“That’s my wife. Mywoman.” All I can do is hang on as he thrusts me against the side of the pool rapidly, hands gripping my hips. Every collision of our bodies is a new experience. Every breath against my skin like dandelion puffs dancing through a breeze.
I’ve never been this happy before. He lifts me until my back hits his damp chest. Buries his face in my neck like he’s trying to stay there. Like the world might take me if he lets go.
“I love you,” he says—ragged, real, wrecked. And I feel it more than I hear it. In the way he holds me. In the way he doesn’t let go.
The pulses of his cock bring me to life. Each swell is a revival. An awakening.
Aiden and Ashlyn drift away, deeper into the water. He gives Apollo a nod. And that’s it.
Apollo slips out of me. I flip around to latch myself onto his big body like a koala.
“Apollo?” Our foreheads meet, and I feel everything he does. The same. We’re the same.
“Yeah?”
“We need to get each other’s names tattooed on our bodies.”
He squeezes me tighter. “Ugh, yes! You’re such agenius, baby.”
“Shit.” Suddenly, it dawns on me. “We’re here to find my ex.” I mouth the last words.
Apollo’s dark eyes grow wide. We search around the area, but Ayan’s gone. He’s not here.
“You need to get dressed. And I need to get dressed. We need to find him.”
“Brilliant.” I brush a stray water droplet off his cheek. “Remember to breathe,” I tell him before exiting the water.
It’s hard. Probably one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done. But I manage to get dressed. And forget my shoes. But it doesn’t matter because they were horrid anyway.
As I exit the locker room and return to the hall, an overwhelmingthirstmakes my tongue dry out and shrivel up in my mouth.
“Water.”
I aim for the kitchen, which is conveniently located through a rabbit hole. Or likely some sort of butler’s pantry thatlookslike something fromAlice in Wonderland. But it’s not.
“Oh, fuck. A mirror…”
I try not to gaze at my reflection as I pass. It’s haunted. Gaunt and freaky. But I find the water goblets and fill one to the brim, tossing it back and relishing the sensation.
A plastic wrapper catches my eye. My heart flutters with dread. It looks just like a lollipop wrapper. One that had been left for me…
And when I glance down at the floor?
I lose my breath.
A pink sweet is stuck there. And a red one lies nearby. An orange leads toward the back hall.
I follow, picking up each one until I’m bent over with a handful of the suckers like a bouquet of deadly flowers.
But as I near the back door, I trip over something ominous.
My hand sticks to the floor. When I lift it, I want to scream but can’t. It’s dripping with dark red blood. Fear takes over my brain. All the joy I was feeling before rushes away, and I’m instantly very sober.
A leg. An arm. What used to be a torso lies in front of me. Split open. Organs removed…
There lies Ayan Dutta.
Dead.
