New Revelations: Second Sight Book Two (18 page)

“Of course,” he said in a mock serious tone.

Jared
gave her a kiss that left her even more lightheaded than she already was. As the previews began, she leaned her head back onto his shoulder.
Jared’s muscular arm wrapped around her body and drew her closer to him. Kate let out a content sigh and shut her eyes. As the movie began to play, she felt her eyelids grow heavy. Sleep was calling to her and Kate decided not to resist
.

***

“I hate this house!”

It was jarring to be in a vision and be confronted with such strong emotions. It took longer for her to get her bearings as the screaming continued around her. The living room was unfamiliar and so was the woman who stood before her.
The woman was barely five foot and couldn’t weigh more than 100 pounds soaking wet. Her pale skin was
emphasized
by her reddish
-
brown hair. Her face was careworn which made it hard to determine her exact age. Her Irish accent seemed more pronounced the angrier she became.
Her fists were shaking with emotion an
d she took a few audible breaths to calm herself.

Kate was shocked to see the target of the woman’s rage was a hunched over figure sitting in a wheelchair. The boy’s face was hidden as he sobbed audibly. He had just been yelling moments ago, but the woman’s word
s
had reduced him
to
a
mess of raw emotion
.
The woman did not look moved by the display of emotion and continued to glower in his direction.

“Be a man! You make me sick with your sniveling,” the woman sneered.

“I’m your son, doesn’t that matter to you?”

“I might have given birth to you, but no mother would want to claim you after what you’ve become. You’re a weak-willed liar who
will ruin anything he touches.”

The intensity of the vision made her relieved that she was
only an outside observer.
Being inside of the brain of Ally Seldon as she dealt with the horror and rage over losing her son was enough emotional conflict for a lifetime. When she didn’t know the thoughts of her psychic targets, it made it easier to remain impartial.

The boy lifted his head
.
He had a sickly pallor to his skin and his brown
hair was not as short as his current style
. As he stared disbelieving at his mother, the boy’s
face was distorted from a mixture of hate and despair. However, there was no doubt in her mind. This was a younger version of Declan
Brayden
.

He was much leaner which made her guess that his bulk must have only appe
ared in recent years
. His chocolate eyes lacked any of the vibrancy that she had come to know. Instead, they looked devoid of life. As much as she tried to study his other features, her attention could not be torn away from the wheelchair.
Kate had researched Declan enough to discover he’d been hurt badly enough in the ski accident to be put in a medically induced coma. For some reason, Kate had assumed he’d been fine once he came out of the coma. She didn’t know he had been in a wheelchair afterwards.

“I wish I died that day on the mountain,” Declan declared. She didn’t
discern
whether he said it as a test for his mother, but Kate felt a hatred for the woman as she said nothing to contradict him
. His mother’s eyes remained cold as she regarded him
.

“Declan, I’m done listening to you feel sorry for yourself. Everyone has tried to be there for you. But then you start with your crazy talk about prophecies. No one is blind, Declan. The whole damn town knows about your drug problem
. Your dad would die of shame if he was still alive
,” she spat the words out at him.

He shrank further into his chair. “I never said they were prophesies. And the drugs have nothing to do with the things I see when I go to sleep. I came back from that accident different.”

“Yes, we can all see th
at. It turned you into a drug addled fool,
”
she declared.

Her words had a physical effect on him and his pain was visible. “It hurts, Mom. My whole body every night…I can’t stop taking the pills.”

His moans were hard to witness as was his mother’s indifference. “I want you gone by the morning, Declan. I don’t care where you go, but you’re no longer welcome in my house.”

“Mom, please don’t do this. I’m sorry, I’ll try harder…”

She glared at him. “I heard this already and I warned you one more strike and you’re gone. Bad enough you tell that lie about
having a dream that your cousin
Amy’s husband was cheating on her. Now, I find the pills
you had sworn you flushed down the toil
e
t
hidden in your room
.”

He gesticulated wildly as he pleaded with her.
“Mom, I’m in a wheelchair, I have nowhere to go. Please, Mom, please…”

“Goodbye Declan.”

***

“
Only you could sleep through a movie about the apocaly
pse,” a voice whispered softly.

Kate opened her eyes and inhaled Jared’s scent. She
gave him a watery smile.
After a minute to
get her bearings, she responded,
“Rousing me from sleep twice in one day. I could get used to waking up next to you.”

The lights were back on in the movie theater and the moviegoers were filing out. She got to her feet and did a few yoga poses to stretch out. Twisting at the waist, she saw Jared watching her with a bemused expression. “What? Was I talking in my sleep?”

Her brain tried to process what she had seen. It explained a lot about Declan and the reasons behind his actions. When he said he didn’t talk to his family, she hadn’t realized he had a deceased father and a mother who despised him. At least he seemed to have kicked his drug problem if the party the other night was any indication.
Kate assumed he got clean soon after leaving his mother’s house. As unfortunate as the situation appeared, getting thrown out may have forced him to stop taking drugs
.
Sadly
,
based off of what Declan had revealed to her,
it didn’t sound like he had mended fences with his family.

Just when she was about to write the jerk off, he had to weasel his way in
to her sympathetic heart. Kate reasoned he must have an
extra psychic power that
forced visions on people. If the
intent
of the revelation
was for her to understand his motivations
for wanting to use his visions for profit
, she certainly did.
Without her family to rely on, Kate would’ve probably done the same thing.

“You look a million miles away,” Jared remarked and took her hand.

As Jared lifted his body out of the theater seat, he towered over her. Kate craned her neck to study his face. Jared was another person in her life she was lucky to have and knew she could rely on him for anything. As she stared at the handsome detective, she found herself with no desire to talk about Declan and relive the vision she just had. Instead, a hearty meal with her caring boyfriend sounded like a superior plan.
“Just
trying
to figure out what time KFC closes,” she said.

“There’s my girl,” he chuckled.

“Happy Birthday!” Julie squealed into the phone.

Kate had to hold the cell
phone
away from her ear as her best friend launched into an off-key rendi
tion
of
Happy Birthday to You
.
Once
she caught her breath, Julie
asked, “So, what are you up to? Want to meet for a liquid birthday lunch?”

“Actually, I’m on my way to Declan’s,” she responded.

As Kate
said it out loud,
she had to question her sanity once again. A liquid lunch followed by some primping before dinner with Jared was what she should be doing. Not visiting Declan with her head in her hands.

Kate
had waited for the pa
st few days in the hopes that the psychic would call her
.
She didn’t feel entirely
in the wrong and thought maybe he would realize that some of the points she made during their argument
were
valid.
Sinc
e the phone remained silent, Kate
decided to pop over his house and try to make amends. S
he rationalized that at least the psychic was bringing people back home
. The families were probably more than happy to give him the money as long as their loved one was returned to them.

“What’s going on with you and him? Gage told me he kept sending these glances full of longing your way.”

“That doesn’t sound like Gage,
”
Kate countered in hopes of changing the subject.

“
You’re right. He actually said Declan
kept looking over at you like he wanted to freak your brains out right then and there.”

“No, it’s a platonic thing,” she said even though it was a
half-truth. It felt true enough for the moment
. Declan certainly didn’t seem to like her very much after their last fight. “He’s interested in solving cases together.”

“Well, try to have fun today. Having visions of abducted children is not the right way to spend your
birthday
,
” Julie admonished.
“
Call me tomorrow and let me know where Jared takes you for dinner.” Kate promised she would
catch up with her the next day
and hung up just before arriving at Declan’s house.

His car was in the driveway which meant she would have to go through with this
spontaneous
visit after all.
Gathering her c
ourage, Kate
marched with determination to the door and rang the bell. After a couple of minutes without an answer, she
began to knock
. Finally, the door swung open.
The way he was throwing daggers at her gave Kate the hint
that he may not be quite ready to make amends.
A tousled redhead moved into Kate’s line of vision.

“Good morning,” she said brightly to both him and Trish, his apparent overnight guest.

Declan was shirtless and although his muscles were hard to miss, her eyes were drawn to the many scars that covered his body.
They told the story of the horrors he had
endured
after his accident.
The most prominent
scar
went across his chest
. It must have been at least four inches long and w
ent straight down the center
of his body
.

Trish had on an oversized t-sh
irt and a pair of boxer shorts—
probably both belonging to Declan. Instead of shooting Kate hateful glances, she was beaming a lazy grin
at Declan. Kate
couldn’t help but feel a little bit envious of the girl. She wouldn’t mind having bed head and a self-satisfied smirk after spending a night with Jared. Why did Jared have to be such a gentleman? Couldn’t he go a little rogue and just haul her off to bed already.

“What do you want?” he demanded.
Trish didn’t bother to suppress a giggle upon hearing his tone.
K
ate gathered
the girl got a kick out of seeing Declan humiliate her
and she shouldn’t look to Trish for any female solidarity
.

“I need to talk to you.
”
As an afterthought, Kate
added, “Please.”
It was hard to respond politely to his aggression, but holding in her temper was the only way to make him listen.
A definitive “no” seemed on the tip of his tongue until it seemed like her practiced forlorn expression won him over.

Before he could answer, Trish spoke. “I was going to head home anyway. Why don’t I just call you later?”

Declan nodded and followed her into what she guessed was his bedroom. He closed the door as they entered. Since he hadn’t invited her in, Kate waited awkwardly at the front door. Shifting from side to side, she hoped they weren’t going to have a quickie
while
she stood there waiting.

F
iv
e minutes
later
Trish emerged in a midnight blue mini-dress
and ready to do her walk of shame back home.
She made certain to give Declan a long and exaggerated kiss at the doorway. Trish
didn’t bother with
a goodbye as she stalked
past
Kate
and into a parked Jetta.