Kate was tossing and turning for hours. Damn Jared and his gray eyes and easygoing smiles. Didn't he know she was starved for affection? No wonder she was crazed with lust, she couldn't even remember the last guy she kissed. Looking at the clock, she saw it was just after one in the morning. Julie rarely went to bed before two and Kate knew her best friend wouldn't mind a late night text message from Kate.
I NEED a night out pronto. When are you free? Two minutes later, Julie returned her text. I thought you were going all Salinger on my ass and had destined yourself to a hermit lifestyle. Why the sudden change of heart? Kate wasn't sure if she wanted to confide in Julie about Jared. It wasn't that she didn't trust her. It simply made her feel morally bankrupt for admitting her feelings out loud. Although Julie wasn't the type to pass judgment, Kate figured she would remain silent since the likelihood of anything happening was nil. Kate Edwards is ready to reopen for business. Even willing to take you up on the offer of a setup with one of Gage's friends...
Now, Kate knew she had lost her freaking mind. There were dumb jocks and then just below that level was Gage. Kate had met a few of his friends when she had gone over to Julie's apartment to hang out. Most of them rarely managed to have the ability to string a coherent sentence together. However, desperate times called for desperate measures. Who is this? This can't possibly be Kate.
Kate replied back quickly. Ha-ha, are we on or what? Kate picked up Cori's picture while waiting for a response. She hoped she would dream of the girl again tonight. She prayed the guy was not hurting her and had fed her. How does Wednesday sound? Some guitarist Gage knows is playing at a pub at Main Street. Probably 9 or 10ish? Kate didn't care if Julie suggested they strip down to their underwear and head to a biker bar, she was that desperate for a night out. Sounds perfect, I'll be wearing my hoochiest outfit.
Julie was gleeful. YES!!! This will be crazy fun and I have the perfect set of heels for you to borrow. Gage is here and he's psyched too. He said he knows the perfect dude for you. Call you tomorrow love!
Kate set her phone on her nightstand. Shuddering at the thought of who Gage would think is perfect for her—she knew she'd be lucky to make it out of the night without being felt up or roofied. At least Julie would be there and she could have some girl time as well. She didn't want her only friend to drift away because she was a head case with social anxiety issues. Plus, Julie had amazing shoes and they shared the same size. This would be the perfect opportunity to forget about Jared and find someone else to obsess over. She couldn't get in the way of his "happily ever after" with his equally genetically blessed girlfriend.
Once Cori was located, she could forget all about the handsome detective. She didn't really expect him to remain friends with her once the case was over. As her hazel eyes gazed at the photo of Cori again, she begged her silently to come to her for both their sakes.
***
Kate knew instantly this vision wasn't of Cori. Her surroundings were too bright. The room lacked the dingy depression of the house of horrors where Cori was being kept captive. She reached out her mind and didn't find any foreign thoughts. She was only an observer and not inside the head of whoever's memory this was. Since she made a connection with this person's mind, she guessed there was the potential to reach into their thoughts. This was a skill she had yet to figure out, though. On a positive note, these visions were the easiest for her to handle. She didn't have to share the feelings of anger, terror or sadness with the person. It allowed her to have some disconnect and pretend she was only watching a movie.
Shit, she thought, as she heard voices and focused on her surroundings. She soon comprehended she was in Jared's apartment. The clock on the oven read six o'clock and she saw Nikki and Jared sitting at the kitchen table eating. Empty Chinese food containers littered the counters and a half-empty bottle of wine was set between them. Nikki was dressed in a simple floral sundress that highlighted her radiant and tanned skin. Wearing a distressed expression, she mostly pushed the food around on her plate. Kate centered her attention on Jared and noted he wore the same white button-down he had worn to lunch today sans the tie. He looked tired and distracted. Kate was amazed that this was most likely a scene from earlier that evening.
For the most part, the time frames of the visions were seemingly random, too. Yet, she sometimes wondered if the memory was in the forefront of the person's mind at the time and that's the reason she saw them when she did. She wished she could conduct post-psychic surveys to learn more about her gift.
Setting aside her inner reverie, she concentrated on their conversation. "Of course I'm annoyed, Jared. I know it's your case, but she's my sister. I think you're going completely in the wrong direction here. Anyone could provide a vague description of a car."
"I disagree with you. I would never risk your sister's life if I wasn't one hundred percent certain that Kate could help." He sounded earnest, but his tone seemed to put Nikki off even more.
"I don't trust her. You told me to meet her and decide for myself. This is what I decided. She's stringing us along because she's after something," she countered while shaking her head at him. Picking up her plate, Nikki walked to the kitchen sink.
Jared moved to stand behind her. "She already insisted she didn't want money. What could she possibly be after?"
"How can you be so dense? She's after you, Jared."
Kate felt physically ill and hoped this vision was coming to a close. Her least favorite memories were of witnessing her parents fight over her. It was just as stomach-turning to watch Jared and his girlfriend do the same thing. At times like this, she felt it was safe to assume whoever gave her these abilities wanted to see her tormented.
He turned Nikki around and grabbed both her hands in his. "It's not like that..."
"Jared, I know how girls operate. She was sending some very strong and not subtle signals your way when we went to her house. I don't want you to discuss Cori's case with her anymore," Nikki insisted and gave him a deadly glare. Although she was petite, Nikki could definitely look tough when she wanted to.
"Please, I don't want to fight. This is the first time we've been alone all week. Everything I'm doing is to get your sister back. You know how hard I had to fight to get put on this case because of our personal relationship. I'm doing this for you," he promised and brushed a loose strand of hair away from her face.
"And you feel nothing for Kate? You're only using her for Cori's benefit?" she demanded lifting her head to meet his eyes. Nikki was even shorter than Kate. She hoped the girl suffered a debilitating neck problem from having to always gaze up at the towering Jared.
"I wish you wouldn't put it like that. I don't think that way about her—I love you. I feel sorry for her. She's had it rough and it's obvious she could use a friend." Damn, Kate thought, he made her sound like such a pathetic loser.
"Jared, I swear, you are so much like your aunt. Feeling sorry for every forlorn creature on this earth, trying to take in the strays," Nikki said with a roll of her eyes. Kate willed herself to wake up. She couldn't imagine anything worse than having Nikki and Jared tear her apart.
"Enough, I'm serious." His voice was stern as he pressed his finger against her lips.
Seeming to relent, she gave him a smoldering look and moved in for a kiss. Jared leaned into the kiss and pressed her compact body against the counter.
It was revolting to watch his sensuous mouth kiss someone who wasn't Kate. Her flash of insane jealousy made her understand how hard she was falling for him. As the kiss continued, he began to move his hands up and down her body. Kate realized it was indeed possible for this vision to be worse. Nikki sighed and began to unbutton his shirt. He threw it off and began to kiss her more passionately. He started to work on unzipping her dress.
Jared stepped out of his pants and stood in his boxers. If Kate wasn't completely horrified, she'd be turned on. Every inch of him was sheer perfection. His body was hard and muscular, but still lean enough where he didn't look like one of those muscle heads who juiced up then spent hours lifting at the gym. She longed to touch him for herself and feel the rigid lines of his chest and abs. Other guys she had dated paled next to him. Jared looked much more like a man where they all had the bodies of boys.
As attractive as she found him, she definitely didn't think she could handle seeing what was under those boxers. Or even more traumatizing, being forced to watch Nikki and him have sex in their kitchen. She'd rather claw her own eyes out than witness that atrocity.
As his hand found its way under the skirt of Nikki's dress, Kate focused all of her energy on getting the hell out of there. She was never able to willingly leave a vision in the past, but she was going to be damned if she didn't try her freaking hardest to get out of this nightmare. Nikki's dress began to slip off...
Kate gasped. She looked around and was grateful to find herself in her bed. Sitting straight up, she tried to calm her breathing. Her chest felt tight and she wondered if she was having an anxiety attack. A gift? These visions sucked and this only reaffirmed her belief. She rarely woke up happy from a vision. Bad enough they were usually filled with violence, she now had to be privy to the sex life of the guy she liked. Why couldn't she have a pleasant dream about her and Jared getting busy? Not a vision of Nikki and Jared together. Blech.
What a dick Jared turned out to be, too. He felt sorry for her. He could take his sorry and shove it up his ass. She was nobody's charity case. She hadn't expected him to fall madly in love with her, but she foolishly thought they were becoming friends.
He was using her? Well, screw him. She wasn't trying to locate Cori for him anyway. She was doing it for a little girl who deserved to be home with her family. The more she thought about it, the more she reasoned she should be thankful for the vision. It had the ability to instantly crush her crush on Jared.
She groaned when the clock read a little after six in the morning. She knew she wouldn't be getting back to sleep and to be honest, the idea the vision could be continued scared her shitless. She already felt the desire to wash her eyes out with soap. If the couple went all the way, she'd probably have to check herself into a psych ward. Throwing on her rattiest robe, she headed downstairs.
***
"Oh god, what's the matter?" Darlene Edwards demanded as she strolled into the kitchen about an hour later.
A feast of epic proportions stood before her: platters of bacon, scrambled eggs with cheese, pancakes and cinnamon rolls were all set out on the counter. Kate had borrowed one of Darlene's aprons and it covered a robe that she could've sworn she told Kate to throw out ages ago. With her tawny hair thrown haphazardly up in a bun, a few strands curled around the nape of her neck, Kate was standing and mindlessly stirring something on the stove while blasting her iPod. Darlene came up behind her and removed the ear buds.
Kate jumped ten feet. "Give me some heads up, Mom! I think you took a decade off my life."
"Sorry, hon. I must have missed the memo where we were running a mess hall," she said and gestured to all of the food in the kitchen. "Are we expecting company for breakfast that I'm unaware of?"
Kate squirmed. "Guess I did get carried away. Couldn't sleep, figured I'd make the two of us a nice breakfast."
"Alright, tell me what's going on. Last time you cooked like this was when your dad left. I'm still trying to lose the fifteen pounds I gained after a week of your obsessive cooking." Kate didn't answer. Darlene pressed on. "Did you have a vision? Was it Cori?"
"No, it wasn't about Cori," she said and sighed. "Mom, I'm not trying to shut you out, especially after we've been having these stellar Lifetime movie moments, but I'd rather not talk about it."
Her mother ruffled her hair softly. "No problem, love. I'm here if you decide you want to talk about anything, though. Everything looks amazing, can't wait to dig in!"
Kate gave her a shaky smile and handed her a plate. Removing the apron, Kate set it on the back of one of the kitchen chairs. "Thanks, Mom. I promise I'll clean everything up, too. I know you have your dinner with Gail tonight."
"You can join us, you know. You don't have to hide out at the library," her mother said while pouring syrup over her pancakes.
Kate sat down across from her after piling a little bit of everything on her plate. Kate had always been a stress eater whenever she was feeling down. Darlene guessed this one was due to a particularly harrowing vision and her mood would be improved with a hearty meal.
"Thanks for the offer, Mom, but I'd rather be anywhere else rather than watching you and Gail get plastered off of cheap box wine," she replied.
"Very funny," she said sardonically and took a bite of her pancakes. "Is Jared meeting you at the library to go over the photographs of the cars?" she inquired while licking the syrup off her lips. Kate didn't cook often, but when she did—everything tasted heavenly.
As Darlene watched her daughter's face turn bright red, she had a powerful instinct she had stumbled upon the reason behind the impromptu breakfast buffet. Kate's attraction for the detective had been written clear on her face from the day they first met. Darlene had obviously been wary of it when she found out he had a girlfriend. Her daughter could put up a tough façade, but she was well aware of Kate's fragility. A broken heart from the dashing detective would be especially unwelcome at a time when Kate was using her psychic capabilities to connect with an abducted girl.
"I guess so. I hope the car leads the cops to Cori. I'm ready for her to be home and for things to go back to normal," Kate answered with practiced nonchalance.
"Normal is overrated."
"Says the woman with a psychic for a daughter."
"Anyway, what are your plans before hitting the books? Up for some shopping?"
"For what?"
"Well, your cousin's wedding is next weekend. Do you have a dress?" she inquired.
Kate's surprised expression hinted she had forgotten about Jessica's upcoming nuptials. "Damn, I do need a dress. Ugh, I wish we didn't have to go. Who gets married at her age? She's only a year older than me. Is she knocked up or something?"
"Katie, be nice! Jessica and Abe were high school sweethearts. They waited until after their college graduation to get married. It'll be fun and I'm excited to try out the food at Cedar Brooks. I hear they're using a new caterer. It's in town, too, and you have a built-in designated driver," she explained as an unveiled attempt to sell the wedding to Kate.
"Fine, I'll go. Plus, dress shopping would be a good distraction. I'll shop for something to wear out tomorrow night, too. Going to be painting the town red with Julie," she stated.
"Sounds fun! Things are going to change for you, hon. I can feel it. You no longer have to hide from the world. Go out and experience life, especially while you're young," she urged.
"I know you're right, Mom. I really am going to try harder," Kate promised and stood up to give her a kiss on the cheek. "I'm going to get dressed and then we'll go give that credit card of yours a workout."