Page 62 of Our Lips Are Sealed
Samuel emerged from his SUV and came over. “Let the man work,” he said, antsy to get on the road. “Just follow me, and things will be fine.”
“The man needs to work in Florida, not Texas,” Evie countered. “And you drive like a maniac. She’ll never be able to keep up.”
Jamison’s phone pinged, and she dug it out of her dress pocket. “It’s from Judy, and she said she found the picture.”
“She probably sent Nick on a guilt trip the moment we left,” Cohen said, peering over Jamison’s shoulder. “Mothers are the best.”
Evie tried to see too, but when the picture came through, Jamison shrieked and stumbled back to collide with Samuel. She waved the phone in his face, and he paled, his eyes going wide.
Their reactions were making Evie’s brain beat against her skull. “What is it?”
Two things happened at once. Samuel reached for her, pulling her to him at the same time Jamison turned the phone around.
Time slowed as Evie’s eyes slid to the screen where the image on it showed Judy and Nick standing in front of a poorly decorated Christmas tree with a man she’d once thought of as perfect. He had a perfect smile, which came with a perfect laugh. Perfect green eyes, which shined brightly against his perfectly tanned skin on his perfectly toned body.
Perfect. Perfect. Perfect.
But seeing him with the blinders off, that perfect smile held the ghost of Rebecca in it. And those perfect sea green eyes, crinkling at their corners in that ever so perfect way, were near identical to Charlie’s.
“Lucas.”
The pain in Evie’s head seized every organ, its pressure compressing her lungs and emptying the air in them. At her feet, the ground tilted, drawing closer in a rush. She would have greeted it face first if Samuel hadn’t been there.
“Easy,” he murmured, slowing her descent. “Stay with me, Evangeline.”
Air.
She needed air.
Her chest pumped, but no air came. It was as if the face of Lucas Fields was suffocating her.
Purple rainbow bugs skated through her vision, crawling in from the edges. The first time they ever came, not long after her mother died, Simone had helped Evie name the spots of light so she wouldn’t be afraid. Because when they came, it meant the dark would arrive next. A heavy haze which would press in, until she passed out.
More times than not, Evie welcomed the rest that would last for hours, using it to stop her panic from spreading. But today was not one of those days. She needed to stay alert, and fought against it, digging her nails into Samuel’s arm.
“Don’t let me go.”
Samuel laid her on the pavement, placing her head in his lap. “Never,” he whispered, smoothing back the hair sticking to her face. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Panting, Evie lay powerless as the bugs and misty dark crawled over her and through the cars of the parking lot, scurrying off towards a woman watching the scene several feet away.
Dressed all in white, the woman’s head tilted to its side, studying them with interest. Lifting her hand slowly, she waved with a wiggle of fingers.
Are you ready, Evie?
The question scratched at Evie’s mind, like nails peeling away parts of her brain. Frightened and in pain, she cried out, making the woman giggle.
Hmm, you can’t play like this.
Raising her hands to the sky, the woman gathered the pain, pushing through the madness. The haze in Evie’s vision lessened, burned away by the flames igniting at the woman’s feet.
The woman danced in circles, the fire eating at her white gown while heat scorched the earth, tearing through the dark pressing in. Evie continued to cry, unable to hide from what she was seeing.
He loves you. He loathes you. He craves you. He hates you.
The woman gyrated, spinning wildly as the bugs and the dark sizzled.
Tag, you’re it, Evie.
