Hearts Entangled In Yearning’s Tide (Haunted Darkness Of Our Ruin #2)

Chapter 1

AMELIA

The shadows of the recent weeks lingered at the edge of my mind, leaving me torn and haunted.

I thought that the worst of it was over, that the darkness of my past would retreat like the winter snow, leaving behind a fresh canvas for my life.

But as I stood in the living room of Shane and Sabrina’s cozy home, watching the flickering flames of the fireplace, I felt a heaviness still clinging to me like a second skin.

It was a Saturday evening, and the atmosphere was warm and inviting, filled with laughter and the scent of Sabrina’s homemade chili.

She made us all promise to come over regularly, an attempt to create a sense of family, a haven of sorts, especially for Caiden, who had nowhere else to go after losing his home.

Sabrina and Shane were wrapped up in their own world, teasing and flirting like newlyweds, while I sat on the couch across from them, my heart caught in a web of uncertainty.

Next to me, Alex leaned in, his easy smile brightening the room. We had been spending more time together lately, drawn to each other like moths to a flame.

Yet, every laugh we shared felt like a betrayal to the complicated feelings I had for Caiden.

“Amelia, you have to try this,” Alex said, handing me a bowl of chili. Our fingers brushed, and a jolt of electricity shot through me.

I forced a smile, but my heart raced for reasons I couldn’t fully understand.

“Thanks, Alex,” I replied, my voice steady despite the turmoil inside. As I took a bite, I stole a glance at Caiden across the room.

He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, his jaw clenched tight. His dark eyes were fixed on me, but the expression on his face was unreadable, a mixture of anger and something else I couldn’t quite place.

It sent a shiver down my spine.

Memories came crashing down onto me of our time in the wilderness together. Wandering through the endless trees and rocky terrain. Being trapped together in a cage with a serial killer.

Blake's voice whispered in my ear. A phantom memory that still had the power to freeze my blood. You're mine now. Both of you. The clink of metal against metal. The smell of earth and blood. The endless darkness of that cage.

Goosebumps crawled along my skin as I recalled his chilling confessions in the near-total darkness. His husky whisper of longing, that he craved me, was completely unexpected.

Sabrina swept into the room, a tray in her hands. “Who’s hungry? I made those little prosciutto things you loved last time, Amelia. Did you eat today?” She set the tray down and shot me a worried glance disguised as a smile.

I nodded, didn’t trust myself to talk. My stomach twisted. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten anything that didn’t taste like ash. Food was just another performance: chew, swallow, smile, pretend the ghosts weren’t gnawing you hollow from the inside out.

Shane clicked the TV off, his smile a little too wide. “Let’s do something fun. Board game? Cards? Or Sabrina’s gonna just keep feeding us until we all explode.”

Alex looked at me for approval, like my answer was the only one that mattered. “Your call, Amelia. What’s your poison?”

My poison was memory. My poison was the way four walls could close in on you, even if there were no locks, no cages anymore. My poison was the way I could still smell mildew and blood and Blake’s cologne underneath all the fake candles Sabrina littered around her house.

But I smiled. “Cards are good. Something that doesn’t require too much thinking.”

The game started. Cards, shuffling, the rhythm of it pulling me out of myself for a second. Shane made dad jokes. Sabrina kept refilling the snacks. It almost worked.

Caiden barely played. He watched. The cards, the way my hand hovered over the table, the way Alex never stopped touching me. To anyone else, Caiden was just bored, maybe tired.

But I saw the way his jaw clenched, the white tension in his knuckles when he lost a hand to Alex.

It made me feel sick. Or maybe vindicated. Or maybe just alive, in a way that reminded me of blood rushing to the wound.

The conversation surfaced and sank. Sabrina asked about Colorado. Soft, tiptoeing around the word, like it was a landmine. “Are you…sleeping any better, Amelia?”

Alex’s brow furrowed. He squeezed my hand, as if he could absorb the question before it could unstitch me. “You know anyone would be a wreck after that shit.”

My breath shuddered. I forced out a thin laugh. “I’m fine.”

Liar.

Sabrina looked at me, like she was trying to read the truth in my bones. “If you want to talk—”

“I don’t,” I said. “I really don’t.”

A beat of silence, about to snap.

Shane filled it, his voice all good-natured distraction. “Cards. Back to cards. Caiden, you in?”

Caiden’s gaze didn’t leave the table. “Sure. Whatever.”

The next hand got heated. Alex played to win. I tried to match it with banter, tried to make myself the girl he thought I was.

He leaned in, his mouth at my ear. “What would you ask me if you won?”

His breath was warm, and I fought not to recoil.

I played along. “How many girls do you bring home to your mother?”

He laughed. “Only the ones worth showing off.”

“Careful,” I murmured. “You’ll bruise my ego.”

His knuckles stroked the inside of my thigh, almost chaste, but my whole leg jumped. I chewed the inside of my cheek, desperate to look normal, desperate to play this right.

On the other side of the room, Caiden’s chair scraped the floor. He stood up to get a drink, muscles tensed under that old black hoodie. I watched him go, the way his shoulders hunched, how nothing about him ever really relaxed.

Alex noticed. “He always like that?”

I shrugged. “Depends on the day.”

Alex’s face shifted, just for a second, his cocky smile was gone, like he knew he was being watched, and it didn’t sit right. “You don’t owe him shit, you know. You can just…be yourself.”

I nodded, but the words slid right off me.

The truth? I didn’t know who that was anymore.

We made it through two more hands. Alex kept flirting, kept winning, kept making sure everyone saw his arm draped around my waist. I should have liked it. I used to like this kind of attention, the reassurance of being wanted, of belonging.

But it just felt hollow. Like I was the fake version of myself. Like if Alex kissed me, I’d shatter and bleed all over the couch.

Next to the fridge, Caiden popped open another beer. He caught my eye for just a second, just enough to leave me raw, my skin prickling with heat.

I lost another hand. Alex grinned and nudged me. “Looks like you’re losing your touch.”

I cocked a brow. “Maybe I’m just off tonight.”

He leaned in, closer this time, voice low. “I could help you relax. If you want.”

Oh, god. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t remember how to let someone touch me without expecting pain in every inch.

I tried. “Maybe later.”

He smiled. “I’ll hold you to it.”

Sabrina’s phone buzzed. She stood, sighing, muttering about work stuff. Shane followed, another practiced excuse to give us some space.

Suddenly, it was just me, Alex, and the ghosts.

He picked up my hand. “Seriously, you okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Just tired.”

And inside? I was nothing but tired. Tired of pretending, tired of wanting what I couldn’t have, tired of being the fucked up one.

Caiden lingered in the kitchen, pretending not to watch, but every time Alex moved closer I caught the shift in his stance. The way he glared holes through Alex’s back. The way every muscle in him said: mine.

How could I be his when I spent the first half of my young life hiding from him? Fearing him? Hating him?

I thought about running. I thought about kissing Alex, about letting him pull me somewhere quiet, about letting him ruin me in a different way. I thought about Caiden’s hands, rough and shaking, the way he’d held me in the dark when there was nothing left for either of us except each other’s pain.

I thought if I spoke, I’d scream.

So I just smiled and let the night crawl over me. Let the tension build.

Eventually, Sabrina and Shane came back, arms full of sodas and snacks, and the night’s rhythm snapped back into place. Another game, another round of forced laughter.

But nothing worked. The old pain was still there, crouched under my skin, ready to bite.

I fled the living room the first chance I got. Told them I needed water, but really, I just needed the air. Or maybe just a moment where I didn’t have to pretend.

The kitchen was colder. I closed my eyes, bracing my arms on the counter, and tried to steady the shaking in my hands.

I hated that I could still feel Alex’s touch. I hated more that I could still sense Caiden, even when he wasn’t in the room.

His shape filled the doorway. He didn’t speak right away. Just stood there, soaking up all the oxygen, every molecule of the room bending to him.

I didn’t look at him. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.

But of course, he couldn’t shut up. “You and Alex, huh?”

The words were coated with something. Ownership, jealousy, maybe just hunger.

I bristled. “None of your business.”

He made a low noise, not quite a laugh. “Seriously? If you’re gonna let him grope you in front of everyone, maybe keep it down to PG-13.”

My skull pounded. “You’re the last person who gets to comment on who I spend time with.”

He stepped closer, muscles rippling under his hoodie, eyes burning a hole through my back. “Is that what you’re doing? Spending time?”

I snapped, spinning on him. “What’s it to you, Caiden? You jealous? Or just pissed off that I’m not still chained to the past like you?”

Something flickered across his face. “Trust me. Last thing I want is to be anything like you.”

That one hurt. I pretended it didn’t. “Good. Because even if you tried, you couldn’t handle my shit.”

I thought he’d back off, maybe laugh it away. I’d forgotten what he was like when he wanted to get under my skin.

He crowded me, the fridge thumping my hip. “You think you’re hard to handle? Amelia, you’re impossible. Every time I try to talk to you, it’s like you want to start a war.”