Soulsearch (Teen Paranormal Romance Series) (The Soulmate Series: Teen Paranormal Romance Book 2) (22 page)

“Yeah, maybe we could hang out more if one of us had a license,” Tara replied, and Rachel felt guiltier than ever.
 
Tara had gone out of her way to befriend Rachel when no one else gave her the time of day, but ever since ‘Rider as Cameron’ came into her life, she hadn’t made a single effort to spend time with Tara.
 
Of course, Tara had a boyfriend to keep her company, but it just wasn’t the same as girl time.
 
They used to spend the ride to and from school together, but even that had dwindled now that Rachel has started to ride to school with Rider.

“You know, I’m sure my mom would take you home later if you wanted to come over after school one day,” Rachel offered.
 
“We could just ride the bus home together.”

“That would be great,” Tara smiled.
 
“Or you could come over to my place.
 
I don’t think my parents would mind.”

“Sounds great.
 
You boys can live without us for an evening once in a while, right?” Rachel asked.

“Well, maybe Tyler and I will hang out and have some guy time that night.
 
You know, watch Rambo, practice our grunting, stuff like that,” Rider mocked and the girls rolled their eyes.

When they arrived at Tyler’s, the four kids snagged some snacks from the kitchen and made their way to Tyler’s “man cave.”
 
Relocating from his small bedroom a few years before, Tyler had taken over the entire basement of his house and turned it into a nerd’s paradise.
 
The dark, 70’s style wood paneling on the walls was an anachronistic backdrop to the myriad of electronics lighting the room with their flashing, blinking displays of multicolored LED’s.
 
They circled the room like the control center of an intergalactic space ship, their monitors alive with scrolling data and rotating images.
 
Tyler’s bed was pushed into the corner, his Star Wars comforter rumpled in a heap.

“Whoa,” a chorus of voices exclaimed as the visitors entered his magic lair, their eyes wide with awe as they swiveled their heads to take it all in.

“Oh my God, Tyler, you’re geekier than I thought!” Rachel exclaimed, then immediately covered her mouth in embarrassment.
 
“Sorry, that didn’t come out right,” she backpedaled.

“It’s cool; I know what you meant,” Tyler smiled.

Rider wanted to ask what it all was, but he knew he wouldn’t understand the answer, so he decided not to embarrass himself by bringing it up.
 
Instead, he focused on the car posters dotting the walls.
 
He didn’t know much about cars, either, but at least he could appreciate them.

Tyler plopped down on one of the three desk chairs and waved his hand to indicate someone else could take the others.
 
Rider took the furthest one and pulled Rachel onto his lap, leaving the closer chair free for Tara, who was much more likely to need access to the computers.
 
Rider figured he and Rachel would do more good by staying out of their way while they worked.
 
Besides, it gave him an opportunity to have Rachel on his lap, a thoroughly enjoyable, albeit potentially risky, situation.
 
His muscles stiffened as she wriggled around, trying to get comfortable, and a small hiss escaped his lips.
 
Rachel wrapped her arm around his shoulders, her breasts tantalizingly close to his face.
 
He gulped as he tried to focus on what Tyler was saying.

“So tell us about this long lost relative you’re trying to find,” Tyler asked, leaning back in his roller chair and swinging it back and forth with his feet.
 
Rachel looked at Rider and nodded, indicating he should tell the story.
 
She would leave it up to him to come up with something convincing since he decided to bring it up in the first place.

“Well, his name is Michael Andrews and he’s about 40 years old, but we don’t know his actual birthday,” Rider explained, the story distracting him enough to calm down his erratic hormonal response to having Rachel’s body firmly planted on top of his.
 
“We know he travels a lot on business — he works for a company called Guardian Consulting or something like that.
 
He lived in New York City at one point, maybe still does, but we don’t know his address, either.
 
All we have is a phone number that he doesn’t seem to be answering.”

“We have a picture, too!” Rachel piped up, digging her phone out of her pocket and simultaneously sending Rider into convulsions as she shimmied around on his lap.
 
She held up the image for Tara and Tyler to see — a blurry side shot that could easily be a million different guys.

“Well, that picture isn’t really good enough to use for an image search, unfortunately.
 
That would’ve been the easiest route, but I’m sure we can find this guy,” Tyler declared confidently then spun his chair around to face the largest monitor on his desk.
 
He began typing and clicking furiously, streams of data scrolling down the screen as he narrowed the search.

Meanwhile, Tara was watching with interest, chomping on cheese popcorn, pointing out results and making cryptic comments that Tyler responded to with grunts and nods and more rapid-fire keyboard action.
 
“Want some popcorn?” Tara asked as Tyler glanced longingly at the bag in her hands for the umpteenth time.

“Yeah, but I don’t want cheesy fingers,” Tyler explained, wiggling his fingers and looking pointedly at the keyboard.

“Here, I can help,” Tara offered with a smirk and popped a kernel into his mouth.

“Yum,” Tyler replied, wiggling his eyebrows, and Tara fed him a few more pieces.
 
Rachel and Rider rolled their eyes and chuckled under their breath.

Rachel and Rider had no clue what Tyler was doing, so they busied themselves by gazing into each other’s eyes and trying their darnedest to read each other’s minds.
 
They both really missed knowing what the other person was thinking all the time.
 
Of course, Rider was a little relieved that Rachel couldn’t read his thoughts just then, since he was having pretty explicit thoughts about her at the moment.
 
Rachel gave a little smile and her cheeks turned pink and Rider worried that maybe she had an idea what he was thinking after all.
 
She wiggled around a little bit more on his lap and Rider started to hyperventilate.

After what seemed like an eternity, Tyler stopped his searching and turned back around with a sigh.
 
“I’m embarrassed to admit I’m not having very much luck here,” Tyler explained sheepishly.
 
“I can’t find anything about this Guardian Consulting company.
 
You’ve given me just enough info to rule out all the people I’m finding, but not enough info to find anyone else.
 
Is there any way you could get more details?
 
A date of birth would be awesome.
 
Or a past street address?
 
Even a middle initial would be helpful.
 
Maybe the names of some of his immediate family members?”

Rachel and Rider exchanged silent glances before responding.
 
“That’s really all we could get.
 
I mean, we could ask again, but…”

“If he’s a relative, shouldn’t somebody in your family know something more about him?” Tara asked, confused.

“Well, we don’t know for sure if he’s a relative…we just think he might be,” Rachel tried to explain.

“How do you think he’s related to you?
 
We could do a genealogy trail if you’re just trying to fill in your family tree or something,” Tyler suggested.

Rider shook his head.
 
“I don’t think he’s going to show up on the family tree.”

“So what do you want with this guy, anyway?” Tara asked in frustration.
 
“Is he like, super-rich and you’re trying to get some money out of him or something?”

“No!” Rachel gasped in surprise and anger.
 
“How could you think that?”

“Well, you’re being all weird and secretive, that’s why!” Tara exclaimed.
 
“You’ve been taking all these out of town trips, ignoring everybody else and whispering secrets to each other in the halls.
 
We’re trying to help you and you won’t even explain why you’re looking for this guy!
 
What else are we supposed to think?”

“We’re sorry, you’re right,” Rider apologized, hanging his head.
 
“We’re not up to anything nefarious, it’s just, a really weird situation, and it’s kind of hard to explain.”

Tara and Tyler stared silently at Rider, each with their arms folded and one eyebrow raised, waiting impatiently.

“You know, never mind.
 
It doesn’t matter anyway.
 
Let’s just watch a movie or something and forget about it,” Rider suggested.

“No way,” Tara replied emphatically.
 
“You can’t go this far and then tell us to drop it.
 
Now we’re involved.
 
We want to know what’s going on.”

“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you,” Rider offered weakly, his resolve crumbling under the scrutiny.

“Try us,” Tara demanded matter-of-factly and Tyler nodded eagerly.

Rider pinched his eyes closed and wiped his face with his hand.
 
He peeked out from under his fingers to look at Rachel who was biting her lip, uncertainty scrawled across her face.

“Do you believe in the supernatural?” Rider asked with a sigh of resignation.

Tara and Tyler both pulled back in surprise at the suggestion.
 
“What you do mean, like, vampires and werewolves and stuff like that?” Tyler asked dubiously.

“No, no, none of that,” Rider immediately refuted.
 
“I mean, I doubt it’s anything like that.
 
I just mean, are you open to the possibility of things that are….outside the normal realm of experience?”

“Well, science doesn’t have all the answers, as much as we’d like it to.
 
There’s some things that science just can’t explain, at least not yet anyway,” Tyler offered, in lieu of a straight answer.

“Are you suggesting this guy is a supernatural being?” Tara asked.

Rachel and Rider exchanged hesitant glances.
 
“Maybe,” Rachel replied.

“What makes you think that?” Tyler asked with curiosity but no hint of disdain.

Rider’s mouth and hands flapped in equivocation as he tried to think of ways to explain without sounding like a total lunatic.
 
“Well, see,…I uh,…I mean…”

Rachel just shook her head and laid her hand on Rider’s arm to silence him.
 
She took a deep breath and looked her friends in the eye, first Tyler and then Tara.
 
She kept her eyes on her friend as she spoke.
 
“There’s something you don’t know about me.
 
Until a few months ago, I shared my body with another soul.”

Tara and Tyler’s mouths dropped open and their eyes bugged out as a range of emotions played across their face in rapid succession.

“I know, it’s sounds crazy, but you know I’m not crazy, right?” Rachel pleaded with her friends to understand.

“We’re listening,” Tara replied, suspending her disbelief long enough to hear her out.

“There was a boy who lived inside of me.
 
His name was Rider,” Rachel continued.
 
Tara’s eyes widened at the name.
 
“When I had my accident, I died on the operating table for a little bit, but they brought me back.
 
They didn’t bring Rider back, though.
 
When I woke up, he was gone.”

Tara and Tyler exchanged a brief glance but kept their silence, encouraging Rachel to continue.

“Cameron died, too, during surgery, but they brought him back, too,” Rachel explained, her voice dropping to barely a whisper.
 
“But he wasn’t Cameron anymore.
 
Cameron’s soul was gone.
 
It was Rider in Cameron’s body.”

Tara and Tyler’s eyes swiveled back and forth rapidly between Rachel and Rider, their faces slack with shock.

“I know it doesn’t make any sense, but it’s true, and Rider…Cameron and I have been on a quest to find out where he came from and how he got this ability.
 
We think Michael Andrews has the answers.”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute.
 
Back up,” Tyler replied, holding up his hands.
 
“You expect us to believe this?
 
This is bonkers!”

Rachel looked to Tara to gauge her reaction.
 
She was wide-eyed and speechless, but her face didn’t hold the cynicism that Tyler’s had.

“You believe me, don’t you, Tara?” Rachel begged.

Tara looked back at Tyler and gulped.
 
“It sounds….fantastical, Rachel.
 
Like, really bizarre.
 
But you’re my friend and I trust you.
 
Why would you lie about this?
 
If you say it’s true then I guess I believe you,” Tara replied.
 
Doubt still clouded her eyes, but she made an attempt to smile.