Believe: The Complete Channie Series (21 page)

“Did you and Daddy win any money?”

“You would not believe how much money we won.”

Channie’s mouth was instantly dry. “Did you get enough to pay off Daddy’s debts.”

“Not quite. We’re going to go again next weekend.”

Channie
was about half-way to school when her phone played Josh’s ring-tone.

“Hey, you got your phone back.”

“Where are you?” Josh’s voice was slightly higher pitched than normal, tense.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s my shield. The girls are going nuts.”

How could she have forgotten about the aphrodisiacal effect of Josh’s shield? There were a lot more girls at school than there had been at the races. At least she hadn’t super-charged it with her own lust recently.

“Are you safe?”

“For now. I’m in the boy’s bathroom next to the gym.”

“Stay put until I get there.”

Channie didn’t even bother to lock her bike when she got to school. She raced to the gym and cast a moon-curse at the crowd of girls gathered outside the boy’s bathroom. They all clutched their bellies and scampered into the girl’s bathroom. Channie knocked on the door and said, “Josh? Are you in there?”

The door creaked open and Josh peeked his head out. “Are they gone?”

“Yeah, but we better get you somewhere safe and figure out a way to fix this.”

Josh looked both ways like he was getting ready to cross a busy street, then slipped his arm around Channie’s waist and made a mad dash for the south door. They made it outside without incident, but there were too many girls hanging around in the court yard and they honed in on Josh like heat-seeking missiles. Channie cast curse after curse, but the girls kept coming.

“Josh, I’m running out of power. Can you give me a little boost?”

He seemed to know exactly what she was hinting at and slid his hand from Channie’s waist to her back-side and gave it a little squeeze.

Chastity’s power-well went from nearly empty to overflowing in an instant. Channie took care of all the girls and still had power left over. If she didn’t dump the excess soon, she was going to light Josh’s shield up with so much energy, she wouldn’t be able to resist him either.

The marching band was still practicing on the football field. It was a large group and far enough away that no one in their right mind would believe she’d tasered the entire bunch. But when she released Chastity’s excess energy, every single musician hit a sour note. One of the color guard tripped and fell against the drummer standing next to her. The entire front row, and half of the second, stumbled into each other like falling dominoes.

Josh snickered and said, “Sweet! Did you do that?”

“Actually, I blame you for that one.”

“Me?”

“I said a little boost. Grabbing my butt was not a good idea.”

He said, “Sorry,” but the grin on his face proved he wasn’t the least bit remorseful. “You want to go to my house? My mom’s at work.”

“I thought you were grounded.”

“I am, but you’re not.”

“Your momma’s not going to be happy to see me.”

“She doesn’t even get off work till five.”

Channie knew better than to go to a boy’s house without a chaperone, but she trusted Josh. Besides, they had to do something about that shield.

Josh
opened the door and said, “Mom and Dad sold our house after the divorce so now we have to live in this crappy little townhouse. But Dad and Liz have a huge place in Boulder.” There was a slight trace of bitterness in his voice. “They even have an indoor pool and hot tub. I’ll take you there sometime.”

Channie didn’t know what he was talking about. The place wasn’t any smaller than the house she was living in and a heck of a lot bigger than the cabin back home. Everything was new and clean. “All your furniture matches.”

Josh looked around as if he’d never seen the place, then glanced sideways at Channie and blushed.

If he was feeling sorry for her, Channie was going to turn around right now and go home. She scanned his energy field but all she found was embarrassment and humility. No pity. Good.

She followed Josh into the kitchen. The first thing that caught her attention was the fancy refrigerator. It had an ice and water dispenser in the door. Josh followed her gaze and said, “Are you hungry?”

“No, but I’m a little thirsty.” 

He dug around inside the refrigerator then handed her a diet Pepsi and shut the door.

The drink Josh had gotten for himself was not sugar-free. She narrowed her eyes and said, “You think I’m getting fat or something?”

“No. Of course not, but most girls I know won’t drink any kind of soda unless it’s diet.”

Channie handed it back to him and said, “I’m not like most girls.”

Josh laughed and said, “Sorry, you can say that again. What would you like to drink?”

“You got Dr. Pepper?”

“Hell no, that stuff’s nasty. It tastes like carbonated prune juice. We’ve got regular Pepsi, root beer, ginger ale, Sprite and Mountain Dew.”

“I’ll take a ginger ale, please.”

Josh twisted the top off the glass bottle and stuck a straw in it. “Come on, I’ll give you the tour.”

They wound up in the basement in a dark room with a huge flatscreen television on the wall and sound speakers in every corner. Josh called it an entertainment room and made a point of demonstrating the fact that with the door shut, it was completely soundproof.

Josh flopped into the middle of the sofa and draped his arms over the back. He obviously wanted Channie to sit next to him, but he was practically lying down. She sank into a black leather chair across the room.

Josh pushed his lower lip out a bit. “So, do you have any idea how we can keep the girls at school from attacking me?”

There
was no way Channie could cast a moon-curse on every girl at school that wanted to get her hands on Josh. Even if she had the energy, they only had one class together. She couldn’t protect him if she wasn’t there.

She attached an itching spell to Josh’s shield and used her own lust to create a trigger. Neither of them wanted an accidental bump in the halls or a friendly touch to curse an innocent bystander.

Josh rubbed his arms and said, “I don’t feel any different. You sure this will work?”

“If any girl lays hands on you with less than pure intent, she’ll feel as if a thousand fleas have infested her sorry hide.”

“Ha! Itches for bitches. I like it. Call it IFB for short.”

Channie rolled her eyes and said, “Are you ready to go back to school?”

Josh smirked at her. “I’ve got a better idea.”

Channie clamped down on Chastity’s energy. “That IFB spell affects me too.”

Josh made his sad puppy face. “Even through cuddle clothes?”

“Afraid so.” Channie had made damn sure that clothing would not interfere with the curse. She didn’t want anyone touching Josh but her, no matter how many layers of fabric were between them. “But it should only last a few hours. Long enough to protect you until we get home from school.”

“You want to go get something to eat? My mom carpools on Mondays. We can drive her Toyota.”

“Aren’t you supposed to babysit Elijah when he gets home from school?”

“We’ll be back way before then.”

Josh tried to talk Channie into eating at a fancy restaurant, but she insisted on McDonald’s. “Abby told me that if I ever got the chance, I had to try their fried potatoes. Please? I gotta try ‘em, at least once.”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather eat at The Waterloo Ice House on Main Street? They have french fries there too.”

“I’m not dressed up enough for a fancy restaurant.”

Josh laughed and shook his head. “Alright, McDonald’s it is. But the one on West Dillon Road is going to be too crowded. We’ll go to the food court at the mall.”

Channie had never been to a mall before. It was even better than Walmart. And a lot less crowded. But the few teenaged girls that were there definitely noticed Josh. It was hard to keep Chastity’s energy in check, but Channie needed to see how well the IFB spell worked on its own.

The first girl that touched Josh thought she was having an allergic reaction and used an epi-pen on herself. Her friends were loyal and managed to conquer their lust long enough to whisk her away and that was the end of that.

Josh accidentally-on-purpose brushed against a mom dragging a couple of squalling toddlers behind her. She said, “Hey, watch where you’re going,” but didn’t so much as twitch.

He apologized to the woman then leaned closer to Channie and whispered in her ear, making her heart race. “I’d say the experiment’s a success. Let’s go get something to eat.”

When they got to the food court, a medley of exotic spices tickled Channie’s nose.

Josh walked right past the McDonald’s counter and got in line for The Mediterranean Grill. “I’ll still get you an order of fries from Micky D’s but I want you to eat something healthy first. Besides, I can’t eat too much junk food. I have to stay in shape.”

Channie used Josh’s comment as an excuse to let her gaze travel over his lean, hard-muscled body. “You’re not gonna get fat no matter what you eat.”

“I’m not worried about getting fat.” Even without the self-satisfied smirk spreading across Josh’s face, Channie knew he felt her lustful energy pouring into his shield. “I’m worried about getting enough protein to maintain the small amount of muscle mass I’ve managed to build over the last year. I need to bulk up before Grands.”

“What’s Grands? It sounds important.”

“It’s sort of the Superbowl of BMX racing, so yeah, it’s really important. It determines your ranking for the next year. If I want to race in the 2012 Olympics I need to do well at Grands from here on out.”

“I’d like to see you race at Grands. When is it?”

“Thanksgiving, but since it’s in Tulsa, we leave as soon as school’s out on Wednesday afternoon.”

Thanksgiving was a big deal in Channie’s family, at least it had been, before they moved. It wouldn’t be the same without all the aunts, uncles, and cousins—or Abby. Channie tried not to think about her sister. She and Abby hadn’t been close for years—not since she’d gotten pregnant and shut everyone out of her life—but that one conversation after Channie had kissed Josh had given her hope that they could be friends and confidants again. False hope was worse than no hope at all. Channie pushed all thoughts of Abby into the back of her mind. “What about Thanksgiving dinner?”