Second Sight (23 page)

“
Yeah?”

“
Come here.”

Nervous, I roll to my side and lay my head on
his chest as his arm drapes around me and the side of his face
rests against my chin.

“
Go to sleep. We’ll deal
with Lev tomorrow.”

At first, I’m thinking there’s no way I’m
going to be able to drift off like this, not with Kane so close,
but the longer I lie against the warmth of his body, the more I
realize just how safe I feel for the first time in months. That’s
when the blackness comes.

Chapter
Seventeen

It’s still raining, as
morning light greets me. Half of me expects Kane will still be
lying where he slept, but the bed is empty save for me; I suddenly
feel a little unnerved being alone. Chills rush through me, and I
rub my hands up and down my arms, trying to drive them away. I
force myself to get up and look in the mirror. The sweats
Kane
loaned me practically swallow me, and
my hair falls around my face in wild disarray. Sighing, I try to
brush my fingers through it and guide it into place, but there are
so many tangles it frustrates me.

The door slowly opens, admitting Kane, who
hands me a brown bag and a cup of juice. He shrugs out of his wet
coat and finger-brushes his damp hair into place before offering a
smile and kissing my cheek.

“
Thanks.”

“
How long has it been since
you’ve eaten?”

I shrug, and my stomach growls. “A while.”
And now that he’s mentioned it, I can feel my body revolting: low
blood sugar, which is probably at least part of the nausea I’ve
been feeling so much lately. I sit on the bed and start eating.
Sitting beside me, Kane reaches into the bag and pulls out the
other sandwich.

“
How are you
feeling?”

“
Does it
matter?”

“
It does to me.”

Unsure what to say, I finish the sandwich and
toss the wrapper in the trash. Kane smiles.

He nudges me with his shoulder. “Nice
shot.”

“
Luck—pure and simple.” I
lean against his shoulder and close my eyes, soothed by the feel of
his warm skin.

“
You think so?” Kane muses,
his deep voice rumbling through me.

“
You don’t?”

He tosses his wrapper into the trash and
shakes his head. “I’m an angel, Lizzie. I don’t see luck playing
into much, if you want the truth.” He takes a drink and looks at
me. “So how do you want to handle things with Jimmie? I know a
couple of days ago you weren’t crazy about seeing him, and I
understand he’s in danger.”

Another moment of
truth
, I think, already feeling the
tension threading through my muscles. I drink the juice and stand.
“I’ll drive over and check on him.” After I throw away the cup, I
grab the band from around my wrist and pull my hair into one long
braid.

“
I’m not so sure that’s a
good idea. If Lev is not acting as he should, you’ll be in danger,
Lizzie. Trust me on that one.”

“
Maybe. But if Jimmie is
okay, I need some time alone with him to talk about this.
Considering I’ve been gone for a couple of days, seeing me with a
guy might actually freak him out.” As I see Kane opening his mouth
to argue, I raise my hand. “I know you haven’t done anything, Kane.
It’s just that Jimmie is a little out of touch with things, and
it’ll be easier this way, okay? I just need a little
time.”

Kane shakes his head and grabs my hand. “I
can’t stress this enough, Lizzie. Lev’s dangerous. Don’t forget
that.”

I nod. “I got it, don’t worry.” I go to the
door and pull my keys from my purse, all the while feeling Kane
staring, watching me as we both head downstairs and outside.

“
Be careful, Lizzie.” Kane
stands on the porch, his hands shoved deep into his jeans
pockets.

“
I will.” I dart out into
the rain. By the time I get the Jeep, I’m soaked. It’s pouring so
hard it’s pretty tough to see where I’m going, and once I start
driving, I realize the wipers are never going to be able to keep up
with the downpour. So instead of driving the frantic speed my heart
is dictating, I accelerate only to about 25 mph; that’s about as
fast as I can go, considering my limited visibility.

I’m constantly wiping the rainwater from my
eyes, and the few small wisps of hair that have escaped the braid
plaster the side of my face. In short, I feel sticky and a little
chilled. Water condenses along the hard shell of the Jeep, one of
the less desirable traits of this old vehicle I love, and that
makes it really tough to gauge anything in my rear-view mirrors,
forcing me to rely completely on the side ones.

The trip which should have taken about ten
minutes has suddenly bloomed into twenty by the time I pull up in
front of the house. Through the blasted rain, I see Jimmie is here.
Then again, so is Theresa’s red sports car. Suddenly all the things
I want to say to Jimmie seem like the stupid ramblings of a teenage
girl who can’t get her life straight. I need to talk to him by
myself, but I’m not sure I’m going to get the chance. Still, there
is no chance if I don’t try, so I force myself to get out of the
car and run to the porch. Any part of me which might have dried is
now soaked again, and I’m shivering. It may be August, but the rain
is really cold.

I keep my keys in hand, half expecting the
door to be locked for some stupid reason, but it isn’t, so I twist
the knob. I might as well be blind as I spot Jimmie and Theresa
involved in a bit of passionate saliva swapping. I figure at any
moment they’re going to stop doing that and look up. Surely they
heard the door squeak open.

No such luck.

“
Jimmie,” I force myself to
say, staring at them. It seems to take a few seconds before either
of them hears me, but they slowly turn my way. Jimmie’s wearing a
dazed frown, and Theresa’s got a Cheshire cat smile, which tells me
she has too many teeth for anybody’s good. Her low-cut sweater
emphasizes her cleavage, and God only knows what I’ve been missing
for the last couple of days. A shudder runs through me. This is so
not Jimmie.

“
I told you she’d come back
when she was ready,” Theresa says, slowly detangling her body from
Jimmie’s and standing. “I’m gonna go and let you two talk this
out.” She offers me a smile, but the warmth of it doesn’t reach her
eyes. She grabs her raincoat from the rack in the entryway and
sweeps out the door.

Jimmie takes a deep breath and rakes his
fingers through his hair before grabbing his pack of cigarettes and
lighting one up. The air around him fills with smoke. “So what
brings you back, Lizzie?” His tone is harsh, and I can tell by his
posture he’s none too glad I’ve returned. Big surprise. Somehow I
think he’d much rather have Theresa hanging around than me.

“
There’s some stuff going
on, Jimmie. We need to talk about it.”

“
Damn right there’s stuff
going on,” he snaps, rising from his chair and taking a long drag.
“Let’s start with you running off to God knows where without so
much as a call to let me know what was happening with you.” He
walks up to me and glares.

“
My phone was dead.” It’s a
stupid excuse, I realize, but I don’t know what else to
say.

“
Ever heard of a pay phone,
Lizzie? They tend to work when a
cell is
dead.” He walks a small circle around me, and I feel like I’m on
public display. This is so not Jimmie.

“
Jimmie, look, I came back
because you could be in danger. You need to listen to
me.”

His steps falter, and he shakes his head.
“Theresa said you’d come home with some cockeyed story that made no
damned sense. It’s probably about angels, right, Lizzie? Well, I’m
sick of hearing about angels. I’m tired of fighting with you about
trying to make things better. You don’t want things to be
better.”

I fold my arms across my chest, trying to
figure out where all this is coming from. “Of course I do, Jimmie.
But therapy isn’t going to do that. It’s going to take time.” The
water in my hair soaks my shirt, and I shiver, chilled.

“
Okay, fine. You want
better. I’ve got the solution. I proposed to Theresa, and we’re
getting married. That way you’ll have someone in place of your mom
to talk to since I seem to be so bad at it.” He shakes his
head.

“
You
proposed
?” My voice is low, and the
world feels groundless. “Jimmie, you hardly know her!”

He shakes his head and goes into the kitchen.
“Yeah, she figured you’d think that, but I know I want her in my
life. I guess the question is, do you want me in yours? I’ve done a
lot for you, Lizzie. This time, it’s my turn.”

I stagger backwards, totally unprepared for
any of this. My head is starting to throb, and I close my eyes,
trying to deny any of this is actually happening. Shaking my head,
I follow him into the kitchen where he gets a can of soda from the
fridge.

“
Jimmie, I know you like
Theresa a lot, but maybe you shouldn’t move so fast. You both need
time to adjust.”

He takes a sip and glares at me. “This coming
from the girl whose first true love was an ‘angel?’ I think I’ve
got a little better grasp on things than you do, Lizzie.”

Cringing, I grab the counter for support from
that unexpected attack. “I just meant that maybe you could give it
a little bit of time and make sure you want to do this.”

“
I know what you meant.”
Jimmie smacks the can against the counter. “I also know how you
feel about her, Lizzie. So does she. Of course, she’s not the one
running and hiding, now is she?”

I open my mouth to say more, but then, from
the front of the house, I hear what sounds like shouting. My
stomach tenses, and I quickly head back to the living room so I can
peer out the window. The rain has finally stopped.

“
Running again, Lizzie?”
Jimmie snaps.

I ignore him and focus on the noise. Of
course, I’m not exactly prepared to see Lev, appearing as Scott,
punching Kane as he lies on the ground, trying to strike back. His
nose is bleeding, and it stains the white polo shirt he wears.

“
Oh, God!” I take a deep
breath and run out the door. Lev cocks his arm back again and slams
his fist hard into Kane’s face. Over and over. Unable to take any
more, I rush forward and grab his arm.

“
Stop it!” I yell, trying
to pull him off Kane. Lev rams his elbow back, catching my nose. I
slam against the corner of the house and fall to the sidewalk, the
breath knocked out of me. I groan and touch my face. Blood slicks
my fingers, and for a moment I fight the urge to vomit as blood
seeps into my mouth, coating my tongue. Then I try to stand, but I
feel light-headed. Right now, it’s taking everything I have just to
keep breathing.

“
Elizabeth?” Lev finally
sees me in his peripheral vision and rises from Kane. His mouth is
twisted into a horrified grimace, and he strides toward me. “I’m
sorry. I didn’t know it was you.” He stretches a hand out to help
me up, but I push it away.

“
Stay away from me—and
everyone else I know.” I struggle to fight the light-headedness and
clear my vision. I can’t get to my feet. I feel too weak, and I
start to cry. I hate that. How I hate that.

“
Elizabeth?” Lev’s fingers
curl around my arm, trying to guide me to my feet.

“
Get away!” I yell, pulling
from his hand. When he suddenly releases me, I almost
fall.

“
I never meant to hurt
you,” he whispers, trying to touch my face, to see beyond the
blood.

“
Well, you did.” I stagger
towards Kane, ignoring him.

“
We need to
talk.”

I whirl and draw my hand across my face,
still wiping blood. “Get away from me. I hate you.” Then I turn
back to where Kane lies bleeding. He struggles to sit, and I help
him. Lev watches me. I don’t care.

“
Are you all right?” I ask
softly, my voice wavering. I’m slowly rocking back and forth, just
something to focus on except the growing panic.

He slowly nods and sits up all the way.
“Where is Lev?” We both scan the area around us, but Lev is nowhere
to be seen. The front screen is slowly closing, alerting me Lev has
gone inside.

“
Jimmie!” I whisper,
rising. I look at Kane, but he motions for me to go inside. I start
running, knowing I’ll probably never make it in time. The world
seems to slow around me as I grab the screen and jerk it open. I’m
inside, looking for Lev. He’s not in the living room. I rush to the
kitchen.

From the doorway, I see Lev standing there,
his arms outstretched, palms resting on Jimmie’s shoulders. Jimmie
slowly sinks to his knees as the white glow spreads, consuming the
room.

“
No!” I yell, running
toward them. My body jams itself in between the two, and a sharp,
blinding pain grabs me. Then there is nothing.

Chapter
Eighteen

Pain pulses in my temples, forcing me from
the darkness. I open my eyes and find myself on the kitchen floor
next to Jimmie, who, frighteningly, isn’t waking up. As I slowly
sit up, I look around, trying to find Lev or Kane. Neither appear
to be here. What’s happening, I wonder. My head has that stuffed
feeling again like I’ve got a head cold and can’t shake it.

“
Jimmie,” I say, crawling
to his side. His eyes are closed, and he looks so still. What did
Lev do to him? I set my hand on Jimmie’s shoulder and shake him.
His body jostles from my touch, but nothing more. He looks pale. Is
he dead?