“You just had to be here. But you didn’t learn about where here was when you were eavesdropping on us earlier today?”
“Actually… I wasn’t listening on purpose, so no. I did not hear how to walk from my house to some spot in the swamp today and decide to come here.”
He scoffed and raised his hand like a stop sign. “And that little act of yours, eating like a horse, then suddenly getting faint and dizzy? You don’t fool anyone, and I don’t have time for women who play games cos they think they’re cute.”
“Fuck you, Cash LeBlanc. I thought maybe my first impression about you was off, but I was dead fucking on. You’re an asshole. How nice guys like Adam and Devon are mixed up with trash like you I don’t know if I’ll ever figure out. God knows I’m not sticking around this town any longer than necessary, just to see.”
I turned to go and a flash of white smile in a dark face made me jump and smack Adam in the arm, even as I grinned back at him. “Hey, pretty lady. Did you come out here to find me?”
“Don’t tell me you’re really like he is. I need something nice to take away from this visit.”
“I’m not!” I heard Devon chirp from behind Cash. It almost made me smile. Almost.
Adam just shook his head. “Nah, we’re not much alike. But he is a good guy, better than the version he seems intent on showing you.”
I sighed and patted him on the chest, noticing the pleasant bump in my pulse at the warmth of his skin, his smooth, hard pecs taut under my hand. Then lightning flashed and he spun around quickly, and my vision came crashing back into my mind as for a split second, his hair was in my face.
“Shit, get down, there’s a gun,” I gasped, turning him away from where the flash had come from in my premonition.
Just as he turned, another bolt of lightning zipped over the trees and I saw the silhouette of a man, then the flash of a muzzle. But the bullet ripped past us and into the trees as even Cash dropped onto the squishy ground.
“Oh, my God. Oh, my GOD,” I repeated, scrambling to the trees and bracing my back against one, sitting among the bare roots that unraveled over the earth. I hugged my knees to my chest and tried to stifle my sobs. Never had a premonition been so…so close to my person. “No more,” I whimpered into the lightning that finally boomed across the sky. “I don’t want to see anymore, don’t you understand?”
“You don’t want to see what, Miss Frankie?” Adam was shaking me; Cash and Devon had disappeared. I didn’t blame them. “What exactly did you see?”
“At lunch, I saw curly hair, and a gun, and a muzzle flash, and blood.” I whispered. Not that saying it quietly made it sound any saner. “I try so hard not to see anymore, but sometimes I can’t stop it.”
“They’re downwind. If you hadn’t seen it, there’d be a lot of blood right about now.”
Cash appeared at his shoulder. “You want to explain what the hell just happened here?” I flinched away from him and Devon shoved him back.
“Let her be, man. She’s had enough of a shock already.”
Cash scoffed and paced behind him, glaring at me so hard I could feel the evil in his stare even in the shadows of the sycamores. “To be shocked, she would’ve had to not know that asshole was there, right, Cher?”
The mocking in his tone snapped me out of my shivers and forced my spine straight. I stood and pushed past both men protecting me, so Cash and I were toe to toe and my shaking made me bump into him.
“I know why I was here now. To save Adam. Apparently, even my premonitions don’t give a shit about you.”
I about-faced and took three angry steps before I paused and asked if they knew the gunman was gone.
“Yeah, Cher. He’s gone. But where are you going?”
“Home.” I pulled my damp shirt away from my skin. “I’m cold, and damp, and I assume muddy, and the trouble has passed. The premonition is finally gone, and I’m going to try to get some real sleep.”
Adam tucked me into his side and wrapped his arms around me in a hug, rubbing my arms to help me warm up. “I think you’d better come with us, at least until we’re sure you weren’t the target, yeah?”
“You guys go ahead and take her home, I’m going to, uh, sniff around and see if I can turn up a clue to who that was.” I didn’t want Devon going out into that darkness, but it was just me, not the sight, that made me worry. I knew there would be no more violence that night.
But I hated the thought of spending another humiliating moment under Cash’s scrutiny. My own mother hadn’t believed me. Why would these near-strangers, one of whom already thought I was a coquette?
Chapter 8
The little café on the edge of the swamp was quiet, not meant for tourists, especially not so late in the evening and so removed from the clubs and other restaurants in the center of town. I warmed my hands on the cup of coffee Adam had pressed into them and Cash sat across from me, thankfully spending more time watching out the window than looking at me.
I was watching the window too, hoping that Devon would show up safe and sound, so the tightness in my chest could release.
“Tell me again about your visions,” Adam urged, and I stared into the oily black coffee to avoid the pair of judgmental eyes across from me.
‘It’s dumb. My grandmother believed I had the sight. My mother told me to never tell anyone what I saw and forget about it, because it was impossible.”
“Do you think it’s impossible?” Cash’s voice was softer than in the woods. I dared a glance at him, and instead of judgment, I found something I couldn’t read, but seemed more related to honest surprise than anything else.
“I know I get debilitating migraines if I manage to not…see,” I confessed. “I know that I was enjoying pigging out and feeling pretty good about myself, and the next thing I know, my vision is full of blood and the sense of death, and hours later I still can’t bring myself to swallow coffee.”
Adam chuckled softly, shaking his head. “A witch, Cash. An honest-to-God seer.”
“Do I look like a fucking witch to you?” I scoffed.
Cash cleared his throat and flashed me a quick grin as I glowered at him. “You said it, Cher.”
“I’m not your cher, Babe,” I muttered. “I’m not saying I have any special powers, okay? I just saw something, and then happened to be in a place where something similar happened.”
Cash cleared his throat again. “Somewhere you didn’t recognize, because your feet just carried you there. Sounds like a seer to me.”
“You think I’m a fraud, remember? Don’t help the other side.”
The table shook as I felt Adam’s leg kick out beside me. Cash cursed under his breath. He sighed and leaned across, cupping his big hands around mine. “I don’t think you’re a fraud. I thought you were a ninny, maybe a busybody. But I saw you today. I saw you tonight. Your fear was real, and you moved supernaturally fast to save Adam. No matter what else, that’s my takeaway.”
Adam bumped me with his hip. “At least now that the adrenaline has gone down and he’s not looking for a head to tear off.” I giggled at him, but Cash tightened his hold on my hands.
“Oh, I’m looking for a head to tear off, all right. But it won’t be yours, Cher. We’ll keep you safe.”
The butterflies in my stomach burst their cocoons and fluttered madly, driving heat up my chest and into my face. “Uh, thank you. But I didn’t get the chance to tell anyone where I was going. I need to get home.”
“You can’t walk in looking like that, girl. Your momma will kill us.”
Cash nodded sagely in agreement with his friend. “Trust him, Sweetheart. Adam has a knack for making himself look good after getting in trouble.”
“I thought you were the one keeping people out of trouble.”
“Naw. That’s Cash, here. He reminds me what side of the law I’m supposed to be on, when I get frustrated with the system and want to take short cuts.”
Cash puffed up a little and leaned back, winking at me. Instantl
y, I missed the presence of his hands on mine. “I’ve seen men get released from jail and go right back to beating on their girlfriends. But Adam here, he knows who, and where, and before they can do real damage, he’s dragging their asses back to county, crying like babies to the cops to protect them.”
He looked like a kid brother, looking up to his hero, and I told him so.
“Well, he is my kid brother, kind of,” Adam replied. “We’ve lived together since you were what, fourteen?”
“About that.”
“Wait, what happened?” They shared a look, and I regretted asking at all.
Cash finally shrugged and looked down at his hands while he answered. “There was a fire. Nobody ever figured out how it started. My dad got me out, then went back for my mom. That was the last I saw of him.”
“Holy Christ, I’m sorry. It was stupid to ask.”
“No, it isn’t. How could you know?” he argued. “Anyway, the Cormiers took me in, held onto my dad’s business until I could take over, and protected my land from the vultures who swooped in to take it. Like Adam said, we might as well be brothers.”
The post-premonition fatigue I always felt started to set in, exacerbated by a drop in my adrenaline. I glanced around, but aside from the occasional looks we got for being covered in swamp muck, it seemed the danger was gone. I was left with the reality that I’d told my deepest, darkest secret to the two men who seemed to be pulling my libido in opposite directions. Not the sexiest secret ever, either.
“I should go. I feel really weird about baring my soul to you when I won’t even talk about it with my friends…even though Amy seems to just…know.”
“She suspects and you lie to her?”
“God no. She flat out knows, and I refuse to talk about it. I’d never lie to my friends. I fucking hate liars.” The words were out of my mouth before I considered them, and the venom with which I spat them across the table made Cash’s eyebrows lift into his hairline.
“Good to remember,” Adam said drily, and Cash coughed.
“Let’s get you home. You need rest…and a shower. You stink like swamp muck.”
I glanced down at my ruined sweater. “Gee, I wonder why?”
Grateful, I think, to see us go, the waitress had our check to us before we could ask for it, and I was nestled between them in Adam’s truck on the way home. I closed my eyes and Cash slid his arm around me so my head rested high on his chest. The men were as different in temperament as day and night. But with my head on Cash and Adam’s hand gently rubbing my knee as he drove, I’d never felt safer, even from what was in my own head.
“Hey,” I asked as they let me out of the car. “Somebody text me when Devon gets in, yeah? I won’t sleep until I know nothing bad happened.”
Cash nodded and climbed back into the passenger seat. It wasn’t enough, watching them pull away, but it would have to do. At least the gunman hadn’t achieved his goal.
A few minutes later, I soaked the mud off my body and allowed myself to consider what it would be like to be with one of them, no expectations or commitment. But even if I got the chance…which one would I choose?
Sleep wouldn’t be an issue, not after what I’d been through. But in the morning, I’d have to answer all the questions I’d put off when I walked in carrying half the bayou in my clothes and hair. Suddenly, I missed the days when sleep was the biggest problem I had.
Chapter 9
“Saved by the bell, literally,” Amy whispered to me as my mom strode off to answer the door. She’d been shooting dark looks in my direction all morning, guessing, I assumed, the parts of the story I’d left out. I couldn’t think of anything worse than confirming her fears that ‘my imagination’ still controlled my actions.
Two sheepish heads ducked around the corner as Kate called out a good morning from behind the mountain of pancakes on her plate.
“My God,” Cash blurted. “All you girls do is eat. How are you all so damned skinny?”
I glanced at Amy, who looked down at herself. “Daily marathon training and a fantastic constitution. What do you guys do?”
“We run, too, sort of.” Cash gave Adam a look and they both laughed. “Uh, Adam had a cancelation in court, and I’m ahead of my orders for once. Thought maybe we’d take y’all out on the bayou properly and show you a bit of nature before you go back to the concrete jungle.”
Kate and I pleaded with Amy with our eyes until she threw up her hands in disgust. “Why are you treating it like I’d be the one to say no? I love the water.” Amy’s love of the water ran more to fifty-foot yachts and her boyfriend’s racing ketch, but we knew better than to point it out in mixed company.
“Any chance Carter will be there?” Kate added, her voice and face carefully neutral. My stomach did a little flip at the realization that my friend wasn’t interested in either of the men. Lucky me. Now I just need to get someone interested in me.
“Not today, but we can work something out for after he’s done with work.” She nodded and cleared her plate from the table only half-emptied. She wouldn’t admit it, but Cash’s comment had gotten to her, even though we’d all heard the same a hundred times before.
We grabbed sunhats and I kissed my mother’s cheek. Her eyes still held the dark shadow of doubt. But she simply told us to enjoy ourselves and remember to keep our limbs inside the boat at all times.
It was a proper boat, too. I’d half expected to see some rickety wooden rowboat like my father had taken me out in when I was still small enough to think I might catch a fairy if I watched the shoreline very carefully.
We toured the backwaters for a couple of hours, catching sight of everything from butterflies headed south, to water snakes gliding in the wake of the boat. When we finally stopped, we hefted out the picnic supplies the guys had brought and carried them up away from the water’s edge to a tumble-down old shack, sway backed and buckled with age.
“Hey, Frankie, I had a couple of questions about last night,” Adam blindsided me as I handed off the last of the water bottles. I’d hoped to avoid talking about it ever again, especially since I hadn’t told Amy or Kate about the man who’d shot at us.
“Yeah, but maybe in private?” I glanced at the others, who were busy setting up a rickety folding table for lunch.
We walked into the woods a bit before he said anything else. The leaves on the trees dappled the sunlight on his skin as he led me further up the hill by the hand. He found a flat rock thick with moss for us to sit on and look out over the Atchafalaya River.
“You said that being near us triggered the, uh…”
“I call it a premonition.”
He chuckled and rubbed his palms on his thighs. “Right. Premonition. Have you had any others, about us, or about Breaux Bridge in general?”
I thought about my dream, how vivid it had felt, how real. Embarrassment crept into my face as I wondered if I’d somehow sent that dream to him as well. “Um, I don’t know. Sometimes, when I fight them really hard, they come out garbled, or just end up as really weird, ah, dreams, you know?”
“I didn’t mean to put you on the spot, it’s just…” He dragged his fingers through his hair and my breath caught, remembering the way those curls wound around mine the night before. “Things are hard for my family right now. Do you think you’d have gotten another vision if there was going to be another attack?”
“God, I hope so. But…is it weird of me to ask to hold your hand, see if maybe touching you makes something happen?”
He chuckled, making my blush deepen. “I’ve never had a girl ask to hold my hand before, but sure.” He curled his fingers through mine and I did my best to relax and let myself feel something. But all I felt was the tingling of my skin against his and the bump of my pulse as I immersed myself in just feeling.
“I’m, um, I’m not getting anything.” I opened my eyes to find his face inches from mine.
“Really? Nothing at all? Not even a little spark?”
Oh, there’s sparks
all right, I thought. But what the hell do I do about that here?”
Aloud, I couldn’t think of what to say. I stammered for a moment, until he closed the distance between us and kissed me. “Mmm. I’ve been wanting to do that ever since I smelled Cash on you.”
I was too breathless to ask what he meant. I watched his tongue flick out over the mound of his full bottom lip and I had to have more. He leaned in again and I pulled that lip into my mouth, sucking on it until he pushed me back onto the mossy stone and growled at me to stay put.
He undid his shorts and let them drop around his ankles, stepping out of them with confident ease. The sun bronzed on his skin, the hard length of him jutting out, waiting for me. I tried to sit up, but he gently pressed my back to the ground and slid his rolled-up shorts under my head.
His hands were gentle, but insistent, pushing my shirt up over my breasts and my skirt up around my waist. My panties were discarded and he slid into me in one long stroke. “God, you’re so wet,” he panted as he withdrew and thrust into me again. “Fuck, you feel so good.”
He was big enough that it almost hurt to have him all the way inside, and I shifted a little to give him leverage to keep his rhythm without having to stop. I’d never been with anyone that big before, so long and thick that he hit the sweet, rough spot of pleasure and the end of me with every thrust.
I wrapped my legs around his narrow waist, dragging my fingers over the muscles of his chest and stomach. “Don’t stop,” I begged when he paused and shifted his weight above me.
“God. Never. I won’t ever stop, how about that?”
An almost manic giggle bubbled in my throat. Our friends were a few hundred feet away, making us lunch, and I was wrapped around one of the sexiest men I’d ever had the privilege to lay eyes on.
“We have to go back. But don’t stop, please.”
He flipped us so I was on top of him, my feet planted as I rocked my hips. “God, you’re a beautiful man.” I let him set my pace, his hands moving my hips, then sliding up my body to my breasts, massaging and pinching me, pulling my nipples to hard points.
How to Date a Werewolf...or 3 Page 4
