Inner Core: (Stark, #2) by Ehrlich Sigal

Author:Ehrlich, Sigal [Ehrlich, Sigal]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: new adult
Publisher: Sigal Ehrlich
Published: 2014-01-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19: Cardiac Shake, Rattle, and Roll

Daniel leaves my bag in the entry way of the house and somewhat impatiently leads me toward the bedroom.

Again?

I study his tense, furrowed brows and concerned planes carefully as he threads his fingers through mine. His grip turns firm, better securing his hold, making me think that he's afraid I’ll run away. He has good reason to suspect that: sour acid travels up my throat to my mouth with the reminder of what happened in that room. The thought makes my body stiffen and I pull back involuntarily.

Hales, forgive is forget remember? I should not think of that, but how can I possibly not? I’m only human… I’m not sure the insecurity this episode rooted in me will disappear anytime soon, or ever.

Daniel, sensing my sudden resistance, halts briefly, glances at me, concerned, and then in a determined voice says, “I know, Hales, but I really need you to see something.”

Still ill at ease, I follow him, though with every additional step we take I grow more flustered and yes, sad. Daniel halts at the bedroom’s doorjamb, sends me an inscrutable look and gestures for me to go in first as he flicks on the lights. I look around and I am overcome with emotions, a variety of contradicting emotions.

“What do you think, baby?” Daniel’s low voice snaps me out of my state of utter dismay. “It’s…diff… different,” I stutter and shift my gaze from him to the room and back.

“It is,” he responds, and his assertive tone makes my mind work more smoothly. As I start to catalog the vision in front of me, the odd texts from him that didn’t make any sense over the past few days start to clarify. Everything in the room has been changed, from the natural color palette, to the rug, to the bed—all changed to the fabric and shades I absentmindedly chose. Fortunately, I think it turned out well.

“Now it’s just ours,” he says, and my heart swells.

“There's more,” he adds, and takes my hand, guiding me farther in. He stops at the edge of the dark wood, king size bed and turns me around to face the opposite wall. As I take in what appears in front of me, my breath catches and my heart starts to pound. It takes me a couple of moments to regain the ability to speak. In the middle of a freshly painted carmine wall, hung in a silver antique style frame, there is a vast charcoal sketch of … me. The sketch is a reproduction of the Polaroid picture Iris, Daniel’s mom, took of me when we visited her in Baja—the moment she captured me staring at Daniel in a way that unmistakably expressed my pure love for him. I swallow hard and turn to face him. Words are trapped in my throat, failing to come out. His eyes run warily over my face, assessing me. He grimaces as I take a deep breath, then crouches just enough for his stare to be level with mine, and watches me from a close distance, waiting.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.