Guardian Of Fate (Fate Series) (8 page)

CHAPTER NINE

I don't know how long I sat on that bench in the park, or how I even got home, for that matter. My thoughts were consumed by Hunter's lips on mine, his tongue taking complete control of my mouth and my senses, his hard, powerful body pressed against me, and his promises of more to come.

Still in a daze when I got home, I checked the clock and realized how much time had passed. I wanted to take a long, hot shower and rub away the effects of Hunter's touch from my skin before I had to be at work, but as my luck would have it, there was no time. I was in and out before the water even had the chance to heat up. Ten minutes later, I was out the door.

Park Hill Hospital was about a half hour ride from my apartment. It was a smaller community hospital, so it wasn't overwhelmingly busy, needing fewer personnel than the metropolitan hospitals in the bigger cities. Most of the staff, including the doctors and nurses, had grown up in town, so there was also a sense of hometown pride and camaraderie at work. That was one of the reasons I put in to intern there.

After high school, I realized that, like my dad, I was drawn to the science of psychology. I figured if I were going to be saving souls anyway, I might as well save their minds too. So I attended the local university, majoring in psychology, and found out I was a natural at it. Now I was interning in Park Hill's Behavioral Health ward as part of my second year requirements for Waitling's PsyD program. In three more years, I planned to be a doctor, just like my dad.

Most of my time was spent shadowing the psychologists and psychiatrists at Park Hill. I would go with them through their daily routines of seeing patients, researching, and diagnosing. Some days, I attended seminars or workshops as part of both my curriculum and the doctors' normal activities.

There were five interns in the Behavioral Health ward, corresponding with the number of doctors that worked there. We all rotated between doctors from week to week in order to get a feel of the different methods of practice. I had my favorites, but I got along with all of them. I didn't mind the seminars, workshops, or research either. Even though it felt a little more like being in school, these sessions were geared more towards advanced methods in the field. I loved working at the hospital. Watching the way the doctors helped the patients, seeing therapy sessions in a live setting, instead of merely reading about it; it was my dream career. I was grateful for being able to get a taste of living it.

When I was at the hospital, I really put my mind to watching and learning. There wasn't a lot of room for daydreaming, so I counted on my shift to get my mind off the morning with Hunter. My brain had completely surrendered to the memory, and I needed to plow myself into my work studies to bring me back to reality. Fate, however, had another plan.

When I checked in with my intern supervisor, Grace, she informed me that my clinical mentor had called in with a bad sinus infection. I was given the honorable filing duties for the day. With no choice but to perform my banal task, I went over to the administration desk where the files were kept. Kelly, the day shift administrator, was at the desk and smiled when she saw me coming.

I met Kelly my first day at the hospital. She was one of those bright and cheery women; like, every minute of the day. Somehow she managed to find the good in any bad situation. My mood always seemed to lift when I was around her.

As I got closer to the desk, Kelly became... brighter. A fluorescent purple headband separated her pale blond hair at the top of her head. The color pattern seemed to overflow to her uniform: a yellow smock shirt, patterned with big purple circles, and matching purple pants. As if that weren't enough to make me wish I'd brought my sunglasses, she accessorized with a matching set of bright yellow and purple parrots dangling from her ears, along with a charm-filled bracelet. Eccentricity was a trait that matched Kelly's personality. As I said: Bright and cheery.

"Hey, Cassie," she waved at me, her bracelet tinkling with the movement. "I heard you got stuck with the files today. I'm sorry," she said, her face contorting into a silly frown.

"Yeah, lucky me." I came around to her side of the desk and looked around. There were three huge stacks of files sitting on the end of the desk. "Are these all the files?" I asked, incredulous. "Hasn't anyone done them in the last
year
?"

"Sorry, hon. But think of it this way, you get to spend all your time with me now." Kelly smiled wide. "It'll be great! Think of it as a sleepover party, only without the sleeping part. Oh, and the part about the files. I don't think I'd ever have a filing game at one of my parties, but who knows?"

I laughed. "How do you do it, Kelly?"

"Well, it's a secret, and I'm really not supposed to tell anyone," she leaned in closer and whispered, "but all you do is pull your lips up and try to touch them to your cheeks. It's called a smile and it's great at parties."

"Okay, I get it. Maybe I'll give it a try," I laughed again.

Kelly and I talked mainly about everyday things in our lives, like school and family. My thoughts eventually drifted away from Hunter as we talked and the day went on. About halfway through my shift, Kelly went on break and left me alone to continue filing my last stack. As I reached into one of the rotating files, my mind went black, and I felt the familiar sensation of a vision coming.

I was back in my recurring dream only this time, it wasn't me.
I watched as Nora ran through the forest, tearing her dress and cutting her feet, while the branches reached out to her, as they always did me. I tried to yell to her as she turned to look behind her, but she couldn't hear me. I was strictly a spectator. The same emotions appeared on her face that I always felt time and again. And just as I'd hit that wall of a chest, so had she. I gasped when I saw Hunter slowly lower his head towards hers. My heartbeat quickened at the sight, and, although I knew he couldn't hear me, I yelled to him to stop. To my surprise, he stopped right before his lips fell on hers. I stared at them; at him, just standing there holding Nora. He slowly raised his head and looked in my direction. I screamed as glowing blue eyes bored into mine.

Huddled in a corner underneath the desk station, I woke up to Kelly shaking me, calling my name. Realizing my eyes were open, she breathed a sigh of relief, but the concern on her face remained.

"Oh my God, Cassie. What happened to you?" she asked, grabbing a box of tissues from the desk.

I used one of them to wipe my tear-streaked face. There were no words that could explain what happened, at least not without getting me locked up in one of the rooms on the ward. But I was too perplexed about what I just saw to care about what she thought.

"I'm sorry, Kelly," I said, standing. She tried to put her arm around me, but I sidestepped her and quickly moved around the desk. "I... I have to go. I'm sorry. Could you... could you just cover for me with Grace? I need to go take care of something."

"Why don't you let me call someone for you, Cassie? I don't think you should go anywhere by yourself right now."

"I'll be fine, just please cover for me, Kelly," I begged. "I'll explain everything to you soon, I promise. I'll be all right. I just need to go."

I didn't wait for her to answer. I knew she would cover for me, but I felt horrible putting her in that position. Right now I needed to find Nora and see if she was okay. I'd deal with giving Kelly some kind of explanation later.

***

I drove through the city, not even bothering to check my speed. When I pulled into our apartment's parking lot, I spotted Hunter's Mustang. It was parked close to our building, and the dread I felt earlier from the vision reinvested itself in my stomach.

I pulled up next to his car, and jumped out of mine. Hoping that Hunter was still in the car, I ran up to the window and peered through the darkened glass. It was empty.  Wasting no time, I raced into the building, up the flight of stairs, and down the hallway to my apartment. I'm not sure what I really expected to see inside, but scenes of Nora lying on the floor with Hunter leaning menacingly over her lifeless body flitted around in my head on the way over. Praying to God that wasn't the case, I held my breath and opened the door.

The scene I walked in on was far from the morbid segment I imagined, but it was just as shocking. Nora was sitting on the couch, a glass of wine in hand, and laughing... no giggling, over something amusing that Hunter must've said. The dread that I felt earlier turned into complete disgust when I noticed Nora's eyes actually appeared to be twinkling while she gazed at him. She was like a mesmerized groupie backstage at her favorite rock band's concert.

Her tunnel vision obviously blocked out anything else around her, because she didn't even notice I'd walked into the apartment. But Hunter did. He was sitting on the opposite end of the sofa, and even though his back was to me, I could sense that he acknowledged my arrival. I felt it in every tingle making its way throughout my body.

He pushed himself up from the sofa and turned to look at me, Nora watching his every movement. As his eyes met mine, the tingles turned into laps of fire, igniting the memory of his lips on my neck. His scent hit my nose and I reflexively took a deep breath, inhaling it into my body.

Nora stood and I shook off the wave of sentiment, refusing to let him take over my senses again as he did in the park. I was about to launch a verbal attack on him about coming here after what he'd done to me earlier, when Nora came around the couch towards me.

"Oh, Cassie! I wasn't expecting you home so soon. Um, this is Hunter." She stood directly in front of me and mouthed,
That's him!
, with eyes wide and a smile on her face. As Hunter came closer, Nora turned back to him and said, "Hunter, this is my friend, Cassie."

"Cassandra. I'd say we must quit meeting like this, but it's a pleasure to see you again," Hunter said, smiling. He took my hand and brought it to his lips for a soft kiss.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Nora asked, looking between us, as we stared at one another.

I pulled my hand back, probably a little too quickly, but I didn't think Nora noticed. I don't know why, but I didn't want to cause a scene. Not here. Not now. I wanted to see what Hunter was up to.

"We met at Luke's the other night," he explained.

Please don't bring up the park, please don't bring up the park
, I thought. The mere mention of us meeting in the park would be enough to put me off balance.

"And we ran into each other in the park again today," he continued. I think I actually heard myself sigh. "Cassandra gave me great insight of what to expect if I were to move into the area." The double entendre slammed into me, and the smile on his face proved he knew it.

"Oh yeah? So what'd you tell him?" Nora asked me.
Was that suspicion in her voice?

I didn't know what to answer. I wanted to tell Hunter to get the hell out and leave us both alone, but I was speechless.

Hunter laughed. "Actually, it was much the same as the conversation we just had, Nora."

His words sunk in and I wondered if they could possibly mean what I thought they did. Had he really done the same things with Nora as he did with me in the park? Could he be playing with us both? I was irate at the thought of this possibility; and maybe even a little jealous.

He hadn't taken his eyes off of me, and I could almost see the challenge in them now.

"Well, now you have both our words on it," Nora said, breaking the silence that had ensued. "It really is a great area. I think it'd be perfect for you."

He turned towards Nora. "Yes, I think you're right. If it truly is a quiet area, with plenty of friendly people, then I think it will be perfect. I like the fact that it's not far from anything I might need too."

It felt safe to assume they were only talking about the neighborhood. I didn't sense any sexual tension between them. I was relieved to think Hunter hadn't tried anything with Nora.

"That's great, Hunter. Let us know if we can do anything else to help. We'd be happy to. Right, Cassie?"

"Uh, yeah, right," I stammered. Nora gave me a secret "
what's up with you?
" look. He, on the other hand, seemed to be fully enjoying my squirming through this conversation.

"Did you say you met at Luke's?" she asked him before looking back at me. "Isn't that where you met Caleb?"

There was no getting out of it now. She knew and there was nothing I could do about it.

"Yeah, we all kind of met that night." I said it as if it were nothing more than mere coincidence. I walked around Nora and Hunter, and went to get a glass from the cupboard. I was hoping my nonchalance would help Nora believe that it was really no big deal. But when I turned around to look at her, her eyes were wide with surprise.

"Wow, really?" she asked Hunter, more than me. He nodded. "That is
wild
," she continued. "What are the odds of that? Cassie happens to be going out with Caleb tonight for dinner." Obviously, she believed in chance a lot more than I did.

I was getting water when Hunter's voice made the hairs on my arms stand.

"Oh really?" he said with too much interest. I hadn't realized how close he'd come to me while my back was turned.