Read First Visions Online

Authors: Heather Topham Wood

Tags: #young adult, #paranormal romance, #abduction, #new adult, #psychics, #upper ya

First Visions (13 page)

BOOK: First Visions
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Giving her a hard look, he commanded, “Put
your seatbelt on and try to refrain from vomiting in my car.” When
she didn’t make a move, he reached across her chest and buckled her
seatbelt.

“Just let me out, I’ll walk home,” she
retorted. “Some friend you turned out to be.”

“Don’t push it, Kate,” he warned and she
silently stewed.

She had no idea why he was suddenly angry
with her. It was strange to see him in such a thunderous mood and
she missed the easy way he usually smiled at her. Despite his foul
temper, she couldn’t help but be thrilled to see him. Even in his
unkempt state, he was dreamy looking. It appeared as if he hadn’t
shaved in a couple of days and Kate had the urge to run her hand
over the scruff on his chin.

After a couple of minutes of silence, it
didn’t sound like his anger had assuaged as he spat out, “What were
you
thinking
, Kate? Why would you be waiting outside a bar
alone in the middle of the night in an outfit I should arrest you
for wearing?”

“Hey, that’s borderline sexist. You’re
telling me that since I wore a certain outfit I deserve to be
accosted by a couple of a-holes?” she demanded.

“I didn’t say you deserved it, but Christ I’m
a cop. I can’t be getting into bar brawls. How would I even begin
to explain why I’m there picking you up?” he countered with
frustration.

He pulled up to the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru
window and ordered two coffees. “And two chocolate frosted donuts,”
Kate called over his head. He looked annoyed, but said nothing.
Handing her a coffee and her bag of donuts, he pulled into a spot
in the empty lot.

She gave him the most sincere look she could
muster in her drunken state. “Sorry I called you. You must be beat
from Cori’s case. I know when you said we should be friends you
didn’t mean being my chauffer after a night of drunken debauchery
or rescuing me from sexual predators, but I appreciate it. Just
please don’t be mad at me, ok?”

His strain eased at her words. “I’m not mad
at you. Guess those fuckers got me a little riled up.”

“You were amazing with your whole ‘do we have
a problem here?’ I was waiting for you to pull out your gun and cap
them in their kneecaps,” she laughed.

“I was tempted, believe me. Why were you
alone? On the phone you said your friend was too drunk to drive you
home, but she couldn’t wait with you? Did she need a ride?” Jared
questioned.

“Julie and her boyfriend left early because
she was feeling sick. Gage’s friend Sebastian was supposed to take
me home, but I sort of…bailed on him.”

Kate shifted in her seat and wondered how
much she should confess about her night with Sebastian. Her
inebriated tongue may end up revealing too much to Jared and she
could find herself admitting how she couldn’t stand to kiss
Sebastian because she was falling for him.

Jared seemed to speculate her discomfort
could be over some sort of impropriety on Sebastian’s part. She saw
his muscles tense as he said, “Kate, please tell me I don’t have to
turn this car around and murder this Sebastian kid.”

She shook her head. “No, it was fine. I guess
we were kind of on a date. I just wasn’t comfortable with how much
he had to drink and where he wanted to take things.” She gave him a
dazzling smile before continuing with her explanation. “See, you
saved me in more ways than one tonight. My mother is the queen of
thank you notes. So, don’t be surprised to receive one from her
that displays her appreciation for keeping her daughter’s body and
chastity safeguarded.”

He gave her a long look and she began to
guess at how terrible she appeared. She hadn’t checked out a mirror
in a long time and Sebastian’s moves on her probably made her
resemble someone who recently had a roll in the hay.

“I should get you home,” he said at last. He
was pulled out of his reverie and began to drive out of the parking
lot.

She sank back into the leather seat and
relaxed into the moment. Riding in his personal car in the middle
of the night seemed to heighten the intimacy she felt developing
between them. She still felt a buzz from the alcohol and his
closeness was doing strange things to her. Something was nagging at
her and she questioned whether she should disclose anything to him.
Her tongue felt loose and she allowed the words to spill out of her
mouth. After letting out an exaggerated sigh, she whispered, “I had
a vision about you.”

It was silent for a long moment. His voice
didn’t reveal much as he inquired, “You did?”

“It was your first day of kindergarten. You
were dressed in Transformers stuff practically head to toe. You
were calling yourself Optimus Prime.” She giggled loudly as she
visualized Jared as a punk kindergartener.

His silence provoked her to go on and she
shut her eyes to recall the vision. “I saw your mother and she
was…” she trailed off before saying, “beautiful. Like amazingly
so—with not one single flaw. You look like her, you know? Your
father was there too and he was snapping pictures of you and her.
You were nervous about school and she got down on her knees and
told you to not worry. Just close your eyes and she would be there
holding your hand.”

Finally opening her eyes, she shifted to face
him. “It felt like she sensed that she would die young. Jared, she
wanted you to remember she’d always be there for you.”

Kate swallowed hard when she saw how upset
Jared looked. His features were tight and the dashboard illuminated
moisture in his eyes. “Jared, I’m sorry…” she started, but her
sentiment trailed off when he pulled the car over to the side of
the road suddenly. Looking around, she realized they were at the
end of her street.

He jumped out of the car and placed his hands
behind his head. She watched him pace in front of the hood of the
BMW for a minute before she slowly exited the vehicle. Approaching
him cautiously, Kate asked softly, “Jared? What’s wrong?”

He produced a half laugh and half sobbing
sound. “I don’t know, Kate, everything’s
wrong
. I mean, what
are you doing here?”

“What do you mean?” she asked leaning against
the hood.

Jared rarely seemed to lose his cool and it
made her apprehensive about how he could be feeling. Was he
agitated because of the vision? Or was he feeling something for her
and he didn’t know how to deal with it?

“I like you, I
do
, but maybe we’ve
been spending too much time together. It’s probably not a good idea
for us to be as close as we’re becoming,” Jared said without
meeting her eyes.

“I’m sorry I told you about the vision,” she
apologized. As she positioned her body closer to him, she raised
her voice in agitation. “I
warned
you this would happen.
You’re obviously freaked out that I saw such a cherished memory of
your mother. I would’ve never gone into your head if I could’ve
stopped it! My visions are usually horrible, I only wanted to share
with you that you gave me one of the best ones I ever had.”

“Kate, it’s not about your vision. It’s
freaking incredible that you were able to see my parents as if they
were still alive. I thought it would be fine for us to be friends,
but…”

“But you know I want you?” she asked in her
most seductive voice. The way he was protesting made her confident
that he was finding it as impossible as she was to fight off their
attraction. Putting her hands on her hips and sticking out her
chest, she was hoping her sudden loss of inhibitions would pay off
with a kiss from him.

Jared stood in front of her and grabbed her
by the shoulders. His eyelids were lowered and he moistened his
lips. The pull was undeniable and it felt completely natural to
close her eyes and move to his mouth for a kiss.

Suddenly, his grip tightened and he said in a
husky voice, “Kate, no.”

Her eyes flew open and she sent him a
confused look. “Why not?”

“Kate, nothing can happen here…” he
stammered, “it’s immoral. I’m with Nikki and I’m just…not the right
guy for you.”

“Can you honestly look me in the face and
tell me you feel nothing? It sucks that you have a girlfriend and
I’m not usually the type of person to try and poach someone else’s
man, but there’s something here. I know it’s not only on my end. If
it was merely a silly crush, I could walk away and not tell you how
I feel, but it’s not that. I have this strong
need
for you
and can’t imagine not being with you,” she confessed as he put more
distance between their bodies. It was difficult for her to display
this vulnerable side to him, but she didn’t want him to dismiss her
without knowing exactly how much she cared about him.

“Kate, would you really want that kind of
guy? The type that cheats on his girlfriend? Leaves her when her
sister is missing?” She looked away from him as he went on
speaking. “You’re going to find someone and he’ll be the perfect
one for you…”

Her quick temper rose to the surface. “Don’t
you dare! Don’t you even think about giving me the ‘it’s not you,
it’s me’ speech.”

She began to stomp away from him, but he took
her arm. She pushed him away. Never in her life had she felt like a
bigger fool. She had basically thrown herself at him and he had
passed on the offer.

“Please, listen to me. I would never
purposely hurt you. I wanted us to be friends—I really did…” he
begged. This was almost as hurtful as him pulling away from her
kiss. He was basically telling her he couldn’t even be friends with
her either. She felt like a complete reject and wished more than
anything she had never met him.

Beginning to cry, Kate felt her chest
tightening. It was hard to breathe, no less talk. She tried to pick
up the pace to arrive at her house while wishing he would stop
trailing her. It was humiliating for him to witness how much he had
affected her.

She lashed out at him. “Stay away from me!
It’s your fault, I can’t find Cori. You’ve gotten into my head and
now all I see are these stupid visions of you!”

“How can I make this right? What can I do to
make you understand?” He looked ill and she hoped he was feeling
even a tiny portion of the pain she was experiencing. Her
devastation made her comprehend how much she had really fallen for
him.

“Leave me alone!” she yelled as she arrived
at her front door. She was startled when the door suddenly swung
open and her mother stood partially hidden in the shadows of the
house. Her inebriated rage had potentially woken up the entire
block. Instinctively, her mom reached out for her and Kate
collapsed into her arms.

“I am so sorry for all of this,” Jared said
and Kate didn’t know if he was apologizing to her or her
mother.

Kate sobbed, “Please, just make him
stop.”

“Detective Corbett, you need to
leave…
now
.” She had never heard such ice in her mother’s
voice. Her mother practically wrote the book on social graces, it
was good to see a lioness appear when it came to her daughter.

Jared let out an audible sigh. She knew he
wanted to say more, but thankfully her mother’s presence made him
think better of it. Kate heard his footsteps retreat. Squeezing her
eyes closed tightly, she wished she could disappear.

Chapter Ten

 

“Jared, wake up!” Nikki’s voice sounded far
away. Jared let out a low groan in response. “Jesus Christ, it
smells like ass in here, I’m opening a window.”

Forcing his eyes open, he could barely
register Nikki flitting around their bedroom and lifting up the
shades. He elevated his head slightly and then pulled back the
blanket to hide his eyes from the unforgiving sun. “Just give me a
minute…”

“I’ve been calling you for hours! I finally
phoned the station because I thought maybe something had happened.
They said you called in this morning and wouldn’t be arriving until
this afternoon. It’s almost noon, what the hell’s wrong with you?”
Nikki demanded.

Peeking out from under the covers, he saw
Nikki standing at the foot of the bed with her hands on her hips.
The hard lines of her mouth alerted him to her rage.

“Sorry, rough night,” Jared mumbled and
managed to work his body into a sitting position on the bed.

“I bet,” she said sarcastically. “We need to
talk, pull your sorry ass together and meet me in the kitchen.”

Without another word, she turned on her heels
and slammed the door to their bedroom. Jared had the urge to shut
his eyes and return to his dreamless slumber. His life felt like it
was quickly turning to shit. He hadn’t found Cori, Kate ended up
being hurt and now Nikki seemed to be a part of the ever growing ‘I
Hate Jared’ fan club.

Three years ago, he had met Nikki at a mutual
friend’s party. He’d been drawn to her beauty and charisma
instantly. In middle school and high school, he would have never
been able to get a girl like Nikki to look twice at him. He was the
orphan with the weird aunt and barely any friends. Anyone who went
over to his house would tell tales of tarot cards, Ouija boards and
strange crystals. Kids were cruel and spread rumors that his aunt
sacrificed animals and participated in satanic rituals. When he
entered ninth grade, he also shot up a foot seemingly overnight and
had a lanky build. It wasn’t until after high school graduation
that he filled out and gained muscle.

Afterwards, the awkwardness and loneliness of
high school stayed with him and his goal was to prove everyone
wrong. He worked out like a fiend and studied like a maniac for the
police entrance exam. Not only was he one of the top scorers on the
exam, he was one of the youngest hires ever in the department. Most
officers worked patrol for years and years, however Jared advanced
to the detective bureau within seven years. Being with Nikki seemed
to complete his fantasy life. He was successful and had one of the
most gorgeous girls he had ever met on his arm.

BOOK: First Visions
5.54Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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