Epilogue
DENVER
‘Someone sent you this.’
I stare at the drink in Rene’s hand. It’s one of my favorites: a Manhattan with two extra cherries, a little redder from the additional grenadine.
‘Who made it?’
‘Casey.’ He jerks his chin toward the bar, and Casey catches my eye, shooting me a wink. We had a thing once. It didn’t last, and thankfully, it didn’t end ugly, so we’re still friends.
‘He ordered me this drink?’ I ask as I take it.
Rene shakes his head. ‘The guy at the end of the bar.’
I freeze with the drink halfway to my lips and peer around the curtain. There’s a man there with only his profile visible. He’s got pale skin and dark hair, and he’s speaking aloud.
That’s all I can make out.
And then he turns. His eyes find mine, and something twists in my stomach. The feeling is ugly. It’s like I’m being taken apart by his eyes—seen in a way I didn’t consent to.
He smirks and turns his back to me, speaking to Casey again.
Looking down at the drink, it’s suddenly sinister. Like if I slosh some of it over the side, it’ll hit the floor in a rush of hissing cartoon skulls and crossbones.
Moving back behind the curtain, I slide toward the back door and crack it open, pouring the drink on the pavement. Rene is still staring at me with a quirked brow, but I offer no explanation, and he doesn’t ask for one.
‘Not thirsty?’
‘No.’ I set the glass down on the stool and wonder if I should text Thorne and see if maybe he still knows any forensics guys who can test it. Something tells me this was meant to be a threat. Thorne will probably think I’m losing my mind, but he might humor me anyway.
Before I can panic and overthink it too much, Rene signals me since I missed the cue lights flashing. It’s time for our duet.
Adjusting my wig, I take a deep breath and follow him past the curtain.
The spotlight is bright, and I take a moment to adjust as we step out, following the beat underneath our feet. For a moment, I lose myself in the choreography and the dance. Rene and I play with the audience as we move around each other and get everyone’s energy up.
There are hands in the air, and people enthusiastically signing along, and I feel like myself again. Not just some buttoned-up, nerdy professor, but also this.
Me.
Glimmer Dear.
A piece of me I had repressed for so long until I ended up here and embraced parts of myself I thought would lie dormant forever.
It’s good.
Until it’s not.
Until I peer across the room and see him again. He’s closer to the stage this time, though still in the shadows, so I can’t really see his face. All I can see is that he’s pale, thin, and tall.
Something creeps up my spine. Fear, I think. Almost like terror. It’s enough that I miss a step. Then another.
Rene shoots me a concerned look and lifts a brow like he’s asking if I’m okay, and I give a hopefully barely there nod before getting back on track.
Mostly.
I can’t keep my eyes off the stranger now though. What the fuck does he want? It reminds me of the feeling I got when the text messages started.
The stalker telling me he knew where I was. What I was wearing. What I was doing. Something about this is way too familiar, and I hate it.
I only breathe a sigh of relief when the song comes to an end and I notice the stranger is gone. I allow one long look around the room before feeling confident he’s left the bar. But even so, I don’t think I can relax.
Rene drags me behind the curtain. ‘Talk to me.’
‘The guy with the drink. He…’ I stop. I don’t want to sound like I’m losing it or that I’m being paranoid. ‘I don’t like him.’
‘Want me to have Casey ban him?’
In my fear, I almost forgot that was an option. I peer around the curtain as the Fruit Basket trio are setting up for their next number, and I see Casey talking to another man at the bar. I can’t see him well either. He’s in a dark shirt, hunched over, head bowed.
He looks just as dangerous, but I don’t get the same feeling as I got before.
Turning back to Rene, I nod. ‘That would be a good idea.’
Rene, once again, doesn’t ask questions. ‘Let me go talk to him while you get changed.’
There’s one more number left—the finale. Then I can go home and pretend like this night never happened.
If only those weren’t famous last words.
The feeling of being watched during the finale is making the back of my neck itch. I hate it, the feeling of dread everywhere I go, the thought that someone is out there, someone I don’t know, looking at me.
Watching me while I can’t see them.
The feeling gets stronger as the seconds tick by. It twists up my spine and makes my skin break out in goose bumps. It’s why I’m currently wiping the makeup off my face and simultaneously getting dressed.
‘You okay?’ Rene asks, his eyes crinkling as he watches me. ‘I told Casey to ban that guy, so you should be good.’
‘Thanks, but I think I’m just not feeling well.’ Rene cocks his head like he doesn’t believe me, but he just nods.
‘You see someone else out there?’ he asks.
The face I make must tell him I think I did. Or I felt someone who didn’t belong. But either way, that sensation is back, and I can’t ignore it. Last time I did, it didn’t go well.
I can’t go through that again. I’ve learned over time to trust my gut. The only problem is, my gut has me running more often than not.
‘It’s fine. The show must go on.’ He waves his hand toward the back door, and I stare at it, my hand faltering slightly. I need to sneak off before I get roped into an encore, but going into an alleyway when I feel like someone is out there waiting for me…but then again, I can’t just leave early.
‘I won’t tell. You need someone to walk you out? I can call security.’
I shake my head and then wave him off. ‘I’m fine. I’ll be fine.’
He doesn’t look so sure. I don’t feel so sure, but this damn stalker I’ve had has interrupted far too many of my shows. They’ve interfered with my life in more ways than one. It doesn’t need to interfere with this.
‘Okay, text me when you’re home.’ Rene leans down and brushes a kiss across my now bare cheek. I still have the smudges of mascara around my eyes, but that can wait to be taken off when I get home.
I shrug on my shirt and grab my satchel. I walk to the back door, take a deep breath, and then push it open.
My gaze peers back and forth. I don’t see anyone waiting for me. There are no suspicious figures lurking in the shadows, and several yards to my left is a busy street. People are walking by, and I know if I can just get to them, then I can get to my car and make it home.
I steel myself and then step out, a light rain coating my exposed skin. I tuck the hat I’m wearing a little lower on my head and hunch my shoulders. Maybe if I act less like Glimmer Dear, they won’t know who’s sneaking out the back.
If anyone is watching at all.
My fingers clench tightly against my palm, and I know they won’t loosen until I’m safe in my house.
My feet pick up the pace, one of them landing in a puddle, but there’s no time to lament that. I just want to get out of this damn alley safely to a place I can breathe.
Suddenly, I see it, a flash of light behind me. Purposeful. Loud. Blinding.
I shouldn’t do it, but I can’t help but turn around. What if it was Rene trying to get my attention? What if someone needs me?
As my neck cranes over my shoulder, my heart thumps in my chest, a tingling sensation moving up my back.
And then I’m knocked sideways, my body falling into the brick wall at my side.
I let out a small wheeze as the air rushes out of my lungs, and when I blink, there’s a hooded figure standing there, watching me, just a few feet away.
My vision goes white, pure terror pulsing through me. I don’t recognize him, and yet I do. My stalker.
He’s back.
I should run, should scream, but I’m unable to do anything except stand there.
The hooded figure takes a step toward me. And another, and then they rush forward. My mouth opens in a desperate shout, but I don’t know if it’s even loud. It could be nothing more than a wisp of air exhaling from my lungs.
Hands move around my neck, squeezing until the edges of my vision start to go black.
My hands grapple into my satchel for the glitter-pepper spray gun Thorne got me, but there’s nothing except my tablet, phone, and keys. Fuck, I can’t believe I left it in my other bag!
Fingers scrambling against the wall for purchase, I can’t seem to get a grip as the world around me continues to darken. I can’t do anything but slump forward, my vision going in and out. This is it.
I should have known. Like I said, my gut is never wrong. I should have gone home sooner, but I didn’t, and now I’m being strangled in an alleyway.
Will they find my body in the morning?
What will I look like when they do?
I feel myself start to give in, to make peace with death, when something warm and wet hits my face. It takes me a second to realize I’m gasping for breath, and as my vision begins to clear, I see the man who was trying to kill me slump to the side and hit the ground.
I blink up at a stranger looming just in front of me. Big, tall, muscular, a scar on his jaw. He has very, very pretty eyes, and they’re locked on me.
I hold up a shaking hand to my throat as he steps closer to me, but I don’t feel the same urge to run. He has blood on his neck, dribbling down to stain his white T-shirt, but I don’t think it’s his. He licks his lips, then parts them on something I think might be a sigh.
He’s still for only a moment more, and then he reaches behind him and pulls his shirt off, exposing his ripped chest. I want to touch him, but I can’t bring myself to move, and his lips twitch into something that might be a smile.
He gently reaches out with his shirt, and I don’t even flinch as he gently wipes off whatever landed on my face.
It’s not until he pulls the shirt away that I see the stain of blood.
I blink, and he cocks his head, and I follow his gaze, turning to look at my stalker scrambling across the alley floor, trying to escape.
For a moment, I think he’s going to go after him, except he doesn’t. He shrugs and turns back to me.
I lick my lips, and his eyes track the motion. Then he steps back and asks, ‘You okay?’
It takes me a moment to realize he’s signing with a fluency that isn’t Deaf, but he also isn’t an early learner either.
I take a breath and nod, even though that’s a complete lie.
I lift my hands to say something, but I get lost in his eyes. They’re so…dark. Everything about him should be terrifying, the breadth of his shoulders, the scar on his face, but it’s not.
Who is this guy?
‘Name-you?’
He smiles but doesn’t answer. I go to repeat myself, but he takes another step back, heaves a breath, then turns on his heel and walks off.
I’m in too much shock to follow, but the ghost of him lingers. I need to know who he is and why he protected me.
And why the sight of blood splattered all over my face didn’t make him flinch.
Coming in 2026, the start to a new series set in the Deaf Hearts world: Murder Hearts. Book one features Denver and Archie’s HEA. Stay tuned and follow Cora Rose and EM Lindsey for updates.