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I don’t have a clue what to say to him. Zero. Who the hell does that? He told me we were dating, but I thought that meant dinner and the movies. This is on a whole other level.
He walks around the large island until he stands right in front of me. We’re as close as two people can be to each other without touching. I look up at him, my blood heating with anticipation as he dips his head until our breaths mingle together.
“Take a walk outside with me.”
I bite my lip, unsure. What if the reporters followed us?
“It’s a private beach,” he tells me, like he knows what I’m thinking even if he doesn’t understand what’s happening.
“I need to know what’s going on so I can help you.”
I blow out a breath and nod, taking off my hat and glasses.
“Alright, hold on for a second.”
I wait as he tugs off his tie and tosses it on a chair as he leaves the room and returns a few minutes later with a large blanket and a couple of cushions tucked under his arm, a fancy bottle of wine, and two long stemmed glasses between his fingers.
“Follow me, Rue.”
My name sounds strange on his lips, like a foreign language, and answering to it takes more effort than it should.
He swings the door wide and waits for me to pass before following me. A gentle breeze lifts my hair, twirling it around my face as the sound of gulls flying over my head filters down to me. But I can’t tear my eyes away from the beauty before me. The vastness of it makes me feel small, yet somehow, I don’t feel as lost here. I close my eyes and breathe it in. This is exactly what I needed.
“Come lie with me.”
I turn and see that Valen has spread the blanket on the sand and is lying with his head on one of the cushions, the other cushion beside him. Butterflies take flight in my stomach as I try to decide if this is a good idea. In the end, I thinkfuck it. All I’ve done since I was released from the hospital is make bad decisions. What’s one more?
I sit on the blanket next to him and tuck my dress under my legs so the wind doesn’t catch it and give Valen more of a show than I’m comfortable with. I lie back without looking at him, but my body is hyper-aware of how close we are.
“We used to come out here and lie just like this when the world seemed a little too much.”
This time, I do look at him, the note of sadness in his voice capturing my attention. As if sensing my gaze on him, he turns his head, his eyes clashing with mine. They flicker with so muchthat’s been left unsaid, but I don’t know him well enough to read between the lines.
“Tell me what happened, Rue.”
I sigh and look back up at the cloudless blue sky.
“I don’t really know.”
“Rue—”
I huff out a laugh but continue. “That’s not a cop-out. I really have no idea what happened to me. Here’s what I do know. I woke up in a freshly dug grave, surrounded by police and cadaver dogs. Imagine their surprise when they found me still alive.”
The curses that escape Valen’s mouth are explicit enough to make a sailor blush.
“I passed out and woke up again, this time in the hospital, virtually unharmed, but without my memories.”
I feel his body go rock solid beside mine.
“Did they say how you lost your memories and if you’d get them back?”
“Apparently, I was injected with a substance nicknamed Sono-d. I don’t know all the ins and outs of what it does, and the terrifying part is neither do the doctors. But one of the main side effects seems to be memory loss. It’s not supposed to be permanent, though. From what they told me, it seems the drug was manufactured to help people with PTSD. It allows sufferers to learn coping skills and how to navigate previously disclosed triggers without having an episode. It’s just not working the way they hoped it would.”
“How did you end up with it in your system?”
“What should have been a medical breakthrough turned out to be a serial killer’s wet dream. Memory loss, paralysis?” I shake my head feeling my skin crawl.
“Like I said, I don’t know what happened before I was found, but there was enough evidence to say I was the Lullaby Killer’s latest victim—and the sole surviving one.”
