To Tell a Tale (Season One)

Smitty followed Nash into the interrogation room the detective had taken Airianna. Inside was the painting she had brought to show them, hoping they could help her. But Nash wasn’t going to let her get away with killing Daemen.

“Holy fuck,” Smitty whispered when he saw the painting.

“Yeah,” Nash growled. “Either she saw them do it and did nothing to stop or aid Daemen, or she killed him herself….”

“Do you really believe either of those scenarios?”

Nash turned to his partner and friend. “Seriously? After what you saw at her home and this, you think she’s innocent?”

“She did warn us about that girl….”

“She more than likely set it up.”

Smitty shook his head. His friend is too distraught over his missing friend to think straight. He needs to tell the captain about the girl and see what he can do to have her released before Nash does something he’s really going to regret.

~🔮~

Airianna sat on the bench in the cell. Thankfully, no one else was in there. She’s not good with being around criminals. Sometimes they cause a dream, and it’s never pretty when she’s forced to have a dream.

She sighed as she placed her elbow on her knee and laid her face in her palm. They didn’t give her a phone call, so she had no way of letting her father know what happened and that she won’t be home for dinner. So no one is coming to her rescue—unless Nash finally comes to his senses and believes her.

She turned her head when she saw the door opening. An officer came in, dragging a thug in cuffs. He opened the cell door to where Airianna was. Airianna nervously got to her feet.

Smitty stepped into the cell room and stopped when he saw what the officer was doing. “What the fuck are you doing?” he demanded.

The officer stopped and turned to him. “Placing a prisoner in the cell….”

“Don’t you see there’s a woman in that cell?” Detective Smitt growled, pointing to Airianna.

Airianna watched the officer turn to her and shrug.

“I figured a killer could handle….”

She’d read the officer’s lips and sucked in a breath.

The officer didn’t get to finish. Detective Smitt pulled the officer off his feet and into his face.

The thug was released and moved for the door. Smitty took hold of him with his other hand. “You’re not going anywhere,” he growled, holding him in place, his attention still on the officer.

“Your badge is mine,” Smitty growled. He tossed the officer aside, then yanked the thug to another cell.

Airianna watched the officer’s face pale. He looked at her and flipped her off, then left the room. Sighing, she sat on the bench and leaned back against the wall. She placed her hands over her face and shook her head.

“Sorry about everything,” Smitty lamented as he stood in the open doorway of her cell. “Airianna.” He kicked the bench.

She looked up at him, and he smiled.

“Sorry about everything,” he repeated, ensuring she could read his lips.

She nodded and looked at the cell door, then back at Smitty.

He smiled at her. “Thank you for not escaping,” he said, moving the door back and forth.

Airianna shrugged. “What would it matter? I wouldn’t get far.”

Smitty sighed as he closed the door. “I’m truly sorry.”

She watched him, “it’s not you who needs to apologize.”

He shrugged, “still.” He turned and left the room.

“Hey, pretty girl. Why don’t you join me in my cell? That officer was going to do me a huge favor.”

Airianna grunted as she lay across the bench. She hasn’t been this happy to not be able to hear someone’s every word since grade school. She hoped someone would let her out soon. There must be someone who believed she was innocent.

~🔮~

“Where the fuck did you go?” Nash demanded when Smitty entered the room. They were using it to figure out where Daemen was and what happened to him—if he was still alive.

“I went to check on Airianna.” Smitty shrugged.

Nash growled. “Why the fuck are you checking on the prisoner when you should be helping me find what she did with him?”

Smitty snarled at Nash, “you’re an idiot. And it was a good thing I checked on her. Some punk officer almost put a man in the same cell as her….”

Nash shrugged, “she could protect herself. All she’d have to do is use her magic and send him flying across the cell.”

Smitty stared at his friend and partner. What the fuck is up with him?

“She’s not a telekinetic, or a psychic, or an oracle, or a witch. She’s a seer….”

Nash turned to his friend. Why was he on the woman’s side? And since when did he believe in any of that?

“Big words for a non-believer.”

Smitty snorted, “I never said I didn’t believe in her or in anyone else with the gift. You just need to know which ones you can believe and which ones to stay clear of….”

“And you think Miss Williams is one we can believe?”

Smitty shrugged. “She did send us to that girl’s house.”

“Which she could have set up….”

“Look.” Smitty got into Nash’s face.

Nash didn’t back down. No way was he going to back down from this one, not this time.

“Just because your mother believed a fake psychic doesn’t mean they are all fake. From what the captain has told us, this girl and her family are very much the real deal.”

Nash snorted, “so they want everyone to believe.”

Smitty threw his hands up in surrender. “You’re impossible. Let’s find where the fuck your friend is so we can get to him before Airianna’s prediction comes to life.”

“It’s not a prediction. She either saw it or did it herself.”

Smitty grumbled as he opened the door. “Let’s go to your friend’s house and see if we can find clues there.”

~🔮~

Nash tossed the notebook he’d been reading onto Daemen’s desk.

“This is useless,” he grumbled.

“Maybe Maribelle knows more than she’s letting on,” Smitty suggested.

Nash snarled, “no. Airianna knows something she’s not telling me, and I will find out what she’s been holding back.”

Smitty looked up at his friend as he stormed out of the room. Shit, he hoped he’d gotten the man’s mind off the girl. Smitty chased after his friend from the Fernend house. Daemen Fernend is out there somewhere, and he knows his partner will do anything to find him—maybe even hurt the girl he thinks is involved with his disappearance or maybe even his death.

Nash jumped into his cruiser, not caring if his partner was following. He started the motor and didn’t turn his head when the passenger door opened, and his partner joined him.

“She’s going to tell me what I want to know if I have to ring it from her neck,” Nash snarled.

Smitty closed his eyes. “I think she has told us all she can….”

“Bullshit!”

Smitty shrugged. “You’re going to get yourself fired….”

“When I get her to tell me what I want to know, everyone—including the captain—will know what fakes she and her family truly are.”

~🔮~

Airianna fell off the bench as she woke to a loud bang. She looked up from the floor at the face she hoped would never look at her like it was at that moment.

“Nash,” she whispered.

“Miss Williams, I have some questions,” Nash growled.

Airianna pulled herself to her feet and waited.

Nash opened the door and entered her cell. Her heart thumped in her chest.

“Where is the man in your painting? Where did you leave his body, and why did you kill him?”

Airianna blinked twice. Did she read his lips correctly? He truly thinks she painted it after she’d killed him? She frowned.

“I told you, I only paint….” She whimpered as she was pressed to the wall by a large body.

“Yeah, man, get you some of that sexiness!” the thug hollered from the other cell.

“Shut up!” Smitty yelled, kicking the cell where the thug was standing, watching Nash and Airianna.

Airianna couldn’t hear the others around her. Her heart pounded hard in her chest—her ears rang louder than they ever have before. And the ocean felt like it was going to sweep her off her feet.

“Don’t lie to me,” he growled in her face. “Where is the body?”

Tears rolled down Airianna’s cheeks as she read his lips.

“I didn’t hurt anyone. I never have. I only see what is shown to me. Sometimes it’s before, and sometimes after….” Airianna whimpered again as Nash pressed into her harder.

She closed her eyes. Nash’s body had her pinned to the wall, his hands against the wall on either side of her face. She could feel his hard cock against her stomach. Did breaking her heart turn him on?

Nash closed his eyes and thought about anything, but the woman pressed against him. He hadn’t been this turned on since he was a teen and looking to try sex for the first time. Still, even that didn’t compare to the feeling of Airianna pressed against him. He opened his eyes and looked into her face.

He took hold of her chin and made her open her eyes.

“Where is he?”

Airianna shook her head. “I swear to you. I don’t know where he is. I only know what I draw.”

She cried out when he moved away from her. Why—she didn’t know. But she missed the feel of him against her.

‘Stop that!’ she ordered herself. Nash Jackman is a foul man who needs to be flogged.

“I’m going to get my answers, Airianna. One way or another.”

Airianna read his lips and sucked in a breath when he moved against her again; this time—he kissed her.

Wow, what a prick. Thinking he could kiss her after… She moaned against him, wanting more, so much more.

‘No!’

She shook her head and pulled away from him. He turned her face to him and kissed her again. She cried against his mouth and wanted to bite his lip.

“God,” Nash moaned. He has never felt anything like her lips before.

“Yeah, that’s it, take it from her!” the thug shouted.

Nash opened his eyes and backed away from Airianna. She glared up at him, her lips swollen from his kisses.

“Just because you think I’m a fake and a killer—doesn’t give you the right to do that,” she growled at him.

“I know; I’m sorry,” he said, moving toward her.

Airianna slapped someone for the first time in her life. As much as she’d wanted to in the past, she’s never felt this urge before. Not like she has with the man the fates deemed worthy of her. She almost snorted at the thought.

Nash blinked as he backed away from Airianna. She’d actually slapped him. He placed his hand against his cheek and stared into her frightened eyes.

Fuck, and he deserved it. But she’s a killer…

“Come on, Nash, I think you’ve done enough damage,” Smitty growled, taking Nash by the arm and dragging him from the cell.

Airianna watched Smitty pull Nash from the cell. He looked at her and motioned for her to sit.

“The captain will be in to see you soon, I promise.”

Airianna nodded and sat down on the bench. She couldn’t hear what the thug was shouting from his cell, but she could hear bits of his laughter. She ignored him and placed her fingers to her lips. If she wasn’t his prisoner—and if he genuinely believed her—that wouldn’t have been such a bad kiss. Who was she kidding? Even with all that, that was the best kiss of her life.

But what does it mean? Why was fate doing this to her? Why couldn’t they tell her what they wanted her to do?

She knew one thing. She wasn’t going to let the detective kiss her again.

Not until he trusted her and believed in her dreams.

TO BE CONTINUED