Chapter 24
Chapter
Twenty-Four
MERRI
I tipped my head back, drinking in the salty sea air and the way the warm breeze caressed my skin. It was so good to be here, in my beautiful dream paradise, where I was safe and not being kidnapped by demons.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
My eyes snapped open, and a smile stretched across my face as I discovered my sexy dream man leaning over me.
“I wondered if you would be here.”
“Miss me?”
“What would you say if I admitted I did?”
He brushed his knuckles across my cheek before he grabbed my hand and tugged me to standing. “Come on, let’s have a sunset stroll. You can tell me all about what has you so tense.”
“Is it that obvious?” I asked on a laugh.
He held his thumb and forefinger an inch apart. “Maybe just a little.”
“And here I was thinking I was relaxed.”
“Darling, your shoulders are so tight I’d wager even a deep tissue massage wouldn’t unknot them.”
“Deep tissue massages can be quite painful, you know.”
“Not when I do them.”
“Was that an offer?”
“Do you want it to be?”
Damn, my subconscious was a flirt.
I didn’t answer him as we continued down the beach, our toes in the surf, fingers intertwined. Something else was weighing on my mind.
“Merri, I can feel you thinking. What’s wrong?”
Apparently my subconscious decided I didn’t need a sexy dream lover so much as a sexy dream therapist. Fair enough.
“Everything is so confusing right now. I feel like I can’t breathe without doing something wrong.”
“Because of them?” He stopped us and turned me to face him. “They have you trapped.”
I wrinkled my nose as I considered the question. That was true to a point, but it was so much more complicated than that.
“I just feel so out of control of my own life. I mean, when the four horsemen show up and tell you they’re kidnapping you for your own good, you don’t exactly get a say in the matter.”
Some unnamable emotion flickered in his eyes before he closed them and took a long, slow breath.
“I don’t get a say in when I feed. I don’t get a say in who I talk to. I don’t even get a say in where I live. It’s infuriating.”
When he opened his eyes again, it was like he was staring straight into the depths of my soul. “So take back control.”
“Wh-what?” I asked, laughing a little to disguise how off-center I felt.
“Take back control. It’s your life. No one can tell you how to live. Nor should they.”
“You say that like it’s easy.”
“It is easy. They only have control because you let them. So take. It. Back.”
“B-but they’re keeping me safe.”
He shook his head, lips pressed into a thin line. “Are they?”
“They are the good guys.”
“Ask yourself this question, Merri. Really think about it. They kidnapped you. They’re mistreating you. Are they the heroes?”
He released my hand and stared intently into my eyes, one look conveying a truth I hadn’t even let myself fully consider.
“Or are they the villains?”