Mindspeak (40 page)

The night of the gala did not go as
I expected. Even now, I knew deep down something could still separate us if he was
to return to Wellington and I didn’t.

I couldn’t help but wonder what
Danielle and Briana knew about what had happened after the gala. It had been a
Friday night. Danielle was used to me disappearing for the weekend. But did she
know something had happened? That there was more to the extra security around
Wellington? I’d text her tomorrow. And tell her what?

After I breathed in the scent of
Jack’s shampoo one more time, I decided I needed a drink of water or something.
I slipped from under Jack’s arm, gently replacing the comforter up around his
neck. He rolled over and burrowed further into sleep.

The hallway creaked as I walked
toward the kitchen of the unfamiliar house. I wondered where everyone else
slept. Georgia said she was sleeping in Fred’s room. Or was it Jonas’? Maybe
the guys were sleeping in the basement.

I entered the kitchen. A small
light was on over the stove in an otherwise dark room. Everything seemed calm.
Normal. Eerily so. An uncomfortable chill crept across the back of my neck.

I heard the distant sound of music—the
faint sound of a guitar or two. I padded slowly over to a door. Mini-blinds
hung on a window. I peered through them and saw a small fire on what looked
like a patio or deck.

The metal blinds rattled when I turned
the knob and pulled. I stepped outside where Fred was playing guitar and
singing. Kyle sat in an Adirondack chair, listening.

Jonas simply held his guitar, his
arms draped over the instrument.

All three sat around a fire pit.
The temperature was chillier than it had been just last week.

In his hand, Jonas held a cigarette.
Slowly, he lifted it to his mouth and took a drag. The fire at the end brightened,
and I flinched as if a firecracker had exploded in my face.

Kyle looked over at me. “Lex,
trouble sleeping?”

I jerked my head toward Kyle,
ignored his question, then looked back at Jonas. At the cigarette in his hand.

A slow grin stretched across his
face. “Have a seat, Lexi. Join us.”

I stepped slowly and deliberately
around the fire pit and stood next to Kyle. My heart raced. The breeze carried
the stench of cigarette smoke to me, and memories of jumping in the freezing
swimming pool flooded back.

After pulling another long drag,
Jonas flicked the butt in a high arc to land at my feet. He stood and stepped
toward me. After grinding the last of the burning stick into the ground, he
looked up at me with a grin that made the tiny hairs on the back of my neck
crawl. “I should be more careful. These things can be deadly.”

His dark stare seized hold of my
body and mind. Sparks from the fire only inches away reflected off of his brown
eyes in glints of amber.

Suddenly, I felt his presence
inside my head. I could not erect a wall quickly enough. It was as if I was
inside a memory. A dream.

I was back inside the girls’ locker
room at Wellington. Lockers opened and closed. Lights magically shut off. My
pulse sped up as I ran into Jack, and pain shot through my arm.

The scenery shifted, and I was
running through the grass toward Jack’s home and into Jack’s arms. I turned,
but the figure I ran from had vanished.

“It was you,” I whispered,
searching his cold eyes. “Were you there?”

The pool. It was so cold. The water
covered my head. I floated in darkness. I couldn’t breathe. Even now, I tried
to inhale and failed.

I fell to the ground, coughing on
my hands and knees. I gasped for air.

Jonas held out a hand, and having
no control over my own body, I slid my hand into his and allowed him to help me
up. He turned me around to face Kyle. Sliding a hand around my waist, he pulled
me close, my back to his chest in an intimate hold I was not comfortable with
but could not stop.

“Kyle,” he said softly. “Stand up
and stick your hand in the fire.”

I jerked, but Jonas’s grip on my
body was tight. I tried to speak, but I was somehow silenced.

Kyle stood and walked zombie-like
to the fire. I wanted to stop him. Scream out to him. I was powerless. I tried
to speak to him with my mind. Nothing. I jerked again and tried to wiggle from
Jonas’s hold.

“Shhh,” Jonas whispered in my ear. “You
can’t stop it. But you have to see.”

A tear leaked slowly out the corner
of one of my eyes as Kyle got closer. He lifted an arm and reached his hand
slowly toward the flames. His fingers reached through the flames. His face
reddened from the heat. Beads of sweat formed along his hairline. But he did
not flinch from the burn.

“Kyle, man, what are you doing?”
Fred screamed behind us.

Jonas whipped around, taking me
with him. “Fred, go back to playing. You did not see Kyle stick his hand in the
fire.” He turned me again. I watched Kyle in fear. “Kyle, go sit down.
Tomorrow, you will share how you clumsily threw a log on the fire and
accidentally burned your hand.”

Kyle sank back into his chair like
nothing had happened.

I thought about the fire alarm at
the dorms. How Gram had morphed into Smoking Man, and how the figure had pointed
a gun at my face.

I thought about how I had
practically drowned. “You want to kill me?”

Jonas released me. I turned and
backed away. He lowered his chin, peering down on me. “You will know my
intentions when the time is right.”

“Did you kill my father?”

A low rumble of laughter rumbled in
his throat. Ignoring my question and rocking back on his heels, he said, “You’re
the key to our future. All I want is to prevent our creators from controlling
us—starting with you.” Stepping closer, he reached a hand and traced the line
of my cheekbone.

I tried to recoil from his touch,
but it was futile. Part of my brain was convinced I enjoyed the brush of his
fingers. The other part busied itself with constructing barriers to block him
out. But his presence was too deeply imbedded. I couldn’t even call out to
Jack.

“Did you run Jack and me off the
road?”

He shook his head. Finally, an
answered question. So, I tried again. “Did you kill my father.”

“No, Lexi, I did not kill your
father.”

“But you want to kill me?”

“I want to control you.”

A chill moved down my spine as the
muscles in my back tightened at his words. “I don’t understand. What do you
want from me?”

“I want you to go back to bed.
Forget that we had this talk tonight.” He placed a hand on my waist and pulled
me closer, not all that gently. “Tomorrow, you will look at me differently. You’ll
have a need for me you won’t be able to explain.”

I tried to push Jonas away with my
mind. Then with my hands.

He leaned in close. His breath on
my face. His voice next to my ear. “Go back to bed, Lexi. Curl up next to Jack
and forget that I’m the one that’s inside your head.”

~~~~

Jack was warm. I slid between the
sheets and curled up against his back.

I had lost so much. But here I was
next to the man who kept me safe.
Home
.

Jack shifted. He rolled over,
facing me. His arm snaked around my waist. His breathing changed; his eyes
fluttered open.

“You okay?” he whispered.

I nodded, feebly.

“Can’t sleep?”

I hadn’t been sleeping, had I? My
thoughts were scattered like I had lost time. Maybe I had drifted in and out of
consciousness. Confusion clouded my memory of the last hour.

My future seemed so uncertain.
I’m
nervous about tomorrow,
I admitted. And something else disturbed the back
of my mind, but I couldn’t bring it to the front.

Some sort of danger teetered on the
edge of comfort and restlessness.

Jack feathered his fingers along my
hairline.
Release that worry for now. You’re safe.

Staring into Jack’s warm gaze, my
body relaxed. My mind followed. Whatever it was that hovered there in my
psyche, causing immeasurable anxiety, dissipated.

He leaned in and kissed my
forehead, his lips lingering against my skin.
You’re home. Wherever I am,
you’re home.

Acknowledgments

First, thank you, God, for allowing
me to wake every day with renewed hope, peace, and purpose.

Second, I want to thank my husband
for not laughing at me when I told him I wanted to write a book and for not
laughing at me when I told him I wanted to write a second book after I wrote that
horrible first book. Mike is my biggest cheerleader and my biggest fan. I thank
him for his undying, unwavering support and for encouraging me to pursue my
dreams no matter how long it takes. Also, he did most of the work on that
killer cover.

I’m grateful to my children for
understanding when I sometimes choose an hour of writing over watching a movie
or playing Wii.

Thank you, Jessica Patch and Laura
Pauling, for reading my manuscript and giving me that honest feedback every
writer needs. I don’t know if I would have finally published this manuscript if
it hadn’t been for endless texts of encouragement from Jessica or the numerous
back and forth emails and phone calls about formatting and publishing from
Laura.

Thank you, Stephanie Lott, for
excellent copy editing. Every writer needs editing, and Stephanie’s service was
money well-spent.

I want to thank the members of my
book club who volunteered to read my manuscript for typos, and provided me
additional encouragement to “Get that book out there already!”

Finally, I’m thankful for the many
writers and bloggers who have encouraged me along the way. Without the support
of others on this journey, the writing life would be unbearable at times.

About
the Author

Heather Sunseri was raised on a
tiny farm in one of the smallest towns in thoroughbred horse country near
Lexington, Kentucky. After high school, she attended Furman University in
Greenville, South Carolina, and later graduated from the University of Kentucky
with a degree in accounting. Always torn between a passion for fantasy and a
mind for the rational, it only made sense to combine her career in accounting
with a novel-writing dream.

Heather now lives in a different
small town on the other side of Lexington with her two children and her
husband, Mike, the biggest Oregon Duck fan in the universe. When she’s not
writing or working as a CPA, she spends her time tormenting her daughter’s cat,
Olivia, and loving on her son’s Golden Retriever, Jenny. MINDSPEAK is her first
published novel.

Heather would like to thank readers
for joining her on Lexi’s and Jack’s journey as they search for purpose and
ways to turn unfortunate circumstances into good. She is working feverishly on
the next novel in the Mindspeak series. She would love to hear from you. You
can connect with her in several ways:

Heather Sunseri

P.O. Box 1264

Versailles, KY  40383

Web site:
http://heathersunseri.com

Blog:
http://heathersunseri.com/blog/

Email:
[email protected]

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/heathersunseri.writer

Twitter:
@HeatherSunseri