I shook my head, hearing voices still echoing from downstairs. “Mine would, if you could even call her that.”
Reese followed me down the hall to a distant guest bedroom. A lush sofa sat in the corner beside a lofty bureau as a massive king-sized bed took up the rest of the space. Neither of my parents ever came into these bedrooms, and they hadn’t come in to wish me goodnight since I was five, so I didn’t need to worry about either walking in on us or wondering why I wasn’t in my room.
I had been dreading the moment when I’d be left alone, and Reese didn’t need me to ask. He slid off his tailcoat and shoes before removing his vest as well. In nothing but a half-unbuttoned dress shirt and black jeans, he settled into the sofa, draping his jacket over himself as a makeshift blanket. My other concern rested with having another uninvited visitor, so I flipped the door lock into place before nestling into the fluffy comfort of Egyptian cotton sheets.
***
I shrieked as arms safely ensnared me around my waist, hoisting me up before the rogue waves splashed my feet. I’d been swimming at several local beaches all summer, but even by the ocean’s standard, the water was shockingly cold. Blaine set me back down in the sand once the waves receded back into the ocean. The moon’s distorted reflection rippled in the surf as it hung low in the sky. No one had ever mentioned Devil’s Bay before, and I couldn’t be happier that Blaine had taken me here.
I had never seen water like this. With each wave that piled on top of one another, the ocean glowed—literally glowed—a bright neon blue. Bioluminescence he had called it. The marine life apparently emitted this mystical luminosity through photophores as a reaction to the disturbance in the water.
“You like it?” Blaine asked.
I didn’t need to answer. He could tell by the ridiculous smile on my face that I loved everything about it, soaking in every detail as if to stow them away in my mind for safe keeping. I still nodded. “How come no one else is out here? I mean, it’s so beautiful. You’d think the entire beach would be filled with onlookers.”
“Well, that’s kind of the thing. We’re really not supposed to be out here,” he whispered mischievously. I shot him an uneasy look. “During the summer months, we tend to get a lot of folks, homeless and tourists mostly, that like to sleep out on the beach. This stretch isn’t particularly well lit, so police patrol the area at night to kick out trespassers.”
“So we’re breaking the law?” I couldn’t stop smiling.
“Kind of fun, isn’t it?”
“Kind of freeing.” I came to a stop, looking out into the water again. My gaze dropped to the ridiculous heels in my hands. I suddenly hurled a shoe. It disappeared into the night, only showing itself again by way of a splash in the water with glimmering blue lights swirling beneath the surface.
Blaine laughed, watching me throw the remaining heel. “Dare I ask how much those cost?”
“Asides from my dignity?”
“It really is mind numbing, isn’t it? The parties, the gossip, all the bullshit.” He sighed, nodding down at his pristine suit as he brushed the rogue strands of black hair from his eyes. “But hey, at least we don’t have to wait much longer till we can get out of here.”
The waves splashing up onto the shore seemed to stretch out, as if begging to kiss my feet. I didn’t move. “You never really escape it though, do you?” It wasn’t a question. “Sure, you go off to college, but it’s one of your parents’ choosing. You take the classes they’ve already decided for you, you get the degree they want, and then you’re groomed to take over the family business. What choices do we really have?”
Blaine’s expression turned sorrowful. He knew this all too well. “True love should never come with conditions.”
“That’s what they make you believe.”
“Perhaps, but as they say, ‘Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift.’” He extended his hand out to me. “‘That’s why it’s called the present.’”
A new smile tugged at my lips. “Quoting Alice Morse Earle, are we?”
He winked. “We may not be able to control our futures, but we can decide what we do in the here and now. Fuck the lot of them, even if only for tonight. Let’s paint the town red.”
***
Glass blasted into my face, the final roar of the car engine exploding like a cannon as everything around me crumpled in on all sides. Blood. There was blood everywhere. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. Every effort to refill my lungs ended with nothing but a rasp. And the pain. Not one inch of me was spared from the devastation. It was as if the vehicle had been put through one of those car crushers from the junkyard—with me still inside.