“Ellis says you whooped his ass.” He sinks his hands between his knees and folds them. Logan has always had a paternal way about him, and at this moment he very much feels like a father figure wanting an explanation of my pooractions.
“And I made my sister cry. Yes, I feel like an ass. But I don’t want to talk about my sister or Ellis.” I let out a breath, and a giant white plume escapes me. “Something is happening.” There. I said it. It’s always been my deepest fear to verbalize the very things that I’m afraid of. I’ve always understood that there is power in words, specifically in speaking them out loud. Words have the power to bind things to you, good or bad. I always figured the longer I ignored things, the less power they have to become real. But on nights like tonight, filled with ghosts, with shadow stalkers, with visitors from paradise, it feels easy to verbalize the things that I’m afraid of. “The night that you died”—I catch him on a double take as he gives me his full attention—“what happened? What did it feellike?”
“What?” He kicks my foot out from under me. “It felt like shit. I was leaving Skyla—something you’re never allowed to do. Stay strong. Demetri and his mindfuck of a party are getting to you.Bastard’s Ball,” he says under his breath while glaring at the house. “You are Gage Fucking Oliver. Half this island wishes it could be you. Heck, sometimes I wish I could be you. The other half wishes they could sleep with you. So you see, right there, that proves you’re pretty awesome.” He slaps his hand over my knee and gives it a wobble. “Things are moving so fast for you. It’s no wonder your head is everywhere. And I’m betting you had zero sleep last night—and that it had very little to do with thekids.”
That vision of Skyla and me rolling around like tigers over the sheets comes back to me, and I can’t help but shed the idea of asmile.
“Knew it.” He kicks my foot again. “You’re going to be fine. Everything works out for the two ofyou.”
“What’s going on with Coop?” I’m as eager to change the subject as I am to let Cooper know what Wessaid.
“He took off to speak with Ezrina. We found Laken’s phone at the base of thedriveway.”
I tell him about my conversation with Wes in a few angry sound bites. “He’s had a backup allalong.”
“Shit.” Logan pulls out his phone and starts in on a texting spree. “Coop is going to lose his fuckingmind.”
“I’m sorry. I should have told you that first. My head’s all clogged up. You’re right. I didn’t sleep. We should probably close out this party so we can helpCoop.”
Logan winces at his phone as he hitsSend. “I’d better find Wes and see if he needs any help. Cooper keeps threatening to kill him, but after tonight, he might want to thank him.” He shakes his head incredulously. “And what about Kresley? She’s a person. She’s someone’s daughter, a human being—at least inpartial.”
“I know. We need a better way. I’ll get on that. I can’t have Kres there either. And as much as it may have filled a need for Skyla—I can’t leave the Vidensthere.”
“They’re as good as dead. The irony being they are basically dead to beginwith.”
“They’remypeople.” It comes out far more caustic than intended. “Skyla can’t have them.” I sink my head between my knees because it feels as if there’s a force bending my mind to its unreasonable will. “Dude, I don’t know what the hell I’m saying.” I give a few hard blinks before lifting my head to the cool night air. “Let’s get backthere.”
Logan helps me to my feet and pats my back as if comforting me. “I’ll help you get through the night as soon as I touch base with Wes. Let’s go find those boys of yours.” We head back toward the front of the house, and the sounds of laughter and the band bleed through the walls like a riot. Then as caustic as it was, it all stops as if someone pulled the plug on the party—and a voice shouts something about heading to the back. It’s just like Demetri to herd everyone to a single location. How could he possibly make his eloquent speeches without the rapt attention of every soul in this haunted hall? At the end of the day, Demetri is nothing more than an attentionwhore.
“Before we go in”—I pull Logan back by the elbow—“I just want to say thank you for all you’ve done for me. I know you’ll always be there for Skyla, for the boys. Sometimes it feels like you’re the glue that holds all this madness together.” I pull him in and wrap my arms around him tight, the boy I grew up with, my brother, the best man I know. “You know I love you.” I can’t bring myself to look at him. The world wobbles through my tears, and I sniff hard into his neck without meaningto.
“Hey.” He pulls back and gives my arm a hard squeeze as if pulling me back to reality. “It’s your birthday—yes, you can cry if you want to, but don’t.” He gives a dry chuckle. “That was beautiful, but I need you to get back in there. Tonight is ending on a good note for you. There will be cake. You will undoubtedly get laid. By my ex-wife no less.” He frowns at the revelation. “And, as weird as it sounds, that makes you a lucky,luckybastard.” He lifts a finger my way, and we share a dull laugh. Logan lands his arm over my back with a thump. “I love you, too, man. Now, how about we put the happy in birthday? Let’s make this next year the best oneyet.”
“Will do.” We head inside, only to find both the halls and the grand room drained of its guests. A growing murmur comes from the rear of the property just like Isurmised.
“I’ll go find Wes and see what he’s thinking.” Logan pulls me to him. “Hey—sometimes death comes in stages, and the life it craves to acquire is dead long before the soul ever leaves the body. Don’t let that be you, man. You have a lot to live for. Live life to the fullest. Go out there and hold your boys extratight.”
“That’s the plan.” We go our separate ways, and I head to the back where Ingram spots me before I ever set footoutside.
“Master Oliver.” He hands me an envelope with my name scrolled across the front in fancy handwriting. “A mysterious woman left this for you.” He gives a sly wink before returning to his post at thedoor.
I pull the card from the inside, a single thick stock of paper with the words,Meet me in the grand room where the band once played. Let’s see if you and I can come up with a rhythm of our very own. It’s time to getdirty.
A smile floats to my lips, and my feet are already carrying me in that direction. I’ll choose getting dirty with my wife anytime over listening to some over bloated speech Demetri has to give. I make my way to the great room and head to the stage set up near the back, deep in the bowels of the ballroom. Skyla is coming. My Skyla. And we’re going to set this night on the right trajectory. I’m done with dark thoughts and the morbid outlook they sponsor. I need Skyla’s heated kisses just to breathe. Something quick and dirty is just what the doctor ordered. I need to feel her skin, feel myself deep inside of her. I spot an alcove behind the stage where we can do justthat.
A gentle tap lands over my shoulder, and I turn with a dirty grin already tucked high in my cheeks. Then, just as quick, it leavesme.
“It’s you,” I whisper, stunned—caught off-guard.
A searing heat slices across my neck, and I hit the floor, my eyes wide open as I stare at my body a good three feet away. I give a few rapid blinks, still disbelieving, a thousand thoughts run through my mind—not one of them anchors. Snippets of my life sail through me—early memories surface, looking up at my loving parents, my mother who sacrificed so much for me. She is so beautiful, so very young and hopeful. The loving father who raised me, Barron. His face is smoother, his hair darker and fuller, and I can feel that tender love in his eyes that he’s always had for me. Giselle comes in next, and a pinch of grief hits me as I grieve the loss of my sweet little sister all over again. I should have never taken my eyes off her that day. I let the world hurt her, and I have never forgiven myself. And I’ve hurt her again tonight. I keep hurting my sweet baby sister. In truth, it’s why I never fought Logan for Skyla. I hadn’t thought I deserved her in the beginning. I had already let down one girl. I didn’t deserve another. I see Logan and me running around the island, laughing, growing from boys to men at an alarming pace. There we are in the bowling alley, staring with wide-eyed wonder at Skyla for the very first time, and the world stops. Beautiful, beautiful Skyla. I’m so in love, my heart aches for her the most. The scene changes, Skyla and me running from Fems, the very creature I turned out to be, a ball of air, a dark force of nothing. Skyla and I on our wedding day, making sweet love in that cheap hotel. An entire montage of Skyla and me setting the sheets on fire, making one another our own, tasting one another, drinking each other down like holy nectar. The boys appear, Nathan and Barron. I see them clearly with their bright eyes, their deep-welled dimples, the smiles that never end. I see that day on the stone of sacrifice, offering myself to Demetri to save those precious beings I love so much. Then with Logan tonight as I offered him one last embrace with my body. But my final thought, the very last one, is reserved for Skyla. How can I possibly leave her and the boys? How I love my little family, my wife. My entire being hurts so much for them. I love her. I love the boys. I love them so very much. I can’t bear the pain. I need them. God, Skyla. I’m so sorry. I tried. I really didtry.
I love you, my lips mouth the words. The very last words they will eversay.
This was not enough time. It went far too quickly. Too short. Too damn short. I need more time. I want it all. I should have foughtharder.
The world begins to fade, and I claw at it with my mind, begging it notto.
And then finally—as I always suspected I would at a very young age—slow and careful I rise. My spirit, the real me, lifts light as a feather, and I stand over my body, my head no longer beneath me, as blood spurts below like afountain.
