In the Dark: A Thrilling Romantic Suspense Novel (The Dark Series Book 1)

by Danah Logan

  Rhys sees my distress, and after a quick scan of our surroundings, he pries my hand from my cup and interlaces our hands. He angles his body so his back is to the room and our hands are hidden from view.

  "I don’t think they would take such drastic measures, but you’re right, there’d definitely be changes." He chuckles, mostly to himself. "They’d probably put a lock on your room—or mine—from the outside."

  I try to pull my hand away, but he holds on tight. "Not funny."

  That gives me a genuine laugh. "I’m sorry, babe. I’m just trying to lighten the mood a bit. Bad timing."

  Babe. There it is again. How can one word already feel so right?

  Is that why it hasn’t bothered me the two times he slipped?

  Rhys grows serious, and his eyebrows draw together. "I do want you to tell Denielle. I want one of us with you at all times. And I think Wes deserves to know."

  "I’ll talk to Den tomorrow. If you think we can trust Wes, tell him." Wes has been a loyal friend for years.

  He nods and visibly relaxes.

  By the time we’re back in the car, it’s almost eight, and we drive home in silence, not touching this time. When we pull into the driveway, the first floor is brightly illuminated. They’re home. Rhys opens the garage door but doesn’t pull in. I figure he’s leaving the car outside for some reason and reach for the door. When he keeps his hands on the steering wheel, staring forward, I turn back and look at him questioningly. Without averting his eyes from the front of the house, he whispers, "You and me?"

  Huh? It takes me a moment to understand what he is asking. What is he doing? I’m confused but put my hand on his forearm and say with full conviction, "You and me."

  His eyes find mine, and he nods. "I have to go do something."

  "Uh...okay." But then it clicks; he is going to Katherine. My stomach immediately drops. Why does he have to go to her? Now of all times?

  He must see my panicked face. "I’ll come home tonight; I won’t go to Wes’s."

  I force myself to answer. "Okay."

  It’s well past midnight by the time I get home. I’ve just spent the last three-plus hours getting yelled at by a furious cheerleader. Of course, her main concern was what the school would think. Who the fuck cares? When the yelling didn’t help, she went for tears, but she forgot that I’ve seen it all before. I’ve witnessed her tactics for years, and just because I played along or chose to ignore it, doesn’t mean they work on me. Eventually, she kicks me out, and I’m glad to leave. Lilly probably thinks by now that I’ve changed my mind, and I prepare multiple speeches in my head to convince her that she is the only one for me.

  The house is quiet, and Lilly’s room is dark. I curse at myself for letting Kat go on for so long. I have to shower and change first before I can go to Lilly. At one point, Kat started throwing random stuff, one of which was a flower vase with disgustingly old water. Once I’m sure I no longer smell of rotten plants, I creep over to Lilly’s room.

  As soon as I open the door, I can see the light of her e-reader on the far end of the bed. She waited for me, which makes me pick up my pace. I walk to her side and kneel down. In the dim light, I can see her questioning look, and I take one of her hands away from the device and fold it between mine. "It’s done."

  "Wh-what is done?" She is nervous, and I press my lips together. I feel like a piece of shit now for not explicitly telling her what I was going to do.

  I exhale slowly. "I told Kat that we’re over."

  Lilly whispers, "You were gone for a long time."

  I squeeze her hand and sigh. "She didn’t take it well. I’m hurting her social standing." I have to snort. "We knew from the start that it was never true love for us. All she ever cared about was how we, or more likely she, looked to everyone else dating me."

  Lilly looks me straight in the face. "You told me that you dated her for appearances, but I still don’t understand. Why her? She is so—"

  "Evil?" I finish the sentence for her with a smirk.

  "I guess. That’s one word to describe her." She gives me a one-sided shrug.

  I squeeze her hand. "That’s easy. She is the opposite of you, and I needed that to function."

  Lilly exhales sharply. "Oh."

  We look at each other for a long moment, and then her eyes gaze at the alarm clock. It’s almost one in the morning. She puts her e-reader on the bedside table, and I stand up, getting ready to leave. That’s when she scoots to the middle of her bed and says, "Stay."

  My breath hitches, and I don’t think I’ve heard her correctly. "Uh..."

  I can’t see her face anymore, but I swear she’s smiling when she responds, "You and me."

  These three words are spoken with raw emotion, and there is no question anymore. I’m hyperaware of the proximity between us as I settle on top of her comforter. Despite everything that has brought us to this point and everything we’re going to have to deal with come morning, I’m pretty sure if I slide under the covers with her, I’ll lose the last bit of self-restraint I have. We lie facing each other, and I take both her hands between mine.

  "This is going to be hard." I nuzzle her hands to my face and press them against my lips.

  "Huh?" Lilly doesn’t understand what I mean.

  "You being mine, but..." I take a resigned breath. "No one can know."

  My eyes have adjusted to the darkness, and I can make out her features again. She places one hand on the side of my face, and the touch sends all my senses into overdrive. My heart is hammering in my chest.

  She gazes at me with such love that I can barely breathe. "We’ll figure it out."

  All I want is to kiss her so bad, but it’s not the right time. Everything is too fresh, and we still have the issue of her kidnapper being back. Instead, I settle my hand over hers and lean into the touch.

  I wake with a start around four a.m. I don’t remember falling asleep and stare at her sleeping form for several minutes before finally forcing myself to leave. Once in my room, I send Wes a text.

  We need to talk.

  I’m surprised when he responds right away. It’s the middle of the night.

  Time and place?

  Best to get it over with.

  600 @ gym.

  Might as well get a workout in before class.

  Since it doesn’t make sense to go back to sleep, I take a shower and head out around five. The school gym is always open for team members, which has been my safe haven when avoiding home for years. Now, I’d rather be home, but it’s not like I can be with Lilly anyway.

  Wes walks in around five-thirty. I’m sitting on one of the bench presses, scrolling through my phone. "You’re early."

  Wes gives me a chin nod. "If you text me at four in the morning, I figure it has to be important."

  I press my lips in a tight smile.

  He throws his bag on the floor and settles on the bench across from mine. "So? Talk."

  Straight to the point, but I guess I can’t expect anything else since I’ve left him hanging for weeks—years, if I’m one hundred percent honest.

  I take a long breath. Where to start? "This is about Lilly."

  He raises his eyebrows as if to say no shit, and I continue, "Okay, so..." I pause again. God, how did Lilly tell Denielle? This whole thing is fucking insane. I should’ve asked her for specifics before texting Wes.

  Another breath. "Lilly is not my sister." There, that’s number one. I got that out. "And she is being stalked by a guy who kidnapped her as a child." Number two. "And we’re together. I think. Either way, I’m in love with her." Number three.

  See, wasn’t so hard.

  Wes just stares at me. And stares. And then bursts out laughing. "You’re shitting me, right?"

  I guess I could’ve expected that reaction; this entire scenario is freaking ridiculous. "Nope."

  He stops abruptly, mouth pressed in a flat line. "Anything else I should know while we’re at it?" His tone has turned to stone, and I guess when you’re dropping
a bomb like this on your best friend who thought he knew you, he has every right to be pissed.

  I should probably explain it more. "Lilly and I have known each other our entire lives. We grew up together in San Diego. Our parents were friends. Shortly after I moved here with my parents, she was kidnapped on a school field trip. She was missing for several weeks but eventually turned up again. The gist is, the freak wanted her back. He stalked Lilly and her parents, who then decided to have her memory manipulated and hide her with my parents. That’s when she moved in with us—as my sister."

  Wes scans me up and down, deliberating whether I am not messing with him after all. Eventually, his expression changes, and all he says is, "That’s fucked up!"

  "That’s not all of it."

  He remains silent, and I continue, "I’ve loved her my entire life."

  Wes interrupts me. "Uh, dude, you’ve been dating Kat for years."

  I sigh and hold my hands up. "I’m getting to that. You’ve grown up with us. You know we’ve always been close. But over time, it became more to me, and my dad saw it. That’s when I started dating Kat. He said I was never to act on my feelings since Lilly had no clue she wasn’t my sister—and neither did anyone else, for that matter. Kat was an easy out for me. You know her; she never cared about me." I leave out the part where I was jealous as fuck of him and his friendship with Lilly.

  He nods in understanding. "What’s next?"

  "Lilly started remembering around Thanksgiving last year."

  "That’s when she started acting all weird?"

  I nod. "You noticed?"

  "Sure, man. I’ve been around you guys most of my life. It was obvious, but it wasn’t my place to do or say anything. I figured if it was serious enough, you’d step in no matter what was going on between the two of you. I’ve seen you watch her over the years, though I never expected this."

  I hadn’t anticipated him being this observant.

  "Anyway, I, uh, watched her for a while and finally confronted her mid-December. She told me she thought she was going crazy because of memories that weren’t hers. That was when I saw my chance to finally come clean with her."

  Wes whistles through his teeth, and I keep talking. I tell him everything about her memories, our trip, what we found out, and about the message she received yesterday. I finish with, "And I broke up with Kat last night."

  My best friend is visibly stunned and is processing everything in his head. He stares at his shoes for what feels like an eternity. Finally, he exhales and looks at me. "Dude, this is seriously fucked up."

  I guess that’s an appropriate statement. "Tell me about it." I press my lips together.

  "So, what are we doing now?"

  We. That’s exactly what I would’ve expected Wes to say. I could always count on him. "I’m not sure, man. Lilly doesn’t want Mom or Dad to know, but I’m pretty freaked out about the text. The only other person she was willing to tell was Den. That’s why I told her I want you in. I want one of us with her all the time."

  He holds his fist toward me, and I bump it with mine. "You got it."

  It’s almost seven when we finish talking. Wes asks more questions and even wants to know how Lilly and I ended up together—I’m fairly certain we are together. She hasn’t admitted her feelings yet, and I’m curious what changed. With the text message, we never talked about why she was on her way downstairs.

  Other guys from the team start filing in, and we start working out. When we leave the locker room for our first class, Wes says, "Kat will not go down easily."

  I sigh. "I know."

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  My alarm goes off at six-thirty. Rhys is gone, and I lie under my down comforter, digesting everything that has happened in the last twenty-four hours. Shaking my head, I cover my eyes. I am dating my adoptive brother—I think. What am I doing? The voice in my head still says it’s wrong, but in my heart, it couldn’t feel more right.

  I reach over and grab my phone. Rhys has sent multiple texts, ranging from 4:06 to 5:32 a.m.

  Didn’t want to leave. :(

  Heading to the gym to meet Wes.

  @ gym. If anything happens, CALL ME!

  A slow smile creeps across my face, and my stomach somersaults. Then, the initial burst of giddiness subsides as confusion with a side of apprehension sets in again. What do I respond? Are we officially an unofficial couple? He broke up with Kat, but what does that make us? Things are changing so quickly.

  Will do. Tell Wes hi.

  I guess that covers the latter two messages. I chew on my lip, type, and hit send before I can chicken out.

  See you later?

  When no response comes, I head to the shower. They’re probably still talking.

  I arrive at school twenty minutes early. Denielle is already waiting near my usual parking spot, and I’m not fully out of the car yet when she’s hovering next to my door, looking worried.

  "Why is your brother texting me at five in the morning to make sure I talk to you before school?"

  I’m glad Den is keeping up the charade—not that that statement alone wouldn’t raise suspicion. Den hasn’t talked to Rhys for as long as I haven’t—hadn’t. I’m convinced if it were just the two of us, she would’ve made some sort of torturous comment about my new love life, so I’m grateful to be in public for the moment.

  I climb out of my Jeep. "Something happened."

  Her eyebrows furrow, waiting for me to continue, but I shake my head. "Not here."

  We walk toward the south wing, and Den keeps up the small talk like it’s a typical Monday morning. We pass student masses making their way through the halls to their destination and head to the east wing bathroom, which is rarely used at this time of day since it’s the farthest from everything.

  I squat low without my hands touching the floor, my inner germaphobe on full alert, glancing under the stalls to make sure we are, indeed, alone. Pulling out my phone, I hand it over, and Denielle starts scrolling. She goes utterly still, and her hand is basically strangling the device. Her gaze jerks between the screen and me, finally settling on my face. "Holy. Fucking. Shit. Please tell me you told Heather and Tristen? Called the police?"

  I shake my head. "Neither." My voice is more a whisper, and I don’t know why I sound like I’m guilty of doing something wrong. This is my life for goodness’ sake—my decision.

  She looks at me in disbelief. "You’re insane. This dude kidnapped you and now has photos of us! Of YOU!" Her voice raises, and I shush her, expecting someone to come in and check what’s going on.

  When it remains closed, I sigh. "I’m sorry you got dragged into this."

  My best friend crosses her arms. "Oh, for fuck’s sake, I don’t care about that. I’m worried about you. You’re the one he wants. You had your whole life turned upside down over the last three months."

  I give her a blank stare, unsure of what to say. My life has been turned upside down. My kidnapper found me because my need for answers put me back on his radar. Not to mention, I’m in love with my adopted brother slash former best friend, a person I would’ve never considered for that role. I’m so far out of my element.

  My chest constricts, and I press my fist against it. I mumble, "Rhys says we’ll figure it out."

  Den’s eyebrows shoot up to her forehead.

  How is that anatomically possible?

  "We?" Denielle’s voice faintly registers with me, and I snap out of my ADD moment.

  Shrugging, I look at my feet.

  Denielle’s hands fly to her mouth. "Oh my gosh, are you dating your brother?"

  My eyes widen, mortified, and she cackles, "I’m sorry, but this whole situation is too good to not make a joke about it."

  I punch her in the shoulder. "You’re a bitch."

  That gets me a bear hug. "Forgive me?" Then she pulls back. "So? Are you guys..." She trails off.

  Another shrug. "I have no idea. He broke up with Katherine last night. But we never talked about it—about us," I stammer li
ke an idiot.

  "He broke up with the Wicked Bitch? I have to hear this." She looks at her watch. "We have ten minutes before class starts; I can make it to mine in two. Start talking!"

  She won’t leave me alone until I tell her, so I relent and repeat everything that happened after we parted ways at the gym. "I wanted to apologize for being such a bitch and explain why. But I didn’t know how. And then the text came." I pause for a second and tell her about Rhys finding me on the stairs, our drive, how he left me at the house after we got back, and then when he came back from Katherine’s. I conclude with, "I asked him to stay."

  Denielle’s eyes are about to pop out of their sockets. "Uh, who are you, and what have you done with my best friend?"

  My lips twitch with a smile; she doesn’t judge me. I still wait for her to be grossed out about the whole thing, but she’s actually excited for me.

  "She got her life turned upside down." I shrug with a smirk.

  She slings her arm over my shoulders. "Well, I’m also in this with you."

  "Thanks. I’m going to need your help. I am at a total loss when it comes to Rhys," I confide.

  She has a devious grin on her face. "Rhys can handle the psycho, and I can help with your love life."

  I dramatically smack my palm to my forehead. "What have I done?"

  My psycho-stalker-kidnapper is back, and I have no idea what status Rhys and I are, but I can’t help the bounce in my step all morning. I get sidelong glances everywhere, and I want to roll my eyes. Have I been that mopey and depressed the last few years?

  Rhys’s classes are mostly on the second floor, so I don’t expect to see him until later. Denielle and I are headed to lunch when I get my first glimpse of him. My entire body immediately starts buzzing, and my mind wanders to last night when he was lying in bed with me. Nothing happened besides holding hands, but the small contact was so intimate my cheeks heat at the memory. The instant he laid down, I felt safe. Home.

  I’m being jerked by the elbow, which brings me back to reality—I was about to smack nose-first into an open locker. Now my face is really on fire, and I fight the urge to cover it with my hands. Looking up, Rhys’s eyes crinkle in amusement, but to everyone else, he radiates boredom. He has mastered the stone façade over the years, but I can see past it, and his eyes send a completely different message. He is as affected as I am, and his eyes jump between mine and...my lips. Is he thinking about kissing me? I can’t go there right now; I’d probably trip over my own feet.