She smiled back, a real one. “Yeah, but it makes life easier, doesn’t it? I know how you feel, about everything.” She shrugged. Maybe he’d take the hint. “It just is, always has been for me.”
“I thought I was hiding all this flawlessly.” He looked over, the fingers still tracing patterns moving onto her thigh. “But you’d still pick them up every time, wouldn’t you?”
“Actually, not always. At least, sometimes I had trouble getting everything.” She sighed, staring out to sea. “Sometimes you were just so angry, overwhelmed, but I didn’t know why.”
The guilt rushed over him. “I don’t want to be angry anymore. But I can’t help it when someone hurts you.”
Lainey twisted her hands together. That was exactly what she was worried about. “That’s why I don’t want you to worry about me so much. I don’t want you to put all this on yourself.”
“You don’t understand. I should have known about Josh, I should have realized he wasn’t safe. I knew he was no good, and I didn’t try to stop you from dating him.”
Lainey raised her head, making eye contact. “And I wouldn’t have let you.”
“But I didn’t even try. I should have. Maybe then, none of this would have happened.”
She shook her head. “Didn’t you hear anything Cole and Payton said? Josh would have come after me anyway, and if it hadn’t been him, there would be someone else.” A shudder ran through her and Aaron squeezed her hand. “Except without you, no one would have found me.”
Aaron pulled her into a hug. “I don’t even want to think about that.”
Lainey didn’t either. She closed her eyes and reached inside herself, pulling out a dab of yellow happiness. Maybe this share-your-emotions thing could actually be used for more than making her own beachside porn. She snorted at the thought and Aaron grinned.
God, I hope he’s not a mind reader.
That made her outright laugh, and Aaron hugged her tightly again before taking her hand and pulling her up. “Lunch?”
“Sure. Race you!” She giggled as they rushed through the sand. This time, the wind that rushed past her was cooling her off, her body heated from his touch. Aaron’s laugh reached her ears as he jogged behind her. “Not even going to try?”
“I like the view back here just fine.”
Laughing again, Lainey managed to make it to the gym door before the giggles got the best of her, and she collapsed on the bench seat. Aaron stood in front of her and she laughed again.
“What?”
“Your head’s blocking the sun. It kinda looks like you have a halo.”
“Yeah,” he said, waggling his eyebrows. “I’m a true angel.”
She stood, wrapping her arms around his waist. “You are to me.” He returned the embrace, resting his chin lightly on the top of her head, his lips brushing over her hair. It was easy, free, and natural. The peace of the moment swept over her and Aaron bent down and touched her chin, tilting her head up to look at him. It was a simple gesture, but the red spilling over him and wrapping her up meant everything.
“It’s easy when I’m with you, you know. The worry, any anger, it just fades away. When I’m apart from you, all I can do is worry whether or not you’re okay.”
“It would be all I thought about, too, if I let it in.” She sighed. “But you’ve already done enough, saving me at the carnival so I could still be around to learn what was really going on.”
“You came so close to dying.” He pulled her tight again. “I can’t do that again.”
Again? Josh hadn’t tried again since they’d scared him off. “But now I know the truth. I needed to. In a strange way, it was worth it.”
He smiled. “I get it. If I was in your situation, I would have been desperate for answers.”
“Until I met Payton, I figured I was just weird.”
Aaron sat down on the bench. Lainey squeaked as he picked her up and pulled her onto his lap. She nestled in, touching her head to his firm chest. She could sit there happily all day.
“What’s it like?
“The colors?” He nodded. “They’re just there.” Lainey shrugged. “They wrap around everyone’s body, sometimes faint and sometimes pulsing so strong I can barely look at them. They take on characteristics of the emotion sometimes, soft, or jagged, pulsing. It’s kind of a bit like a swirly rainbow.
“So what’s around me?”
She pulled her head up reluctantly, focusing on his face. There was a slight burnt umber—he was hungry—but underneath that, passion. Bright red desire.
“Red.” She blushed, and dropped her head again before he could notice.
“Red? What does that mean?”
Lainey coughed, nearly falling off Aaron’s lap. He laughed, reaching an arm around her back to steady her.
“Lainey? What?”
“Umm . . . desire. Red means desire.”
Aaron’s eyebrows rose, and then he grinned. “Huh.”
“Sorry.”
“You shouldn’t be surprised, really. I haven’t stopped wanting to kiss you again since that night.”
She bit her lower lip. Damn. “I didn’t know. I can see how you’re feeling, but not your thoughts. I don’t know the why.”
“That’s Payton’s thing, right?”
“It is, and why she’s far more powerful than me.” Lainey took one of his big hands in hers, turning it over and lacing her fingers through his as she spoke. “Someone can be happy, or sad, but I won’t know why. It could be anything. They could be happy they’d done something terrible, for all I know.”
“It must drive you crazy sometimes.”
Lainey nodded. “Exactly. And sometimes I only get the tiniest glimpse, something that I couldn’t understand even if I tried. Like with Josh . . .” She stopped herself before she told Aaron any more. They were having too good a time to bring him up again.
“Did you always know you were special?”
“No. For a long time it just scared me. I thought something was wrong with me.”
“Never. You’re special, Lainey. Amazing. I knew it, I just never put enough of the pieces together to know why.”
Lainey jolted upright, her eyes widening. “You could tell there was something different about me?”
Aaron’s eyebrows lowered. “Did I upset you?”
“It’s just . . . if you noticed, then what’s to stop others? It could be dangerous.”
“Oh,” he said, chuckling. “I wouldn’t worry. Other people don’t study you for years like I did.”
“What?”
“They don’t watch the way you move, or how you’ve always got that sunny smile on your face, even when you secretly wanted someone dead.” He grinned. “They don’t care what’s behind those perfectly smooth reactions of yours. I’m glad I know, but you’re safe.”
“You’re sure?”
“Payton didn’t know what you could do straight away, right? And she claims to read minds.”
“Huh.” Aaron was right. She had seen Payton here or there for months. If Payton had known what Lainey was capable of before she’d pulled her aside and revealed her own secret that day, there would have been some sign. Lainey felt something brush over her arm and looked up to see Aaron staring at her.
“You seemed lost in your own world.”
“I think I like it that you were the only one who noticed.”
His lips twisted into a wry grin. “And you don’t think it was maybe a little creepy I paid so much attention?”
She didn’t. In fact, it made the fire in her core ignite again. But she couldn’t do anything about it sitting out in front of the gym in broad daylight. “I suppose it is a little stalkerish, but you’re a benign psycho, I think, so I’ll let it go for now.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He gave a fake salute and Lainey giggled.
“Why didn’t it freak you out? I still don’t understand that.”
Aaron shrugged. “There was nothing to think about. It was you.”
25<
br />
Lainey
Lainey hummed as she brushed her hair the next morning. She’d been by herself again that night, Aaron kissing her goodnight, hard, before seeing her safely inside, but this time she’d been truly unafraid. The world was still tinged pink from their evening together, and she was going to enjoy every moment. Pulling her hair up into a messy bun, she examined herself in the mirror. It might be time for a new style, maybe a different eye shadow color, mix things up a bit. Giving up, she pulled her hair into a high ponytail and smacked on a coating of lip gloss.
No doubt the man occupying her every waking thought that morning would be knocking on her door again any second. Now that they’d both come to their senses, things were heating up between them quickly. Lainey frowned. Well, at least they were for her.
Aaron’s touches were hot and his kisses practically made her burst into flames, but he stopped there. She shrugged into her jacket. He loved her. She knew that. The signs were all there, even before all this crap erupted. He was being more open with her than ever right now, but they’d always been close, even as he pushed everyone else away. Lainey stopped in the middle of the hall. She hadn’t noticed before that he tended to avoid close connections with people. Why was that? It was so natural to her to be able to charm anyone she came across, to make friends easily, that she hadn’t realized her relationship with Aaron was so unusual for him.
Looking more critically now, it was obvious. Was that why he was pulling away now that things were getting more intense? Was it just because he was worried about her? She felt safer under his protection. Just his sheer size usually scared off any customer bullies at the juice bar. That didn’t mean that she wanted him to look at her as only that—something that needed to be wrapped up and hidden away. In fact, she’d like to be doing the exact opposite, unwrapping him slowly. Heat bloomed inside her and Lainey licked her lips, imagining pushing Aaron’s shirt off his shoulders, slowly sliding his jeans zipper down, until . . .
A loud knock at the door broke her line of thought. Lainey jerked at the sound, nearly dropping her bag. Okay, maybe she wasn’t completely unafraid. She was just going to have to try harder to get Aaron to see past his white-knight routine and see her as more than just a damsel needing saving. Grabbing her phone, she flung the door open, ready to sweep him up in a good-morning kiss he wouldn’t forget, and then nearly dropped her things for the second time in five minutes. “Ahh, hi. Good morning, Cole.”
He grinned, as if he knew exactly what she’d been about to do. “Morning, Lainey. Sleep well?” He walked to the car, whistling infuriatingly and grinning the whole way. They made small talk on the way to work, but Lainey’s thoughts were mostly elsewhere, already planning what she was going to do first when she got there. The truth was that the juice bar had been completely neglected this past week. Aaron didn’t care. She could never work there again and he’d be perfectly happy, as long as she continued to stay by his side, but it bothered Lainey. The juice bar was her baby, and she’d put a ton of work into the place. She wrinkled her nose. Right now the back room would be filled with produce that needed to be thrown out. That part of this morning she wasn’t looking forward to.
The parking lot was nearly empty when they pulled up. “Want me to stay?” Cole asked.
She looked over at Cole. He was dressed, but had flip-flops jammed on his feet and his hair stuck up on every angle, his colors shouting impatience, along with an undercurrent of lust. Ahh. Lainey grinned. That’s why Cole had gotten such a laugh out of her near screwup this morning. Payton was still waiting at home for him to get back; hoping it would be quickly, she’d bet. “That’s okay. I’ll lock the door behind me.”
“Call me if Aaron doesn’t show up in a half hour, okay?”
After promising, she grabbed her keys and opened the juice bar door, waving at Cole as she unlocked it, and he drove away. She spent the next ten minutes carting rotten produce out the back door, but even with the door closed and the counters wiped down, Lainey could still smell it. She swallowed hard, walking to the sink and gulping down a glass of water. No, didn’t help. It was probably just stuck in her nose, or something on her jeans, but at that point Lainey didn’t care. She was going to have to cart the boxes out to the dumpster.
She jogged to the front of the store and looked through the blinds. No sign of Aaron’s car yet, or Aaron, but the Dumpster was just out back. She wouldn’t be visible to anyone staking out the store or the gym. Lainey grabbed her keys and opened the back door, pinching her nose as the smell returned in force. She better be careful picking up the boxes again or she’d be spending the rest of her shift in her gym workout gear. She made it to the security gate without splashing anything vile on herself, and then dropped the first box at her feet, jumping back before anything could splatter out. The fucking security gate. She’d forgotten all about it, and it was always a complete bitch to open. Lainey hated the thing on a good day, and with three more boxes to cart, she wished it didn’t exist at all. She used her key to open the lock and then began the grueling process of lifting up the latch and trying to open it without getting her fingers cut off. Every few seconds, she had to shift and find a new handhold, the sharp metal edge cutting painfully into her fingers. The whole process took more than two minutes, and by the time she was done and the heavy gate was shifted aside, she had to stop for a moment to catch her breath. She leaned up against a window, taking a deep breath and trying to smell the ocean on the breeze and not the box of rotting strawberries sitting a few yards away on the concrete. Well, even if she couldn’t smell the ocean, she was always close enough here to hear it. The swoosh of the waves never failed to relax her, flooding her mind with their soft song as they moved in and out. She closed her eyes and took a moment.
A meaty hand wrapped around her neck, cutting off her air supply. Lainey’s eyes flew open and she jerked against the hold, pulling against the calloused hand stealing her air, but it didn’t budge. A voice behind her laughed, loud and uncaring.
Oh God.
This was it. It was time. She couldn’t see behind her, but she knew who it was, and she wasn’t ready. He’d caught her off guard. Fuck! That wasn’t supposed to ever happen!
“We can make this easy,” Josh said, drawing her closer to his body. His breath puffed on the back of her neck, crawling over her skin. “It’s just like going to sleep. I can even shoot you up again first.” Her entire body shook and a strangled moan escaped her throat, using up the last of her air. She tried to struggle, tried to wrestle her head free—anything—but she just flopped in his grasp. Josh’s body pressed up against hers, one hand covering her mouth and the other pressing into her neck. She was going to pass out, and this time she’d never wake up.
No!
Lainey forced her tongue between her lips, opening her mouth a tiny crack. She struggled again, sucking up a small piece of Josh’s palm between her lips. Then she bit down as hard as she could.
“Fuck!” He drew back, his hand moving to slap her. His grasp relaxed for less than a second. It was all she needed. She dropped her weight and swung her elbow back as the first gasp of wonderful oxygen hit her lungs. He grabbed at her again, but Lainey dodged out of the way.
“It’s going to be a lot harder this time, Josh. I didn’t listen to you.” He moved quickly, so quickly that she wasn’t sure she was ready, but the drills with Aaron over the past weeks had taught her body, even if her mind hadn’t caught up. He wasn’t there to protect her, but he’d made sure she’d still survive. A rush of red flushed through her, building her energy. God, she loved that man. She wasn’t going to waste her chance with him, but first she had to get out of that. The only things standing between her and certain death was her training, and herself.
Her heart beat almost as fast as her feet moved as Josh lunged again. He was big, yes, but she was quick. Shit—he was quick, too, righting himself and throwing a right hook at her cheek. She ducked, just barely, his knuckles grazing her skin on the way past.
“You could have stopped all this, Lainey. It didn’t have to be this way. I would have brought you in, protected you. She would have accepted you if you’d just been with me.” He darted forward again and she beat him back, but she couldn’t do it for much longer. His brute force was obvious, and he towered over her. Fire and hatred poured from his eyes, the force of his true emotions almost knocking her off balance. There was no hiding in the white anymore. Josh took advantage of her distraction and moved his hand behind him, emerging with a knife.
“No!” God, someone had to hear her!
Fear saturated her being, freezing her to the spot as Josh closed the space between them. The knife glinted in the early morning sunlight even as the waves still echoed in her ears. They were joined by a strange rushing sound, taking over her entire understanding. She couldn’t stop it. She was out of options. She was going to die there and Aaron would find her body lying just ten yards from safety.
Would it be like going to sleep? Or would there be pain first?
“No!” She couldn’t give herself over to death so easily. But she couldn’t outrun him, either. If she turned her back, Josh would be on her in a second. He circled her faster still, the knife flashing from hand to hand with every step. He shot out and it nearly went through her side. It would have, had she not taken one step sideways when something inside her noticed his weight shift in preparation for the lunge.
How was she still able to remember how to do this?
Aaron . . .
He’d drilled her, almost every night after work, until it was as easy as breathing. Now she just had to keep moving and keep breathing, until he could get there.
“I’m never going away, Lainey. We’re never going to stop. You might as well just accept it. It’s you or me, she said, and I’m not dying today.” His voice was eerily calm, as if he could lull her into complacency. But she wasn’t giving in, even though her whole body burned with fire and her breath came in rough gasps. She would never give in.
Lainey (Dreamcatchers Romantic Suspense Series Book 4) Page 15
