Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I SEE SAUCY RED
The light is a physical blow, pinning me down. Every detail screams for attention—the individual threads in the blanket, the grain of the dark wood headboard, the faint swirl in the plaster ceiling.
It’s too much.
A pounding starts in my head, but it’s not a headache. It’s a deep, throbbing ache that sinks into my jaw, my gums, while my stomach twists on itself, a gnawing void.
I’m thirsty.
I’m hungry.
I’m craving.
A delicious smell jerks me upright.
I don’t see the room around me, don’t hear anything. My sense of smell is the only one that matters now, promising to soothe this aching craving if I just follow the scent to its source.
I’m already moving, already gulping down the scent as I follow its trail, my legs carrying me somewhere my mind hasn’t agreed to go, past a door where the smell thickens in the steam on the other side.
Kallie.
My brain offers the name, but my every thought is about want.
Want to press my nose to the place where her neck meets her shoulder.
Want to feel her pulse against my teeth.
Want to stop thinking about it and do it.