Page 56 of Half the Summer's Night
ROWAN
Ican’t stop thinking about my night with Abi. It fills me with a hot, surging fire, and trying to get through my work at the hotel is practically impossible. I’ll be in the middle of some mundane task—ordering more linens, meeting with Julia about making the weekly staff schedules—and the memory of that night will wash over me.
How sweet Abi tasted.
How warm her mouth was as she swallowed my cock.
How she sighed when I kissed her.
It’s better than remembering my kills, and those have certainly bothered me to distraction before. But not like finallyhavingher, my Abi, in any meaningful way.
I continue my vigil of her house at night, slipping around the perimeter with all my senses on alert. I don’t go to her again, as much as I want to. As magical as it was to taste her like that, to feel her mouth on me, it was also unfamiliar. Strange. This thing that happened, this interloper attacking her, had interrupted a conversation between the two of us. And the truth is, I want to continue that conversation.
So while I keep watch on Abi’s house at night, I use the free time I have during the day to plan my next kill.
Thisfeels much more comfortable than everything else that’s happened in the past week. It’s something I’ve done before dozens of times, and I’ve always liked the methodical nature of it. There’s something quiet and meditative about researching a kill’s location and deciding on a method. Finding the right victim.
Every kill requires me to put on a new face. The last one was the easiest; I did it as Rowan Hanover, since it had to happen at the hotel. But for this kill, I just need to take up mini golf, and that’s easy, too, since I can walk to Neptune’s Adventure from both my beach cottage and my office at the motel.
I plan my first visit for a Tuesday afternoon, when it will be less likely to be busy. Things at the hotel are calm, and I leave Julia in charge. Then I walk down the beach, just out of reach of the water.
It’s the peak of the tourist season, but Olivia Pearce’s murder has had a noticeable effect. There are fewer people out—fewer kids building sandcastles, fewer adults drinking beers and roasting themselves as they watch the waves roll in. We’re down at the hotel, too, although I’m not terribly worried about the finances. We have the wiggle room.
I can just see the big fiberglass pirate ship that marks the entrance of Neptune’s Adventure when I hear someone shout my name.
And then I smell it. Lilacs and lemons and orchids.
Abi.
She’s walking barefoot across the sand toward me, a pair of jogging shoes dangling from one hand. She smiles, the wind blowing her dark hair across her face, and I’m paralyzed in place, seeing her out in the sunlight.
“Hey,” she says. “I didn’t expect to see you out here.”
Abi usually saves her beach walks for the off-season, and it’s one of my favorite things, watching her from my office windowduring the cool winter months. Or maybe it’s just too crowded this time of year for me to pick up on her.
“Yeah, I was just—” I glance over at the entrance to Neptune’s Adventure and think about the afternoon we got coffee together. It was so normal, wasn’t it? “Just going to play a round of mini golf.”
Abi gives a delighted laugh. “Seriously?”
“Yeah.” I force myself to look at her, reminding myself that she doesn’t know the truth about Rowan Hanover. Something like jealousy twists in my belly, but it’s a jealousy of myself. “It’s, ah, a new hobby. What are you doing on the beach?”
Abi sighs and squints out at the water. “Going for a walk,” she says. “Things have been… weird, lately. And I needed to clear my head.”
A part of me wants to tear down all my carefully constructed walls and take her right here, the way I did at the funeral parlor the other night. I wonder if she would realize the truth as Rowan Hanover licks her orgasm.
The idea’s enticing. But also stupid. Still, I don’t want to walk away from her, now that she’s here. I don’t want to let her go.
“You want to play with me?”
The question is out of my mouth before I can stop it. I know I’m not asking her to play withme-me, but with Rowan Hanover. Still, her eyes light up, and she smiles. A big, dazzling smile that she’s never given my killing face.
“You don’t mind?” she says. “I wouldn’t want to impose?—“
“You’re not imposing,” I say quickly, although my head is whirring like a hurricane. This is not how I’m supposed to do things. I’m not playing eighteen rounds at Neptune’s Adventure for fun but to research the next beat of my conversation withthiswoman.
But god, she looks so beautiful, standing there in the wind, her hair whipping around. And maybe I want to have a real conversation with her. Even as Rowan Hanover.
“Then I’d love to.” She smiles at me again. “I’ve never even been to that place before. Isn’t that funny? I’ve hardly done any of the tourist stuff around here, though.”
