KISSING CLOVER

Kissing Clover is about an innocent young woman who is seduced by a fortune teller and ends up killing someone.

I have included the prologue and first chapter.

PROLOGUE

Hope killed someone.

Blood ran in bright red rivulets from her steady hands.

Her heart didn't race. No sweat beaded at the nape of her neck. Adrenaline didn't flow in a warm rush through her veins.

Hope felt calm.

She heard the faint sounds of tiny droplets hitting the oak wood floor and the fainter sound of her breathing.
Still calm. Still collected.

Careful not to mess up her pastel blue dress, she walked around the body and went to wash her hands. Just a body now. Nothing more.

She glanced back to notice she left a trail of blood drops and dainty red foot prints behind her. Need to clean that all up.

At the sink she cleaned her hands with great care. The water felt hot against her skin. The scent reminded her of the smell of cookies baking-- the same kind she baked with her mother.

She watched the water turn red as it swirled down the drain. The color reminded her of her favorite stilettos.

Hope found herself humming Zippity Do Da as she washed. She paused a moment to giggle. "It is a wonderful day!"

CHAPTER ONE

May 10th.

The front of the psychic shop reminded Hope of an old rundown firehouse--red crumbling brick sagged under the weight of the years it sat there- as it stood at the edge of a row of old shops. A butcher, a bakery, a tailor, a shoe repairer, and a thrift store lined the sidewalk.

She had wondered down from the far parking lot and peeked into each store’s window as she walked.

Hope stood a moment in front of the wooden door of the psychic’s store, admiring the intricate symbols carved down the center, when someone jostled her from behind. She stumbled forward.

“Stand much?”

Hope turned around and looked up.

Bridget-her best friend since they were in diapers- stood there grinning.

“Funny, Bree!” Hope said.

Bridget laughed again and tossed back her wild mane of inky black curls.

Hope shoved her.

Bridget yelled, “Hey!”

Hope put her hands on her hips.

Bridget bit her full lower lip, but her light blue eyes gave away her thoughts of smiling.

She glared a moment more, but then a smile spread across her face. It reached up to Hope’s mint green eyes.

Bridget smiled back.

 “Why did you drag me to a psychic’s store? We should be bowling.” Hope asked as she slipped a clear claw clip from her jean skirt pocket.

“Because, it’s something new to do.” Bridget said in a “well, DUH” voice. “You’re boring.”

Hope paused in the middle of pulling up her hair to stare at her friend. “Boring?”

“B-o-r-i-n-g. Boring.”

She finished clipping up half her hair and flicked an auburn end of it back over her shoulder. “How am I boring?”

Bridget ticked off on her fingers: “During the week you practice gymnastics for an hour and a half after school. Thursdays you skip practicing so we can go bowling. Fridays you do all your homework and call me to watch TV together over the phone and Saturdays you go to dinner and a movie with Dylan. Sundays you and I lie out at the pool if it’s sunny or stay inside and watch chick flicks.” Bridget paused and then continued, exasperated. “Every. Single. Week.”

“But, Bree,” She whined. “It’s nice to have a routine.”

“BORING.” Bridget declared. “C’mon! Let’s go in already.” She elbowed passed her.

Hope felt slighted and stared after her friend for a second. Oh well, that’s just Bree. Love her or leave her. She shook her head and then moved up right behind her.

Bridget opened the door to the shop.

They were both hit with a blast of cold air along with the scent of too many candles and incense.

Bridget pretended to be winded by the smell and fell against her with an, “oof!”

Hope pushed her friend up. “God, you cow! Get off.”

Bridget straightened up.

The girls chuckled.

They wandered around shuffling their feet over the burgundy carpet and trailed fingers along book shelves with subjects of spells, magic, herbs and tarot.

 “You should buy this to use for, Dylan!” Bridget said, handing Hope a bottle of pink liquid.

Hope read, Heated Love Oil. She gasped, “Bree!” She could feel a blush spread across her face.

Bridget laughed at her. “Your almost 18 now, you gotta lose it sometime.”

Hope rolled her eyes. They had that discussion a million-and-one times. She simply wasn’t ready.

They looked over costumes and weaponry.

Bridget chased Hope around with a “Dragon Foot” and Hope yelled at her to “knock it off before you get us kicked out!”

 “May I help you?” A deep crackled voice broke over them and sent the girls into silence.

A tiny pixie-like woman appeared to be swallowed by dark purple robes. Glittered silver runes ran along the edges. Tendrils of gray hair fell around her wrinkled face and down to her knees. She regarded them with eyes so faded Hope thought it looked like she had no iris at all.

Bridget cleared her throat. “We’re just browsing. Sorry for the disturbance.” She gave her sweetest smile which showed off her perfect white teeth.

I’ve known plenty of teachers who wouldn’t give her a detention for that smile.

The woman didn’t seem impressed. “You break, you buy. You don’t stop, I kick you out. Parents: maybe. Police: definitely.” She glared and walked away. When she reached the black curtain behind the checkout counter, she turned to them. The woman pointed at her left eye and then pointed up to the security camera there. She stared at them for a few seconds more and swirled away into the curtain.

The girls stared at each other for a moment.

“I’m so scared.” Bridget whispered.

“Bridget, we gotta behave.” Hope gave her a stern look.

Bridget had to eat her knuckles to keep from laughing.

“I mean it.”

They wandered in relative silence until they came to the back.

An opening covered by a ceiling-to-floor velvet teal curtain had a bright white sign next to it. Purple letters in a medieval looking font showed services and prices.

Hope read, “Palm Reading: $12, Rune Stone Reading: $15, Birth Charts: $18, Tarot Card Reading: $10.”

“Oo! Let’s get our cards read.” Bridget squealed.

Hope glanced at her with one brow raised in question. “Really, Bree? That’s so lame.”

“Come on, Po! It could be fun.”

Hope rolled her eyes.

 “We didn’t drive all the way down here to look.”

“We drove the thirty minutes down here because you insisted.”

“You didn’t have to agree.”

“Would you have left me alone about it if I said no?”

“Well…no.”

“Exactly.”

“I’ll pay for both of us.”

Hope’s protest died on her lips when the curtain parted and a figure appeared in the shadows.

To say the girl standing there could rival any model on the catwalk underestimated her beauty. Porcelain skin almost glowed under a black corset dress and darkened her hazel eyes. Loose strawberry blond curls fell untamed to her bare shoulders. She towered over Hope-- which wasn’t hard as Hope is only 5 feet. Her full lips were covered with blood red gloss and they turned into a smoldering smile. “Looking for a reading?”

Wow. Hope didn’t know what to say. She looked over at Bridget in her hot pink halter dress and silver sandals and then back at the girl. She looked down at her own orange tank, denim skirt and white sneakers. I feel underdressed. 
Bridget --oblivious-- spoke up. “Definitely. Hope and I here want a Tarot reading please.”

The girl looked Hope over.

She looked at me the way Dylan does when we’re going to start fooling around. I’ve never had a girl look at me that way.  She felt heat in her cheeks and prayed the dim light back here hid it.

Bridget continued on, “So do we do this together or what?”

Maybe I imagined the look. Bridget hadn’t reacted.

“We can do it together,” She looked again at Hope. “Or one at a time…” she let the sentence linger a second. “Either way works for me.”

I’m not imagining this at all. Her face felt on fire.

“One at a time then I guess.” Bridget shrugged. “Me first?”

“Sure.” The girl held out a hand with long fingers and black nails. “Clover.”

Bridget shook it. “Bridget.”

“Nice to meet you.” Clover smiled. She held out a hand to Hope. “And you’re Hope?”

Hope needed to clear her throat. “Yes.”

Clover’s hand felt warm and extra soft in Hope’s. A rush of heat went straight from her hand to her lower belly.

I want to keep holding her hand. Weird.


Clover dragged her gaze off Hope and turned to Bridget with a slow smile. “Follow me in please.”

Hope watched Bridget and Clover’s receding backs. She took note of the elaborate butterfly on Clover’s back and that Bridget came to a head shorter than Clover.

Her skin is so light… Hope found herself thinking. She shook her head and stood there feeling not quite disturbed, but definitely confused.