Pool of Crimson

chapter 6



What the hell am I going to wear? When was the last time I was this nervous? Other than the heart-pounding adrenaline rush of a fight?

I only had half an hour before my big DATE, and I still had to get dressed. I opted for a pair of dark wide leg jeans. They were easy to move in and were comfortable in case I had to chase something or someone. I put on a crisp white blouse with puffed capped sleeves and a deep eggplant scoop-necked sweater shell over it. The sweater hit my hips several inches above the bottom of the blouse. I slid several sterling silver bangle bracelets up my arm and sterling silver hoops in my ears, then moved to shoes. I opted once again for a pair of boots, hoping to hide my bowie knife. The knife would be easy to get to that way. It’s hard to explain away a knife with an eight-inch blade. Believe me, I’ve tried.

I was downstairs transferring the contents of my handbag to my black leather satchel, when someone knocked. My heart jumped in my chest at the sudden loud pounding on the front door as it echoed through my silent house. I checked my face in the mirror and put on some lipstick quickly with slightly trembling fingers. I took a few quick deep breaths to steady my racing pulse before I opened the door. This is ridiculous. I chastised myself as I grabbed the doorknob and yanked it open.

Danny was tall, a few inches taller than me, and I was in three-inch heels. His broad shoulders squared into an imposing natural expanse that would have brought less self-assured men to their knees in capitulation. His eyes sparkled with mischief but they darted around the room as if evaluating everything he saw and filing it away for future use. His body was a big brick wall of masculinity that oozed the potential to dominate. His hair was a dirty dishwater blond color with red highlights, like he spent most of his time in the sun. It was a little shaggy and tousled in a careless toss of hair. Danny’s tanned skin shimmered a golden brown in the soft light from overhead, highlighting the freckles across his nose and cheeks. He had soft, solid features and full lips that were so kissable I fought not to lean into his warmth. His rich hazel-gray eyes with green and yellow flecks focused on me in blatant unrestrained hunger. I smiled in approval. He radiated desire like some people radiate anger. I glanced over his long beautiful body, noticing each line of his muscular bulk. He tried to hide it behind a tailored shirt and jacket, but nothing could hide the bulk of his broad chest and shoulders. He definitely had my approval.

Danny was dressed in dark jeans, a blue button down shirt, and tie with a black corduroy blazer. It suited him. He looked uncomfortable, like it wasn’t his normal everyday wear. I got the impression he was trying really hard to be presentable. I smiled at him.

“You look great,” he said with a wide appreciative smile.

“You look good, too. I almost didn’t recognize you out of your uniform.” I teased, pulling the door shut behind me. I returned his warm smile. I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t remember smiling that much. Ever. “So where are we off to?” I asked, hoping the stupid grin would wear off my face soon or maybe he wouldn’t notice.

God! This is embarrassing.

“Well,” he said, escorting me down my front walk. He stopped before a bright red Dodge Durango and opened the passenger side door for me. “I thought we could get some dinner, a movie, then maybe some coffee and dessert afterward. What do you think?” he said with a confident, expectant smile.

I hopped up into the Durango and he closed the door on me. I turned and got a quick look into the back of his SUV as he walked around the front. There were kayak oars in the back, but otherwise, the SUV was clean and tidy.

But, oh great, he’s outdoorsy. I sank slightly down in my seat, suddenly apprehensive. Outdoorsy, I wasn’t.

“Sounds great to me,” I said, plastering a smile on my face. He hopped in on his side with an easy grace that left me staring at him open mouthed. He made me feel clunky and as far from graceful as one person could get. He closed his door with a soft thud then with an approving smile in my direction, he drove off.


“You can’t be serious!” Danny said in a huff as he threw up his hands in disbelief.

“I’m one hundred percent serious,” I said, trying to keep a straight face. It was hard. I couldn’t laugh if I was going to win the argument. “I think Luke Skywalker’s a little girl,” I said with a slight hint of laughter in my voice, but I don’t think he noticed. “All he did was whine the whole time.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. He saved the rebellion,” he said with eyes that flashed in amusement.

“All he did was whine. I want to go with my friends and get some power converters,” I said in my best whiny five-year-old voice, finally erupting in an all-out, full-throated laugh.

He joined in as the waitress approached.

“Can I refill your drink?” She addressed Danny, without even glancing my way. My blood boiled in my veins at her audacity. Yep, evidently I’m the jealous type.

I glared at her.

She was petite and round in all the right places. She had thick chestnut hair that struggled to stay back even in a heavy-duty ponytail holder. She had a bright megawatt smile that was directed directly at Danny. An angry heat surged through me, and a voice roared in the back of my brain.

Mine!

“No, thanks,” he said quickly, then returned his attention to me. “So what you’re telling me is that blowing up the Death Star means nothing to you?” he asked, still laughing. He caught me off guard, and I couldn’t help but turn away from the waitress’s megawatt smile and look at him. His captivating hazel gray eyes were focused on me as he popped a fry from my plate into his mouth. He waited for my answer. I smiled back at him as I nudged my glass toward the edge of the table for the waitress. The voice in the back of my mind settled into a soft purr. I wouldn’t have to rip the poor waitress’s throat out.

Whoa! That wasn’t me. Where the hell did that come from?

“I could use a refill of iced tea,” I said casually as I looked up into her forgettable brown eyes. She snatched my glass from the table in disbelief. Her anger was palpable as she stalked back into the kitchen. I wasn’t about to drink anything she brought back. I turned back to Danny.

“Not one bit,” I said with a satisfied smile.


The movie was ordinary, and I pushed it from my mind as we left the theatre. Danny opened the car door for me and asked, “So, coffee? Dessert?”

I smiled broadly at him. “You bet.” He made his way around the SUV and jumped in the driver’s side. I was having a good time, even with the so-so movie. I felt comfortable with Danny. That didn’t happen to me very often. The only problem I had now was which was the real me; the vampire hunter that stalked her prey in the dark or this Dahlia, the light, laughing, and—Christ on crutches—was that flirting woman who sat in the passenger seat with her hands folded neatly in her lap? I wasn’t sure.

“We can go to The Beanery in Grandview?” I suggested. It was close to my house and we could walk. I was ashamed to admit it, and I would never say it out loud, but I really wanted him to hold my hand. The walk to get coffee would give him that opportunity.

I feel like a God damned teenager. This is absolutely ridiculous, I repeated over and over again in my head as he parked the car in front of my house.

He turned in his seat and looked at me with a bright welcoming smile on his face that lit up his hazel eyes in the darkness of his car. Silence filled the SUV. I saw that he wanted to say something, but he paused a brief, unrelentingly tense moment before he spoke.

“I thought we could walk, if that’s okay with you?” he asked with a sly smile.

My heart raced, and I couldn’t fight the returning smile that curved my lips. Was that okay with me? Hell yeah, it was!

“Fine with me,” I said in a nonchalant tone that was harder to get out than it should have been. I shrugged my shoulders, but I could feel the flush of heat on my cheeks. I turned quickly and exited the car, hoping he hadn’t noticed the flush of pink on my skin or my fingers clasped firmly in my lap to keep them from trembling.

We walked the two blocks to Grandview Avenue and on a Saturday night, it was hoppin’. The restaurants were packed, the bars were crowded with people to see the live bands, and the street was filled with people walking in the brisk autumn night air. We crossed the street slowly, hand-in-hand. His palm was ridiculously warm in mine, strong and almost possessive. I bit my bottom lip to keep from hurtling myself into his arms. He motioned toward The Heights Ice Cream Parlor with his free hand. I smiled at him as he tugged me behind him through the mash of people coming toward us, blocking me from the masses.

I took a quick cleansing breath after I evaluated the lines at both places and tried to relax the tension that rippled through my body.

This doesn’t matter. You’re having a good time. Don’t let a little wait bother you. I put a smile on my face as I looked up into his bewitching hazel eyes. A warmth like summer heat wrapped around me, filling me with a calm I didn’t usually feel. He watched me intently as his thumb caressed circles over the soft skin of my hand. I noticed that the fake smile I was so used to showing the world was gone and a real smile had finally fixed on my face. He winked at me, as if he could feel my tension leave.

“Why don’t you get the ice cream, and I’ll get the coffee? We can meet in the middle,” I said with as much enthusiasm in my voice as I could as I tried to be more efficient. He gave me a quick salute and made it look cool as he jumped in line.

“What flavor do you want?” he asked with an excited twinkle in his eyes, as if he knew it was killing me to be patient.

“Pistachio.”

“I thought you might be a little nutty,” he said, giving me his million-dollar smile, as if he hadn’t just made a horrible pun. He was a goofball, but he was cute and comfortable in his own skin. I liked that. He made me relax and feel comfortable with him. “Just get me a black coffee. Whatever they have for the dark roast is fine.”

After a fifteen minute wait behind two gabby teenage girls, I got Danny’s dark roast, along with my cappuccino, and set out to find a table in the outdoor seating area. A group of people stood and was leaving. I ran as quickly as I could with two steaming mugs of coffee in my hands and trampled another couple headed for the same table. On a Saturday night, you do what you have to do. I wasn’t ashamed.

I placed the coffees on the table, then turned to put my bag in the chair beside me and gave another woman a dirty look when she tried to snatch the extra chair.

I looked around to make sure that no one else was out to steal Danny’s chair when I was caught by two dark pools of intensity staring back at me.

Not again.

His face was as beautiful as chiseled marble and just as blank of emotion. A jolt of electricity shot through me from across the outdoor seating area. I froze where I sat. He watched me. His dark eyes evaluated me, sizing me up like a proper opponent and that sent a cold chill up my spine. Beneath my fear and his power, that prickled across my skin like a fine frost, was the pulsing heat of excitement that pulled low in my body.

Patrick sat nonchalantly with his legs crossed casually at one of the tables in the back row. His back was to the glass windows of the storefront and he had a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo in his hands, resting easily in his lap. The book was tattered with age and use, having obviously been read several times over.

Patrick nodded curtly at me as our eyes met. He didn’t even try to hide the fact that he was watching me. He sat patiently, like a cheetah in the grass, a cup of coffee on the table, and the book resting on his thigh. He looked comfortable and almost ... human.

I sat down slowly, realizing that my muscles were taut like a bowstring. I was ready to pounce at the slightest noise. My fight or flight instinct had kicked in, and my pulse picked up in preparation for a fight.

I tried to relax in the chair, pushing everything out of my mind and staying focused. I couldn’t leave without Danny, which meant I couldn’t leave without answering some very hard questions. I could ignore the heat surging through my body, and I could ignore the danger to myself. I couldn’t ignore the danger to Danny. If I left, Patrick could just follow me, or worse, Danny. I had to stay. I twisted in my seat ever so slightly so that the vampire was still in my peripheral vision. There was no way in hell I was going to take my eyes off of him, and I definitely wasn’t giving him my back.

I gave him the same curt nod he gave me. His appearance was no accident, and I knew that my precious anonymity was gone. The only thing I could do to guarantee my continued safety was to lure Patrick to a dark alley and stake him. A slight twinge in the back of my mind made me think that maybe this time I would hesitate, and maybe this time I would lose.

“Here you go,” Danny said, licking his cone as he handed me my cup. “Hey, you don’t look so good. Are you okay?” he asked quickly, sitting in the empty seat beside me. He took my wrist between his thumb and first two fingers as he felt for my pulse. His fingers were warm on my bare skin. I sighed softly at his touch. “Your heart is racing. What’s going on?”

I shook my head and tried to smile. There wasn’t anything wrong with me that Danny could fix. No one could. I turned my gaze to face Danny, but he looked around the tables instead of at me. The look on his face sent chills through me. He crinkled his nose like he smelled something bad. His eyes focused back on me with determination.

What was I thinking bringing someone else into my madness? I’d thought for a minute, just one damned minute, that I was like everyone else.

“Nothing,” I said with a faint smile. “I just got a cold chill. That’s all.” I shrugged his concern and my tension off as I took a mouthful of delicious pistachio ice cream. I slunk back into my seat with a heavy resigned breath and tried to relax. I was stiff, and my shoulders and neck started to ache.

No matter how much I wanted to forget Patrick was there, I couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. Patrick was dangerous and having him lurking in the background reminded me what I was. I’d been able to forget for a little while, but I’d been fooling myself.

“It’s because you’re in love with me already, isn’t it?” Danny spoke in such a deadpan voice he caught me by surprise.

I stared at him, speechless. He either didn’t notice my tension or chose to ignore it. “I knew this was going to happen,” he said, hanging his head and shaking it in a futile motion, mocking me with every word.

I laughed, full throated and easy, sending a spiral of delight down to my toes.

He gave me his biggest, brightest smile. It just felt ... easy. Danny made me forget the vampire with a book in his hands.

Screw him. I’m not about to let them run my life any more than they already do.

After thirty minutes, we’d both finished our ice cream and were talking easily. The vampire got up in my peripheral vision. I’d been keeping an eye on him as casually as I could without direct eye contact. He was leaving without a confrontation and without a word.

Maybe our bumping into each other here was just a coincidence.

Something deep in my gut told me that this coincidental meeting was no accident. As he stalked through the tables with long, graceful, predatory movements, a weight lifted from my shoulders, as if the air wasn’t so heavy anymore. The chill in the air dissipated to a cool breeze.

Patrick got into the gray Audi A5 parked just in front of us on the street. He shot me one more penetrating gaze from those dark eyes, a small almost indiscernible smirk gracing those full lips. His expression was filled with wonder, intimidation, and heat. His tongue slid out slightly from between his lips, and he ran it along his bottom lip in a sultry, hungry caress. My lower body clenched in response.

It’s a warning. A warning! Not an invitation.

He drove off in a high-pitched squeal of tires.

I released the heavy breath I’d been holding. Since the moment Patrick moved from his seat, the tension that had been pushing me down into my chair evaporated. I looked at Danny with a weak, apologetic expression.

“He stared at you the whole time,” Danny snarled. Tension pulsed in his jaw as he ground his teeth, while anger rippled from him in waves. “You know him?” he asked, taking another sip of coffee. His eyes flashed with an emotion I couldn’t identify but would have sworn was jealousy.

“Ah, you’re sweet to be so concerned. But no, I don’t know him.” That flash of something I couldn’t identify passed through his eyes again. I thought I caught a glimpse of amber flooding his hazel gray irises, but I couldn’t be sure.

I’m losing it.

He laughed, but it sounded forced.

It had to have been the light.

Danny walked me home in the cool late-October air. My heart thundered in my chest when he tugged me closer to him and slipped his arm around my waist. He was warm, and as I stood next to him, so was I. We took the stairs up to my porch in slow, unison steps. I didn’t want the night to end. I hoped he didn’t either.

I pulled away and dug for my keys deep in my bag. My heart raced, and my stomach fluttered with anticipation. My palms grew moist and warm as I fumbled in my bag. I finally snatched my keys from the bottom and couldn’t help but fidget with them.

Danny stood, silent and waiting. He opened his mouth, then shut it. He looked everywhere but at me, his hazel eyes darting around the porch quickly and without pattern. I shifted from foot to foot and waited for something to happen. I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth and bit down so that I wouldn’t crawl up his body and embarrass myself. I wanted to kiss him. His lips moved in slow motion as he spoke words I couldn’t register. My mind wandered, and I focused on the full, perfect shape of his mouth.

“I had a really good time tonight,” he said, his voice hoarse and unsure. I craned my neck up to see his face. He shifted his eyes to my mouth.

“So did I,” I said reassuringly, an encouraging smile lifting the corners of my lips up.

Embarrassment washed over his face as he met my eyes again. His cheeks flushed under his light blond hair. My smile grew bigger with each shade of red on his face. “Maybe we could do it again, sometime,” I suggested.

He stared at me intently, a twinkle of promise in his bright hazel eyes. I melted a little under the intensity of his gaze as my heart sped up. His hungry and possessive expression sent heat pulsing between my thighs. I released a long, quivering breath as I pushed my arousal aside and turned a coy smile upward.

He took my face gently in his overwhelmingly large hands. His warm and slightly callused fingers moved almost roughly across my skin before sliding into my hair. His thumb lightly glided across my cheek, back and forth, stroking my body into a lather. I bit down on my bottom lip to keep myself from begging for more. The pain of my teeth against the plump flesh of my lips helped me focus. His warm, rough hands felt incredible on my skin, intimate, as he looked down at me, hungry, his lips slightly parted. His panting breath was heavy and shallow.

He pulled my face within an inch of his own and paused for the briefest of moments. My breath caught in my throat as I gasped, wanting so much more. I waited for a millisecond that stretched on into eternity before he gently pressed his warm, full lips to mine.

I closed my eyes and melted against him. My insides fluttered instantaneously, pouring heat through my body in an intoxicating rush of adrenaline and hunger. His mouth pressed tenderly against mine in a soft crush.

I took a deep breath, filling my nose with the scent of him. He smelled like oak trees and fresh-cut grass, and I lost myself in those scents of pure male.

He inched away slowly. Tension filled his shoulders and his arms were rigid, as if he’d had to force himself to pull away from me. His delicate kiss left me panting and wanting. A primal fire in the pit of my stomach, and lower, pulled at me, making my pulse race at the thought of his hands running over my skin, beneath my clothes, over my naked ... Whoa!

My reaction to him was not what I’d expected or normal. I’d never reacted with such a strong instinctual desire to anyone. Danny was lodged in my nose, in my gut, and in my womanhood like something about him belonged to me. But when I looked up into his hazel eyes, I didn’t see forever looking back at me.

“I want to see you again,” he said breathless. His hands were still in my hair, and his thumb stroked comforting lines across my cheek.

I nodded. I wasn’t absolutely sure that I could get any words out and still sound intelligent, even if I had been brave enough to try.

He laughed a light-hearted and easy chuckle as he stepped back. I went suddenly cold, feeling the absence of his hands and body pressed firmly against mine. He stumbled down the stairs of my porch in a quick catch of feet as he headed toward his SUV. Evidently, the kiss had been pretty good for him, too, and I couldn’t help but smile.

“How about this weekend?” I said, laughing as he caught himself and straightened his back at my remark, and a panicked look filled his eyes.

“Oh,” he said shortly. “Sorry, I have the night shift this weekend. I’ll call and let you know. Okay?” he asked after circling his Durango. He stood on his running board at the driver’s side door, watching me over the roof. His speech was hurried, and the muscle along his jaw jumped like he couldn’t get away fast enough. I nodded apprehensively.

“Sure,” I said with a smile as fake as a three-dollar bill. I turned and opened my front door. It was dark both inside the house and out. I was sure he couldn’t see the doubt in my eyes when I answered, or hear the disappointment in my voice. The fearful expression on his face left a bad taste in my mouth.

Danny drove off in a roar of engine noise. I walked inside and locked the door behind me. I was so turned on and wired there was no way I was going to sleep. I strode into the kitchen and picked up the phone.

For the first time, it bothered me that I was alone. I dialed Jade’s number. Thankfully, she picked up on the third ring.

“Hello,” she said in her rich alto, groggy from sleep.

“What’d you find out?” I asked.

After a few minutes of bleary-eyed conversation and a bit of babbling on Jade’s part, I discovered she had no new information. I let her go back to sleep, knowing I was avoiding my own bed. It was empty, and I was scared to death to dream.

I took a deep breath and made the rounds to make sure everything was closed up tight and locked. The ritual was familiar and told my brain that I was safe. My gut still churned with the unease of remembered terror, overshadowing the rush of adrenaline that had been coursing through my veins only an hour ago.

“Don’t be such a p-ssy,” I chastised myself as I climbed the stairs with feet that felt as heavy as lead. I had to get some sleep. Jade and I were meeting with Officer Hamlin first thing in the morning to go over our information from the accident. Jade still had to give an official statement. I couldn’t go in there tired. I had to be alert and at my best. I stripped down to my panties and crawled into bed.


“Your heart is racing,” Patrick said softly in that thick velvety voice. He brushed his cool full lips against mine in a whisper of soft flesh and cool breath.

Pleasure swept over me, making me tingle from head to toe as my knees buckled. I flung my arms around his neck in reckless abandon. I marveled that I fit perfectly in his arms. The next thing I knew, I was cradled against him, staring up into his dark eyes. He looked down at me with longing.

“Invite me in,” he said in a soft plea that melted my insides.

I couldn’t deny him anything. “Please, come in,” I begged, without a second’s thought for the consequences. He carried me inside, then shut the door behind him in a smooth flow of arms and legs that looked almost boneless, like a cat hunting its prey. His dark eyes bored into mine.

“I never imagined you in my house,” I said with a laugh of disbelief. I watched him cautiously, like a lonely gazelle on the savannah.

“Where did you imagine me?” he asked playfully. The corners of his mouth turned up in delight as he teased me. He took my hand in his and rubbed his thumb along the outside of my hand.

It felt good, really good.

He tilted my chin up and held my face firmly in his hands. The soft pressure of his cool fingertips pressing into my skin felt like a burn. I couldn’t escape him even if I wanted to.

Patrick lightly pressed his soft, full lips against mine. When I didn’t pull away, his kiss deepened, becoming more eager in a hard crush of passion. His lips parted, and my own lips flowered in response. I slid my hands easily up the front of his body. His chest was like silk-covered stone, hard and smooth. He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth, then bit down lightly as he growled softly in my mouth.

I ran my fingers through his thick, black hair. It was coarse, but soft as it slipped through my fingers.

Dear Lord, I wanted him. I wanted Patrick. I’d wanted him since I’d first seen him smirk at me with those dark eyes in the art gallery. He looked at me in a way that made me feel naked and exposed before him. I felt sexy and beautiful. I liked it.

Patrick’s hands glided gently down my back and over my backside, touching as much of me as his hands could cover. I was sure that there weren’t enough Hail Mary’s in the world to make up for sleeping with a vampire.

I pulled away from his ridiculously soft lips to catch my breath. I had to get my head on straight. I couldn’t think while he kissed me. My mind turned to mush and my better judgment went right along with it. There was a look of desire and anguish in his eyes that I’d never seen before in any man. My body tingled from my hair to my toes and desire tightened low in my body, pulsing with want.

“Patrick,” I breathed in a husky voice that sounded foreign coming from my lips.

He laid me down on my bed. His fingers slid softly down my torso, my legs, and down to my feet. My skin sizzled as his fingers trailed cool lines of desire down my body. It took everything I had to remain still and wait.

My brain screamed at me to stop him, but as I watched his fingers on my pale skin and the intensity of his desire in those dark eyes, I didn’t want him to stop.

I arched my body up to meet his touch at every point. He pulled off my pumps and dropped them gently on the floor beside the bed.

The muscles in his shoulders were taut with tension, like he was holding himself back as he slid both hands up my right calf. His hands moved over the top of my thigh where the stocking stopped and the skin began. His cool fingertips tickled the soft skin hidden there. He ran his fingers along the edge of the stocking until he came to the garter. He unhooked the clasp and rolled each stocking slowly down my leg, making sure that his fingertips caressed the smooth flesh beneath the sheer fabric of my stocking.

I held my breath, filling my lungs with a burning need of anticipation. I moaned a soft protest in the back of my throat when he stopped touching me.

Patrick unstrapped the garter holding my stakes. He inspected it briefly, turning it over in his long elegant fingers with a curious grin before placing it with care on the nightstand beside my bed. He left my weapons within clear and easy reach.

Gooseflesh raced across the surface of my skin while I burned from the inside out. He found the zipper for my skirt along my hip and slowly drew it down in a slow agonizing zzzzzzzz. My womanhood tightened with each release of the zipper’s teeth.

Z ... Z ... Z ... Z ... Z.

My insides clenched, and my breath caught in my throat when the zipper reached its end. He pulled my skirt down over my backside and off my body, revealing the black lace Brazilian-cut panties I wore.

I inched upward, allowing him to slide the chiffon of my top through his fingers, then examine the material before eyeing me closely. I raised my arms willingly.

Patrick pulled my top up and over my head, grazing my arms with the same light caress of his cool fingers as he went. I dropped back on the bed in nothing but a black bra, black silk camisole, black panties, and garter belt.

I should have protested. I should have been fighting for my life, but the pounding of my heart and the sound of my pulse in my ears bade me wait patiently for his lead.

He leaned over, hovering just inches above me. His eyes bore into mine. I swore he could see inside of me. His lips were so close to mine I could almost feel them against my own, taste the salt of his kiss. All I had to do to close the distance, lift my head an inch off the pillow. I took my bottom lip between my teeth to keep from pressing my mouth against his.

I wanted to say something, anything, but the words stuck in my throat. He clasped my jaw in his hand and pulled away from me. There was a tiny smile of satisfaction on his face and a delighted glint in his eyes as he looked down at me.

“You, my dear,” he said, his voice just a bit shaky as he spoke. “You are more dangerous than I thought.”

I opened my eyes with a start. My heart raced and my legs were like jelly. I glanced at the clock.

5:27 a.m.

I still had two and a half hours before I had to meet Jade and Officer Hamlin. I flung the covers back and staggered to the bathroom. A cold shower. A cold shower would do me a world of good. “You’re in trouble, Dahlia Sabin,” I said to myself as I stepped into the stream of freezing cold water. “Real trouble.”