Echo(63)

“Luckily I know someone who knows someone that I was able to pay off in exchange for papers,” he explains, and then asks, “She read them?”

“Yeah, she read them.”

“Is she okay?”

“Not of your concern. I think you’re forgetting that your priorities are with me. I want you to stop following her because it seems you’re sidetracked, and I don’t want another oversight on your part,” I berate and then disconnect the call.

When I turn around, I stop in my tracks when I see Elizabeth standing at the foot of the stairs.

“You were having me followed?”





“DO YOU BLAME me?” he says after I question him.

And he’s right, I can’t blame him. How can I expect him not to be suspicious of me?

His face is soured in frustration as he walks towards me. He brushes my shoulder as he passes, saying, “Go to bed,” and then heads up the stairs.

“Why am I here?”

He turns and looks down to me. “Because I don’t trust you to be alone with yourself.” He begins walking back up the stairs, and a few steps later, adds without making any eye contact with me, “The doctor says you have a slight concussion, and I’m to wake you every couple hours. You should get some rest.”

“Why are you so cold? You’re so on and off,” I question, confused by this push and pull he has with me.

“Certainly you don’t need reminding, do you?”

I watch as he ascends, and I’m left alone in the silence of his home. His demeanor shifts in a snap, and I can only assume that whoever he was just talking to on the phone is the cause for that sudden snap. I don’t worry about being followed because I deserve the distrust.

Making my way back up the stairs, I notice the door to his room is open and quietly pad over. When I look in, he’s lying on top of his perfectly made bed. His hands folded behind his head, ankles crossed, and staring up at the ceiling. I’m allowed a moment to absorb him before he senses my presence.

With his body remaining still and his eyes fixed to the ceiling, he says without any inflection, “Get out of my room.”

His tone is even, but I can hear the animosity deep within. So I go to the room he’s put me in and crawl under the sheets. There’s a disconnection inside of me, no doubt due to the extremities of this evening. Maybe I should be embarrassed that Declan saw me coming completely undone like he did, but I’m numb to emotion right now. My body is depleted, and to dissect this whole situation would take more energy than I have. So I roll to my side and stare out of the large windows at the full moon that lights the night’s ink and slowly drift away.



WHISPERS CATCH ME, wrapping their sweet timbres around my heart, and gently pull me out of my slumber.

“Elizabeth,” his soft rasp calls to me. “Open your eyes.”

Fingers comb through my hair, and the touch sends a sparkling shiver through me, warming me from the inside and rousing me awake.

Declan sits on the edge of the bed, hand cupping the side of my head as he looks down upon me. And he’s so beautiful, I question if I’m still dreaming.

“Are you feeling okay?”

Exhaustion is all over me, and as much as I want to stay up with him, my eyes drop. I’m able to answer his question with a nod before sleep takes over.



LIGHT FILTERS THROUGH my lids, and when my eyes flutter open, I see Declan moving about the bathroom. When he emerges in the doorway with a glass of water, he flicks the light off, darkening the room. I’m in a haze as his shadow moves closer to me, and when I feel the bed dip, my arm instinctually reaches out for him.

“Here,” he says. “Take these.”

Dropping a couple painkillers in my hand, I put them in my mouth and then take a sip from the glass of water he gives me. My head falls back to the pillow, weighing a thousand pounds and throbbing with an oncoming headache. I release an appreciative hum at the fact Declan was a step ahead of me in knowing I would need the pain relief. And with my eyes closed, the haze thickens, and I sink into darkness.



GASPING HARD, I’M knocked out of a dead sleep as my body shoots up. Eyes flash open wide and I clutch my chest, panting loudly. My head is clouded with sleep as it strains to catch up to my alert body. Looking around my unfamiliar surroundings, I panic. Everything is disoriented.

“Elizabeth.”

My attention flies to the doorway of the room where Declan is standing, and it’s then my confusion dissipates into clarity.