Highway
Thirteen to Manhattan
The Six Train to Wisconsin, #2
by Kourtney Heintz
Date of
Publication: November 1st 2016
Publisher:
Aurea Blue Press
Cover
Artist: Creative Paramita
Genre:
Paranormal and Suspense
BLURB
His secrets almost killed her. Her
secrets may destroy them both.
Kai is recovering from a near-death
experience when she realizes something isn’t right. Her body is healing, but
her mind no longer feels quite like her own. Her telepathic powers are
changing, too. She can’t trust herself. The darkness growing inside of her
pushes her to use her telepathy as a weapon.
Oliver clings to the hope that he can
save their marriage, even though he was the one who put her life in jeopardy.
As his wife slips further and further away from him, he becomes increasingly
obsessed with bringing the man who ruined his life to justice.
The sequel to The Six Train to
Wisconsin is a genre-defying tale of love and consequences. Once again,
award-winning author Kourtney Heintz seamlessly weaves suspense and paranormal
intrigue into a real-world setting, creating characters rich in emotional and
psychological complexity.
CHAPTER
1
Kai
Like most daughters,
I loved my parents, but right now, I wanted them anywhere but here. Hospitals
are always hard, but my parents managed to make it harder. My head was already
pounding from all the thoughts and emotions coming at me. Not just from the
patients and their families and the doctors and the nurses, but also from my
mother and father. Instead of shielding their thoughts and trying to make it
better for me, they let their emotions crash into me.
My mind wasn’t strong
enough for all this. Neither was my body. Tubes eviscerated my right hand. A
giant bruise blossomed beside the newest IV line. A cast wrapped around my left
wrist. My broken pinky finger had been set and taped to my ring finger. The
back of my head was held together with stitches. Beneath the blanket, my body
was covered in bruises.
I didn’t feel any
physical pain because of the medications the doctors pumped into me. They said
I needed it to recover, but it made my body feel like it wasn’t mine. And the
steady drip of opiates didn’t just steal my physical pain; it left me unable to
form the psychic shield I needed to protect myself from the misery swirling
around me.
Mom sat in the chair
closest to my bed. She wore one of her flowing peasant blouses and faded jeans.
Her hair was pulled back in a messy bun, and light brown strands slipped loose
to hang around her face. The corners of her hazel eyes were pinched with worry.
Her hand hovered over
my arm, unsure where to touch me—if she should touch me. Finally, she laid her
hand gently on my thigh. “You just need to rest here for a few more days.”
She was wrong. I
needed to get out of here. Away from all these thoughts as soon as possible. “I
want to go home.”
Mom shook her head.
“You need to let the doctors help you.” Like they did last time.
Her thoughts slammed
into my brain. She thought hospitalization was the solution to everything.
“Please. Look at
what’s happened to you. You can’t go home until you’re better,” she said. I
can’t lose you. I won’t let that happen.
I didn’t know how to
reassure her. Yes, I’d almost died, but being here was hurting me more than it
was healing me. I swallowed all the words I wanted to say and hoped for Caleb
to come back soon. My brother would know how to talk to Mom, how to make her
understand.
The doctor came in to
check on me and Mom’s agonizing fear rose up. Don’t let her have brain damage.
Dad patted Mom’s
shoulder. He looked like an older, surfer version of Caleb. Both were tall and
muscular with curly blond hair. Dad’s hair was a darker blond streaked with
platinum from decades in the sun and salt water. His eyes were greener than
Caleb’s, but like Caleb’s, they were rimmed with purple bruises. When Dad
smiled, sun lines radiated from his eyes and cut across his cheeks. But I
hadn’t seen them since he’d arrived at my bedside. Instead, waves of exhaustion
rolled off him and rippled over me, right before I heard his thoughts. I can’t
go through this again, watching you slip away.
My younger sister
Naomi lounged in the chair in the corner as far from me as she could get. She
had Mom’s light brown hair and thin frame and Dad’s green eyes and height. She
looked nothing like me and only distantly related to Caleb. Her long legs
looped over the armrest as she flipped through a magazine. Thanks for ruining
Christmas break. I’d rather be anywhere but here.
I felt the same way.
At least Oliver was
gone for the moment. Mom had convinced him to go home, take a shower, maybe
even sleep. I couldn’t bear his guilt; it was so thick it choked me.
Oliver. My husband.
God. I’d never loved and hated someone so much at the same time. I still
couldn’t believe he’d called my parents. He knew how bad they were at handling
me. How could he have thought that having my family here would be good for me?
Bitterness frosted my
thoughts. I was in a hospital, bruised and battered. I’d almost died. That’s
what Caleb had said. He was the only one willing to tell me the truth. Oliver
had said it was bad, but he wouldn’t say how bad. He couldn’t bear to admit
what happened to me.
Author
Info
Kourtney Heintz writes award-winning
cross genre fiction that melds paranormal, suspense, and literary into an
unforgettable love story. For her characters, love is a journey never a
destination. Her debut novel, The Six Train to Wisconsin, has been on the
Amazon Bestseller lists for Psychic Mysteries and Paranormal and Urban Fantasy.
Kourtney resides in Connecticut with
her warrior lapdog, Emerson, and three quirky golden retrievers. Years of
working on Wall Street provided the perfect backdrop for her imagination to run
amuck at night, imagining a world where out-of-control telepathy and buried
secrets collide. As K.C. Tansley, she writes bestselling YA time travel murder
mysteries.
She has been featured in the
Republican American, on WTNH’s CT Style, and Everything Internet on the radio.
She has a B.S. in Business Administration from Georgetown University with a
double major in finance and international business and a minor in Chinese. She
received a Master of Pacific International Affairs from the University of
California, San Diego.
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