The sunglasses came down over his eyes again, and Isaac turned back to the water.
“Nothing you want, darlin’.”
It was a lie. I could feel it like a thorn under my skin.
It was for the best.
Better for both of us.
Why did that feel like a lie too?
Chapter 10
Paradise
Isaac
Theairconditioningwascranked to the highest setting, blasting frigid air into the cab of the truck, and my palms were still sweating.
One day until the full moon.
Until Tara walked out of Port O’Henry.
I raked rough fingers over the skin on my arm. It kept prickling, itching in a way I knew wouldn’t be soothed by anything but fresh air. Open sky. Stars above me and moonlight in my eyes.
That wasn’t the truth. There was one more thing that could soothe it, but I was too afraid to name it.
One day until the full moon, which meant three weeks had passed without me noticing. Three weeks without speaking to Eli. Without checking whether Saul had walked the perimeter of my property dozens of times. Three weeks and I’d barely sat at my desk.
And when I did, I watched the light flash on my old-fashioned answering machine. Forgot to return important calls.
It all felt meaningless. So far away from what was happening inside me.
A thread of fear wove around my heart, pulling tight with every beat of my pulse. The beast was fixated in a way that I couldn’t allow. A predator watching his prey from the shadows of my eyes. Waiting.
Waiting for what? I couldn’t figure it out.
I should have gone back to the bayou. Told Eli what I was afraid of—that I was finally on the cusp of madness. A fate Saul was always anticipating for us—all of us.
When I slept, it was on the couch in my office, and it was fitful. I would wake in a sweat, standing in the entryway with my hand on the door. A few nights, I had even made it past the parking lot, wandering barefoot over the asphalt toward the southeast corner of Port O’Henry.
Familiar territory. Close to the bayou. Where I purchased my first properties.
Where Tara slept, unaware.
Guilt joined my fear with a heavy thrum. I was dangerous to her. What should have been nothing…wasn’t staying that way.
My fingers drummed on the steering wheel as I slowed to pull beneath her house.
And yet…here I was again.
Relieving the tension under my skin. Giving the beast a sliver of what he wanted in exchange for a few moments of peace.
I was breaking every rule we had ever made. If Saul found out—whenSaul found out—there would be hell to pay.
It couldn’t be any worse than the hell I was experiencing now. As if the moon was already overhead, turning me inside out. Twisting me into the monster beneath my skin.
I should have taken the bike. I could ride off right now, taking the highway at three times the speed limit and burning off some of this—this—