Declan and I made it official to pick up where we left off a week and a half ago. Since then, I've spent the night in his bed every night. But because Everly's also been with us since then, and how Declan doesn't want her to know about us or our past just yet, I've had to sneak into his room late at night, and when the sun starts to rise, I sneak out and head back to my given room.
It felt terrific waking up to Declan every morning in the warmth of his arms or our bodies entangled instead of waking to an empty bed or a cold, dark room. But it's also saddening that we're sneaking around Everly and that I have to return to my room every morning before she awakes.
I understand why he wants to hide our relationship. Everly's not used to seeing him with another woman. She's talking with him and spending time with him now. And she has a crazy mother who's been itching to find a way for Declan to lose his parental rights. Not that having a woman in his life is her business or a good reason to lose his rights. He worries that she'll believe I'm putting Everly in danger if she's around me because of my situation.
Which is warranted. I still have nightmares about Chadwick finding me, kidnapping Everly, and hurting her. So if anything ever happened to Everly and Chadwick was the reason behind it, and he harmed her, I'd never be the same.
It must be time to head back to my room because my skin crawled with goosebumps from Declan's lips, peppering kisses along my collarbone and neck. And since I dread having to leave Declan's warm bed and slip into a cold one, I force my eyes to remain closed—just a little longer.
"Seraphine," Declan whispered, his lips grazing my ear and making me shiver. It's time to get up."
I whimpered. "Already?" I quietly whined.
"Unfortunately," he whispered, kissing my jawline.
"Can't we just tell her?" I asked, even though I agreed with him that she wasn't ready to know. I was only wanting to whine about the situation.
"Eventually, we'll tell her. Trust me. I want her to know more than anything. I want her to know everything."
I sighed, and he planted his mouth on mine, taking my sigh with him and swallowing it down. His kiss was warm, slow, and passionate, so much so that my toes cramped when they curled. His lips moving with mine and his hands exploring my body made it harder to want to leave his bed.
Before this went out of hand, I pulled away from his mouth. "I better go," I whispered, rolling over and sliding out of bed. As I picked my nightgown off the floor, I reminded him, "Don't forget Everly wants us to take her to the fair tonight." Slipping my nightgown over my head, I scolded, "She's brought it up all week, and you've ignored giving her an answer."
He sighed, scrubbing his face. "I know. I'm having difficulty deciding what to do since I don't think it's a good idea for us to be there."
This was the first I'd heard him think this way, and when my nightgown finished sliding down my body, I stared at him. "What? Why? She's been looking forward to us going for weeks!" I whispered loudly, angrily. "It's why she talked her mom into allowing her to be here, Declan. Her mother isn't taking her since she decided to take a vacation at the last minute, and you promised we'd take her when she first brought it up. Now, you're saying it isn't a good idea we go? ... Why?" I demanded.
He inhaled deeply, then lowered his hands from his face, muttering, "It'll be a hundred and ten degrees today."
"So, we bring a cooler filled with bottles of water."
He shook his head. "It's not only that, Seraphine."
"Declan," I sighed. "Don't break your daughter's heart. She looked forward to this night. It was supposed to be her birthday gift, as we had talked about. Remember? The only thing she wanted from you was for you to bring her to the fair."
He sighed again, and I immediately believed he knew something he feared telling me about.
"What are you hiding from me?"
It took about twenty heartbeats for him to answer me finally. "It's the easiest place to be for something terrible to happen. And Chadwick is still searching for you."
"I'll wear my wig. It's why I have them, right?"
"Yes, but—"
"But what? Do you know something that you haven't informed me about?"
"We'll go. I don't want to break Everly's heart. I've done enough of that already," he said finally, but I noticed the dread in his tone.
I wasn't sure how to take his response, and when he sat up and rested his feet on the floor, dragging his hands through his hair, I ensured, "I'll hide myself well. I promise. He'll never know it's me."
***
Declan was right about how hot it would be today, and when the sun had set, it didn't even cool down; it got even more humid, making me regret my clothing and wig choice.
My wig was black with long bangs, straight, very long, and heavy. I highlighted my eyes with black eyeliner and eyeshadow and lined my lips with black lipstick. I also wore a couple of fake liprings. I wore faux leather pants with buckles wrapped around my thighs on both legs, and the sides of my pant legs were tied up in laces from ankle to hip. My top was also faux leather, with buckles and laces as well, and I wore a push-up bra to make my breasts appear bigger and fuller.
I figured if I wanted to really shock everyone tonight, I needed to dress gothic. But now, between the heavy wig, this faux leather, and the humidity, I'm sweating up a storm.
I got strange looks everywhere we were, or it was Declan; they were strangely looking at wondering what a hot guy like him was doing with someone like me, and it had me laughing on the inside.
"Do you know how badly I want to hold your hand right now?" Declan whispered in my ear as we walked along the line of food trucks, looking for something to eat. I've always loved fair food, and since it'd been years since I last had it, I wanted to have everything I saw.
"Another time," I told him, grinning. Loving how this inability to show me affection or that I was his around Everly and everyone else wandering around the fairgrounds was torturing him.
Everly stepped in front of us, walking backward as she asked, "Dad, can I have a footlong and a bag of cotton candy?"
"Sure."
She pointed, saying, "We'll have to go back that way; we've already passed it."
He looked at me. "Do you know what you want yet? Or should I already know?" he grinned, hinting that he knew I was looking for the food truck selling Gyros.
Looking at Everly, I quietly said, "You know me so well." I wanted to try something different, but thinking about them has my mouth watering.
Declan got Everly her footlong, cotton candy, my Gyro, and garlic fries, and he got a gator on a stick and outlaw fries. Then, when we found an empty picnic table in the rides area, Everly sat beside me, and Declan sat across from us.
While Everly excitedly talked about what she wanted to do next—go on the rides, every once in a while, I'd feel Declan's knee brushing up mine, and whenever I'd find his eyes, my belly fluttered from him winking and smiling at me.
"Dad, we're going on rides, right?" Everly asked, her tongue hanging out as she consumed a large chunk of her pink cotton candy.
He smiled at her, but it almost appeared forced. "Of course. Whatever you want to do, just let me know. Which rides were you thinking?"
She looked over his shoulder, to his left side, then right. "All of them, duh," she quipped, making Declan and I laugh. "Except for the little kids' rides. Those are boring," she added, swinging her legs back and forth.
Declan and I used to go to fairs but for the food. Anytime I tried getting him to go on a ride with me, it was a struggle—he hates them, except for the boring Ferris Wheel. So, now I'm curious if he'll go on any rides with his daughter.
I dipped my fry in ranch dressing and asked Declan, "Will you be going on rides tonight?"
His knee bumped mine. "Maybe a couple. I know how much you two love them, so I'd rather watch you girls have fun."
"How do you know she loves going on rides?" Everly asked, looking confused.
Declan and I quickly gazed at each other. I saw in his eyes he didn't want to lie to her, so to save him from telling her a fib, I said, "I told him I did."
"Oh, that makes sense." She peeled a chunk of cotton candy off her stick and asked, "What rides do you like going on?"
"Anything fast, spins or goes upside down, and roller coasters, but there are none here."
"My friend told me they have a fun house with a mirror maze. She said it's tough to figure out because it's dark with little lighting, and the walls are all mirrors. She said it was fun trying to figure it out even though the music in the background was creepy, throwing you off to make you scared. I know Dad won't go in something like that with me, so will you?"
I looked at Declan. "You wouldn't go in there with her?"
"Nah, not my thing. Not after being in the military and navigating my way through minefields without blowing up, our training exercises, maze our way through tunnels and fields without being caught, I'm not a fan of them."
"Dad's told me before he doesn't like them, that he always felt like a mouse on a mission trying to find his way to freedom."
I looked at Everly. "I'll go in it with you. I don't mind them. It sounds fun."
She clapped excitedly. "Can we go now?"
Declan and I hurriedly finished our food and then stood in line to buy me and Declan tickets and an unlimited ride wristband for Everly.
Everly went on the first ride, and Declan and I stayed behind. It was the merry-go-round, and she wanted to remember what it was like to be on one.
As we stood at the rail watching the ride spin around and Everly passed by, Declan took this opportunity to sneak a quick kiss. "I have to say you look quite sexy tonight."
I laughed. "I feel like I'm heading to a Marilyn Manson concert."
He chuckled, his pinky curling around mine while looking at Everly when she squealed for him. "I never thought I'd be attracted to a woman dressed like you are now. But that attire has you looking smoking hot."
"I'm smoking hot all right, all from this humidity, and it has me drenched with sweat," I joked as Everly ran past us and to the line, next ride over.
"Will you be going on this one with her?"
He looked at the ride and its eight arms, which moved up and down like a wave, with the cars at the end spinning freely and the head in the center of the ride moving up and down. "The octopus? You want me to get sick, don't you?"
I laughed, nudging his arm with my shoulder as we headed toward the line. "You big baby. That ride's nothing."
Declan grinned like he was messing with me. "Yes, I'll be going on this one. I was only teasing you." He pointed to the ride next one over. "Now that one, I won't go on."
I laughed. The last time I talked Declan into going on the zipper with me, he got sick.
All three of us fit in the octopus's car, and when it raised, my tummy tingled, and we began to spin; Everly squealed and laughed. Declan, however, smiled like he was having the time of his life, that both his girls were with him, having fun as he looked at Everly and me.
Everly and I went on ride after ride after ride while Declan stayed behind, watching the two of us have our adrenaline fix.
Then we took a small break from the rides so Everly could get her face painted and Declan could return a phone call.
"That's a beautiful necklace," the woman painting Everly's face awed.
"I know, isn't it? My auntie Marla gave it to me for my birthday. It's my birthstone." She held up her hand. "It's a matching set. See! Ring, bracelet, and earrings!"
The woman snickered. "You're a lucky girl. They're beautiful. Just like you."
"Thanks!"
When Declan returned, he scared me but also sent goosebumps crawling down my skin when he came up from behind, resting his hands on my hips and burying his face in my wig, saying, "You have no idea how hard it is for me not to kiss you right now."
He growled, and I laughed.
"You'll have to wait until after we get home, mister."
"How much longer do we have until they shut down the rides?"
"I think we have another hour to go."
"Torture," he muttered, moving to my side.
"You'll live," I quipped, smiling at Everly and how cute she looked with the unicorn painted on her face.
When the lady finished painting her face, she rushed up to Declan as he paid the lady, asking him to take her picture.
I don't know how he takes pictures with his batphone when I thought stuff like that was deleted minutes later. Maybe it's just the messages that are deleted?
As we walked through the crowd, searching for the next ride Everly wanted to go on, she noticed the fun house maze her friend was telling her about.
She grabbed my hand and started pulling me toward the line.
"Are you sure you don't want to come inside with us?" I asked Declan when he found us.
"Nah. I'll meet you girls over there," he said, pointing at the exit. "You two can have fun running into mirrors, getting lost, and figuring out how to get out."
Since this was separate from the rides, Declan paid for Everly and me to go in. Then he walked over to the exit, waved at us, and shouted for us to have fun.
"Oh wow," Everly said, amazed when he stepped inside the dark area, with neon lighting above us that wasn't very bright. "How do we know where to go? I see us, mirrors, and everyone else trying to find their way through the maze."
"The best way is to put our hands on the mirrors and feel around until we find an opening leading to another corridor."
The further we got inside the maze and lost, the more I noticed a man in a suit standing tall with his hands clasped together, looking like he was leaning against the mirror. He could have been from security, ensuring kids weren't messing around and ruining things, or he could have been a carnival worker, making sure people were finding their way out. But when I spun around to see where he was and asked if we were heading in the right direction, he was in all the mirrors.
"Are we going the right way?" I asked anyway. But he didn't say anything. He just stood frozen and quiet like a mummy.
Then the lights went out, and everyone inside the maze screamed, including Everly. Then the lights returned, but they started flashing like a strobe light, and the flashing lights reflecting off the mirrors made me queasy.
Not wanting to lose Everly, my heart froze when I went to grab her hand, and she wasn't beside me like she had been moments before.
I spun around, looking in all the mirrors for her. "Everly, where are you?" When she didn't answer, I panicked and shouted her name again.
"I'm over here!" she squealed. I heard her, but I didn't see her. When I felt my way around, it felt like I was going in circles; it didn't seem like there was an opening.
"Everly!" I shouted over the creepy music playing in the background, and the flashing strobe lights and smoke billowing through the area panicked me even more. "I can't find you!"
"I'm over here!" she shouted again.
Fuck. I can hear Everly, but she sounds so far away. And I'm freaking out that I can't figure out how to get out of the area I'm in. It still feels like I'm going in circles. No wonder Declan didn't want to come in and wander the maze with us.
"Everly, why don't you come back to me? I can't find you!"
"Xena, I hear you, but I don't know where you are! I don't know where I am!"
"Follow my voice, and I'll follow yours!"
"Okay!"
We both called out each other's names, and I started to relax when it seemed like we were getting closer to each other.
Finally, a smile appeared on my face when I found an opening, and relief rushed through me when I came around the corner and saw Everly. Only I didn't know where she was because she was in all the mirrors all around me. It seemed like she was standing right next to me, but she wasn't.
While feeling around, trying to figure out where she was, I walked past another security guy wearing a suit; at least, I think I did. This place is confusing. When you think there's someone in the area with you, you find that you're not. This entire maze is one big optical illusion. "I see you in the mirrors, Everly, so keep talking until we bump into each other."
Then the lights went out again, she screamed, and my neck felt like I had just been stung by a bee, and I slapped my hand over the area to ease the stinging pain, squealing, "Motherfucker, that hurt!"
The next thing I knew, Everly was out of sight because everything went black.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter!!🤞🤞