The Thirst Within
Page 25
“Not just looks, Tori.” He’s now circumventing something larger. I can tell that he’s nervous, which doubles my anxiety. He runs a hand through his hair, apparently at a loss for words, and I can’t bear the silence.
“What, my ‘disposition,’ too?” I make air quotes. He looks at me. “That’s what Thierry called it. Of all the women out there, isn’t it a little too coincidental that I’m susceptible to her? That she can haunt me, make feel this way, act this way?”
“What do you mean, coincidental?” He asks suspiciously. “What are you suggesting?”
“You’re saying that I’m susceptible to acting like her because we look alike and have similar dispositions. So that would be me and maybe a handful of other people, total, right?”
“No, not a handful. It’s just you, Tori.”
What? “Me? Of all the women out there? Me, who also happens to be Thierry’s girlfriend.” There. Girlfriend. I said it. Thierry’s never said it, but I don’t care. He loves me.
“There is no coincidence,” Corben says. “It has to do with who you are, not who else looks like you, or whom you are seeing.”
Seeing. He totally degraded my relationship. Doesn’t matter. The rest of his words take a little bit of effort to process. I choose my words carefully.
“Still. ‘Who I am,’ you say. Why do I have to be the one? Me, some girl that lives a thousand miles away? And more importantly, that happens to be dating your brother of sorts? Don’t you think it’s rather peculiar?”
“No,” he says simply. “It’s not peculiar.”
Blood rushes to my head. I don’t believe him. “Would it still be me if I wasn’t dating Thierry?”
“Yes,” he says fervently, as if it was obvious, and I shouldn’t be trying to trick him to say otherwise.
Oh.
His tone disarms me. “Then it’s… extremely coincidental that I met Thierry on that aisle three months ago. The one person his dead sister-in-law can remind his brother of….”
“No, Tori. It isn’t. That wasn’t a coincidence.”
My heart starts pounding loudly in my chest, to shun out the words he says. I feel my nose reddening. I start shaking. “No. It was,” I insist, although I have no valid counterargument.
“I asked him to,” he says, and it’s so quiet that I barely hear him.
And it hurts.
“Why would you do that?” My voice is a whisper, like his. “You didn’t know me. You couldn’t know me.” It comes off almost accusingly, denying everything that I’m starting to see.
He reclines back where he sits, as if taking a step back from me, his hands in the air as if shielding himself from my impending wrath. But he doesn’t need to; I’m shocked, and hurt. Not angry. I don’t get his defensive stance.
“Tori,” he says each word carefully. “I did know you. I’ve always known you.”
“Please,” I say. It doesn’t make sense. “Just give it to me straight. No more cryptic half answers.”
“No, actually. That’s as straight as can be. I’ve known you since you were born, Tori.”
What? I just stare at him.
He doesn’t seem inclined to expand on that, either. When he doesn’t want to, I want him to.
“What do you mean.” It’s a question, but there’s no intonation in my voice. It’s flat.
“Don’t be upset, please,” he says.
When he starts that way, I have the feeling that I will be upset. “Just tell me.”
“I….” He takes a deep breath that he doesn’t need. “When you were born, I felt it. Thierry and I were in New York then. I moved us here, to the Midwest, looking for you.” He stops to gauge my reaction. But I have none. I’m sitting across from him, my expression frozen, my unshed tears frozen.
What. The. Shit.
“Tori, I don’t want to frighten you. But you know how I said I can feel your feelings? You can feel mine, too. What you’ve been feeling—it’s my fault. You’ve been picking up on my feelings.”
“Why?” I try to say, but no sound comes out.
“Because you… your soul, that is… knows me. As mine knows yours. I felt when you were born,” he repeats. “I came here looking for you. But I found you, and I didn’t see a single thing in you that reminded me of….”
“Of her?”
“Of Charlotte. Yes.”
He stops abruptly.
“Why would I remind you of her?” I think I know the answer, but I can’t say it out loud. I need to hear it from him.
He looks away, opens his mouth, and closes it again.
“Tell me,” I say again. It comes off impatient and bossy.
He shifts his eyes away, as if thinking what to say.
“What are you afraid of?” I ask him.
“I’m afraid that you’ll get upset and run off screaming,” Corben says, and he does sound afraid.
“Funny, Thierry said that once,” I notice.
“Rightfully so.”
I look at him directly, although it takes a lot of effort because I’m a mess of nerves when I take his perfection full-on. “Will I live the rest of my life not knowing?”
“You could,” he says, but he doesn’t sound so certain.
“Could I live the rest of my life not knowing and still be… with Thierry?”
He sighs. “No, probably not.”
“So tell me, because I’m going to have to know eventually,” I reason.
He closes his eyes. “You don’t know how much I want to tell you.”
Funny, I don’t see you telling me, I want to say, but I don’t argue. I simply say, “So tell me… Corben.” When I say his name, his eyes open partially, and they almost glow with their intensity. “Why could you feel me being born? Am I….”
I can’t even form the question. Am I someone else? I feel like I lived a life before that has only now started to manifest through my dreams. Like someone else is inside, wanting to get out. The thought is unbearable.
Tears finally spill down my cheeks. He won’t say it. At length, I ask.
“Am I her?”
His eyes bore into mine, and his expression softens. For the first time I recognize something like regard.
“You are Charlotte.”
To Be Continued
About the author
Johi Jenkins grew up in the small town of Las Marias, Puerto Rico but now lives in Chicago, Illinois, with her husband. She likes sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal romance books and video games.
Other books by Johi:
Resurgence (Resurgence Series Book 1)
A note from the author
Thank you for purchasing The Thirst Within Book 1. I hope you enjoyed it.
This ebook was self-published by me. A lot of effort was put into editing; however, grammatical and formatting errors may still exist in this edition. Feel free to send comments and/or edit suggestions directly to me. If you can, please take a moment to review this book in your review site of choice. I will always appreciate your feedback.
Connect with me:
Email: johijenkins@gmail.com
Blog: http://johijenkins.blogspot.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/JohiJenkins
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
1. Everybody’s Dead
2. The Harrises
3. An Outcast
4. The New Girl
5. Working Girl
6. Those Goddamn Cliché Alleys
7. The Phone Fight
8. Tori, Interrupted
9. Angel
10. Don’t Even Go There, Man
11. Fat Chance
12. Angst
13. Trespasser
14. Sacred Silence and Sleep
15. Inhuman
16. Will
17. These Violent Delights
18. Somebody Save Me
19. Hopelessly
20. Interview with the Vampire
21. Sneaking
Out
22. Nights in White Satin
About the author
A note from the author