Page 20 of Sour Layer

Clark

Chapter 12

This wasn’t going to be fun. There was no love lost between Clark and the Bennett clan that he’d once considered as close as family. Most of them had known that Milly was dating his best friend, and all of them had conspired to keep Clark in the dark. Going to them now for help wasn’t something he was looking forward to, especially with Mercy. She had no idea what she was walking into or why their family hated hers, but he did.

“So, you must know them pretty well if your sister is married to one,” she said.

“You could say that I grew up with most of those boys. My dad used to be the sheriff in Mountain View, and he had a special interest in making sure those kids stayed off the radar and out of trouble. They used to practically live at our house.”

“I’m surprised. After we lost our parents, our Grams tried to keep us contained so our abilities didn’t get into the public eye, and most of us followed her rules.”

“Most?” he asked.

She grinned. “My sisters and I can be sort of stubborn. Just a little bit.”

He could see that about her. The way she didn’t take him at his word and would continue to dig until she found what she was looking for. She was a looker, beautiful in the girl-next-door kind of way even if touching her was off-limits. “It must be hard to touch people and know when they’re going to die.”

“It is. It’s a sense I miss using. Touch and being touched is a primal need that I’ve had to learn to live without.”

“There’s no way to block it?’ he asked. Curious if he were to kiss her if she’d know his fate.

“I can, but I don’t do it often. It drains my energy.”

“I’m sorry about the boyfriend that died from the lightning strike.”

“There are tons of ways a person can die. The lightning wasn’t one I could stop, no matter how hard I tried. At the time I knew how he was going to die.” She cut off her sentence as if stopping herself from saying more.

Clark rested his elbow on the center console and held out his hand with his palm open. “Go ahead and touch me. I don’t want to know how or when I’m going to die, but we should probably get it out of the way.”

“Out of the way?” she asked, all innocent-like.

He glanced at her and winked. “I’m bound to touch you at some point. Whether it’s my hand on your elbow guiding you somewhere or brushing up against you in the hall. Or when I kiss you.”

She raised her brow and chuckled. “You think I’d let you kiss me?”

“Yeah,” he said honestly. “I do.” He nodded toward his hand. “So, touch me and get it over with.”

“I’ve gotten pretty good at avoiding touch. I think I can hold out a week without accidentally bumping into your lips,” she said.

“You’ve got to be curious, right? What’s going to kill the sheriff? Will it be a bear or an avalanche or will he die in the line of duty?”

Her gaze dropped to his hand, and he could read the hesitation in her eyes. She wanted to, but she didn’t. He couldn’t say he blamed her. It must freak her out. It would him.

She turned her head back toward the window, watching the white scenery as they passed. He dropped his hand to the console. She wasn’t ready, but he was more than curious to see if she’d be able to read him. Could she be the one that Walker had warned him about all those years ago when he’d proclaimed, after reading Clark’s soul, that he’d fall in love with a woman that would be his downfall?

Clark shoved the thought away. Mercy would be gone in a week, and he’d be the one to drive her to the airport to make sure she made it out of town before she found out the rest of the town’s secrets.

He drove into the next town, which was a bit more like a metropolis than the little town of Mountain View. They had the nearest hospital, a ski resort, and a ton more tourist stuff than his little town. And now one more Bennett within the city limits.

Mercy sat forward in the seat and grinned as they met civilization. Her eyes widened.

“Welcome to Canfield.”

Being back in this town brought memories surging back. He and Dexter would sneak over on weekends and any time they could to play with the tourists visiting this town, where the drinking limit seemed to be gray with the locals and the tourists. Clark had his first beer in this town and had lost his virginity within the city limits, along with a whole slew of other firsts. Things that happened in Canfield, stayed in Canfield.

“It’s beautiful. A lot more people,” she said.

“The skiing is the big draw,” he answered as he drove through town and toward the mountain. Where Mountain View had the greenery and the lush forest, Canfield was on the side of the mountain with the best snow. A skier’s wet dream and one of the Bennett’s favorite places to hide away from the world.

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