New Revelations: Second Sight Book Two (15 page)

She
spun around
to glare at him. “So help me if you put your hands on my ass ever again!”

Kate heard his
snigger
as he shut her door. A second later, he
climbed into the driver
’s
side. “I was only helping you in,” he said and the faux
innocence on his face was
infuriating.

“What is wrong with you?
” she seethed.
“
First of all, who drives a Hummer anymore? You’re like ten years too late for this car to be cool. If you want to impress a modern girl, invest in a hybrid.”

“As you could tell, I have no problem impressing plenty of girls,” he retorted.

As she buckled her seatbelt, Kate
gave him a piercing look. “You’re not giving me a line about only having a soda, are you?”

“I don’t drink…ever,” he said with enough awkwardness that it sparked her
curiosity
.

“Oh, that’s right you’re a stoner. I forgot about the illegal substances you offered me while my mom was ten feet away from us.”

“I don’t do drugs anymore either. I only told you that they could help you see more visions. I haven’t
used in three years,
”
he mumbled.

The tension was obvious, but she got the feelin
g he really didn’t want to talk
about it.
Her biting tongue had gotten her
in
enough trouble to discern when it was time to keep her mouth shut.

Several minutes later s
he coughed to interrupt
the
silence. “Well…thanks for the ride. It wasn’t necessary, but it was very nice of you to offer.”

“No problem. By the way, do you want to work more on the psychic stuff together?”

“Definitely. I don’t think I’ll be able to get a good night’s sleep again until Max is back with his parents.”

They arranged to meet in a couple of days at his house in
South River
.
Her wariness over going to his house wasn’t a pressing issue any longer. In all honesty, Kate was curious to learn more about him. She figured the more she
discovered
about him, the more comfortable she would be in his presence.

Declan slowed to a stop in front of her house. “I’ll text you my address and you can come by after class.”

“Sounds like a plan. Thanks for the ride Declan,” she said opening the door and hopping out of the car.

“Day or night, I’m at your service,” he said before pulling away.

As Kate
watched his ostentatious SUV drive off, she felt more confused than ever over the mysterious psychic’s intentions.

“Your mom said the secret to waking you up on the weekend is to wave food in front of your face,” a voice whispered in her ear.

With a groan, Kate
opened her eyes and wondered if she was having a vision. Jared was sitting on the corner of her bed smiling at her
and holding a Dunkin Donuts bag
. However, since Jared had never been in her bedroom before she figured he must really be sitting in front of her. He was freshly shaven and by the waves of energ
y bouncing off of him he must have been awake
for hours.

“Don’t you know that a girl never wants the guy she likes to see her first thing in the morning?”

Kate only imagined the tortuous combination of
bed head and morning breath
Jared was witnessing.
Since her visions caused plenty of tossing and turning, she never looked well-rested in the morning. Red Bull, coffee and other highly caffeinated beverages were her only salvation many mornings.

“I’ve never seen anything sexier than you in y
our koala bear pajama pants,” Jared
said and
positioned his body over hers.

Before she could reply, his lips found her. His kiss deepened and her head completely emptied of any coherent thought
s. As she kissed him, Kate hoped he
felt
how much she missed him
.
Her hands cupped his face and she grazed her thumb across his cheek lovingly.

As he moved to her neck, she was able to gasp out, “Aren’t you worried about my mom hearing us?”

“She let me in on her way out. Said she’d be back in a few hours,” he mumbled into her skin.

“Am I spending the day with you?
” she asked hopefully.
“
We do need to buy furniture for your apartment,” she reminded him.
It wasn’t fun to spend time sitting on a pair of folding chair
s
without even a table to set a drink on.

“I wish,” he answered with a forlorn look. “Duty calls again.”

“Dating a cop really sucks sometimes,” she said.

“I know
,” he agreed,
“
and I feel terrible
about last night. I got your message this morning. My phone must have died while I was at work and
I didn’t charge it before I crashed. Were you able to get a ride home?”

“Yeah, Declan doesn’t drink, so he gave me a ride home.”

His surprise was apparent.
Jared
straightened and arched an eyebrow.
“Declan was at the party?”

“Yes. We have some catching up to do.” She lifted up into a sitting position. Pointing at the bag of donuts in his hands, she remarked, “Donuts sound amazing, but I’m fasting today. Do you have time to talk while I make my cleanse drink?”

Jared had an hour to kill before work. She met him in the kitchen after running a hair brush through her rat’s nest and brushing her teeth.
She went in for a quick kiss, but found herself lingering. Maybe she could use his handcuffs to keep him around for the entire day. He pushed a few of her hairs back fro
m her face and inquired
, “Glad I came by?
”

“This fuzzy feeling inside of me when you’re around must be what
people refer to as happiness.”
She grinned before turning to take a pitcher out of the cabinet. “Will you be around tonight?”

“
Yes. I was going to ask you to dinner, but
that seems cruel
seeing that you’re not eating and all. Do you want to go to a movie instead?”
Jared asked.

He straightened his tie as he waited for her reply. His suit should’ve been a dead giveaway that he was due into work. It had been her own wishful thinking that foolishly made her believe he would be all hers for the weekend.

“Only if you agree to make-out with me in the back row,” Kate joked.
“
It will keep my mind off not being
able to eat popcorn and M & Ms.
”

“Sounds good to me,” he said. “Will you be eating again in a few days?”

“I should be.”

With a grimace, she looked at the recipe card for the ingredients in the cleanse. Was she really going to drink this crap? She made such a big deal about doing it, she now felt obligated. Her stomach growled and she wondered if she should at least have the donuts Jared bought before beginning.

“Because your mom happened to drop a huge hint that your birthday is on Wednesday and
I wanted to take you out,” Jared explained.
“
When were you going to mention it?”

“
Honestly, it s
ort of
slipped my mind. The psychic stuff has taken over my life again
.
” She added after a thoughtful pause,
“
Plus, I haven’t done much for my birthday the
past couple of years. My mom makes a cake and Julie comes over. My father will take me out to dinner the weekend aft
er. Very low key
.
”

“Do you have plans yet? We could go to dinner wherever you want,” he offered.

“My mom hasn’t mentioned anything, so we can do cake with her the night before
,” Ka
te
said decidedly. Since the idea of thinking about restaurants on the day she was fasting seemed torturous, she suggested,
“Why
don’t you surprise me?”

“You’re on,” Jared
said and
his eyes crinkled as he beamed
in her direction.

These fluttery feelings were definitely lifting her mood. She hated to ruin it by bringing him up to speed on Declan’s psychic tutorial and the lack of progre
ss on Max’s abduction. Since Jared’s
time
with her was limited, Kate tried to
hurriedly
sum up
everything he missed in the past few days. Purposely, she left out the part about Declan’s flirtatiousness
at the party
. It would only create weirdness and she had already made it clear
to him
there was nada interest on her side.

Jared tilted his head as he listened carefully.
“You think he’s not being straight up with you?”

“I can
’t
shake the feeling he’s not telling me everything. Like he’s putting me th
rough a test
and won’t
reveal anything until I pass it. Part of me wants to stay as far away as possible from him, but he does seem to know a lot more about our gift than I do…” her voice trailed off.

“It won’t hurt to question him some more. The more yo
u know about your gift, the better
control you’ll have over it,” he s
aid and checked his watch. “Crap
, I have to go. Text me later about what movie you want to see.”

“Alright,
I’ll just be here enjoying
my delicious drink.”

Kate
held the glass
up for him to view
. She wasn’t surprised to see
his face screwed up in
repugnance
.
The concoction
was grayish
colored and probably the most unappetizing thing she had ever seen.

Jared
took it out of her hand and took a sip. By his expression, she could tell it took a lot for him to not spit it out. “I give you an hour until you cave.”

“Want to bet on it?” she challenged lifting an eyebrow.

“Not a chance. I rather you just eat. Give me a kiss to help me through the hell day I have waiting for me
at work,” he said and motioned her closer.

Walking over to him, she first ran her hands through his
dark
hair until
splaying her fingers across his shoulders
. She pressed her body against his and
pulled his mouth to hers. The passion began to build and lust coiled in her belly. Their kisses were fast and furious and she could feel his want matching hers. His hands began to move up her back underneath her tank top, setting her skin on fire.

His face was tortured as he pulled away. “You’re killing me, Kate Edwards.”

She gave him a coy smile. “Try to concentrate on work after
that
, Detective.”

***

Her mother arrived back home a few hours later. Kate was trying to keep busy to distract her from the hunger pangs. Her mom was impressed by the sparkling kitchen, folded laundry and
moppe
d floors. Darlene
gave her a hug in greeting. “I figured you would be sprawled on the couch. It was after one when you got in.”

Kate wasn’t sure if it was normal to have such a close bond with her mother, but she would’ve been lost without her. She could tell
her mother
anything and knew she would give her good
advice. It was touching
to think she waited up for her to get in.
Julie
battled with her own mother on a daily basis and told Kate regularly how lucky she was to have such a good relationship with Darlene.

Her mother spoke
,
“How was the party?”

“It was good. The cookies were a big hit of course,” she replied.

“Who dropped you off?
” she questioned rapping her fingertips against the table.
“
I saw you get out of someone’s truck I didn’t recognize.”

M
ost girls may be annoyed that thei
r mother was keeping
such close tabs
, but Kate understood where she was c
oming from. It had been
only a
month or so
since Kate was abducted right in front of their house.
The experience had shaken Darlene and brought out her fierce protectiveness. Almost losing Kate twice in two years had left her mother wracked with anxiety.