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Chapter One
A sly smile crossed his face as he watched her. She was beautiful and radiant, her laughter flowing through the crowded dining room like a melodic song. The man she was with seemed almost stunned to be in her presence, a sign to Brady that he didn't deserve the woman and that she was wrapping him around her little finger.
Not that Brady wanted her for himself. He just couldn't help the little imp that whispered in his ear and made him do what he did next. His finger moved on the cloth covered table, brushing with a gentle touch over the starched white cloth.
Across the way, the girl jumped, her hand reaching under the table cloth and brushing over the front of her short skirt, reaching for the hem and pulling it down to where it had been before. Her big blue eyes seemed confused and she glared for an instant at the man who sat with her. Brady watched as her pouting red lips formed words that he could read from where he was sitting.
"Stop it."
The man just sat there, a confused slightly bemused expression on his lax features. As Brady watched, the man moved his lips. "Stop what?" Brady saw him ask.
Laughter bubbled inside of him as she tossed her blonde hair, an indignant look on her face. And the little imp whispered again. He stared at the thin white blouse that strained across impressive looking breasts. With a small purse of his lips he blew out a small breath, his finger flicking at the table.
She jumped again as the top button of her blouse popped open, the sides pulling away from each other and exposing a lot of smooth creamy skin. Staring down at the deep cleavage, she grabbed for her blouse as another button gave way. Her companion, his ears turning red, stared amazed at the lovely show that was being put on in front of him.
Brady managed to stop the chuckle that tried to erupt from his mouth, instead running his finger across the material he'd just been flicking with his finger, watching as the woman's blue eyes popped wide open as she felt an unseen touch trail across the sleek pale skin of her breast. She stared around the room widely, and Brady dropped his eyes, even as he moved his finger so that the unseen finger circled her now taut nipple, causing her to gasp.
She grabbed her purse with one hand, her other holding her top closed and ran from the room amid a mutter of whispers and some very catty giggles from women at other tables who'd seen the eyes of their companions upon his beautiful victim.
"Stop that, Brady."
Joseph Templeton, his friend and one of the very, very few people aware of what he could do, sat back down in the seat across from him. "You could have waited until I got back for the show," he said, his accusation voiced in a friendly tone.
"You never let me have any fun, Joseph, you know that." Brady Knight turned his head, cracking the bones in his neck before circling his shoulders. "Besides, she was showing off so much in front of all the men in the restaurant, I thought she might want to give a much better show. And that cleavage was pretty spectacular."
"Very true," Joseph sighed, letting his chin fall into his hand, his elbow on the table. "I just worry that one of these days your going to use these powers of yours in front of someone you shouldn't. Then I'll end up visiting you in a cage while you're waiting to be dissected. And they'll bring your parents in and do all these tests to see if maybe they'd been taken into some space ship and transported into the future..."
"Stop!" Brady laughed. "I know where you're going with this; we've been over it ten thousand times since you found out about me. I'll behave." He waited a second and then said beneath his breath, "spoil sport."
"How far would you have taken it?" Joseph asked suddenly.
"What?"
"How far would you have stripped her of her clothes if she hadn't run?" Joseph picked up his coffee, taking a small sip of the luke warm brew.
"Not far, I was having more fun running my finger over her nipple." He laughed as Joseph spit the coffee back in his cup. "Are you okay?" he asked, laughing as his friend coughed.
"You're incorrigible. I don't know how we stay friends." He sat down the coffee and picked up his napkin to pat his lips dry, running his finger across the starched white collar that denoted his rank.
"And you were a lot more fun before you became a priest, Joseph." Brady laughed, it wasn't the first time they had this conversation and probably wouldn't be the last. Their friendship had started when they were both boys, ten years of age. They'd met at school, Brady's first day. The school bully had tried to make an example of Brady and Joseph had helped him kick the boy's butt.
In the principal's office afterwards while waiting for their parents to show up, Joseph and Brady had shown off their battle wounds to each other and had gained a bond that had stood up to fights and girls, vacations and age. They'd even managed to stay friends when Joseph had quit college in the middle of his second year and joined a seminary college.
Brady's gifts, as his parents called them, had made themselves known when he was twelve. They started with small things like being able to move things with his mind and then grew and got stronger every day. Now there wasn't much he wasn't able to do with his mind, including conning any girl he wanted into going to bed with him.
But that wasn't all he could do. Joseph had never seen everything he was capable of. Brady had hidden quite a bit, not only from his friend but from his parents and his teachers. And even from his fiancée.
"I don't know how Renee handles you," Joseph said, lifting his spoon and taking a bite of the chocolate cake he'd ordered. It was decadent, a sin that Father Joseph enjoyed.
"I haven't told her."
"You haven't told her what? You haven't mentioned your penchant for molesting strange women in restaurants?"
"I haven't told her any of it." Brady ducked his head, knowing that Joseph's infamous temper was going to blow. He'd held back from telling Joseph his deception, knowing that he would be mad as hell.
"I don't blame you."
The words startled Brady. He looked up, narrowing his eyes. "You wanna run that by me again?"
"I said I don't blame you. Damn, Brady, Renee is beautiful and sweet but she's not the most understanding woman in the world."
"I thought you liked her," Brady said, still amazed.
"There's nothing wrong with Renee that would make me dislike her," Joseph said, shrugging. "I just don't know what she'd do if you were to walk up to her and show her or tell her you have magical powers. Think about it." He took another bite of his cake, determined to enjoy every ounce.
"I know. I've thought of telling her I don't know how many times. I even set about showing her once and every time, I chickened out."
"Have you ever used your powers on her?" Joseph licked the back of his spoon off and took a sip of his now cold coffee.
"Oh come on, how can you think I'd do something like that?"
"So you have," Joseph said on a sigh. "I thought as much."
"Jesus Ch..." he stopped when he saw Joseph narrow his eyes at the blasphemous curse. "Sorry, jeez, what is this, confession?" He glared at his friend who sat across from him, folding his hands on the table calmly.
"Yeah, right," Joseph scoffed, "like I'd ever get you to go to confession. I mean, I can't even get you into one of my masses." He shook his head. "No, Brady, we've been friends forever. You helped me get over my first crush. I know you."
"What the hell does that mean? You know me," Brady smacked his palm against the table with a dull smacking sound that made some of the china clink together. "Sometimes you confuse me more than you're worth."
"Yeah, but you love me anyway," Joseph laughed. "What that means is that Renee isn't going to satisfy you. She doesn't have what you need if you can't even tell her about your magic."
"I love her, Joseph."
"You think you love her, Brady. If you truly loved her, you'd be willing to share everything with her."
"I just haven't found..."
"The right time," they finished together.
Brady glared at him. "Nobody likes a smart aleck priest, Joseph."
"Yeah, the Bishop tells me that every time I see him." Joseph smiled, completely nonplussed. "You know I'm right, Brady. Getting pissed off about it won't do you any good."
"Yeah, but I can't hit you any more so I have to do something." He jumped when the phone hooked on the belt of his pants went off. Picking it up, he looked at the display, his expression turning to annoyance, before he forced a smile and flipped open the phone.
"Hi Renee."
Joseph smiled, a knowing smile that made Brady want to reach out and punch him. He lifted his hand, wiggling his fingers at his friend and waiting for Brady to tell Renee hello from him.
"I'm having lunch with Joseph."
"Okay, Father Joseph. Jeez, Renee I've known the man since he was ten, we used to have camp outs in my back yard, I can call him by his first name. He says hi by the way."
Brady grimaced, glanced at Joseph and then down at the leftover sauce on his plate that hadn't been cleared yet. "Yeah, I'll ask him. I said I would."
Unconsciously, Brady began stroking the table cloth with his fingers as he talked and Joseph stared in amazement as the silverware on the table next to theirs stood up, dancing as if dangling from the end of a wire. He reached over and pushed his hand down on Brady's watching as the silverware dropped, half of it falling to the floor with a crash.
"I've got to go, Renee. Yeah, me too." Brady flipped the phone closed and stared at the silverware. "You really drive me nuts sometimes, Joseph."
"Only when I'm right and you don't want to admit it," Joseph said, waving to their waitress who brought them their bill. "Now the only thing you have to figure out is what you want to do about it."
Brady left the restaurant in a strange mood. He usually enjoyed his weekly lunches with Joseph, an event he looked forward to since he'd come back home. After college he'd gotten involved with a bad crowd searching for people like himself, people who could do magic with both their hands and mind.
He'd gotten into the occult, finding himself surrounded by wannabes whose skills with magic were contrived, done with smoke and mirrors. None of them had what he did, the power of telekinesis, the power to conjure, the power to teleport, the power to change the shape of his body, though he had never told anyone he could do that. That power freaked him out a little too much to use. He also had the power to control others if he wished.
He sighed, wondering if he was going to hell for the things that he had done in those days after college. They had been wild, sex and drugs, alcohol and more sex until his brain had seemed to float, permanently pickled. The day Joseph had come looking for him, in that strange house that he and three other guys had rented out, the walls covered with pentagrams and other magical symbols, the air perfumed with the smell of marijuana and sex, spilled beer and burnt macaroni and cheese, had changed his life. Hell, Joseph had probably saved his life.
He'd found Brady in bed with two women. Brady hadn't even known their names. He couldn't remember meeting them or coming home. The last thing he'd remember was finishing off his second pint of Jack Daniels while his friends tried talking him into going into the new strip joint that had just opened across town. He could remember the embarrassment he'd felt when Joseph had walked in and he'd been lying in that bed, the room smelling strongly of sex he didn't remember having.
"Get up, Brady, and get dressed. We're going for a walk."
A walk had been the last thing Brady had wanted and he'd almost used his mind control on Joseph, the one thing he'd always promised he wouldn't do. Instead, he'd gotten up and thrown on clothes that smelled of alcohol, tobacco and cheap perfume.
Joseph had walked him until Brady, tired, hung over and out of shape, had collapsed at the foot of a fountain in a park he couldn't remember ever being in before. He'd dropped his head into his hands and wept.
And Joseph had picked him up, gotten him out of that life and back in contact with his parents. He'd helped him get straight, helped him kick the miscreant friends that had littered his life for the past two years. He'd helped him and Brady owed him for it.
But he was wrong about Renee. He did love Renee. She was perfect for him. Polished and sleek, a petite blonde who never left the house with a hair out of place. She was ordered and structured. She kept him grounded and in control when these "gifts" of his tried to get him out of control.
Had he used his powers on her? Yeah, though it wasn't something he was proud of. But ordered and structured got boring and sometimes he wanted her to strip for him, or to become aggressive and knock him to the bed, tear at his clothes and take him. He'd always rearranged her memories afterward, letting her think that the lovemaking had been sweet and gentle, like she liked it.
So what if he hadn't told her about his secret. She didn't need to know everything about him. And besides, they had their whole lives to get to know each other. He'd wait until..."Hey, watch it!"
Brady reached out and grabbed the small figure that had just barreled into him as he'd rounded a corner lost in thought. His hands grasped slender arms, his body vibrated in shock from the small but perfectly curved body that had slammed into him. He stared down at the small figure, catching a glimpse of bright green eyes.
She was wearing a bright red dress, the skirt long and flowing around her slender ankles. Her hair was a shade darker than her dress, curled and long, feeling silky against his hands as it covered both them and her arms. A very impressive cleavage was artfully displayed by the scooped neck of the dress, baring a tiny gold pendant in the shape of a pentagram.
"I... I'm sorry," Brady stammered, lost in the startling green of her eyes. "You're not hurt, are you?"
"No," she said softly, her voice smoky and a little deeper than he'd expected from someone of her diminutive stature. "I'm fine, Brady."
He did a double take as he heard his name come from those soft, sensuously lush lips. "Do I know you?"
She smiled. "You probably don't remember me, it was a while ago and I've changed a bit since then." She stepped back, making him realize that he'd still been holding her.
"Oh, sorry about that," he said, his cheeks flushing. "Who are you?"
"I have to go," she said, looking around her suddenly, her eyes darkening. Without another word, she turned, her skirt flying up around her as she hurried away from him.
"Wait!" he called, his hand coming up to stop her.
She didn't stop.
Brady squinted his eyes, intrigued by her, wanting more time with her. He sent out the thought, a tingle that would be irresistible to her, to turn back to him.
She didn't even slow down, instead, she waved a hand in front of her, four fingers spread out, her thumb crossed across her palm and kept running.
"Whoa," he breathed, realizing she had deflected his power with an ease that he'd never seen before. "That's not possible."
His phone rang again and he picked it up, not bothering to check the caller id. "Yeah?"
"Is that how you answer your phone when it's your fiancée calling?" Renee's voice said.
"Oh, hi honey," he ran his hand over his face, feeling his nerves tightening. "I didn't look to see who it was. I'm sorry."
"Apology accept, Brady bear," she crooned.
Brady could feel his head begin to pound. "What did you need, sweetie?"
"I just wanted to know what Father Joseph had to say. Will he do it for us?"
"Honey," he said, trying to stay patient with her. "Neither of us are catholic. Why would you want a catholic priest to perform the ceremony?"
"I just thought... him being your friend and all," she said quietly. "I thought you'd like him to perform it."
"He said he would, Renee, but we would both have to go for counseling sessions with him. And we'd have to push back the date of the wedding to make those sessions. I told him I'd get back to him." He pulled the phone away from his ear, waiting for the explosion.
It wasn't long in coming. "Father Joseph can't help out his best friend? After all we've done for him and his church," Renee said, her voice growing strident.
Brady's head pounded, he could feel anger beginning to rise inside of him. Looking across the street, he saw the glass window in the clothing store start to vibrate. Deep breaths couldn't control the power he felt pulsing inside of him and he did the only other thing he could think of. "Renee, Father Joseph doesn't need to marry us," he said, his fingers going to his temple as he pushed the tingle out of him and into a car down the street, shattering the side windows and setting off the car alarm.
"Well, baby, it was just a thought," she said, her voice growing softer, less angry. "Are you coming home soon?"
"Not for a couple of hours," he said, relief singing through him. "I still have some work to do at the office. You might as well go home, sweetheart. I'll give you a call later."
"Okay," she sighed. "I love you, Brady bear."
"Yeah, me too," he said, hitting the button to turn the phone off with a sigh of relief. He didn't know how much more he could take. Was Joseph right? Could he only be with Renee because of the status she brought?
"No, I love her," he said out loud.
"Me too," a homeless man agreed, holding out his hand to ask for change.
Brady dug out a ten dollar bill, leaving the man the thought that he should use it for a hot meal and not for the booze that he was going to buy with it. Then he waved his hand at a cab and headed back to his office.
The idea for his detective agency had come from Joseph originally, strangely enough. Joe had figured that using his powers for good was a way to make up for the bad he'd done. Brady didn't know if he agreed or not, but it was interesting work, and he'd actually been able to make a difference.
His office was on the second floor of a building housing mostly lawyers. A stroke of genius on his part, half of them were divorce lawyers who used him to get the dope on their clients' spouses. At first he'd barely paid the rent and made enough to afford a secretary. Now, he had a waiting list, took the clients he wanted to take and could afford the newest in surveillance equipment. The cops came to him when they had cases they couldn't get a bead on.
He'd gained fame by finding a ten year old little girl who'd been kidnapped. Her parents had paid the ransom and the kidnappers had managed to get away, without giving up the girl. Brady had found her and the kidnappers. He'd gotten good at hiding the psychic part of his investigation, always covering up any vibes or pictures he'd gotten by using regular footwork and making connections.
No one was the wiser. He liked it that way and wanted to keep it.
"Hey, Hailey," he said, pushing in through the double doors into the reception area of his office. "Any calls this afternoon?"
Hailey Carlisle was a woman in her late forties, plump and matronly with a shock of bright red hair that never managed to be in place and an eye for brightly colored Hawaiian shirts. She'd been with him since the beginning and he didn't see any reason not to keep her after he'd started to make money.
She held up a sheaf of pink slipped telephone messages. "The usual," she said, cheerily enough. "Don Barlow has been down here four times looking for you. He has a client he needs to talk to you about. You aren't going to take that crook's work are you Brady?"
"It pays the bills, Hailey," Brady teased, knowing that Hailey and Don were like oil and milk, cats and dogs, sugar in a gas tank. Explosive.
"If you're that short on money, I'll loan it to you," she grouched, rising to pour him a cup of freshly brewed coffee. Picking up the pile of pink notes, she took them in to his office and set them on the middle of his ritzy leather blotter, a Christmas present from Renee along with her picture in the sterling silver frame. "I don't know how you can work for someone like him. The man's a shyster. He's every lawyer joke ever told."
"Okay, okay," he said, holding his hands out in defeat. "I won't take him case. I'll give you the pleasure of telling him," he called out to her as she smiled, looking like the cat who ate the canary.
"Oh yes, my pleasure," she breathed, closing Brady's door quietly and heading towards her phone, rubbing her hands in glee at this unexpected fun.
"Be nice," he shouted to her, hearing her chuckle even through the heavy door. "Women," he sighed. He sat behind his desk, running through the phone messages and placing them in two neat piles. One pile he would phone today, the other, well they might never hear from him.
He got through two meetings with prospective clients, fielded an irate Don Barlow who was even angrier after hearing Hailey cackle at him. His phones calls were made and he'd just finished with the last of them when Hailey knocked on his door.
"Your last appointment is here," she said quietly. "Do you mind if I get out of here, boss?"
"No," Brady said, standing and coming around his desk. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, it's just... there's something about this one that's kind of giving me the creeps. I'd just rather be gone before she leaves." Hailey ducked her head, embarrassed.
"Damn, does she have a third eye or something? I've never seen you like this."
"I'll talk to you tomorrow," she muttered, before turning back and waving in the client. She didn't even stay to close the door behind her, instead hurrying to the coat rack and grabbing her jacket and her purse out of her desk.
The door to the office was closing as the girl sauntered into his office. She closed the door herself, and then turned to face Brady.
"You!"
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