Was that even him?
“What are you looking at?” Amelia asks. “Are you okay?”
I blink, bringing my attention forward and following a group of guys, all of which are dressed up like a dead cupid. Their wings are half ripped and covered in fake blood. It’s pretty serious for a Friday night party.
“Did you… see who I was dancing with?” I ask.
“You were dancing with someone?” she asks excitedly.
The hope that she saw him is gone. Now I’ll never know if it was him or someone else. Or in my head altogether.
I hug my arms around myself as best I can with Amelia’s arm still hooked in mine.
It’s only a few more minutes before we come out on the other side, meeting a large crowd of people that are figuring out where to go and how to get home.
We keep walking down the road and eventually come upon a closed coffee shop. We stand with a few other people who could be college students too, while we wait for our Uber. I’m in a fog all the way home, unable to tell whether or not he was real.
Am I losing my mind… or is Jaxon still following me?
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sailor
The next couple of months are a complete blur. School keeps me so busy I have no time for anything else—not even talking to Shadow, who consistently checks up on me and is entirely too understanding of my schedule.
We’ve had phone sex a couple times, mostly him talking me through it, with lots of picture sending, but mostly I’m too tired to do anything.
Classes are long and the homework is challenging. All I want to do when I have free time is sleep. But of course I squeeze in time for Amelia. We have weekly girl nights now since our lunches didn’t stick. She comes over, we order out, watch a movie, sometimes have a drink or two, and she always sleeps over.
Tonight we’re getting tacos, and since they tend to take forever to be delivered, I’ve already put in the order while waiting for Amelia to show up.
I’m just finishing up my last editing run through on my essay and then I’ll be all caught up on my homework.
Girls night has rules, and Rule #1 is no homework. Rule #2 is no talking about school—at least no more than ten minutes total.
Sometimes that’s difficult because some of my teachers are jerks and I want to rant, but in the end, it’s nice to forget about my biggest stress and spend time with my best friend.
Amelia should be here in about a half hour, and hopefully the food will be here before that so we can eat as soon as she gets in—I’m starving since it’s closing in on eight. I haven’t eaten since 12:30, and it was hardly anything of substance.
I close my laptop, put it away, then quickly change into a pair of fleece pants and a T-shirt. There is a knock on the door the moment I toss my dirty clothes into the laundry basket, and I hurry over, my mouth watering. I pull the door open with a huge smile on my face—that quickly falls the moment I see who is standing on the other side.
“Wh—what are you—I don’t understand—”
“Can I come in, please?”
I can’t pull my eyes away from the man standing on the other side of the door. As badly as I want to look away and slam the door in his face, I am frozen still. Why the hell is Sam here?
“Sailor, please,” he whispers before glancing over his shoulder. “I don’t know if it’s safe.”
Those words have me snapping out of it.
“Safe?” I say.
“Sailor, look… I know things got really crazy and I was acting weird, but I have an explanation. I need you to please let me in so we can talk.”
Something about his tone, about the look on his face, has me moving aside.
When I was living with Sam, he looked like hell. I remember thinking he’d been possessed. Right now, he looks so much like the Sam I remember, only a little tired.
