Page 93 of Awestruck at Dusk
Sous-Chef
June 19, 2010
THOMAS HAS MEpinned to my bed again.His full weight on top of me, the tight grip of his hands on my wrists, crushing them.He leans in and grazes my jawline up to my ear with the tip of his nose.I cringe but try for my reaction to go undetected.I fail—miserably.He notices my rejection and his crushing grip snaps my wrist.
I scream as the pain cripples my entire arm.
Thomas uselessly tries to make me stop,but I keep screaming.William walks in,and he’s roaring my name.Thomas asks him to stop,and he doesn’t.He never stops.
Thomas pulls out a gun, and he shoots.Twice.
Head.Heart.
William’s down,and I scream again in between sobs.
The scene melts away.I’m alone now,and I sit up in my bed.The room is pitch black, and my eyelids are heavy.I can’t seem to keep my eyes open.
“It’s okay.You’re okay,”a soothing,melodic voice whispers in my ear.I feel two hands on my shoulders.They gently push me back in the bed and cover me with the comforter.I’m crying again,but it’s a soft and constant weeping—a realization that I’m safe.Dreaming.“It’s okay, Guille.”
“William,”I whisper back.My eyes are closed, and as much as I try to open them.To see him.I can’t.
“Shh.Just breathe.”
I’m sleeping again,and this time I’m sucked into the dark,welcoming nothingness.
A sliver of sunshine squeezed into the guest bedroom through both sides of the blinds making my eyes fly open. I reached out for my phone on the nightstand. 10:04 a.m. A sense of panic kicked in when I couldn’t find Caleb’s letter. I’d slept holding on to it last night, but I exhaled with relief when I saw it on the floor beside my bed.
Damn it. I overslept. I’d never taken a full dose of my sleeping pill, only half, sometimes even a quarter. I realized just now that taking the sleeping pills didn’t turn off the nightmares. It’d just been a coincidence that I had no bad dreams the last few times I took one. I wasn’t taking them very often, only when I absolutely had to like last night.
Nathan said he’d be arriving around noon, so it was best for me to get up and start my day. So I jumped in the shower, got dressed, and walked out of the guestroom.
The smell of different herbs and spices hit me as I stepped out. Outside, I spotted a big truck with five guys unloading furniture and a wooden pergola like the one that they used last year during the Midsummer party on the rooftop.
Aaron and Amena stood near the front door with firm bodyguard stances observing the scene before them. I guess they were apprehensive of the furniture guys or something. They always lingered around the SUV.
I followed the delicious aromas coming from the kitchen, and William was there. Cooking. He had a beard now. It was neat and well kept, just like in the paparazzi photos of him with that South African actress. It looked great on him, of course.
I froze.Was William really in my room last night soothing me back to sleep?
No, no, it’d all been a dream.
“Feeling better?” he asked as he kept doing his thing, chopping stuff, for what I could tell. His gaze fixed on his knife and cutting board.
Uh-oh.Was he, then?
“Hey. Um … yeah. What do you mean? Where’s everyone?” My feet were glued on the spot where I stood, unable to move as I waited for the effect of seeing him again to settle.
William dropped the knife, wiped his brow with his forearm, and focused his blue gaze at me. He scanned me with a frown and turned around to take a few things out of the fridge. Vegetables. He resumed the chopping and finally started talking.
“Zara went out for a run with Eric. Lily and Joel left to get some stuff I need from the grocery store. Tobias is upstairs taking a call in his room, and you were screaming in your sleep as usual when I arrived a few hours ago,” he explained. “Do you want some coffee, or are you gonna stand there all morning?”
Both. He was back to being Midsummer William: cocky, analytic, and hot as hell. And I don’t even have to mention he was wearing a white V-neck t-shirt with gray joggers.
“Yes. Coffee—I mean. Thank you.” I coaxed my feet to respond, so I walked over to the kitchen counter and took a seat on one of the stools in front of William. “Sorry about last night. I didn’t realize you were in there. That you heard me.”
“I suspected that. You never opened your eyes,” he replied. “Here you go. Milk, right?” I nodded, but he was already pouring a dash of milk into my coffee. “So tell me, why is Nathan never around when you need him again?” William asked as he placed the milk carton back inside the fridge.
“He’s on his way, actually,” I said, my brows pulling in and a portion of me going into panic as I realized William was here when he wasn’t supposed to be. I feared what would happen if orwhenNathan found out about the speculations regarding the nature of Zara and William’s relationship.
