Into a Dangerous Mind (11 page)

I’m getting too attached for my own good.
 
But that didn’t stop him from wanting to erase the frown from her face and ease her regrets.

“Just because your date turned out to be a serial killer doesn’t mean you should give up on dating altogether.”
 
He smoothed the wayward curl away from her face again, his fingers brushing her skin and burning through him.

“It just means you have to pick better guys next time.”
 
Envisioning Cassidy in the arms of another man made his stomach hurt.

I’m spiraling out of control with her.
 
It won’t be long before I won’t be able to walk away from her at all.
 
Distance was what he needed now
—
and fast.

Cassidy reached out a mental caress and he blocked her.
 
“Cassidy, please—don’t.
 
I don’t think I can do this
…
”

Cassidy’s gaze swam with hurt.
 
“What’s going on in there, Zach?”
 
She pointed to his head.
 
“You won’t let me in, but your emotions are swinging back and forth like a pendulum.”

He was a grade-A heel, but the instinct for self-preservation was too well ingrained for him to back away now.
 
“It’s not you, it’s me–”

She cut him off.
 
“Do you know how many times I’ve heard
that
line in my lifetime?
 
If you dare let the words ‘let’s just be friends’ slip through your lips, so help me you’ll walk out of here limping.”

Guilt rushed over Zach in a giant wave.
 
Hadn’t he seen that very insecurity inside her mind and now he’d used it on her?
 
He never used his powers to hurt someone.
 
What’s happening to me?
 
He took a deep breath and readied himself to beg for forgiveness.
 
“I’m sorry, it’s just…”
 
He reached out to try and touch her mind and met with steel-hard shields sizzling with unmistakable anger.
 
While he was impressed with her aptitude, the timing didn’t help his cause.

“Don’t bother explaining.
 
I told you, I’m a big girl.
 
I don’t need the pity date.
 
It’s obvious from your thoughts you can’t make up your mind what you want.
 
And damn it—I deserve better.
 
If you didn’t want to start this, you could’ve said so at the beginning and saved us both the trouble.”
 
Cassidy grabbed her purse and stalked away from him before he could stop her.

“Damn.”
 
Muttering, he grabbed his cell phone.
 
Clicking on the radio button, he spoke into the phone.
 
“She’s on her way out,
Anderson
.
 
Can you take her home?”

“She looks plenty pissed, Hatcher.
 
But I’ll take her.”
 
Anderson
’s voice crackled in reply followed by the phone’s
chirp
signaling the message was over.
 
“Okay, we’ve got her.”

Zach was glad he had two agents shadowing them.
 
He didn’t want her endangering herself because he’d hurt her.
 
Why am I such a coward?
 
There’s a beautiful, intelligent, vibrant woman who is interested in me and I’m shoving her away.
 
How much of an idiot can I be?

Zach sighed and reached out tentatively to touch Cassidy’s mind.
 
He got the mental equivalent of a slap and pulled back immediately.
 
“Guess I should give her some cool down time before I grovel for forgiveness.”

Zach heard a chuckle and looked up.
 
The waiter stood in front of him, hands on hips, a large smile creasing his beefy face.
 
“I’d give her a lot of cool down time judging from the fire in her eyes.
 
I’ve never seen her quite that angry.”
 
He chuckled again and began to clear the table.

“Yeah, I think you’re right.”

*****

Cassidy floated in and out of the strange dream.
 
Someone called to her, she knew they wanted her to follow.
 
She opened her eyes and saw—Brian.
 
His leering face close to hers, his hot breath feathered against her lips.

Icy fingers of panic tore through her, and she began to struggle, to wake herself from the dream she knew held her.
 
As if through a thick mist, she felt the sheets of her bed clutched in a death grip in her hands.
 
Experimentally, she wiggled her fingers.
 
Relief flowed through her when they responded.
 
Her fingers brushed against the soft cotton of the T-shirt she’d worn to bed, reassuring her she was asleep in her own bed.
 
But when she opened her eyes, she still saw Brian.

“
You can’t fight me, Cassidy.
 
I’ll come for you soon.
 
In the meantime, I thought you should see what I have in store for you.
”
 
His evil laugh sent chills up and down her spine.

Her view panned out to encompass not only Brian, but a pretty red-head.
 
The woman, probably around her own age, stood with her arms around Brian.
 
Suddenly, Cassidy knew what Brian planned to do.
 
“No!
 
Stop it, Brian. Let her go,”
she pleaded.

“
She’s mine, Cassidy, just as you are
.
 
Your escape only delayed the inevitable.
”

She shook her head, trying to shake loose the vision.

Helplessness flowed through her like lethargic molasses as Brian leaned in to kiss the girl who smiled up at him and eagerly returned his kiss.
 
Brian’s thrill at his impending use of power flowed through Cassidy, as well as the passion the girl poured into the kiss.

She realized the girl’s name from the connection.
 
“Run, Tia!”
Cassidy shouted inside her mind.
 
Tia stiffened, but Brian held her in a viselike grip.

How can someone be so alive and full of life one instant and then gone the next?

Fear and sorrow threatened to drown her and she blinked away her tears, unable to tear her gaze away from the gruesome scene.

Brian let the girl fall to the pavement in a boneless heap, and for the first time, Cassidy noticed the surroundings.
 
They were in an alley with
Camelback
Mountain
in the distance, highlighted by the glow of the full moon.
 
From the loud music and the smell of liquor, she concluded a bar or a club must be nearby.
 
She heard Lone Star crooning
Amazed
, and tried to think of a country bar in the general area.
 
Even though she’d failed to help Tia, maybe she could help Zach find her body quickly, along with some clues to catch Brian before he killed again.

“
I’ll come and find you soon, Cassidy.
”
 
A phantom caress feathered across her cheek before Brian severed the connection.
 
When the room reformed around her, Zach held her tight against his chest.

“Cassidy, can you hear me?”
 
Zach looked frantic.

She nodded and immediately folded herself into his tight embrace, letting her tears continue.
 
Zach slowly rocked her, his hand smoothing comforting circles over her back.
 
“It’s okay.
 
I’m right here.”

She relaxed all pretense at shields and let Zach’s emotions riot around her.
 
Fear and anger flowed over her, but all of those emotions only made her feel safe and cared for.

When her tears finally ran out, she pulled back from him and met his concerned gaze.
 
“Brian killed another woman.”

“How do you know?”
 
His voice was gentle, as if afraid she might shatter into a million pieces.
 
And Cassidy was very much afraid he might be right.

“I was caught in some sort of vision.
 
I could feel my sheets and I could move, but I couldn’t see anything except what Brian wanted me to.
 
I saw him kill a woman.
 
Her name was Tia.”
 
Realizing she was rambling, she closed her eyes and tried to calm her racing mind.
 
“Zach, I couldn’t do anything to stop him.
 
I tried to warn her.
 
I even think she heard me, but by then it was too late.”

Zach smoothed the hair away from her face in a comforting gesture.
 
“Cassidy, let me touch your mind, so I can see what you saw.”
 
She nodded and leaned into his embrace.
 
She would let him share this burden for a while.
 
Shoving memories of their spoiled date out of her mind, she drank in his nearness.

A soft caress feathered against her mind.
 
She sighed.

This is how it should be.
 
Everything seemed right when Zach touched her—physically or psychically.
 
Why didn’t he see that?

Suddenly, a thought struck her—she’d experienced Tia’s pain as her own tonight.
 
Had Zach felt his fiancée’s as she died?
 
Was that why he seemed so intent on pushing her away?

Zach’s mind touch ripped away as if he’d been burned.
 
“I have to go and report this.”
 
His voice rebuffed her, and he wouldn’t meet her questing gaze.

“Is that why you’re so afraid to recognize what’s between us?”
 
She hated the hurt in her voice and knew Zach would hear it, too.
 
She felt even worse when he didn’t answer.
 
“I’m so sorry, Zach, I didn’t know.”
 
She reached out with her hand and her mind, but he stepped away from both and walked out the door without a backward glance.

The warm sting of tears filled her eyes again as sadness and loss swept over her in great, drowning waves.
 
She wasn’t sure if it was for Zach, for Tia, or for herself.
 
She curled into a ball, cradling her pillow tight against her chest like a teddy bear and let the tears flow again.

*****

“Don’t you have any diet soda?”
 
Agent Gerald rummaged around inside Zach’s refrigerator.