Hold Tight (The Embrace Series) (13 page)

“You know, I could assist you,” Reed offered.

I felt the heat of embarrassment rise to my cheeks. “I’m sure she’ll only be a minute,” I said louder than I needed to, hoping Kaylee would remember she’d helped me into the dress. “I don’t want to hold you up.”

“You’re not.” With a jerk of his head, he flicked his long blond bangs out of his almond-shaped eyes. They looked familiar, but I was sure I hadn’t met him before the day of the interview. “I’m heading to grab something to eat. Would you and your friend like to join me?”

No way was I going to accidentally lead another guy on. I tucked my hair behind my ear, preparing to politely let him know we weren’t available. “We can’t. We’re meeting our boyfriends after we’re done here.”

I looked back over my shoulder. Still no Kaylee.

Reed set his bag down. “Let me help you.”

“Really, it’s okay. I’m sure Kaylee”—my volume rose when I said her name—“is just about finished.”

He motioned with his finger for me to turn around.

I sighed and did. Gathering my hair, I pulled it over my shoulder and out of the way. “Thanks.”

His chilly fingers brushed my skin as he loosened the ribbon holding the dress up. Several awkward seconds later, he said, “All set.”

When I faced him, he already held his bag.

“Thanks. At the rate she’s going, I might have been waiting another hour.”

He laughed. “See you around.”

“I can’t believe you ditched me like that,” I exclaimed as Kaylee and I walked to the MINI.

“I told you I was sorry.” She pressed the button on the remote to unlock the doors. The lights flashed, followed by a faint click.

“How long does it take to change?”

“I wanted to see the strapless one on me again.” She’d bought the black dress.

“Yeah, well, while you were making up your mind, I had to have my dad’s hired hand help me out of my clothes.” I groaned. “I really hope I don’t see him again anytime soon.”

“Forgive me?”

I had to fight back a laugh when I looked at her. “Don’t give me the puppy-dog eyes.”

She added a slight pout to her lips.

“Fine, I forgive you.”

It wasn’t like I could stay mad at her anyway. The longest fight we’d ever had was in the seventh grade, and that one had lasted all of three hours, twenty-eight minutes, and twelve seconds before we’d both caved and gushed our apologies. I can’t even remember what we had been fighting about.

Kaylee opened the driver’s side door and paused. “What the heck?”

She reached over the windshield and picked up a single ice-blue rose. She examined the tag. “That’s creepy.”

“What?”

She held it over the roof of the car so that I could take it from her. I read the message:

To M~, my flower.
Soon we’ll be together.

“Is it from Isaac?” she asked.

“Definitely not.”

First of all, Isaac didn’t talk like that. Second,
my flower.
Ew.

“Reed?”

“I’ve talked to him all of ten minutes, and eight of those were waiting for you.”

I scanned the parking lot. A person in a dark coat sank into the shadows, but I’d seen enough of him to know he wasn’t wearing a flannel jacket.

“Get in the car,” Kaylee instructed.

I chucked the flower aside and did. Kaylee practically ran over a woman and her stroller getting us out of there. She kept glancing at me out the corner of her eyes.

“Madison, the last person to have a secret admirer went missing.”

“We decided Natalie ran away, remember?” I said in major denial. I couldn’t be the target of a psychopath.

Chapter 12

Magic Lesson

“Maybe M wasn’t for Madison,” Josh said. “It’s not like Kaylee drives the only dark green MINI Cooper in the state.”

“Perhaps,” Isaac said, bouncing a fist off the arm of my family room couch.

Disney movies and frozen corndogs weren’t exactly my idea of a fun Saturday night, so to lessen the sting of being stuck with brother-sitting duty, I had enticed (a.k.a. begged) my friends to join me, promising I’d have lots of junk food. Isaac had shown up with a kiss, a two-liter of pop, and an extra-large cheese and sausage pizza. Josh had arrived a few minutes later with a couple dozen chicken wings and a perturbed-looking Kaylee. The guys’ mood had gone from carefree to tense in the time it had taken me to tell them about the rose.

“That doesn’t explain the person you saw duck into the shadows when you spotted him,” Isaac said.

“He might have just been walking into the mall,” I replied, not sure if I’d imagined him backing into the darkness.

“Kaylee, did you see anyone?” Isaac asked.

She shook her head as she chewed a bite of pizza, a permanent frown stamped across her face.

“Where’s the flower now?” Josh asked.

“Kissing asphalt. I wasn’t going to keep it.” I handed my brother a napkin. “Really, Chase, you have to stop dissecting your food.” He took the napkin without taking his eyes off the television and Lightning McQueen. Leaning closer to Kaylee, I whispered, “Are you okay?”

“Super.” She smiled. Sort of. I think. I gave her a questioning look, and she snapped, “I’m fine.” Which in Kaylee-speak translated to she was pissed, but about what I didn’t know, and she obviously didn’t want to say it in front of the guys.

“I don’t like it,” Isaac said, dropping a chicken bone into a bag in the center of the coffee table.

I didn’t either, but the more I thought about the rose, the more I felt Kaylee and I had overreacted. If it hadn’t been for Natalie’s Houdini act, we would have assumed the rose had been meant for someone else. Besides, we’d shopped in Peabody, miles away from home. No one had known where we were.

“I’m sure Josh is right,” I said. “Someone got the wrong car. Don’t you agree, Kaylee?”

“Yeah.” She pushed her plate away and slouched back against the couch.

I jumped up. “We need more napkins. Kaylee, can you help me?”

She frowned. “You need help carrying napkins?”

I glared at her through narrowed eyes, wondering if she and Josh had gotten into an argument on the way over. “There’s chips too.”

“Fine.” She trudged to the kitchen as if she were walking the plank off the side of a ship.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing.”

I swear her ears drooped. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from calling her Eeyore. And the fact that a Winnie the Pooh reference had popped into my head confirmed I’d really been spending too much time with Chase.

I rested a hand on her arm. “Kaylee, I know you. Now spill.”

“I’m fine. Okay? Can we get the chips and go watch
Cars
.”

“You don’t have to get snippy.”

“I’m not snippy.”

I fought back my rebuttal. I really didn’t want to fight, and Kaylee wasn’t one to bite her tongue long, so I knew she’d talk soon enough.

“Popcorn or chips?” I held up a bag of Ruffles and a package of microwave popcorn as if the options were stupendous and would lighten her mood.

“Whatever you want.” Kaylee blew out a breath, sending her bangs flying. “Isn’t the whole point of hiring people so that the boss doesn’t have to work weekends?”

And there it was: the reason behind her sourpuss demeanor. Only, normally Kaylee didn’t mind hanging out with me while I watched Chase. Hoping to pull her out of her funk, I continued with my über cheery tone.

“Let’s do both.” I removed the plastic wrap from the popcorn, stuck it in the microwave, and set the timer for three minutes. Next, I took two large bowls out of the cabinet and finally answered her question. “My dad hired them to help with the doctor’s office, not his regular clients.”

“Since when does he work on a Saturday night?” With obvious boredom, she watched the bag of popcorn expand.

“Since the Osborns’ water heater sprung a leak.”

“I’m fine with Paige having to take freezing-cold showers.” Kaylee leaned against the counter, arms folded over her torso.

“Yeah, well, my dad wasn’t. Look, if you don’t want to be here, then go.” I ripped opened the bag of chips and dumped them into one of the bowls. Frustrated with her mood, I turned to leave, but she caught my arm.

“It’s not that,” she said.

“Then what is it, because you’re acting as if hanging out is ruining your night.”

“Madison, I’m sorry.” She snatched the chips out of my hand to get me to look at her. “Really, I am. It’s just that Josh was going to show me how to do more than just block a spell.”

Out of the four of us, Kaylee was the least experienced with the powers. And because she was also the only one who wasn’t a natural witch, last month Isaac and Josh had shared a small amount of their powers with her as a way to protect her from the influx of magic in Gloucester. We had shown her basic things like how to conjure a shield and deflect objects flung at her. Witch Defense 101 is what Josh called it.

“And instead you’re watching Lightning McQueen and Mater tip tractors,” I said, now able to understand her snarky tone.

“Yeah,” she replied, shoulders slumped forward. She lowered herself onto a chair.

The bell on the microwave went off. I grabbed the popcorn, poured it into the second bowl, and took a seat across from her.

“I’m sorry.” And I was. I’d been selfish to suggest we hang out at my place so I wouldn’t be stuck home with Chase while they were out having fun. “I didn’t know you wanted to learn to do more with the powers you were given.”

“Josh made me promise to get used to having them before I tried the fun stuff. I think he was afraid I’d find them seductive like Emma did or not be able to control them like Kevin.”

Emma had become so addicted to the powers that she’d been willing to kill for more. And Kevin had become a danger to everyone around him because his reluctance to embrace his powers meant he hadn’t known how to restrain them either.

“Like that would ever happen.” I ate a piece of popcorn. “What made him come around?”

“He said something about—” her voice changed to mock Josh’s “—if I was going to go to the dark side, I would have done it by now.”

“Kaylee, you don’t have a dark side. I think the guys worry too much, if you ask me.”

“How’s that?” she asked, elbow on the table and temple resting on her palm.

“The powers allow a person to do more; they don’t change who that person is. Emma was a manipulative bitch before she made the deal in exchange for becoming a witch, and Kevin only had problems because he didn’t know what was happening to him. If he’d had support from the beginning like you have, he would’ve been fine.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Do you really think so?”

“Yes. Look at me.” She did. “I’m still the same loving person I was when school started last summer.”

She smiled a real smile this time.

I should have known my best friend wanted to learn more spells. I wasn’t sure when I’d stopped picking up on Kaylee’s needs before having to be told what they were, but I planned on paying closer attention in the future.

“What was Josh going to show you?” I asked.

“I’m not sure. The trick you do with fire, maybe? That would be cool.” She nibbled on a chip, a faraway look in her eyes. After a moment, she shrugged. “There’s always tomorrow, right?”

“I promise, if Josh doesn’t show you, I will.”

“Really?” She glanced out the doorway to the kitchen as if she hoped Josh hadn’t heard.

I wondered if he’d made her promise not to ask me to teach her magic until he said it was okay. The guys being cautious I totally got, but this was Kaylee we were talking about.

“Deal,” she said, beaming. Then she pointed with a chip to the fir and evergreen centerpiece in the middle of the table. “What’s with the pinecone-berry thingy?”

I raised my shoulders and let them fall. “I don’t know. I think one of Dad’s clients gave it to him. Smells nice.”