Chapter 1
Book 2
Chapter 1
5 months later- July
Bri
The Louisiana sun shone too brightly as I opened my eyes. I could feel the hardness of the docks beneath the blanket under my back, a copy of Watership Down in my hands, my head resting comfortably on what felt like Wyatt’s thick thigh, as Beau’s hand idly ran up and down my leg; I knew the feel of my men, the safety and security of their presence. I hummed contentedly. The cicadas were droning in the background, and a barred owl called. I could hear the boys roughhousing far off in the distance. I set the book aside, my hands trailing over my enormous stomach, and I smiled, beaming with the tranquility of it all. I felt a kick against my palm and then another.
Snatching up their hands, I pulled them to the swell of my stomach, two familiar sets of adoring eyes on handsome rugged faces met mine.
“Ya know,” Wyatt said, his hand grazing my jaw as he tilted it in his direction, “I thought you were beautiful before, but now, all of this world’s beauty doesn’t compare to you. He kissed me deeply, lovingly, passionately, as he pulled me gently up to sit. Beau’s hand skimmed higher up my leg, the fabric of the skirt of my dress bunching up as he did, from where he sat shirtless beside me.
“I think we should practice.” His eyes were predatory, and his voice ended in a growl.
“Practice what?” I asked, leaning into Wyatt as I faced Beau.
“Keeping you in this exquisite condition,” he growled, and Wyatt growled with him in agreement. That sounded like a lovely way to spend a lazy afternoon. Beau’s hand inched up my leg as Wyatt’s mouth grazed up my neck. The sensations of their energies pulsed through me. I was lucky, oh so lucky.
“Bri!” Claude’s voice called in alarm. I started to my feet, my men assisting me. Our eyes were scanning for him.
“Bri!” or was it Lou?
“BRI!” The word started in Bastien’s voice but ended in Zoey’s. I gasped awake, startled, staring around at the strange room. It was all a dream. I sobbed, and Zoey wrapped around me, rocking me. Every morning was like this: the alternate world of my loves was ripped away by my duty to this world, which always tore them away, testing their tethers to my heart. My hands found my flat stomach, and I sobbed again.
“It was a dream, Bri, it wasn’t real,” Zoey tried to help me rationalize as she gripped my cheeks and looked into my eyes. What was happening to me? The grief was a heavyweight throughout the day, but at night, the memories and want of them tangled with my dreams. They became more and more vivid as the weeks passed by. My lips trembled, and a few more tears fell.
“What was it?” Zoey asked, wiping the tears away. There was no hiding how torn up I was as I forced the words out of my mouth.
“I was pregnant and they were so happy, we were happy,”
“Bri,” Zoey breathed, pulling me to her again. “There has to be a way, a way to do both, Bri. If this is what it’s like for you, what do they feel?”
“Just an echo, Zoey,” I assured her, while trying to assure myself. “Until they forget me, it was my soul that initiated the tether, it is my burden to bear. They can’t be safe if anyone knows what they mean to me.”
“We can be careful, hide it. They don’t ever have to come here.”
“No, Zoey. It’s too risky,” I said, pulling away from her and sliding out of bed. I shrugged out of Wyatt’s shirt, leaving it on the bed, walking naked into the bathroom to wash the sweat off my skin. It was a particularly balmy August and I had opted to leave the balcony door open, as opposed to turning on the air conditioning. The only things to survive my destruction when I combusted after they left, were the things touched by them. The memories and the items I had pilfered to hold on to the last threads of … us. The pull on my heart had been too great; the light had clawed its way out and burned everything else it could reach. The girl’s books, the records, the player, and the clothes that had been in the closet, including the ones on my back, had all instantly ignited in my torrent and fallen to dust. The windows had blown out with my screams, no longer able to silence the pain that radiates from within. The locks melted in the door as Andrew tried to break it down with Trent. They couldn’t get to me, nor could their voices make me see sense, until Zoey.
