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“She should just go back to wherever it is she came from.”
Voices assaulted my ears—voices I knew. Scarlett, Lilly, Jay, Vin, even Malachi. They all appeared, closing in around me. Laughing and taunting and pointing. I spun around on the spot trying to find a way out. But there was none.
Loser.
Pathetic.
Stuck-up bitch.
No one.
Their words hit me like bullets, cutting through my skin and leaving gaping bloody holes.
“Ignore them, baby. You’re better than every one of them. Better than I am. You’re everything, Becca. Everything. Don’t listen to them. You. Are. Everything.”
I sat up with a start,the bedsheet twisted around my body, my heart pounding violently in my chest. Inhaling deeply, trying to calm my ragged breaths, I leaned over and hit the lamp switch, plunging the room into an amber glow.
It had been almost two months since I’d dreamed ofhim. And he never appeared in dreams about anything but that night. It was always the same—I relived that night over and over in my sleep.
The fear…
The screams…
The blood.
But something had changed.
He had shown up in a dream about Credence. What did that mean?
Flopping back onto the pillows, I clutched the sheet around me, tears pricking my eyes. At the beginning of the year, I’d been a normal girl living her life. Thinking about which colleges to apply to, picking out what dress to wear to the Spring fling. And then he’d walked into my life and turned my world on its head.
I watchedhimagain from my bedroom window as he worked through the day, cutting the neighbor’s lawn and cleaning their pool. Eventually, I got bored with watching from a distance and plucked up the courage to go hang out by their pool in hopes of catching a closer glimpse of his smooth tanned skin and his muscles that flexed as he worked. He was so hot. Hotter than any of the boys at school.
After two days of sly glances, he finally came over and introduced himself, and I offered him some ice water, feeling the heat of his stare as we made small talk. He was different from any of the guys I knew at Montecito Prep. Cheeky, rugged… older. Probably too old, but he made me blush in a way guys at school didn’t. And I liked it. I liked how he made me feel. Sure, the boys at school liked to think they were God’s gift to women, but in reality, they were just boys with a lot to learn.
But not him.
He wanted me. Made it obvious every time his eyes raked down my body. The way he swiped his thumb over his bottom lip as he brazenly watched me from the neighbor’s yard. He was confident and drop dead gorgeous… and he liked me. And he made my heart race in ways it never had before…
I shook the memories away.At first, it was just a bit of harmless fun.
A game.
Something to pass the time and make me feel good.
Until it wasn’t…
Until it became my worst nightmare.
CHAPTER11
The bellchimed as I entered Shake ‘n’ Pass. Mom and Dad had hovered over me yesterday like overbearing parents while I called the manager, a man named Mitch. It was weird—they’d never been like that before, but I guess now things were different.
Everything was different.
At least, no one was hanging around the diner. I wasn’t ready for another run-in with Kendall.
“Hello.” I approached the service counter where a balding guy was wiping down the top. “I’m Becca. I called yesterday.”
