RHYSStupid. I had been stupid for thinking with my dick instead of reasoning with her. I shouldn’t have kissed her like that.Now, I was forced to sit outside Vickie’s house, trying to devise a plan to snatch her from the stupid party that had seemed to matter more to her than the very real issue of a dead human in the park. When Vickie had taken Rae to the spa, I sped back into town to see if Fate had been on my side for once. But I had driven past two of Connor’s cars at the hotel, one outside the park and one in the back parking lot outside my apartment.I had come up with three options, none of which I liked. First, they hadn’t found anything and would stay in town longer. The second was that they had discovered that the hobo sniffing around my apartment building was a rogue and were trying to figure out how the hell he’d shifted back, which would also keep them in town longer. Third, they had found the body and tracked both Rae and me back to the apartment.I hadn’t gotten out o
RAE A man appeared on the dimly lit path out of thin air like a ghost and naked as the day he was born. Stumbling and almost tripping over my trainers, I dug my heels into the pavement to stop myself before I crashed into him. There was nothing in front of me just a second ago; I was sure of it. Jogging alone in the park made me hyper-aware of my surroundings. Only people with bad intentions got naked in the park at night. I had to turn back and run, but my feet refused to do as I asked because my gaze lowered to his naked body and short-circuited my brain. The ass was a work of art. Seriously, how the hell did anyone get an ass that looked that good? He didn’t even look like he had to kill himself working out. I’d been trying for years, but mine always remained the chubby, gigantic mess it was. If I had a quarter—hell, if I had several quarters, I knew where I’d aim them. They would bounce right off. My mouth watered when I pulled my gaze from his ass to his back. It was broad
RHYS “Have you got them?” I cradled the phone on my shoulder while I pulled my jeans on. The large trees in the woods kept me hidden, but I already knew no one else was around. Nobody in Eastown stayed out that late unless they were up to no good, like me. Unless I counted that crazy woman who’d run out of the park in front of my car. My heart pounded against my chest when that face flashed through my mind again. It was the face I saw every night in my fantasies— or my nightmares, depending on the day. But she was dead! I’d mourned her. Our love had burned for a short time, but I’d paid the price. I was still paying six years later; my scars and fucked up head were proof of it. There was no way that woman had been Rae. My mind must have been playing tricks on me again. “Rhys!” My thoughts returned to the conversation as I zipped up the bags I’d laid at the tree's base. “Yeah. Sorry, I’ve still got my hands full, Tyson,” I answered. “How many?” “I got two. One slipped throu
RAE “Raechel Bourne!” I cringed and pulled my attention away from the park entrance when Vickie’s loud voice rang through the cafe. She made her way to me between the tables, loaded with shopping bags in both hands. Shit. I’d completely forgotten I was supposed to meet her. Between my sleepless night and trying to finish an assignment before class, shopping had been the last thing on my mind. “Raechel Bourne!” she repeated when she was closer. “Not everyone needs to know my name, Victoria Montgomery,” I said with an eye roll, stirring my latte. I pushed my glasses back up the bridge of my nose as I watched my friend approach. My vision was crystal clear now. I wish I’d had them last night to see what had chased me. Vickie dumped her bags in an empty chair at my table and dropped into the one next to it. “I’ve been calling you for hours! Did you lose your phone again?” Vickie huffed as she raised her hand to call over a server. “Forgot to charge it.” Vickie shook her head
RAE I didn’t want to be there. Crowds made me uneasy. My sixth sense constantly tingled because people with bad intentions surrounded me. They all looked like they were enjoying themselves on the outside, but I could sense the lust, the depraved thoughts mixed in with all of it. Someone would get roofied if they weren’t careful. It made me uneasy how such people could blend in. Innocent young women were hunted by lecherous older men and young men by lustful older women. Give me a picnic in the park any day. Or camping in the woods, surviving off the land, and fishing on a calm lake on a hot day? Now that was a party. But Vickie always dragged me to these places and dressed me up like a sex doll. I pulled the hem of my short dress down even though it wouldn’t get any lower. Vickie sometimes intentionally ‘forgot’ I had an ass when she bought clothes for me. The little blue dress felt completely indecent. I was pretty sure the guy staring at my ass from across the room could see th
RHYS I paced to the filthy window and looked outside for the millionth time. My eyes felt like they had sand in them because I hadn’t slept much. My dreams had consisted of a hazel-eyed, black-haired wench riding me in different positions all over my bed. It had been hours since I’d given up trying to sleep but I was still hard as fuck. Thinking of Rae always did that to me. It was worse now that I couldn’t get her scent out of my head. The sweet vanilla and cinnamon stuck to me, and I couldn't get my head straight. Annoyance surged inside me as I turned away from the window and walked to the kitchen. Why did that have to happen now? I’d been okay for months, and then bam! She was in my head again, and all I wanted to do was fuck her. Fuck a ghost. That shit was messed up. I crushed the empty beer can in my fist and threw it to join the others in the trash before I opened the fridge for another. I’d gone out, hard-on and all, to stock up on food but had only gone down the alcoho
RAE I didn’t know why I still walked towards the VIP stairs when he looked so furious. My head was tingling like crazy and I was uneasy, but I couldn’t control myself. What if my dream had been more of a premonition? Somehow the universe had put this man in my path, one who melted my panties despite the hatred in his eyes. It had to be a vision of sorts. I had the stupid sixth sense that no one else seemed to have, so what if I could also do weird shit like that? How else could I explain seeing this man in my dream? Even the overwhelming attraction was the same. My body was on fire like I had to have him or I’d explode. The security at the bottom of the stairs let me through because Vickie was a regular up there. For those moments while I couldn’t see the angry stranger, my heart hammered and I became anxious. I didn’t want to acknowledge that I hoped he knew me from before. I'd hoped for the same thing many times over the past six years but disappointment always crushed my stup
RHYS Rae turned away and her ass brushed against my painfully hard dick. It was really her. But why the fuck was she angry when she was the cold-hearted bitch who’d almost killed me when she’d rejected me? And then to fake her death after that? That was a fucked up thing to do. I shoved the door shut and forced my beast back, but my eyes remained on her neck, on the spot that should have had my mark. Her scent was all over me, inside and out. I could still taste her sweetness on my tongue, and the urge to finish what we started overwhelmed me. She was still the same. Her body still responded the same. I could almost taste her arousal in the air. What I had gone through since last night was nothing compared to having the real thing in my arms. “What game are you playing?” I whispered. “No games. I don’t have time to waste on a man like you,” she snarled. Those words... Reality hit me like a sledgehammer, and I put some distance between us. That was the same question I had aske