First Visions (14 page)

Still, even before Cori was kidnapped, things
were growing tense between Jared and Nikki. They had moved in
together about a year earlier. Since that time, Nikki had made it
perfectly clear she expected a ring soon. She was the same age as
he was and wanted to begin the next chapter of their lives. Jared
wasn’t sure why the idea of getting married terrified him. Each
holiday became uncomfortable as Nikki made it evident the present
he got her wasn’t the one she desired. His brain was at odds with
his heart, but he decided to ignore any hesitation he had. Right
before Cori was taken, he had spent time pricing out rings.

Then, Cori was abducted and he had heard
about Kate. He wasn’t sure if enlisting the help of a psychic would
be the smartest move. After calling his aunt to discuss his
reservations, she had insisted he go see Kate. His aunt had a
“spiritual advisor” and the advisor had said it was fated for him
to go there and if he didn’t Cori may be lost forever. He was
superstitious enough to know he wasn’t going to take any
chances.

Kate had thrown a wrench in his perfect life.
She made her longing crystal clear and he had guessed at a
developing crush early on. Never, did he think it would turn
serious or he may reciprocate the feelings. At first, she seemed
very young to him and her defenses were hard to get through. His
attraction grew the more time he spent with her, but he felt things
were not out of his control. He should’ve been smarter and drawn
boundaries the first time she arrived at his apartment
unannounced.

If it was anyone’s fault that she had
developed feelings, it was his. Continuously, he had pushed their
friendship and convinced her to trust him. Jared knew her history
and was well aware of how isolated she’d been. It was no surprise
she felt drawn to him after years of loneliness.

Last night, he had alternated between wanting
to strangle her and take her to his bed. When he pulled up at the
bar and saw the men harassing her, his possessiveness made it hard
to think straight. Not to mention, she wore barely-there clothing
and flirted outrageously when they had been alone. His gut twisted
at the memory of her sharing the vision of his parents with him. It
never occurred to him she would be able to see inside his head and
find his vulnerability. He didn’t talk about his parents
ever.
It was too torturous to dwell on the short time he had
with them and relive old memories.

He was sorry Kate was upset, but despite his
feelings for her, he had morals. Leaving Nikki would be wrong and
he wasn’t that guy. He had a long history with Nikki and despite
her occasional callousness, she didn’t deserve for him to be
questioning their relationship now. Even if he wanted to be Kate’s
friend, it would no longer be possible. Although he had values, he
wasn’t a saint. Too much time with her and he knew he wouldn’t be
able to resist temptation. It had taken all of his willpower to not
kiss her last night and Jared had only retreated when he grasped
how much he would end up hurting both her and Nikki in the
process.

After splashing cold water on his face, Jared
stumbled into the living room. Nikki sat primly on the couch with
her legs and arms crossed. She wore a pretty yellow sundress which
complemented her light hair and tan skin. Even furious, she was
breathtakingly beautiful.

She tossed back her hair and gave him a
deadly look. “What’s with the half empty bottle of whiskey? Have a
party here I didn’t know about?”

“No, just me drinking alone. Kind of
stressed, in case you haven’t noticed,” he said dryly and sat down
on the armchair facing her. After dropping Kate off, he had broken
out the alcohol and did shots until he felt numb enough to
sleep.

“And the hand…” She gestured to the bandage
haphazardly wrapped around his right knuckles.

His frustration had built up and after a few
drinks he thought he would take it out on the kitchen wall. The
wall seemed to win and he had ended up nothing but a bloody and
sore hand. “Punched a wall,” he said shortly.

“Did the wall do something to you?” she asked
sarcastically. “What’s going on with you, Jared? I know we’re both
a mess right now, but you usually handle stress much better. Solo
benders? Fistfights with inanimate objects? It’s very unlike
you.”

“I’m not sure what to say. It was a shitty
night and I’d rather not talk about it and get back to finding your
sister.” He blew out a long breath and looked down at his
hands.

“I looked through your cell phone,” Nikki
admitted evenly.

“Huh?”

She gestured to the cell phone sitting on the
coffee table in front of them. “I checked your text messages and
call log while you were sleeping. Want to tell me why in the hell
Kate Edwards called you at one in the morning?”

He peered at her closely for a minute. Jared
knew he should probably give her crap for going through his phone,
but didn’t have the energy to fight with her. “Kate was stuck at a
bar and needed a ride home. Her date was drunk and she didn’t want
to get in the car with him.”

“And she called you?” Nikki demanded
incredulously. “Why would she even think that’s remotely ok? And
did you go?”

He nodded and the blood immediately rushed to
her face. “What were you thinking? Why didn’t you tell her no?”

“I don’t know, I thought I was doing the
right thing. I would’ve felt horrible if anything happened to her.
I did tell her she could call me,” he admitted glancing out of the
window. The day was sunny and he wished he could escape outdoors.
The temperature within the apartment suddenly seemed stifling and
Jared was feeling as if it was difficult to breathe.

“No less than three days ago, you told me you
were only using her and she meant nothing to you. Now what? She
calls you to her rescue and you willingly oblige. How about saying
you can’t and she should call her mother or a friend if she needs a
ride?” Nikki balled up her fists and looked ready for blood.
Knowing Nikki’s temper, Jared wondered if she would end up throwing
a few random objects at him.

“I was only trying to be kind to her. Of
course, Cori is my main priority, but Kate seemed like she could
really use a friend. When we spent time together working on the
case, I got to know her better. She’s afraid of anyone knowing
about her being psychic and she keeps herself closed off. The only
way she even entertained the idea of helping us out was to promise
her name wouldn’t be released to the media.”

“Some week you spend together. Sounds like
you know more about her than your girlfriend for three years,”
Nikki said with bite.

Casting a suspicious glance in his direction
when he gave no response, she demanded, “You picked her up last
night, then what? Did you sleep with her?”

“
God
, Nikki, of course not,” he
assured her. “I got her some coffee and took her home.” Jared
wasn’t sure what to confess to Nikki. It’s not like anything
happened
with Kate and he couldn’t even put it into words
what he was feeling towards her.

“Do you think I’m thick, Jared? If that’s all
it was, you wouldn’t have fallen into a drunken stupor and punched
a wall.”

“It doesn’t matter, we got into an argument
and I doubt I’ll be seeing her again. Hopefully, this didn’t wreck
our chances of finding Cori,” he sighed. “Can I get dressed and
make a pot of coffee now? I should be getting to work soon.”

“You’re not
dismissing
me. I want to
know what you fought with her about. Was it something she said or
did? Did she make a pass at you?” she demanded.

Jared shifted in his seat uncomfortably. Now
he understood what suspects must be feeling when he brought them in
for questioning. He ran a hand nervously through his dark hair. “It
doesn’t
matter
. Nothing happened.”

“Damn it, Jared!”

She rose to her feet and threw a couch pillow
at him. Jared was thankful it wasn’t the glass bowl on the coffee
table. “The least you could be is honest with me! I’m not blind. I
can tell you have feelings for her. If you think I’m going to sit
idly by and watch our relationship go down the toilet over some
slutty college kid, you’re out of your mind! I put three years into
making this work and I’m not getting any freaking younger. It’s
time for you to step up and be a man.”

“I’m sorry,” he said morosely. It was on the
tip of his tongue to deny his attraction to Kate, but the words
became lodged in his throat. Instead, he questioned, “What else do
you want me to say, Nikki?”

“I want you to say you love me and want to be
with me forever. And for you to promise to stay away from Kate
Edwards,” she spat out the name.

Jared looked at her and wondered what had
happened to them. Had the stress of Cori’s kidnapping been their
undoing or had he known for awhile things weren’t right? Was that
the real reason for his hesitation over getting married?

“I’m not a child. I haven’t done anything for
you to act like I’m so untrustworthy you have to make me swear to
stay away from another girl. I never cheated on you and I never
will.” Her accusations along with his hangover were beginning to
push him over the edge.

“Ever hear of emotional cheating, Jared?
Because that’s what you’re doing with Kate.” She grabbed her purse
and turned towards him. “I’m going back to my parents, they need me
now and I can’t worry about this crap with you. I’ll call you when
I want to talk.”

Before he could reply, she stormed out of the
room and slammed their apartment door. He didn’t follow her and
figured it would be best to give her some time to cool off. He
decided to get dressed and go into work. Throwing himself into his
job would be what he needed to keep his mind off his disastrous
love life.

Kate woke up to the smell of greasy fried
deliciousness. Her mother stood in front of her waving a McDonald’s
bag in her face. “Time to get up, I brought you breakfast.”

Crawling her way into a sitting position, she
remembered she had crashed on the couch right after Jared took off.
Her mother had not tried to converse once the detective had left.
Wordlessly, she had kissed her forehead and thrown a blanket over
her before heading off to bed. Kate had not bothered undressing
before falling asleep and was in the same clothing she wore the
previous night.

On the other hand, Kate’s mom looked as if
she’d been dressed and awake for hours. She was showered and wore a
blouse with a set of pearls and Capri pants. Kate eyed up the fast
food bag she held with excitement, but then sensed her stomach
lurch. The debauchery from last night was threatening to make her
stomach rebel. Falling back into the couch, she let out an overly
dramatized groan.

“Now, now,” her mother said taking her by the
hands and lifting her back up. “Nothing cures a hangover better
than fast food and cola.”

“I think I’ll just lay here and die if you
don’t mind. Feel free to go on with your day. Maybe if you have the
time, throw a blanket over my corpse at some point.”

“Well, when you drink your own weight in
alcohol…” her mother started.

“Please, don’t, Mom. No lectures,” she
mumbled while wrapping her arm around to cover her eyes.

“Fine, but you should be grateful your mother
is forgiving and is not going to dwell on her daughter suddenly
becoming a lush.” Her mom removed the sandwich from the wrapper and
set it out next to Kate’s drink. After a second’s hesitation, she
asked her, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Talk about what? How I basically threw
myself at a guy with a girlfriend and made a complete ass monkey
out of myself?” Kate took a long gulp of soda and followed by a
huge bite out of her sandwich. Thinking about Jared made the urge
to vomit even stronger. “I mean, what’s wrong with me?”

“I may be biased, but you’re perfect. You
can’t blame yourself for falling for him,” she reasoned. “There’s
this old quote from a French philosopher called Pascal, ‘the heart
has its reasons, where of reasons know nothing.’ I think the
sentiment applies to your situation.” Her mother gently patted her
leg.

Kate swallowed hard and tried not to cry
again. “I don’t understand why I even like him. First of all, he’s
old.
He freaking calls me kiddo for God’s sake. His work
wardrobe is in serious need of an improvement and he’s dating
Malibu Barbie.”

Her mother didn’t say anything and Kate had a
sense she wasn’t very convincing. She lamented, “I should’ve known
he would never be interested in someone like me.”

“Maybe it wasn’t all one-sided? Maybe he
threw signals your way which made you suspect something could
happen?”

God, her mother was the worse, Kate stewed
silently. She was supposed to sit here and trash him with her. Not
make her think Jared maybe liked her, but rejected her anyway.
Cringing, she recalled how she basically admitted everything she
was feeling for him. The damn alcohol had made her break through
her reserve and she had practically begged him to give her a
chance.

“I don’t know, he never came out and said he
liked me. I want to die every time I think about how he told me one
day I would find someone and that someone wasn’t him. If I’m honest
with myself, I want more than anything for it to be him,” Kate said
morosely. She softly added, “I mean he’s obviously gorgeous.”

Her mother gave a slight smile.
“Obviously.”

“But it’s more than that. He made me feel
special—like being psychic didn’t make me a total freak of nature.
It felt good to be admired for a change instead of having to deal
with the accusations of being a fraud or something worse. He
actually told me he wouldn’t care if I saw into his head because he
had nothing to hide from me.”

She felt her eyes well up with tears again.
It was impossible to imagine meeting another man who would be open
to accepting her second sight as something to marvel over. “I
should just face it. I’m destined to be alone forever.”