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“Uh…I guess I used to draw?” I said and squinted against the bright sun, trying to remember the last time I drew something. “My parents never really took it seriously, so…I haven’t done it in a while.”
“What did you like to draw?” Kai stopped walking near a slushie stand.
“People, landscapes…” I thought back to a time that felt like forever ago. Sitting in the cave rocks with Sofya, her music playing, as I sketched her lounging in the sand. “I was really good at people and animals.”
I wiggled my nose as the memory of the last thing I drew popped into my mind. It was an anniversary present for Sofya, a few sketches of her and Daniel. One where he proposed rightat this pier. And a second of them with the keys to their first apartment.
I sighed, trying to get all the negative feelings to leave my body. Those two pieces sat unfinished in the back of my closet. Unfinished and unseen.
Kai turned to me, his brows turned in. A slight blush drew across his cheeks. “Draw me sometime?”
I opened my mouth, confused, staring at this walking contradiction. I couldn’t put the man I met in the bar with the man before me. I still felt his hot breath against my neck as he called me a liar, but now…I couldn’t imagine him doing that. It was like he was two different people—one who was comfortable in violence and one who walked the pier like any other person.
He had been so calm when he found me. He’d knownexactlywhat to do. What ‘normal’ person knew what to do with a rape and a murder? I didn’t even dare ask about the body after Carson implied they got rid of it. How many bodies did Kai hide? How many did it take for it to be normal for him to go from carrying me covered in blood to smiling and laughing as we made our way through the crowd of people?
“You confuse me,” I said.
“You look like you would enjoy cherry?” He pointed to the sign for snow cones. “Do you want one?”
I nodded, letting him order. I watched him closely, tracking his movements as he grabbed the two slushies from the young kid working the stall. The sweetness enveloped my tongue as we walked toward the beach. The sun began to set over the horizon, leaving a golden hue on the sand. It sparkled in the light, luring me with its beauty.
But night would fall soon, the memories would return, and my ghost would keep me hostage.
“Let’s get a drink,” I said.
Kai stared at me, perplexed. “Audry, are you sure that’s a good?—”
“Good idea or not…I don’t really care right now,” I muttered, walking away from the beach and toward the corner store. They would have something that cleared my mind and chased away the demons. It always did and always would.
Chapter 14
Kai
The sand tickled my feet as I lounged on the shore, with Audry at my side. We looked out at the horizon, the sun barely peeking out over the top of it. She handed me a bronze bottle, the liquid half gone, and her smile returned. I didn’t want this to be how she lived. She deserved more. More than what life had offered her thus far.
“Being a Santora isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be, you know?” she slurred her words, tapping the glass to prompt me to drink.
I did, bringing the bitter liquid to my lips. I stared at her the whole time, listening to whatever she wanted to talk about. Anything she would say I wanted to collect and never forget. I wanted to find out who she was before and how it changed her. I didn’t want it to change her…but I knew it would. Angel didn’t get that option.
I shook the thought of her golden hair away, focusing on the woman in front of me. Audry’s black hair had fallen from the ponytail about an hour into our beach drinking. It flowed below her shoulders, framing her face that lit up in the final ray of sun.
“How so?” I asked.
She entangled her hand in mine as I passed her the bottle. Her skin was soft and warm—something I wished I could memorize.
Something in her glassy stare said that wouldn’t be a great idea. But, as she inched closer to me, I saw the lust there.
I played with the sand, letting it run through my fingers.
“So much pressure,” she muttered.
People began gathering on the beach, the nightly bonfires ready to commence now that the sun had disappeared. A light wind rushed between us, cooling down the night. Audry dipped the bottle upside down, small droplets gathering onto the sand.
“Can we get out of here?” she asked. “But no bars, please.”
I glanced at the crowd filling up the beach and nodded. She wanted privacy to drink her pain away, and if it gave her any solace, I would help provide it.
“My place is just up that way…if you’re…okay with that,” I said, hesitant. The last thing I wanted was for her to feel pressured or stressed.
