“Eat,” he mutters, and I take it from his hand, whispering my thanks, but I don’t know whether he hears it or not because he’s moving again, drawing closer to the water.
I blink three times, once in disbelief, twice for clarity, and a final time for memory, before I hurry after him, unwrapping the food in my hands to reveal a fully loaded hot dog, melted cheese, friedonions, topped with ketchup and mustard. Holy crap.
He stands a foot away from where the waves reach the sand and I drop my sandals at his side before continuing a few extra steps, desperate to feel the water on my toes as I sink my teeth into my hot dog. I groan at the deliciousness as the tide finds me, and my eyelids fall closed.
“I lied before,” I breathe when I’ve swallowed my bite down.
“About what?” Thorne asks, surprising me with a response.
“The best four seconds of my life,” I murmur, my voice threatening to catch in my throat. “It’s right now,” I add, too eager for him to hear it as my heart soars, watching as a flock of birds passes over us.
My senses are heightened to a new level. All I can taste is the hot dog goodness. All I can feel is the sand and the water dancing over my feet. All I can smell is the salty air. All I can hear is the crashing of waves gently lulling me like in my dream earlier. All I can see is pure joy in every direction.
I eat the rest of my hot dog in silence, drinking in the entire scene and vowing to myself that I will be able to see something like this again, but just incase, I commit it all to memory before crushing the hot dog wrapper in my hands. Reluctantly, I turn to the quiet shadow fae two steps behind to find him already looking right at me.
“Why are we here?” I ask, and he frowns.
“We needed to eat.”
“Why did you bring me in the car?” I push, and he shrugs.
“It was a bet.”
“That I lost,” I retort, and his facial features give nothing away. There’s not even a tick of irritation to his jaw. When it’s clear he’s not going to say anything else on the matter, I step toward him, eliminating the distance between us before I rise on my tiptoes and wrap my arms around his neck. “Thank you,” I breathe, never meaning those two words more than in this moment.
He's still in my grasp, riddled with tension, but I don’t cling on long enough to find out whether he will return the gesture or not. The ache in my chest still forms regardless, but it’s one of my own doing, and I push it to the back of my mind, refusing to sour this moment with my negative thoughts. Especially when I don’t want them to begin with. But the second I lean back, he cups my cheek, pausing me from putting any more distance between us.
Peering up at him, I take a shuddering breath,my gaze latching on to his lips. His eyes are covered, blocking me from seeing his dark pools and the secrets they may hold, but I know the way his body moves; I feel it with every part of myself. His thumb ghosts over my skin as he inches closer, the tip of his nose a wisp from mine. I brace for impact, the desire for his lips to be on mine unbearable as I relax in his hold, giving in to whatever trance he has me in, but the press of his lips against mine doesn’t come.
We’re suddenly drenched in black smoke as panic coils inside of me. “Thorne?” I croak as his magic floods us.
“We’re not alone,” he mutters, and I frown.
“What do you mean? I?—”
The darkness that had encompassed us moments ago is gone, stealing my words along with my breath as I look out at the beach, alert and searching for danger.
I don’t have to search far, though. They’re right here.
I wrap my hand around Thorne’s arm in an attempt at seeking safety as I slowly spin in a circle, taking in each of the men surrounding us.
Eight.
There are eight of them. Each one angrier than the last until I come full circle to the first man Ilocked eyes with. His mousy brown hair is slicked back off his face and his beady green eyes devour me as he smirks.
“It’s time now, my love,” he projects, eyes set on mine, and I shake my head.
“I don’t know who you think I am, but I’m not your love,” I retort, tensions coiling tight through my limbs as I blink at him, and he snickers.
“Thorne, you may leave us,” he states, waving a dismissive hand at the shadow fae beside me, but he doesn’t move an inch.
“Do you know this guy?” I murmur into Thorne’s shoulder as he remains in front of me, and he shakes his head.
“I don’t know who you are, and I couldn’t give a fuck about what you want, so politely, fuck off,” Thorne grunts, his voice thicker and raspier, but the persistent guy simply smiles wider.
“Are we doing this the easy way or the hard way?” he asks, earning a mumble of snickers from the men completing the circle with him, and Thorne shrugs.
“Hard,” he declares, shooting his hands out toward the leader, black smoke firing through the air, but before it can meet its mark, someone else takes the blast for him, falling to the ground in a writhing mess.
