My head is buzzing, like a Goddamn bug trapped in a light, over and over again. It just about drives me crazy. My skin is warm, my body relaxed and the air smells like lilacs and rain. The ground below my body is soft. I feel content.
Feel? But I'm supposed to be dead, or at least locked in a coffin in my own head.
I shoot upright, but as the blood rushes from my head, I fall back onto the mattress. I can't believe what I'm seeing. I'm lying in a bed in a room with pale purple walls and a small window that lets in the sunlight. The view outside is filled with colorful lights and flamboyant buildings that reach toward the skyline.
"I know this place..." I mutter. "Vegas."
"It was the safest place I could think of." His voice not only sends a chill down my spine, but it also makes my body tingle with heat and my heart wake up from its very deep sleep.
Alex walks through the doorway, taking tentative steps as he inches himself toward the bed—toward me—and every image of the last time we were in bed together flashes through my head. The way I felt, the way he made me finally breathe and then minutes later, he stole it all away from me by betraying me, ripping out my heart and shredding it to pieces; he probably still has my blood on his hands.
He's wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of jeans and his hair is damp and sticking up all over. He looks like a normal guy, completely harmless, but it's just an illusion.
I throw the blanket off me and swing my legs over the side of the bed, noting I'm no longer wearing my clothes, but a pair of boxer shorts and a t-shirt that doesn't belong to me. "Stay away from me."
"Gemma, I'm not going to hurt you." His voice is soft as he continues to step toward me; his bright green eyes are fixed on mine. "I promise I won't hurt you."
I laugh sharply as I put weight on my weak knees. "That's the biggest lie I've ever heard come out of your mouth."
Alex stops dead in his tracks, his expression filling with infuriation. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
My knees shake as I stand up and find my stability. "It means your promises are worthless. At least, the ones you make to me."
He raises his eyebrows. "My promises got you to Adessa's, safe and sound."
"Safe and sound doesn't exist."
"It does for the moment, Gemma, and you'll understand why, if you just let me explain."
I shake my head and take a step forward, wanting to get out of the room and away from him. "I'm leaving. I don't know why I'm walking around alive and normal, but I'm not going to waste my time listening to your bullshit."
"You're walking around normal because of me—because of how I feel about you." He moves to the side, obstructing my path. "Just let me explain."
I shake my head and dodge to the right, but I'm like a newborn deer and my knees give out on me. His arms encircle my waist and he catches me before I crash against the hardwood floor. He picks me up, carries me over to the bed, and sets me back down. I start to get back up, but he puts his hands down on the bed, one on each side of me, and lowers his face toward mine.
"I just need five minutes to explain," he almost begs. "Five minutes for me to tell you what happened and then, if you don't like it, I'll leave."
I search his eyes for the person that lay with me in the bed. "Five minutes," I say. "But that's all you have and if one single thing sounds like bullshit, then you leave, not just the house, but my life."
He nods without hesitation. As his lips part, I'm not sure if he will help me understand, or crash my world again.
