“We’ll give you a lift.Neil always throws the best parties.Come on.You have to go.”The first kid smacks Frank’s arm to drive home his point.The second one looks around, and the camp is gone.We’re in the gallery parking lot.
Frank points at his mom’s car, pulling in.“There’s my mom.I have to get going.I’m working again tomorrow.”
The second one scoffs.“Like this is hard work.Seriously, though, you’re going to feel like an idiot if you pass on a Neil party.His place is sweet and the liquor cabinet is always stocked with the best stuff.We’ll have it to ourselves.A little pool party while his parents are out of town again.Come on.Everyone in the senior class’ll be there.”
Faith comes around the corner and stops by Elizabeth’s car.“Frank?”she calls.
Frank looks between the two, clearly torn.“Give me a minute.Let me talk to my mom.”He jogs over to the car while the other two share a look.They walk back to their own car where a third is waiting inside.
I awoke with a start, trying to parse out what I’d seen.My dreams didn’t usually overlap like that.I didn’t understand why they had this time.As quietly as I could, I went to the second guest room, the one that wasn’t going to be a nursery.I’d started putting art supplies in the closet.Not a lot.I had a studio, but I wanted some supplies here too.I grabbed a sketchbook and a pencil before going back to the couch.I wrapped the blanket around me and got to work sketching the faces in my head.
I jumped when Declan later sat beside me.
“Hey.”His voice was deeper than usual with sleep.“What are you doing out here?You fell asleep in there with me.”He studied me cocooned in the blanket before standing up and going to the fireplace.“You’re cold.Why didn’t you start a fire?”He got a big one going for us.
“I didn’t want to wake you.I was pretty sure if I started a fire, you’d notice.”
He came back to sit with me.“Probably.To be honest, I can’t believe you left the bed and I didn’t wake up.”
“You’re killing yourself trying to get it all done: me, the business, our home, the pack.You’re exhausted.”
He played with one of my curls.“I’m fine.This is everything I’ve ever wanted.I can handle it.”
I explained waking up and checking all the windows for Milena.“Then I realized that if I went back to bed with you, I’d sleep without dreaming and I might need my dreams to discover who’s after Frank.”
He nodded, pushing my curls out of my face.“So you slept out here, hoping for nightmares?”
“Something like that.”I tossed the sketchbook and pencil onto the coffee table and tipped over into Declan.He wrapped his arm around me and gestured to the three faces on the table, two on separate sheets and one still in the sketchbook.
“Who are these three?”
I went over my dreams with him.“I don’t think he meant to kill Laurie—that first sketch.He wasn’t exactly upset it happened—and I’m using passive language on purpose.In his thoughts, the little boy on the archery field and this girl died through no fault of his.I saw what happened at the archery target.Eli was too scared to move but in the killer’s mind, he’s a great shot and the kid got in the way of the arrow.It’s the same with Laurie.It wasn’t that he raped and killed her.He was messing around, and she should have been too out of it to even notice.It wasn’t his fault her face was in the water.”
Declan growled low and deep.
“Her death, though, gave him a little charge when he realized.He felt powerful.It wasn’t that he was happy she was dead.He honestly didn’t seem to care one way or the other, except that with her dead, he wouldn’t have to worry about her remembering and accusing him of anything.”
“I hate that you had to live through that,” he grumbled.
I was silent, considering.“I hate it too, but if I didn’t live it with her, no one would know what happened.It’s hard to explain, but I feel like I’m keeping them company.I know it’s after the fact, but living it with them makes me feel like they aren’t going through the worst event in their lives all alone.I’m there too.”I looked up at him.“I know that sounds dumb, but it’s how I make peace with the horrors in my head.”
He kissed my forehead.“I think that’s a beautiful way to look at it.What do you say to coming back to bed for a little while?You have time before work, and you need the sleep.”
My knee-jerk reaction was to say no.I had work to do, but I was so tired.I nodded and he picked me up, leaving the blanket on the couch, and walked us back to bed.
“Here.Let me help.”He pulled the pearl over my head and put it on the nightstand before pulling me to him and covering us with the bedding.“Can you get the blinds and the fire?”
I flicked my fingers, blocking the coming sun and starting a low, crackling fire across the room.I barely had time to appreciate feeling so warm and safe before I was out.
When I woke again, light was visible around the blinds and I smelled bacon.Declan was in the kitchen, making us breakfast.I stole a piece of bacon while I watched him flip an omelet.
“This looks incredible.”
He grinned over his shoulder at me.“Good.I want to make sure you have a good meal before work.When your breathing changed, I knew you were waking up soon, so I started cooking.”
I squinted at that.“Are you saying I snore?”
Laughing, he slid the omelet onto a plate and walked it to the breakfast nook.“No.I’m saying your breathing changed from long, slow breaths in deep sleep to your normal waking breathing.When that happens, I know you’re about to be up.”
