His Reverie (33 page)

Reverie pulls away slightly to lift up on one elbow, looking down at me. Her hair has long ago dried and it’s extra wavy, flowing over her shoulder like a thick blond curtain. I sink my hand into the silky strands, letting it sift through my fingers and her eyelids lower to half mast. She likes it when I play with her hair. “I never heard a knock.”

“I didn’t either.” Weird. Normally Krista would be making a scene. Kicking and cursing at the door, calling me all sorts of names until I finally answered. “Maybe the rain stopped her from coming over.”

“I really doubt a little rain would stop her from seeing you,” she says sarcastically. “Check your phone. See if she texted or called.”

I do as Reverie suggests, checking my cell but there’s nothing. No missed calls, no voicemail, no text messages. Not from anyone. “Nothing.”

“Strange,” she says softly as I settle back down into bed, pulling my comforter over us. She snuggles up close to me, her head a pleasant weight on my chest as I wrap my arm around her shoulders. “I was fully prepared to fight her for you.”

“What?” I chuckle, her fierce words making me smile. “Are you serious?”

“Dead serious.” She lifts her gaze to mine. “You belong to me. No way could I allow her to touch you.”

I’m so overwhelmed with love for this girl I can hardly speak. “Revi…” I’ve never called her that before but the way she smiles when I say it, I know I’m going to start using that nickname frequently. Especially if I can earn another smile like the one she’s flashing me right now. “You don’t have to fight Krista for me. There’s nothing to fight for. You already own me. I belong to no one else.”

“And you own me,” she says solemnly. “Nothing and no one can keep us apart, Nicholas. I mean it. I love you.”

“I love you too.” I bend my head at the exact moment she tilts hers up and our lips meet in a lingering kiss that turns hot. Deep. “I should probably get you home,” I whisper when we break apart.

“No.” She shakes her head, her hair catching on the stubble on my jaw. “Evan sent me a text saying he told our parents that we were at his friend’s house spending the night. I thanked him for covering me.”

“Where’s he at really?”

“I don’t know but he reassured me that everything’s okay. And I believe him.” She pauses, her gaze dropping from mine. “He knows about us…sort of.”

“He does?” I can hardly believe it. “And he hasn’t tried to stop you from seeing me?”

“He says it’s my life to live. Evan may act like he doesn’t care and fine, most of the time he doesn’t, but he’s never stopped me from doing what I want. He feels just as stifled by our lifestyle and the image we have to maintain as I do.”

“You feel stifled?” I thought she liked being Reverend Hale’s daughter.

“Why do you think I’m not on the TV show anymore? Though that was more Evan’s doing. He was sick and tired of being paraded around like little perfect dolls. He didn’t want to be an example of a good Christian son. He just wanted to live his life, you know?” She’s stroking my chest again. I find her touching me incredibly distracting. As in, I’m going to attack her in the next few minutes if she doesn’t stop kind of distracting.

“Do you still feel guilty about what we’ve done? What we’ve—shared?” I grab hold of her wrist to make her stop touching me but she doesn’t. Instead, she curls her hand into mine, somehow interlinking our fingers together.

“No. We may have committed a sin according to the Bible for having sex before marriage but…” She clears her throat. “I love you. And I want to be with you. I don’t think that’s a sin, to become physical with the one person you care about more than anyone else. It’s the purest form of expression if you ask me.”

“You make what we’ve done sound almost poetic,” I tease and she lifts her head to glare at me, though I know she’s not really angry.

“It is. The way you touch me…what it feels like when you first—um, enter me.” She stumbles over the words. “It almost brings tears to my eyes. I know I probably feel too much or whatever but I love it. I love
you.
”

I cup the back of her head and bring her mouth to mine once more. She’s a complete romantic. She is the epitome of the fairy princess looking for her one true love coming to rescue her.

And I’m just the lucky son of a bitch she set her sights on. Somehow I’m the one who makes her happy. And that’s all I want, for Reverie to be happy.

“I want to try and bring tears to your eyes again,” I murmur against her seeking lips, making her smile. “You game?”

“Always,” she whispers as I roll her over so she’s beneath me. She wraps her legs around my hips, anchoring her body to mine. “Always…”

Disaster: a calamitous event

August 6
th

I
crack open my eyes to find flashing lights. Red and blue appear again and again on my bedroom walls, as if going round and round. I squint against the darkness, against the continuous lights, and I know in an instant what it is.

Police cars.

Turning my head, I check out the old alarm clock on my nightstand, the numbers 4:03 glowing red. Reverie is snug against me, sleeping hard, her back to my front, her perfect and very naked butt firmly lodged against my dick. I can still hear the rain since I kept my bedroom window cracked open. It’s lessened in intensity though still falling steadily.

And the red and blue lights keep flashing.

I try my best not to disturb her as I crawl out of bed and make my way to my window. Carefully I peel back the frayed curtain and stare at the parking lot. There are a couple of cop cars but only one with its lights on, though no siren blaring, thank Christ. Oh, and an ambulance is there too, its back doors spread open wide and a couple of paramedics pulling a gurney out of the back of it.

Someone’s been hurt. I scratch my chest and watch, nearly jump a mile when I feel a gentle hand touch me in between my shoulder blades.

“What’s going on?” Reverie asks quietly.

“I don’t know,” I say, never taking my eyes off the parking lot. “Couple of cop cars out there. And an ambulance. Maybe someone had a heart attack or something. Or they’re responding to a domestic violence call.” There have been plenty of those around here since we moved in. They’re a pretty common occurrence.

“Do they make you nervous? The police?”

I can’t lie, especially to her. “Yeah. I always worry they’re coming for me,” I confess.

She wraps her arms around me from behind, her hands settling low on my stomach. Just like that, everything within me comes alive at her touch. “I wish I could take away your worry,” she whispers, kissing my shoulder.

Reverie does. Just being here with me. Holding me and saying all the right things, I feel lighter. More at ease.

Until I see Krista’s dad being led to a police car, officers flanking either side of him and his hands behind his back. They must’ve arrested him. Or they’re taking him into custody. But for what?

“That’s Kirsta’s dad,” I say, moving closer to the window so Reverie has no choice but to let me go. “He looks like he’s being arrested.”

She moves to stand beside me and leans her head against my arm. “I wonder why?”

“I don’t know. Maybe something happened between him and…” I don’t need to finish what I was going to say. Reverie takes right over.

“Do you think he has something to do with Krista’s not showing up here tonight?”

“I don’t know.” I shrug, unease making me twitchy. I don’t like this. It doesn’t look good. Where are those paramedics with their gurney? Who are they picking up? What happened? Not like I can bust out there and ask them questions. They’d all tell me to fuck off. Krista’s dad would probably point an accusatory finger at me and make up some lie. He’s just as bad as his daughter. That’s where she learned all her best tricks.

The paramedics come back out pushing the gurney and there’s someone on it.

In a fucking black body bag. As in, the person is dead.

I hear Reverie gasp at the same exact time I mumble a curse. I can only imagine what’s going on, who that could be in the body bag. Without thought I move away from the window and go to my dresser, yanking out a pair of basketball shorts and putting them on. Reverie’s asking me what I’m doing but I don’t answer her.

I need to get out there and question them. I gotta know what happened. Because I can feel it in my bones it’s not good. I know it.

“Where are you going?” Reverie asks for what feels like the hundredth time as I make my way to the front door. She trails me the entire way.

“I need to get out there and ask what’s going on before they leave.” The red and blue lights have stopped. No need to keep them going if there’s no one to rescue. A dead body doesn’t merit a wailing siren and the flashing lights, right? Hell, I have no idea.

“Nick. No.” She grabs my hand, stopping me from reaching for the door. I turn to stare at her, looking sexy and tousled and only wearing my T-shirt. The panic on her face is unmistakable though. “You can’t go out there. We’ll find out what’s going on in due time. You run out there and make a scene…you don’t want them to suspect you.”

“You think they would?” I ask incredulously. “Why, because I’ve been in jail before? So now I’m always a suspect when something happens around here?”

“No, of course not! If…if that’s Krista in that body bag or whatever, then you’re connected to her and they’ll want to talk to you. She’s your ex-girlfriend. An old friend. You make an appearance as they’re arresting her father or whatever, and they’ll take you away too.” She grabs hold of me, hugging me to her like she’s never going to let me go. “I’ll be so scared if they take you away. Please don’t leave me.”

I’m torn. I don’t want to leave her. But I want to know what happened to Krista. Despite everything, how angry I’d been with her, how much I loathed her in that moment out at the stables when she was trying her best to blackmail me and I caved like an idiot, I still care. I can’t help it. I’m scared she’s dead and I feel guilty about it.

She was supposed to meet me tonight. If that had happened, would she have been safe? Or is the reason she didn’t come over at midnight that she was already hurt? Or…dead?

“Please, Nick,” Reverie whispers, her voice pleading. “Stay with me. I’m begging you.”

“Okay,” I agree, nodding once. “I won’t go out there.”

Her relief is obvious. “Thank you.” She sags against me, her hold tight. “I love you. No matter what just happened, we’ll get through this.”

My suspicions were true. We went back to bed but I couldn’t really sleep. I tossed and turned, pulled Reverie close to me and held her tight. She slept fitfully and I woke her with kisses all over her body. I needed the distraction and only she could make me forget.