I try to open the front door but it’s locked. I don’t want to knock and ring the door bell so I walk around to the back of the house and slide the glass door open. He always forgets to lock it.
The house is eerily quiet as I walk through it. I don’t hear any sounds from upstairs that say Cole is moving around or taking a shower. I glance around the house to make sure he isn’t somewhere downstairs. I proceed up the stairs and to Cole’s room. I love watching him sleep, he is so cute.
I slowly open his door and peek inside. He’s not there! Where would he be so early in the morning? Shit! Are we late for school?
I close his bedroom door and run back down the stairs. I go through the front door, making sure to lock it from the inside before closing it and running home. The clock says it’s only seven in the morning. Good. We still have an hour before we have to be at school. Cole must have left early to set things up or something. Maybe he had a scheduled tutoring session before classes began?
I go upstairs to get ready for school. Alex is back in his room, probably getting ready for school. I quickly get myself ready and head back downstairs to grab something to eat while I wait for Alex to drive us to school.
Mom and dad are getting ready to walk out the door as I come down the stairs. I give them each a kiss and say goodbye before heading into the kitchen to make some toast. Alex comes down the stairs as I am buttering some toast for him.
“What did Cole say?”
“He wasn’t home,” I tell him as I hand him his toast wrapped in a paper towel.
“Thanks. Let’s go before we’re late. You can talk to Cole after school.”
“I know.” I give him a duh look. I’ve already started a new semester in my art class so this semester I have classes on Tuesday and Thursday. It leaves my Mondays free but now I have class later at night which is making me miss swim team practices. I do not like this semester.
We head out to the car and drive to school. Neither one of us says much more on the dream subject. I stare out the window but I don’t even see the scenery. All I see is the visions of my dream. It doesn’t feel like a dream. Dreams fade. This is not fading from my mind. I still remember every sensation, every detail.
“Do you think Ollie will be at school today?” Alex breaks me out of my daydream.
Ollie! I forgot all about him and the New York incident. “I don’t know. I hope not. But I don’t think they will leave us alone anymore. They’re too curious. I hope Edmund has the others set up to watch us like he promised. I don’t want you to have to go through what I did.”
“Me!” Alex sounds exasperated. “I don’t want them to get to you again. Lexi, I cannot believe what you went through. And you act like it was nothing. I would be comatose if I was you.” He shakes his head in disbelief. “I want to kill that… errrr!” He practically roars his frustration.
“Did you just growl?” I smile at him to see if I can get him to ease off. It doesn’t work. He’s too busy staring at the road ahead like he wants to run something over. “Don’t worry about Ollie. I think I planted a seed in his head. He let me go. He practically helped me. It’s not him we have to worry about.”
Neither I nor Alex speaks another word as we pull into the school parking lot, scanning the area for any signs of Ollie. I’m looking for Edmund’s car too, to see if Cole is here.
When we get out of the car, Alex storms away with a purposeful walk. I choose to let him go for now but pray that he won’t make a scene with Ollie if he does come back to school.
*
The day ends uneventful. Everyone asks how New York was and we lie and tell them it was fabulous. I find that Alex isn’t that good at lying, at all, so Kaitlyn and I are the ones that talk about the things that we did get to do and we lie about the rest of the stuff that we wanted to do.
Ollie doesn’t show up to school. I’m a little surprised but relieved. That means I don’t have to worry about Alex getting into a fight with him. He can’t afford to be expelled; he’ll lose any chance of a scholarship.
I walked past the music room on my way home but I didn’t see Cole in there. He must have stepped out before I passed by. I drove home and started on my homework so I could have most of it done before Cole gets home, I don’t want to be up all night if I don’t have to be.
By five o’clock he still hasn’t come by the house so I go back over to his place to see him there. I walk up to the front door and knock but there is no answer. I stand there and ring the doorbell twice but he still doesn’t come to the door. Weird. Cole always comes home when he gets off work and he didn’t tell me he was supposed to do anything today. And I doubt he would want to leave my side after what happened in New York. What is going on? He probably thought I was still on nonspeaking terms with him.
I go around to the back of the house and come in through the back door. I hate feeling stalkerish but I really need to tell him about the dream. Maybe, he had a performance he forgot to tell me about. I walk over to the music room and see that his violin is still sitting up against the wall where it always rests.
I don’t know what to think at this point. I walk upstairs to go to his room and pull my cell phone out of my back pocket and call him on his phone. A message tells me his phone has been disconnected. I sink down onto the top step. What is going on here?
I sit there for several moments trying to rack my brain for excuses. Why would his phone be disconnected? It wouldn’t be disconnected if something happened to him? Where is Cole? I can’t shake the feeling that this house feels abandoned. I feel abandoned.
I stand up shakily and walk to his room. I approach the door like it’s going to burn me if I touch it. Hesitantly, I turn the knob and open the door. The room looks the same as it did this morning, except for the
abandoned feeling it has now. I walk over to his dressers and start opening everything. All his stuff is still here. I breathe a sigh of relief and sink onto the bed. He’ll be back. He’s not gone. I start chanting to myself.
That’s when I notice a white envelope sitting on top of a pillow with a single red calla lily beside it.
“Oh no!” I cry out loud and slap my hands over my mouth. “Don’t do this Cole. Don’t leave me. I wasn’t going to be mad at you forever.” I can’t bring myself to read the letter. I fall back on the bed and start sobbing so uncontrollably. I already know why he left. It’s because of Edmund. He heard what Edmund said to me last night.
My anger starts to flare up and I scream as loud as I can, knowing no one will hear me. It gives me the strength to pick up the envelope and unfold the letter.
Alexis,
I never thought I would have the strength to leave you but I’m certain now that this is the best thing for you. It would be selfish for me to continue to be with you when you deserve so much more. I have put you in danger just by being with you and not because of what I am but because of who I am. I never told you much about myself. You know I avoided telling you many times. It’s because I didn’t want you to see the monster in me. With you I had redemption.
My wings weren’t torn off because of what I believed in, like Edmunds. My wings were torn from me because I was a traitor. I was selfish and I betrayed others. It shames me to tell you this much. I cannot tell you more.
Lexi, I know you are going to blame your father for this. Don’t! Blame me. I want you to hate me. Hate me for being a coward. Hate me for leaving you at your time of need. Hate me for everything you have gone through lately. Hate me for lying to you, for coming into your life and complicating it and for everything you went through in New York. It’s all my fault. None of it would have happened if it wasn’t for me.
Hate me because it will be easier. Hate me because I deserve to suffer. Hate me because I love you so much I risked putting you in danger just to remain with you. Hate me because you loved me and now I’m gone.
I know Edmund will do everything in his power to keep you and Alex safe. You have nothing to fear there. I don’t know what else to say,
Lexi, I wish to cause you no more pain.
Cole
Look for the next book in the Series
Sleeping Gods: The LunAngelique Series
Coming Soon!
And
Check out my website:
http://www.lunangelique.com
For Updates.
About the Author
Kristin R. Campbell currently lives in Utah with her husband and two children. She is a stay-at-home-mom and editor for her husband’s publishing company. Kristin is prior military and has a bachelor in Criminal Justice. She enjoys hiking, travelling, and of course, reading and writing.
Table of Contents
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Sleeping Gods: The LunAngelique Series
About the Author
Lunangelique (The Lunangelique Series) Page 23