Page 49 of Midnight Whispers

I can’t get enough of him. Each time we’re together, I think, “This is the time I’ll feel satiated” but it never happens.

So rather than go in search of him, I text him that I’m exhausted and going straight to bed. After a quick shower, I put on my pajamas and slip under the covers, drifting to sleep right away.

Not long later, I’m awoken by a woman’s voice calling my name over and over.

Blinking several times, I open my eyes and find myself already out of bed and walking out my bedroom door. Mist surrounding me blocks my sight of what’s around me, but I’m familiar enough with the manor that I know I’m making my way through it. The same way you know things when you’re having a dream, even if they’re not there in front of you.

Wait—is this a dream?

The woman’s voice says my name again, and I continue walking forward, almost not of my own volition. I feel as if I’m in a trance—aware of my surroundings, but unable to break free. I couldn’t stop walking if I wanted to.

I drift through the mist, and it swirls around me until I arrive at a large intricately carved wooden door. My hand reaches out to turn the handle, but it’s locked. I try again, and that’s when my name comes from behind me.

Only this time, it’s not a woman’s voice saying it.

“Cinder, what are you doing?”

The mist disappears, and I feel as if my feet land with a thud on the floor, the dreamlike haze vanishing. My hand drops from the door, and I turn around to see Nero standing there with a concerned gaze.

He eyes me up and down. “What are you doing?”

What am I doing? I look around and realize I’m in a place in the house I’ve never been in before.

“I… I don’t know.”

His forehead creases, and he steps forward, resting his hand on my shoulder. “What were you doing trying to get in that door?” He nods behind me, the coolness of his tone taking me back.

I turn and look at the door again, shaking my head. “I don’t know.”

He gently turns me back to face him. “C’mon. I’ll take you back to your room.”

I get the sense that he doesn’t want me around this door, so I go with him.

“How did you know where I was?” I ask as we make our way down the gloomy hallway.

When he doesn’t immediately answer, I look at him.

“I was watching you sleep, and I got hungry, so I went to the kitchen to grab something. When I came back, you were gone, so I went searching for you.”

A normal person would be freaked out that he likes to watch me sleep. It’s weird that I don’t mind.

“I woke up, or I thought I did anyway. It was like a dream, but not. And this woman kept calling my name.”

“Do you have a history of sleepwalking?” he asks.

I shake my head. “No. Never. It’s weird, it felt like I was being led to that door.”

He clears his throat and circles his head as though he’s trying to work out a kink.

I stop and tug on his shirt. “Nero, where does that door lead?”

His gaze flicks over my face, and he holds the same look he does when he’s hiding something. The same facial expression from that night at the motel parking lot. He’s keeping things from me.

I wonder if it has something to do with the once-a-month Saturday nights. I’m pretty sure it does for no other reason than my gut is telling me it does. I think back to Anabelle and Rapsody telling me to ask Nero about it. He’s been upfront now about his stalking regret and his childhood trauma, so how bad could those Saturday nights be that he’s keeping it from me?

“Does it have something to do with all those expensive vehicles driving through Magnolia Bend on their way here once a month?”

His nostrils flare. “Let’s get back to your room. We’ll discuss it there.”

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