Page 86 of Visions of Darkness

A dark chuckle rolled out of him as he slid from the booth. “No, Aria, I don’t have a job that I need to be at. Come on. We should get out of here.”

I wavered in the questions that rushed at me.

Insecurities and uncertainty had me shoving them down, and I pushed from the booth.

I tried not to shiver when he placed his hand on the small of my back.

It didn’t work.

Not when every time he touched me it felt as if I were being zapped. Charged with the impossible. This need I’d never experienced before, whipping like a storm inside my belly.

I was a fool for even allowing the thoughts. We had so much more riding on this than whatever attraction I felt.

But this was Pax.

Pax.

The one. The one who had forever possessed me.

He guided me through the restaurant. Tension radiated from his body, his attention continually scanning, calculating everything as we passed.

I did, too, furtively peeking at each person. The thoughts that swarmed them grew louder the closer I got to them.

The struggles.

The grief.

The hopelessness.

I wanted to reach out but knew I couldn’t do it, that we couldn’t afford to draw any more attention to ourselves than we already had.

We moved along the bar, and my regard traced over the old man who was sitting there. Loneliness radiated from him, a constant vat that dragged him to the depths. We kept moving, and I made eye contact with another man who’d just slipped onto a stool.

Short, blond hair with brown eyes, maybe in his midforties. He gave me a curious smile, one I didn’t return, and Pax hurried us out the door and into the frigid day.

The blue sky glowed white overhead. Painted in a cold winter clear. I shivered in the break of it, and Pax urged me forward, guiding me around the side of the building to head back toward the motel room.

Only I stalled out, gulping around the sorrow that possessed me again. Unable to take another step until I addressed it.

His powerful presence covered me from behind.

Almost oppressive in its watch.

I turned to him, trying not to allow the sight of him to punch me in the gut again, trying to rein in everything that I’d felt for him for so long.

But looking at the one who burned like a beacon in your soul and facing them in an entirely different reality was hard to do.

“I have to somehow get in touch with my parents,” I told him, my decision firm. “Let them know I’m safe.”

“Safe, Aria?” Disbelief pinched Pax’s eyes, his coarse voice scraping my flesh.

The energy he emitted crackled as he slowly took a step forward.

A semitruck rumbled by on the road, sending dust billowing through the air. Pax spoke through the scatter of debris. “You’re not safe. None of this is safe. And the only thing calling them will do is make the situation worse.”

He was right. I knew it. But knowing it didn’t matter.

I couldn’t leave my mother in torment.

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