Heat of the Storm (5 page)

Whether he liked it or not, they were his friends.

Though he didn’t quite understand why Shel and Hol y had decided to focus al their matchmaking attentions on him. Ryan and Matt, two other guys from SEAL

Team Fourteen, were also single, but he didn’t see
them
getting harassed.

“Okay,” Shelby began, flipping her blonde ponytail over her shoulder. “There’s a new waitress at the restaurant where Hol y works, and we think this girl is perfect for you.”

Wil rested his elbows on the cedar counter and sighed. “Real y?”

“Real y,” Hol y chimed in. “Her name is Lisa, she’s gorgeous, and she’s studying to become a massage therapist.”

“A massage therapist!” Shelby echoed. “Think of al the things she could do to your body!” Wil had to laugh.

“Oh, and she’s a real y good cook,” Hol y added.

“Also, she speaks three languages.” Shelby wiggled her eyebrows. “Dirty bedroom talk in
three
languages, Wil . How can you pass this up?” Wel , their pitch was pretty good, what with the massages and foreign dirty talk, but unfortunately, Wil had no desire to go out with this woman. His heart would always belong to Mac.

“Although it sounds…tempting,” he lied. “I’m going to pass.”

He was met by two identical crestfal en expressions.

“Why?” Hol y burst out.

“You know why,” he said quietly.

Shelby let out a frustrated sigh. “Aren’t you over that woman yet?”

“If anything, I’m more in love with her than ever.” He hadn’t planned on revealing what happened between him and Mac, especial y not to these two nosy women, but somehow the entire story spil ed out.

Fists clenched to his sides, he told them about his night with Mackenzie, and the disappointing way it had ended.

“What is the
matter
with her?” Hol y grumbled, shaking her head.

“She takes him for granted, that’s what,” Shelby answered angrily. “Seriously, Wil , how are you stil putting up with this? She doesn’t deserve you.”

“Yes, she does.”

Shelby leaned back against the counter, frowning.

“You honestly think Mackenzie is worth al this heartache?”

“Yes, she is.”

A short silence fel over the kitchen, final y broken by the sound of Shelby slapping her hand on the counter with an
eureka
expression on her face. “Then it’s time we do something about it.” Wil narrowed his eyes. “We?”

“Yes, we.” Shelby shot him a grin. “Obviously you’re not having too much success on your own, so it’s time someone stepped in and helped you.” He held up his hand. “Oh no, you guys are
not
stepping in. Mackenzie and I wil straighten this out by ourselves.”

Hol y snorted, the determined glint in her green eyes tel ing him exactly whose side she was on. Not his. “Shelby’s right, you need our help.” Sliding off the chair, he edged his way to the doorway. “The two of you are not getting involved in my love life.”

Another snort from Hol y, and a giggle from Shelby.

“What love life?” they said in unison.

He stabbed a finger in their direction. “The answer is no. I don’t need or want your help. I’m serious about this.”

Shelby and Hol y exchanged a look.

“I’m serious,” he insisted. “I command you to put a pin in whatever scheme you two are about to cook up.

Stay out of my business—that’s an order.” With that, he strode out of the kitchen, for al the good it did him.

He could hear Shelby and Hol y already whispering to one another, and if he knew those two, they’d show up at his door tomorrow morning with some hare-brained plot that would no doubt make his life miserable.

Though how his life could get even more miserable than it already was, he didn’t know.

Wil was going to die.

Mackenzie wandered around her kitchen on autopilot, brewing a cup of tea, eating but not real y tasting a piece of toast. Staring at the sunlight streaming in from the window. Doing the dishes.

And al the while, her mind was somewhere else.

Somewhere dark and terrifying. A place that held not even the tiniest flicker of hope. A world without Wil .

With a strangled groan, she sank into one of the chairs around the kitchen table and buried her face in her hands, a position she’d found herself often during the past five days. She hadn’t heard from Wil since he’d walked out that night, and a part of her almost wished his silence dragged on a bit longer.

What was she supposed to say if he cal ed?

Did she tel him about what she saw?

But how could she? She’d tried warning people before when she had a vision about them, but no matter what she did, the visions always came true.

She couldn’t change them. Couldn’t stop them.

And what she’d seen… God, she wished like hel she could stop it.

Out of nowhere, the memory flooded her brain, streaking to the forefront like a bolt of lightning.

The gunshots. The shriek of the helicopter rotors,
the heart-stopping explosion rocking the chopper.

The smoke.

Chopper falling from the sky, hurtling toward the
canopy of green below.

A sob choked her throat as Wil ’s face flashed across her mind. The grim realization in his dark eyes when he realized his fate. When he accepted it.

“No!” she burst out, shooting to her feet.

It wouldn’t happen. It
couldn’t
happen.

Say you want to be with me.

Why,
why
hadn’t she been able to say it? She’d already crossed a line anyway, slept with her best friend, so why couldn’t she take that final step and admit what they both knew to be true?

Because you don’t want to lose him.

No, she definitely didn’t want that. Wil was the only steady male in her life. Even after he’d joined the Navy and left town, he always came back. Weekends, holidays, any time he could get leave, he came back to Hunter Ridge. To her.

Would he come back this time? After everything that happened last week?

And what would she say to him if he did?

Hey, Will, I acted like an idiot. The sex we had was
incredible, the best of my life. And oh, you’re going
to die.

She paced the kitchen, her bare feet slapping against the hardwood floor, as her heart pounded against her ribs in a steady rhythm of panic. She had to tel him. Warn him. So what if he was probably furious with her? Maybe if she said something, she could alter what she’d seen.

Lifting her chin in determination, she grabbed the cordless phone from the counter. She jumped when it started ringing in her hand.

Hope bloomed in her chest. Quickly pressing the talk button, she lifted the phone to her ear and said,

“Thank God you cal ed!”

There was a beat, then a soft female chuckle. “Why do I get the feeling you were expecting someone else?” came Paula Durtz’s amused voice.

Disappointment jolted through her. “Oh. Hi, Paula. I, um…what’s up?”

“I just wanted to see if you’re stil coming into town today.”

Town? Oh, right, she’d promised to drop off that necklace for Paula. “What time did we say again?” she asked.

“Two. So are we stil on?”

Mac glanced at the clock hanging over the sink. It was quarter to, which meant she needed to get going.

Yet the idea of leaving the house troubled her. She wasn’t in the mood for socializing, not when she couldn’t stop thinking about the vision. About Wil .

About what it would cost her if she lost him. Actual y
lost
him.

But Paula was the closest thing to a friend she had in Hunter Ridge. Maybe if she talked to her, told Paula what she’d seen…? Maybe her almost-friend could offer some advice.

“Yeah, we’re on,” she final y said. “I’l meet you in the square in fifteen.”

“I love it,” Paula declared fifteen minutes later, holding up the pendant to admire it. The late afternoon sun caught on the little gold heart, making it sparkle.

Mackenzie gave a wry smile. “You hate it, and we both know it. It’s not your style at al .” She emphasized her remark by shooting a pointed look at al the jewelry currently draped over various parts of the older woman’s body. A chunky silver necklace hung around Paula’s neck, and the numerous bracelets around her wrists boasted colorful costume gems and dangling charms. Even Paula’s wedding ring, a thin silver band encrusted with little diamonds, seemed elaborate in comparison to the simple necklace Mac had created for the woman. Not that Paula’s accessories were gaudy—if anything, Mac’s necklace was just too plain.

Paula laughed. “If it’s not my style, then why did you make it for me?”

“Because it’s as far as my skil can take me,” she grumbled.

“Wel , if you just let me pay you for reading my fortune, then we wouldn’t have to go through this jewelry pretense, now would we, hon?” The lines around Paula’s mouth creased in amusement. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m wil ing to buy al the necklaces you want to make me. But don’t kid yourself, Mackenzie Wade. You’re not a jewelry maker, plain and simple.

You’re a psychic.”

Mac tried not to flinch. She hated that word.
Hated
it. She wasn’t in denial; she was quite aware that her visions did indeed make her psychic. She just didn’t like thinking of herself as that. Ever since she was a little girl, she’d struggled with her
gift
. She loathed the visions. Didn’t need ’em, didn’t want ’em. And, as an adult, she’d tried hard to distance herself from them.

She’d graduated from high school, gone to col ege, learned how to make jewelry. She’d moved back to Hunter Ridge, determined to work on her craft and start a business, and though the townsfolk humored her by buying her pieces, Mackenzie wasn’t stupid.

She knew they only cared about her psychic abilities.

She also knew most of them considered her a freak.

They might chat with her in the supermarket, or strike up friendly conversations at the local bar, but their minds were always on her abilities. Wondering if she’d seen something terrible happen to them, thinking of a way to ask her about their future without looking like that’s al they wanted.

Only a few people seemed to genuinely care about her, visions or not. Paula Durtz was one of them. Wil was another.

An ache seized her chest at the thought of Wil .

Helicopter falling from the sky…

“Mackenzie? Honey, you okay?”

Paula’s voice sliced through her painful thoughts.

Tears stung her eyelids, and she turned away from the other woman’s concerned gaze, instead pretending to focus on a few fat pigeons sitting on the large fountain in the middle of the town square.

It was a gorgeous day, the sun high in the blue, cloudless sky, a warm breeze floating through the town. You’d never think a fierce storm had passed through here less than a week ago, but it had, and along with turning Mackenzie’s entire world upside down, she’d heard the town had suffered some damage too. Lightning had struck one of the shops lining idyl ic Main Street, and apparently a tree cracked in two and smashed into the roof of the bowling al ey. When Mac had gone into town the next day, a few people even had the audacity to ask her why she hadn’t seen the storm coming. Ha. Like her visions could be control ed.

“Don’t be angry with me, hon.”

She nearly fel off the bench they were sitting on when she felt Paula’s warm hand on her knee. With a strained smile, she said, “I’m not angry with you. I was just thinking about the storm last weekend.” Paula smiled knowingly. “Wil was in town then, wasn’t he?”

Mackenzie wasn’t surprised that the other woman knew about Wil ’s visit. Paula owned the one and only general store in town, and she knew everything and anything that went on in Hunter Ridge. Ever since Paula’s husband died two years ago, the woman had thrown herself into that store, and she rarely closed shop before two in the morning. Since Wil would’ve had to drive through Main Street when he got to town, Paula would have noticed his car. She noticed everything.

“Yeah, he was here,” Mac admitted.

“Did you two have a nice visit?”

“Not real y.” She shrugged. “We fought.” Paula raised her eyebrows. “Now, I don’t believe that. You and Wil have been inseparable since high school. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so much as raise your voices at one another.”

Another shrug. “There’s a first time for everything, I guess.”

Oh, yeah, definitely a first time for everything—like having mind-blowing sex with her best friend.

“But you made up, right?”

“Actual y, I haven’t seen or spoken to him since,” Mac said evenly.

She wished the bitterness in her voice wasn’t so obvious, but she couldn’t help it. Yes, Wil ’s stony departure had been her fault. She’d refused to open her heart to him, to give him what he wanted, and she didn’t blame him for being mad. But not even a phone cal since he’d left.

She knew he wasn’t out of the country, since he always cal ed or texted her when he left on assignment, so the silence on his part bothered her.

“This is sil y. Cal him up, Mackenzie!” Paula ordered, her curly brown hair bouncing on her forehead as she shook her head in earnest. “You and Wil love each other.”

That’s the problem.

She didn’t voice the thought, just offered a tense smile and said, “Can I ask you something?”