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DELILAH
“No!”
The sound of my cry is still hanging in the air when my eyes snap open. My heart’s on overdrive, thumping against my ribs so hard each beat is an ache, and a cold sweat has soaked into my pillow.
I was dreaming about that place. That room. Only this time, there was nothing for me to use as a weapon. I was at Nathaniel’s mercy. I shake my head, willing the nightmare away. He’s dead. He’ll never be able to hurt me again.
It takes a second for me to realize there’s still something wrong here. I cried out, but nobody tried to comfort me. Nobody even reacted.
I roll onto my back to find Lucas’s side of the bed empty. I touch a hand to the pillow. It’s cold. He hasn’t been in bed for a while.
“Lucas?” I whisper, climbing out of bed and tiptoeing to the bathroom door. Why do I feel like I have to be quiet?
There’s something about a dark bedroom in the middle of the night, I guess. Besides, if he’s in there because he’s feeling sick or something, I’m sure he won’t appreciate me being all loud and obnoxious about it.
Except the bathroom is dark when I reach it.
The already sweat-dampened hair at the back of my neck stands up while goose bumps pebble my arms. He’s probably somewhere else in the house. Maybe he couldn’t sleep and decided to watch TV, or he got hungry and went downstairs for a snack. I have to stop thinking the worst all the time. Just because my life has been pretty fucked up at times doesn’t mean everything is fucked up.
Some good always comes with the bad, right?
I should stay here and wait for him, but I doubt I’ll be able to fall back asleep. Besides, my side of the bed is sweaty and uncomfortable now. After a few moments, I make up my mind and decide to search for him before pulling the blankets back so the sheets can at least dry up and be more comfortable when I return. Then I head out into the hall, which is dark and quiet.
Something is unsettling about it. It must be my nightmare, and the little bits of it that still cling to my brain, that have me freaked out. By morning, I’m sure I’ll forget it—the dream, if not the situation.
I just need to keep reminding myself that when the time came, I was my own hero. I will also need to remember that once I’m back at Corium and under the judgmental glares of so many people who don’t have the first idea about what it’s like to face what I faced.
I pad down the stairs barefoot, listening hard for any signs of him. There’s nothing that sounds like a conversation. No TV or music. As I wander the halls, I can’t shake the feeling of being an intruder. Maybe I should have brought breadcrumbs along with me to leave a trail back to the bedroom. The farther I get away from it, the more confused I become.
I’m not used to being anywhere this big, except for Corium. And it took me a minute to get the lay of the land there, too.
The only thing that keeps me moving is knowing he would never leave me here alone. I don’t belong here as it is, but especially not without him. Still, why would he leave me alone in the middle of the night? What is he thinking?
I’ve just reached the kitchen and flipped on the lights when a noise coming from the front of the house seizes my heart and makes it stand still for a split second. I watch, frozen like a scared rabbit, staring down the hall toward the heavy door. It has to be him. No way could a random person wander in and out of this place at any time of the day, but especially not at this time of night.
Sure enough, I recognize his size and shape, backlit by the fixtures on either side of the entrance. His face is hidden in the shadows, so I can’t get a look at his expression. I only know for sure he’s locked his gaze on me. I feel it. Penetrating deep into my bones.
“The fuck do you think you’re doing?”
My teeth sink into my lip as I weigh my options. Honesty seems the only way to go. “I was looking for you. I woke up from a nightmare and couldn’t find you.”
He closes the door before punching a code into the alarm system to keep it from wailing out his arrival. Maybe if I make a run for it, he won’t be able to catch me. Where would I go? I only know there’s something dangerous about him right now. I don’t even know if I’ve ever seen this side of him.
Fear roots me to the spot by the time he begins stalking toward me. That’s the word for it, too. An animal with prey in its sights. His hands are fisted, and he’s breathing heavily.
What did I do this time? Why do I deserve this now?
It’s only once he’s close enough that the light I just turned on in the kitchen washes over his face, and the sight makes me recoil, my fear forgotten.
“What happened to you?” Reflex makes me reach up to touch his bruised jaw. The mark is dark purple, ugly, and covers most of his cheek. The eye on that side is a little swollen, too, with a big bruise forming beside it and a cut running through his eyebrow.
He slaps my hand away before I can make contact, then takes hold of that same wrist and squeezes hard. “You were just looking for me, huh? That’s all you were trying to do?” Now that he’s this close, I can smell the whiskey on his breath. It doesn’t bode well for me. He’s obviously not thinking clearly.
“Yes. You weren’t there. I was worried.”
“You were worried?” he taunts before laughing nastily. “You thought something bad happened to me? As if you could do anything about it even if something did happen. Try again.”
There’s no talking reason into somebody who’s beyond this point.
