Rise (Roam Series, Book Three)

by Stedronsky, Kimberly

  “Come on, you know I’d love that.”

  “Stay?” Eva begged.

  I smiled at them both, leaning forward. “Well, I guess you don’t have to spend your days searching for damsels in distress if I stay. So I’d be doing you a favor.”

  He laughed, and held his hand up for Eva to high-five. “Yes, you would.”

  “Okay… then I’ll stay.” I met his eyes, smiling. “Thank you, West.”

  I reached for his hand, watching as he pulled away quickly and grabbed his fork.

  “You don’t have to thank me.”

  I stared at my fingertips before sliding them back into my lap.

  Chapter Sixteen

  After breakfast, West announced that he was taking us to a place called Shackleford Banks. He held Eva on his lap during the ferry ride to the island, promising we’d see wild horses before our hour-long tour was up. Violet stayed back, looking forward to the day at the shore, alone. She had managed to tell me ‘happy birthday’ once more before hurrying to the balcony.

  When tourists began leaving the line for the ferry, I turned to West, concerned.

  “Are they closing the ferry down?”

  “No, I bought out the ferry… and the island… for an hour.”

  “You what?” I shook my head in disbelief. “Why?”

  “I like the privacy.”

  “You know… I do get that you have a lot of money.”

  He held back a smirk. “I know it’s your birthday, Miss Camden, but it really isn’t about you. I want Eva to see the horses, and find a conch shell. Best chances are on a quiet, empty island.”

  Adequately reprimanded, I lowered my eyes. “I’m so rude- I really can’t believe that I said that to you. Thank you for all that you’re doing.”

  “You have to stop thanking me. I really love spending time with you,” he added, his eyes shadowing slightly. “I wish your car had broken down here a month ago.”

  I widened my eyes, my lips falling open.

  The ferry docked at that moment, and he carried Eva out immediately, leaving the ferry captain to help me to the sand.

  “Can I help you blow out your candles tonight?”

  I grinned as West set Eva to her feet. “I’m very good at holding my breath, but I’ll definitely need your help with blowing out the candles,” I told her importantly.

  “Don’t run too far ahead,” he called as Eva started forward, combing the sand for shells to place in her plastic, orange pail.

  “It is beautiful here,” I walked next to him, stopping for a moment to remove my flip-flops and carry them in my hands. He did the same with his sandals. The short, yellow sundress I’d worn was thin and cool in the oppressive heat. “Didn’t Blackbeard’s ship sink somewhere around here?”

  “Right out there,” he gestured east, nodding. “The Queen Anne’s Revenge.”

  “Yes,” I answered, taking a deep, calming breath.

  Ask him.

  “It was named after the War of the Spanish Succession.”

  “Also known as the Third Indian War.” I added, nodding.

  “That’s right,” he grinned, almost leaning into me before catching himself at the last moment.

  “And were you personally acquainted with Edward Teach?” I asked, referring to the pirate’s real name.

  He gave me a sideways look. “Is that supposed to be a slight on my age?”

  I stopped walking, and he turned to me. “I don’t know. Were you alive three hundred years ago?”

  “Roam.” He took a step backward, staring at me. “What did Violet tell you?”

  “Is she okay?” I asked quickly, almost begging for an affirmative. “Does she have a psychiatric problem?”

  “Eva!” West’s voice stopped the four-year-old in her tracks. “Stay closer.”

  “Kay, daddy.”

  “Is she on medication?”

  His jaw clenched, and his eyes darkened. “What did she say to you?”

  “What didn’t she say? She talked about prophecies, and evil immortal enemies, and time traveling through magical fountains…,” I turned and pointed to Eva. “And thinks that I gave birth to Eva. West, she’s seriously ill. Did you know?”

  He met my eyes. “Is that all she said?”

  “She said that I was under a spell, and if I touch you, or you touch me, that all of these terrible memories would come rushing back, and not just to me, but to my family, and Logan.”

  He shook his head, fury hardening every muscle in his neck.

  “She’s sick, but there is medication that can help,” I said gently, reaching for his elbow. He backed away, shaking his head.

  “Just let Eva have this hour. We’ll talk more at the house, okay?”

  “Do you think Violet’s okay there, alone?”

  “She’ll be fine,” he assured me, bending to move a piece of wood. Snagged beneath a pile of seaweed, a large, white conch shell, fully intact, sat untouched in the sand. “Eva, babe, come here!”

  We saw two wild horses, speaking mostly to Eva for the rest of the hour. I shouldn’t have mentioned Violet. It’s obvious he knows that she’s sick. Anxiety rutted in my stomach, and I sat rigid in the seat of the ferry, lacing my fingers into knots.

  Back at the house, West prepared the steaks while I painted with Eva. As Violet began the dishes after we finished eating, West cursed at the freezer. “I forgot ice cream.”

  “I want ice cream!” Eva complained.

  “I’ll run over to the Food Lion and grab some,” Violet dried her hands, reaching for Eva. “Come on, sis. You can come with me.”

  “Actually,” he turned to me, and then Eva. “Why don’t you take her out for ice cream, and that movie? We’ll do the cake a little later. Okay?”

  Violet lowered her eyes, nodding quietly. “Okay.”

  “Yay Dairy Queen!” Eva shrieked, taking off for the door.

  As Violet collected her keys from the counter, I watched West pull her into a hug. “I’m not angry with you.”

  She glanced at me once before nodding, carrying Eva to the Lexus.

  He watched me gathering the damp paint brushes from the sink. “Leave that. Come walk by the water with me.”

  “Okay,” I said nervously, reaching for my sweatshirt. “I am so sorry for what I said at the island. Whatever is going on with Violet is none of my business. I had no right telling you that she needs medication… I just blurt things out sometimes… maybe I need medication.”

  “Roam, stop apologizing. Come on,” he led me through the door, following behind me as I took the stairs to the shore.

  “She’s so good with Eva,” I added, nearly to the shore.

  “She’s not sick,” he said gently, tucking his hands in his pockets.

  I waited, smoothing the skirt of my dress as my palms began to sweat. Please, God, not a brain tumor. Nothing like that.

  “What’s wrong with her?”

  He turned to me, locking his gaze in mine. “She’s honest.”

  I narrowed my eyes in confusion. “She’s… wait, what?”

  “Baby,” he took a step forward, shaking his head. “You’ve been through unimaginable things. Horrible, horrible things. Roam,” he shook his head. “You almost died. I did what I had to do.”

  “Are you serious?” I panicked, my heart fluttering as I balled my skirt into my fingers. “Are you serious?” I repeated, desperately trying to catch my breath.

  “You told me that you accept that magic is real. If I touch you, every awful moment will come back. You were so… destroyed. Troy… held you prisoner for three months.” His fists clenched at his sides. “He hurt you… over and over again, and I couldn’t stop him. I wasn’t there to save you.”

  “I had another life? With you? Like… reincarnation?” The ringing in my ears began as a far-away buzz. “My dreams… all through senior year…,”

  “Roam, breathe,” he pointed at the sand. “Sit down, I don’t want you to fall if you faint…,”

  “Hold
me,” I begged, reaching for him.

  “I can’t- I can’t do that to you. I can’t hurt you.”

  I turned and ran to the stairs, tears blurring my vision.

  This can’t be… they’re all crazy, I have to leave…

  I made it all the way to my borrowed bedroom before gasping. Quickly, I began throwing my clothes into my suitcase, reaching for my cell phone. Rental car, hotel, I thought frantically, zipping the suitcase closed.

  “Please don’t leave.” He stood in the doorway, and I whirled around, dragging the backs of my hands over my wet cheeks.

  “I am so afraid that you’re telling me the truth!” I shouted, grabbing my suitcase and letting it fall from the bed to the floor with a thud. “I’ll call a taxi, just let me go-…,”

  He shook his head. “Nothing has changed, Roam. Everything that you know is true. You have the same life that you woke up with this morning. Princeton, your dad, Morgan… facts will not change, whether you believe me or not… whether I touch you or not. The only thing that changes is… your mind.”

  Sniffing, I dragged the suitcase behind me, watching as he shifted away when I moved through the doorway. “Thank you for helping me, and for your hospitality. I really just need to leave,” I forced, stopping in the kitchen at his words.

  “Eva is your daughter, Roam. You gave birth to her; I delivered her into this world. You can feel it. I see you with her, I know you feel it.”

  I left the suitcase on the floor, turning to him. “Well, West, that is impossible. I have never… been… with anyone in my life.”

  “In this life.” He crossed the floor, moving to within only inches from me. I lifted my face to his. “Not Logan?” He hushed, his voice heavy.

  The heated flush returned to my neck. “No.”

  He exhaled slowly, moisture clouding his eyes.

  “Let me show you something.” He started toward his bedroom, and I gave him a reluctant stare. “Before you leave, please just… five minutes.”

  “Fine.” I followed him to his bedroom, uncomfortably moving through the door.

  His bedroom faced the ocean. As the sun began to set, brilliant shades of red and orange illuminated the walls, casting everything with a fiery glow. The antique, fifties-era furniture appeared out of place in the upscale home, but filled the room with charm. I pulled my fingers over the surface of the oak dresser.

  “This is the room where Eva was born.” I turned to his voice, watching as he moved to his neatly made bed. “I had the location and the space preserved as much as possible. This is where we spent our wedding night in 1954.”

  A sense of déjà vu stole my ability to speak. I stared at the light headboard, realizing that it was this very room each night, over and over again, as I made love to West in my dreams.

  “This is where I made love to you, Roam Camden, for the first time.” He sat on the edge of the bed, staring at me, defeated.

  “Wait,” I whispered, staring at the oversized windows. “There were no windows… there was just one window before, and it was small. And there was a door,” I swayed on my feet, drawing a shaking breath.

  “You’re right.”

  “And there was music,” I let the tears slip from my eyes, not bothering to wipe them away. “Elvis Presley?”

  “Oh, Roam,” he stood, crossing the floor to me. “Is that what you dream about?”

  “And the floor was painted white,” I looked down at my bare feet, sliding a toe over the freshly stained, new wood flooring. “I could feel sand on the floor while we danced.”

  He closed his eyes tightly. “You remember.”

  “It couldn’t have all been bad,” I hushed, lifting my palm to reach for his face. His piercing, blue gaze stopped me before I could touch him.

  “You are old enough to make this decision on your own.” His gruff voice, so low, forced my heart to thud inside my chest. “If you choose this, I don’t know what the consequences will be… for everyone. All I know is… that it will be the most selfish thing I have ever done, if I let you touch me.”

  I searched his eyes in the evening sun, stilling my pounding heart. “Would you still want me?”

  He lowered his face to mine. “I will never stop wanting you.”

  I shook my head, overcome with conflicting emotions. “I feel like… Alice in Wonderland.”

  His eyes turned a smoky gray, and he took another step. With his mouth hovering over mine, I could taste his breath on my lips.

  “Come here, Alice.”

  Reaching for him, I slid my hands over his broad chest, pressing my lips to his.

  First, I remembered his kiss.

  He exhaled with a low moan, wrapping his arms around me and lifting me to his mouth. Waves of wanting coursed through my body, and I went from shy acceptance to aggressive need in seconds. I gripped his back, letting him gather me into his arms.

  Beginning with a distant burn, the numbers branded into my skin so torturously fast. I cried out, almost falling to my knees. He caught me, raising my arm to his lips to chase the pain away with deliberate kisses.

  “Are you okay?” He hushed, his voice rough and strained.

  “I…,”

  Next, I remembered Eva.

  I slid down his chest, my breathing erratic. He lifted me against him and carried me to the bed. Lowering me slowly, his lips returned to mine.

  I slid my fingers into his hair, the soft texture sending memories of the basement at home through my thoughts… and our first kiss on floor.

  Finally, I remembered…

  I remembered everything.

  The scream began in my mind, and before it touched my vocal chords, I knew that I could never have prepared myself for that moment.

  “Roam? Roam!”

  Darkness, swarming smoke-billows of emptiness, consumed my vision as my old friend, the distant ringing, sounded in my ears. I had no idea how long I was out, but as I began register West next to me, I let the screams erupt.

  My phone was ringing in my dress pocket. West slid his hand beneath me, trying to speak to me with calming words. After a glance at my phone, I covered my mouth with my hands to stop screaming as he answered the call.

  “Logan… yes I have her. Hold on,” he stopped speaking, his hand cupping my face. “Yes… I will. You too.”

  “Logan,” I tried to sit up, but he only let me go as far as his arms.

  “He’s okay… he was worried about you. He could only talk for seconds. He remembers,” he added, glancing at his watch. “We’ll need to speak to Morgan, Jason, and Laurel.”

  “Eva,” I swung my legs over the bed, annoyed with my endlessly long hair. “I need to hold her, I-…,”

  “She’s at the movie with Violet, remember? Roam, we have to talk,” he stood, pulling me against his chest. “You need to talk to me.”

  “How could you do this to me?” I cried, pushing away from him with all of my strength. I stared at my hands before turning my left arm over, searching my inner forearm for the numbers. North Carolina… Logan. “How could you steal two years of her life from me? Two years of your life from me?” I shrieked, the ferocity of my rage sending tremors to rack my body.

  “You deserved a normal life!” He gestured around us. “Not the life I forced you into, one that you choose for yourself. I couldn’t believe it was real when my numbers changed yesterday… I had no idea that after school, and college, and Logan, you’d end up right back here in my arms.”

  “Then you really don’t know me,” I bit at him, crushed. “I’m not who I was this morning… and I’m not who I was… the first time you gave me the numbers. I don’t know what I am,” I realized, shaking my head. “I just want to hold my baby.”

  “You will. One thing at a time,” he walked to the door, reaching his hand out for me. “We need to talk a little… I need to know that Eva is safe. Okay?”

  He watched me carefully, as though I was a wild, uncaged animal.

  “You think I’d hurt her?”

 
; “No. You’ve just been through so much.”

  “So have you,” I argued, taking a step forward. “But… I’ve never killed someone that I love.”

  Furious pain slashed across his face. His muscles flexed involuntarily, his throat contracting. “You want to be angry, and you’re looking to take it out on me. That’s fine. But not Eva, not Violet. They are victims in all of this.”

  I took a step toward him, my chin quivering beneath the pressure of my guilt. “I’m sorry that I said that.”

  “I love you, Roam,” he replied, reaching for my hand. “I’m going to make this better… I promise,” he pulled my face against his chest, and my knees buckled, unable to hold my strength.

  “I love you,” I broke into hysterical tears, and he gathered me into his arms. “Is he dead? He can’t touch me?” I begged, gripping his tee-shirt with all of my strength.

  “I put three bullets in his head. He will never touch you again,” he carried me to the couch, pulling the blanket over me as he brushed his palm over my hair.

  “I hate him,” I lost my voice in frenzied tears, and he held me in his arms.

  “I’m sorry,” he hushed, kissing my palms before holding my hands in his. “I’m so sorry.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Roam,” West’s even voice lulled me from my sleep, and I blinked, cringing at the combination of headache and dried contacts. “Morgan’s on the phone. Do you feel like talking to her?”

  I sat up, searching the room in confusion. West’s bedroom… the new house, not the old cottage… at the beach. Clearing my throat, I nodded.

  He handed me my phone, and Morgan began talking before I could hit speakerphone. “Roam? Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, Morgan,” I rubbed my eye with the back of my hand tiredly. “Are you and Jason okay?”

  “We remember everything. West explained what happened. Since I’m not there to hug him for saving your life, please do that for me.”

  I lifted my eyes to his, the only glow in the dark bedroom coming from the moonlight in the window. “I will. We’ll talk more tomorrow, Morgan. I just really need to be with West and… talk… to him right now.”