AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I let out a trembling breath, setting the knife back down. “You’re sure?”
“Yeah.” Drake returned to his seat. “It’s fine.”
That little scare put a damper on the evening. Once done with dinner, we both decided to go to bed. It had been a pretty eventful day, and we were both exhausted. Drake finished the dishes as I headed upstairs, again taking in the house. Running my hand along the wrought iron railing. The house was the right size for the two of us, a couple of bedrooms and bathrooms, but whoever had built it had had an intense desire for open space and light. The entire wall of the living and dining rooms faced the ocean and from floor to ceiling, there was nothing but huge glass windows. The kitchen sat just off the dining area and also looked out at the beach. There was a small library or lounge on the bottom floor that Drake used as an office, spending day after day online using all the weird little tricks and tools he had to try and search for traces of Sam. He’d apparently also been looking for other pieces of shit who needed punishment—as tonight’s events revealed.
Upstairs, the two bedrooms were both as large as my entire apartment back in Savannah. Marble floors and bright white colors with accents of blue and green dominated both rooms. Each morning when I awoke, I had to pinch myself to believe this was really my life now.
Drake joined me a few minutes after I slipped under the covers, and as soon as his arm slipped around me, I was out. Drifting into a dream state. A dozen sights flashed through my mind as sleep pulled me deeper and deeper. Dreams of blood and screams, flames, pain, the wet stickiness of gore. It was a restful sleep if I were honest.
My dreams were shredded by the bleat of the security alarm. The beep-beep-beep sound of it stirring me. Groggy and flailing under the blankets, my relaxed state fled and was replaced by the noxious and bitter taste of fear at the back of my throat. The clock beside the bed read three in the morning.
“What?” I mumbled, stumbling from bed.
Drake was already moving, rushing from the bed to the dresser, lifting the laptop open. He was such a shallow sleeper that it appeared he had none of the dulled reflexes and disoriented mind I had.
“Hang on,” he said, his voice tense and tight as he tapped keys.
Fully awake now, I looked out the window, peering down at the small road that ran beside the house. I saw nothing, but did that mean there was nothing or did it mean Sam was already in the house? Fear clawed at my stomach as the seconds stretched out like days.
Finally, Drake let out a frustrated but relieved sigh. “Jesus Christ, it’s just a cat.”
“A cat?” I asked dumbly.
He turned and nodded, pointing to the camera feeds on the screen. “A cat. It’s on the front step eating that food you left out.”
I brightened. “Oh! She’s eating?”
Drake chuckled ruefully and closed the laptop. “Yes. She is.”
“Maybe we should change the settings?” I offered. “It’s been three months. Maybe…maybe Sam gave up?”
The idea was one of the fantasies I allowed myself. That Sam would forget about us. Let us live this amazing jetsetter life Drake had swept me into, and he would go on doing whatever shit he wanted to do. The thought of spending the remainder of my days in paradise with Drake was almost too much to hope for. Though, my newfound addiction to punishment would have to be satiated in some way too.
Drake looked at me like I’d gone crazy. “Absolutely not,” he said. “I know Sam better than you do. He’ll never stop. He’s like a starving dog on a bone. I’d rather get woken up two times a night the rest of my life than give him even the tiniest sliver of a chance to get to us. If I lowered the sensitivities on the motion sensors, I’d never be able to sleep.”
“Fair enough,” I said and crawled back into bed.
I dozed with a smile on my face, knowing the pretty little kitty was going to have a full belly in the morning. Maybe, if I played my cards right, I could coax her into letting me hold her. Drake would never let us have a pet, but a little daily nuzzle would be a nice way to spend the time we had left here. Those thoughts faded as a dreamless sleep dragged me under.
The next morning, I awoke first. Drake lay on his side, breathing deeply. Already, the craving for coffee gnawed at my mind. Since coming to Europe with Drake, I’d discovered that coffee could be so much better than the cheap stuff Clint and Maria had served at the diner, or even the high-quality brew that had been available in the playhouse. Over here, coffee was like a religion, and I’d become a convert.
After pulling on my robe, I tiptoed from the bedroom and made my way downstairs. The first rays of sunlight shimmered through the windows, and I could already see it was going to be another amazing Mediterranean day.
I pulled the glass jar of fine ground coffee down from a cabinet and turned the pot on to brew. This wasn’t the detail-oriented coffee making process I’d seen in some of the restaurants and markets Drake and I had been to since being here. This was a simple and plain American style drip coffee maker. That was fine with me, all I needed was caffeine, I didn’t care how I got it.
While that worked, I decided to see how much of the tuna was left on the front step. Before unlocking the door, I checked the window, scanning the small yard and parking area. No one was in sight. I unlocked the door and slid back the deadbolt.
Upon opening the door, I glanced down the steps and saw the little dish was empty, licked clean. I smiled and turned back, but that was when I finally noticed the door itself. Something was wrong with it. A pretty autumn wreath hung from it, a decoration I’d convinced Drake we needed. The problem was the color wasn’t right. It should have been yellow, orange, and red. But there was no gray and white.
My eyes adjusted, finally breaking through the confusion. Understanding and horror poured across me like a bucket of ice water. The glassy dead eyes. The ruffled and blood-stained fur. I backed away, jaw falling open. The gray and white cat, no longer so pretty, gazed at me, its head twisted backward, dried blood oozing from its mouth staining the fur and dribbling down the door. Above the wreath, written in smeared blood, a single word: Hello.
Before I could even register what I was doing, the word was tearing from my throat. A single terrified scream. “Drake.”
Chapter 4
Drake
The dream world that had encased my mind for the last several hours vanished, torn and shredded away by Dahlia’s scream. Before any coherent thought could form in my mind, I was already lunging from bed, running toward the door. The last vestiges of sleep burning away, fluttering to the sky like ashes from a fire. She sounded terrified, scared beyond belief. By the time I got to the bottom of the stairs, I was fully and completely awake.
