Before I can respond, Dad clears his throat. “There’s something else,” he says.
The shift in his tone pulls me up short. My headache throbs harder.
I look between them. “What?”
“Let’s go somewhere. Grab a cup of coffee,” Mom says. Then she takes my hand, grazing her thumb against my knuckles. “There’s something you should know.”
Chapter 51Chase
I wander up to our hotel room hours later, sucker punched and in a daze. Annie’s follow-up text remains unanswered, and I know she’s tucked inside this room, wide awake and worried sick.
Me:My parents are here. I’ll see you back at the hotel.
Annie:Do you need me? Can I meet them?
I never responded.
Even now, I don’t know what to say.
All I want to do is touch her. Hold her. Sink inside her and beg for her goodness and light to vanquish my demons.
My hand shakes as I swipe the keycard over the sensor.
The soft whir of a lock. The door creaking open.
I trudge inside, watching as Annie leaps out of bed with her heart in her eyes, her gaze glimmering blue and lovesick.
“Chase.” She drinks me in. Assesses every inch of my sadness. “I was worried.”
I’m sure I look pale, chalky, and half dead, the black shadows saturating the warmth in my eyes.
I need her.
I need her.
She pads toward me, knowing something is wrong. “Tell me what happened. Talk to me.”
My jaw shifts. Throat rolls.
Her stare gleams with anxiety and dread, taking my silence as an omen.
“Chase, please—”
I grab her. Before she can take another breath, I’m hoisting her into the air and tossing her on the bed. The mattress bounces, her air locks up. A second later, I’m crawling on top of her, my mouth devouring hers so fiercely, I nearly crack a tooth. My tongue plunges inside, my body smothering her softness in hard muscle and heat and trapped emotion.
When I pull away, nearly gasping, I pin her wrists above her head and rasp against those watermelon lips, “I need you.”
I watch the way her pulse throbs in the delicate arc of her throat, causing the little mole below her ear to shudder and dance.
She nods quickly, brows pinched together. “Take me.”
A growl rumbles in my chest.
Something howls in the far corners of my mind.
Fear.
Need.
