Tempest (12 page)

“No, not yet,” I
shook my head.

“Luke!” A
high-pitched voice called from the living room.

“You have got to be
kidding me,” Luke said under his breath.

“Be nice,” I
warned. “They’re Ana’s friends.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he
said behind him, and it was left with just me, as it should be,
waiting at the end of the staircase for Ana.

I heard the door to her
bedroom open then the soft, hesitant patter of feet.

“Ana,” I gasped as
she made her appearance in the satin, yellow dress I'd ordered for
her closet.

She descended the last
step, and I held out my hand. When she took my hand, I couldn’t
believe she was mine. “You look beautiful,” I couldn’t hide the
awe from the voice.

She blushed and looked
away. Why did she never take compliments so easily? I was sure people
told her how amazing she was all the time.

“Are you ready?”

She nodded and I led
her into the dining room. Everyone was already sitting down as we
entered. My parents were in deep conversation with Ana’s father.
Nikki and Marie, Ana’s best friends were sitting by Luke, who
stared straight ahead looking bored. Ana, of course, captured
everyone’s attention when we walked in.

I had wondered when the
last time I had celebrated Thanksgiving was, and a twinge of guilt
came over me for skipping my mother’s the last couple years. The
dinner was Ana’s idea of course. She wanted to do something normal.
My parents had happily come from Tampa to meet her father. I doubt it
would have made a difference either way if he'd found out that my
parents didn’t really live with us, but Ana didn’t want to raise
any suspicions. I had called to have Troy arrange the meal, but Ana
insisted she cook it all by herself, something about being homemade.
I smiled at the memory of her enlisting my help to peel the potatoes.
Yes, next time I would definitely be calling Troy.

“Can I get anybody
anything?” Ana asked, being the gracious host.

“For God's sake, Ana,
sit down! I’m starving!” her outspoken friend, Nikki playfully
scolded her.

“Ok, ok! Hold on, I’m
going to grab a Coke. Dad?”

“I’m ok. Thanks,
babe.” Ana’s father held up his still-full drink.

I waited until Ana
disappeared in the kitchen, then sat in my chair next to the little
note card in Ana’s handwriting that said “Hayden.”

When I looked up, Luke
was excusing himself from the table.

My father looked at me,
and I gave him a tight smile. He knew what I was thinking.

Ana’s father had
asked me a question and I tried to politely answer him while
listening to the kitchen.

“Do you play any
sports, Hayden?”

I heard the
refrigerator door shut and Ana’s sharp intake of breath as Luke's
presence startled her. I cleared my throat. “No, sir. I used to
play football but that was a long time ago.”
Decades ago.
“At my old school,” I corrected.

“
I can’t take
this anymore, Ana.”
I heard Luke say. I took a quick look at my
parents; they would be able to hear him, too. And what’s more is
that Luke didn’t care who heard him.

When my gaze went back
to Ana’s father he was looking at me expectantly.
What had he
asked me?
I searched through my memory.

“Yes, sir. I plan to
stay here for college.” Why had Ana’s heart rate increased?
That’s it.
“If you’ll excuse me…”

“I meant what I said.
I love you, Ana.” Luke had her cornered.

“Ana,” I announced.
Ana seemed relieved but startled. Luke was startled as well, and it
was noteworthy that he didn’t even hear me approach. “Your
friends and family are waiting.” I tried to remain calm as I spoke.

“I know.” She
ducked under Luke’s arm and made her escape. She clutched my hand
tightly. As I led her back to the dining room, I felt her head turn
back briefly toward Luke.

I heard Luke’s words,
spoken softly for my ears only. “Game on,
brother
…”

Continue
on for a sneak peak of the sequel!

About

Hurricane (Hurricane, #1)

Tempest (Hurricane, #1.5)

Aftermath (Hurricane, #2)
coming Feb 2013!

Untitled (Hurricane, #3)
coming late 2013!

Thank you for reading
Tempest
, book 1.5 in the series. I hope you enjoyed reading
about the mysterious Hayden Boudreaux as much as I enjoyed writing
his perspective! I am a recent graduate of the University of St.
Thomas with degrees in Political Science, International Studies, and
Middle Eastern Studies. I found my passion in writing and I am
grateful to my readers for their support so I can continue doing what
I love!

I love to hear from my readers and
any comments can be directed to:

[email protected]

I look forward to hearing from you!

Continue reading for a sneak peak
of Aftermath. Coming Mardi Gras (February) 2013!

Adriana can't decide
which is harder—living in post-Katrina New Orleans or living with
two immortal brothers. Ana and Hayden are finally together but
Hayden’s brother Luke is trying to come between them… and he has
never been known to play fair. Ana is still attempting to cling to
her normal life despite psychic visions taking over her dreams. With
Mardi Gras season approaching and a vision of a murder, Ana will find
out if she can really change the future or if she’s just upsetting
a very delicate balance. What she could never predict was just how
far Luke would go to satisfy his obsession...

* * *

“Oh, no.” The blood
drained from my face as I slumped into a chair by the computer.

“What’s wrong?”
Hayden beat Luke to asking.

“This means you’re
leaving, doesn’t it?” I remembered my dream all at once.

Hayden remembered, too.
I just wasn’t sure about what part of my dream made his eyebrows
furrow in hurt. “No, I am sure Luke can go pick it up.”

“I can?”

Hayden let out a
tormented breath. He knew he was wasting time trying to convince Luke
to go instead of himself. I wondered if that was because he believed
in my ability to predict the future, as I had already seen him
leaving in my dream last night, or more appallingly because he knew
this was the opportunity Luke was waiting for. “I will go on the
next hunt alone if you will do this for me.”

“No way. I have
school,
remember
brother?”

Hayden shook his head.
I had almost forgotten that tomorrow was the first day I would be
going back to Ecole Classique High School, the private academy I
attended, since Hurricane Katrina. Hayden and Luke enrolled as
students before Katrina hit and would continue to play the role as
normal teenagers, but Luke was only trying to fool himself into
pretending he cared about something as mortal as high school. Hayden
couldn’t even look in my eyes as he walked past me, heading toward
his room upstairs. I gave Luke a death stare before running after
Hayden.

“What’d I do?”
Luke said behind me.

It was unusual seeing
Hayden alone in his room. His room was clean and smelled of him with
a hint of something else, something I couldn’t figure out yet. I
had never looked at his room this way before and I realized I was
looking at it as an outsider and not something we shared. The thought
burned the edges of my heart and I tried not to add guilt to that
feeling by remembering what I had said to him in my dream. He came
out of the closet, throwing a small black duffle bag on the bed.
Something clanked inside that told me there was something other than
clothes in it. I hadn’t seen Hayden this upset since I had a death
wish and stole his Porsche.

“I’m going with
you.”

He smirked, pulling up
one side of his smile. “You can’t.”

“I am not staying
here alone.”

“You won’t be
alone.” He looked at me now as if to gauge my expression, “Luke
will be here.”

“I don’t want to be
without you.” I walked over to him, stopping him by wrapping my
arms around his neck. He looked away and I tried to catch him with my
eyes. “There is no reason I can’t come with you. It’s not like
it’s anything dangerous.”

“Tomorrow is your
first day back at school since Katrina and you have dinner with your
father. It would look a little suspicious if he asked about the truck
and then all of a sudden you didn’t show up.”

I could have argued
with him. It would have probably gone something like this: I
demanding that I was going, he refusing, and then I ultimately
begging to go with. But what that said was that I wasn’t capable of
being alone, or that Hayden couldn’t trust me alone with Luke.
There was no uncertainty in my feelings for Hayden. There was no
reason I couldn’t be alone, even if it was with his brother with
whom I shared a passionate kiss on the beach .

I pulled Hayden into my
lips. He would be gone for a night and I had to stock up on the
kisses I would lose. I parted my lips to feel his velvet tongue meet
mine. His eyes changed and something sultrier took over him. He
exhaled one breath, letting me know I had won. I smiled as I returned
his kiss. He always kissed me like it was his last.

* * *

I woke up and it was dark out.
Somewhere between watching Hayden pack and get ready , I had decided
it was a good idea to lie down. I looked at the clock; it was only
7:30 pm. I hated sleeping like that; I wouldn’t be able to fall
asleep again until dawn. I looked around the room. No Hayden, just
like I had dreamt. A pang of sadness shot through me along with the
déjà vu. At least I was able to succeed in assuring him of my
intentions before he left. I picked up my phone. I had a few missed
calls and texts but the only one I focused on was Hayden’s.

Hayden: I left for Texas, but you already knew that. I love you,
and even though you already know that too, I will never stop telling
you.

My heart ached even
more than it had before.

I got up and decided to
do something productive. I had called Marie to tell her all about the
dream I had during my nap, another nightmarish dream that I hoped
wasn’t a prediction. Nikki and Marie had been very accepting after
I told them everything, well, almost everything. Marie, surprisingly,
believed what I had said right away, Nikki on the other hand was
harder to convince. Luckily, my dreams were cooperating and I was
able to predict a few things to Nikki. I scared her off for a good
week but she came around. Pretty soon she was back to the same old
Nikki, joking and thinking my predictions were humorous. She asked
for the lotto numbers on more than one occasion. Marie was oddly the
supportive one. She was the first one I would call after a dream.

I was describing the
attack that I saw in my dream. “The scenery sounds a lot like
Lafitte,” she noted. She was right. The swamps and the walking
paths in my dream did look like Jean Lafitte National Park. I hadn’t
been there in years so I had no idea what it could look like now.
“But there are a lot of places in Louisiana that look like that,
so…” she added after my pause.

“Yeah,” I agreed
but my mind was focusing back to my dream. I wrapped things up with
Marie, realizing that the house seemed too quiet. I wondered if Luke
had left me alone. It was completely dark as I walked downstairs. I
looked to the couch, where I expected to find Luke flipping through
channels. A sole light shone from the kitchen. I walked
apprehensively towards it, raising my bare feet unintentionally to my
tiptoes.

“Luke? What are you
doing?” My heartbeat leveled, feeling relief that I was not alone.

He looked up at me from
the breakfast table, “Reading a book.” He held it up with one
hand as evidence.

“You’re reading?”

“Yup.”

“A book?”

“
Yes
...” he
sat the book down now, looking me square in the face from across the
table where I was now sitting. “Why is that so hard to believe?”

“It’s not, I just
didn’t expect it is all. So what are you reading?”

“Oh, just some book I
found of yours.”

I scoffed. Of course he
went through my purse. “Well, do you like it?” He would say no at
which point I could say that he shouldn’t have been going through
my stuff, then.

“Actually, yeah. It
is really good. I haven’t been able to put it down.”

I raised one eye brow
at him but he was serious. I let out a laugh before it disappeared.
Looking out the door to the backyard made me think about the dark
swamp I saw in my dream and the jogger who went in unknowingly.

“What’s wrong?”
Luke scooted his chair closer to where I was sitting; his scent
pooled in the air around me. I held in a breath. Luke chuckled and
adjusted his chair. Dang, I hated how he knew of his effect on me. I
couldn’t hide anything from these two, especially not the
quickening of my heartbeat as a result of my embarrassment.
Thankfully he moved further back so I found it safe to breathe again.
But I hated the fact that I should care about how good Luke smelled
in the first place. His scent was stronger than Hayden’s and
completely different. Hayden smelled like summer and Luke, like
autumn. Luke smelled sweet yet earthy like oranges and dried leaves.

I shook my head. “It’s
nothing. I just had this dream.” I thought if I talked, it would
keep my mind off other things.

“Tell me about it,”
he said before I could brush off the topic.

“I don’t know
anymore, Luke. Why am I dreaming of these things?” The question was
rhetorical and his lips curled down and waited for me to say more.

“I had a dream last
night about Hayden leaving and despite anything he or I tried to do,
it still came true, he still left. What is the purpose of seeing the
future if I can’t do anything about it? I don’t know if I will
have an ordinary dream or a horrible dream when I close my eyes. I
took a nap today and dreamed of an attack. It was someone I didn’t
know, in some place I didn’t know, or maybe I do know but what’s
the point?”