Power Up 3: Whispered Words (6 page)

“I guess that’s something.” Chloe sat back, disappointed. “I got a call about a missing watch. Belongs to a friend of mine. So I went to check things out.”

“At night, in an abandoned warehouse? Must be some friend.” Xavier just looked at her.

She frowned. “A great friend. The point is, I was there for information about the watch. Instead of info, I was attacked. The creep bruised a few of my ribs and was planning to do worse. You two arrived just in time.” She still didn’t understand how they’d gotten there. “So why did you? How did you know to go to the warehouse?”

They shared a moment of silent conversation. What interested Chloe was that she could feel them speaking, like a low-pressured hum that vibrated through her brain.

“We had a tip that someone might be in trouble,” was all Josh would say. “So tell me. You worked for the PWP, then it closed down. And you’re out here?”

“Working for a gym?” Xavier added. He studied her. “You’re obviously in shape. And you’re sexy as hell, but a gym? Please. We know it’s a front for whatever Keiser is running. Who’s his client, anyway?”

She didn’t like how much they knew. Jack wouldn’t either. “This sure is good stew.” She concentrated on eating.

“You don’t want to answer, hmm? I can respect that.” Josh nodded at Xavier.

“How about if I tell you about Werlin? Think that might help you decide to share with us, your new best friends?”

“Maybe.” She turned back to her stew and nodded her thanks when Xavier dished her more.

“My family and I work together, a kind of fix-it agency. We’re independent contractors, and we take on cases most people can’t bring to the authorities. We provide quiet resolutions to conflict.”

“He’s pretty when he talks fancy, ain’t he?” Xavier mocked.

She couldn’t help laughing.

“Shut it, moron,” Josh said to his brother. He gave her a quelling look, which stifled her amusement. “Anyway, we had a job in Idaho a few weeks ago. A family of bullies with shotguns terrorizing a town. Small-time thugs getting bigger. So Xavier and I stepped in. We shut them down and landed a few of them in jail after taking down the local sheriff—a Werlin cousin.”

Xavier continued. “The old man didn’t much like us. And he’s not a man to have as an enemy. The bastard was ex-military. A demolitions expert. Caught us unaware, somehow. And we were out of it for a little while.” Both of them looked at her, and the silence made her anxious. “What?”

“You sure you don’t know Otis Werlin? His brothers Arlo and Ken? Any of those names ring a bell?”

“I told you. I work here.”

“Right.” Josh didn’t seem to believe her. “We know where you work, where you live, what you supposedly do for a living. But that’s on the surface.”

“Where I live?” She hadn’t brought a driver’s license with her. She’d left it in the car. Just how much “checking up” had these guys done?

“Honey, while you were asleep, we ran your prints.” Xavier grinned. “But I’m betting you weigh a pound or two more than what’s on your license.”

“Hey.” So she’d fudged the numbers. What woman didn’t?

“Xavier.” Josh sighed.

“What? Look at her shape. And no way she’s five foot five.”

“I’m close.”

“If you’re more than five three, I’ll eat my hat.” 

“Your point?” She fumed.

Josh interrupted before Xavier could open his fat mouth again. “His point is that we have resources. We know things, and we’re not your enemy. The question remains, are you ours?”

Chloe glared at them both, wishing they hadn’t put her on the spot. “So you two just want me to trust you because, what? You’re handsome? Because you’re both bigger than me? Because without your okay, I’m out on my ass?” They answered “Yes” in stereo.

“Oh hell.” She blew out an exasperated breath. “I’m not working for Werlin. If you know all that other stuff about me, then you know I’m telling the truth.” They didn’t speak. “It’s not like it’s a huge secret. Well, I don’t advertise it or anything, but if people ask, I’m honest.” But no one had thought to ask her about her abilities in years. Until the PWP. Until now. “I hear voices. Not crazy-town voices, like mental-case voices.
Real
voices. I’m a clairaudient.” The men leaned closer, their gazes intense.

“Ever since I can remember, I’ve heard them. Most of them want me to do things. Tie up loose ends for the dead. Fix things for the living. Share useless information. But some of them direct me to right wrongs.”

“Which is why you became a cop right out of college.” She frowned. “Yeah. Should I be flattered you know so much?” Josh’s expression softened. “We had to be sure, Chloe. If Otis Werlin has his way, we’ll be dead. For all we knew, you were working for him.”

“Knew? So you don’t think I’m working for him anymore? What did I say to convince you?”

Xavier took their bowls and spoons to the sink and returned with an answer.

“We already pretty much knew you weren’t working for Werlin. We just wanted to know more about you.”

“Asshole.”

He laughed. “That would be me.” He reached for her hand and squeezed it tight.

“We’ve missed you.”
She heard the voice loud in her mind. But it still took her a moment to read the satisfaction on his face and connect the dots. “Oh my God.

You?”

Josh frowned. “You’re sending now? She can hear you?”

“Yeah.” Xavier’s grin widened. “I told you she was our girl.”

“Wait a minute. Hold on.” Chloe had a hard time understanding. “You knew it was me all along?”

“No. What we told you about Werlin was true. He wasn’t happy we stopped his stranglehold on the town. He’s old-school. Country. A real frontier-justice kind of guy.” Josh sighed. “I should have seen it coming, but for some reason, I didn’t.

Xavier and I were caught by one of Otis’s special concoctions. Bomb knocked us on our asses.”

Xavier continued. “And a concussion rattled me a bit. It’s screwed with my abilities to contact you.” He let go of her hand. “If I’m not touching you, I’m still having a harder time sending than I should.”

Josh nodded. “My visions are spotty since the bomb. Unless I really struggle to see something. But it’s getting better. At first, I couldn’t see anything. Now I can see little bits but nothing about our future.” He paused, his gaze intent. “I used to see things about you all the time. Like the vision of you in the warehouse. Except since the bomb, I didn’t realize the woman in danger was actually you. I had no idea the stalker was yours either.”

“If he had, I would have done everything I could to let you know. I should have tried harder,” Xavier said and closed his hand around hers again.

She couldn’t look away from him and Josh. For so many years, she’d heard the voices. But it wasn’t until she’d hit puberty that one particular voice had sounded louder than the others. Though at first just a cold, lifeless voice, it had nevertheless directed her from danger and along the path to success. She’d gotten so accustomed to it being with her—a voice that took a personal interest in her, wanting nothing but to see her do well, or so it seemed. Losing it had really hurt. So to find it now,
here
, in all places, with these two larger-than-life men, was hard to fathom.

Xavier stroked her palm, and butterflies raced through her.

She pulled her hand back, both disappointed and relieved when he let her go.

“I—I don’t know what to say.”

Xavier seemed ecstatic, and he had yet to take his eyes from her. Josh didn’t look as happy. He seemed almost haunted.

“Josh?”

He pushed back from the table. “I need some space. I’m going out. Don’t worry. I’ll be careful.”

Xavier and she sat in silence. His coat, gloves, and hat in place, a gun tucked into his pocket, Josh left the cabin.

“This doesn’t seem real.”

Xavier blew out a breath. “You’re telling me. Chloe, you have no idea how hard it’s been not talking to you. Especially after what happened in Brownville.” She blinked. “You know about that?”

“Yeah. I wanted to tell you more, but Josh told me if I had, I’d have killed you.

He sees the events that unfold, and he normally tells me what I can and can’t tell you. Knowing there was a psychopath who had every intention of slicing your throat and ra—uh, doing other things to you, was killing me. But I couldn’t tell you. If I had, he’d have killed you and your friends, Noah and Lara, right?” She nodded, stunned. “So Josh sees my future, and you tell me all about it?”

“Yes.”

“But why? Why me? I’ve never met you before.” Another thought occurred to her, and she blanched. “We’re not related somehow, are we?” 

“Hell no,” he denied with a vehemence that startled her. “My family is straight up the only family I have. I can trace relatives back for generations. And you’re nowhere close to family.”

Annoyed now, she leaned into his space. “Why? Don’t want that pretty white-boy blood getting muddied up with mine?”

His smile surprised her. “Honey, I’d be more than happy to be a part of you.

Hell, it’s all I can do not to get up close and personal with you right now. But I’m not into making out with my cousin. You get me?”

“Oh.” She blushed, understanding a lot more. “So you don’t mind that I’m a little darker.”

His lethal grin raised the temperature in the room. “I like the way you look against me. That tanned belly looked real good against mine. And I can’t wait for you to wrap those fine legs around my waist.” He licked his lips. “I’ve had a hard-on for you since I saw your pretty face. For a long time, you were just a person I had to speak to. I could feel you were female but not much more than that. But as the years passed, you felt more intimate. A part of me. A part of
us
.” He closed the distance between them and loomed over her.

“Xavier?”

“Just let me kiss you, honey. Now that you know, let me show you how I feel.” She couldn’t have stopped him if she’d wanted to. Her body was on fire, her lips tingling with the need to feel him. He held her close, his overpowering frame no longer threatening but protective.

And then he kissed her. Unlike before, this kiss promised care, tenderness, and a sense of belonging. His lips moved over hers with a hesitance as he learned what she liked. Then his tongue slid over her lower lip and pressed into her mouth.

She gasped and groaned as he swept through, taking possession as he pulled her further under his spell. Before she could deepen the kiss, he pulled away on a groan.

“Shit. Chloe. Oh man, I’m so fucking hard right now.” He placed her hand over his erection, and she squeezed, amazed at how large he felt. “See what you do to me? And it’s not just me,” he said. “It’s us.”

The cryptic words made an odd kind of sense, but before she could ask him to explain, the door banged open. Xavier closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to hers, his body trembling.

“Dammit, we talked about this,” Josh swore as he slammed and locked the door behind him. He ripped off his boots and outdoor gear before striding into the bedroom.

“I have to talk to him.” Xavier took a few more deep breaths and let them out slowly. “You are so pretty, Chloe. You have no idea what I want to do to you.” She knew what she wanted to do to him. But how would Josh react? Would he feel left out? Abandoned?

Would he want to join in?

Her entire body cried
yes
at the thought. Then Xavier pulled away.

He kissed her lips once more. “The HF transmitter is over by the fire. If you call through on the frequency listed, it’ll patch you through to one of my brothers.

They can send your message to whoever you need to talk to. I’ll be out in a minute, okay? We have a lot more to say. All of us.”

She nodded and watched him walk away. He closed the bedroom door behind him, and she wished she could have joined him. But maybe the bedroom wasn’t the right place. A big-ass bed. Two handsome men. And Chloe.

Fanning herself, she found the transmitter and asked someone named Sam to pass a message to Jack. Time to get her head on straight and back on track. But after she signed off, she couldn’t help wondering what Josh thought about all this.

And if he still wanted her, or if he wanted her gone.

Xavier found his brother standing stock-still in the bedroom, staring out the window. Nervous and trying not to show it. That was Joshua. Always trying to be the stronger one. The rock. The levelheaded twin who followed the rules and was rare to anger.

Xavier snorted. He knew better.

Josh might be harder to rile, but when the man grew angry, he seethed with a cold rage. He could burn for hours, days, weeks. Xavier got angry quick, and then he let it go. Not so with Mr. I’m-in-Charge.

“Spit it out, bro. You know you want to.”

Josh whirled around and scowled.
“Again, Xavier? We talked about this. No sex
with Chloe! But just a few minutes after I walked outside, I was hot and hard and
aching. What the fuck? You can’t be that hard up for sex.”

“You’re kidding, right? It’s
her.
Our girl. The one we’ve been waiting for.”

“You mean the one you’ve been waiting for. So we share a connection with her.

So what?”
Josh turned away, but Xavier saw it.

That kernel of fear Josh couldn’t quite hide, not from his twin.
“Josh, she’s not
Karen.”

“I know that.”

“I don’t think you do.”
Poor Josh. The one time in his life he’d tried to be independent, and he’d gotten badly burned.

Xavier knew he and his twin were bound. As if they shared the same soul but had two bodies, they liked and hated the same things. Xavier accepted it. But Josh struggled. He’d tried to go his own way. Had sought out a female for himself. And she’d been a worthless bitch who cared more about what others thought and about herself than about the caring man who’d given her everything. Even the truth about himself.

“Why the need to bring up Karen? She’s gone. It’s been years.”

“Two long-ass years. And you still won’t share with me.”
Josh stiffened and wouldn’t turn around.
“We’re not normal.”
Xavier chuckled.
“No shit. What’s your next excuse?”