Shattered: A Psychic Visions Novel (32 page)

“And Sticks? The others?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “When I walked, I walked all the way forward and never looked back. I heard from a couple of them over the years, but we never hung out again. I finally understood the world didn’t owe me anything. That if I wanted to have the future I envisioned I had to make it happen – no one else.”

“That’s a tough lesson.”

“It’s brutal. But I learned.”

She nodded. “Until you met me – and my father brought it all back.”

“I
guess what
they say is true – you can never escape your past,” she said in a pensive voice.

“You may not be able to escape it, but you should be able to live with it.” He tapped the folder. “I didn’t kill my teacher but part of me always wondered if one of that group did.”

“You mean Sticks?”

“He’s just one suspect. There were seven of us originally then down to five by the time you showed up. Me and Sticks and three others. But remember the whole school was full of misfits.”

“I remember Streets and Rags.”

“And Stones was the last one,” he said. “I lost track of them all.”

“I’m glad you got out,” Hannah said. “You guys looked like you were going straight downhill.”

“Heaven, you and I have come back full circle.” He grinned at her. “Here we are together after all.”

She laughed. “That’s the best part. From me slumming to you now up on my level…”

“Whoa, there is no way your father is going to think I’m on your level. To him I’m a no one. An upstart who dared to defy him…”

“Good,” she said with spirit. “How do you think I ended up in Sticks’s arms in the first place?”

“I just wish you’d ended up in my arms instead…” he muttered. “That’s where I wanted you to be. I wasn’t impressed that you were with him.”

She smiled, a part of her heart and mind that had been determined to stay apart started to melt. “And that’s where I wanted to be. But you were part of that world and I wasn’t staying there.”

“And you did something I always wanted to do – you managed to leave.”

“Sorry.” That was a sobering thought. It must have been hard for them to see her pop in and out like she was out on a jaunt when they were stuck in that world. “That was a tough childhood for you. At least you got out eventually.”

He shrugged and placed the laptop and file folders on the floor beside him. “See the good thing about that – is it’s over. I survived and grew out of that stage and made something of myself in spite of it all.”

“And where does that leave us now?” she asked curiously.

He caught his breath.

She didn’t have to be psychic to feel the air crackle and the atmosphere suddenly heat up. Damn he was hot. And she wanted him…like now…

“Where ever we choose to be.”

Her lips quirked as he sidestepped the issue.

“Scared?” She slid closer, shoving the bedding back and coming up onto her knees. “I promise to be gentle.”

His gaze widened in shock, and a half laugh snort escaped. “Really? Are you sure about this? Like maybe wait until you have a better idea of who you are and what you want at this stage of your life?”

Her grin widened. “I am married and living with my husband while I heal from the traumas I’ve recently experienced. Both physically and mentally. I’m sure psychically is another level of damage.”

“You are, and recovering is the important term here.” But his gaze was hot and his voice strangled.

She had to consider his note of caution. “I am better and getting better every day.”

“But not fully healed.” He took a deep breath as if trying to interject some control into the situation. “And not fully aware yet of the choices in your life and the events that brought you here to me.”

“Ha, I tried to get to you a long time ago.” She stared around the room and wondered if he was right. She wanted him sexually, but how much of that was a good thing. Did she want him because he’d saved her? No, because she’d wanted him a long time ago… So what was the right step to take now?

With a heavy sigh and shooting him a disgruntled look, she said, “You know being too reasonable and sensible isn’t good for the soul.”

It was his turn to smirk, but there was a calming of the heat in his eyes, regret was there too. Did she want to push it? Or was that taking advantage of the situation? And maybe she should let things happen in their own time.

Damn it.

She flopped back into the bed, her head hitting the pillow with more force than necessary and groaned. “Fine then. Don’t make love to your wife,” she snapped in a laughing tone. “See if she cares.”

“Is my wife protected,” he asked in a strained tone. “Because I sure as hell didn’t think to bring condoms with me.”

She froze. Then rolled over to look at him. “I have no idea.”

“Exactly,” he said ruefully. “And I’d love to make love to my wife, but at the moment my wife isn’t exactly sure who she is.”

Hannah laughed. “Details, details.”

He grinned and reached over to turn out the light. He snuggled under the covers beside her.

After a moment she said, “You’d better add it onto the list.”

A thick silence filled the air.

“Add what?”

“The doctor’s visit so I can find out what I need to do.”

And just in case he was going to be obtuse, she added, “So that you can make love to your wife.”

He snorted. “What if I said my wife can make love to me any time?”

“I’d be riding in less than five minutes.”

“Fuck.” But his voice was strained, guttural.

“Exactly.” She smirked and happy now, said, “Sweet dreams.”

And closed her eyes.

*

He might never
sleep again. His mind had conjured up the image of her naked, head thrown back riding him and hard. And hard was now the reality. Damn it. The need ripping through him was so strong it was all he could do to lie there still. She had to know the shape he was in. The damn bed was vibrating with his shaking.

She on the other hand appeared to have no problems. He could hear her deep gentle breaths as she lay on the bed beside him. He wanted to wrap her up in his arms and hold her tight. Tonight he’d have to be satisfied with lying at her side. He didn’t trust himself to do more than that. To distract his body, he started running through the information he’d learned today and how it could impact their situation. He still couldn’t believe she was Candy. Yet it all made a stupid kind of sense. As he and his friends had been playing at being a big tough gang to make themselves feel more powerful in this world so had she. At least she’d survived the process. He shuddered at her going straight to the college after other men.
He was never going to have a daughter.

And speaking of daughters, he hadn’t managed to track down very much information about her extended family. The grandparents had been killed in the B&E, but there was no evidence they had any extended family close either. There appeared to be only her father. And worse, Trevor hadn’t been able to find family on her father’s side. If she lost her father she’d be all alone. Then she’d probably say she was all alone now.

Unable to sleep, Trevor sat up quietly, brought his laptop out again and turned it on.

He wanted to re-read the statements of those he’d gone to school with. See if something had been overlooked.

His phone buzzed with an incoming text. From his assistant. The office had been broken into.

God damn it.

He’d half expected the father to make a dick move like that but had hoped he wouldn’t. Of course the police found out it was a junkie looking for a score that could never be traced back to Hannah’s father. He slid out of bed and walked to the far side of the room. He phoned his assistant. “How bad is it?”

“Both front windows were shattered.”

Trevor frowned. “Why the big windows?”

“A stupid prank? Kids,” Leo said. “Who knows?”

“Anything taken?”

“We all had our laptops with us, your wife even has the spare so those are all accounted for. It looks like they tried to snag the printer and either decided it was chump change or too big to deal with.”

Trevor nodded. “We got the big one just a few months ago.”

“The filing cabinets are under lock and key and in the back room. It doesn’t look like they even went in there. Of course it’s a storage closet so they might not have thought it worthwhile. Your desk was upended.”

“Well,” Trevor exclaimed. “Sounds like they were either searching for something or just wanted to mess the place up.”

“That’s my take. The police are here now, and I’ll stay while they do their thing. They’ve found several sets of fingerprints, so we’ll need to run comparison prints from us so they can cancel out our prints.”

“Okay, keep me posted. I’ll come down if I’m needed.”

“Not to worry. Get some sleep. I don’t know what was behind this, but it looks like someone is trying to hurt you. If someone was looking for something in particular, then I’d be very careful – because they didn’t get it.”

T
he next morning
Hannah rummaged in the kitchen to make coffee. She could do that much. Breakfast seemed a little beyond her. She’d woken up bright and cheerful, had a shower and immediately felt tired and worn out. It made no sense. She’d have stayed dirty if she thought that was going to be the end result.

There was bread on the counter. She popped a piece into the toaster and turned to stare out the window while she waited. It was going to be a glorious day. Unfortunately, they’d be inside for most of it. Still that didn’t mean they couldn’t take time to enjoy it. There were parks at the mall. A large greenway that boasted paths on either side crisscrossed throughout the city as well. She’d love to do a long walk.

If it was safe, she’d also love to go to her house and get a few things. She’d rather do that than shopping for clothes. She had lots at home. But home was actually one of her father’s estates. Had her father changed the locks? Or could she go in and get her belongings?

“Thoughts?” Trevor’s sleepy voice sounded behind her. “Coffee smells good.”

“Just thinking we should go to my house and collect my stuff. And I was hoping for an update on Tasha.”

“I honestly haven’t had too much time to look for her, sorry. After the documents are legally filed Monday and we’re in the clear – then yes we can do both of those.”

“Ouch. Sorry, I forgot that part.”

“Not an issue. A lot has happened in a short time. Hard to remember everything. As long as she wasn’t in the store at the time of the fire, which apparently she wasn’t, then we’ll contact her as soon as we can.” He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, tugging her back against his chest. “Did you sleep well?”

She snuggled in close. “I did. You?”

“Not as good as it could have been.” She sensed a hesitation. Twisting in his arms, she stared up at him and saw the heavy shadow on his chin, the drained look to his features.

He reached up and rubbed his face. “Sorry, I haven’t shaved. My shaver isn’t recharging here. When we’re out shopping I’ll pick up another one.”

She rubbed the soft hair on his cheek and grinned. “It looks good on you.”