***
Kate knew instantly this vision wasn’t of Cori. Her surroundings were too bright. The room lacked the dingy depression of the house of horrors where Cori was being kept captive. She reached out her mind and didn’t find any foreign thoughts. She was only an observer and not inside the head of whoever’s memory this was. Since she made a connection with this person’s mind, she guessed there was the potential to reach into their thoughts. This was a skill she had yet to figure out, though. On a positive note, these visions were the easiest for her to handle. She didn’t have to share the feelings of anger, terror or sadness with the person. It allowed her to have some disconnect and pretend she was only watching a movie.
Shit, she thought, as she heard voices and focused on her surroundings. She soon comprehended she was in Jared’s apartment. The clock on the oven read six o’clock and she saw Nikki and Jared sitting at the kitchen table eating. Empty Chinese food containers littered the counters and a half-empty bottle of wine was set between them. Nikki was dressed in a simple floral sundress that highlighted her radiant and tanned skin. Wearing a distressed expression, she mostly pushed the food around on her plate. Kate centered her attention on Jared and noted he wore the same white button-down he had worn to lunch today sans the tie. He looked tired and distracted. Kate was amazed that this was most likely a scene from earlier that evening.
For the most part, the time frames of the visions were seemingly random, too. Yet, she sometimes wondered if the memory was in the forefront of the person’s mind at the time and that’s the reason she saw them when she did. She wished she could conduct post-psychic surveys to learn more about her gift.
Setting aside her inner reverie, she concentrated on their conversation. “Of course I’m annoyed, Jared. I know it’s your case, but she’s my sister. I think you’re going completely in the wrong direction here. Anyone could provide a vague description of a car.”
“I disagree with you. I would never risk your sister’s life if I wasn’t one hundred percent certain that Kate could help.” He sounded earnest, but his tone seemed to put Nikki off even more.
“I don’t trust her. You told me to meet her and decide for myself. This is what I decided. She’s stringing us along because she’s after something,” she countered while shaking her head at him. Picking up her plate, Nikki walked to the kitchen sink.
Jared moved to stand behind her. “She already insisted she didn’t want money. What could she possibly be after?”
“How can you be so dense? She’s after you, Jared.”
Kate felt physically ill and hoped this vision was coming to a close. Her least favorite memories were of witnessing her parents fight over her. It was just as stomach-turning to watch Jared and his girlfriend do the same thing. At times like this, she felt it was safe to assume whoever gave her these abilities wanted to see her tormented.
He turned Nikki around and grabbed both her hands in his. “It’s not like that…”
“Jared, I know how girls operate. She was sending some very strong and not subtle signals your way when we went to her house. I don’t want you to discuss Cori’s case with her anymore,” Nikki insisted and gave him a deadly glare. Although she was petite, Nikki could definitely look tough when she wanted to.
“Please, I don’t want to fight. This is the first time we’ve been alone all week. Everything I’m doing is to get your sister back. You know how hard I had to fight to get put on this case because of our personal relationship. I’m doing this for you,” he promised and brushed a loose strand of hair away from her face.
“And you feel nothing for Kate? You’re only using her for Cori’s benefit?” she demanded lifting her head to meet his eyes. Nikki was even shorter than Kate. She hoped the girl suffered a debilitating neck problem from having to always gaze up at the towering Jared.
“I wish you wouldn’t put it like that. I don’t think that way about her—I love you. I feel sorry for her. She’s had it rough and it’s obvious she could use a friend.” Damn, Kate thought, he made her sound like such a pathetic loser.
“Jared, I swear, you are so much like your aunt. Feeling sorry for every forlorn creature on this earth, trying to take in the strays,” Nikki said with a roll of her eyes. Kate willed herself to wake up. She couldn’t imagine anything worse than having Nikki and Jared tear her apart.
“Enough, I’m serious.” His voice was stern as he pressed his finger against her lips.
Seeming to relent, she gave him a smoldering look and moved in for a kiss. Jared leaned into the kiss and pressed her compact body against the counter.
It was revolting to watch his sensuous mouth kiss someone who wasn’t Kate. Her flash of insane jealousy made her understand how hard she was falling for him. As the kiss continued, he began to move his hands up and down her body. Kate realized it was indeed possible for this vision to be worse. Nikki sighed and began to unbutton his shirt. He threw it off and began to kiss her more passionately. He started to work on unzipping her dress.
Jared stepped out of his pants and stood in his boxers. If Kate wasn’t completely horrified, she’d be turned on. Every inch of him was sheer perfection. His body was hard and muscular, but still lean enough where he didn’t look like one of those muscle heads who juiced up then spent hours lifting at the gym. She longed to touch him for herself and feel the rigid lines of his chest and abs. Other guys she had dated paled next to him. Jared looked much more like a man where they all had the bodies of boys.
As attractive as she found him, she definitely didn’t think she could handle seeing what was under those boxers. Or even more traumatizing, being forced to watch Nikki and him have sex in their kitchen. She’d rather claw her own eyes out than witness that atrocity.
As his hand found its way under the skirt of Nikki’s dress, Kate focused all of her energy on getting the hell out of there. She was never able to willingly leave a vision in the past, but she was going to be damned if she didn’t try her freaking hardest to get out of this nightmare. Nikki’s dress began to slip off…
Kate gasped. She looked around and was grateful to find herself in her bed. Sitting straight up, she tried to calm her breathing. Her chest felt tight and she wondered if she was having an anxiety attack. A gift? These visions sucked and this only reaffirmed her belief. She rarely woke up happy from a vision. Bad enough they were usually filled with violence, she now had to be privy to the sex life of the guy she liked. Why couldn’t she have a pleasant dream about her and Jared getting busy? Not a vision of Nikki and Jared together. Blech.
What a dick Jared turned out to be, too. He felt sorry for her. He could take his sorry and shove it up his ass. She was nobody’s charity case. She hadn’t expected him to fall madly in love with her, but she foolishly thought they were becoming friends.
He was using her? Well, screw him. She wasn’t trying to locate Cori for him anyway. She was doing it for a little girl who deserved to be home with her family. The more she thought about it, the more she reasoned she should be thankful for the vision. It had the ability to instantly crush her crush on Jared.
She groaned when the clock read a little after six in the morning. She knew she wouldn’t be getting back to sleep and to be honest, the idea the vision could be continued scared her shitless. She already felt the desire to wash her eyes out with soap. If the couple went all the way, she’d probably have to check herself into a psych ward. Throwing on her rattiest robe, she headed downstairs.