Closer: A Novella (13 page)

Every six hours, a tray filled with food that came out of a can, slid beneath the bars through a rectangular gap. The meat was barely recognizable. He should have been hungry, but Kane hadn’t eaten since the morning of the murder.

The guards showed up like clockwork, leaving his tray and later collecting the uneaten slop that they called food. Kane never sensed anything while touching his tray and the guards wore gloves when making their rounds. They denied Sensors access to emotional imprints, perhaps so they couldn’t uncover juicy tidbits about the guards to use as blackmail. Guards were required to keep their distance from the cells and not engage in conversation. No doubt men had tried to bribe them with a mind-blowing emotional trip in exchange for a walk out of jail. Kane had never collected useless emotions and stored them, so he had nothing to offer.

There weren’t many Sensors locked away, so it was quiet. Except for the guy five cells down who liked to whistle a lot.

Kane looked down at his laceless shoes and sighed. Sleeping the first three nights had been impossible, and he doubted that tonight would be any different. Each time his eyes closed, he saw Caroline’s smile, one that time would eventually try to erase. On the first night, he awoke screaming out of control. The guard slammed a baton against the bars as a warning. In the dream, Caroline slipped down a black tunnel with nothing at the end. She whispered to him, but he couldn’t hear the words. She should have seen a light; wasn’t that what was supposed to happen? A tunnel, a light, angels or some shit?

The memory of it crippled him, and he rubbed his rough hands against his face. He’d never felt so gutted in his life.

Taking out the human was the best thing he’d ever done, but it didn’t matter to the men who locked him up. The one thing that kept him sane was thinking about the women who would not fall prey to that rabid human. They’d gotten a free pass without even knowing it.

Kane pinched his earlobe and listened to the door at the end of the hall open. Someone needed to oil the hinge because it creaked like an old house in a horror movie. He tensed, wondering if they were going to impose the death sentence. So many regrets ran through his mind, and he thought about what kind of man he might have been if he’d just given himself the chance.

Would they allow him to contact Sunny one last time? There would be no jury or trial. When they deliberated a person’s fate, the facts of the case were presented to some representatives who made a collective decision. Kane faced a possible death sentence, or at the very least, a lifetime behind bars.

The footsteps grew closer and Kane readied himself. Today was the day of his sentencing. Now he knew how Caroline must have felt not really knowing what was coming except for the certainty that there was no escaping the inevitable.

A long shadow slithered into his cell and he swallowed hard, wringing his hands together.

“I asked if I could bring in a frying pan to cook you up some fish tacos, but they wouldn’t let me,” a delicate voice said.

Kane’s head snapped up and his heart caught in his chest.

Standing on the other side of the bars was a lovely young brunette in a pair of jeans and a red blouse with a v-neck collar. Her hair was smooth and fell in subtle waves just past her shoulders.

Maybe in the middle of the night he had died in his sleep and this was the other side. But why would Caroline’s ghost visit him in a pair of red sneakers with white laces? His body refused to move.

She swung her hip and rested a fist against it. “Well, if
that’s
how you treat your visitors, I’ll just go.”

Caroline whirled around and disappeared.

Without a conscious thought, Kane flew up and slammed against the bars, gripping them tightly and trying to mash his face through. “No, don’t go,” he called out.

She slinked into view as if she’d only moved a few inches out of sight, twisting a lock of hair around her index finger.

Damn, it
was
her. Heavenly brown eyes, a glowing complexion, a cunning smirk, and she was completely eating his reaction up. The glint of the anchor between the open cut of her blouse caught his eye.

As did the luscious shape of her hips—ones that those jeans should have been flattered to hold, but instead they hung slack. Her thin T-shirt was short enough that he could see the flat of her stomach and hips. He’d never envied a pair of denims in his whole damn life until he saw them on Caroline.

“But you’re dead,” he said in disbelief, pressing his forehead bruisingly between the bars.

Caroline walked closer until she was within arm’s reach.

“I
was
dead… for a little while. There was a strong pull somewhere else and I was going there without a choice in the matter.” Caroline sniffed as if she’d been crying, although her eyes didn’t show any signs of tears. “Then, your voice called out and…”

“And what?” he asked hoarsely.

She stepped closer and it smelled as if he’d walked into a field of wildflowers during the spring when the blooms first open. A blush tinted her skin, so pale and immediate that he reached out to touch her. His finger grazed along her rosy cheek and Kane’s lips eased into a grin.

He
felt
her happiness.

Caroline’s inability to transfer her emotions wasn’t entirely true. Kane’s gift was strong enough that he was able to pick up the slightest trace of it. It was just enough to taste her emotions, but not so much that they would overwhelm him.

Suddenly, he wanted his hands all over her skin. A deep ache knotted in his belly, turning him inside out. Before he realized what he was doing, Kane pulled at the ends of her cotton shirt until she shuffled her feet forward, only an inch away from the bars.

Her breath tickled his neck.

“And what? Finish what you were going to say,” he muttered, intoxicated by her nearness, caressing the narrow curve of her waist.

“Did you mean what you said, Kane? That you loved me? I heard you say it. I felt your emotion—it formed a connection that carved a pathway back to the living world.” Her eyes sparkled as she recounted the memory. “It spread out beneath my feet like brilliant diamonds, and suddenly, I had a choice! Whatever was pulling me into the darkness let go, and I felt you reaching for me. It really
does
work, Kane. It wasn’t your words that brought me back. It was your love. But was the love for me, or were you remembering someone else?”

He kissed her on the nose and watched her long eyelashes flutter. “It was
always
for you, Angel.”

This woman mattered and he wasn’t ashamed to admit it. A unique link existed between them that was effortless and natural. One that had very little to do with their abilities as Sensors, and everything to do with the basic laws of attraction. His heart swelled within his chest and Kane knew that this was the woman he was meant to be with—Caroline was the woman that his heart was anchored to.

He rubbed his nose against hers as his mouth moved lower. The tension between them became thick and magnetic. The first taste of her lips—hell, he almost groaned. They were so warm and giving, so unexpectedly familiar. His tongue stroked her bottom lip on the last kiss and his breath trembled. Damn, she was sweet like vanilla and cherries. Kane savored every moment; tasting her in the flesh surpassed anything that they had experienced inside her head.

This was
real
.

She shyly rubbed her nose against his and stepped back.

Kane quietly chuckled as he thought about their kiss. “Why are you turning crimson? You act as if we’ve never—”

“We haven’t,” she reminded him. Her shoe squeaked against the shiny floor as she lowered her eyes and shrugged with a lift of her shoulder. “Not for real. Do you want to sit with me and talk for a little bit? I walked all the way here and my feet are hurting in these new shoes. I didn’t wear any socks so they’ve been digging at my heels.”

His eyes narrowed to razor-thin slivers. “You walked
all
the way here by yourself? These are dangerous streets, Caroline. I shouldn’t have to tell you that.” The timbre of his voice was flat and laced with disapproval. Kane pinched his left earlobe.

Imagining her out on the streets alone flared up a surge of protectiveness, and what bothered him the most was that he was locked up and unable to look out for her. He collected himself when he noticed that she was touching his left hand and using her Sensor abilities to feel his anger. Concern wrapped around her expression.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t think you’d care. I promise I’ll take a cab next time.”

“Next time?”

She sat on her knees and Kane followed her lead, taking a seat on the floor and leaning on his left arm.

“Are you okay?” he asked as he looked over her body.

Caroline twisted her elbow, showing him a few Band-aids. “I’ll live.”

He released a long sigh after hearing those two words, and it felt like he could breathe again.

“The reason I’m here, Kane, is because they gave me permission to break the news of your sentence.” Her eyes lifted slowly to meet his and when she tilted her head, a few strands of hair slipped across her face. “I talked to a bunch of men on the committee and told them everything that happened. At least, as much as you had told me. After they took you away, the Chitah stayed behind. He said that he sensed something was off and examined my body. That’s when I came out of it. I was screaming out your name, but you weren’t there.”

They found each other’s hands between the bars. It seemed like such a natural thing to do since all the time they had spent together they’d been connected by touch.

“The Chitah took care of me, but I refused to let him… you know… lick me.”

Kane knew. Chitahs could heal superficial wounds with a stroke of their tongue, and if he’d found out another man’s tongue had been on Caroline, he might have gone ballistic.

“Anyhow,” she continued, “they called a Relic who showed up right away. Not much could be done at that point, and it took me a couple of days to shake off what happened. I told them everything—including how you saved me. They considered all of the facts and reduced your sentence. I tried to convince them to set you free, given the fact that you saved my life, but they were firm on punishing you for the original crime. It didn’t matter that the human life you took held no value, and that he was a devil on the loose. You saved more lives than mine, Kane. So,” she said with a proud smile, “you only have to serve a year.”

A year. Damn, why did that seem like such a long time?

He flinched when her nail dug into his hand. “Don’t feel that way about it. They wanted to lock you up for eighty-five years, so I think that’s a pretty good deal.”

“You did that… for me?”

A radiant smile brightened her face, along with the pale shimmer of lipstick that he could still taste on his tongue. “I was given special visitation rights, so I get to come up here whenever I want to. Well, as long as it’s within visiting hours. Guess what else?” she asked with excitement in her voice.

He almost got up, but rubbed his palm down the cotton fabric of his navy blue pants instead. “How can you be so damn happy about coming to a prison to visit with a
criminal
?”

Caroline reached between the bars and grabbed him by his collar with a tight fist.

“Because, you idiot, that
criminal
stole my heart,” she said with a playful smile. “I think that entitles me to visitation rights, don’t you? Before you so rudely interrupted me, they said I’m allowed to bring you food. Of course, they made a big deal about silverware.”

Her thin-lipped snarl relaxed into a smile and Kane failed miserably at concealing his grin.

“Do you want me to contact your sister and tell her where you are?”

Kane thought about it and shook his head. “No, I’d rather you didn’t. I don’t want her to see me in here. She doesn’t know I’m a Sensor—she’d never accept this world.”

That’s why he had been distancing himself from her over the past couple of years, because his aging had slowed down in his mid-twenties, and soon enough, Sunny would appear older than him.

“Maybe you shouldn’t underestimate what people are willing to accept in their lives.”

While she was talking, Kane reached out and lightly dabbed his finger on her cheek. She fell silent and watched him with curious eyes. He turned his wrist up and held out his finger, showing her the eyelash. No words were exchanged; she simply blew it off and they went on as normal.

Caroline leaned to her left and grabbed a sack with
Coyote Burger
written on the side in swirly letters. She unrolled the top and pulled out a burger wrapped in paper, and a side of onion rings. They were the big patties he liked, which came with extra pickles. And when his stomach growled, Caroline snickered.

“Guess that means I won’t be getting anymore kisses,” he said, nodding at the onion rings. She might as well have brought a clove of garlic.

“Well, if you’re going to be
that
way about it…”

She slid the box in front of her and lifted an onion ring to her mouth. Kane snatched it from her hand and she laughed. They quietly sat there, watching each other as they ate a side order of onion rings. It was fucking great. Kane couldn’t remember the last time he’d had such a good time, and here he was, sitting in a prison cell sharing his lunch with a beautiful woman who was willing to wait a year for him.