Page 121 of Amnesty

Eddie came forward and linked our mouths. I held my breath the entire time we kissed, not even missing the air.

When at last we parted, he smiled the biggest smile I’d seen light his face all day. “Get a bag,” he told me, swatting my ass. “Let’s go home.”

I felt it again.

The pull of the lake. It was like a magnet, a song that only I could hear. The urge to go to the shore, to allow the icy lances of the waves grab at my flesh and chill me to the bone, was massive.

I don’t know why, but I had a connection with Lake Loch. Almost as if the body of water and I were friends. Or maybe enemies.

Either way, we were close. The lake played a large role in my life, as if it were a person, a character I knew. It spoke to me, took from me, gave back to me.

All I knew was when it wanted something, no matter what it was, I was powerless to fight it.

I was hard pressed to carefully slip out from beneath Amnesia. Her bare, silky skin directly upon mine was almost more powerful than the summoning of the shore. I could roll over, press her body into the mattress, and bury myself in her liquid heat just as I had the minute we stepped into this room just a few hours before.

But I was intrigued. Intensely so. There was always a connection with the water, but nothing like it had been the night I found Amnesia.

The night the lake gave me back my heart.

A hollow pit formed in my belly, a feeling I remembered well. Back when my heart still belonged to the sea and the hollowness owned my chest, how it echoed with the sound of emptiness, reminding me day in and day out of what was missing.

The feeling scared me. Scared me more than almost anything, because it was the feeling of loneliness. The feeling that perhaps the lake changed its mind and wanted to take back what it had gifted me.

Friend or enemy?

After tugging on a pair of sweats, I stood at the side of the mattress and stared down at my heart. My gift from Lake Loch.

Please don’t take her away from me.

Moonlight shone through a small gap in the curtains, a slice of silver streaking over her, illuminating her short hair, making it glow. Her skin was creamy and pale in the dark, her body still curled toward where I’d been, her cheek resting against the pillow.

Cross my heart.

Hope to die.

You will be forever mine.

I turned away, left the bedroom silently, and moved through the familiar darkness. I would abide the pull of the lake tonight if for no other reason than to deny whatever it thought to take back.

Even though the temperature outside was cold, I went bare-chested. My feet were also bare. I felt the first slap of wintry air as I stepped off the porch into the grass, more like tiny ice daggers than the green, friendly carpet.

After the initial shock of my skin meeting the air, I forgot about it. Tightened nipples, contracted muscles, and blowing hair—I ignored it all and stalked across my yard down toward the black, ominous water.

The whistling of the wind flew past my ears. My hair tugged fiercely away from my face and forehead as if it were trying to pull me back into the comfort of my house.

Go back,it warned.

I kept moving forward.

The moon hung low tonight, partially blocked by dark clouds but visible enough to shine a spotlight that stretched out over the water, highlighting the way it churned rather portentously. The trees all rustled, leaves scattering the ground pushed and pulled in various directions.

A few stars shone overhead, but not enough to make an impact. Not enough to draw the eye.

The sound of the shore grew louder, seemed more violent as I approached. Stuffing my hands in the pockets of my sweats, I carried on. My shoulder blades drew together with tension. I didn’t bother to try and fight.

I had a feeling the lake wanted a fight tonight.

So a fight was what it would have.

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