Crazy Broken Love by Jennifer Bene

Author:Jennifer Bene [Bene, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-11-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

At six o’clock the alarm goes off. Exactly three beeps before Amy reaches over to press the off button. The pale, oval pill on the bedside table is — not there.

The water is there, but this is not her bedroom. Not her apartment.

This is Equilibre’s space. Colton’s. It is the place where he did things to her. Good and terrible things. Staring at the alarm clock she feels so tired, still sore, but as the clock ticks to 6:01 she picks up the water glass and begins to drink. It feels right, even though she cannot remember the clock being there the night before.

Nine semi-familiar steps to the bathroom somewhat calms the frisson of anxiety that waking in this strange place summoned. A semi-circle of items still curves around the first sink, his sink, and she pauses a second to really look at them. A toothbrush inside a glass, toothpaste, a bottle of face wash, scent-free deodorant, a razor, shaving cream, and a bottle of liquid hand soap.

Seven points around the curve of the sink. Each item looks almost brand new except for the lower volumes visible in some bottles. His sink is perfectly clean, dry, the satin-nickel finish on the faucet flawless.

The counts are wrong, it should bother her, but there is no needle scratch.

There is no Noise here, and the strangeness of that is almost worse than the rest of it.

Her things are still there, exactly where she left them, and it doesn’t take Amy long to finish her routine with everything so organized, but she lingers inside the safety of the bathroom — unsure where to go or what to do.

Eventually, it is the smell of toast, and her rumbling stomach, that finally lures her into a narrow hall, one tile wide, and she follows the scent into a large kitchen. Colton is setting plates down on the dark wood table opposite the stove, and she can already see sliced strawberries, three hard-boiled eggs, and a slice of toast on one. Her body tenses at the sight of him, half-panic and half-curiosity, and all of her is tempted to climb back into bed and hide even though her routine demands breakfast and her mind demands answers.

That’s the thought that ultimately brings her clarity. Answers. She watches him move confidently from the stove to the sink and back again, and then swallows down the anxiety burning at the back of her throat.

“Okay, it’s tomorrow.”

It’s the way Colton jumps that brings the earliest curves of a smile to her lips. He turns slowly, hands clinging to the counter behind him, but there is something different in his expression, in the way his eyes shift away whenever she tries to meet his gaze.

“Did you hear me, Equilibre? Colton?” She crosses her arms, confident that she won’t back down, but he recedes, turning back to the stove to shift something.

“Yes, I heard you, ma chérie, but we should have breakfast first.” Moving quickly around the kitchen island, he pulls out her chair like a gentleman.

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