Beauty In Her Madness (Winterland Tale #3) - Stacey Marie Brown Page 0,8
than life itself. She had always been the flighty, impulsive, lost one, while I had every duck in a row. My life had been mapped out and in focus. Now it seemed everything had flipped. She had it all figured out, and I was trying so hard to keep everything together.
“I’m gonna take a shower and go to bed.” I peered down at my leg; another pair of tights ruined. I was not really a girly girl, and things like tights, heels, and makeup were practically strangers to me.
“Okay. I’ll be in soon,” Scott muttered before yelling out at the screen. “Die! Come on, I threw a grenade at you.”
He would not be in soon. Scott could get so lost in the gaming world and let hours pass without notice.
Strolling over, I gave him a quick kiss.
“What happened to your leg?” He glanced down at me, a frown lining his face.
“I fell over a woodpile at work.” I shrugged it off. “No biggie.”
“You okay?” His eyes darted between the TV and me.
“Yeah. I’m fine.” I nodded, turning for the bathroom, already stripping off my elf costume, needing so badly to wash this day off and forget.
“Where did you go before your shift? I came home early, and you were gone.”
“Oh…” I paused in the bathroom doorway, guilt sliding down my throat. “Just had a few errands to run. You know, get a head start on holiday shopping.”
“You hate shopping.”
“Why I want to get it out of the way.” The lie strangled my tongue, and I shut the door. Scott and I shared everything. There wasn’t anything we didn’t tell each other or talk about. Except I didn’t tell him about my therapy session. Or that the night terrors I had as a child were back, along with hearing my name being called, people watching me from the shadows, or the kiss of a man I made up still burned against my lips.
I stared at myself in the mirror, my brown eyes filled with doubt and fear. Terrified, because in my gut I knew I was falling down the same hole as my sister.
I was going utterly mad.
“Dinah. Wake up. Dinah…”
My lids popped open, air grappling in my lungs like I forgot to breathe in my sleep. My heart thudded in my chest, damp sweat lining my forehead.
The clock by my bed blinked 3:21 a.m., and the glow from the streetlamp outside pushed through the blinds, giving the room enough light to recognize shapes. Scott’s soft snores echoed in the room, his legs kicking over to my side of the bed.
Sitting up, I inhaled deeply, trying to shake the feeling I had really heard my name being called into my ear. Deep, gravelly, every letter being dragged out, igniting my skin in shivers. Cold. Demanding. Cruel. But my core throbbed, desire slinking over me, demanding to be quenched.
My eyes slid to Scott, laying on his side facing me, his mouth open, snoring. He was the kind of cute that grew on you because he was such a nice guy. And totally nerdy, which I adored. Styled brown hair, blue eyes, the kind of guy who wore chinos and button-downs with his chucks. He drank wheat grass in the morning and ate pizza and drank IPA beer at night. He hated the gym but loved hiking. He wasn’t spontaneous or adventurous and could sit for hours playing video games, obsessing over the latest tech gadget. It has been his major in college, and he already worked for a company in Hartford. Since fifteen, I could see our life together, the road simple and clear.
Sex was fine, but lately we had been so busy it wasn’t as frequent. I had friends at my age who talked about wild sex with the random people they met, while the idea of sleeping with an unknown guy didn’t appeal to me. Scott and I could go over a week without. I think the last time I gave him a blow job was his birthday…five months ago.
I had never been an overly sexual person, never boy-crazy or sex-crazed. Never once had Scott and I had sex besides in a bed.
Tonight, my muscles twitched, fire raging in my veins. Need pulsed through me, the longing to lose myself until I was screaming. To feel someone so deep, I could no longer breathe, stars bursting behind my lids, my muscles trembling with ecstasy. The need to be crazed and wild, pushed out of my comfort zones.