So I finished this…it’s another FBI short… well, not super short, it’s about category length, but hey. \u00a0FYI, it was just finished, typos are probably there. \u00a0They’ll get caught in editing\/revising.<\/p>\n
Dunno what will come of it. Sent it to Samhain but we’ll see what they say.<\/p>\n
Jay Roberts never expected to fall in love with a man from Hell.<\/p>\n
But she had.<\/p>\n
And now he\u2019d up and cut her off.\u00a0 Out of the blue.<\/p>\n
She\u2019d met Lincoln Dawson online and it hadn\u2019t been at one of those hokey, online dating sites.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t mess with those.<\/p>\n
What was she supposed to put down?<\/p>\n
Hello\u2026 I\u2019m a security specialist who works for a think tank\/security group\/troubleshooter group known as the Oswald Group and I\u2019m psychometric.\u00a0 It causes some issues with intimacy because when I touch people, I pick up on what they think and if you compare to a former lover, I\u2019m going to know.\u00a0 I\u2019m five three, I hate walks in the rain, I kind of enjoy dirty movies, I love dirty books and I\u2019m still a virgin. I\u2019m kinky as hell and I\u2019d love to find a way to get laid, but I don\u2019t see that happening\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
Yeah, it led to problems.<\/p>\n
It had been pure accident that she met Linc.<\/p>\n
She was online, incognito, naturally. Almost any time she went<\/i> online, it was related to work.\u00a0 She had been investigating the disappearance of a teenager in Florida and he\u2019d been smacking down somebody who had been preying on a couple of preteen girls.<\/p>\n
Granted, the predator had acted like he<\/i> was a girl.<\/p>\n
She had seen through it, just as Lincoln had.<\/p>\n
It was a long and convoluted path, but they\u2019d been talking online for almost a year.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d asked more than once if they\u2019d ever meet.<\/p>\n
She wanted to tell him yes, so badly.<\/p>\n
And she\u2019d been really, really close.<\/p>\n
Despite the fact that she\u2019d been\u2026well, misleading him from the beginning. Despite the fact that she had been hiding some huge secrets.<\/p>\n
She needed to come clean with him because if she didn\u2019t, they had no chance at all.<\/p>\n
And she had been this<\/i> close.<\/p>\n
Planned her entire vacation around coming down here, too.<\/p>\n
But then, nearly three months ago, he\u2019d stopped talking to her.\u00a0 Stopped answering emails, cut off contact completely.<\/p>\n
Sadly, one of her jobs came up that had pushed her off the grid for nearly three weeks. She\u2019d reached out to him as soon as it was over and he\u2019d finally called her back, only she\u2019d been in a meeting.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t have time for this, Jay.\u00a0 It\u2019s not working out.\u00a0 Good-bye<\/i>.<\/p>\n
When her boss Oz offered her another short-term, off-the-grid job, she took it.\u00a0 Five weeks in, but she submerged with the gut deep feeling that something was wrong.<\/p>\n
Lo and behold, something was.<\/p>\n
Now she was here.<\/p>\n
In Hell.\u00a0 Literally, and maybe even in the biblical sense of the word.<\/p>\n
Jay had done a double-take the first time she\u2019d seen the name of the little town and she\u2019d asked Linc twice if he was joking. But as she\u2019d driven by the little bank and saw the digital display of the temperature\u2014a balmly 96 in June\u2014she had to admit, Hell was aptly name.\u00a0 She\u2019d spent the past ten years living in Texas.\u00a0 She was intimately acquainted with hot<\/i>.<\/p>\n
This place, though, took the idea of hot<\/i> and cooked it up and deep-fried it for good measure.<\/p>\n
Before she hunted down her man, though, and asked how they\u2019d gone from dirty little sexts in the middle of the night to the cold shoulder and I don\u2019t have time for this<\/i>, she needed gas.\u00a0 She needed a cold drink and maybe five minutes in the bathroom.<\/p>\n
The A.C. on her car was\u2026questionable\u2026at best and she\u2019d been slowing baking in her car for the past hour.\u00a0 It was edging up nine and it was still boiling hot outside.\u00a0 This place had to be pure torture come August.<\/p>\n
The gas station looked like it hadn\u2019t been updated any time this millinium.\u00a0 The pumps were slower than her great-grandmother had been on seniors day at Kroger back home in Louisville and when she pushed inside the store, the cool blast of air was so welcome, she wanted to cry.<\/p>\n
She was damn glad she always traveled with some cash on hand, because there was a sign taped to the do\u2014Plastic is no good here.\u00a0 Cash only. <\/i>Yeah, definitely stuck in the last century, because there was no ATM, either.<\/p>\n
The guy behind the counter looked like he might be stuck in the nineties, maybe even the <\/i>sixties because he was staring at her like she was some alien life form. Jay was used to that.\u00a0 She actually kind of like<\/i> the odd attention she received over her pink and blue streaked hair, the little gold hoop that pierced her right eyebrow.\u00a0 The gloves tended to catch a lot of notice, but she\u2019d give almost anything to not need them.\u00a0 Her physical appearance was weird enough that the gloves just went with everything else, but the gloves were a necessity.<\/p>\n
Everything else was just preference.<\/p>\n
She\u2019d go crazy without her gloves. She couldn\u2019t function.\u00a0 Not for long, anyway.\u00a0 One touch against the wrong anything<\/i> was enough to put her into a state of shock, something she knew from experience.<\/p>\n
Those innocent little touches, the things people took for granted, were the very things that could drive her insane.\u00a0 A brush of a hand, even if she was shielded, could flood her with all a person\u2019s fears, anxieties and secrets.\u00a0 If the person was having a bad day, it got even worse.<\/p>\n
And if the person was in pain, physical or mental, the effects were so much worse.<\/p>\n
Psychometry wasn\u2019t picky when it decided to wreak fhavoc on her life. Her gift tied into emotions and she didn\u2019t have to take off the gloves to know the guy behind the counter was a mess.<\/p>\n
His thoughts were\u2026dark.<\/p>\n
She approached him with more than a little bit of caution, wishing she\u2019d thought to strap on her weapon, but it was a pain in the ass, even if she had have a conceal carry permit.\u00a0 Although, hey\u2026 she was kinda sorta involved with the sheriff.<\/p>\n
Well, she thought<\/i> she was.<\/p>\n
Maybe.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t matter, though.<\/p>\n
This kid was more involved in whatever was twisting up his<\/i> mind than anything else.<\/p>\n
She pulled her money out of her pocket and peeled off three twenties, putting them down on the counter.<\/p>\n
The kid just stared, rocking back and forth on the stool, staring at nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cAh, hey.\u00a0 Can I get my change?\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes skittered over to hers.<\/p>\n
A chill raced up her back.<\/p>\n
The lights aren\u2019t exactly on. Nobody is home<\/i>, she thought.<\/p>\n
The door opened behind her and the kid went stiff, his gaze bouncing to the men behind her and she shifted, turning so that she had them in her line of sight and could still see the kid.<\/p>\n
Sweat beaded along his lip and abruptly, his body relaxed and a sigh shuddered out of him.<\/p>\n
He blinked and looked at her.\u00a0 \u201cMa\u2019am, that will be $57.00.\u201d<\/p>\n
She gestured to the counter, focused on the men who move to fill the empty space between the counter and the door.<\/p>\n
Rednecks, she thought.\u00a0 And not the hard-working kind she\u2019d come from.\u00a0 Her daddy had been a redneck and he\u2019d busted his ass from dawn to dusk to make sure she never wanted for anything.<\/p>\n
These guys, though, rednecks and not in the nice sense of the word.\u00a0 Already, the one in the middle was eying her in that way that just made her feel dirty.\u00a0 Trouble, trouble, trouble\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
Some people just gave off a certain vibe.\u00a0 Most women eventually learn to pick up on that vibe\u2026it was that vibe that had them crossing the road when she saw a certain sort of guy, the one that made her realize she didn\u2019t want to be anywhere alone with him, the guy that set off every internal alarm she had.\u00a0 He was the guy that stood too close, stared too long, and generally just creeped her out.<\/p>\n
There were three of them standing in front of her now, and the one in the middle was the worst.<\/p>\n
And the biggest problem of them all was that he had a rough psychic skill.<\/p>\n
In her line of work, she\u2019d come to learn that psychic ability wasn\u2019t as uncommon as some might think.\u00a0 It was estimated that one percent of the population had some sort of psychic ability\u2014it sounded like a low number, but that added up to one in hundred.\u00a0 With billions of people on that planet, that wasn\u2019t as low as it seemed.<\/p>\n
The abilities varied, though and the typical \u2018homegrown\u2019 psychic, like this guy, was weak.\u00a0 Most of them just had better than average instincts.\u00a0 Some were going to just be sensitive to things\u2014might feel really uncomfortable in a house where a lot of violence had happened, while another might be really good at guessing a winner at the Derby or really good at occasionally picking four or five lottery numbers.\u00a0 The lucky sort of bastard.<\/p>\n
Judging by the way he was watching her, he decided he was going to get lucky again.<\/p>\n
And he had no idea what he was dealing with either.<\/p>\n
Because like most of those homegrown psychics, he had no idea what he was, and no idea what he was dealing with.<\/p>\n
She shifted her attention back to the boy and waited for her change, using the mirror mounted in the corner to watch him.\u00a0 If she was lucky, she could get out of here without messing with him.<\/p>\n
When he whistled in her direction, Jay ignored it.<\/p>\n
She was good at ignoring things.<\/p>\n
All she had to do was get out of there and everything would be good.<\/p>\n
She scooped up her change, careful not to make contact with the kid behind the counter, careful not to let him touch her even with the gloves.\u00a0 Tucking her cash into her pocket, she turned to go and wasn\u2019t surprised to see all three men blocking her way.<\/p>\n
\u201cExcuse me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe looks like a piece of candy.\u00a0 Look at that pink hair.\u201d\u00a0 It was the one with the mild psychic ability and the leer in his eyes made her skin crawl.\u00a0 His gaze raked over her from head to toe and then zoomed in on her chest.\u00a0 She wore a tank with a fishnet top stretched over it.\u00a0 It fit close.\u00a0 Most of her clothing did.\u00a0 Once upon a time, she\u2019d hid behind baggy clothing, cowered in her room, convinced she was going crazy.\u00a0 Her dad\u2019s death, the emergence of her ability, it had all hit at once.\u00a0 Sanity had been a touch and go thing for a while.<\/p>\n
She might be a little crazy but hiding hadn\u2019t helped.<\/p>\n
So she\u2019d stopped hiding and she\u2019d learned how to deal.\u00a0 With everything, just about. Including guys like this.<\/p>\n
As he continued to stare at her tits, she said again, \u201cExcuse me.\u201d<\/p>\n
A wide, unpleasant smile spread across his face.<\/p>\n
She steadied herself and bolstered her shields.\u00a0 She could only keep everything<\/i> locked out for short periods of time.\u00a0 More than ten or fifteen minutes and she felt like she was going through some sort of serious bout of sensory deprivation.\u00a0 That didn\u2019t help her state of mind.<\/p>\n
But touching thugs like this? That wasn\u2019t going to help either.<\/p>\n
And she was going to have to touch one of them, probably several of them.<\/p>\n
The ringleader stepped up and reached out.<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t react as he trailed a finger down her cheek.\u00a0 \u201cYou lost there, sugar?\u201d\u00a0 She felt nothing but the physical contact, his finger, rough against her skin.\u00a0 She could almost imagine a slimy aftertrail.\u00a0 Dirty\u2014he was so dirty and he contaminated everything he touched.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d \u00a0She lied through her teeth and did it with a smile as she angled her head away, breaking contact.\u00a0 Keeping her shields up kept her feeling too much, but she still caught enough\u2014too much\u2014lust and greed and a need to hurt.\u00a0 She wanted a shower.\u00a0 \u201cIf you\u2019ll excuse me, I need to go.\u00a0 I\u2019m meeting somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy don\u2019t you tell me where you\u2019re heading?\u00a0 I can give you a hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t need\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
The bell over the door rang.<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t look away from the men in front of her.<\/p>\n
\u201cLloyd.\u00a0 Why don\u2019t you step away from the lady?\u201d<\/p>\n
A shiver raced down her spine.\u00a0 That voice.\u00a0 Familiar\u2026<\/p>\n
The man in front of her curled his lip, a slow, smirking sort of smile.\u00a0 It was the smile of a man she wouldn\u2019t trust at her back.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t even trust this man at her front<\/i>.\u00a0 \u201cWell, hey there, sheriff\u2026oh, wait. You ain\u2019t the sheriff no more.\u00a0 You know what?\u00a0 I think I\u2019ll stay right here.\u00a0 I\u2019m talking to this pretty little piece of candy here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheriff\u2014<\/i><\/p>\n
She tore her eyes away from him and stared at the man she\u2019d come to find.<\/p>\n
Sheriff Lincoln Dawson, the man she\u2019d found herself falling head over heels in love with over the past year.<\/p>\n
The man who according to this thug wasn\u2019t the sheriff anymore.<\/p>\n
Okay, that could wait.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you\u2019ll step away.\u201d Lincoln\u2019s voice came a little closer and she took a deep, steadying breath.<\/p>\n
His eyes cut to hers.<\/p>\n
And she watched as his gaze passed over her, and then immediately came right back.<\/p>\n
Cocking her head, she said softly, \u201cHello, Lincoln.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"