With my arms wrapped around his neck, I scooted into his lap. His other arm went around my waist tugging me tighter to him, but the sudden movement didn’t sit well with me. My head pounded but I pushed it away focusing on Grayson and his arm brushing against the exposed skin at my waist. He slid his hand under my sweater curving over the sensitive spot along my side. His quickened breaths matched mine as he repeated the process with the other hand. I parted my lips to taste more of him, and his thumbs pressed into my hipbones as his grip tightened. He skimmed his palms up my ribs as he pushed my sweater higher sending delicious tickles down my spine, but then my insides twisted. I forced my mind to only thoughts of him, the coolness of my exposed skin in contrast to his hands searing my sides and his warm mouth firm on mine but the room began to spin.
“Son of a bitch.”
I bolted upright in bed and ran to the bathroom, grabbing my hair just in time as I heaved into the toilet. After emptying my stomach, I stumbled to the sink. The knocking in my head made it hard to concentrate on anything as I turned on the cold water. Splashing my face several times, I cursed at my reflection before I grabbed my toothbrush and tried to get the awful taste out of my mouth.
What was wrong with me? Part of me wondered why in the hell I let things get all hot and heavy with Grayson in a dream, while another part of me was thankful that it hadn’t happened in the real world or else he would have just seen me in a very unattractive light.
Though every cell in my body begged me to go back to sleep, I headed to my coffeemaker. No way would I face Grayson again right now. The smell of coffee made my already soured stomach turn, but I had no choice. I had no car to drive home, no desire to dream and no way would I take a late-night cab. I grabbed my mug and settled in for some old movies. No sooner had I sat, my mind went to kissing Grayson. A burning tingle roared to life within me and trickled through my veins warming even my fingers.
“It’s going to be a long night.”
Chapter 12
I stood holding the door to the bus while my client ran to catch up. I watched her juggle a toddler, cup of coffee, child’s backpack, purse, umbrella and a brown bag that I assumed contained breakfast. I fought the urge to shake my head. Missing the bus wasn’t her problem; it was her overloaded lifestyle. I turned to the driver, told him to hold the bus and approached my client.
“Kate.” She paused with a confused look on her face. Her gaze darted to the bus then back to me. “It’s not going anywhere.” I reached for the umbrella and tossed it in a nearby trashcan. “It’s not going to rain.” I pointed to the cloudless sky, reached for the blue backpack and young boy. I set him down, planting his little black tennis shoes firmly on the ground, hung the backpack over his shoulders and guided his hand into his mom’s.
I grabbed the brown bag. “Hey there big guy, will you carry this for your mommy?” His eyes rounded as he nodded. He gripped it with his little hand and grinned at me. Kate didn’t seem to know what to do with her freed arms.
Shifting her purse, she looked at her little boy then the cup of coffee, and her eyes met mine. She exhaled. “Thank you.”
“No problem. Your bus is waiting.” I stepped aside allowing her to hop on. Letting her child on first, she followed, throwing me one last relieved look over her shoulder. I waved goodbye and watched the bus drive off.
“You’re good at this.” I spun around, finding Grayson next to me.
Three days had passed since our encounter. My face burned with a mixture of embarrassment and vivid memories–some had been self-created and finished where we’d left off.
“Thanks.” My voice wavered. The whole incident had left me self-conscious, and now in my spirit form it felt too real. “Dream’s ending. I’ve got to get going.”
He shifted his gaze, hands stuffed in his pockets. “Are you going to keep avoiding me?”
“I’m not avoiding you. Works just been slow.”
“Didn’t know you needed a job to see me.” He glanced at his feet. “Anything new with Alex?”
“I haven’t seen him lately. I talked to him on the phone a few times but no progress, sorry.”
His face relaxed into an easy smile. “No worries. We’ll get there. Will you come see me soon?”
“Sure.” I sought my body and felt the familiarity.
“Convincing.” He smirked. “Will you come if I try to tone down the sex appeal? I mean, no promises, but I’ll try my best.”
I laughed. “I’ll visit.” The dream began to fade.
“I hope so.” He grinned at my flickering spirit, and then he was gone.
His grin burned into my memory as my eyes fluttered open. My stomach tightened and tingled. I missed him. I’d never tell him that, but staying away the last three days had been hard. I even avoided Alex, finding it too hard to see Grayson’s body, but not see him.
I lay in bed a moment longer enjoying the memory of his voice, his smile and the way he always made me laugh. I pushed myself to sitting, irritated at my growing feelings for him. Leave it to me to want, literally, the most unavailable guy I knew.
* * * *
The next day I went to the gym looking for Johnathan. I hadn’t seen him around much and when I did, he always seemed to have one foot out the door. I missed talking to him. Although I considered Penny my best friend, I relied on Johnathan. He was levelheaded, funny and caring–everything she lacked. While fun and an amazing person to spend Friday night with, she was, well, Penny. So now, the question remained what was up with Mr. Reliable?
“Johnathan, how are you?” I stretched my tense back muscles. “You’ve been busy lately. What’s up?” I tilted my head side-to-side, loosening my neck as I prepared to warm up on the bag.
“I’m glad you’re here. Nina said you would, but I’m still getting used to that. The way she knows things–”
I paused. That name sounded familiar. Where did I know it?
“Nina?” I tested the name on my lips, trying to strike a memory. My eyes widened. “My client, Nina. Well, sort of client. The psychic?”
Grinning like a schoolboy, Johnathan answered, “Yeah, we’ve been seeing each other.”
My jaw fell. “Since when?”
“Since her dream.” He laughed to himself. “Funniest thing, she came to me the next day, knew where to find me and everything and told me we were going to start dating.”
Funny? Try psychotic. “That’s an interesting approach.” I masked my real opinion on the matter.
“At first, you can imagine my surprise, but hey, a beautiful lady tells me I’m going to date her, yes, please. Nina took away the stress and pressure of asking her out and testing the waters with the first date. That crap’s better to bypass anyway.”
“Wow. So, it’s going good, I presume?” I didn’t have any interest in him, and knew I never would, but an itty-bitty part of me thought he liked me. It was stupid, and even I would admit, self-centered but a weird sense of jealousy flared.
A part of me envied his relationship. He could just have this girl, easy as that. No dream realm, body snatchers or other complications–just normal everyday life. Well, except for the fact she was a psychic and a bit odd.
“She wanted me to give you something–says you’ll need it.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a necklace. I reached for the leather cord and held the dangling trinket against my palm. The small vial contained crushed leaves in a thick liquid. I gave it a shake and the colored bits floated around before settling again.
“What’s this? A potion? If so, I hope it’s a love potion. I need one of those.”
He chuckled. “Not exactly a potion, but sort of, I guess. Its herbs and other things combined. She didn’t make it, but a friend of hers did. It’s to protect you. She doesn’t know exactly why you need it, since she can’t see the dream realm, but she said it’ll protect your body when your spirit isn’t in it.”
How did she know my body risked invasion? She was supposedly psychic, but still, I wouldn’t put too muc
h faith in that.
I’d heard of spells placed on physical items allowing them to “attach” to a spirit and cross into the dream realm. Maybe this necklace worked like that. I stared at the little glass container wondering if it would really keep my body safe. Hoping this provided the answer to my fears, a tiny bit of tension relaxed in my shoulders.
I looked at Johnathan. “Thanks.”
His eyes brightened and he smiled. “I’ll tell her you said that.”
“Did she have anything else to say?” I placed the necklace in my gym bag and turned back to my friend.
He shifted his weight to one foot and looked down.
“Tell me.”
“You aren’t going to like it,” he said, meeting my gaze.
“What’s new?” I scoffed. “Just spit it out. I won’t kill the messenger or anything.”
“She’s having trouble seeing your future. I honestly don’t get this stuff so I’ll just tell you what she said. ‘You will split in two for a man that’s split in three. First your mind, then your body, then your heart. Pull yourself back together before it’s too late. Choose wisely. Everything’s not always what it seems. The person who seeks you means you harm.’ I know it’s cryptic and you probably think it’s bullshit, but she made me repeat it until I got it just right.”
I didn’t know how to respond. “No, don’t worry, you did the right thing. It might be helpful. Thank you, I guess.”
He waved it off and grabbed the bag. “Enough of this crap, let’s see what you got.”
I filed away the inscrutable message, grinned and raised my fists. “Hope you can handle it.”
* * * *
The minute I hit the showers I thought about Nina’s mysterious message. It echoed in my brain as I tried to make sense of it.
Later that day, I pushed my dinner around my plate while repeating the words in my head. You will split in two, for a man who is split in three. Well that seemed easy enough. My spirit separated from my body to talk to Grayson about his body and Alex. First my mind, then my body, then my heart. My mind definitely was the first key player considering the amount of thought I put into the situation, and now as hard as it was to admit, my body was involved. That was clear enough from the way Grayson made me feel when I last saw him. Of course, it wasn’t as easy to admit my heart was involved.
But what did she mean by split? Did she mean my internal struggle with feelings, or did she mean it would be split, as in heartbroken? The thought of some dream guy coming in and crushing my heart terrified me. This didn’t help my growing concerns with the rest of what Nina said. Pull yourself together before it’s too late and choose wisely because everything was not what it seemed.
I shuddered at the places my mind went. I refused to let myself believe Grayson wasn’t what he seemed, but the last words echoed through my mind. The one who seeks you means you harm. He’d sought me out. Did he want to hurt me?
My shoulders tightened into nervous knots. I placed my face into my hands and squeezed my eyes shut. Maybe, for once, this was my bad dream and I could leave it. I’d just wake and realize nothing changed–no misplaced spirits, no gorgeous mystery men, no band of body snatching criminals–just me, doing what I always did. As boring as that was, I’d take it any day over the dark places my mind dared to visit.
I tried to squash the thoughts, shut up the voice in my head, but it kept repeating, getting louder, demanding I listen. What if I’d been played? I’d fallen in love with someone who wanted to harm me and it was already too late. I shoved the thought deep back in my brain and forced myself to stand. I banged my fist into my desk. The pain caused me to wince. Nope, not a dream.
I flipped open my calendar and was glad to see the night open. I needed to visit with Alex and I needed to do it now. With my phone in my hand, I took a deep breath, attempting to sound calm. And happy.
I kept my tone light, casual. “Hey, can we hang out tonight?”
“Yeah, that would be great. What were you thinking? Dinner?” Alex sounded pleased that I had been the one to call and ask him out.
“Can I just come by your place? We can order in.”
He cleared his throat. “Sure.”
“Great,” I said with forced cheerfulness.
After hanging up, I pictured him on a mad dash to turn his bachelor pad into a woman-friendly atmosphere. I considered taking my time getting ready to help the guy out, but the less time he had to prepare, the better chance I had to stumble upon something useful.
In record time, I dressed and headed to Alex’s house. I pushed thoughts of Grayson out of my head. My brain had jumped from how much I missed him and wanted to see him to thinking he might ensnare me in some sort of evil master plan.
Grayson couldn’t be evil. Could he? I was listening to a psychic. What was wrong with me? The more I thought about it, the more I decided it was crazy to believe what Nina said. I didn’t even know the girl.
Alex’s apartment was tidy. Either it always remained this way or I’d open a closet and get killed in an avalanche.
“I pulled out a few menus from nearby restaurants.” He gestured to a pile of colored papers on his table.
I had zero appetite. “You choose. I’m not picky.”
“Sure?”
I nodded and he reached for a bright orange trifold menu. My stomach twisted. Anything printed on neon paper must be good, right?
My gaze panned his apartment while he ordered dinner. I focused on his desk, noticing the large checkbook lay atop it. I wandered over and attempted subtlety as I did a once over, pausing briefly on the open book. One check sat next to a white envelope with Nadine scribbled across it, but it lacked an address or any other identifying info.
Did he stop before he addressed it or was this to be hand-delivered?
“Food should arrive in about half an hour. Want to watch a movie until it gets here?” Alex made his way to the couch.
“Movie sounds good.” My gaze lingered on his desk.
I joined him on the couch and he scooted closer closing the gap between us. Considering we were dating, it should be expected, but inside I screamed at the intimacy. My thoughts were muddled. A part of me wanted to run far away from this man and this situation, but that was stupid. I wasn’t some weak girl. Good or bad, I’d see this thing through.
First things first–turn off my emotions. I snuggled into Alex for the movie.
To my surprise, he chose some high action, suspense movie. I’d expected him to choose something romantic or girly for me, but I was thankful he hadn’t. I didn’t feel like watching some happily-ever-after sappy love life while mine felt more like a horror movie complete with chainsaw-man hacking it apart.
It wasn’t long before our food arrived and I realized bright orange menus were very misleading. I also discovered I had more of an appetite than I’d thought. My workout had caught up with me and since I’d done nothing but rearrange my dinner at home, I was famished.
With a full tummy, I leaned against Alex, who was totally engrossed in the movie. It was nice and, for a moment, everything felt normal. I imagined snuggling into Grayson and pictured what our life would be like. I hadn’t had a steady boyfriend in four or five years, since college. My lifestyle wasn’t conducive to relationships and having one now seemed unimaginable. Especially with someone who knew about my dreamwalking. Thoughts filled my mind of dinner dates, holidays cuddled on the couch, breakfast in bed, everything my romantically deprived body longed for.
“Hey.” The voice startled me. I turned and found Grayson.
“What are you doing here?” I blurted as I looked around, realizing I must have dozed off and slipped into a dream.
“I’m always here. Stuck. Remember?”
My head spun around, as I searched for Alex. “I fell asleep.”
“I assumed that’s why you’re here.” He gave me a curious look. “Why are you so jumpy? I’m happy you came, but you’re acting odd.”
“I didn’t come to see you.”
He flinched. I hadn’t meant it to come out that way, but I was surprised and totally unprepared to be here.
“I, uh…I just figured...” He looked at his feet then back to me. “If you’re dreaming and I’m here that–” His face fell. “You’re with Alex.” It was an accusation. He did a poor job hiding his contempt.
I shook my head. “It’s not like that.”
He gave me a humorless smirk and raised an eyebrow. “Really?” He dismissively waved a hand. “Not my business though.” He started to walk away. “Sorry to interrupt your dream.” I watched his departing figure as he shook his head and looked down.
My chest tightened. I didn’t want him to leave, but his assumptions aggravated me.
I let the anger win. “You’re acting like a child.”
He paused and turned around in a slow, drawn-out way. “Well, I doubt you want to hear what I think you’re acting like.”
“You have no right.” My eyes stung with hot tears but I refused to let him see me cry. I glared at him. “I didn’t ask for any of this, you know. How do I even know who you really are? You sought me out, remember? I don’t know you. Maybe you aren’t the person you say.”
His lips curved in a cocky grin. “I have nothing to hide. You know who I am, but clearly, I was mistaken as to who you are.”
“I don’t have to explain myself to you. I’m not going to try to convince you of who I am, or what I did or didn’t do. You go ahead and think whatever you want. I owe you nothing.”
He threw his hands up and shrugged. “You’re right, you don’t. We’re done here.” The stupid, arrogant expression never left his face.
“Yeah.” I turned on my heels, ready to storm off but paused and whipped around one last time. “Well in reality, you’re done here. Without me–” I let him fill in the blanks. We both knew if I didn’t help him get his body back, there was a good chance he never would unless Alex slipped up or left on his own.
Being stuck in the dream realm forever terrified me and I imagined how Grayson, who actually lived it, felt, so rescinding my offer to help and leaving him here to suffer for an indiscernible amount of time had been malicious, but I’d let my anger do the talking. “Do me a favor, stay out of my dreams.”
Dream On Page 9
