A second later, just like that, I’m Diana’s younger brother who died from leukaemia. I offer to get Diana a newspaper.
In the corridor, it’s musty despite the night air coursing in through the open window. Moths cast dancing patterns, circle the single ceiling light.
I tower over Amy. She sways a little, like she’s waiting for my approval to move. Amy is awkward in her spindly body. Her white dress makes her look like a princess out of some goddamned fairy-tale, woken after a thousand-year sleep.
Twenty years old, her skin is virginal. Never touched by the sun, unmarked, all the hidden scars undone. She's alabaster statuary, her big green eyes the colour of the coral sea, and her sunshine blonde hair coils like sunning snakes on her head.
She’s the pretty rainbow in the sky, but it’s the promise of gold that hooks me in.
‘I’m not sex-mad,’ Amy says.
Her face puffs pink, her body turns wooden like a doll.
‘Pretty sure I can change that tune.’
I could charm a snake, yet Amy isn’t singing the same tune as me. Under her scrutiny, feels like my dark soul burns in the light.
Something gold shines around her neck, glinting off the ceiling light like a diamond. I realise it’s my gift. The seahorse pendant.
That seahorse was a wish I won’t ever fucking forget — one girl for life.
I nod my head in the direction of the necklace. ‘You never got rid of it? Why?’
I feel angry for some reason. At her or myself, I don’t fucking know.
Her eyes glaze over. ‘My sister used to say: Before you give it up, think about why you held on for so long . . . Too many memories inside this seashore for me to let go.’
My heart turns crossways.
I lean against the wall, look into the dark secret inside of her ear.
‘What happened to your sister . . . it must’ve been hard.’
Elizabeth, Amy’s much older sister, had a bad accident three years ago. From what I read in the newspaper, Elizabeth cracked her skull on the concrete ground, then fell into a coma. She woke up brain damaged.
Amy’s real quiet and when she looks at me, her eyes are red and wet. Emeralds dissect my very existence.
‘How can I sum up the pain of thinking she would die? I can’t . . .’
She’s shivering, even though it’s hot as hell in Crow Ward. I want to offer her my leather jacket. Then remember, I’m not the fucking gentleman.
Instead I say, ‘How’s she doing now?’
The skin along the parts in her hair, the skin above and behind her ears, is as clear and white as snow. If she knew how her ears come across, the fleshy edge, the little dark hood at the top, all the smooth contours coiled and channelling me to the tight darkness inside, well, she would wear her hair down when I’m close.
Her eyeballs are like fire. ‘Why are you pretending to care?’
Her eyes turn a darker shade of emerald. They silently scream Liar!
Liar.
Liar.
Liar.
Amy’s right. I burn every day with lies. Except she burns me in a different kind of way.
‘It’s been six years, Shepherd. Six years since you’ve spoken to me. You think you can just waltz back into my life and act like the sweet-boy Shepherd who cares about me? You really think I’m going to talk to you about my sister’s brain damage?’ She rattles her head. ‘Why? Why come back now and pretend to have a heart?’
Guys like me, we’re automatically dumped into the bad basket. Like water is wet. The sky is up. Too fucking right.
‘Big fucking deal. It’s called small talk, love. You’d be less emotional if you didn’t stop looking at me like you want me to fuck you.’
‘God, you’re an arrogant prick. When you left this town, it was the best thing to ever have happened to me. Now you’re back . . . it’s the worst thing.’
‘The feelings mutual. You think it was my choice to return to this hellhole? I never planned on this. Never wanted to set my eyes on you again.’
‘Then why did you buy Swan Lake?’
Whole lot of silence after that.
I never promised Amy anything. Never promised her I’d be there at her side at all times. Never promised her commitment and living together and buying groceries and sharing space. Hell, we were never in a relationship.
And fuck if I can’t stop feeling guilt, like my guts are burning in hellfire.
Her eyes are swirly marbles of pity. ‘Whatever’s going on with you, Shepherd, I hope you figure it out.’
I hurt her, and all she can do is be kind to me?
Anger boils in my veins. I grit my teeth, grind my jaw. ‘The hell you mean by that?’ My eyes narrow like a snake’s. I stand then, push my back off the wall, tower over her. The monster and the princess.
‘You were eavesdropping, weren’t you?’
Her cheeks blush pink. ‘No I . . . Just leave Greystone. For good, this time.’
Amy is sweet as pie. Her hatred for me heats my blood, makes my pulse hammer hard between my heart and my cock.
I get close, too fucking close. My arm brushes hers. There’s a sudden sparks of a hundred touches. The way Amy looks stunned, she feels it too.
I’m her living nightmare.
The chemistry between us is on fire. Always has been.
She steps back, rubs the goose bumps on her arm. ‘They warned me about you. Said you were a corrupting influence, mentally unstable, that I should stay away from you. I should’ve listened to them back then. Should’ve listened
