Kali shook her blonde curls and crossed her legs. “Quite the cynic, Miss Johnson. He might be a very nice man underneath that scouring, growling menace of a face he’s got going on.”
“I hope that’s not me you’re talking about?” The voice startled us both, making me nearly jump out of my skin.
“Sorry, ladies. I didn’t mean to scare you. So who’s got a growly, menacing face?”
Looking up, I see Paul standing there in all his glory, smiling at the two of us. He was another good-looking cop, a little older than me, with black hair and brown eyes. He wasn’t as tall as some men in the station, but he had the right muscles in all the right places. The only problem was that he liked it rough. Believe me, I had the pleasure of seeing that in his head once. It was hard to look him in the eyes for a while after, and his handcuffs were a constant distraction. I kept wondering how many women he had used those with—and I wasn’t talking about the ones he’d arrested, either!
“Michael. He always looks at Cassie like he wants to throw her over a balcony or something. We don’t know what his problem is.”
Averting my eyes, I looked down at my desk. I grabbed all the accident and incident reports on top of my IN tray, just to avoid the stares.
“I don’t know what his problem is, either. Cassie’s a beautiful young lady and should be treated as such.”
I looked up to find him smiling at me. I couldn’t help but return it. He certainly knew how to turn on the charm, I’ll give him that.
“That’s better, Cassie. You have such a lovely smile. You should show it more often.” He winked at me, then frowned a little. “Listen, I’m having lunch around one o’clock. Will you meet me at The Canteen? There’s something I want to ask you.”
Shifting in my seat, I wondered what it was he wanted to say. “Okay,” I answered.
Paul’s smile grew even wider as he triumphantly nodded his head. “Great,” he bellowed. “I’ll see you then.”
He walked out the door. When I looked at Kali, she was staring at me. “What?” I asked, even though I knew already.
“You do know what it is he wants to ask you, don’t you? Can’t you see it coming?”
I could see where she was coming from, but I was hoping I was wrong. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“I highly doubt Paul wants to ask you to play chequers with him. Unless, of course, it’s strip chequers.”
She was trying to be funny, but I didn’t like the thought that she may be right. “Kali, he’s asked me this before and I’ve said no. I wouldn’t have thought he would ask again. Why would people do that to themselves?”
Uncrossing her legs, she leaned over the desk a little. “When did he ask you?”
“I think within a week of us starting here.” I chuckled, placing a hand over my mouth.
“Well, that was six months ago. He may think you’ve changed your mind since then. Men have a short attention span, you know.”
I laughed at her, but felt a little uneasy at the prospect that she might be right. I hated turning people down.
“Psst,” Kali hissed.
Looking up, I saw Kali waving her thumb in the direction of the new police officer she mentioned earlier. “He’s coming this way. Act cool.”
I immediately started laughing as I thought how ridiculous that sounded. I was very cool, but Kali seemed to be flustered.
“Hello, ladies. My name is Stephen Faron. I just started today and wanted to get to know everyone. It always helps to introduce myself so I know who to come to in the future. I take it you are the traffic girls—if I can call you that?”
“Yes.” Kali beamed from ear-to-ear.
Shooting out of her chair a little too enthusiastically, she stuck out her hand. He took it as she introduced herself. Then he turned his attention to me.
The first thing I noticed were his penetrating blue eyes. I had never seen eyes like that before. It was almost as if he was reaching in and grabbing hold of my soul. It made me gasp inside, but I didn’t know from where that came. Seeing him look at me like that was overwhelming. I just couldn’t take my eyes off of him.
When I did manage to pry my eyes away, the next thing I saw was his hand. I didn’t want to really take it. I liked the feeling of ignorance too much.
Kali, on the other hand, had other ideas. She was frantically nudging her head toward him as I stood still. I knew why she was doing it. She wanted me to get the “gossip” on him.
I inwardly cringed, but dutifully held my hand out to him. As his edged closer to mine, I held my breath, waiting for the almighty barrage of shit I normally saw throughout my day. But something else hit me hard—harder than anything I had ever experienced.
The feeling of nothing.
Gasping, I stared into his eyes, wondering who on earth this sexy stranger was. I couldn’t believe what was happening. Had I finally lost this incessant curse of mine?
“Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. I swear I’m not that bad.”
Looking into his light blue eyes, I smiled. It was actually a relief to not feel anything. It was nice to shake his hand and not have all his past and future memories mapped out in front of me.
“I’m fine. Sorry. You have a very firm grip, that’s all.”
He chuckled, but looked at me peculiarly. “Have we met somewhere before?” He frowned a little, drinking me in, and my heart thumped harder than ever.
“No. I think I would have remembered if we had.”
Oh, shit. Am I flirting with him?
He smiled and trailed his eyes across me. “I think I would have, too. Can I have your name, at least?”
In my flustered state, I blurted, “Cassie. Cassie Johnson.”
Raising an eyebrow, he looked at me as if he were trying to figure me out. “Cassie…short for Cassandra?”
I cringed. I knew that was the name on my birth certificate, but I hated being called Cassandra. I had been called Cassie since I was a little girl.
“Yes. But people call me Cassie.”
“I see.” He hesitated slightly, staring into my eyes. “Well, I guess I will be off. Kali, Cassie, it was nice meeting you both.”
“And you, too,” we said in unison.
Stephen walked towards the exit, but as he did, he was still looking at me like he was somehow trying to figure me out. I felt a little annoyed that I couldn’t see anything. Now he was a mystery that needed solving.
“What the hell was that, Cassie? It looked like you were going to drop your knickers for him. You can’t have every guy in the station, you know.”
It sounded as though Kali was angry with me, and I didn’t want her to be upset. She did see him first, and I should imagine that what happened just then did look a little bit too familiar for her liking. “Sorry. Something extraordinary happened and I had to think fast.”
“So, what did you see? Was it our wedding day?” she joked.
I was still rooted to the spot. This was the first time this had ever happened to me. “No. I didn’t see anything,” I whispered.
She looked confused, and I couldn’t blame her. I was as confused as hell.
“What do you mean you didn’t see anything? You always see something.”
“I know.” I was baffled. “He’s a mystery, I’ll tell you that.”
Kali frowned a little, making a crinkle form at the top of her nose. “Have you lost your ability or something? That never happens.”
“I know.”
I was a little worried. I didn’t know why I was worried as it was everything for which I ever prayed, but the thought of not seeing Stephen at all made me a little uneasy.
“Try Callum!” Kali rose from her seat and grabbed Callum just as he walked through the door. “Come over to Cassie a minute, please, Callum. She just needs to hold your hand for a second.”
I cringed. How on earth did you explain something like that?
“Cassie can hold lots of things if she wants to.” He chuckled a little, but st
ood at attention in front of me.
Kali rolled her eyes, but pushed Callum towards me a little more. He glanced down at me, smiling as I shook my head.
“Why do you want to hold my hand, Cassie? I don’t mind but, I must say, I’m a little intrigued.” Callum peered at me with his dark brown eyes. He was of average build with strawberry blonde hair and eyebrows that kind of met in the middle.
“She’s practising reading palms. She’s very good at it. Go on, Cassie. Look at his palm and do your stuff.”
Looking over toward her, I shook my head again. I didn’t want to do this, but knew I couldn’t back out now.
I did as instructed and dutifully took his hand. I had to pretend to look at his palm so he wouldn’t get suspicious.
The memory of him as a young lad being beaten by his father violently came to me. Poor Callum. Through all of his wit and charm, he had the most horrific childhood. I did, however, see a young girl, a little younger than me. He was going to meet her soon and fall in love. This girl was the one he was going to marry. I saw her through his eyes and all I could feel was his love for her. It was a much better feeling than ever. These were the times I liked to see the visions.
“You will meet a young girl very soon and be married within two years.” I smiled up at him sweetly as he shook his head.
“You’re pretty shitty at this palm reading thing, Cassie. I’d carry on with your day job, if I were you.”
I laughed at that, but didn’t correct him. If I went into more detail, he’d start questioning me when it came true. I really didn’t want that.
“I know,” I said sheepishly. “I think I’ll just get back to work. You can go now, Callum.”
“Why, thank you, ma’am,” he said, bowing, then sauntered off.
Kali looked at me expectantly, but I had a bone to pick with her. “That wasn’t the smartest move, Kali.”
She looked down at her desk like she was a kid caught in the cookie jar. “Sorry, but it worked, didn’t it? Did you really see that common psychic shit, or did you make it all up?”
“No, I really did see him meeting a girl very soon. She’s the one for him,” I said happily. I was really pleased for that outcome.
Getting back to work, all I had to do was try and get Stephen out of my head. I’m not sure whether that would be possible after our first encounter.
Chapter 2
The workload was as heavy as always. The amount of traffic accidents people had on a daily basis was phenomenal. We were a team of five and all the accidents just got distributed evenly between us, so it was just luck who got which paperwork. Basically, our job was to read through the cases, gather all relevant insurance documentation, send statements off to any possible witnesses and police officers, then we would recommend a decision to our Executive Officer on any necessary action on the case.
The case I had right now was a bad one. A pizza delivery boy out on one of his errands was struck when a man pulled out in front of him. The poor guy on the scooter went hurtling over his bike, landing so violently that it caused a compound fracture to his left leg and internal bleeding. He was now on life support.
Of course, cases like those had to be treated more urgently than others, so I got to work, making sure I didn’t miss a thing. It was only once I was finished that I looked at the front of the report book to see who the reporting officer was. Oh great. Michael again. I didn’t get a single accident of his, and then two come along within a week. He’s like a frickin’ bus!
At one o’clock, I trotted down the stairs with Kali so that we could get some lunch. I spied Michael straight away, eating on his own like usual. It almost felt like he knew I was there, but didn’t acknowledge my presence. I must admit that it wasn’t the nicest feeling in the world.
I saw Paul, though, and he seemed anxious to speak with me. With a quick wave of my hand, I stepped up to buy a sandwich and a drink. Once ordered, Kali and I slid into our seats.
“Hi, Paul. What’s up?” Kali winked at him, then sat next to him, awaiting his answer.
Looking across the table, he smiled brightly in my direction. “I have two tickets to see Cats, and I just wanted to know if you wanted to come with me?”
As he asked, a bunch of other lads joined us at the table. Stephen slid into the seat next to me and I nervously smiled at him. I really didn’t want to piss Kali off for something he was doing.
Stephen shifted next to me and looked deep into my eyes for a second. It was almost as if he was searching for something, or urging me to. I wasn’t sure why he found me so interesting.
Paul, obviously frustrated by this, threw his food down on the plate. I could tell he was pissed. He liked control, but this was a situation that he couldn’t. I also knew that if I ever did entertain the idea of going out with him, he would get very possessive, very quickly. Gone would be the days where I would be able to be with a group of men sitting around me like this. I could already see it. He wanted to control me in every way. He seemed to have a heated desire for it.
“We’ll talk later, okay, Paul?” He sighed, but nodded.
“So, Cassie, tell me about yourself.”
Turning my head, I stared at Stephen. This was getting weirder by the second. No man had ever asked me a question like that right off the bat.
He spied my widened expression and reached his hand to a lock of hair that dropped in front of my face. With a gentle tug, he placed it back where it was, making me stiffen slightly. This was the first day I met this man and he already picked a lock of hair off my face? I’ve never let anyone do that to me so suddenly.
Dragging my shocked eyes away, I looked at Paul and Kali, who both looked pissed as hell. I suddenly wished I had gone out for lunch.
“There’s not much to tell, Stephen. I was born and raised in London. I have no brothers or sisters, and have been working here about six months now—same as Kali. Her life’s a lot more interesting than mine. Kali, tell Stephen about all those swimming trophies you won. She’s a fantastic swimmer.” I smiled towards him, hoping to spark some interest from him towards her.
“It’s nothing major. Just won a few tournaments, that’s all.” She smiled sweetly in Stephen’s direction.
“There’s no need to be modest about it, Kali. You should see her house. It’s filled with them,” I said, eager to sway the conversation even more. “She has a big family of five sisters and six brothers, and she goes to Surrey every weekend to practice shooting. She likes guns.”
“Really?” Stephen seemed impressed.
I mentally sighed in relief. That seemed to gain his attention.
“Yes. Every Saturday that I can, I practice shooting. I love it.”
“So, what do you love to do, Cassie?”
Oh dear, back to me again. What was wrong with him? “Nothing really. I like to read and go for walks. I’m pretty boring for a twenty-five year old.”
Stephen pursed his lips and nodded. “You’re twenty-five. That’s interesting.”
I think my jaw dropped. There I was, talking about gun-toting, swimming phenom Kali, and the only thing that interested him was my age?! This was ridiculous.
“So, do you live with your parents?”
Stephen pulled me out of my trance, but I suddenly wanted to get up and leave. “I’ve just realised that I have to take this book back to the library. I better be off.”
Rising quickly, I grabbed my sandwich and sprinted for the door. I heard the scraping of a chair behind me, and as I was nearing the exit, close to where Michael was sitting, a hand gripped my arm. When I swung around, I found Stephen standing there.
“Listen, I’m sorry if I came across as bullish back there. I just want to know about you, that’s all. You seem like a really nice girl.”
I timidly looked across at Michael and found him staring at both of us. He didn’t look happy at all.
“That’s okay.” I was acting shy, but couldn’t help myself. This was the first person since Michael who had this kind of effe
ct on me. “I’m just not used to being asked so many questions.”
He smiled and rubbed my shoulder affectionately. It was nice. “I apologise, Cassie. I do hope you can forgive me. Friends?” He held out his hand.
Not being able to help it, I grinned at him like an idiot. I think it was the mischievous glint in his eyes that did it.
“Friends,” I replied as I grabbed his hand. It still amazed me how I couldn’t see anything from him.
Stephen raised one eyebrow and smiled. It was kind of sexy, in a roundabout sort of way.
Who am I kidding? It was sexy in a huge way.
Excusing myself, I spot Michael huffing and shaking his head. This day couldn’t get any worse.
Sitting at my desk to eat my sandwich, I used the mail as a welcome distraction. Sometimes I can overanalyse things too much. Michael didn’t like me and I had to deal with that.
Unfortunately for me, one of the witness statements to that accident he enquired about earlier turned up. I sat and debated in my head for about five minutes over whether I should tell him or not. I didn’t want to see him again, see that look of disgust when he watched me. Sometimes it was really hard to take. On the other hand, I knew how important this case was, as it involved a child. I couldn’t think of my own personal situation right now.
Despite me not wanting to see him, I rang down to the Station Officer and asked him to put a call out for PC Andrews to see me when he became available. A few seconds later, I hear his name being called and my heart skipped a few beats. He would be here to see me soon. I was kind of hoping and praying that he would be out of the station. At least then I could say I tried to call.
No such luck. He was up five minutes later. “I’m a bit busy, so this has to be quick.” He seemed agitated about something.
“A witness statement turned up. Look.” I handed him the statement and he took it, looking a little softer towards me.
He glanced over it for a couple of minutes, then handed it back. “Thank you for that.”
“You’re welcome,” I said as he marched out the door.