Page 60 of The Final Deal

Dree gingerly lays me in bed and tucks me in with a forehead kiss. But then he jumps over me, crash landing on his side of the bed with the biggest grin. “C’mere, you.”

He pulls me into him; I snuggle into his side and rest my cheek on his bare chest. He takes my hand and rests it over his heart.

“I know today wasn’t the white wedding you might’ve dreamed about when we were younger,” I murmur, “but I think it was perfect.”

Adrian chuckles. “I never dreamed about a white wedding. I dreamed about you and me being together. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

“Well, you got me, hon.”

My eyes flutter closed with a smile on my lips.

What was one of the worst days has ended up being one of the best.

I breathe in sharply and blink. My brows knit together; this isn’t the studio.

My hands clench into fists, and rings on my left ring finger pinch my skin. Adrian breathes in deeply beside me, so far mimis that I climb out of bed without disturbing him at all. I smile at the sleeping body I leave behind.

I still can’t believe I can call him mine.

The house is dark except for a lamp that stays on in the great room and a night light in the kitchen that gives enough illumination for me to find my way from Adrian’s side of the house to Zak’s.

Curious, though, that there’s a light on in his room that spills out into the hallway. Guess it isn’t as late as I thought it was.

The door is open a smidgen, so I knock on it to not scare him with a sudden entry. “Hon? You awake?”

Something rustles behind the door, but he doesn’t answer.

I swear to God, if he’s beating it again, I think to myself as I push the door open—but his bed is empty.

A dark figure in the corner stirs.

My eyes widen on a barred owl the size of a man. Its big eyes glitter on me, and then its beak opens and screeches.

I scream and slam the door shut. “Jesus!”

I sprint down the hall and stop in the foyer. My heart thunders in my chest as I pace; my breathing is shallow and panicked, wheezing from the adrenaline and shock coursing through my nerves. I fan myself with a hand to dry the oncoming tears, but they spill over as suddenly as they appeared in my eyes.

My knees buckle, and I land on the tile floor without feeling a thing.

“Steph!”

Adrian’s voice is barely audible over the sound of my harrowed cries that wrench from deep within my gut. A ghostly sensation of arms encircling me heightens the excruciating agony in my stomach and burns in my chest.

A hand pats my cheek roughly. “Hey, what’s going on?”

I throw a hand out and point toward his room. “Zak!”

He attempts to still my shaking body with a firm grip on my shoulders. “Stay here.”

All I see through the blur is Adrian’s silhouette dashing down the hallway toward Zak’s room. A sliver of light highlights his body and the hallway.

An owl screeches.

The door slams. “Jesus, fuck!”

Footsteps rush toward me. I snivel and wipe my eyes. “Where’s Zak? Where…” I howl the heartbreak. “Where is he?”

“Baby, baby,” Adrian repeats, gently shaking me. “Go to my room and stay there. I’ll look.”

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