from Before. I pulled back and scanned every inch of her face, holding my breath for any sign she’d disappear.
“Stop looking at me like that.” She pulled away and swatted at me with a spatula. “Thanks to you, I’m fine now.” She frowned. “We’ll need to have a chat about all that though. Maybe when your friend isn’t hanging out in your room.” She raised her eyebrows. “He’s a cute one.”
“I can’t believe you’re okay.” I couldn’t take my eyes off her steady hand as she continued scrubbing the kitchen counter.
“Well, believe it. You should be glad, too. This place needs a serious cleaning job.” She pointed out the stains spotting the counter, and I winced. “And I saw the foreclosure notice.”
“I’m sorry, Mom.” My hands fell to my side. “I made a mess of everything.”
She twirled around, and those fierce eyes of hers were back. They bored into mine. “Don’t you apologize, Holly. I was absent for a year, and I had no idea it was ever that long. In my lost mind, it was only a few months. You took care of us. You saved my life.” She shook her head. “I’m the one who’s sorry.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“No, it wasn’t.” She dropped the wet cloth on the counter and crossed her arms. “And all that matters now is that we’re going to be okay. We’ll get back on our feet. I’ll teach you more about shamanism now. I think you’ve proven to me that you can handle it. And I’ll start taking on some cases again.” She smiled at me; dimples dotted her cheeks. “Things are going to go back to normal.”
“What about Anthony?” I asked. “He’s still out there.”
She tapped her fingers against the counter. “I’ll have to track him down. Otherwise, there’s nothing stopping him from coming after us.” At her words, I shuddered, and she held up the palm of her hand. “But don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of it.”
Just then, the kitchen lights clicked off and the humming dishwater slurred to a stop. Mom furrowed her eyebrows and looked up at the ceiling bulbs in confusion.
“What just happened?” she asked, rolling onto her tip-toes to peer at the dark lights.
I bit my lip, remembering how I’d paid the electric bill only a few days before. The problem was I’d never deposited any cash into her checking account to pay for the gas I’d bought with the debit card since then. I’d been too distracted by all the crazy shaman and spirit stuff, I hadn’t thought to put my case money in the bank.
“I think I may have emptied the checking account. I’m sorry. I’ll fix it. I have some more money.” I still had the four hundred from yesterday’s cases.
Mom shook her head and smiled at me. Not the reaction I’d expected. “Holly, honey, you don’t worry about money any more. At least not until you graduate high school. I’ll call the electric company right now and work this out. Then, we’ll go into town and get some ice cream. Chocolate chip sound good?”
“Sounds perfect.”
“Good. Now, why don’t you go make sure your friend is fine in the dark back there?”
“Okay.” I smiled back at her, relieved someone else was here to take care of things. Relieved Mom was standing here, strong and sure of herself, just like she used to. I backed out of the kitchen, almost afraid to take my eyes off her, almost afraid if I did, she wouldn’t be Mom anymore when I came back. But she shooed me away, and I moved my feet toward Nathan.
He lazed on my bed, angling the graphic novel toward the sunlight streaming in through the blinds. A chunk of hair was matted to the side of his head and his shirt was rumpled from yesterday’s long night of spell-inflicted sleep, but he’d never looked better than he did right now. He glanced up, catching me staring, and smiled.
“What’s with the power?” He snapped the book shut. “Did you want breakfast by candlelight or something?”
I grinned, pink staining my cheeks, and sat cross-legged next to him on the bed, half my brain focused on how his profile cast shadows on my headboard. “I might have had some power bill issues.”
“Hmm.” He sat up. “Speaking of issues, I’m sorry about last night. I felt really terrible that I couldn’t help you. I still feel terrible. The weirdest part is that I could hear everything that was happening. And I was useless. You could have gotten really hurt.”
“Don’t be sorry. I’m sorry I got you sucked into all of this. I was so scared when I saw you lying there on the floor like that.” My breath caught when Nathan inched closer to me; my words came out hushed. “I guess I’m not exactly a fun date.”
“Well, there you’re wrong.”
This morning had to be a dream.
Nathan tugged on a strand of my hair, and it felt as if he were tugging at my entire body, pulling me closer, like I could never get close enough. Waves of heat consumed me when he ran his fingers along my bare arms. I couldn’t help but notice how soft and gentle they were, and my body shuddered in response. He smiled, like he knew his touch had lit a fire in my chest, and brushed his thumb across my lower lip.
“Enough with all the sorrys.” His voice was husky, and in the back of my mind, I remembered my mom was only two rooms away. But I didn’t care. The desire wrenching my insides made me blind to everything else but Nathan’s smell, his breath, his touch, his hands, his eyes. He lowered his head, and his lips whispered across my neck. I moved against his touch, angling myself closer. My hands snaked around his neck and slid up into his soft, curly hair. I felt him tremble underneath my touch, and it only made me want him that much more.
His lips grazed along my skin, from my neck to my ear, and his voice was so deep and quiet, no one else in the world could hear. “I’ve wanted to kiss you ever since you sat up with that crazy bed-head.”
My laugh came out as a sigh. I couldn’t speak, too caught up in his every tiny movement, waiting to see what he would do next. His mouth made its way from my ear to my cheek, leaving a trail of heated glows on my skin that radiated to every part of my body.
Then, his lips were on mine, tasting of orange juice and of hope, and I lost myself in his kiss.
The End.
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Other titles by Cady Vance
Available Now
Bone Carved, A Prequel Short Story
Bone Cold, Book 2
The Madmen’s City
Never Sleep