Skin Heat (6 page)

The house on Ringer Road sat back from the highway, not quite in the town limits. There was supposed to be a proper development out here, but the project had run out of money and only a few houses were built. The investor took a loss, and sold them off cheap, which was why her friends already owned a home. Though they weren’t married yet, they planned to tie the knot soon, and they’d bought as a couple. They were good together, giving Neva hope she might find somebody who worked for her on that level.

When she pulled up, Travis opened the front door before she got out of the car, likely because of the way Zeke’s truck was knocking. She snagged the beer and stepped out. Gravel crunched under the soles of her sensible shoes.

Travis gave her a quizzical look. “You brought a date? Who’s this?”

Oh, God. Awkward.
She didn’t want to hurt Zeke’s feelings by denying it too quickly but a nondenial might worry him in a different way.
No, you’re not obligated to perform routine vaginal maintenance on the boss to keep your job.

“He’s a new hire,” she said, skirting the question.

“Ah, fresh blood at the clinic.” Travis waved them up.

The three-bedroom ranch house had a small covered porch attached to the front of the house, just big enough for a swing. Neva secretly wanted one just like it. She
loved
their house. It was warm and homey; it felt lived in. The shiny wood floor showed some scratches from their dog, Doof, who was a mix of shepherd and Dane. He was a big brindle fellow with clumsy paws, but he overflowed with slobbery love. Julie always said he’d lick an intruder to death.

Handing the beer to Travis, she made Doof sit down before she’d pet him. He’d knocked visitors off their feet a time or two before they taught him it was rude. Then she knelt down and gave his ears a rub. The dog thumped his tail on the floor and gave a rapturous sigh as he flipped over and offered his belly for rubs. From her lower vantage point, she studied Zeke while he checked out the place. The way he cocked his head, almost as if he were listening and smelling, struck her as strange. She’d seen dogs and cats do that. Never a man. But he seemed to be taking the place in as much with his ears and nose as with his eyes.

Travis went into the kitchen, talking the whole way. “Julie’s not home yet.” Once he came back, the other man offered his hand. “I’m Travis Delaney.”

Zeke shook but she saw his discomfort. “Pleasure. Kind of you to let me barge in like this.”

“You’ll need some support if you’re gonna be working with Jules and Neva. They’re an evil duo for sure.”

Neva grinned as she straightened. “Enough of that. Let me get a beer or two in him before you start telling embarrassing stories.”

“You mean like the time you two—”

“I
mean
it,” she said, though she didn’t know for sure why it mattered.

Only that it did—and that was one of her gut certainties that Ben had never understood. He’d probe for why, because there had to be a reason or she couldn’t feel what she felt. Maddening.

Watching them, a smile broke the solemnity of Zeke’s face like clouds clearing away from the sun. Until that moment, she hadn’t realized how dark he looked. Now it was like seeing a different man. He had eyes like twilight, she thought, shot with gray and blue and green, all the colors of a sky before a powerful storm. And he smiled with such tentative fear, like he didn’t think he was allowed to share in their amusement.

“You got the DVDs, right?”

“Netflix delivers,” Travis said. “The front room is all set up if you two want to head on in. I have a little more work to do yet.”

He had a CS degree and he worked as a contractor coding for a company in California. When projects hit, he often worked insanely long hours, leading Julie to compare him to Neva. In many ways they were opposites. Travis was tall where Jules was tiny. He was also seventy-five percent geek. In a good way.

Because it meant he loved gadgets, which included the huge plasma TV and surround sound, great for movies. Besides Travis’s work computers, it was the single most expensive item in the house. Zeke seemed suitably impressed. Like any guy, he stopped and gazed at the big screen.

“It’s as good as it looks,” she said.

“Few things are.” His words held a weight she didn’t understand.

She
wanted
to. And that was bad, bad news.

Zeke felt out
of place.

It wasn’t that his hosts had done anything to make him feel unwelcome; they hadn’t asked Neva why she’d invited him. His new job at the clinic seemed to be enough. His trouble came from somewhere else. The room had a brown couch and love seat, framing the TV. Travis and Julie cuddled together on the latter while he perched on the edge of the sofa. He couldn’t relax.

This house was Travis’s territory, and it smelled like him. The man had lived here long enough with Julie that Zeke’s nerves prickled. He expected a challenge. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to allow another male to spend so much time at the farm. His jaw clenched. He knew normal behavior when he saw it in other people.
He
was the broken one, not Travis.

The pizza was delicious, though—light, crisp crust, plenty of cheese, spicy tomato sauce, extra sausage, light peppers. When Julie carried it in, she’d joked that the peppers served as a nod to the four food groups. He tried to follow the conversation afterward, but they laughed too much and switched topics too fast. Three voices talking over one another, and the words turned into noise.

Once they finished eating, everyone settled down to watch the movie. That was easier. They dimmed the lights and then he only needed to understand one person talking at once. His muscles eased a bit. But he wasn’t sure he could stay for two more movies. He needed to be moving. Doing something. Sitting still like this didn’t work unless he was sleeping.

During the first intermission, Julie and Travis went to the kitchen for more beer. They couldn’t know he heard them whispering about him and then the soft little sounds that came from kissing. He didn’t
want
to be able to hear this. Her soft sighs should be for her man alone. The need to run rose up.

“You okay?” Neva asked.

Surprise washed over him. He’d thought he was doing a decent job of hiding his unease. “Why?”

“You look . . .”

You wouldn’t believe it if I told you.
Hell, sometimes he didn’t. Sometimes he thought weak minds ran in his family, and that his mother’s sickness had finally taken him. Maybe he
was
crazy.

“Sad,” she finished.

That wasn’t it but it helped that she’d paid enough attention to notice. He calmed some. Listening to her voice let him block out what was happening in the kitchen. For the first time, he found he could turn it off. He shifted and found her gazing at him with concerned eyes.

“Hasn’t been easy,” he said.

“I guess not.” She hesitated, as if she wanted to ask him something more, maybe
what
hadn’t been easy, but Julie and Travis came back with the beer, putting a stop to further talk.
Just as well.
Still, he relaxed as he’d been unable to before. Even the faint scent of sexual arousal that clung to Neva’s friend didn’t alarm him.

After the second movie, Travis went to the bathroom and Julie called Neva into the kitchen. To talk about him, he guessed. Shortly, he was proven right.

“So is this a date?” she whispered, right away.

He gazed at the big, blank screen, trying to pretend he couldn’t hear. But he wanted to know the answer to that himself, so he didn’t block. His hands curled into fists on his knees.

Neva sounded shocked. “Of course not. I just hired the guy. I wanted him to feel more at ease working at the clinic and I hoped this might help.”

“Just checking. But you’ll never meet anyone if you don’t get out there and start looking.”

“You sound like my mother. Not everyone’s as lucky as you, Jules.”

The other woman sighed. “I know. I’m sorry.”

Zeke’s heart lifted. It could’ve been a lot worse. She could’ve said she felt sorry for him or that she’d never want someone like him. He almost smiled.

Travis came back down the hall, drying his hands on the thighs of his jeans. “You want that last slice?”

“If nobody else does.”

“Go for it. Are you sticking around for the third one?” It was a friendly inquiry, but the question told Zeke he’d stayed long enough.

Maybe it wasn’t personal. Maybe the guy just wanted to be alone with Julie. Given how they’d been messing around in the kitchen, he’d want private time with his woman; that was for sure. He stood up, still chewing the last of the pizza.

“Should get home. Thanks.”

“Not a prob. Next month we’re watching the
Weekend at Bernie’s
movies.” He grinned. “My turn to pick. Maybe you can make it?”

Huh. So Travis hadn’t been asking him to leave? God, he’d lost so much in his ability to read other human beings. He could figure out more from their breathing and their smell than from their words and expressions. But since he’d already said he needed to go, he just nodded.

“Sounds good.”

Travis called, “Zeke’s heading out. Want to say bye?”

The women came out of the kitchen together. Julie offered a warm smile. “It was great having you. See you at work tomorrow.”

Pleasure washed over him. As of tomorrow, he’d have somewhere to go and work to be doing. At the end of the week, there would be money to get the power back on and put food in his cupboards. Neva couldn’t know how much she’d done for him by giving him a job.

“Good night,” he said.

Lifting a hand, he headed for the door. Neva surprised him by saying to the others, “I’ll walk him out.”

Outside, the air was crisp and cool. No clouds in the sky. Stars glittered overhead, and the night sang with sounds other people wouldn’t even notice. He could hear a raccoon prowling in the bushes. There were squirrels in the trees, too, and nesting birds as well. He saw the shadow of open wings and the sensation of swooping rushed through him. Owl. For a dizzying moment, he saw through its eyes just as it dove after a mouse.

He stumbled, barely catching himself on the hood of the truck. Tremors ran through him. Christ. Just when he thought it couldn’t get worse, it did.
Can there be any doubt I’m nuts?

“What happened? Did you step in the hole?”

Still dizzy, he couldn’t speak. Zeke let her go on about some defect in Travis’s driveway maintenance program. He lost the thread of her words. Instead he just breathed, trying to regain control of his own head. When he finally did, he realized she had her hand on his arm.

The heat shocked him. He couldn’t remember how long it had been since a woman other than Aunt Sid had touched him. Here it was, skin to skin. He would’ve pulled away from anyone else, but for her, he stood quiet, drinking in the feeling.

“How many beers did you have?”

“One.”

“So you should be fine to drive.”

Sid would call Neva a caretaker, someone who made sure everyone else was okay. But who looked after
her
? He never could’ve imagined a world where Geneva Harper would be asking about him like this.

“Just tripped,” he said. “Tired. Been a long day.”

He wanted to say more but the words wouldn’t come. He wanted to tell her that it mattered she cared—that she was kind and decent—and that he’d known little enough of either in recent months. But his tongue seemed to swell in his mouth, and he couldn’t.

“Would you like me to follow you home? I owe you. Anything could’ve happened to me the other night.”

He shook his head. “You done plenty.”

By the time he got in the truck, the dizziness had passed. The owl had flown away, mouse in talons, though Zeke didn’t like to think about his surety. Blood scented the night air, surely not just from one small mouse. Just more of his crazy. Best not to speak it or think of it.

“’Night, Zeke.” Neva stood in the shine of his headlights, watching him drive away.

He had a strange feeling about leaving her, like it was the last thing he should ever do. The urge to slam the truck into park and run back to her nearly overwhelmed him. Gritting his teeth against his quiet horror about being behind the wheel, he held on tight, ignored the impulse, and went on home. He just had to hang on a little longer.

Day by day,
he told himself that. One day he’d wake up and the world would be right again. A quiet little voice said,
No, that’s not happening. Not ever.

Zeke ignored that whisper. If he didn’t, they won.

That night, the dream came. It was always the same. He lay strapped on a hospital-style bed, his arms buckled at the wrists, straps on his ankles as well. He was completely naked, bright lights shining down while people stood all around him talking about him like he wasn’t a person. The low murmurs were indistinguishable, but he heard displeasure in their tones. Then the pain began.

Needles at first, jabbing into his skin, over and over. He had no way of knowing how much time passed while they worked on him. After the needles, they used electricity: electrodes on his head, his chest, and his sex. The current made him howl; the shocks went on and on, until he screamed and it all went dark. Awakening found him back in the cell, still naked, blood trickling from his arms and legs. Unlike the others, he couldn’t scream or weep. He had no voice. No words. So he curled into himself and waited for the torture to start again.

Zeke woke in a pool of sweat, ready to kill someone for what had been done to him. They’d stolen almost a year of his life, all told, between the time he was held hostage, and the long months it took him to work his way home. But he didn’t kid himself that he had the resources to find answers, so he’d do the next best thing.