Deadly Prophecy: A Second Sight Series Spin-Off Page 16

  Declan had tapped into his abilities before they left for dinner. Since they were short on time, he only had a few flashes of memories. The only worthwhile vision consisted of seeing the night Derek went missing from Taylor’s perspective. From what he could tell, the vision exonerated Taylor and Chelsea from involvement with Derek’s murder. Adam and Liam also seemed less culpable as well. The most telling part of the vision was Brianna’s absence. Was she actually in her room asleep at the time? Or was she in the middle of murdering Derek?

  “This is so much harder than I expected,” Jenna said finally with a sigh, looking over her shoulder at him. There was no need for her to elaborate. He felt like their thoughts flowed together. He could exchange a look with her from across the room and she’d understand innately what he was thinking.

  He pulled himself up onto his elbows. “If it’s any consolation, I feel like we’re really close to figuring out what happened to Derek.”

  “Do you?” she asked in a tight voice. “Because your vision makes me think his friends had nothing to do with his death.”

  “Maybe they didn’t,” he conceded. “But there’s a lot of puzzle pieces we still need to put together. We know Brianna and Derek broke up before he died and we also know she told him about her pregnancy.”

  “She’s not pregnant,” Jenna said sadly. “Isn’t that crazy I’m disappointed? She may have murdered my brother, but I’m bummed I don’t have a future niece or nephew to spoil.”

  “Are you sure? She could just be hiding a bump?”

  Jenna didn’t appear convinced. “Derek was killed almost four months ago; she wouldn’t be in her second trimester and look skinner than ever.”

  “So, what’s your theory? Maybe the pregnancy test was wrong? Or she didn’t keep the baby?” Declan felt uncomfortable suggesting the latter, but he had to put the idea out there. Evidently, Jenna had gotten her hopes up of having her brother’s essence live on through his baby.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “From what you told me, maybe Brianna is the only one you should focus your visions on. If we confirm she was definitely sleeping when Derek died, then I have to let go of this idea Derek’s friends killed him.”

  He reached for her hand, trying to comfort her in any way he could. “You had every right to be suspicious. But now we have one big question answered. They didn’t call the cops because of the drugs.”

  After a slight pivot, she fell into bed next to him. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her into his side. She leaned her head against his chest. They didn’t speak. For an indeterminate amount of time, Declan listened to her soft breathing and concentrated on the sensation of her being so close to him. She was turning to him for comfort. His impulsive side longed to start touching her, kissing her deeply. But that was his way to cope. Jenna needed something else from him entirely. Jenna needed him to be there for her—a solid presence.

  “I’m not giving up, Jenna. It doesn’t matter if I have to start all over with a brand new set of suspects. I will find out who killed your brother,” he said softly into her mass of blond hair.

  “What if the murder was random? There are monsters out there, people who kill and are never caught. There are so many variables I’m afraid starting over will be like searching through an endless sea of suspects.” She sounded tired, beaten down by the hopelessness of their investigation. Apparently, Jenna had shared similar expectations: they would gather with Derek’s friends and the killer would be obvious.

  He had been a part of dead-end investigations before. His visions would start out as promising, but things could get murky quick. The answers he found were often all wrong for those who imagined a picture-perfect reunion with their missing loved ones. There were the moms and dads who weren’t abducted, hurt, or killed; they simply wanted to disappear and start over in a brand new life. There were the runaways who weren’t holed up at some friend’s house, but instead half-dead on the streets with needles stuck in their arms. And then came the dead. The ones whose families wished they had simply walked away from it all. Declan had the great misfortune of being able to sense death. There was a nothingness—an empty space when he reached out to psychically connect. Despite families telling them the not knowing was a worse fate, he failed to believe them.

  Answers sometimes hurt more than living with the unknown. The truth forced the pretending to stop. A family’s prayers came to a screeching halt. They would be given the cold hard facts, no longer able to skew the truth in their heads as a way to make the pain bearable.

  What truth could he offer Jenna to make the loss of her brother easier to take? Did the knowledge of how he died bring him back? And there was no guarantee his visions would grant Jenna the justice she sought. The police weren’t going to accept his visions and throw the cuffs on whoever killed Derek.

  But Jenna needed to believe there was a chance at justice for Derek. Otherwise, she’d feel like she failed him in some unforgivable way. Instead of solving the case for a big payday, Declan wanted the case over so Jenna could get back to mourning Derek, not obsessing over how he died. Jenna had become too important to him to fail.

  “What did you think of me when we first met?” Jenna spoke into his chest a long while later. Neither were close to sleepy, their thoughts too busy to silence.

  “Do you want the PG- or R-rated assessment?”

  She laughed softly. “Whichever one you want to give me.”

  He clamped down on his lust before speaking. “I thought you were beautiful… obviously. And keeping in mind that I’m not an empath, I sensed your pain. I could feel in every word just how much you hurt over Derek.”

  “My boyfriend,” she started before clearing her throat. “My ex-boyfriend cheated on me two weeks before Derek’s death. The girl he was cheating on me with sent screenshots of their text messages. When I confronted him, he blamed me. Said there was no depth to me. Told me if he ever tried to write a poem about me, he’d end up with a blank page.”

  “Dick,” Declan muttered. He had to wonder if the boyfriend was the jackass he saw with Jenna at the dog rescue. At least her dog Olli had outlasted the relationship. Before leaving New Jersey, Jenna told him she had left him with her parents for the weekend.

  “Pretty much,” she agreed. “But a part of me wonders if he was right. I had a good family. Good friends. Overall, a damn good life. And maybe that was my downfall. I can’t process Derek dying because I’ve never had any other trauma in my life.”

  Bit by bit, he slid his hand down the back of her hair. “You can’t believe that, Jenna. Trauma isn’t some great character-builder, believe me.” He kissed the top of her head gently before continuing. “I’ve had plenty of trauma in my life and all it did was turn me into a selfish asshole. I lost my father. Almost died in a horrible accident. Became a drug addict. Got kicked out of the house by my mother. And instead of manning up when all this shit went down, I blamed everyone else for my problems. I didn’t become some better person who took each circumstance as a life lesson.” His openness about his past was uncharacteristic. He couldn’t recall ever before having the capacity to share so much of himself with another person. Sharing intimacies with Jenna was like second nature for him.

  “And now?”

  “I’m trying,” he admitted quietly. “Not quite the hard sell you’re probably expecting. But I do feel like I’m changing. Like maybe caring about someone other than myself isn’t such a bad thing.” He used his thumb to push up her chin to face him. “The idea you have no depth is laughable. I’ve only known you for a few weeks and I feel completely different. You make me want to do better.”

  Her body quivered under the intensity of his stare. Gently, she closed her eyes before speaking. “Dec, you don’t have to be better. I like you how you are.”

  “You deserve better than a fixer-upper.”

  Her eyes reopened. He didn’t dare move or breathe while she studied him. “Did you mean what you said earlier? You want us together?”

  Dec
lan thought he should tell her to run as far and fast from him as she could. But then, he’d lose her. Finding a woman he connected with on every level was never going to happen again. He couldn’t let her go.

  “It’s all I think about. You’re all I think about. I’ve had to stop myself over and over again since we got here to stop touching you—to stop trying to kiss you. Because I realize jumping into a new relationship is the last thing you need right now. And you’ll probably want to avoid dating a disaster like me—”

  Jenna cut him off. “You’re not a disaster.” She moved her head off of his chest and settled on the pillow next to him, not breaking eye contact during the movement. “You’ve gone through shit. And it’s made you put up a lot of walls. High walls surrounded by barbwire. But I have a feeling that what’s on the other side is so worth it.”

  Fuck waiting. He was going to kiss the holy hell out of her. Because life was too damn short to wait for the right time. He was a walking disaster, but if Jenna saw something in him, he couldn’t be all bad.

  His mouth covered hers and he was consumed. Every nerve ending in his body jumped alive. There was so much heat between them he was sure the end of the kiss would scorch them both. His tongue tangled with hers as he deepened the kiss. His arms encircled her tiny frame, wrenching her body to him. Sinking her knees into the mattress, she straddled him across the waist.

  His hands were greedy as they freely explored her tight body. He flattened his palms against her ass before giving her an erotic squeeze. Moaning into his mouth, she gave him a wild, sexy kiss. Before he knew what was happening, she was stripping out of her clothing. Her dress was tossed onto the floor without a second thought. Before he could react, she was swaying her hips back and forth above his erection.

  He stopped her hand as he reached for the buckle of his pants. “We don’t need to rush this,” he said out of breath.

  “I want this, Dec. I want you,” she whispered, silencing him by slipping her tongue deep into his mouth. Her mouth was demanding and he was turned off by her obvious loss of control. Damn, he wanted her too. But he didn’t want her to wake up the next morning and regret sex—regret him.

  When he pulled away again, he cupped her cheeks in his hands and whispered fervently. “I’ll wait; I told you that. We can take this as fast or as slow as you want.”

  She pushed her forehead against his as she struggled to catch a breath. “You’re being way too chivalrous right now.”

  His fingertips sneaked under the hem of her bra before letting out a frustrated groan. “To be honest, not taking you right now is kind of killing me.” His thumb grazed across her left nipple and his erection grew painful in his pants. He was dying to know what her breasts tasted like. “You really need to put back on your clothes for me to keep my self-control.”

  He allowed his gaze to wander over her body. God, she was even more perfect than he’d ever imagined. Full breasts and a curvy ass—his dream girl combination. Her barely-there panties and sheer black bra were leaving very little to the imagination. Easily, he could envision the many hours he’d spend satisfying her every whim.

  She grinned unabashedly at him and he felt like she could read his filthy thoughts. But he couldn’t be that guy with Jenna—especially if he wanted something long-term with her. And he did. The real her—not an artificial version his visions had created for him.

  Jenna gave him a manufactured pout as she slid off of his waist. She picked her crumpled dress off of the floor as she addressed him. “You and I will go on a date after this is over. A very long overdue date.”

  He could’ve collapsed in relief by the playfulness in her tone. Whatever reservations she’d had earlier seemed to fade away. Despite his flaws, Jenna was willing to give him a chance. Her affection was unmasked; she saw his imperfections and hadn’t run screaming in the opposite direction. He kissed her hard on the mouth. “Babe, don’t plan to get out of my bed for at least three days when this is all over.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The following day, the group gathered around a creepy makeshift memorial at the spot where Derek’s body was found. Declan had a tendency to cringe any time he passed any roadside memorials. There was something so depressingly sad about being immortalized through a plastic cross surrounded by artificial flowers.

  Not that he felt a traditional memorial was much better. After his dad’s funeral, Declan never went back to the cemetery. His father wasn’t there. His soul was long gone and somewhere else entirely. He never told anyone, but he had felt his father’s presence once. He didn’t remember anything clearly about the ski accident, but when he woke up from the coma, there was a lingering feeling that his dad was nearby. Sometimes, Declan wondered whether he had somehow visited with his father inside the space between life and death. Maybe his father had offered some kind of sage advice on going back to the world with superhuman abilities. Perhaps if he remembered the advice, there was a chance he would’ve avoided being such a royal fuck-up.

  But that was all behind him. Despite being surrounded by potential murder suspects at a dreary setting, he was feeling pretty damn upbeat. He was winning the heart of a woman he had very strong feelings for and he was getting closer to solving one of the most challenging cases of his career. Not a bad way to launch his business.

  And he was evolving. Money was nice, but there could be something to say for helping others. Those little warm and fuzzy feelings were pretty hard to come by otherwise. And if he did believe in the other side and higher beings, he had to face the fact he wasn’t gifted with his powers to make himself filthy rich. Someone thought he was worthy of being psychic, so he had better start proving himself. If psychic merit badges were being handed out, Kate was putting him to shame.

  The Liam and Adam show had launched the memorial service. They stood side by side next to the cross and proceeded with a litany of inappropriate jokes. Although Declan feigned checking his watch several times, they had yet to wrap up their speeches. Declan assumed they figured they were killing it since they found one another’s off-the-cuff remarks hilarious. Chelsea also offered the occasional titter as encouragement. Declan and Jenna remained stone-faced while Brianna stood off to the side staring morosely out into the distance.

  The wooded area backed up to a neighborhood park. By car, it was less than a five-minute drive away from the beach house and the store Derek was walking to when he went missing. For all intents and purposes, the location was an ideal body-dropping spot. According to the police report, the murderer likely parked in one of the small turn-offs surrounding the woods before dragging the body about a quarter mile away from the road. If the killer had parked in the adjacent lot next to the playground, video surveillance would have picked up images. The police were still trying to figure out where the murder had actually taken place. The woods didn’t look like a likely murder site since the cops hadn’t found significant blood evidence or signs of a struggle. However, the storms taking place in the days following the murder had compromised the crime scene.

  “And finally, I want to say Derek was the best one of us.” Declan felt a surge of relief when hearing Liam finish his speech. “He was the good one, the guy who treated the women in his life like princesses. Meanwhile, I always said women were like roads. Both covered in manholes,” Liam said with a hearty chuckle. “Mic drop,” he added, miming letting go of an imaginary microphone. Declan started to slow clap as a way to keep the service moving. Jenna really didn’t need to hear anything else these preppy douchebags had to say about her brother. Declan couldn’t imagine either of them as being capable of murder. Their chief crime was against fashion, as they dressed in matching skinny jeans and v-neck t-shirts.

  Jenna’s self-control was admirable. In spite of Liam’s blatant sexism and disrespect, she kept her mouth firmly shut in a tight line. She probably wanted to strangle both of these assholes at any given moment. Besides possibly murdering her brother, they acted like Derek’s death was one big joke Declan was trying to sh
ow tact as well by not giving Liam the finger as he concluded.

  Liam and Adam retreated to stand next to Chelsea. Soon after, Jenna took confident steps toward the cross and turned to face the group. While the memorial was a fabrication of their own making, she still had dressed in dark mourning colors: a long black skirt with a dark green blouse. The memorial was a lie, but her grief was genuine.

  On the other hand, Brianna was playing the part of emo girl. The same moody ups and downs from the original vacation were still present. One minute she’d share a touching moment between her and Derek and the next, she’d retreat to her room and disappear for hours. The behavior was odd, but if she was in the throes of grief, there was no way to predict a person’s disposition.

  “Thank you guys for coming. It would mean so much to Derek,” Jenna started. Declan held back a snort. Declan would love to tell Adam and Liam how extra they both were. She continued on solemnly, “These past three months have been unbelievably hard for me. Derek was more than my brother: he was my protector, my best friend, and my confidante. He was three years older, but I always thought of us as twins. I could read Derek with one simple glance in his direction and he could do the same with me. We were almost annoying to be around. We’d finish each other’s sentences and we understood jokes lost on anyone else,” Jenna laughed softly, likely thinking back to a private memory between them. Her voice was choked as she resumed her speech. “I don’t want to go through life without him. Some days I’m not sure I will. But we also shared the same strength. And I will use that strength to honor him by living the best life I can while always holding his memory close to my heart. I love you, Derek. And until we meet again.”

  Declan gave her an encouraging smile as she walked back to him. Brushing her hair away, he leaned down and gave her a tender kiss. “That was beautiful. You’re beautiful,” he said quietly for her ears only. He wanted to assure her of his sincerity. In the moment, he wasn’t pretending.