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CHAPTER ONE
RIOTPHILLIPSHADfinally done something spontaneous. And it was turning out very, very badly.
Her name, a gift from her hedonistic mother, had never been representative of who she was. She’d been meek and mild all her life. Cleaning up her mother’s messes as best she could, and taking all the money in her savings account for a once in a lifetime trip to Cambodia was not in her wheelhouse, at all.
But her roommate Jaia was one of those people you couldn’t deny. Infectious and fun and the kind of woman who effortlessly pulled off a nose ring and got new tattoos of a Tuesday, just because. And when Jaia had said she had some old friends from high school headed to Angkor Wat to explore the ruins and go on a spiritual quest, Riot had been caught up in the moment.
She’d looked at her passport, something she had just in case but had never used. She’d looked at her suitcase—also never used. And she’d decided to just say yes.
And everything had been fine. Until they’d hooked up with Jaia’s friends. Lilith and Marcianne took everything Jaia was and amplified it. Everything was more reckless, less organized, and significantly drunker and Riot had been on edge for two days. The hostels they’d been staying in might as well have been a street corner—one was a tree house and when their next door neighbors had gotten amorous the whole thing had...swayed.
Worse, Riot hadn’t immediately known why.
And it was drunken Lilith who had howled over Riot not immediately guessing that the motion was caused by thrusting.
But the days spent exploring the different towns they’d been in had been incredible, and when Riot couldn’t handle the girls, she was happy to go off on her own.
Then they’d gotten to Siem Reap, the town nearest the ruins, last night to find the hostel full, and Marcianne had talked a man at a local bar into offering them his front room, where Riot had spent the whole night petrified.
Then they’d gone to the ruins and Riot had forgotten everything. All the drama, all the chaos. Because it was so beautiful, so serene and somehow every fantasy she’d ever had about...what might be out there. Bigger and bolder andmorethan her small town in Georgia.
It was a ruin, but the rocks had contained more life, more spirit than anything she’d ever encountered and when she breathed, she felt like she was truly breathing for the first time.
And then it had started to rain.
Not just rain...pour down buckets.
The air was thick and steamy, her dress sodden within seconds, she held the hem up, even though it was really too late to keep herself dry—but she was going to try and make a run for it.
And soon she realized...
She had been left.
The tuk-tuk they’d hired was gone, along with Lilith, Jaia and Marcianne.
She ran out of the temple she’d been in, down the front steps, the stone structure looming behind her, no longer peaceful but ominous. The rain seemed to have cleared out everyone and she was...alone.
Well, this felt like a metaphor for about a thousand painful moments in her childhood.
She took out her cell phone and she tried to call Jaia. It went straight to voice mail. Again and again, while she stood there with rain pouring over her skin.
Then she ducked back into the temple, took shelter in the rock there and walked down a long corridor that was partially open to the elements.
She wasn’t cold. But she was utterly saturated. She bowed her head low, water rolling forward down her nose. She touched the stone walls, slick now, and wondered if it was really all that different or special being abandoned in Cambodia versus the abandonment she experienced back home.
Sure. You don’t know how to help yourself here. That’s what’s different.
This was what she got for spontaneity. She should have known it wasn’t for her. Not ever.
And then she looked up and everything in her froze.
She wasn’t alone.
There was a man standing there. Sheets of rain fell between them, keeping her from seeing him clearly, but she could have sworn he was in a white dress shirt and a dark suit, like he was prepared for a meeting.
In temple ruins. In the rain.
He was tall. At least, he felt tall from where she stood.
