Possessed (6 page)

“So
what does this mean? Are you in trouble?”

It
was sweet that his first concern was for her. “Probably not, but I’ve never had
this happen before. I don’t know the process. A doctor I spoke to said it was
merely a formality.”

“But
you’re worried?”

“Yeah.”

He
ran a hand through his long waves. “I don’t want you risking your job because
of me. If you have to, you can give them my name. It won’t be the end of the
world for me. They can’t force me to come in.”

“Then
why all the paranoia?”

“I’m
not saying they won’t try to bully me into it. I don’t know the extent of their
power. Frankly, I don’t want to find out.”

“I’ll
keep you informed if you give me a contact number.”

“It
would be best if you didn’t. That way you don’t have to lie about it if you’re
questioned.”

She
nodded. That sounded reasonable to her. She wouldn’t reveal his name unless it
became necessary. “Did you want to stay for dinner? I owe you for the
PB&J.”

He
laughed. “I don’t want to impose.”

“Believe
me, it’s no imposition. I’m just making simple spaghetti.”

“Okay,”
he said with a nod. “Let me clean up first. Mind if I use your bathroom?”

“No.
It’s just through the bedroom.”

“I
know.”

Keva
watched him leave and shook her head. What was she thinking to ask him to stay?
Sighing, she entered the kitchen and put a pot of water on to boil. She didn’t
particularly like cooking. Spaghetti was cheap and easy. She dumped salt in the
water.

“What
happened to your shower curtain?”

“The
polite thing to do would have been to ignore that.”

He
gave her a sheepish grin. “Sorry.”

She
shrugged. “I was trying out your telekinesis.”

“Oh.”
He leaned back against the counter. Running the heel of his hand over his
chest, he asked, “How was it? Did you enjoy it?”

Keva
blinked, surprised that he had to ask. Wasn’t she vocal enough in her approval?
Maybe it was a guy thing. They needed praise. Or maybe he wasn’t some sort of
balm to soothe his conscience. “Um, yes. You’re…intense, rougher than I’m used
to.” She wet her lips. “But I…it’s…good.” That was an understatement. He was
fantastic.

The
corners of Sebastian’s lips curled up. And then he chuckled. “Well, that’s a
worry off my mind, but I wasn’t talking about the sex. I meant the psychic
power. From almost the beginning, it was a burden for me.”

“Oh.”
Keva felt her face go hot with embarrassment. She hoped she wasn’t sweating.
“Um, that was good, too, but obviously, I need more practice.”

He
grinned. “Are you volunteering for next time?”

She
gasped. “Sebastian, you’re being naughty!”

“You
really don’t know how much it’s a relief to me to know that I haven’t hurt you.
When I get like that, there’s so much pain and frustration. I can’t control
anything. For years, I’ve been battling to hold it in and it’s only gotten
worse.”

“Yeah.
The holding it in only causes a bottleneck.” The water began to boil and she
added the pasta.

“I
can’t use it, Keva. Every time I try…I just can’t.”

Keva
remained silent. She wasn’t a trained therapist, but she thought his issues
stemmed from the rejection from his parents. Though she wanted to ask, she had
no right to go poking around in his business but how much longer she could maintain
that attitude when he kept dragging her into his situation was debatable.

She
put on a second pot and filled it with pasta sauce. She seasoned the sauce with
pepper, basil, and oregano. He helped her get out the plates and silverware. He
seemed to just know where things were without having to ask. It was uncanny.
When the food was ready, she did the plating. The nearest thing she had to wine
was grape juice and Sebastian didn’t seem to object. Once they were seated in
her small dining area, he dug into the food without comment. “How’s your work?”
she asked.

He
shrugged. “I quit.”

“What?
How do you quit when you work for yourself?”

“It
was going wrong. I, um, haven’t been able to concentrate.”

Keva
put down her fork. “Is there anything I can do?”

He
gave a humorless laugh. “Haven’t you done enough? You’ve spread your legs for
me twice now.”

She
inhaled. “I don’t want to talk about that.”

His
gaze burned into her. “I know you don’t, but we need to. Keva, I can’t offer
you anything. I’m a fuckup and a freak.”

Taking
a sip of her grape juice, she studied him over the rim of her glass. “Are you
trying to let me down nicely?”

“Hell,
you cooked for me. You feel sorry for me. Eventually, because I’ll keep fucking
you, you’ll think you love me. You’re too kind and too sweet not to tie love
and sex together. What you really need to do is take a self-defense class and
kick me in the nuts the next time I show up on your doorstep. Will you?
Probably not. You’ll let me do whatever I want to you and you won’t ask for
anything in return. What kind of life is that for you? I can’t give you a
relationship, but I can guarantee fucking me will kill your chances at getting
one out of anyone else.”

Her
eyes widened. “Whoa. I don’t know where you get this idea that I need a relationship
or that I’m in love with you. Or that I’ll let you do anything to me that you
want.”

He
arched a brow. “Really? You’ve done nothing to stop me so far. I’ve been a
bastard to you and you still want to help me.”

“Sebastian,
it’s plain spaghetti! Hell, it isn’t even a meat sauce. I haven’t declared my
undying love for you.”

“And
you should keep it that way. Don’t let me do this to you. You deserve more.”

She
shook her head. “You keep saying things like that. Like you know so much about
me. Why is that?”

“Because
I do. I can’t recall when I had the first vision of you, but it was of you
being born. Every milestone of your life, I’ve been there. Your prom, your
graduation, the death of your father, your move to Nevada. I’ve always known I
would meet you some day, but I never knew when it would happen.”

Her
mouth dropped open. What did this mean? “Am I the only one? Are there other
people whose lives you…?”

He
shook his head. “Only you. So if it consoles you any, you’re not just some
random or convenient pussy to me.”

She
didn’t know what to make of his revelation. It was an invasion of her privacy,
though unintentional. He probably couldn’t stop it. They were destined to meet.
This was fated to happen.

Sebastian
groaned. “I see the stars in your eyes. I’m in no place to offer you anything.”

“Stop
telling me that I love you. I’m telling you that I don’t.”

“So
you would have done…this for anyone?”

She
bit her lip. She didn’t know if that was true. The first time had been a matter
of life or death. She’d like to think she would have made the unselfish choice
even if she hadn’t found him to be attractive, but she couldn’t swear to it.
Having sex with him wasn’t exactly a hardship. And this afternoon? Yeah, she
should have turned him away. “It’s just spaghetti. It took less than half an
hour—”

“Forget
the food. I’m talking about the pussy. If I said I wanted you right now, how
fast could I get you out of your panties?”

Keva
clasped her hands in her lap to stop them from trembling. She was so angry with
him. How dare he talk to her like that? The only thing she’d done was try to
help him. “You’re cruel,” she whispered.

“How
fast, Keva?”

“I’m
not some slut.” She bit her lip. “Okay, so maybe today was fueled by…lust but
that doesn’t mean I’m…”

“What
you are is sweet and wonderful. You deserve more than me, some guy who can only
offer you the occasional orgasm.”

She
expelled a sound of disgust and stood. “You’ve ruined my appetite.” He helped
her clean up and put the dishes in the dishwasher.

“I
should go.” She walked him to the door. “Keva, I’m sorry for being an a-hole. I
don’t like what I’m doing to you. And if I could help it…”

She
held up a hand. She didn’t need to hear any more about how if he could choose
he wouldn’t be darkening her doorstep. It was starting to give her a complex.
“Save it. Next time, I’ll knee you in the family jewels. And I won’t feed you.
Are we good?”

“Yeah,
I guess so.” He gave her a sharp nod. “See you around.”

“Mmm.
If you have any trouble at the gate, tell them to call me and I’ll vouch for
you.”

Sebastian
swiped the back of his hand over his sweaty brow and dropped the paint roller
into the plastic paint tray. He looked around and surveyed his work. The pale
gray wasn’t a boring white but could still be considered neutral. This was the
last room. When he’d purchased the house, the roof had been falling in, the
carpeting was stained and smelly, and there had been holes punched in the wall,
courtesy of the last owner. The real estate in Las Vegas had taken a hit in the
current economy. His friends told him he was crazy to attempt flipping houses
here. They’d begged him to return home with them to California. But he couldn’t
go. Something held him here. This was his second house. The first had sold
faster than he’d anticipated, but he hadn’t counted on the sale. He would have
rented it out if that became a necessity. Fortunately, the house had been in
good shape and the fixes were largely cosmetic. He’d kept his repair costs low
by doing as much of the work himself as he could. His father had been a
carpenter, and Sebastian had worked with him until he couldn’t hide his
abilities anymore. He’d hoped to go into the family business with his father,
but he gave up that dream when his father had thrown him physically from their
house, tossing his belongings behind him.

Sebastian
pushed down the memory as he always did. It was so long ago. It shouldn’t
affect him anymore.

He
glanced at his watch. It was nearly nine. He’d been invited over to Luke’s
house for a party. Luke was his friend Mike’s cousin. Sebastian was certain
that Mike had told his cousin to look out for him. Both Mike and Ken called him
daily. He wasn’t sure what they thought he’d do without their supervision. While
he appreciated their concern, he wasn’t a child incapable of taking care of
himself.

Yeah,
giving up on Web-site design to go into flipping houses was an unexpected and
sudden career change. And he didn’t know how much longer he would do it. Maybe
one more house. He liked seeing the product of his hard work. It gave him a
sense of accomplishment. Yeah, it was the work he liked. It wasn’t because he
was the closest to Keva that he’d ever been. Cursing under his breath, he tried
to banish thoughts of her and keep focused on the moment at hand.

He
needed to shower before the party. He stripped in the bathroom and stepped into
the cold spray. The air wasn’t on because he had to keep a window open to
ventilate the rooms he’d painted. The cold water cooled his overheated body and
invigorated him. He hadn’t been sleeping much. He’d been working night and day
on the house and he was finally finished. Monday morning he’d contact his
realtor to list the house.

And
then he needed a new project. If he didn’t keep busy, it gave him time to
think. And he didn’t want that. Invariably, his mind would turn to Keva. He
tried to ban her from his thoughts. Maybe then he wouldn’t turn to her when the
going got rough.

He
washed his hair and rinsed it. No time for conditioner. His hair was one of the
few things that he did take care of. Whether he was firmly himself or ruled by
pain, he took care of his hair. He dried off and filled his palm with a liquid
leave-in conditioner. He applied it to the towel-dried waves and pulled his
curls into a ponytail.

He
picked up his paint-splattered clothing off the floor and threw it into a
hamper. He’d have to stay in a hotel once this place sold or he found a new
dump. The bathroom floor and shower stall had been retiled in beige stone. “Not
half-bad,” he murmured to himself. He rarely took more than a second to survey
his progress before he was on to the next thing.

Naked,
he padded his way to the bedroom. He rummaged through the closet. There wasn’t
a lot to choose from. He grabbed briefs off a shelf, a pair of jeans, and a
clean T-shirt. He dumped the entire mess on the floor.
A night or two in a
hotel would be nice
, he thought as he glanced about the empty room. He was
tired of sleeping on top of a sleeping bag on the floor. There was no point in
bringing in furniture. It would only have been in the way while he made
renovations.

He
put on his briefs and was tugging on his jeans when a movement outside the
window caught his eye. The next-door neighbor, a pretty blonde, stood before
her window gawking at him. “Shit,” he muttered. Maybe he should put up
curtains. He did up his pants and pulled on his shirt.