“It’s his same pattern—his signature.” I’m barely breathing. I think I’m going to pass out.
“It’s not him,” he reiterates with a decisive shake of his head.
“But—”
“Lizzy, trust me,” he urges, grasping my cheek. Fire burns under his touch. I want to fade into it, drift away in the exquisite comfort.
“Jack,” I whisper, the intensity thick on my tongue.
The gasp that leaves his lips is audible. “Say it again.”
I want to suspend us at this moment, in the embers of the inferno we create when our skin connects before everything turns cold. “Say my name again, Liz.”
My chest lifts with an exaggerated breath. “Jack.” My voice is barely above a whisper, a sensual kick to the k. Tugging me forward, his lips crash into mine, punishing, desperate, seeking, a feral eagerness. Energy pulses in the air. We fit. He steals the very air I breathe, unrelenting. I know just from this one kiss he’s never letting me go. At this moment, I never want him to. My body responds to his like it was created to do just that. My fingers knead and caress, grasping on for dear life. Our tongue dance, my body being pulled to his like gravity. The chemistry between us is astronomical. If we continue this, he’ll ruin me. “Liz, everything okay in there?” Charlotte's voice penetrates the fog of lust. Pulling back, I try to catch my breath. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
Sighing, lips swollen, I feel the rupture of my soul as his eyes reflect my emotions. I’ve never felt more at ease in another’s arms. He feels like…home.
“I can’t believe it’s really you,” I say, placing a hand to my lips to feel the vibrations he’s left there.
“Believe it.”
“I tried to be where you were. I searched for you. Nothing ever led me to you. You were always out of reach. Disappearing back to the echoes of my memories. Am I dreaming you’re here? When I wake, will it all disappear—will you disappear?”
“Never,” he says with such conviction, it hits down to the marrow of my bones. “I promise, I’d give you every last breath inside my lungs before I’ll ever leave you again.”
“Were you lonely?” The thought of him being alone all this time is an unbearable casualty.
Taking my hand in his, he places it against the flesh of his cheek. “Being lonely isn’t a fear of mine—being forgotten by the one who incites my loneliness is.” He sweeps me into his arms, weightless.
“You have been calling out to me, deep in my soul. Missing you caused a physical ache in my bones. I’ve been caught in a bad dream, desperate for you to wake me from it.”
“You’re not dreaming now. I’m right here. Feed on me. Let me set you free,” he begs.
I’ve been so lost until this moment, finding myself again within him.
Twenty-One
Heat spreads all around me. Sweat coats my skin. Heavy limbs lay on top of mine. Jack.
Forcing my eyes open, a relieved breath escapes. He’s still here. It wasn’t a dream. He found me.
My bladder protests the weight of his arm draped over my stomach, so I gently lift it and roll out from beneath him. Sneaking out of the room to use the bathroom, I startle when I attempt to pull down my panties and the door opens. Charlotte followed by Stephan walk in, and my mouth drops open as I rush to pull my panties back into place. “What the hell?” I hiss, double-checking nothing’s on display.
“What the hell indeed,” Charlotte snaps, slapping at me. “What’s going on?” She jerks her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of my bedroom.
Rubbing the spot where she slapped me, I say, “It’s complicated.” I wave my hand to Stephan. “Why are you here?”
His stance is defensive, arms crossed, teeth grinding. “Charlotte called me freaking out, said you were crying, and the neighbor guy was acting weird. What the hell happened to your head?”
My fingertips move up to the cut. It’s tender. “I fell.” I shake my muddled thoughts away. It’s not a lie, I really did fall down last night in more ways than one. I found the center of the storm, within me, the calm, and allowed myself to let it all go, untie the binds of the darkness of my old life and chase the light, the burn, into the new, following my heart.
“Earth to Lizzy.” Charlotte waves her hand in my face.
Huffing, I grab my toothbrush and squirt some paste on it. “He wasn’t acting weird. There’s so much you guys don’t know.” I talk around the brush.
“Then tell us,” Stephan snaps. Unfolding his arms, he clenches his fists, making his stand, and I don’t blame him. She should have never called him.
“You can’t do this, Liz, not after everything.” Charlotte shakes her head vehemently.
“Do what?” I ask, swigging a capful of mouthwash.
“Shut us out, not being forthcoming.” Her face grows red as her eyes get a sheen, making them shine.
Spitting the foam from my mouth, I run the tap, swilling my gums with water. “He’s Jack, Char.”
“What?” She flinches like I struck her, her gaze tracking mine in the mirror.
“Clark is Jack,” I state, turning back to her, swiping my mouth on a towel.
“Oh my god, you’re having a breakdown. You hit your head too hard. This has all been too much for you,” she cries, throwing herself at me. I grunt from the impact of her body against mine, my butt hitting the sink.
“Who the fuck is Jack?” Stephan asks.
“He's someone she lost forever ago. He’s not Jack, Liz. You’re confused. Did he give you drugs?”
“No,” I snap,
