Wiccan, A Witchy Young Adult Paranormal Romance (27 page)

“
Did
, maybe.” And at one point, I even thought he was beginning to
reciprocate my feelings deeper for him.

“
What do you mean ‘did’? I
still do. Nothing’s changed. At least for me it hasn’t.”

I wanted to squash the little of
glimmer of hope that lit my heart up like fireworks on the fourth
of July, but it erupted too quickly for me to stop it.

“
But I thought—” I trailed
off, confused but cautiously optimistic. Could I have been wrong?
Or was I right in that I’d sabotaged myself?

“
You thought what? That I
could just shut off how I feel because things are getting
difficult? Or that I’ve been pretending all this time just to solve
a case?”

I thought I could detect a hint of
irritation in his voice.

“
Well, what was I supposed
to think? The way you were acting—”

His expression was incredulous. “You
mean the way I was treating you in a professional manner during the
middle of a huge and rapidly escalating serial murder
case?”

“
Well, when you put it
like
that,”
I
said, suddenly feeling incredibly stupid.

“
Mercy, I don’t know what’s
going on between us, but the way I feel about you is- well, it’s
not going away. But if I make one wrong move, a killer could go
free. I just have to be careful. We both do,” he said
tenderly.

In a way, I felt like I dared not
believe what I was hearing. But I so desperately wanted to and for
that reason, I jumped right back in head first. If it bit me in the
butt, I’d have plenty of time to regret it later. Right now, there
was just too much going on in my life to deny myself this one tiny
slice of pleasure.

“
I know. And I’m sorry. I’m
probably not helping matters, but I- there’s just so much going on.
I feel like my life is spinning out of control. And, honestly I
wouldn’t have blamed you if you’d wanted off this roller coaster
ride,” I confessed.

One corner of his mouth pulled up in a
lopsided grin. “Are you kidding?” he asked, stepping closer to me.
“I plan to enjoy this ride,” he said suggestively, winking at
me.

My heart melted a little and several
other body parts steamed up instantly, all my emotional angst
channeled into sexual energy.

I thought he was going to kiss me; I
very much wanted him to, like it would somehow make all this real
again. But now was not the time and I knew it.

“
We need to go. We’ve got a
lot to do,” he said, taking my hand and leading me back to the
car.

We didn’t have to walk as far as I
thought. He’d driven after me for a bit before he got out and
chased me down on foot.

When we were both back in the car, I
assumed that when Grayson started the engine, we’d be leaving, but
we didn’t. He turned toward me in his seat, his face serious again,
and said, “Tell me about your family.”

“
You’re not going to like
this, but I don’t think I’ve ever told you that I’m adopted. The
subject never really came up.”

For a second he looked like I’d slapped
him in the face. Then his eyes closed and his lips thinned and he
dropped his head into his hand, rubbing at his forehead in
frustration.

“
Well, that’s going to make
things a little more difficult,” he said finally. When he looked
back up at me, his expression read resignation. “But, when has any
of this been easy anyway?” He flashed me a quick grin. “At least
you don’t have to suffer through the arrest of one of your adopted
parents then. If I have to arrest a family member, you’ll likely
not even know them.”

“
True. That would’ve been
awful,” I replied. “Is that why you brought me out here like this?
Did you think you were going to have to arrest my dad?”

“
Possibly. And you have no
idea how hard that would’ve been for me.”

I smiled. It pleased me to
know that he’d been so concerned for me. Not enough to
not arrest my Dad,
but
concerned for me nonetheless. If he were the type of guy that would
let a killer go free just because of personal feelings, though, I
don’t think I’d feel the same way about him. That was part of what
made Grayson Grayson and why he was such a good cop and a good
guy.

“
Now we just have to find my
real dad.”

“
Do you know anything about
them? Your biological parents?”

“
Not really. Mom doesn’t
like talking about them. Apparently they didn’t leave me in the
best shape when they abandoned me at the hospital,” I said
dryly.

“
But they did leave you at a
hospital?”

I nodded. “Our Lady of
Mercy.”

“
Then there’s probably a
record. The state of Maryland doesn’t require that any information
be given when dropping off a baby, but most of the hospitals are
pretty good about getting
something
. I can check. See what I
come up with.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I
mean, now I had very mixed feelings about knowing who my parents
were. But it had never been more important so it didn’t really
matter how I felt about it. I’d go along with whatever Grayson
needed because it was the right thing to do.

It was strange to think that I might be
close to knowing who my birth parents are. “I might have a brother
or a sister. It’d be so strange if they have a lot of kids, you
know? That there might be a whole family out there that I know
nothing about.”

I twirled a curl around my finger as I
pondered, looking out the window into the dark night. Under normal
circumstances, I’d probably be very curious to at least meet my
parents. You know, see whose hair and eyes I got, see who I’m built
like and whose I smile like. But now, I wasn’t sure I wanted to
know. Instead, I might see who’s crazy I got and who’s freak show
mind I got. It was probably a case of being better off the less I
know.

“
Let’s not get ahead of
ourselves. Let me check with the hospital first.”

Grayson collected a variety of facts
like my exact date of birth, the date I was abandoned, the date my
adopted parents picked me up, the condition I was in. He wrote
furiously, noting everything I said in perfect detail.

When he was finished, he flipped the
cover back over his notepad and dropped it into the console. When
he met my eyes, I got the feeling it was to deliver a little more
bad news.

“
I don’t know how you want
to handle this with your parents. I might need you, like tomorrow,
and it might go easier if they know what’s going on. It’s up to
you, of course. Just keep in mind that they’ll probably find out
eventually and it might be better coming from you.”

Closing my eyes, it was my turn to lean
my head against the headrest. Only I was filled with unease more
than frustration. I hated what was coming, but I knew Grayson was
right. I had to tell them.

“
I’ll talk to them tomorrow
morning,” I said quietly.

Grayson reached over and squeezed my
hand where it lay in my lap. “Good choice. I really do think it’s
for the best.”

He smiled down at me, a smile that said
he cared. It went a long way toward easing the misery of several
other areas of my life. I wasn’t all alone anymore and that made it
easy to smile back.

Grayson drove me home and
dropped me off in front of the neighbor’s house. He didn’t care if
he woke
them
or
not, he just didn’t want to be “that guy” to my parents. I thought
that was funny. Grayson afraid of my parents? Ha!

I waved to him as he drove
by. He’d waited until I had opened the door and stepped inside
before pulling away. As I watched his tail lights disappear, the
hair on my nape started to prickle. As I looked around, once again
searching the pools of light and trying to look into the shadows, I
pulled the glass storm door shut and locked it. Though I couldn’t
see anyone, I knew,
just knew,
someone was watching me.

I quickly shut the door behind me and
locked it. I wondered if the person watching me at 2:00 am was the
killer. Then I wondered if it was my father. Were they one and the
same? And if so, why was he watching me?

When I turned to walk back to my
bedroom, I thought I caught movement from the corner of my eye. As
I passed in front of the kitchen window, I looked to my left and
there, outlined against the moonlight streaming between the
curtains, was a silhouette. It was tall and wide and pitch black.
It was a man.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

It felt like my heart stuttered to a
quick stop before restarting at an alarming rate of speed. Just as
I thought it would surely hammer its way out of my chest, the
kitchen light clicked on.

Dad was standing at the sink. The look
on his face wasn’t fury. I’m eighteen. He can hardly pull that kind
of parental stunt on me now. It was a bit of anger mixed with a
smidgeon of concern and a lot of disappointment.

He didn’t say a word, just crossed his
arms over his chest and stared at me. It was quite an effective way
to browbeat me without having to open his mouth. I was already
beating myself up and I hadn’t really done anything wrong. At least
not like he was obviously thinking I had.

“
Did I wake you?” I began,
since he apparently was going to hold his tongue and just try to
intimidate me.

“
No.”

“
Then what are you doing
up?”

“
Where have you been?” His
eyebrows were pinched tight over the bridge of his nose.

Here it
comes
, I thought.

“
With Grayson.”

He dropped his eyes and shook his head
in disappointment. Hating to be the cause of that look, I hurried
to allay his fears before he worked himself up into a
twirl.

“
But it’s not what you
think.”

His expression was less severe, almost
hopeful when he looked up at me. “Then what is it?”

“
It’s kind of a long story.
Are you sure you want to get into now?”

“
Yes.”

I could’ve thought of a hundred better
times and places to have this conversation, but the choice had been
taken out of my hands. There was no way we were going to bed now so
I might as well take Grayson’s advice and get the hard stuff out of
the way.

I pulled a barstool out at the island
and sat down. Taking a calming breath, I launched out into the
deep.

“
Dad, my—”

“
What are you two doing up?”
Mom asked from behind me.

I turned to look at her. She was
huddled up in her robe, squinting into the light.

“
Just talking,” I said
casually. If it sounded too interesting, she’d want to stay up,
too. She didn’t tolerate sleep deprivation as well as Dad and I
did, though, and I knew she’d be really, really grouchy tomorrow if
she didn’t go back to bed right away.

“
Oh,” she said yawning. I
could see the indecision on her face and I knew the instant the
battle was lost. She scratched her head sleepily and walked to the
cabinet for a coffee mug. She was in it for the long haul. “Don’t
let me stop you.”

“
In that case, you might
want to sit down for this, Mom,” I warned.

She turned to look back over her
shoulder at me, anxiety written all over her face. “Let me make my
coffee first.”

Dad and I watched her quietly as she
heated some water in the microwave and then poured it over instant
coffee crystals. When she’d pulled out a chair and perched beside
me, I began again.

“
Mom, I’ve been out with
Grayson tonight.”

“
Oh,” she repeated. This was
a different
oh
,
though. This one was much more pleased and a little
relieved.

“
I’ve been helping him with
some of his cases.”

Mom and Dad glanced at each other and
frowned then looked back at me.

“
Why on earth would he need
your help?” Mom asked.

“
Ever since I was little,
maybe eight years old or so, I’ve been able to see murders when I
walk over the spot where someone was killed.” I paused, giving them
time to absorb before I continued. “It doesn’t happen all the time,
but at least a few times a year. Until recently, though, it had
always been people that had been dead a while.”

“
Mercy, why
didn’t—”

I knew they’d have trouble with this,
but I had to get it all out and then they could do whatever they
wanted to with it.

“
Mom, let me finish. It’ll
be easier.”

“
Alright,” she agreed
hesitantly. “But I was just going to ask why you never told
us.”

“
I was afraid you wouldn’t
believe me and that they’d take me away from you.”

“
Who?”

“
Whoever gave me to you in
the first place.”

“
Oh, Mercy,
that’s—”