Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (162 page)

“
Are you coming or
not?”

“
I went night-fishing with
Jesse a few days ago,” I said. “I kinda got freaked out on the
boat.” The image of the white buck flashed across my
mind.

She blew out a long breath. “How many
times do I have to tell you it’s all just some stupid myth? How can
you let them scare you like that anyway?”

“
I wasn’t scared—just a
little freaked out.”

“
I talked to Jesse, and
he’s coming. I just hope one of those girls doesn’t ask him
out.”

“
Julie!”

“
What? You know they’ll be
all over him like ants on a picnic.”

“
Fine. I’ll go,” I
said.

“
I knew you’d see it my
way,” she said, wearing a smirk that I could hear through the
phone.

“
Ha-ha! Can I bring
Max?”

“
Sure. Be there in an
hour.”

“
Bye,” she said.

After I hung up the phone, I threw my
bathing suit on, then slipped a pair of blue shorts with a cute
lace tank-top. I brushed my teeth and left my hair down. I quickly
packed some sunscreen, a towel, some bottles of water, and a few
other things I thought I might need.

Outside, I opened the car door, put my
sunglasses on, and called Max. He hopped into the passenger’s side
and barked, and I put the window halfway down for him.

“
Ready to have some fun,
Max?” I asked.

He barked again, and I laughed at his
answer as I pulled out of the driveway.

At the docks, Julie spotted me and
squealed my name. “We’re gonna have so much fun,” she
said.

“
Is Jesse here yet?” I
asked.

“
Yep.” Julie reached down
and petted Max. “Hi, Max.”

He barked and wagged his
tail.

I climbed onto the boat and found
Jesse sitting on the bow, surrounded by an entourage of
bikini-clad, giggling girls. One was showing off her bellybutton
ring, and another was asking his opinion of her tramp
stamp.

When Jesse met my gaze, he
smiled.

Max started barking at Jesse again,
and I secretly hoped he’d chase away his fan club.

Jesse left the swarm of girls and
walked straight to me. “Hi. You look amazing.”

“
Thanks,” I said, almost
smiling back at the girls who scowled at me and walked
away.

He embraced me in a long hug, then
kissed my lips.

“
Sadly, ladies,” a brunette
said, “it appears Jesse is taken by the new girl.”

“
Yep,” another said,
shaking her head.

“
Not to worry. My fun boat
brings all the boys to the yard,” she said with a grin, pointing in
the direction of the dock.

I turned and saw a whole herd of guys
climbing onboard, some in trunks and others bravely donning
Speedos.

Julie smiled. “Whoa. Talk about
precious cargo. I got dibs on the blond.”

We all burst out in
laughter.

Jesse smiled at me, set me on his lap
and wrapped his arms around me. I loved being the object of his
affection, and I was beginning to feel very comfortable with
him.

“
With all those animal
attacks happening,” Amy said, “I thought this would be a good idea.
What could be safer than hanging out in water in the middle of the
lake?”

“
It’s brilliant!” Julie
squealed. “Most animals can’t swim, and as far as I know, there
aren’t any sharks in the lake.”

The sun beat down on my skin, but the
last thing I wanted was to look like a lobster in front of Jesse. I
drizzled sunscreen from the bottle into my hands, then smeared the
coconut-scented cream all over my arms and legs. “I do feel a lot
safer here,” I said.

Amy smiled. “Me too.”

Jesse reached for the lotion with a
smile. “Need some help?” he offered.

“
Sure,” I said, holding my
hair up. “You’ve always got my back, huh?” I punned.

“
I have spray-on sunblock,”
one of the girl’s said.

Julie laughed. “I’m sure Jesse prefers
the hands-on method.”

“
It works better to really
rub it in,” Jesse said.

“
Yeah, I bet,” Julie said
with a chuckle.

My heart sped up as he rubbed the
lotion slowly down my shoulders and across my back.

“
I can do your back if you
want,” I said. “It’s only fair.”

“
Nah, I’m good.”

“
What’s the matter, Jesse?
You got a gorilla back or something like those apes in the zoo
where you work?” Julie asked.

“
Ha-ha,” he
said.

A popular tune came on the radio, and
some of the girls started dancing. Others laughed, talked, and
sipped on their drinks they’d taken from the two coolers that were
loaded with sandwiches and sodas.

One of them casually said to Amy, “I
heard about the breakup. What happened?”

She frowned. “Well, he’s doing drugs
and getting all possessive.”

“
Wow. It’s good you broke
it off now then,” Julie said, “especially if he’s hooked on
drugs.”

Amy’s brown eyes sparkled in the sun
as her long, reddish-brown hair blew in the wind. “I don’t wanna
talk about my pitiful love life. Let’s jump in!” And with that, she
did a cannonball into the lake.

Jesse followed her, and I
laughed.

“
Oh my gosh! It’s freezing
in here!” Amy said.

Jesse glanced up at me. “Come on in!
And don’t worry. I’ll keep you warm.”

Taking the offer I couldn’t possibly
refuse, I dove in, then wiped the hair out of my eyes.

Max barked and was next to jump into
the water

“
Come on, Max!” I
coaxed.

He started dog-paddling toward
us.

I then turned to Jesse. “You left your
shirt on again.”

“
Like Julie said, I’m
shy.”

“
Liar, liar, trunks on
fire,” I said.

He grinned widely.

“
I don’t care about your
scar, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“
It’s just—”

“
You don’t have to
explain.”

“
Jesse, you need to lose
the shirt and put on a Speedo like some of those other guys,” Julie
said, right before she jumped in, splashing us. “I think a leopard
print would really bring out your eyes.”

The whirring of a boat engine caught
my attention as it approached.

“
Crap. I was also hoping my
nutcase ex-boyfriend wouldn’t find me here,” Amy said.

When the boat got closer, a guy about
our age called Amy’s name. “Hey, I just wanna talk.”

Max started barking and causing a
ruckus.

The guy shot us a look. “Shut the dog
up before I shut him up for you.”

“
Max!” I said, petting his
head and trying to calm him. “Shh!”

Amy looked at us. “I’ve gotta go talk
to him for a minute, or else he’ll never leave.”

“
Just be careful,” Julie
said.

When I noticed that all the guys were
drinking something a bit stronger than Mountain Dew, I realized it
might not be a good idea for Amy to be alone on their boat. “You
oughtta stay here, Amy,” I said. “They all look wasted. They
shouldn’t even be driving a boat.”

She ignored me, swam over, and climbed
aboard the boat. It didn’t take long for their calm conversation to
turn into a full-blown argument.

“
That’s no way to talk to a
girl!” Jesse yelled.

“
Shut up,” the guy said.
“Just mind your own business.”

“
Well, it is my business
when you pull up next to our boat,” Jesse said.

“
Piss off!” the guy
replied.

I nudged Jesse. “We need to go get
her,” I said, fearing they might try to take off with poor Amy held
captive on their boat. “Amy,” I pleaded, “please come back to our
boat.”

She looked in my direction, her cheeks
red. “You’re right. He’s stubborn and bullheaded, and I don’t want
to be anywhere near him.”

I swam closer to the boat as Amy
climbed over the rail. Just as she began to jump off, her hotheaded
ex-boyfriend grabbed her and pulled her back on deck. She shouted a
few curses at the guy, and in the next second, he pulled out a
knife and angrily lunged at her.

Next, it was like everything went into
slow motion. In a flash, Jesse was on the boat, knocking the knife
out of the guy’s hand and throwing him about twenty feet. Amy and
Jesse jumped back in the water, and we all climbed back on our
boat.

“
Are you okay?” I asked
Amy.

She let out a trembling breath. “We’re
going back to shore. I’m getting a restraining order and having
Eddie thrown in jail. He tried to kill me!”

As we
headed back to the dock, I tried to figure out what I’d just
seen.
How the heck did Jesse get on the
boat that quickly? He was right beside me one second, then on the
boat in the next, like when he disappeared out of my back yard that
day I first met him. How could somebody disappear like that?
And what’s with him throwing Eddie around like a
ragdoll?
He was in good shape, of course,
but I didn’t understand how he could be so strong.
Talk about the power of
adrenaline.

Chapter 18

Julie and I went hiking in the woods
on one of the local trails along Bear Lake, hoping to burn off some
major calories. My shorts were getting a little snug, and I wasn’t
too fond of that.

“
Let’s grab some tacos for
lunch,” Julie said. “I’m starving.”

“
Jules!” I said. “What’s
the point of hiking if we’re gonna eat junk food? I say we have a
grilled chicken salad, with lots of veggies and light
dressing.”

“
Ew. I hate rabbit
food.”

I laughed and shook my head. “What am
I gonna do with you?”

“
Still thinking about the
big kiss yesterday?”

I smiled. “Yeah.”

“
Well, you’d better
lip-lock the guy with some tongue action next time. If you don’t
snag him, I’m next in line.”

“
Hey!” I playfully slugged
her.

“
I want you to hook me up
with Jesse’s friend, the blond who drove us home.”

“
Wow. You must really have
a thing for blonds.”

“
Not really. It just so
happens that the guy is gorgeous. Hello! Didn’t you notice his
gorgeous eyes?”

“
Yeah. They’re the same
color as Jesse’s. I wonder if they’re related, cousins or
something.”

She laughed. “Heh. If we end up with
them, we might be in-laws.”

As we turned the bend in the path, I
saw two legs sticking out from the bushes. Julie screamed, and I
ran to check for a pulse and discovered that the man had short,
dark hair. When I rolled him over to feel for a pulse, I saw
distinct bite marks on his neck, as if a wild animal had attacked
him. His green eyes were glazed over, and I could tell by his pale
face that he was dead. “Oh my gosh!”

“
Who is it?” Julie
desperately asked.

“
It’s Fred, that cute guy
who did yard work for my dad.”

My shaking fingers reached into my
pocket, and I pulled out my cell phone to call 911. I tried to
remain calm as I explained the situation, but I’d never been more
freaked out in my life and couldn’t speak very coherently. I
couldn’t stop gasping for air as I fell to my knees,
sobbing.

The police showed up almost
immediately, and a female officer pulled me aside to ask me some
questions.

“
What happened to him?” I
asked, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. “Who would do
this?”

“
Animal attack,” she
said.

“
No!” I yelled. “Not
Fred.”

“
I’m so sorry,” the
policewoman said.

“
I-I know who…er, what
killed him.” Slowly, I opened my eyes. Memories of the wolves
stalking me came flooding back. “I was in the woods a while back
with my friends, and there was a pack of wolves stalking us,
and—”

The officer touched my back, trying to
console me. “It wasn’t wolves,” she said. “They don’t bother
humans.”

I let out a trembling breath. “No, you
don’t understand. These wolves weren’t…they didn’t act like normal
wolves.”

“
This was a bear attack or
maybe mountain lion,” she surmised, sounding confident.

“
Taylor!” When I turned
around, my mother was standing right there. She embraced me in a
tight hug, and worry flooded her features. “I rushed right up here
when Julie called me. Sergeant Davidson told me the entire
story.”

I was suddenly so nauseated that I
feared I might throw up right there in front of everyone. “Oh, Mom,
it’s so awful.”