Standing on the pier with Raine, I watched her as she stared down the beach, her gaze distant. “You look like you’re thinking very hard, there.” I pressed a kiss to her head.
“I was just remembering.” Her voice was soft. “The fortune teller. Aunt Marie. I-I met her down there, on the beach.”
“You did? You never told me.”
Turning, she tilted her head up and met my eyes, her hair glinting with golden threads, highlighted by the last of the sun’s rays. She was so beautiful, and all mine.
“I actually forgot about it. It was that day that Xavier soaked me with his car, remember? Anyway, I was just thinking about the riddle she said. It went, ‘both light and darkness lie ahead. Your path is shrouded with hidden dread. The question that you need to ask… What is hidden beneath his mask?’ Then she added this whispered bit that was a little creepy—she said ‘Find out…before it is too late.’ At the time, I wondered if she was talking about you, but now I’m thinking it was about Dylan.”
She huffed out a laugh, trailing her finger across the railing as the sun finally sank below the horizon. “Silly, though. Right? She can’t really know what’s going to happen.”
I paused for a moment before answering. “No. How could she? She’s just good at reading people.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” She sighed, before laughing again. “Oh, I forgot the weirdest part. She had a talking bird with her. Did you know birds can talk?”
“Yes, I know,” I said dryly. “That’s Picasso. Aunt Marie’s raven. He’s…kind of annoying, for a bird. He has his uses, though.” I thought back to the night when she’d disappeared with Dylan. As much as I disliked that bird, I couldn’t forget how he’d appeared from seemingly nowhere and spurred me into action.
“I thought he was cute.” A grin appeared on her face. “Although he did appear to be kind of judgemental.”
“Yep, that’s Picasso. Anyway, enough talk about the raven.” I slanted my lips over hers, kissing her until she was breathless. “Fuck, I love you.”
Her eyes shining up at me, she smiled. “I love you, too.”
“How about you show me just how much?”
She raised a brow. “What do you mean?”
A slow smile crossed my face. “Do you remember where we parked my truck?”
At her nod, I licked my lips, letting my gaze rake over her body. I watched with satisfaction as she flushed, her pupils dilating, before I lowered my voice. “I’m in the mood to catch myself a little trickster.”
Her eyes widened, and an answering smile curved over her lips. “You are, are you?”
Bending my head, I took her lobe between my teeth, feeling her shudder beneath me. Releasing her, I let the anticipation build, her body thrumming against mine, ready to fly. Then, pressing my mouth to her ear, I rasped the word she’d been waiting for.
“Run.”
As I took off after her, a wide, satisfied grin formed on my lips as I closed the distance between us. I fucking loved this. Loved her. She was made for me.
Life was good.
We had our whole future to look forward to together, and I couldn’t wait.
THE END