Dark and Stormy: Sacred Hearts Coven Read online

“Really? That sucks. I always thought he was kind of a bore. He was nice to look at, but he didn't have much to say. What did you guys do anyway? You never really talked about going anywhere.” The questions never stopped.

  “He was big on ordering pizza and watching sports. I learned a thing or two about the rules of basketball and football. I guess at least I walked away a little bit smarter.” Regina laughed a little even though she knew it wasn't funny. Hearing her talk about Paul out loud caused her to feel pity for herself. She squeezed the moonstone and held it tight in her hand and tried to imagine absorbing the energy from it. She was ready to find success, not only in business.

  “I know you didn't call me in the middle of a hurricane to talk about Paul. What’s up?”

  “Oh, we wanted to know if you knew how to transfer the calls from the landline to our mobile phones.” Regina looked over at Reddick reading the manual for the phone system. She thought about how hard he worked and how he was always full of energy. He probably wouldn't ever be too tired to service his woman. “And we aren’t having a hurricane, Alita. You are always so over the top.”

  “First of all, get on that computer you’re always attached to and check the weather report. Second, of course I know how to work the phone system. That is part of my job and I worked with the phone tech when he installed the system. I am your go-to gal.”

  “Great, I’m going to transfer you to Reddick. Do you think you can walk him through it. I’m going to go look up the weather.”

  “Absolutely, and you guys should really get out of there and go home or somewhere more inland!”

  “Reddick!” she yelled over to him. “I’m transferring Alita over to you. For the phones.”

  He gave her a thumbs-up. She hit a few buttons and his phone buzzed.

  Regina opened the screen to her laptop. First she checked to see if she had a full charge. Even if she lost the Wi-Fi connection, she could still work on their PowerPoint presentation as long as there was enough juice. Emails could always be written and scheduled to be sent in the morning. She loved having her emails go out before eight a.m. She felt like it showed people she was eager to get her workday started. People could trust her to work for them if she worked that hard for herself.

  She also wanted to make sure she had an opportunity to take a look at what was happening with the storm. Maybe Reddick wasn't just teasing her when he said they should be evacuating the area. She just thought he was trying to get a rise out of her, or for her to go home so he could outwork her.

  She found a reputable weather site. She was about to punch in her zip code for her local weather when she realized the weather warnings on the home page were for Blue Beach County. Sure enough, there were large red letters spelling out the words hurricane warning. She clicked on the link for mandatory evacuation areas.

  Sure enough, the town her office was in was at the top of the list. Her heart dropped into her stomach a little. She had never experienced a hurricane, and as far as she knew, there had never been one in their area.

  One thing was for sure; she wasn’t about to find out. She started to pack up her bag and grab her phone. She closed her laptop and slipped it into the soft case. She decided to go to her cousin’s house. Even if Janice wasn’t home, she knew where the hidden key was located.

  Regina planned to call her neighbor to let her know she wasn’t coming home. Hopefully she would be there to look in on Crunch and feed him. She was glad her neighbor was her dog walker.

  Regina opened one of her desk drawers where she kept a spare umbrella. Of course it was red. She tucked it under her arm and tossed her bags over her shoulder. She scooted over to Reddick’s desk.

  “Come on, we have to get out of here.” Regina was almost out of breath. She’d never packed up so fast.

  Flashes of a childhood storm forced their way to the front of Regina’s memory. Thunder and lightning had made her jumpy since she was a young girl. She thought back to when she was eight years old. She vividly remembered her dad teaching her how to calculate how far away the lightning flashes were. He called it the flash to bang theory.

  He taught her that for every five seconds between lightning and the thunder equated to one mile. So if there were twenty seconds between the flash and the boom, then the lightning was four miles away. They counted the seconds together. The lightning started out at least eight to ten miles away. Regina felt good about it not being too close to home.

  As the storm worsened, the seconds between the flash and the boom started to diminish. Within minutes, there was little distinction between the two. A crack came that was so loud that Regina felt the house shake. She felt like a bomb went off. Even though it felt like an eternity, only seconds passed before she heard the screams.

  Regina followed her father downstairs to find her mother screaming. Her sister Amelia was pinned under a tree that had just crashed through the front window. The walls around them were ablaze, and the rain was coming into the living room behind the tree.

  Regina’s father yelled for her to run to the kitchen and call 9-1-1. Regina called, but all she could hear was the screaming and crying from her mother and sister. Her hearing was off from the shock or the proximity of the lightning cracking at their home. Lucky for Regina, her mother came into the kitchen and took the phone from her.

  Regina ran back to her father and sister. She vaguely remembered her mother’s voice in the background, telling the operator what happened and their address. Her father was soothing Amelia and telling her to stay calm. He told her that he didn’t want her to move. He was afraid to attempt to pull her out and cause more damage to the young girl’s body.

  Regina would never forget the fear she felt in the pit of her stomach and the fear that flared out from her sister’s eyes dripping with tears. Regina sat beside Amelia and held her hand until the emergency teams arrived. Her mother took her outside because the smoke was getting worse in the house.

  Regina and her mother sat outside in the back of an ambulance, wrapped in blankets, waiting to see them bring her sister out of the house. There were firemen, policemen, and an assortment of emergency medical people all over the front lawn. The lights from the vehicles lit up the entire block.

  Regina’s sister was pulled from the house and rushed to the hospital. Their house was almost completely destroyed by the fire and the tree. Regina and her parents stayed at her grandparents’ house while Amelia remained in the hospital. She wound up losing one of her legs.

  Reddick told Alita to hold on and lowered the receiver from his face. He looked up and saw the sudden fear in her eyes.

  “What's wrong? Where are you going?” he asked.

  “I just looked up the weather. They said the hurricane is about to hit here, and no, it isn’t Hurricane Regina.”

  “First of all, you need to calm down. It’s just a warning right now. I told you before they suggested evacuations.”

  “Well, I’m out of here.” She turned and headed for the stairs.

  Reddick lifted the receiver to his ear. “Did you hear her?”

  “Yeah, don't let her leave,” Alita demanded.

  “I gotta go. I’ll call you back. Thanks for your help.”

  Reddick was concerned about where Regina was going. The storm was getting worse. He just had the radar pulled up on his laptop and had been watching to see where the worst of the storm was headed. He wasn't sure where she lived, but he needed to make sure she wasn't about to drive into the heart of it.

  Reddick took the steps two at a time. He heard the jingling of the front door before he made it to the bottom landing. He took the last three steps at once. He had strong, long legs so it didn’t slow his stride in the least.

  Regina had just stepped out the front door. Before the door could close, he grabbed it and went out after her. The cold rain struck him in the face. The droplets felt more like ice pellets. It was a drastic change from the sunny, mild weather they had early that morning.

  “Regina!” The wind was howling
and his voice came out muffled. She didn’t respond, either because she was stubborn and set on getting in her car, or she just didn't hear him.

  Her umbrella was up and she was holding it, fighting against the wind. Reddick knew the danger an umbrella could bring when lightning was about to strike. He was mad she was making stupid decisions. It was very out of character for her.

  He reached out a hand to grab her. At the same time, a loud crack struck down at the tree beside the lot. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her hard and close to him.

  Reddick was strong, stronger than he realized. The thrust of the momentum had them both flying backward to the ground. Just as they hit the pavement, the top half of the tree came crashing down in front of them.

  Regina was lucky Reddick took the brunt of the fall. She lay on top of his chest, his arms still wrapped around her. The umbrella had long since blown away to who knows where. Her bags were still attached to her arm just at the elbow.

  Regina pushed up on his chest. Much of her hair had fallen out of the twist and was hanging down, dripping with cold water. Reddick didn't seem to notice or mind the drips on his face as he’d adjusted to the rain that was now coming down harder.

  He reached up a hand to her face and pushed her hair to the side and tucked it behind her ear. The color had drained from her skin. Her doe eyes looked almost black against the sudden paleness of her cheeks. He could feel her trembling and knew he needed to get her back inside.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  She was cold and soaking wet. Her heart pounded hard against her chest. She knew it was beating hard enough that Reddick had to feel it. She was so scared she didn't dare move. His strong arms around her gave her a moment of security. Not to mention the heat he exuded felt good warming the front of her body.

  Regina just shook her head and looked back at the large tree blocking the path to her car. She knew if he hadn’t grabbed her, the tree most likely would have taken her out. She could smell the scorched wood in the air, but knew there was no way a fire could be burning in that rain. The familiar smell only made her fears rise to the surface.

  “I don't know where you think you’re going, but we need to get back inside. It isn't safe out here.” He took her face in both of his hands and spoke softly to her. “I know you’re scared. It's okay; you're not alone. But we can’t stay out here.”

  She wrapped her arms around him for a quick hug and he held her tight and lifted them both to their feet. He could feel her wanting to turn toward the tree again, but gently guided her in the direction of the old house. He took her purse and computer bag from her.

  “You sure did pick the fanciest pair of shoes to wear for the harshest weather we’ve had in years.” He looked down at her shiny red pumps that were almost glowing in the dark.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Wet and Cold

  REDDICK WALKED REGINA to the conference room. They were both soaked to the bone. Reddick was a little taken aback by her reaction to the storm. He had never seen her let her guard down like that. She normally exuded a fearless attitude to the world.

  “Stay here. I am going to lock up and bring you a hot drink.”

  Regina just sat there staring off into space. She didn’t acknowledge him.

  “Hey.” He lifted her chin. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to go grab a few things.”

  Reddick went back out to the parking lot and ran to his car. He prayed the reward would be worth the risk. He wanted to grab his gym bag before the storm got worse.

  He hurried back inside and locked up. He rushed back to the kitchen and made two hot cups of tea. He also grabbed a roll of paper towels.

  When he got back to the conference room, Regina was still frozen in the same position.

  “Here, drink this.” He put the cup of tea down on the table in front of her. “I’m going to turn the heat on and pump it up pretty high. You’re freezing and the temperature is dropping fast out there.”

  Reddick tossed a duffle bag and the paper towels on the table. He pulled out a towel.

  Reddick swiveled her chair to face him. He could see how cold she was. He felt a little guilty for enjoying what the rain had done to her mostly white dress. The fabric was thin enough that the rain made it transparent. He could see the curves of her full breasts and where the lace V’d out across her cleavage that was usually hidden away.

  Her nipples were dark enough that he could see the perfect-shaped disks tightened and erect. He wanted to be able to cause the same effect for her under better circumstances. He imagined the hard tips entering his mouth as the softness of her breast pressed on his lips.

  He, for the second, maybe third time that day, felt his balls tingling and his underwear getting tighter as he grew. He tried to remember how much he hated the Green Bay Packers and squatted down in front of her, trying to clear his mind.

  Reddick hoped she hadn’t noticed his arousal before he lowered himself to eye level with her. He reached over and grabbed the towel from the table.

  “Here, it’s a little damp, but it’ll be better than nothing.” He wrapped it around her and rubbed both of her arms, trying to create enough friction to warm her up.

  “You need to get out of those wet clothes. You can use the paper towels to dry yourself. I’m going to double-check and see if anyone has a sweater or something at their desk. We can hang our clothes by the heating vents to dry.”

  “Okay,” Regina whispered back.

  “I’ll be back in minute. I’m going to go assess the heat and get out of these wet clothes too.” He stood up and grabbed a pair of basketball shorts from his bag. “I’ll give you some privacy and knock when I come back.”

  “Thanks,” she said softly.

  Regina sat there staring into the cup of tea. She wanted to pick it up and drink it, but she was still in shock from what just happened outside. Her legs were shaking. She told herself it was from her dress being soaked with cold rainwater. Even though she knew better, she wasn’t going to let herself be consumed by her thoughts. The memories that haunted her all these years had just almost come to life again. She knew her sister escaped the ultimate wrath of a storm, and now she too was just nearly pinned by a fallen tree.

  She worked to suppress the negative thoughts and tried to focus on the moment and what she would need to do to get through the storm.

  Reddick left the conference room and closed the door behind him. Regina knew he would have to go upstairs to turn on the heat, so she had a few minutes before he would return.

  It was nice to have the towel around her, but it was damp and on the cold side from being outside in the car. She wished she had something dry and warm to put on. Maybe Reddick would find something around the office. It’s not like she could sit there in her panties. They were soaked too. She wasn't sure she could warm up enough with the towel.

  Cold as the towel might have been, she was enjoying the internal warmth she felt from the way it smelled. She was encased in Reddick’s scent. Lifting the towel to her nose, she breathed in his clean, earthy scent from the towel and sighed.

  She turned back to the table and took a few sips of the tea. It helped to ease her chill. She really didn't want to be alone so she knew she would need to get undressed quickly. She stood up and put the towel as close to the heating vent as she could in the hopes that it would at least be warmed a little before she needed it to cover her body.

  Just as she was about to remove her dress, she remembered her conversation with Serena in the parking lot. Regina had tossed Serena’s bag of lingerie in her office yesterday. She wondered if Serena thought to take it with her when she left for the day.

  Regina made a quick dash for Serena’s office to investigate the possibility of at least a dry pair of panties. She and Serena were close to the same size so whatever she had would fit her well enough.

  As soon as Regina got into the office, she spotted the big, black bag sitting on the floor in the corner behind Serena’s desk. She ran over and picked
it up, dumping the contents out on the desk.

  She laughed quietly at what was before her. She certainly had quite a few things to choose from. Nothing quite as simple as a pair of panties, though. She held up the bodysuit that was made out of string and lace that Serena showed her yesterday. It wasn’t going to be enough to cover her or keep her warm. There were a few things in there that covered more skin, but not the most private of areas.

  There was so much to choose from, she wondered how Serena would ever even have time to wear all that stuff. Finally she found something with sleeves. She lifted it up to the light. It had a multi-colored striped pattern on it, but it was sheer nonetheless. Regina put it aside and found another skimpy black lace thing.

  She knew if she layered them, she would have a tiny bit of warmth from the long sleeves, and the black piece of lace would cover her enough to not show everything. Of course she still planned to keep that towel around her, but it was better than nothing or her ice-cold, drenched clothes.

  UPSTAIRS REDDICK WENT to the thermostat and set it to ninety. He was concerned about losing power, and it was going to get cold. There was no chance at that point that they would be going anywhere. The safest thing for them to do would be to ride out the storm at the office.

  They would have trouble getting out of the parking lot with the downed tree. Reddick worried it was possible if the tree came down, so could the power lines. Where would they go at that point anyway? He wasn’t about to let Regina out of his sight or get behind the wheel of a car in a storm like that.

  He hurried over to his desk. Reddick was glad it was late enough in the day that he had removed his jacket. It was sitting on the back of his seat. He could bring it down for Regina. One problem solved, no searching necessary.

  He wasn’t thrilled about putting on his dirty gym shorts. At least he didn’t do any cardio. He only had enough time to do some weight lifting. Otherwise, his shorts may have been soaked with sweat. He gave them a quick sniff and was glad they still smelled like dryer sheets.