Eternal Hope (The Hope Series) (35 page)

She shook her hand free from Daniel’s and kicked off the canvas ballet shoes she’d paired with the only nice dress she’d brought from home. It was a short and black and made her feel slightly outrageous, probably because her mom had nearly had a fit and made her promise not to wear it until she was twenty-five. And also because she kept catching Daniel furtively looking her over. It was kind of cute that he was embarrassed each time she caught him, and very convenient given she’d only been looking at him so she could do the same thing. He looked ridiculously good in a tailored black button down shirt and jeans. He even managed to make flip-flops look sexy. She scooped up her shoes and gave him a mischievous look.

“Race you.”

She didn’t wait for a response, just tore off the boulevard and onto the beach, running as fast as she could manage on the shifting sand. Laughter clued her in to the fact that Daniel was right behind her, and that he loved that he could pace her without even trying. When they reached the outskirts of the crowd gathered around a small stand where the DJ stood behind his decks, they were both breathless and laughing. He caught her up and spun her around.

“You’re not very fast, y’know. I’d have no problem catching you.”

She kissed him carefully, gently grazing her lips against his. “Maybe I wanted you to.”

He rewarded her with a blazing smile that made her chest contract. He set her down just as Grayson arrived at their side. “Tess isn’t very happy.” He pointed off up the beach where Tess was doing her best to walk on the sand in her heels. Unbelievable. Tess had barely made it ten feet by the time Farley reached her. She confiscated the heels quicker than Tess could object, literally tugging them from her feet and throwing them into the sand dunes, swiftly followed by her own ballet flats.

“We’ll find them later. Come on.”

Tess glared at her balefully. “Those shoes cost two hundred and forty dollars.”

“
We’ll find them later
.” Farley dragged Tess back over to the boys where Daniel was paying a big Rasta guy with crisp fifties. Apparently full moon parties were expensive. The guy with the waist-length dreadlocks folded the fifties away and pointed a finger at the two of them as they arrived.

“Keep dem in line,” he told Daniel, who held his hands up.

“Of course.”

The Rasta melted into the crowd, stopping each time he clocked someone who hadn’t paid the fee.

“What did he mean by that?” Tess pouted.

“I believe he means he can smell trouble on you a mile away,” Grayson said. “I commend him on his powers of observation.”

Tess pulled a sour face. “Whatever. Farley, will you dance with me? If I stand next to Grayson too long, people are gonna start to think I know him.”

For a second Farley felt like giving her a swift dig. It’d be pointless, though: Tess was who she was, and, with a boyfriend missing and potentially gone rogue, she was a scathing witch. Shame Grayson had to be on the receiving end all the same. He was a genuinely good guy, without the necessary comeback skills to defend against Tessa Rose Marika Kennedy. Farley shot him a sorry look and followed Tess towards the designated dance area, where a hundred bodies swayed and moved in time with the low, pulsating bass line.

It felt kind of tribal dancing to a heavy beat underneath the stars with nothing on their feet and a fire roaring at their backs. But it wasn’t the fire making Farley’s back burn: it was Daniel’s gaze, which seared into her with every movement. When she turned, he was standing on the outskirts of the dancing masses with his arms folded across his chest, watching her intensely. The fire threw out handfuls of twisting, unpredictable light, which licked in gold and red and bronze up the right side of his face. He pierced her with his eyes and mouthed something at her that she didn’t quite catch. She smiled shyly and turned back to Tess, not sure she could handle too much eye contact when he was looking like that.

The song played out, bleeding into the next as the DJ deftly switched up the music, and Tess altered her dancing right along with it. There was something fevered about her, like this was the first release she’d found for all the horror she’d been through, and she was utterly lost in it. Farley let her dance, keeping an eye on Daniel as Grayson rambled into his ear. He distractedly nodded now and then, never taking his eyes off her.

When Tess eventually stopped and begged for a break, Daniel met them halfway off the dance floor. “Oh, no, you don’t,” he said quietly, catching Farley by the arm. Her skin prickled hot and euphoric where he touched her. “Mind if I have this dance?” he asked Tess.

She arched an eyebrow at him. “You’re really weird, you know that?” She turned to Farley. “I’m going to get a soda. You want one?”

“Sure.”

Tess disappeared into the sea of people, occasionally visible where their bodies parted and the light flashed off her honeyed skin. Daniel rocked backwards a little, surveying Farley from head to toe. His blatant scrutiny made a potent blush leap to her cheeks. It was so bad it bloomed across her bare shoulders and across the backs of her hands. Daniel let out a quiet laugh.

“You’re so beautiful when you do that.”

“Really? I’ll bear that in mind.”
Next time I’m willing the ground to swallow me up.

He plucked up her hand and led her back to the dance floor, drawing her close. A flush of embarrassment swelled through her. This was just the same as it had been back in London. Dancing close to someone like she’d done with Tess a second ago was one thing, but dancing
with
them was a whole different ball game. She only had that one waltz with Daniel to go off, and that really hadn’t gone all that well. She distinctly remembered stomping on his toe. How this was going to play out was anybody’s guess.

Daniel pulled her so close to him that their bodies pressed together, signaling the first difference in the two experiences. Back then he’d been careful about touching her. Not now.

His hands worked their way around her body until they rested on the small of her back, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a kiss. He fell into it for a moment before drawing back, teasing his lips along her jaw line and down her neck. He moved in time to the music, natural and instinctive, and she moved with him, feeling the pressure from their hipbones as they pressed together. She ran her fingers up through his hair and tugged lightly so that he pulled away from her neck. There was a surprised smile on his face. Farley bit down on his lip.

“What were you mouthing at me before?” she asked.

His smile grew bigger. “I was telling you that you’re incredible.”

“Ha! An incredibly bad dancer.”

His expression morphed back into the intense one he’d worn when he was watching her before. “Don’t do that. Don’t put yourself down when you can’t see what I see.”

She stared at him, the sound of the music blurring and distorting around the edges. This feeling, this overwhelming, powerful, undeniable feeling, was so strong it scared her sometimes. She was defenseless against it.

“Farley,” he whispered into her ear. His warm breath made a shiver run through her entire body. “Do you remember what we were talking about back in my car before Kayden came to take us to the Quorum?”

The memory of their conversation rose automatically to mind, bringing with it the throb of an associated pain. Her knee. It took her a second to remember why her knee had been hurting, and then she got it: he’d mentioned how he had designs on the role of husband,
her
husband, and she’d smashed her leg it into the console. She swallowed.

“Not really.”

A knowing look passed over Daniel’s face. It was like she didn’t need to say anything; he knew not to push her. For all that, he looked a little sad. “Okay. Well, maybe you’ll remember sometime. When you’re ready to remember,” he said quietly.

An unexpected rush of emotion came over Farley. She blinked and nodded. “When I’m ready to remember.”

With those few words an agreement had been made. One that was slightly frightening and cold-sweat-provoking. She did her best to hide her panic, determined not to give away her distress when Daniel looked so disappointed. It was only the promise of a discussion at some point in the future, nothing more. She wanted to bury her face in his shirt and lose herself in the movement of their bodies, but she didn’t. She met his gaze and gave him a small smile.

In the distance, far out to sea, a forked prong of lightning crashed down into the ocean like a trident, lighting up the sky. As one, the people dancing to the thumping music paused, inhaled, feeling the tension build. It took five seconds for the thunder to growl out, low and hungry. Daniel gazed up open-mouthed, searching the swollen black clouds above them as though looking for something.

The rain didn’t start with one drop; it started with a thousand and then a million, like a shower handle being turned on full blast. Daniel let out a rip of laughter and screwed his eyes shut, closing his mouth to the downpour. His hair was drenched in seconds, and he shook it out like a dog, spraying it into Farley’s face. Not that it mattered; she was drenched, too.

The people on the beach all seemed to take a moment to look at one another, completely stunned, trying to work out what they should do. The DJ decided for them. The music rose up in a tidal wave of sound, warring with the profound battle cries of the thunder, and as one they started to dance. Wet hair plastered to wet faces, wet clothes clung to wet limbs. It was like they were the ocean themselves, swaying and surging and pounding in time to the rhythm the angry earth drummed out.

Daniel lost his smile, pressed his forehead to Farley’s, pulled her close. Their saturated clothes adhered to their bodies, and, like everyone else, they moved.

Damp sand clung to her feet, coarse and painful when her calves brushed against one another. It wasn’t just on her legs. It was everywhere- in her hair, under her fingernails, in her clothes. When she bit down, she felt it grinding between her teeth, which was strange because she certainly didn’t remember eating any. Daniel drew her away from the crowds, leading her down to the shore away from the noise and the hustle of bodies. The rain had stopped in a matter of minutes, but it felt like the sky had siphoned down a good hour’s worth during that time. The beach was dimpled with a thousand impact craters where each drop had made its mark, one over another over another. It felt good on the soles of her feet. Firm. She tugged at the saturated material of the dress stuck to her stomach and laughed.

“I didn’t really plan on an outdoor shower.”

“I did.”

She thumped Daniel’s arm. “Well, you could have warned me not to wear so much mascara then. I look like the Joker, don’t I?”

Thankfully, not only were there no mirrors at the full moon party, there were no reflective surfaces of any kind. There was no way she wanted to know what she looked like right now, especially if the other bedraggled, make-up smeared girls were anything to go by. Daniel threw his arm around her shoulder.

“You make rain-soaked look chic.”

Farley gave him a bemused smirk and leaned down to bite him playfully on the forearm. Daniel was pretending to writhe in agony, silently yelling,
Zombie! Zombie!
when Grayson appeared, towing a seriously pissed looking Tess behind him. Her afro had gone limp.

“That is so inappropriate,” she complained.

It really was. Grayson coughed, polite as ever. “We have a problem.”

Farley dropped Daniel’s forearm and scowled. “When don’t we?”

“This time it’s Anna. She just texted me. She wants us to meet her. She’s on her way here now.”

Daniel’s eyes flickered the way they did when he was processing things rapidly. “Here?”

Grayson nodded. “I didn’t tell her where we are. She already knew. I tried calling her but there was no answer.”

“Show me the text.”

The phone Grayson held out lit up blue and ghostly, casting a small pool of light around them as Farley and Daniel both read.

G, need to talk. Will meet you at the beach. Make sure D and F don’t leave. Anna xoxoxo

The fact that Anna had spelled her own name out in full and only managed an initial for the rest of them really said something. Farley sucked her teeth and looked to Daniel. Usually his facial expression dictated what was about to happen. He looked blank.

“Something about this doesn’t feel right,” he said. “I’ve tried calling her a hundred times over the past twenty four hours and she hasn’t picked up once. It kept saying her phone was out of service range, and when it didn’t say that, it just rang out. Why would she want to keep us on the beach?”

Tess paused in wringing out the hem of her dress. “Who knows why she does anything. She’s a selfish monster. I vote we go back to the hotel and get dry. If she wants to talk to you guys, she can do it back there.”

“I think Tess may be right.” Grayson slipped his cell phone back into the pocket of his khakis. “She could be trying to avoid Cassie. She must realize she’s furious with her.”

Daniel’s brows hitched together, and he
hmmm
ed. “I don’t know. Maybe. We’ll head back, anyway. We all need to get dry.”