Believe: The Complete Channie Series (74 page)

Uh-oh.

Josh twisted to the right and looked over his shoulder as he backed out of the parking lot. “I’d like to know the answer to that question myself.”

When
they got back to school, Kassie said, “Thanks for lunch,” and hopped out of the car.

Channie reached for the door handle but Josh grabbed her other hand and said, “Not so fast.”

Crap.

“What’s going on between you and Hunter?”

“Nothing. You know we’re just friends.”

“Then why the hell are you so jealous?”

“I’m not …” Josh could read her energy field so there was no point denying it. She
was
jealous. But why? “I don’t know.”

Josh sighed and squeezed her hand. “I think you’ve grown so accustomed to Hunter’s undivided attention you can’t stand the thought of losing his affection, even though you don’t need it.”

Channie tugged her hand towards her lap, but Josh refused to let go. She said, “Do you really think I’m that selfish?”

“It’s only natural. Doesn’t mean I like it … or that I’m going to put up with it. I want you to promise me that you won’t try to sabotage Hunter and Kassie’s relationship.”

“What relationship? They just met. Besides, she’s got another man’s bun in the oven. Hunter ain’t gonna wanna marry her.”

Josh laughed, a short burst that was more of a snort. “Kassie isn’t looking for a husband. Even if she were, she’d never marry a janitor.”

“Why not? It’s honest work.”

“I agree, but in case you haven’t noticed, Kassie’s a bit of a snob. She won’t settle for anything less than a doctor or a lawyer. Which is why her relationship with Eric was never going to last past high school. He’s strictly community college material.”

“If she knew she wasn’t going to marry Eric, why did she sleep with him?”

Josh let go of Channie’s hand then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Not everyone finds their soul mate in high school. And most people don’t get married until their mid to late twenties. Do you honestly think we would have been able to wait another five to ten years before we had sex?” 

“I’m not sure I can wait another five to ten minutes.”

Josh closed his eyes and groaned. “Babe, don’t say things like that when I can’t do anything about it.”

“When can we do something about it?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll think of something. Meet me here after school.”

Channie
asked Hunter to sit with her on the front porch swing so she could tell him about Josh’s plan. It was simple in theory, but difficult to execute. It all depended on whether or not Ezra believed Josh was taking Kassie to the movies and not just sneaking out to meet Channie … and whether or not Diego would let Channie and Hunter leave the house unchaperoned.

Diego was on the family room floor wrestling with the trips. Their squeals of delight and high-pitched laughter hurt Channie’s ears, but she didn’t mind. Her chest tightened around the swelling of her heart to see the little monkeys so happy.

Hunter cleared his throat and said, “Channie’s agreed to let me take her out on a date tonight, if it’s okay with you.”

Zeal and CoCo attacked from behind when Diego sat up, wrapping their arms around their Daddy’s neck in a choke hold that made his eyes bug out. Diego pulled them both over his shoulders at the same time onto his lap. He arched his eyebrows as he turned his gaze to Channie. “I thought you didn’t want him to court you.”

“I don’t. But Daddy wants me to give him a chance.”

Savvy put his hands between Zeal and Coco and tried to push their shoulders apart, “Make room for me.” Coco held his ground and refused to budge, but Zeal sighed and stood up. Channie might have felt sorry for him if he and CoCo hadn’t spent the last four years bullying Savvy. It was about time he got a little respect. She’d have to watch him though, to make sure he didn’t abuse his fake power. He climbed onto Diego’s lap, and popped his thumb in his mouth. Diego pulled it back out, kissed his chubby little fist then held it against his heart.

He leaned back and yelled into the kitchen. “Hey, Abby, can you come here a minute?”

“Soon as I finish turning the chicken.”

Channie didn’t know if was the modern appliances or Diego’s presence in her life, but something had awakened Abby’s domestic nature. She came into the family room wiping her hands on a dishtowel. “What do you need, sugar pie?”

“I need to know if it’s a good idea for these two to go off on their own without nobody to keep an eye on them. Are they going to get into trouble?”

Abby smiled and said, “Hunter’s feeling a little frisky, but Channie’s cool as a cucumber. He ain’t gonna get very far tonight.”

Diego narrowed his eyes as he studied Hunter. “I thought you didn’t have no money.”

Hunter’s face turned scarlet. “I don’t. I was hoping, maybe you could spot me a couple of dollars. I’ll pay you back as soon as I get my first paycheck.”

Diego rolled onto his left hip and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. He handed Hunter a twenty dollar bill. “Consider it a gift, to celebrate the beginning of your life together.”

Channie said, “Now hold on a dang minute. We’re going on a date, not getting married.”

Hunter winked at her as he tucked the bill in his shirt pocket. “You better write this down in your journal. You’re gonna wanna remember every little detail so’s you can tell our younguns about our first date.”

“Oh for heaven’s sake.”

Hunter was obviously trying to push Channie’s buttons, but as long as it got her out of the house and into Josh’s arms, she’d put up with it. “I need to go get ready.”

Hunter said, “I get the first shower,” and dashed up the stairs ahead of her.

Josh
was already waiting at the park-n-ride on McCaslin Avenue when Channie and Hunter got off the bus. Channie threw herself into his arms, but instead of embracing her, he took her hand and pulled her aside into the shadows then kissed her soundly. He gave her another quick peck on the lips then said, “We’ve got a problem.”

Channie’s heart stopped, then made up for lost time. “What’s wrong?”

“Elijah’s in the car.”

“What!”

“Yeah. When I told Dad that I wanted to take Kassie out to get her mind off Eric and the baby, he thought that was a great idea.” Josh dropped his voice, imitating Ezra. “That’s very thoughtful, son. Why don’t you swing by your mom’s and pick up Elijah. He has a way of lifting anyone’s mood.” Josh rolled his eyes. “He was testing me. If I refused, he’d know I was just trying to sneak out to be with you.”

Channie cupped Josh’s cheeks in her palms. “I think we can trust him. He kept my secret for three days when I ran away. Has he told anyone about magic?”

“Not that I know of. But if he tells Dad about us, I’ll be grounded for the rest of the year.”

“What do you want to do?”

“I was sort of hoping we could talk Hunter into erasing his memory or something. I’d do it myself, but I don’t know how.”

Channie gasped and shook her head. “Josh, no! Remember-not spells are horribly disorienting. Elijah would not be able to account for the missing time.”

“But it’s only been a few minutes. He won’t notice.”

“You can’t erase a few minutes. The minimum amount of time I’ve ever heard of anyone erasing was two hours. And that was a very talented, experienced mage.” Channie slid her hands down his arms and squeezed his hands. “Let me talk to him.”

The first thing Channie noticed when she got close enough to see inside Josh’s car, was Elijah’s grinning face pressed against the cargo door window.

Josh used the remote control on his key to roll it down. Elijah climbed out and ran across the parking lot. “Channie!”

He nearly knocked her over, but Josh put a hand in the middle of her back and steadied her. “Hey! Take it easy, squirt. Let her breathe.”

“I thought I’d never get to see you again. Are you back for good? Please say this isn’t just a visit. I missed you so much!”

Channie hugged him back and blinked away her tears. “It’s not just a visit. But I don’t know how long I’ll be here. I’ll probably move again this summer.”

“Nooooo!”

Josh pried Elijah off Channie and held his shoulders as he leaned over and got right in his face. “If Mom or Dad find out Channie’s here, she’ll have to leave again. So don’t tell anyone, okay? Not even Mrs. Guffy or your friends at school not anyone.”

“I promise.”

“And that goes for her friend, Hunter too.”

Hunter smiled and waved at Elijah. Elijah waved back, but he did so with a disapproving frown on his face. He shifted his gaze from Channie to Hunter and back to Josh. “How good a friend?”

Josh ruffed Elijah’s hair and said, “Don’t worry about it, squirt. Channie and I are fine. But we need to talk about some private stuff, so you’re going to hang out with Hunter and Kassie for a couple of hours. We’ll meet up again and all go out for ice cream. How’s that sound?”

“I want to go with you and Channie. I’ll be so quiet you won’t even know I’m there.”

Josh made his classic “help me out” face and waited for Channie to take over.

She leaned down and took both of Elijah’s hands in hers. “Tell you what, instead of a couple of hours, how about just an hour and a half, then we’ll switch off. Hunter and Kassie probably want some time to talk too.”

Elijah rolled his eyes and stuck out his lower lip then sighed and said, “All right, fine.” He turned towards Josh and pointed at his chest. “But don’t be late!”

VALENTINE'S DAY

I
T
AMAZED
J
OSH
THAT
AFTER
all that had happened — near death experiences, a secret marriage, and becoming a mage — how easily he slipped back into his former life. He went to school, worried about his grades and argued with Mom every other weekend. He’d even started racing again. No sponsors, no coaches and no hopes of ever making it to the Olympics, but it was fun. He’d forgotten what it was like to race for the pure joy of it. He didn’t race every weekend, only when he wanted to. He never practiced, not even gate drills. And he never, ever used magic during a race. But he always won.

He had to lie and sneak around to be with Channie, but even that felt more like dating than marriage. His “Double Dating Deception” plan or “Triple D” as he liked to call it, worked amazingly well. Hunter bought a cheap cell phone with his first paycheck which made it a lot easier to coordinate things. Josh wanted to pay to reactivate Channie’s phone so they could talk at night after everyone else went to bed. But she was afraid Diego might find out and there was no way to explain it. Everyone knew that Hunter barely had enough left over after paying rent to Channie’s dad to pay his own phone bill, so they couldn’t claim that he was paying for Channie’s.

Josh hated that Channie had to pretend she was warming up to Hunter around Abby and Diego — but at least she didn’t have to do anything other than hold hands. It would ruin everything if Diego decided they needed a chaperone. Her parents were living in Blackhawk now and only called once a week or so to check on things. At first Josh was afraid they’d want to move the rest of the family up there too, but Channie assured him they were enjoying their time away from the three ring circus at home.

Elijah kept his word and didn’t tell anyone about Channie. He didn’t even ask for hush money, but he insisted Josh take him along on their double dates at least once a week. Josh would have rather paid him off, but Elijah adored Channie and neither of them had the heart to refuse — as long as they still got their hour and half alone time to “talk.”

The day before Valentine’s day, a blizzard dumped eighteen inches of snow on the ground. But that wasn’t going to keep Josh from celebrating with Channie. He’d been drawing three hundred dollars a week out of the ATM for over a month. He didn’t want a hotel bill to show up on Dad’s credit card statement. That would be hard to explain.

Josh used Hunter’s fake ID, a hundred dollar tip and a bit of persuasive magic to reserve two rooms at the Omni hotel on the edge of town. Channie had to be home before midnight, so they wouldn’t be able to spend the night, but it was called Valentine’s
Day,
not Valentine’s Night. He couldn’t wait to get Channie into a real bed. Sex in the back of the Rav4 was still great, but the novelty was wearing off.

The fourteenth dawned bright and sunny. Josh grabbed his keys off the marble counter in the kitchen then peeked into Dad’s office and said, “I’m taking Kassie sledding then to supper and maybe a movie afterwards. I’ll be back around midnight.”

Dad said, “That sounds like an awful long day for Kassie. She’s about what … six months along? Are you sure it’s okay for her to go sledding?”

Crap.
“Her doctor said she needs to stay active. We’ll be careful and stay on the smaller hills.”

“Is Elijah going?”

“Not this time.”

Dad’s energy field pulsed with suspicion. “Hang on a second while I go grab my coat.”

“What? Wait, no, Dad, you can’t come with.”

“Why not? I haven’t been sledding in years. It sounds like fun.”

“Don’t you want to spend Valentine’s Day with Liz?”

“She won’t be home until around seven. You can bring me back home after sledding then go out to eat and a movie, if Kassie’s not exhausted.”

“Uh … I don’t think that’s such a good idea, what if you get hurt?”

“I thought you said you were going to stay on the smaller hills.”

“We are, but you know what a thrill seeker you are. I’m sure you’re going to want to go down the steepest hills with the biggest jumps. You’re not getting any younger.”

“I’m getting the distinct impression that you don’t want my company today.”

“No, it’s just … you know … it’s Valentine’s Day and Eric’s got a new girlfriend so this is going to be a hard day for Kassie and … she wouldn’t want you to see her cry … you know?”

“You aren’t, by any chance, planning to meet up with Channie, are you?”

Josh scrunched his eyes closed and rubbed his temples. “I’m getting a headache. Maybe sledding isn’t such a good idea after all. I think I better just go call Kassie and tell her it’s not going to work out.”

“Take some Advil.”

Josh dropped his chin to his chest then looked at the ceiling and said, “Fine. I’ll be right back.” He had to call Hunter and warn him.

Dad said, “I’ve got Advil and Tylonal in my office. No need to go upstairs. Which one do you want?”

“Advil.” Josh wasn’t lying when he said he had a headache. This fiasco was giving him a migraine. He tossed his keys to dad. “You better drive. My head’s killing me.”

Josh grabbed his phone and texted Hunter when Dad ducked into his office to retrieve the Advil. 

<911 Dad’s coming cancel DDD Warn C and K>

He hoped Hunter got the message. What a freaking disaster.

Kassie was ready and waiting when Dad pulled over in front of her un-shoveled driveway. Josh got out to clear a path with his boots and walk her to the car.

She grinned and waved from the front porch. “Happy Valentine’s Day!”

Josh turned sideways to hide his face from Dad and adjusted Kassie’s coat collar. “You’re supposed to be upset over Eric. Wipe the grin off your face and act broken-hearted.”

She spoke through gritted teeth without moving her lips. “If you don’t get rid of Ezra so I can spend Valentine’s Day with Hunter, it won’t be an act.” The girl should be a ventriloquist.

Dad got out of the car and gave Kassie a one-armed hug. “How you holding up, kiddo?”

Kassie sighed and blinked as if she had tears in her eyes. “As well as can be expected.”

“So, what’s the plan today?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Anything to keep my mind off my worries.” She rubbed her baby bump and sighed again.

Dad said, “So, who else is joining you two?”

Kassie looked surprised and shifted her gaze to Josh. “You promised it would be just the two of us. You know how emotional this day is going to be for me.”

Bingo!
Josh shot Dad an
I told you so
look then grabbed Kassie’s arm and pulled her against his chest and patted her back.

Either Kassie was a better actress than Josh thought, or she was really crying.

“I called … Eric … last night to talk about … baby names … and sh … sh… sheeee … was theeeere.”

Dad rubbed his forehead and took a deep breath then said, “I think I’ll stay here and shovel the driveway. Kassie’s mom can give me a ride home. You kids don’t need an old man slowing you down.”

As
soon as they pulled away from the house, Kassie pulled out her phone and called Hunter. “Hey, it’s back on. Meet us at the park-n-ride … Love you too. Bye.”

Josh couldn’t keep the grin off his face. “So … you and Hunter have dropped the L bomb on each other. That’s great!”

Kassi shrugged her shoulders and said, “We’ve been hooking up for over a month now. It seemed kind of silly not to.”

Not quite the reaction Josh was expecting. “Do you really love him, or are you just saying it?”

“It’s nothing like what you and Channie have but it’s good enough for now.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It doesn’t
mean
anything. It’s just a high school relationship, that’s all.”

“Does Hunter realize he’s got an expiration date?”

“Can we talk about something else? You’re killing the mood.”

“Be careful, Kassie. Hunter’s been through a lot. You could hurt him pretty bad.”

She turned her head to the side and looked out the window. “I know.”

They had to wait another forty-five minutes for Channie and Hunter to arrive, but it was worth the wait. Even bundled up in her lopsided, multi-colored knit hat and down parka, Channie took his breath away as she bounded off the bus and flew into his arms. He picked her up and swung her around in a circle then set her feet back on the ground and kissed her. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Mrs. Abrim.”

“Happy Valentine’s Day, husband of mine.”

Hunter said, “Get a room!” then laughed at his own joke. Josh hoped the idiot hadn’t ruined the surprise.

When they got to the Omni, Kassie let out a squeal of delight and attacked Hunter without even bothering to take off her seat belt.

Channie’s eyes widened as her lips parted.
So tempting
. He leaned across the console and kissed her. It took quite a bit of self-control to keep from devouring her mouth, but he wanted everything to be perfect and he knew how much Channie enjoyed slow, tender kisses.

She put her hand over his heart and ended the kiss, but the sparkle in her eyes promised so much more. “What are we doing here?”

He pressed his forehead against hers and said, “We are going to spend the entire day in bed.” He glanced into the rearview mirror and rolled his eyes. “Now who needs to get a room?”

Josh
dropped Channie and Hunter off one block from home then pulled into the empty lot on the other side of Heritage Park to wait until Channie’s bedroom light went out. Hunter had already texted him, to let him know all was well, but Josh always slept better, seeing it for himself — even if it was sort of stalker-ish.

He was still glowing when he walked through the front door. Literally. It was a good thing no one but mages could see heart-bonds or energy fields because his lit up the entire first floor. Dad was in his office, waiting up for him. He said, “You sure look happy. How’s Kassie?”

It took quite a bit of effort for Josh to replace his grin with what he hoped was a look of concerned compassion. “It was a tough day. I’m glad I could be there for her.”