Believe: The Complete Channie Series (89 page)

“Great. Add paranoia to the list.”

By the time Josh got to South Boulder Road, his chest hurt so badly he could barely breathe. He stopped and pulled his phone out of his pocket. The glare from the sun kept him from seeing Channie, but just knowing it was her image on the screen eased the ache in his heart. “Yep. I’m definitely going crazy.”

He shoved his phone back in his pocket and kicked off. Ordinarily, he would have continued on to Cherryvale, since it had less traffic, but
something
inside him insisted he head east on the more direct route into Louisville. He turned right onto McCaslin Boulevard without thinking about it then veered off into the neighborhood surrounding Harper Lake. Josh rubbed his aching chest and pedaled harder. When he passed the Louisville Rec Center, he knew where he was going. Heritage Park. He just didn’t know why.

Josh
dismounted in front of a slightly neglected house on West Juniper Court, next to the park. The weird light in his chest pulsed as he stared at the far right window on the second floor. He considered knocking on the door, just to see who lived there. But it looked empty. And even if it weren’t, what was he supposed to say?
Hey, I have this weird feeling about your house. Mind if I have a look around?

He pushed Dad’s bike along the gravel path that led into the park. The ride to Heritage Park had taken a little over two hours, but Josh wasn’t any closer to figuring out what the hell was going on. He leaned the bike against the concrete building that housed the bathrooms then filled his water bottles from the drinking fountain.

He sat at the same picnic table that he and Eric had been sitting at last night…no. Not last night. Six months ago. The yellow and purple crocus blooming in the planter box next to the playground meant it was spring, not fall.

He pulled out his phone and stared at the wedding photo. He enlarged it until Channie’s face filled the screen. “Who are you? And what sort of spell have you cast over me?”

Josh laughed. “Spell. Yeah, right.”

He needed to talk to someone. Someone he knew. Someone he could trust. And someone that wouldn’t haul his ass off to the emergency room which meant someone other than Mom or Dad.

He didn’t want to explain anything over the phone, so he texted Kassie.

Need 2 talk. 911 Heritage Park.

She responded immediately.
On my way.

Josh met her at the parking lot behind the baseball diamond. His jaw dropped when she got out of the car. “You…you’re…
pregnant
!”

“No shit, Sherlock. What’s up?”

“I…I…”

“Josh?” Kassie’s eyebrows puckered. “What’s wrong. Where’s Channie?”

“Oh god. It’s real.”

“What’s real? You’re scaring me.”

Josh wrapped his arms around Kassie. Her baby kicked him. You couldn’t fake
that
. “Let’s go sit down. You aren’t going to believe this.”

Josh led her to the picnic tables and told her about waking up in Dad’s basement with no memory of how he got there. He told her about finding Diego and the triplets. He told her about his amnesia. He told her that Channie’s mother forced her to leave and that Diego believed she was in danger.

He did not tell her Diego’s wild story about how Channie’s mom had forced him to kidnap Josh to save his own family. He didn’t tell her about Abby’s murder or Diego’s claim that Josh had magical abilities.

The color drained from Kassie’s face. “Why didn’t you go with Diego? You have to find Channie!”

“Do you think she’s in danger?” Josh’s stomach twisted.

“Her parents are horrible!” Kassie’s eyes filled with tears. “I can’t believe you just let her go.”

“I don’t know what happened, but I do know that I didn’t
let
her go.” Light pulsed out of the center of Josh’s chest. It lit up the side of Kassie’s face, but she didn’t react. She didn’t even blink. Josh lowered his voice to a whisper, even though the park was deserted. “Do you see anything…weird?”

“Like what?”

Like a golden glow pulsing out of my chest?
If she did, she would have mentioned it already. Josh didn’t want to freak Kassie out any more than he already had by getting into the whole magic thing. So he raised his right arm and flexed. “Like, how I’ve bulked up.”

“You came back from Arkansas like that.” Kassie smirked and elbowed his ribs. “You left a boy and came home a man.”

“You think I lost my “V” card?”

Kassie frowned. “You really don’t remember?”

Josh shook his head. Of all the things to forget, why did it have to be
that
?

Kassie rested a hand on her baby bump. “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.” Josh propped his elbows on his knees and leaned forward. “I guess I should have gone with Diego.”

Kassie moved her hand to Josh’s shoulder. “You don’t know him very well.”

“I don’t know him at
all
.”

“Why don’t you call Hunter?”

“The stripper I shared an apartment with in Vegas?”

Kassie’s eyes widened. “Hunter’s a stripper?”

“According to Diego. He also claimed that Hunter gave Channie and me a sack full of money before we left Vegas…he thinks I left it in my car.” Even with the keys poking his thigh, Josh found it hard to believe that Dad had finally caved and given him a car. “Do I have a car?”

“Yeah. Uncle Ezra gave it to you after Channie broke up with you.”

“Channie broke up with me?” Josh’s voice cracked.

“Yeah, but it was before you guys got married.” Kassie grabbed Josh’s hand and hopped off the picnic table. “Come on.”

Josh stood up. “Where are we going?”

“To get your money.”

Josh locked Dad’s bike in the rack by the baseball diamond and followed Kassie to her car. She chattered nonstop as she drove, filling in some of the gaps in Diego’s story. Most of those gaps concerned Kassie and her relationship with Hunter.

She glanced at Josh and caught him staring at the wedding photo on his phone. “I can’t believe you haven’t already made that your screensaver.”

“Might as well make it my wallpaper, too.” Josh’s heart warmed as he made the switch. “I can’t believe I’m really married. How did that affect my racing career?”

Kassie cringed and sucked in a quick breath. “Yeah, about that…”

Josh
couldn’t breathe. His entire body was a ticking time bomb. “Pull over.”

“Josh…”

“Now!”

Kassie pulled off the road and unlocked the doors. “Are you sick?”

Josh bolted out of the car without answering. If he opened his mouth, he’d scream. He wanted to hit something. He wanted to
kill
something. An old oak tree drew his attention. Without realizing what he was doing, or why, Josh pointed at the tree. A fluorescent bolt of red light shot out of his hand. The tree exploded.

Josh stared at his tingling, but uninjured, palm then shifted his gaze to Kassie.

Her eyes, and mouth, were matching circles of astonishment.

Josh rubbed his palms on his thighs. “You saw that?”

“It’s kind of hard to miss an exploding tree.” She swiveled her head and scanned the sky. “There’s not a single cloud, anywhere. And no thunder. Did you hear any thunder?”

“Um…no.”

“I didn’t see any lightning either. Did you?”

“No.” Nothing but a red bolt of energy shooting out of his bare hand that, apparently, no one but he could see.

Josh walked over to the blackened hole in the ground, all that remained of the old tree. He glanced at his still tingling palm then fisted his hand. What would have happened if he hadn’t gotten out of the car in time? Would he have hurt Kassie? Or her baby? The thought tied his stomach into knots.

Kassie tugged on Josh’s hand. “Let’s go see if we can find that sack of money.”

Neither of them spoke until they got to the nearly empty parking lot at Monarch High. Kassie parked next to a cherry red Rav4 and cut the engine. She circled
his
car like a shark, peeking in the windows. “I can’t see inside. Unlock it.”

Josh fumbled the keys out of his pocket and pressed the middle button on the fob. Kassie yanked the back passenger side door open and crawled inside. “Holy shit!”

She backed out dragging a lumpy pillowcase. She plunged her hand into the bag and pulled out a fistful of bills.

Josh grabbed the sack of money and shoved it back in the car. “Are you crazy? What if someone sees this?”

“Hey, I’m not the one that hauled it to school in the back of my car.”

Josh shoved his hands in his hair. “I have no idea where this money came from. What if it’s stolen? What if it’s drug money? What if—”

Kassie pinched Josh’s lips shut. “Why don’t you just call Hunter and ask him?”

Josh lifted his chin, freeing his mouth. “I don’t know Hunter. How about you call him for me?”

Kassie pressed her lips together and shook her head.

“Why not?”

“That son of a bitch asked me to marry him and then disappeared without so much as a word.”

“He asked you to marry him?” What was wrong with everyone? “You’re not even out of high school.”

“Neither are you.” Kassie huffed and crossed her arms over her baby bump.

“I need to go get Dad’s bike. Meet me at Mom’s, okay?”

“Oh, hell no. I’m not getting caught in that crossfire.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You moved in with Uncle Ezra when Aunt Marge refused to let Channie in the house.”

“Mom and I are fighting?” Josh couldn’t imagine things getting so bad that he’d move out.

“You gave up racing and got married, what do you think?”

“I think I’m screwed.”

REVELATIONS

H
UNTER
DIDN
’
T
EVEN
BOTHER
COUNTING
the night’s haul before he shoved the money into the pillowcase in the back of his closet. It’d been at least two weeks since he’d strengthened the touch-me-not spell on the sack of live mistletoe he used to protect his stash. He was too tired to deal with it tonight. He stripped out of his clothes and crawled into bed.

But he couldn’t fall asleep. He couldn’t stop thinking about Channie and Josh. They’d all agreed that it would be safer to not call each other unless it was an emergency. Extreme loneliness didn’t qualify. He couldn’t even call Ms. Stephanie for a quick roll in the sack. That was a one-way deal. Hunter was on call twenty-four hours a day, and by gawd, he’d better not keep her waiting. He knew her most recent gift, a Kawasaki ZX-14R, wasn’t just to make him happy. It was to cut down on the time it took for him to answer her booty calls.

Sex with Ms. Stephanie was fun. That woman knew all sorts of tricks. But it was a temporary distraction, and left Hunter feeling more lonely than ever. He laced his fingers behind his head and studied the cracks in the ceiling. He wondered if Kassie missed him at all. He wished she hadn’t dumped his sorry ass.

“This is stupid.” Hunter punched his pillow then got out of bed and took a quick shower. He didn’t bother shaving his face, or anything else. Ms. Stephanie insisted that he keep his entire body as smooth as a baby’s butt. One trip to the waxing salon was all it took for him to know that wasn’t for him. If she called, he’d let it go to voicemail and claim his battery died. He was in no mood to entertain Ms. Stephanie.

He cast a balance spell, a quick-reflex spell, a listen-up spell and a bright-eyes spell on himself before putting on his helmet. All that magic wore him out, but he was putting his life on the line every time he got on that bike. That didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy it.

Hunter headed north on Interstate 15 with no destination in mind. Once he was out of city limits, he opened up the throttle and worked his way up the gears. At about seventy miles an hour he really got on it. The front wheel lifted off the pavement into a hair-raising wheelie. He held it for a good fifteen seconds before easing off the throttle and leaning forward to bring that bad-boy back to earth. No wonder Ms. Stephanie called it a crotch rocket.

It took less than an hour to get to Mesquite. He pulled into a 7-Eleven to buy the biggest cup of that frozen red drink he liked so much, even though it always gave him a headache. A girl, sitting on the back of a motorcycle, was playing with her cell phone. Hunter tipped his head in greeting, but she didn’t even look up. Whatever was on that phone must be pretty fascinating.

Hunter didn’t know enough about the different brands of motorcycles to know if hers was faster than his. But he wanted to find out.

A guy charged out of the store just as Hunter reached for the door. He jumped to the side to keep from being knocked over. “Take it easy there, buddy.”

The guy ignored him and yelled at the girl, “What the hell are you doing with my phone?”

Hunter set his helmet on the sidewalk, ready to step in if the guy got rough.

The girl stood up on the buddy pegs then swung her right leg over the back of the bike and hopped to the ground. “I was looking for that picture you took of us yesterday and found
this
.”

She turned the phone around and glared at the guy. Hunter couldn’t help noticing there was an awful lot of pink skin on the screen.

The guy’s eyes widened. “You have no right to invade my privacy.”

Oh boy. Wrong thing to say.

The girl’s energy field pulsed with equal amounts of grief and anger, while the guy just projected guilt.

“No
right
?” The girl’s lips parted as she shook her head. “You
cheated
on me and you have the nerve to accuse me of invading your
privacy
?”

“Look, Renee, it was just a one-time fling. It didn’t mean anything.” The idiot still hadn’t apologized.

Renee’s face turned so red, it glowed. “If it didn’t mean anything, why’d you take pictures?”

“It won’t happen again, I promise.”

“You bet it won’t happen again. We’re through.”

“Get back on the bike.”

“Screw you. I’d rather walk to Vegas.”

“Fine. Then walk. Nice knowing you.” The guy got on the motorcycle, revved the engine and took off down the highway.

Hunter couldn’t believe it. They were out in the middle of nowhere. What kind of scoundrel abandons a pretty little thing like that in the middle of the desert? He touched her shoulder. “Pardon me, miss, but I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation. Can I give you a lift?”

Renee blinked then looked at Hunter. Tears clung to the thick lashes framing her big, brown eyes. “I don’t know you.”

“Is there someone you can call? To come get you?”

She shook her head then froze. Panic lit up her energy field.

Hunter never used magic to seduce women, and he wasn’t going to start now. But this girl was in trouble. He used the tiniest bit of power he could and cast a weak come-hither spell on her. Just enough to get her to trust him.

She licked her lips and swallowed. “You don’t look like a serial killer.”

“I’m Hunter.” He smiled and held out his hand. “And I promise you, Miss Renee, you’re safe with me.”

Her smile lit up her face. “I don’t know why, but I believe you.”

“Where would you like to go?”

“Anywhere. Anywhere at all.”

Hunter took Highway 169 to the east entrance of the Valley of Fire State Park. Renee’s arms around his waist felt…safe. She was a beautiful young woman, tall and thin, but athletic. Her straight black hair whipped around her shoulders and flicked his neck. He couldn’t help wondering what it would be like to have a normal girlfriend. Someone that wasn’t twice his age or married to someone else. Someone that didn’t look down her nose at him, even if she was knocked up with someone else’s baby.
Damn it.
He didn’t want to think about Kassie.

When they got back to Vegas, Hunter tried three different restaurants before he found one that would serve them without a reservation. He felt a twinge of guilt as he used the credit card Ms. Stephanie had given him, but it wasn’t like he was cheating on her. He was just taking a nice girl out to supper. He also bought a couple of tickets from a scalper to Mystère, his favorite Cirque du Soleil show. The tickets took most of the cash in his wallet, but the look of wonder on Renee’s face as she watched the performers was worth every penny.

The come-hither spell wore off sometime just before intermission, but Renee didn’t seem to notice. She didn’t bolt. She didn’t jerk her hand out of his or move her head off his shoulder. Hunter would have loved to take her back to his apartment, and do nothing but hold her in his arms while she slept. But he’d already dodged two of Ms. Stephanie’s calls. He wasn’t any better than Renee’s cheating boyfriend. She deserved someone that could be there for her all the time. Someone that wasn’t entangled in an adulterous affair. They stood outside the theater, holding hands, until the crowd thinned. Hunter loved that he could gaze directly into her eyes, without looking down. He didn’t want the evening to end, but he needed to get ready for work. And for the first time since he’d started dancing for money, Hunter was ashamed to admit that he was an exotic dancer.

“I’ve had a really nice time with you, but I need to take you home.”

“Okay.” Renee dropped her chin.

“Where is home?”

“This is fine.” Anxiety, fear and sorrow poured out of her.

“You don’t live here, do you?”

“I’m from Texas.”

“What are you doing in Nevada?”

“My parents were trying to force me to break up with my boyfriend. I sort of ran away.”

“Ah. I see. Was that the guy that ditched you in the middle of the desert?”

She nodded.

“Do you want me to track that scum bag down and beat the living daylights out of him?”

“I just want to go home.” Her voice trembled.

Hunter brushed a tear off her cheek then hugged her. He knew exactly how she felt. He wished he could go home.

“Don’t cry. I’ll take you to the airport and buy you a ticket, okay?”

“My folks will buy me a ticket home—and ground me for the rest of my life—but I could use a ride to the airport, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“It’s my pleasure.” He’d be late getting to work, but some things were more important than money.

Josh’s
heart rate didn’t slow down until he hauled the pillowcase full of money into his room.

Kassie followed him inside then pulled the door shut and locked it.

Josh dropped the pillowcase when he saw the lacy bra hanging over the side of his laundry basket. He hooked a finger under the shoulder strap and lifted it up. Another memory flash, like the one in the kitchen, ripped through his brain.

His hands tremble as he unfastens the tiny buttons on the back of Channie’s green velvet dress. Her creamy white skin glows in the moonlight
…

Josh dropped the bra and clutched his head with both hands as he sank to his knees. Even with his eyes shut, he could still sense the golden light pulsing out of his chest.

“Josh!” Kassie knelt beside him and grasped his wrists. “What’s wrong?”

“My head.” He gritted his teeth and tried to hold onto the image; but it was like trying to hold onto a puff of smoke. He panted through the pain until it faded enough for him to speak. “It happened earlier today when I saw a pan of cornbread, of all things. Both times, I got a glimpse of what might be a memory, but it doesn’t last. I can’t even remember the memory, and it hurts like hell.”

“Maybe you should see a doctor.”

Josh rubbed his temples. “No. The pain’s already fading. I’ll be fine in a few minutes.”

“What if you’re having a stroke? Or an aneurysm or something?”

“No. That’s not it.”

“How do you know?”

“I don’t know, I just do.”

“I wish you’d at least call Hunter.”

“I don’t
know
Hunter.” Josh sighed. “And I can’t deal with any more unknowns at the moment. I need time to sort out what I
do
know.”

“That didn’t exactly make sense.”

“None of this makes sense.”

Stripper music poured out of Josh’s pocket. He pulled out his phone and frowned at the selfie of a young man posing in front of a mirror, wearing nothing but a banana hammock.

Josh turned the screen towards Kassie. “Is that Hunter?”

She nodded and licked her lips. “Yeah, that’s him.”

“Gross.” Josh accepted the call. “Hunter?”

“Is Channie there? She ain’t answering her phone.”

“She’s not available.”

“Damn it.”

“What’s wrong?”