31. Chapter 31
Chapter 31
Errands… seriously ? Tessa drove down the deserted road and turned onto the drive. Did they really think she wouldn’t figure out where they were going? She had been the one to suggest it in the first place.
Well, she would just have to crash the party.
They were all sitting on the front porch watching her as she came to a stop in front of John’s cabin and got out of her car. “Sorry I’m late. My invitation must have gotten lost in the mail.”
A large man with what looked like a perma-frown narrowed his eyes. From Megan’s description, this had to be John. “I would recognize that sarcastic tone anywhere. Tessa . I hear you’ve decided to become a PI in your spare time.”
Sarcasm out the gate…grudging respect. Tessa shrugged. “Somebody had to. And you must be Sir Grumps-A-Lot.”
He stared at her for a drawn-out moment. “Should have known you would show up. Since you do the opposite of what you’re told to do.”
Anger bubbled under her skin. “Well, that’s because no one gets to tell me what to do.”
Megan held up her hands as if she was going to referee while Eric seemed way too happy at the exchange.
Ben stood. “After your suggestion to talk to John to see if he could help with my memories, I asked Megan to set up the meeting. Sorry we came without you.”
So Megan wasn’t the only one refereeing this meeting. Tessa stopped herself from continuing her verbal sparring and nodded.
Ben turned to John. “If it wasn’t for Tessa, I wouldn’t have found my way home and we wouldn’t have found Lily.”
John blew out a breath before nodding as well.
“That’s it?” Eric blurted, which earned him an elbow from his wife.
Tessa narrowed her eyes at Eric. “Did you expect pistols at dawn?”
Eric grinned. “Maybe.”
Tessa wagged her finger at him. “Keep it up, and you’ll be back on my list.”
Eric shook his head. “No thanks. I don’t need to be watching over my shoulder for you.”
“Okay, now that we’ve all made nice,” Megan said, which had more than one person rolling their eyes, “let’s get back to the subject. We’ve brought John up to speed on what’s happened.”
Ben motioned for Tessa to take his empty seat, and when she reluctantly walked past him, he whispered, “You’re not hiding your Taser, are you?”
She winked at him as she took a seat. A nonanswer, but she liked to keep him guessing.
“Before we were interrupted”—John glanced at Tessa, who awarded him an evil smile—“we were talking about your memories. I’m wondering if maybe Lily could help you with them?”
Tessa frowned at John. Maybe her verbal ceasefire was too soon. “How? We’re not going to abuse her ability.”
John frowned right back at her. “I would never ask you to take advantage of a child. What I’m saying is that Lily and eventually Bella are conduits of visions. We don’t know if those visions are only of the future.”
“You think she could be seeing events that happened to people in the past?” Eric asked.
“Possibly.”
“If she does see visions from the past, how does that help me?” Ben asked before Tessa was able to ask the same thing.
“Until you met Lily, you would have assumed that an oracle would tell you their visions. But she’s been drawing them instead. What if an oracle could transfer their visions to someone else? And the other possibility to consider is that an oracle may be able to focus on a specific person or place to have a vision about them.”
“Seriously?” Ben said.
John nodded. “I think anything is possible. But if Lily’s abilities develop to that level, I don’t know that it would be at this young age. She might not understand why she’s drawing what she is now. You may want to talk to her about it.” He held up his hand to Tessa. “And not to take advantage of her, but to put her at ease. Has anyone talked to her about her gift?”
“We haven’t really had a conversation about her gift,” Tessa said. “It’s something to consider.” And they should have been considering it before John had to bring it up.
“And the other thing to think about is the duffel bag you were carrying with fifty thousand in cash and my contact information on a slip of paper,” John said.
Ben reached into his pocket and pulled out a paper, unfolded it, and then handed it to John. “Along with the words ‘find Mia White.’ Megan told me that I reached out to you to try and buy the painting. Do you think the money was for you?”
“You were Steve Hampton that time on the phone.” His eyebrow quirked up. “You seem to like aliases.”
Tessa turned toward John and scowled, but he ignored her. “I know you were really trying to get me to sell the painting. Maybe you thought coming in person with some cash might persuade me?”
“Do you remember what I said during our conversation?” Ben said.
“Not verbatim. You introduced yourself and told me you were a friend of Connor, who was appraising the painting for me. You said you wanted to see it and then talk about purchasing it. I told you no. When I asked Connor about you later, he said he didn’t know you.”
Tessa leaned forward. “Who could have given you John’s address and phone number? It’s not like most people know it.”
John nodded. “Right. This cabin is listed under a rental company, and I used an alias with them. I’m not sure how anyone would know I was here without me telling them.”
“Who have you told?” Tessa asked. With John’s personality, she doubted it was a long list.
“Megan and Eric. You invited yourself here. I’m assuming you snooped your way into finding my address.”
Tessa smiled. “You would be correct. Well, someone else knows you’re here.”
She sat back as the subject changed and let Megan talk when John asked about what she had found out about the Knights Templars.
“You might be on to something about the dragon sentries disappearing during the time frame the Templars were part of the crusades. It seems like too much of a coincidence.”
“Do you think that the second paragraph from the scroll means that the Templars are back?” Megan asked.
John scowled. “I think anything is possible. The rest of the paragraph is vague and doesn’t point in any one direction, so it makes researching the Templars the higher priority.”
After a few more minutes they said their goodbyes and walked to their cars.
Eric wrapped his arm around Megan’s shoulder. “I told you she would show up. Time to pay up.”
“Stop betting on me,” Tessa growled.
Eric shook his head. “Not when I win.”
Tessa rolled her eyes. “How much did you win?”
Eric grinned. “We didn’t bet for money.”
Tessa pulled a face. “Eeww, I don’t want to know what you bet.”
“I’ll ride back with Tessa,” Ben said, thankfully changing the subject.
Eric stared at him and then Tessa. “Are you two going to be good?”
“Nah. Good is boring,” Tessa said.
“Please don’t get arrested,” Eric quipped.
She scrunched her face at him. “Buzzkill.”
They climbed into her car before Eric could make any more comments. Tessa started the car and headed back down the driveway. “Were you afraid to ride with them if Eric wanted to collect on the bet?”
He chuckled. “No. I thought we could discuss Lily.”
“Yeah. We should talk to her about her power.”
“You agree with what John said?”
She glanced over at him. “Don’t act so surprised. He’s a grump, but he made some good points. I don’t want Lily to think having visions is bad.”
“Me either.”
They sat in silence for a bit before Ben spoke up again. “I’m sorry about coming to John’s without you. When Megan reached out to him, he was adamant about you not coming.”
She gripped the steering wheel. “I figured it was something like that, especially with the whole telling me what to do BS he was spouting.”
“I can’t imagine you letting anyone tell you what to do.”
She shrugged. “I’ve learned from experience.” Tessa regretted the words as soon as she said them. She glanced over at him again, and his eyes were too soft. Like he knew more from those four words than she had wanted to share.
“What have you learned?” he asked softly.
She turned back to the road. Did she want him to know about her? Really know about her and the prickly smart mouth he appeared to like so much? She blew out a breath. “I started modeling at fourteen. Even with my mom watching out for me, I was still exposed to a lot. Especially after I turned eighteen and I didn’t have a chaperone with me. I was around men with money. And it was flattering and overwhelming. But I figured out quickly,” and painfully, but she didn’t share that, “they didn’t want me as an equal partner. They wanted to own me. It’s a hard pill to swallow when you realize you’re not a person but a pretty bauble. Heaven help I speak my mind or tell them I wasn’t interested.”
He tensed next to her, and she realized what her words sounded like. “I wasn’t ever forced. My mom had me start self-defense classes when I was thirteen. It’s okay.”
“It sure in the hell is not okay. Shit, Tessa. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah. And my manager took advantage of both my mom and me when he signed me. Kept way too much of my earnings as a model.”
“And your father?”
Tessa shook her head. “My father—or sperm donor, as I like to call him—liked to have my mother on his arm until he found out she was pregnant, and then didn’t stick around. Mom tried to sugarcoat what had happened when I was younger, but I overheard her talking with one of her friends when I was a teenager.”
“No one deserves to be treated that way.”
“Yep. That’s why…” She swallowed hard.
“You immediately go on the defensive. Push people away.”
She should have known he would understand what she was trying to say. “I spent too much time in a world where pretty is to be seen, not heard.”
“So you make sure you’re heard.”
Some of the tension left her shoulders. How could he know her so well already? “Too much baggage, right? Do you still like my smart mouth?”
“Even more so.”
Her heart ricocheted around her chest at his response. But she couldn’t let it out. She didn’t know what the future held between them.
Yes, he understood her.
But he was still finding his own footing, and until he was on solid ground, she would keep her heart in its protective cage.