about a four instead of off the chart.”

  Things were definitely looking better—until I got to the bathroom and glanced in the mirror.

  Holy crapola, I could compete with a hellhound for ugly beast of the month. Cuts, scrapes, bruises. I looked like the poster child for spouse abuse. I washed my face, brushed my teeth, covered the worst of the bruises with concealer, and tamed my hair into a heavy-duty clip. Better. I stripped out of the sweats and dropped a long, sleeveless sundress over my head. It was a deep fuchsia that added some brightness to my cheeks.

  “Hey, you look better,” Annie greeted me as I eased into a chair at the kitchen table. “Do you feel any better?”

  “Actually, I do. What kind of questions do you think Sean’ll ask?”

  “Why you were there. What happened prior to the explosion, anything you sensed or saw. You know, the usual.” She rubbed her lower lip with her thumb.

  “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “Adam’s coming with him. I thought you’d rather get it over with all at once instead of talking to each of them separately.”

  “Good idea. And?”

  She didn’t say anything for a minute. “And it’ll be the first time I’ve seen Sean since we woke up together this morning.”

  That explained it. “Love is complicated.”

  “I didn’t think—”

  “That it would happen to you,” I finished for her. “Wonder why I don’t connect ‘falling in love’ with Mitch. I care about him, deeply. But love is serious.”

  Annie lips quirked into a smile. “I think you do love him, just haven’t worked it all out in your mind yet. New topic—are you going to talk to your spiritual teacher about losing your gift?”

  “Not yet. I haven’t had time to process it myself.” I reached over and tentatively rested my fingertips on Annie’s arm. “Fog. It looks like fog. I’m hoping that means the wisps of energy I’m seeing will coalesce into actual images soon.”

  “That’s been going on for a while, right?”

  “No. Well, yes. But not like this. The fog is different.
More dense. I figured out it’s been happening because I’m tense. Officially working for Chief Hayes for the first time, I had pre-conceived ideas about what I should find at the first site Adam and I visited.”

  “And has the touch thing been normal after that first day?”

  “Not totally, but there’ve been a few normal images.”

  “So, you’re hoping you can work this out on your own, fix the problem?”

  “I’m going to try. Give my head some time to heal. Work on any potential reasons why I might not want to sense things through my fingers.”

  The doorbell chimed. End of conversation.

  Annie went to open the kitchen door, and I could hear the guys chatting away like good buds. Wish I’d seen her expression. Heck of a shock finding out that Big Brother knew New Significant Other. Apparently, they’d been in contact about the industrial demolition cases. Made sense.

  When they stepped into the living room, my attention went right to Annie. Pale. Yep, she wasn’t ready for Adam to know about her love life.

  Sean, a teddy bear of a man with sandy hair and dark honey eyes, was definitely the kind of guy I’d trust him to carry me out of a burning building. My palm warmed when our hands met in greeting. Solid. Safe. I could define the touch with words, but no images. It was so strange, empty. I rubbed at the ache in my chest. Not a good time for a meltdown.

  My “normal” senses kicked in, and I catalogued the obvious. Sean was taller than Mitch and Adam, probably six feet and a couple of inches. And he loved Annie. Even without the help of images, it was evident to me in the way he looked at her, touched her. Evident to Adam, too, judging from his scowl.

  I winked at Adam, and then turned to Sean with a full grin. “Pleased to meet you for the second time, Sean.”

  He nodded. “We need to change the circumstances. Keep you out of trouble. Annie… speaks of you often.”

  “Oh, yeah?” I shot her a glance. She arched her brows with innocence. Not a good sign.

  Sean grinned. “How about if I ask you some questions?”

  “Sure, but there probably isn’t much I can tell you that’ll be helpful.”