Luke slid his arm around the back of my chair and nodded toward Kai. "You two know each other?"
"Kind of." There was no need to turn and see the contempt on Kai's face.
Luke's eyes narrowed. "He's into you."
"No." I shook my head even as shivers ran...
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For seven nights in a row the same guy haunted my dreams. It was a welcome haunting. His long black hair, high cheekbones, the way his dark eyes penetrated mine. Yay for my imagination. He was exactly the kind of guy I'd go nuts for if he actually existed.
But real life was happening and Jasmine was picking me up in fifteen to go river rafting.
Dad grinned over the newspaper as I threw a bagel into the toaster and sloshed some orange juice into a glass. "Last rafting trip of the summer, huh?" He winked. "Keep an eye on those rafting guides."
"Sure thing, Dad." I always did.
"Bailey." Mom put her hands on her hips as I smeared cream cheese on my bagel. "Don't you want some eggs? Some protein?"
"No time."
Mom grabbed the egg carton out of the fridge. "It'll only take a couple minutes. Scrambled?"
"Mom." I widened my eyes at Dad and stuck my bagel together. "I've got to go." I took a huge bite because we weren't supposed to talk with our mouths full.
Mom grabbed a frying pan out of the cupboard.
"Bailey will survive, honey." Dad reached for Mom. "But I'd like some eggs, if you're making them."
I downed my juice, mouthed 'thank you' to Dad, and rushed out to the barn.
Dakota whinnied when I came out the back door and then pranced his brown and white self into the barn before I could get there. Never missed a meal, that one. His neck was stretched over his stall door when I walked in. "Hi, baby." I caressed his cheek and he nuzzled my arm as I set a flake of alfalfa into his feed bin. "You'll get your carrots later. Jazz will be here any minute." He lifted his head and snorted as if he understood whom I meant, and blamed her for the carrot delay.
"You could be nicer to her, you know." I grabbed the rake and started mucking out his stall. My mind drifted back to the guy in my dreams. He was so enticing. Serious, his face was always so serious, but beautiful. Just as I scooped the last load into the wheelbarrow, my vision went fuzzy. I blinked hard. That only made it worse.
The barn twisted in a sickening way. The bagel rolled around in my stomach. I couldn't tell which way was up, so I dropped to my knees and reached for the stall. Darkness closed in.
The wood of the stall felt rough beneath my hand, but when I could see again, I wasn't in the barn. I was standing inside a house I didn't recognize.
Someone with long black hair was lying face down on the floor.
I gripped the stall. Splinters sliced into my skin. It was impossible to be in two places at once, right? I leaned forward and said, "Hello?" I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, but the person had the skin tone of the local tribe. "Are you okay?"
