Page 40 of The Burnt Heart

“Yes, I often comfort someone by shoving my tongue down their throat.” I raised an eyebrow as she flushed.

“No regrets. It’s been a weird night, with Beck and Ray? I’ll take Jonah’s comfort any day,” Lara sighed. “It’s nothing compared to what you went through.”

I was too tired to clock her using Chief Goldman’s first name. I didn’t want to talk about my night. Lara patted the bed beside her, and I slipped under the sheets with a groan.

“When I couldn’t get a hold of Ray, I was worried, so I called his papa. He outright accused me of trying to steal Ray away from you. He said I would never be good enough for his son and that you and he would announce an engagement soon.” She sniffled. “I don’t know when I fell for Ray. But he wouldn’t even pick up my calls. He sent me a text saying I shouldn’t have called his papa because he didn’t owe me anything.”

“Oh babe, I’m sorry. It’s been a stressful night. Let’s try to sleep and if he’s still an asshole tomorrow, I promise I will personally mutilate his genitals for you.”

Lara gave a wet chuckle, fingering the delicate necklace that ringed her throat.

“I feel so selfish. You’ve had the craziest night and you’re in here comforting me over boy troubles. I mean, kissing Jonah? What was I thinking?”

I didn’t answer, rolling over and pulling her into an embrace.

“I’m too tired to move. You’re going to have to put up with my snoring tonight.” My eyelids dragged down like cement in a river, drifting off in seconds. My phone lit up in the dark, but I didn’t pay any attention to it, dreaming of Calder Place and carving my initials into the wood.

Goodnight siren.

We love you.

We miss you.

21

Adelaide

Iwished we’d never come to the beach. I should have trusted my gut and stayed home, but mom’s pleading had swayed me.

“Stay with me, baby,” her voice was wet, her hands pressing sharply into my stomach. I swallowed a noiseless scream. The pain was white hot, and it stole all logic and reason as I whimpered. Grains of sands like thousands of dark rubies, a garish treasure. Blood. So much of it. My eyes rolled backwards.

“No, keep your eyes open, Adelaide,” her voice was like a whisper in the wind now, and I couldn’t focus. Behind her, waves attacked the sand, foaming its fury. It’s strange the things you notice when someone plunges a knife into yourstomach. There was a gun an arms’ length away from me and I scrabbled for it.

“You need to open your eyes,” a voice reproached me, unmoved by the red stained sand. My head jerked, and I saw my grandmother behind my mom.

“How’re you here?” I groaned, tears pricking my eyes at the sight of her. “You’re dead.”

She crouched down and frowned as her gaze swept over me. My grandmother was my mentor. She was as dangerous as my grandfather, and I had learned so much from her.

“I’m dying.”

My grandmother hummed in confirmation, her lip curling slightly at the hunched form of my mom as she staunched the wounds.

“You are. When you heal, you must promise to be more careful. I didn’t build my legacy so you could squander it with foolish choices.”

Sand scratched against my fingers as I dug them into the ground. I wanted to argue with her, to insist there was no way I could have guessed this outcome. The pain was blinding. I couldn’t move.

“W-when I heal?” I managed, confused. Wasn’t she here for me? My grandmother lay her hands over my mom’s slumped shoulders and her eyes glistened.

“Don’t hold it against her. She was always too pure for this world.”

I reached out, my shout carried away by a gust of wind that whipped sharp sand into my face.

When my vision cleared, my grandmother was gone and so was my mom.

“Adelaide!”

I jerked upwards, narrowly missing Lara’s head. My legs were tangled in sheets, and I kicked them off with a gasp. We were inLara’s room. I must have fallen asleep beside her last night. The horrible, vivid dream played on a loop behind my blurry eyes.

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