Reborn Yesterday - Tessa Bailey Page 0,5
their Christmas lights at the same time every year. Nighttime arrives sooner, then later, then sooner again. Children grow up, learn, get married. Time never fails, it keeps going.”
Ginny looked out at the ocean, though her attention longed to be on Jonas. “I can’t decide if that’s beautiful or terrifying. Maybe it’s both.”
She felt his nod rather than saw it. “Both is right,” he said quietly. “Are you enjoying this walk, Ginny?”
“Very much.”
“Good. Quit while you’re ahead, please.” He took her elbow and propelled her along. “Midnight walks aren’t safe.”
“I never take them anyway.” That trickle of honesty broke the dam on the rest of it. “I just didn’t want to say goodbye yet and I knew you wouldn’t let me go alone.”
He frowned. “How could you be sure?”
“I don’t know. I just…was.” They were off the boardwalk now and onto the regular sidewalk, the El and P. Lynn coming into view in the distance. And if she thought she’d been panicked before when Jonas was preparing to leave, that feeling was sevenfold now, forming a block of ice in her stomach. “It’s your turn for a question.”
“Her voice,” he whispered almost inaudibly, closing his eyes. “I can’t think of one.”
“Try?”
His gaze traveled over her face in an almost desperate fashion. “What do you care about most?”
“Sure, save the whopper for last.” Ginny swallowed. “My father’s legacy. People thinking of me as reliable. Not having regrets. A perfectly pleated skirt.”
When he watched her in static silence for long moments, Ginny realized they were no longer walking, but facing each other beneath a street lamp, right outside the front entrance of P. Lynn Funeral Home.
“There’s more, but I can’t think of them right now,” she murmured.
Jonas reached up and smoothed her flyaway hair. “Oh to be on that list.” He seemed to brace himself—and fail. “I’m sorry I have to do this. I’m so sorry.”
“I don’t understand.”
His voice became hoarse. “Look me in the eye, Ginny.”
“Why?”
“You can’t remember this. We’re not supposed to meet.”
The ice block in her stomach expanded. “I want to remember this.”
“Ginny…”
“I don’t understand. H-how are you able to make me forget?”
Jonas closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them, the green embers in them glittered, flaring brighter when he took a step farther into her space. And another. Until she had to tip her head back to look up into his magnificent face. He raised a hand, extending it slowly toward the right side of her head, his fingertips ever so slightly brushing her hair—and fangs sliced into view between his lips like daggers.
“Do you understand now?”
The Q train roared past overhead, shaking the atmosphere, in the same manner her insides started to tremble. What…what was wrong with his teeth?
No, not teeth. Not incisors such as her own.
Those were…fangs?
Breath wouldn’t come. She was rooted to the spot, hypnotized and drawn closer, despite the voice of caution calling from the back of her mind. Something is wrong here.
Something is wrong.
Comprehension struck and a scream wound its way up her diaphragm, sticking in her throat. Surely he wasn’t trying to make her believe something so outlandish.
Something that only existed in fairytales and movies.
Cold skin. A deep sleeper. No pulse. Fangs.
“Is this a joke?”
He shook his head. “If only.”
Had the whole night been an elaborate setup? Why would he go to such lengths to scare her? Even as her mind posed the questions, she couldn’t quite buy into her own suspicions. Intuition wouldn’t let her. Did that make her a crazy person or an idiot?
Both. Definitely both.
“You’re trying to make me believe you’re a vampire?”
“I am a vampire, Ginny.” His dark brows drew together. “I’ve never been sorrier about that.”
Ginny turned and threw herself at the door, fumbling her keys while trying to insert the right one into the lock. “Why would you do this?” she asked, her voice wavering.
“Don’t run from me,” he begged thickly.
“Why?” Her vision blurred. “You need to erase my memories?”
“I’m required to.” She finally got the door open but he easily pushed in after her, bringing them both to a breathless stop in the dark lobby. “But that’s not why I’m asking you not to run. I…God.” He pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “I’ve officially lost it. I can’t bear to have you scared of me even though you’re going to forget I exist in a moment.” He stormed in her direction. “Believe in what I am or don’t. Just know this. If I could, I would come back tomorrow in