Didi
Ihear him playing guitar before I see him.
I pause just outside the front door, having slipped through the beaded curtain and climbed the eerie stairs leading into the house.
It takes my eyes a long moment to adjust to the blazing early afternoon sunlight, the giant trees are a stark contrast to the bright blue sky.
This property is hauntingly beautiful, with the large trees, small gazebo in the back, and well-manicured bushes. But nothing is as beautiful as the music filling my ears. I know it’s him; I recognize the song he used to hum.
Oddly, I feel rested, despite my haunted consciousness and the inner demons spewing from the depths of my dark psyche.
I wrap my hands around myself and step toward the group huddled by the fire so I can hear Tommy sing better. He plays so effortlessly. The music is deep and poetic, and if Talia brings this out, then I can see why he seems happier now than he did before.
As I watch Talia, who is curled up beside Tommy while he strums the guitar, my heart skips a beat.
She’s undeniably pretty. Her long dark hair is pulled to the side.
She exudes an air of confidence and a captivating darkness I’ll never have.
He’s smiling when he strums, almost as though he’s playing for her.
Bax is next to them, his feet stretched out in front of him, glancing at the sky behind his round glasses. From this vantage point, I’d never suspect they were part of something so terrible.
It’s Remy who notices me first, sitting slightly away from the others as a small plume of smoke shadows him from the dry timber.
He tilts his head when our eyes meet as he leans back on his palms, wearing his usual leather and dark clothes.
My eyes draw to him immediately, and heat runs through my veins as we stare at each other.
The memory of last night floods back. I remember desperately wanting his attention right before I ended up with Tommy. I give him a shy wave just as Lucy sits next to him.
Jealousy seems pointless at this moment, since he can’t keep his eyes off me. Lucy seems irrelevant.
Tommy hasn’t noticed me yet. He quits playing, placing the guitar down, and Talia moves to sit cross-legged between his legs.
He lights up a joint, sucks on it, then places it in her mouth, and I watch the two of them effortlessly interact.
She finally notices me and doesn’t look angry at all.
“Hi there,” Talia says, waving me over. “Come sit with us.”
All eyes are on me as I walk into the circle.
I sit next to Bax, since he’s the only one not coupled up, far away from Tommy, who can’t make eye contact with me right now.
I can’t gauge his emotion underneath his aviator sunglasses, but considering he confessed his love just an hour earlier, I’m sure he’s experiencing something.
Bax is still staring at the sky and barely seems to register that I’m beside him. He glances in my direction, and I rest my hand on his arm.
He looks down at my hand, then up at me, and I see my reflection in his perfectly round glasses. “Oh, hey there, pretty snow lady,” he says in a slow, lazed voice before tilting his head back up to the sky.
Talia chuckles. “Don’t mind Bax; he re-dosed an hour ago. He’ll be like that for hours.” Talia gives me a serpentine smile and leans into Tommy. “How was your night last night, Didi? I’m happy you stayed. I was worried about you after Tommy took you away.”
Ignoring the tension coiling around us, I blink at her. Tommy might break his jaw by clenching it. “It was interesting,” I say dryly.
“Are you all better? It’s always so remarkable how much lighter you feel once the acid forces you to deal with your inner demons. I’ve been studying how natural psychedelics can heal trauma—it helps restore the natural balance of things. You seemed like you could use some healing.”
“I felt better when I woke up,” I say, my gaze flicking to Tommy.
She gives me half a smile, knowing exactly who I woke up with. “Good. We were just listening to Tommy’s new song,” Talia informs me and peers up at him. “Why don’t you play your song for Diana, Tommy?”
My eyebrows rise. “New song?” That is our song, the one he wrote when we first got together. A bead of sweat trickles down his forehead, and I smile. “I’d love to hear it.”
He doesn’t respond but gives me that familiar pout—the one that says, sorry, firefly, as his hand slides up her thigh. If I didn’t understand before, I do now.
They’re together.
He picks up his guitar and begins to strum, but it’s a different song, not the one he was playing just moments ago.
Talia stops him after a few minutes and waves her hand. “Lucy, please go inside and prepare some lunch.”
Her mouth pins to a straight line. “But—”
“It’s lunchtime, Lucy. And I think your mother might need some assistance.”
Lucy looks like she wants to argue but doesn’t. Instead, she turns her attention to Remy, hoping he’ll stick up for her, but he keeps his gaze lowered and jaw tight. Tommy and Remy both look like they’d rather be anywhere else right now.
Heat rushes to her face as she rises from his lap, gives me a dirty look, and wipes her pants. “Lunch will be ready in an hour. I hope our guest doesn’t have any deadly allergies.”
I smile sweetly. “I don’t.”
She stalks off into the house.
When Lucy is out of sight, Talia clicks her tongue and says to no one in particular, “She really needs to learn her place. I’ve been too lenient with her recently.”
Remy lets out an aggravated breath and shakes his head.
Talia stays curled up on Tommy. “Diana, why don’t you get more comfortable?” She diverts her eyes to Remy, who is watching me closely. “There is a chill in the air today.”
I give Remy a weak smile and crawl over to him. He invites me in and lifts his arm, and I snuggle next to him. For a moment, I forget how angry I am and forget all about Tommy. That’s what seems to happen when I’m with Remy…it’s just Remy.
Tommy starts to play again, and I sit and get lost in the strumming. I lean my head on Remy’s chest, and he responds by running his hand up my back.
I tilt my head up. “Hi,” I whisper.
His lips tease my ear, and he whispers softly, “Hi, little lamb.”
My heart flutters, and the guitar stops.
“Well,” Talia says carefully as the four of us stare at each other. “Now that we’re finally alone, I feel like we need to clear the air.”
My heart skips a beat, and my palms grow sweaty. I’ve been near death, lived by a rotting corpse for months, slept beside a ghost, but nothing could prepare me for this conversation with Talia.
“I’m happy you stayed,” she says, her eyes flickering.
“Tommy said I couldn’t leave,” I say with a touch defiance, remembering the brief flash of him saying that.
Talia’s not the only one with power here. Clearly, she wants me for something, and that ought to give me some power over her.
Talia barks out a laugh. “Don’t be ridiculous.” She glances at Tommy, whose gaze is cast downward. “Why would you say such things?”
Tommy arches his brows and frowns.
She huffs. “Oh, don’t be such a pout. Diana is free to leave whenever she wants…just as she’s also free to stay for as long as she wants.”
I meet her gaze. “I want to stay.”
Her face instantly softens. “Good.”
I’m not sure exactly why, but a sinking feeling tells me this is where I belong. This town has stolen a piece of me, stripped it away so completely that I can never reclaim it. And this house…this house is where I need to be.
A shadow shifts beside us, and Bax re-enters the circle with a stick. He walks to the fire, jabs the stick into the flames, and once the wood catches, he stares, utterly enamored with it.
Finally, Remy breaks the uneasy silence. “Didi doesn’t need to be a part of this. She’s already suffered enough.”
“Of course she’s a part of this,” she cuts him off.
“Your little girlfriend didn’t stay dead, did she?
Because you never killed her. Then both of you lied to me about it.
” She fires a look at Remy. “Don’t deny it, Remington.
We all know Tommy’s too stupid to have thought of this on his own.
You’ve spent your entire lives protecting each other.
So, the question now is, what do we do with her now that she’s back? ”
The intense silence lingers between the four of us in the most messed-up love square in existence.
Remy squeezes me and makes eye contact with Tommy. “We keep her hidden here. No one has to know.”
Talia watches her brother with a menacing glare.
The energy shifts inside her as if she’s fighting an internal battle, raging with her own emotions.
Then, like a flip of a switch, she looks at me ever so sweetly.
“Looks like you’re staying with us, Diana.
Remy, why don’t you go show her to her new room.
She can borrow whatever she wants from my wardrobe since we’re the same size.
” She grips Tommy’s knee as he shifts beside her.
“Don’t move, pretty boy. You’re staying with me. ”