Saving Grace (Katie & Annalise Book 1) (18 page)

“Oh, shit!” I said. I ran into the kitchen with the men and we kept running out into the side yard, and well away from the house. I kept my eyes on the door, but the swarm didn’t follow us outside.

“Where’s Junior? He needs to handle this.”I shook my hand in the direction of the bees.

Egg shrugged and looked away. Great.

I walked back in the kitchen-side door to the house. The buzzing had died down. I ventured into the kitchen. No bees. I sucked in a fortifying breath and searched for the courageous Katie that Emily had just accused me of being, and I poked my head in the great room. Only half a dozen bees still stormed the room outside the chimney. I stepped cautiously into the center of the room, searching for a solution. A humming started again and I tensed, ready to flee, but this time it wasn’t coming from the chimney. It was coming from everywhere—under my feet, from the walls, from the ceiling. Egg appeared at the doorway with two other young men.

“You hear that? You feel that?” Egg asked.

I didn’t bother answering. I was worried about my friend. “Emily?” I yelled. “Emily?” No answer.

“You need to come outta there, miss,” Egg said. “We getting out of here, you come now.”

Yes, I thought. I need to get the hell out. But I stayed rooted in place. I watched, entranced, as Egg disappeared from the doorway. I heard the heavy footsteps of the men as they ran for the exits. The vibrations of the hum were massaging my face.

I wasn’t scared. Somehow, suddenly, I knew not to be scared.

Behind me I heard a whoosh, then a roar. I turned toward the sound in slow motion with the walls blurring, my hair lifting and swirling, and saw that the sound was a fire. Flames were consuming the interior of the fireplace and licking outward over the hearth. Now I heard the buzzing again, frantic and loud over the crackle of flame, but no bees swarmed the room.

That’s when I saw her.

She was so beautiful. Younger even than I’d thought, maybe not even twenty years old, and as tall as me. Her black eyes burned into mine. She wore her hair in twin cornrows that circled her head like a crown. Her dark oval face was devoid of all expression. She licked her lips, and her tongue was the color of a bing cherry. Without breaking eye contact with me, she tossed another piece of wood onto the fire, the waist of her blousy white shirt lifting with the movement, then she turned on her bare feet with her full skirt swishing around her calves and walked slowly out of the great room. I lost sight of her as she passed behind the wall to the vast entryway. I craned for one more glimpse. I had a perfect view of the path from the fireplace to the front door past the dining room, but I saw nothing but the solid walls of my house.

“Miss?” I called out. “Miss? Where’d you go?”

I ran after her across the concrete floor, thinking maybe she’d passed through the high-ceilinged entryway and into the study. I looked inside. It was empty except for the gungalos on the floor. She had vanished.

I leaned against the concrete wall with my hand on my throat, looking out the broken study window. The inside of my mouth tasted like ash.

Holy smokes.

A tongue licked my hand. Oso. I hugged his head to my thigh. “Good boy.”

“Katie?”

I whirled around. Was it her?

No. It was Emily. She stood in the front entrance.

“Oh. Hi, Em.”

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she said.

I laughed, the sound tinny to my own ears. “Bees. I saw a lot of bees. Did you hear me calling for you? I didn’t want you to get stung.”

“Your workers warned me. I was out back, by the submarine, or pool, or whatever that giant hunk of concrete is out there. I came back around when I heard the shouting.”

“Yes, they shouted all right. From a distance.”

“They were saying the house was coming apart. I think they’re overly dramatic, and stoned.”

I snorted. “I think those two things are related.”

“What was the noise? Was it electrical?”

I raised my eyebrows as I said, “No electricity out here.”

Emily tucked in her chin. I knew from years of working with her that this was her “perplexed and thinking” face. “An earthquake? The bees?”

“Sort of.” My brain worked on a way to explain it that made sense. Nothing was coming to me.

She put her hands on the back of her hips, fingers pointing down. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

I palpated my numb forearms with my hands. “Totally fine. Freaked out a little, but fine. Did you see her?”

“See who?” Emily asked.

“I think we had a visit from the jumbie,” I said. “She burned the bees out of the fireplace.”

“That wasn’t you?” Emily’s brows knitted.

“Nope.”

“No frickin’ way.” The way Emily said it was an exclamation, not a question.

I walked into the great room with Emily on my heels, giving the fireplace a wide berth. All that remained in it were embers. I saw a chunk of wood on the floor by the hearth, and I picked it up. I backed away, then threw it as hard as I could into the pit. It made a loud thwack. Then, nothing. No buzz, no bees.

Behind me, Egg said, “Bees dem gone!”

“Yeah, I had a lighter with me, so I started a fire, and it burned them out,” I said. I swiveled my head and made eye contact with Emily and held a finger over my lips out of Egg’s line of sight. She nodded once.

Egg looked at me as if I was speaking in tongues.

“But. . .” he said, staring at me.

“Yes, they’re all gone.” I wiped my hands on the front of my lower thighs, careful not to muss my white dress. “You guys need to sober up and get to work.” Hopefully he would chalk this all up to bad weed and let it go.

“Yes, yes, miss,” he stuttered. Now he was the one who looked like he’d seen a ghost. He turned and walked out to join the other men.

“You’re going to explain what the hell is going on to me soon, right?” Emily asked, but she didn’t really say it as a question.

“Absolutely. I promise,” I replied.

We were interrupted by the sounds of vehicles. I hoped it was Junior so I could give him a piece of my mind. Emily and I went out to see.

Two cars. Rashidi was climbing out of his red Jeep. I didn’t recognize the other car, a newish black Pathfinder. But I did know the people inside. In the driver’s seat, Bart. Beside him, Ava.

So, Bart had made good on the promise to visit. But what the hell was Ava doing with him? I hadn’t even taken Bart’s number, but somehow Ava had hooked up with him the second she could ditch us. It was ridiculous to get jealous about a man I wasn’t dating, wasn’t even sure I wanted to date. But he had made it plain that his interest was in me. That was enough to justify pissiness, I decided.

Rashidi now stood beside me, ignoring the dogs that were jostling him for attention. His face mirrored mine. Neither of us said hello. We both just stared at the Pathfinder.

Ava slithered out in her stretchy blue-jean miniskirt and matching vest. Vest shmest, it was a damn bustier. She shouted, “Surprise! Look what I brought you guys!”

Bart got out, and he grinned at me. I wasn’t ready to smile at anyone yet, so I didn’t. It was my house. I’d just had a paranormal experience. I’d act pissy if I wanted to.

Bart noticed. He spoke to everyone, but directed it to me. “Ava volunteered to be my sous chef.” He gestured toward the Pathfinder, which explained nothing. So it was a big black SUV with coolers and bags visible through its back windows and a beach umbrella hanging over the back seat. That told me nothing, and I didn’t like it.

“We have a feast, the most amazing feast ever on the island of St. Marcos. We shall dine like the gods,” Ava said, throwing her arms in the air over her head.

I heard Rashidi exhale. I still wasn’t sure who I didn’t trust—Bart, Ava, or both—but I swallowed it for the moment. I didn’t want to ruin everyone’s day. I would get to the bottom of this later. Soon, but later. And throw a hell of a snit fit if I didn’t like what I learned. In with the good air, out with the bad air, I told myself, then adopted a light tone.

“That’s great, because I’m starving,” I said, and my teeth were barely clenched.

Emily’s head had cocked at the tone in my voice. She knew I was pissed. She stepped forward, flicking her blonde hair behind her shoulder, and linked her arm through mine. “I could eat an entire cow,” she said. God, how I loved Emily.

“How about you give us a quick tour and then we take this picnic to a beach?” Bart suggested, looking at me.

“A beachable feast,” I said, my voice sounding almost normal to my own ears now.

“It is,” Bart said. He looked relieved. More than relieved. He looked hopeful.

Hopeful was too much for me right now. He had some ’splainin’ to do. I decided to ignore hopeful, and I turned to Rashidi.

“Later today, could you help me find Junior? He’s AWOL and his stoned contractors didn’t get nada done without him. I need to fire him, pronto.” I’d save the bee story for later.

“A pleasure,” Rashidi said.

I turned back to Bart. “All right. Let’s get this tour started, then.”

Forty-five minutes and one grand tour later, we parked two of our three cars along the side of the road at Amon Hall Beach at Rashidi’s suggestion, per his intimate knowledge of all things nature on the west end of the island. The beach was narrow and our cars were only thirty yards from the waterline. Coconut palms flanked a small patio-restaurant and bar just to our right as we faced the water. The teak tables and chairs were flipped upside down, the establishment closed. Beyond the restaurant, a hammock swung in the breeze between two sea grape trees whose round succulent leaves shaded the sand below. Rocks broke the surface of the water near the shore and an anchored dock floated a little further out. Two pelicans were cavorting over the dock, and a third one flapped its wings from its perch on its personal party barge.

Emily and I piled out of the truck. A pounding on the window from the back seat stopped me. It was Rashidi. He pointed at his door. I opened it.

“Wah, now I’m a youth again?” he asked. He unfolded his lanky frame and hopped out, his baggy shorts hanging to his knees and his Bob Marley t-shirt wet from sweat and stuck to his chest. “Child-proof locks. Let my people go.”

I laughed. “So that’s why Emily couldn’t get out last night. I’ll have to fix those.”

“I’m vindicated,” Emily said, and pumped a fist in the air.

“You were still hammered,” I reminded her.

From our parking spot on the road we heard a loud pop down on the beach, like a gunshot. My hand flew to my mouth, catching a scream. Peals of laughter rolled up to us and I looked down at Ava and Bart, who had already carried a red cooler down to the beach. I saw Ava dancing around with an overflowing bottle of champagne in one hand. She stuck the bubbly to her mouth, leaning over to keep the liquid off her body. It was time for Ava and me to have a do-better talk.

“Are you guys coming or what?” Bart shouted up at us.

Rashidi, Emily, and I joined the party.

The water blazed with the reflection of our dancing bonfire. I lay back, grinding sand into my salty hair, plastering it against my skin, which was bare except where my gold bikini covered it. If I closed my eyes just right, the stars became the trail of a sparkler waved across the night sky to light the moon. And if I closed my eyes completely, the effects of an afternoon drinking champagne shot off Roman Candles inside my eyelids. The world on fire, inside and out.

I sat up for another sip of champagne. The bubbles tickled the roof of my mouth, and the liquid left a trail of dryness across my tongue. I sank into my buzz, and it was like floating on my back in the warm ocean; the salt water supporting me, the waves lapping at my feet, the surge of the surf pushing me along in gentle spurts of forward progress. Bart had sprung for the good stuff, and a lot of it. We’d almost drained his case of Möet today. But then, we had been working at it for nearly ten hours.

The beach day would have ended a lot sooner, but Bart had managed to supply a good explanation for the two hours he’d spent chopping veggies and driving around with Ava. He said that he’d assumed she was on an intel mission with my blessing, and he used the opportunity to pump her for information about me. He said she’d grilled him the whole time he was with her. That explained his actions, but not Ava’s decision to approach him sua sponte. Of course, Ava herself was the explanation for most of Ava’s actions. I sighed. I loved her to death, but her insatiable need to be the object of every man’s desire was hard to take, and I couldn’t help but think it would get her into trouble one of these days. I drained the last of the champagne from my blue Solo cup and nestled back into my sand pallet.

Just then, Emily snored, loud and glorious, and Oso echoed it. Ava laughed, a cross between a growl and a yelp. A few grains of sand sifted onto my face as she stood.

“I’m going to get in the water one more time,” she said.

More sand. Footsteps, receding. Rashidi following her, I thought.

More sand. Footsteps, three of them, coming closer. A body sank into the sand close to mine. Bart. I already knew him by smell. Sharp garlic, sunshine, and the last traces of Halston. I didn’t know anyone else who wore Halston anymore. The last time I’d smelled it was on my high school boyfriend. I liked it, though.

And then Bart’s head was in the sand, too. Beside mine, but not touching me. I kept my eyes closed.

“Are you asleep?” he whispered.

I paused. I could pretend. Or not. “No,” I answered.

“Good,” he said. His head was turned toward me. “I have a confession.”

I was no priest. Did I want to hear? Listening any longer promised something, didn’t it? I could stop him with a word.

He scooted closer, turned toward me, and came up on his elbow.

“Last night wasn’t the first time I’d seen you.”

That surprised me, and made me just a titch nervous. If he was a sociopathic stalker, he’d fooled me so far. I tensed, ready just in case.

“I was at the Porcus Marinus a few weeks ago, and you were doing karaoke there.” He spoke softly. “I was smitten. I went to get a drink while I planned what to say to you, and when I came back you were gone. I thought I’d never see you again.”

That didn’t sound stalkerish, thank God, although it was scary in a different way. “I was only here on vacation. You almost didn’t.”

“When I saw you at The Lighthouse, I was one happy man.” He closed his free hand around my wrist. “You have beautiful wrists and ankles. Delicate.”

Goose bumps rose on my arms. “Thank you.”

He released my wrist and began to trace my collarbone. “Elegant lines. Classic. Sexy.”

Hummingbirds took flight in my stomach. I wasn’t sure whether to end this now or to just let it play out. Maybe if I let it continue, it would wash Nick from my mind.

His fingertips touched my cheekbones, his thumb grazed my eyelids, and his lips closed over mine. Just one lingering kiss. My heart triple-timed. Things I wanted Nick to do. Shit. So far it wasn’t washing very effectively.

“I think you’re gorgeous. And I like you. I want to have an actual date, just you and me, without the entourage of protective friends.”

“They’re promoting this more than protecting me.” And whatever else it was Ava was up to.

“A little of both,” he said.

Laughter from the water. My eyes cut toward Ava and Rashidi. I could see their silhouettes in the moonlight. There was no air between the two of them. I was happy for Rashidi. They’d couple well, and I hoped that he could erase Guy and his death from her mind, and ease her need for other male attention. Ava broke free from his clench, but let him keep her hand. “Come, Rash, let we go.” She said it like “Rawsh,” with a slightly rolled “r.” They walked up the beach toward us.

I rolled out from under Bart’s face and sat up. “You guys ready to pack up?”

“Yah, it time,” Ava said. She wrapped a fringed white sarong around her waist and tied it, covering the bottom half of her hot-pink string bikini.

Bart said, “Rashidi, would you mind driving Katie’s truck? She’s had too much to drink, and I said I’d drive her home.”

What? Like no one saw through that one. Rashidi didn’t respond. Good man, I thought. I opened my mouth to protest, but Ava was already speaking. “I’ll drive Rash back up to Annalise, and Emily back to my place. No problem.”

“Ava,” I said sharply, but everyone ignored me.

Bart’s hand found the small of my waist. “You guys run along, then. We want to stay a little longer. We’re nearly packed already, and we can carry the rest out in one trip when we leave.”

Manipulation was fine as long as I was the manipulator. I wanted to stay, and I wanted to assert my will. How was I to have my cake and eat it, too?

“Sounds good,” Rashidi said.

Ava leaned over Emily. “Sleeping beauty, time to continue your nap in the truck.”

Emily yawned and stretched. Oso did the same. “I’ll just sleep here tonight, if you don’t mind.”

“Move your bana, sister,” Rashidi said. “Grab your towel and shoes and make for Katie’s truck.”

Emily stood up slowly. Oso jumped up, confused.

“It’s OK, boy. You’re staying here with me,” I said. I patted the sand beside me. “Sit.” He licked his lips, walked in a tight circle two times, then flopped back down on his belly. It wasn’t sitting, but close enough.

Rashidi, Ava, and Emily were moving away from us within a minute, following their shadows away from the fire toward the truck.

“That was smooth,” I said, keeping my face in profile to Bart. “What if I didn’t want you to drive me home?”

He reached his hand around the back of my neck and pulled my mouth to his. He kissed me long, deep, and slow, like no one had kissed me in years. I let him, for a few seconds.

“Bart?” I interrupted him.

“Hmm?” he asked lazily.

“I’m choosing to stay, but, for future reference, don’t do my thinking for me again.”

He looked at me intently. “I like how you said future reference.”

“I’m serious.”

He adopted a grunt-answering-to-an-officer tone. “Yes, ma’am. In the future I will not think for you.” He dropped the tone. “In the present, I am going to kiss you again.”

So he did, and he was a good kisser. The sand, the fire, the water, the champagne. All of it was lovely. No fireworks, but something warmed in the center of me. I leaned in and kissed him back. Then it was time to tap the brakes.

“Are you in a hurry to go?” he asked.

“It’s more that I’m not in a hurry to get to where you’re headed,” I answered.

He studied my face in the fireglow. He kissed me once more, but a kiss of finishing rather than beginning. “We don’t have to hurry.” He stood up, reached for my hand, and pulled me to my feet and into him, his other arm wrapping around me in a squeeze that slid down my back and over my behind. “Although please don’t take my patience as a lack of interest. Because I’m very, very interested.” He released me, and the night air tickled my stomach where his bare skin had pressed into me moments before.

We rode back to Ava’s along the north shore with the windows down so we could drink in every last breath of the night jasmine and ocean air. Bart reached over the console and curled his fingers around mine, our hands resting on my thigh. I didn’t pull my hand away. I concentrated on all the things that were right about the moment and willed myself not to ruin it. This could be the start of something good for me. I could choose to be happy. I could choose a different path, an easier path. Bart hadn’t even flinched when I’d shared the story of the bees with the group that afternoon, including the appearance and disappearance of my ghostly friend. Not every man would take that in stride. Thinking about the bees reminded me that I had never followed up on my plan to find and fire Junior. Crap. Unfinished business for tomorrow.

Bart still had my hand in his when we pulled up the hill to Ava’s house. He made a hard right with just his left hand. Not an easy feat. I peered down the long driveway, then pulled my hand away. Oso sat up in the back seat. From a distance, it looked as if Ava was having a party. Lights were flashing against the night sky.

I sat up straighter. I rubbed my eyes and blinked. I counted cars. Too many? Or were my eyes playing tricks on me? “How many cars do you see, Bart?”

“Four,” he said. “Why?”

“I only expected to see my truck. Maybe my truck and Rashidi’s Jeep. And I don’t even see a Jeep. That flashing light isn’t right.”

We pulled closer. “They’re police cars,” Bart said.