Page 154 of Soul So Dark
“Jesus,Riley,” AJ chuckles.
I start gathering my charge cords and packing my various devices into my backpack. “Anyway, what are you doing tonight?”
“Driving home. Just had dinner with my family, so now I need to go home and disassociate.”
“Are they a lot of drama?” I’ve always been amused by how exhausted AJ gets with human interaction whereas I thrive on it.
Granted, I didn’t used to be. It took a few years to get back to being any semblance of the person I was before Evie died.
“Not really,” he muses. “There are just a lot of them…all talking…at the same time.Oh,” he stops short, “I saw something that reminded me of you.”
A few seconds later, my phone buzzes with a text. But when I open it, I stop dead in my tracks. It’s a picture, and a beautiful one at that, but what’s in it makes my stomach drop and sends a wave of goosebumps skittering down my arms.
It’s a picture of a hillside, with colors so vibrant that they don’t look real. And in the foreground, zoomed in, is a cluster of flowers of the same radiant colors. Sunflowers, paintbrush, lupine, lilies, larkspur…and a small blue flower that pops against the fiery hues behind it.
The longer I stare at it, an intense dread seeps through my veins.
I didn’t tell Bowen, but I know the Comanche story of the bluebonnets. It was a story my mom read to me when we still lived in Colorado. But Bowen is wretched and vile, desecrating that story and its people with his twisted games.
“You there?” AJ asks before I realize I haven’t said a word in almost a minute.
“Why—” I swallow hard, my throat suddenly parched. “Why did you send me this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why did you send me this?” I ask again, this time with an edge to my voice.
“It’s a mural from JFK, I took a picture of it the last time I flew through there,” he replies. “Why? What’s the matter?”
Is it? Not long ago, I wouldn’t question it, but now a sinking feeling washes over me, along with a slew of possibilities I never would’ve considered before. Why did AJ just send me a photo of bluebonnets? Only one person on this planet would send me this on purpose.
No…no, no, no…that would mean…
“Um…” I hesitate, staring down at my half-packed suitcase, unable to articulate just how much I don’t want to answer his question.
Now, I don’t know if I can say anything to AJ.
If his name is even AJ…
I take a deep breath and bounce on the balls of my feet, trying to relax my muscles and calm my voice. “Something happened, and…and I…” and then the unthinkable tumbles out of my mouth, “I can’t do this anymore.”
“Do what?”
“Not know who you are.”
A heavy silence falls between us, my feeling of dread only growing.
“Hello?” For a moment, I think the call dropped.
“I’m here,” AJ replies. “What happened?”
He doesn’t sound like Bowen, but if by some nightmarish possibility he is, am I really going to rehash what he did to me on a phone call withhim? But I know he’s not Bowen. He can’t be. He looks…
I don’t know what AJ looks like.
The realization hits me like a ton of bricks. I can’t tell exactly how tall AJ is because he’s usually sitting down. AJ’s muscular, and Bowen’s muscular. But AJ’s stockier…I think. I can see AJ’s hands. Do I remember Bowen’s hands? Do I remember the exact color of his skin in the dim light? I don’t think I’ve even gotten a good look at AJ’s hair. But AJ’s voice is different, isn’t it? I glance down at my voice mod setup…that AJ recommended.
When it comes down to it, there’s no reason AJ couldn’t be Bowen.
