Shifted (15 page)

Charlie shrugged. “I don’t really remember. How did you get back down the mountain?”

“I didn’t. I spent three days in my car.” 

“Alone?”

She nodded. “I don’t remember much. I had a big jug of water with me, so I drank that. I also had my suitcase. I must have gotten cold, because when I woke up I was wrapped in nearly everything I own.”

“And how did you find out about your power?”

“It happened pretty much right away. At first I thought there was something wrong with my ears,” she said, “but when I went to see Dr. Porter he said my hearing was fine. Then I started to figure it out. The only things that sounded strange in my ears were lies.” 

His face was open, fascinated. “So how do lies sound different?”

“It’s hard to explain. It’s like the way a record sounds when it’s getting warped. When I hear someone lying, their voice stretches and wavers. The bigger the lie, the stranger it sounds.”

“You can hear all kinds of lies?”

She nodded. “Most of it is little stuff. Someone says ‘good to see you’ or ‘I hope you have a nice night,’ and they aren’t really thinking that is true. Social stuff, you know. ‘I love your hair.’ ‘I’m doing great.’ That sort of thing.”

“But not always.”

“No, not always.” Briar bit her lip. Was it her place to tell the truth for other people? “Mr. Powell at the general store sells his day-old bread as fresh.”

“Not surprising,” Charlie said dryly. 

“Monty Grant turns the odometer back on his used cars.”

Charlie frowned at that. “My mom bought her car from him.”

“I hope she drove a hard bargain,” she said with an apologetic smile.

He grumbled. “What else?”

She bit her lip. She still wasn’t sure what to make of what Col. Deacon had said. “I’m not sure, but … I think someone may have deliberately triggered the rockslide.”

Charlie pushed himself off the counter at that. “Are you sure?”

Briar nodded. “I heard Col. Deacon talking about it the other night at McPherson’s.”

“What did he say?”

Briar recounted the conversation between Col. Deacon and Lowell Briggs. “He was lying when he said he didn’t believe that the rockslide was man-made, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he believes that someone caused it. Maybe he just meant that because of all the mining, the rockslide was technically created by man.”

“That’s a stretch.”

“I know, but unless I questioned him directly I wouldn’t be able to tell what, exactly, he was lying about.”

“How do you know the truth, then?”

“I don’t,” she said with a rueful smile. 

Charlie studied her intently. “So it’s kind of a useless power.”

“Tell me about it,” Briar said with a sigh. “Way more trouble than it’s worth.” 

The corners of his mouth twitched, but from him that counted as a smile. 

“And it’s actually worse than that,” Briar continued. “I think the person has to know they are lying for me to hear it as a lie.”

“Like what?”

“Like, say you tell your mother that you can’t transform into a mountain lion,” she said. 

Charlie scowled at her, which was so cute she couldn’t help but give him a sunny grin in return. 

“You know that’s a lie, so when you say it, it would sound like a lie to me. But if you mother tells your father that you can’t transform into a mountain lion, she believes that it’s true, so that wouldn’t sound like a lie.”

“What I tell my parents is my business.”

“Just an example,” Briar said sweetly.

Charlie’s brow drew together, and he bounced his cane in his hand while he thought. “How much does a person’s opinion factor in?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if I were to say you are beautiful, that would be objectively true. But if I said you were the most beautiful girl in town, that would be an opinion, right?”

Briar choked on her soda. Charlie thought she was beautiful? When he cocked an eyebrow at her, she forced herself to think about it objectively. “Well, it didn’t sound like you were lying.”

“I make it a practice to mean what I say.” His voice was lower as he studied her face.

Briar could feel a blush creeping up her cheeks and a matching heat inside. Charlie was looking at her as if he could see her every thought. 

She took another sip of her soda, only to find that the glass was empty. 

“Let’s try something,” she said, setting the glass down on the counter with a clatter. “I want to practice. You tell me three things, things that I wouldn’t know about you. Two of them should be true, and one is a lie. I’ll tell you which one you’re making up.”

“What kinds of things?”

“Anything. Your favorite food. Your favorite toy as a kid. What color undershorts you’re wearing.”

Charlie shifted, and she could swear his scowl was fading. “Blue.”

“Lie,” Briar said. She bit her lip, trying not to imagine the other options. White? Red? A scandalous thought crossed her mind. What if he wasn’t wearing undershorts at all?

“All right,” Charlie said, and Briar forced her mind out of Charlie’s pants. “Let’s see. I’m allergic to peanuts. I broke my leg when I was nine. And … my favorite color is green.”

“Peanuts,” Briar said immediately. 

“That was an easy one,” Charlie said. “I’m just warming up. How about this: I like Frank Sinatra more than Sammy Davis Jr. I don’t miss playing baseball. I read a hundred books last year.”

“Tricky,” Briar said. “All lies.”

“Do they sound different to you?”

She nodded. It was exciting to test her power on another person. “If I had to guess … the one that is most true is that you read a hundred books last year. So I think you probably read more than that. It’s true that you read a hundred books, but it’s not the complete truth.”

“That’s right,” he said. Briar took pride in the surprise in his voice. “It was more than that.”

“As far as Frank and Sammy goes, well, that’s just obvious. Of course Sammy is better.”

“No one is better than Sammy Davis,” Charlie said solemnly.

“The thing about baseball … that was a half-truth.”

Charlie nodded, unconsciously tapping his cane on the floor. “I miss the physicality of it, of course. Being able to play. And I miss having a future, knowing that I could go somewhere with my life. But the game itself … not really. I could never get myself excited about stats or big name players. I knew it could take me to college, and that’s what I really wanted. Baseball was just a means to an end.”

“But you were so good.”

“It was always easy for me. I guess I took it for granted.” He tapped the cane again, then leaned it against the sink. “I don’t remember seeing you at any of my games.”

“The whole town was there. Would you even have noticed me?” 

“I always seem to notice when you’re around,” he said. “I had a crush on you when we were kids.”

“You did?” Briar said. She felt like her whole body was blushing, tingling with shy pleasure.

“Did that sound like a lie?” When she didn’t reply, he gestured to her. “Come here.”

It was only a few steps to cross the kitchen, but to Briar it seemed to take an eternity before she was standing in front of him. The sunlight streaming in through the curtain had changed angles, casting the room in the fleeting pink and gold light of sunset. She could feel every inch of her bared skin as his eyes devoured her. The planes of his body, hard and unyielding, were outlined by his thin white T-shirt. 

He waited until she had stepped between his spread legs to say another word. “You have to know … I’m damaged, Briar. My leg ….”

“Doesn’t matter.”

He shifted, leaning more on the counter. It changed the angle of light, making the red in his beard flare. 

Compelled, she reached out and brushed her thumb over his jaw. The stubble there was almost long enough to be soft. 

The sensitive pad of her finger wasn’t enough. Giving in to the craving, she tasted that spot with her lips. 

Charlie stiffened, barely breathing. She stepped into the vee of his legs and pressed her body against him as she cruised her mouth up his firm jawline toward his ear. 

His hands clamped on her hips as he turned his head, trying to capture her mouth with his. 

Briar resisted, taking her lips from the rough texture of his cheek to the soft lobe of his ear. He shuddered when she flicked her tongue over the tender flesh, then gasped when she nipped at him with her teeth. 

A thrill of satisfaction rolled through her. There was something so heady about making this big man tremble. 

And she got this reaction just from kissing his ear. There were so many other parts of his body that she couldn’t stop thinking about. She wanted to taste all of them.

His long-fingered hands pressed into her back as he ran his palms up her spine and into her hair. Clearly impatient, he yanked her head back, giving her a moment to revel in the wild light in his eyes before he crushed her mouth with his. His tongue tangled with hers as she eagerly opened for him. 

Briar ran her palms over the hard muscles of his abdomen, as much for her pleasure as his. His hands had dropped to her waist again, caressing her bare back with frenzied urgency. His leg slipped between hers, and she could feel the worn denim of his jeans rasping against her soft thighs. She pressed her aching center against his leg and he stiffened. 

“You’re so hot,” he whispered, then caught her babbling reply with his lips. 

He slid the tips of his fingers down her back, just under the waistband of her shorts. He pressed slightly and she arched against him. He began to stroke a spot at the base of her spine and she arched her hips into his hard thigh. 

Breathless, she tore her mouth from his. “Charlie,” she said desperately.

“Too fast?” he said, instantly stilling his hands.

She shook her head and threw her arms around his neck so she could continue to thrust against him. “This feels so good.”

“God,” he groaned, but Briar could barely hear it. He had started stroking that spot again, and she was lost in the pleasure his hands brought her. 

Waves of liquid heat rolled through her body, stirred by his strong fingers. Her eyes were squeezed shut, concentrating on the sensation. 

They shot open again when she felt Charlie’s other hand close over her breast. His face was close to hers, his gorgeous eyes gone smoky green with desire. 

“You’re beautiful. You’re incredible,” he murmured, kneading her soft flesh. 

He rubbed her nipple between his thumb and forefinger and Briar cried out, shocked at her own body. Her whole being was reduced to three points—his big hand cupping her tender breast, his strong fingertips at the base of her spine, and his hard thigh pressing against her cleft. Electricity seemed to be bouncing from one point to another, arcing higher and faster with every stroke. 

His mouth closed over hers, and the electricity was suddenly everywhere, turning her body to sparks. The intensity was building ever higher, higher than Briar could have believed, and this was nothing like the other boys, nothing she had ever experienced. His mouth grew more insistent, the rhythm of his hands more intense. He was driving her toward something, some flash point, and Briar yearned to reach it for the first time in his arms. 

The front door banged open. “Briar, where are you? You’ve got to see this!” Norine called.

“You left a mess in the driveway,” Aunt Patrice said, coming in right behind Norine. “There are sponges and buckets everywhere.”

“I’m in the kitchen,” Briar called, leaping away from Charlie as if she’d been scalded. Her voice was too high again, and she tried to clear her throat. Her hands flew to the buttons of her shirt. 

It was a surprise to realize she was still fully clothed. Her heart was racing, and her body felt ripe and swollen with unfulfilled desire. 

Charlie was taking deep breaths and bracing himself against the counter. He tried to adjust the front of his pants, and then settled for picking up his cane and holding it in front of him. Their eyes met, and the mixture of humor and heat there made Briar want to dive back into his arms and let Norine and Patrice enjoy the show. 

“You are never going to guess what happened!” Norine called. Briar could see her in her mind’s eye, carefully unpinning her hat as she spoke. 

“Momma and I were at the dressmakers, and I was trying on these adorable pumps that Momma said were too high, when we saw a young man in an army uniform out in the street handing out notices. Well, of course we all hurried out to see what it said.”

“Edith Applebaum nearly bowled me over trying to get there first,” Aunt Patrice complained. “Nosy old busy-body, that one.”

“It was a notice from the army,” Norine continued as if Patrice hadn’t spoken. “It lists all these people and, and I quote, ‘requests their cooperation in medical testing as a matter of national import.’ What do you think that means?” 

Norine’s voice got louder as she came down the hall. “It’s mostly the people who were named in the newspaper article last week, but guess who else is on it? Charlie Huston! Can you believe—oh!” 

Norine jerked to a halt as she came around the corner. “Charlie! I didn’t know you were here!”

Patrice nearly ran into Norine’s back. She looked over her daughter’s shoulder, seeing Briar and Charlie alone in the darkened kitchen. Suspicion clouded her face. “What are you two doing in here?”

Before Briar could reply, Charlie pushed himself off the counter. One hand was tight around his cane, and the other was fisted with rage. “Who did you tell?” he demanded, drilling Briar with his furious gaze. 

“No one,” she said. “I swear.”

Charlie scoffed. “I should have known better than to trust you. I should have known you would lie about this too.” 

Something tore inside Briar. He believed what he was saying, and it broke her heart. “Charlie, wait.”

He waved her off. He grabbed the notice Norine had deposited on the counter and limped heavily down the hall and out the door.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Charlie