Deadly Dreamer - Book One ✔️

Chapter 6

I couldn't get back to sleep.

Ok, that's a lie. I could have comfortably gone back to sleep.

But I refused to go back to sleep.

I couldn't get rid of the image in my head of that guys head caved in, blood, bone and brain splattered everywhere. Ugh, that's enough mental mayhem to keep me going for a while.

Sighing, I roll over onto my side to grab my phone only to find that my ribs are aching, which struck me as weird.

I grab my phone which tells me it's 4.37am, still much too early for me to be awake on a Thursday morning. I don't normally get up until 6.30 but I know I won't sleep.

So I decide to get up and see whether there's any further news about my first incident (incident is much nicer than the proper word) and whether they have discovered the second incident yet.

I head to the bathroom first to inspect my sides. Flicking on the light, I stand in front of the mirror and lift up my shirt, exposing the right side of my ribs all black and blue. I lift my hand to my mouth suppressing any noise that might have escaped through my gaping jaw.

This is bad. Really, really bad.

This can only mean that the pounding that I got from the major creep in my sleep has shown up on my body. Which I know sounds logical since I was somehow there but at the same time it didn't feel like it was me.

All I know is that I wont be able to keep this hidden for long from Alex.

I could pretend I ran into something but how believable would that be? Ill have to just make something up, I can be a pretty clumsy person so maybe I bumped into a counter top or a table?

Gosh.

This is insane.

I shuffle into the kitchen, open the freezer and grab at a bag of frozen vegetables to gently hold onto my side. Hopefully it helps with the swelling, there's not much else I can do to help it and its hard to disguise the bruising either way.

I make myself some coffee and settle in on the couch with Ditz who followed me out when I got up.

I take a deep breath and prepare myself for what's surely to be a whole new deal of breaking news.

I turn the TV on switching to the morning news and am immediately immersed in a the latest breaking news story.

The pretty, blonde news reader is mid sentence when my ears catch up to what my eyes are processing.

"-covered this morning by a frequent user of the jogging trail at Garfield Park, Pasadena."

The camera pans across the scene showing a blue tent covering a large area of the concrete path that snakes through the tree line.

"The police are still gathering evidence from the crime scene but have told the media that the victim cannot yet be identified due to the damage to his skull, however the victims fingerprints have been recorded and will be scanned against police records in order to assist the authorities in identifying the victim in this gruesome crime."

The screen then splits in two as the studio newsreader comes into the shot. The studio reader looks briefly down at her papers then back up to the camera, as if to check her notes. Her black hair is slicked back behind her shoulders, and she wears a tasteful blue blouse.

"Thank you Jacinta, it's been a shocking week of crime and for this to happen so soon after the earlier case case this week it's going to put a lot of pressure on the police force to assure the communities safety. Do the authorities have any leads as to who might have done this?"

Jacinta nods along, keeping a sombre expression on her face as she listens to the question being relayed to her.

"It certainly has been Marie. Unfortunately, there have been no leads to follow thus far, as there has not been any evidence to use to pursue the killer. That is all the news I have for you now, I will return for updates as the case proceeds but for now it is back to you at the studio."

The screen returns to full view as Marie takes over the broadcast.

"Speculation is mounting over the two murders in the past week, are they related in any way? Is it the same killer? Were there any possible gang connections? Its much too soon to say but we will keep the public up to date as we gather more information from the authorities.
In other news there has been a fall in the stock markets with...." I switch over to the morning show for hopefully a good distraction.

Considering there has been no evidence to concern me, I want to just ignore my thoughts for a little while. That thought is short lived however when Alex walks into the room rubbing sleepily at one eye. I can't help but ogle longingly at him, as he always looks scrumptious in the morning. Shorts hung low on his hips and always without a shirt thus giving me a brilliant eyeful of a well taken care of stomach. Toned but not so toned that it looks ridiculous. Alex has always been buff, not so buff that he pokes out eyes with his chiseled abs though, I hate those muscle magazine cover guys - with their stone abs and extreme arms - ugh, yuck.

Alex turns his head in my direction and smiles slightly. I smile back softly and shove the vegetables further into the couch. Glancing over at him, I study his features with undeniable desire. His dark hair, messily sitting atop his head. The stubble that trails along his jawline, giving off that ruggedly handsome look that I find is hard to ignore. His broad shoulders that then glide perfectly to his strong back muscles, the man is to die for and it doesn't take much for him to get his way with me.

"How long have you been up babe?" He asks me, while wandering to the kitchen to grab a mug of coffee for himself and also dragging my mind away from my dirty thoughts.

"Oh, about an hour maybe. I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. So I decided to stay up and just watch some crap on the news."

"Hmm... Ok then. What woke you in the first place?" He scratches his jawline and yawns simultaneously.

"Uh, Ditz kicked at my legs and then I couldn't get comfortable to get back to sleep again. Its fine though, I'm not tired or anything."

Alex doesn't look convinced in the least but he doesn't push me for more, instead he starts talking about the murders. Just perfect. Exactly what I was trying to avoid thinking about.

"Any new stuff on that dead guy in the alley?"

I cant ignore his question, I just said I had been watching the news.

"Yeah, but I didn't see that part. There's been another death, this time in Garfield Park." I say vaguely.

I know I cant leave it there, I know he's curious about this. Alex has always had a thing for true crime, sometimes it's all he talks about.

So I continue, "They say that the guys unrecognisable because his head and face has been completely disfigured."

"Oh, fuck. Thats gruesome. Two deaths in one week, thats definitely strange." He says while sitting down beside me on the couch. The movement of the couch affects my bruising a bit but I don't show it. Im hiding the frozen vegetables in the gap between my arm and the couch, whilst trying to figure out how I will get them back to the freezer without his knowledge.

He saves me from my thoughts 10 minutes later and says he's going to leave early and head to the gym for an early session since he's already up. He leans down and caresses my cheek whilst kissing me tenderly. Within a few minutes he's waving goodbye and out the door.

I gingerly pull myself up off the couch and head for a shower.

Then it's time to get on with my day as normally as I can possibly manage.

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If you happen to continue on - which I would be forever grateful for - you will get a glimpse of my vision for both Danica and Alex, possibly other characters too!

Things really begin to thicken from here on.

Happy reading guys!

Shantelle 🙂