Content To Be Claimed (Beauty And The Beast #1)

Chapter 48

I lay in bed wishing with all my heart that I hadn't woken up. Being with Warren had been exactly as magical as I remembered, and I was in pain that bordered on physical right now from being torn from him.

Still, he'd promised to be with me today... But could I be sure that it had happened? What if it'd been an impossibly vivid dream, one my mind designed so I could revel in his presence one last time before Vincent placed him irrevocably out of reach? Still, he'd been as awesome as I remembered, and the emotions he'd displayed and evoked in me were precious, whether memories or fantasies.

I threw off the covers and sat up, running my fingers through my hair absently, then I gasped. The route he'd shown me on his phone was clear as day in my mind and the chant I'd memorised last night was on a loop in my head. I got excited - I really wasn't that creative - and mumbled eagerly, "This better be real, Warren!"

I grabbed my clothes and raced to the bathroom. I needed a bit of time to myself to enjoy my memories of last night before I had to deal with Vincent. And I had to find a way to convince him...

I got into the shower, my mind whirring. I was a terrible liar, but apparently I was a good actress. Where was the difference? How did I manage to be good at acting when I couldn't lie?

I relaxed under the shower and found myself singing as I shampooed my hair. Tilting my head up to the warm jetstream, I imagined that it was Warren waiting for me in next room, not Vincent, and found myself blushing.

Imagined...

I squealed as it dawned on me. The difference was in my imagination. Whenever I was on stage, I pictured myself as a different person, in a different set of circumstances, with a different set of goals. As the character, I believed all the parameters set for me by the story.

All I had to do was believe. Rather than lying to Vincent about hiding the amulet, I had to believe that we had hidden it, and in the forest that Warren pointed out. I worked on imagining that, creating a scenario where Warren, Ashley and I drove all the way to that forest, following the same route I was going to try to find today, and hiding the amulet.

But how had we marked it? I needed to be able to find it, after all.

Hmm... Warren had said to meet him there, so he'd definitely get there first. All I needed to do was track his phone on the map like Vic taught me...

Good, good. I nodded in approval to myself as I wore the clothes we chose yesterday, studying my reflection. What was my reason to stall Vincent until tonight?

That came easily to me. I didn't want Vincent to have that kind of power over Warren. It'd be only natural for me to drag my feet at this point.

Great. I grinned at my reflection, packing the old clothes into a trash bag, then washing my hands. I could work with those parameters.

A knock on the bathroom door brought me back. I took a deep breath and called, "Come in." When the door swung open, I looked up into the mirror and only saw my reflection.

"You're up early," Vincent noted softly. "Are you okay?"

"Humans don't always need exactly eight hours of sleep," I informed him, drying my hands.

"And you're happier today." He leaned against the door, crossing his arms as he smirked. "What'd I do this time?"

"How do you fit that ego through the door?"

He grinned, then ran his eyes over me slowly. When his grey eyes came back up to my face, they weren't quite clear. "That excited about tonight, huh?"