Come and Find Me A Novel of Suspense - By Hallie Ephron Page 0,69
sludge in her stomach.
“There are lots of things I used to be able to do.”
Daniel picked her up and carried her to the bed. Once her bed. Before that, their bed. He set her down gently and lay down beside her.
She turned away from him. Daniel had told her that the red roses on the bedside table were “for new beginnings.” More like betrayals and severed ties. Already some were losing petals and hanging their heads.
From outside she heard water rushing over the dam. In the corner of the sleeping alcove were a sink and toilet and a modular shower stall. A shelf was filled with most of the contents of Diana’s home bathroom—her toothbrush and shampoos and soaps. So considerate of them.
Daniel nuzzled her neck.
“What do you think we’re doing here?” she asked.
“Messing around, I hope.” He nipped her ear. “Don’t overthink it, babe.” That was what he used to tell her when she froze up during a climb or hesitated during a combat sim. It was his equivalent of May the force be with you.
She curled tighter. Daniel put his arm around her waist and spooned behind her. He slipped his hand up under her shirt and she shuddered as he stroked her back.
“Remember that game we used to play?” he said, his breath warm on her neck.
In spite of herself, Diana closed her eyes and envisioned the letters as he traced them out. First i. Then a heart. Then a u. Again and again, his fingers like feather dusters traced the same pattern on the small of her back. His hand wandered down her hips and reached around to touch between her legs.
Part of her wanted to surrender—it would have been so easy, so natural. And what better way to cement his trust? But she couldn’t. He’d let her believe he was dead. To protect the insurance settlement? She’d have returned the money in a heartbeat if it had meant having him back.
Instead, one by one, he and Jake had severed Diana’s remaining links to the real world. Kidnapped—there was no other word for it—her sister. Sown distrust with her one friend, Pam, and leaving in her place a single false friend, GROB.
Daniel and Jake were stronger and undoubtedly smarter than she was. Her one advantage over them: she knew her own weaknesses. They both would insist that they didn’t have any.
“You’re right. I’m tired,” she said. “And—” She rolled over to face him and grabbed his hands, feeling the coarseness of his fingertips where frostbite had supposedly eaten away the tips. “You can’t just expect everything to go back the way it was. I’ve changed.”
“You haven’t changed. You’re just trying to be something that you’re not.”
Diana hesitated. Could that possibly be true? Was she still the girl who’d fallen crazy in love with a wild man, who’d allowed herself to break nearly every rule she’d followed growing up?
“Look in my eyes,” he said, squeezing her arm. “I’m the same guy.”
“You’re hurting me.”
He loosened his grip. “Sorry. I’m out of practice.”
“I’m still getting used to you being here at all,” she said.
He rolled over on his back, put his hands behind his head, and stared at the ceiling. “I want things to be the way they were.”
If wishes were fishes . . . She rested her head against his chest. “Suppose it doesn’t work out. What happens then?”
He didn’t say anything.
She sighed and closed her eyes. What was the point, anyway? Any promises extracted from Daniel would be empty ones. He said he loved her. Wanted to be with her. Couldn’t stand another day without her. It was a nice story—one Daniel himself might even believe.
In her mind, she reconstructed the layout of the mill, two yellow spots glowing in this loftlike space where she and Daniel lay. They’d left Jake, still at work in the silo. She zoomed out, and farther out, until her mental map encompassed the entire state of Massachusetts. A pair of yellow spots glowed, one in Boston and one just south—Pam and Ashley. She hoped that by now they’d put together what each of them knew.
Diana focused on the steady thub-dub of Daniel’s heart, and beyond that, on the constant sound of water flowing over the dam outside. Why was it so important to him that the three of them were working together again? The Three Musketeers. Three Stooges. Three mice, although she was the only one flying blind.
“Are you ready for the meeting with Vault?” Daniel asked.