Page 267 of Nobody's Girl

“This is beautiful, Toni. I haven’t seen it finished. It turned out so nice,” Sierra tells my mother.

“It really did. They always do such a fantastic job, don’t they?” Mom asks.

“That they do,” Sierra agrees.

As we enter the house, we walk right into the main living area. I can tell my mother had her hand in decorating because I see several paintings which came from our house in Cloudcroft. The painting over the sofa is one that my mother’s father painted when she was a little girl. It’s of her and her little sister at the beach in California.

“Come Ally and Eden, let me show you to your room,” Mom calls to us as she heads towards a gorgeous staircase that spirals up just off the living area.

We follow her up the stairs. “This place is so nice, Mom.”

She turns to me and smiles. “The first door to the right is yours. Make yourself at home, dears. You will find that, as usual, your closets are already filled with clothes, as are the dressers. Come down whenever you are ready to,” she tells us, then turns to go back down the stairs.

I open the door to find a large four poster bed with a dark maroon-colored bedspread on it. The room only has one closet, but it’s huge. Eden’s things are on one side and mine on the other. I notice that in the back of the closet there are supplies such as gallon jugs of water and canned foods.

“Eden, why are there supplies like this I here, do you think?”

“This is a place where hurricanes come in on occasion, baby. Most homes have these things in them somewhere. You know, just in case. Once it’s known a hurricane is coming in, the stores get crazy and run out of things quickly.”

Eden opens the only other door in the room to find a decent sized bathroom with a stand up tiled shower. It’s not nearly what we have back at our place, but it’s nice. My parents, as usual, scale back on things they find pretentious. I, on the other hand, love having a huge bathroom with all the bells and whistles.

“Think you can be comfortable here?” I ask Eden.

Suddenly, he picks me up off the ground, holding me in his arms and spinning me around. Taking me back into the bedroom, he lays me down on the bed. He reaches down, taking my sandals off and running his hand up my leg. My heart is pounding in my chest. His eyes are full of desire.

He begins to unbutton his shirt. “Baby, as long as I’m with you, I can be comfortable anywhere.  Now let’s break this sucker in.”

CHAPTER 44

EDEN

He’s drugged her! I can’t find her!

I run through the dark alley behind Bourbon Street.

She has to be near here. This is where I last saw her thoughts!

Alyssa sent the words, ‘I love you, Eden. My time has come, unless you stop this. I’ll see you on the other side, my love.’

With those words, she also sent the view she was looking at. The dark grey stone walls of the back of one of the many clubs along Bourbon Street.

I search as one of our doctors struggles to keep up with me. I know I’ll need his help once I find her.

This is all my fault. Why did I have to get involved with that family?

A dark mass looms in the distance. My heart pounds as I race to it. And there she is.

The doctor shouts, “Eden, let me see to her first.”

The look on his face as he turns back to me after he’s looked at her tells me all I need to know.

He rises and looks away as I dive to my princess’s side.

My body is shaking. It’s as if I’m being shaken. “Eden! Wake up!”

It’s Alyssa’s voice, but how can it be?

The smell of barbecue fills my nostrils as I blink my eyes open. The room is cloaked in orange light and a figure moves in front of me, the sun’s light behind it, making it hard to make out.