Chapter One

 

 

“Watch out!”

Kellie Price stood near the swing set on the playground near her home watching as a moving swing hit a child and knocked her over. She couldn’t help but to shout out because she knew it was coming. As was typical though, no one heard her. If only she hadn’t touched the metal pole holding up the swings when she went by, she could have stayed oblivious and left the park area. Sometimes her gift just ended up hurting her heart. The premonitions were usually quick, only appearing for just a few seconds, but long enough for her to know what was going to happen.

If only she could have known when, she might have been able to be at the swings herself. Thank goodness, the child wasn’t hurt too bad. She did get hit hard enough to knock her to the ground, but the mom ran to her side as soon as she heard the scream.

Sometimes her gift was more frustrating than helpful.  She wanted to shout it from the rooftops that she could help people because she really did believe it had and could make a difference, but it didn’t work that way. Most people thought she was nuts or a liar or both. Unfortunately, the world mainly saw things in black and white. She’d learned the hard way one too many times so keeping her mouth shut was the better option. The only person she got no judgement from was a neighbor guy that lived a few doors down from her. He was the neighborhood watch association president, operated a private security firm out of his house and was sweet as they come. He was also extremely attractive, however she tried to keep things professional. She’d never been good at relationships, except with her cat.

Kellie couldn’t remember exactly how she’d met Dane Abbott but over the last several months, he’d brought her in to consult on a couple of jobs here and there. It made her feel good to know she was helping even though they couldn’t really tell anybody. She had already put last premonition out of her mind and walked away from the park It was a beautiful day but lately she’d been feeling really uptight. The urge to continually look over her shoulder was becoming a bit annoying but more so, startling.

She took the most openly public path back toward her house from the neighborhood park, which coincidentally took her right past Dane’s home. She couldn’t help herself. He had a magnetic personality and exuded a strength that gave her comfort. It was a Saturday and she didn’t expect to see him around but as luck would have it, when she passed his driveway, he was out washing his car.

“Hey neighbor, what brings you my way?”

“Hi Dane. I was just coming from the park. Too nice of a day to stay inside.”

“Everything going okay with you?” Dane’s brow furrowed when he showed concern.

“Why do you ask?”

“You look a little bothered by something.” He threw his washing sponge in the bucket and grabbed a grey t-shirt from the fence.

Ugh you don’t have to dress on my account. Not like she would ever say that aloud to his face.

“Come on Kellie, you can tell me. Your secrets stay safe with me.” The sultry smirk that constantly graced his features made warmed her from the inside as he approached. She did feel like lately he was the only one she could trust to tell anything psychically important.

“I’ve just been a little off the last few days. I can’t shake the feeling that someone is watching me.”

“Have you seen any visions of anyone?”

“No not really.  I did see a little girl getting hit by a swing at the park today, but I don’t imagine a seven-year-old possesses a stalker ability and can instill fear into another person.”

“Are you that scared?”

“No not really, it does weird me out a little though. I’m almost afraid to touch things because I don’t want to see anything bad happen. It’s always been future happenings of people I don’t know.”

“Well maybe your ability is changing or growing. Would that be a terrible thing?”

“No, not if the changes could come with an instruction manual maybe so I can understand from the start.”

“You still have my number, right?”

“I think it’s in my kitchen somewhere.” She shrugged her shoulders. She remembered the day he wrote it on a piece of paper and handed it to her, she just didn’t let on that it was front and center on her refrigerator under a magnet..

“Cell phone, hand it over.” He held out his hand.

Kellie took a deep breath, pulled her phone from her back pocket and handed it to him. She watched as he tapped on the touch screen, then did a little typing.

“Okay, now you have my number. It’s listed under Dane. Simple as that. Any problems, call me and I’m there for you.”

She took the phone and smiled.

“Thanks Dane, I really do appreciate it. I’ll try to never have to use it.”

“Use it, that’s why I gave it to you. If you don’t have any problems but want to have dinner sometime, you can call me for that too.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

They said a few additional pleasantries and Kellie walked away.

“Being in the presence of that man will never make breathing easy.”

***

Dane ran his fingers through his sweaty hair as he watched Kellie sashay away from his house. Why she was still single was a mystery to him. There was no mistake to be made though, besides being unbelievably beautiful, she was hella smart and had a gift that he felt only a little guilty taking advantage of. She was a huge help more than once though, and he could tell she liked helping.

He was a little disheartened to hear that she felt like she was being watched though. There were a lot of creeps out in the world and while he had taken down his fair share, it hadn’t crossed his mind that she might at some point be in danger in their own neighborhood. It was indirectly the exact reason he’d implemented the watch association. While he was in the marines, his mother was attacked in her own home and he was too far away to help. From then on, he made sure he aided as many people as he could.

“No one should ever not feel safe in their own home.”

If anything happened to Kellie on his watch, he would personally take the blame. Even though she agreed, he’d involved her in his business which wasn’t always on the up and up. He tried to keep her out of the spotlight but apparently not well enough. Maybe he should do some night stalking himself around the area and just observe. The neighborhood people might not take too kindly to hidden cameras on the streets but he could reissue his offer for personal home security. He’d never been a fan of door to door sales, but word of mouth was usually a good tactic.

Dane finished washing his car and sprayed the soap off before he used the chamois to remove any dry spots.

Once inside, he grabbed a folder and dialed a number on his cell phone.

“Hey Wyatt, you busy tonight? I have some recon work for us to do. No, not a customer this time. I just want to do some behind the scenes work first. I’ll fill you in on the details when I see you.”

He gave the man on the other end of the line an address where to meet and finished the call. He made some notes in the file and grabbed a change of clothes from the laundry room. As often as he dressed in front of the washer and dryer, he might as well move his dresser in there too.

 As he waited for the water to heat up in the shower, he shaved off his five o’clock stubble. Crazy how that grew so fast. Kellie never seemed to mind it when he let it go for a few days. Of course, she hadn’t gotten close enough to notice. Wasn’t like he’d had the balls to make a move on her even though he’d like to. He couldn’t really tell if she was interested in him that way. Women were complex and a complete mystery and he was terrible at reading them. He’d even let the stubble grow if it was something she liked, but unless they were dating, that was an awkward topic in day to day conversation.

By the time he was done shaving there was steam rolling from the shower curtain so he jumped in before he wasted all his hot water. A new water heater was on the list to be replaced very soon.

A half hour later, Dane was dressed and collecting some of his gear into a duffle bag. He would take the car he kept under a blanket in his garage so he wouldn’t be easily recognized. There is a parking lot by the park so they would meet and start from there. Wyatt had his own equipment for their surveillance and Dane had a friend in emergency dispatch he would call to let know they would be out and about in case someone was alarmed. His job wasn’t to be a hindrance to the local PD, he’d become friends with several of the officers from cases he’d helped them solve since he’d started his own security firm. Better to be on the good side of the law, just in case he needed backup in a sticky situation.

Who was he kidding? Sticky situations were his thing. It was what he’d lived for, for a good ten years of his life. In the marines, the extensive and constant training made them living breathing machines. They were ready for anything at a moment’s notice. Truthfully, when he started his security firm, he had a tough time adjusting to the slower pace. His need to help people is what kept him going. Then when one of the local officers suggested he talk to Kellie Price about a case that was getting no traction, a new friendship was formed.

She was an amazing person who had a gift for helping people. It wasn’t a gift that she was easily able to control but it was amazing just the same. Now it was his turn to return the favor and help her.

“Hey buddy, good to see you.”

Dane climbed from his car and shook Wyatt’s hand.

“Let’s get started.”