AVALYNE
S
urrendering all you have for a single person is what others would call foolish. When you desire something so badly, and you finally surrender to it, that desired entity becomes overwhelmingly powerful. It overtakes your being, giving you the capacity to influence others' behavior. Thatpowercompletely and utterly consumes you.
Is that what it’s about to do? Yes. Do I regret it?Absolutely not.
DAMIEN
“You know, Damien”—Mallory’s voice gets lost in the ocean breeze—“I still love you.”
As I sit on this old brown splintered picnic table with Mallory, my mind drifts to the one woman who consumes my mind. How she’s looked past all of my faults and never left my side. “Damien, did you hear me?”
“I heard you, but I think it’s time you move on, Mal. There is one woman who has my heart. And to be quite honest with you, if I can’t have her, I don’t want anyone.” I’m trying to keep it real with Mallory. She may not deserve it, and hell, I probably don’t either. I’m doing it for Ava.
My life.
My love.
My one and only.
“There he is,” Mallory whispers across the table, watching Oliver walk the shoreline towards the pier. “You sure you don’t want me to do it?”
I ignore her question considering this is the man who stole my world from me. “I’ll be back,” I grunt, getting up from the bench, not forgetting to grab the silver serrated knife sitting in front of me. I watch over the wooden railing as Oliver strolls into the shadows under the pier. Now’s my chance. Hopping over, I land on my feet and watch the glow of his watch moving to make sure he wasn’t startled.
The fog is starting to set, but that’s to be expected in the hours before dawn. That will make this easy. A deep groan from Oliver echoes under the pier as I wrap up my business in the shadows. As I run to find Mallory, I see her walking towards the boardwalk catching up to me. Complete silence. We stop and Mallory turns to face me. I feel her hand turning my head. “It had to be done. If you need anything, call me.” And we go our separate ways. The one thing I’m sure of is that high tide is in one hour, and his body will be carried out to sea.
AVALYNE
3 MONTHS AGO
“S
he will be groggy when she wakes up, so you may want to take it easy with the questions.” A random woman’s voice echoes above a repetitive beeping.Ouch, my stomach.“There was a lot of blood loss, but no damage was done to any vital organs. She was lucky you found her when you did, Mr. Alarie.” Damien’s here. My eyes are heavy and I’m so tired. As the memory slowly returns, I gasp for air and my eyes pop open.
Damien practically runs towards the bed and grabs my hand. “Firefly! You’re awake.” He watches as the doctor fiddles with the IV bag.
“Mrs. Alarie, you’ve had quite a shock to your system. Your memory may be fuzzy for a day or two, but it will return.” The doctor looks at Damien and gives a curt nod. “I’ll give you two some privacy.”
“Mrs. Alarie?” Damien smiles wide.
“Who am I to correct a doctor?”
I feel like I’m moving at a snail's pace as I try to turn my head to look at Damien. “What happened?” I wince as the bandage on my stomach pulls at my dry skin with every breath I take. “I want to look at myself, but I’d rather have an idea of what went down before I see my guts hanging out.” He laughs and that beautiful sound brings me serenity. “Do you remember … us—”
“Making love?” I cut him off as I try to contain my smile. Of course I remember our beautiful night together.
His lips twitch, trying to contain his smile. “When we woke up, I ordered breakfast for us.” Damien goes silent as his eyes fill with an emotion I’ve never seen before. “You went downstairs to answer the door.”
“Damien, what happened?”
“You were stabbed.” His voice cracks. “I’m going to figure out who did this to you.”
I close my eyes to blink back my tears. “Well, shit.” The beeping of the heart monitor is deafening. “Okay then.”
He grips my hand tighter. “There’s something else…” But his voice trails off as his eyes are fixed on the window of the room leading into the hallway. “No.”
I look over towards the window and Oliver is standing there with a grin holding a single red balloon. My heart rate quickens, but it’s not out of excitement. I can’t explain why. The alarm on my heart monitor goes off and the nurse rushes into the room.
